La Petite Chic

Favorite Things Friday

A photo essay of our night at the Jimmy Buffett Bama Breeze Tour concert...my favorite concert ever!

Jonathan and I started out the night by enjoying a few margaritas in our lawn chairs...yum!

It was about 90 degrees out and man, those frozen margaritas felt good going down!

Some people were obviously a little more serious about the tailgating than we were.

We definitely met some characters...nice hat!!

Nice cheeseburgers!!

Then the rain came...and it poured the whole concert.

But seeing Jimmy Buffett live on stage...

with your best friend/love of your life is worth it in any weather!

Of Wife and Wii

I'm blaming my recent lack of posts on video games.  Mario Party for Wii to be exact.  Jon has long tried to get me into his love of video games, but my lack of eye/hand coordination resulted in a non-interest with the things ever since my dad dug his old Atari out of a box when I was a wee girl.  Growing up, my sister and I also had the old original Nintendo which we shared, but I usually killed my player within the first or second level so instead of honing my skills, I spent my time watching her advance through level after level.  I also always got stuck being Luigi, who is obviously inferior to Mario, so perhaps I can blame my lack of skill on that too??

Anyway, being the good wife that I am, I woke up bright and early one morning in March so that Jon and I could go stand in line outside of Circuit City where it was rumored that they were getting an early morning shipment of Wii's.  We were one of the lucky ones to get there early enough to get one, so ever since, Jon has been trying to convince me to play with him.  The sports game that came with the system is okay, but I would honestly rather do those sports in real life, rather than virtually. 

So last weekend Jon finally bought a game I would enjoy, Mario Party, and I think we have played it every night since.  Yes, I'm still awful, but at least this game is based more on chance than skill.  It's more board game than video game and that's why I enjoy it.  I'm not so sure it's a good thing that I've gotten hooked on it though because now I'm afraid we're both going to become couch potatoes!  I still want him to buy that smarty pants brain challenge game though...trivia is definitely where I can make up for my lack of coordination and perhaps finally beat him!

On a side note...we're going to the Jimmy Buffett concert tonight!!!!  Fins up!

What am I going to be when I grow up?

I've been kind of having a professional identity crisis.  I started my new job just about 3 months ago and I'm really unhappy.  I love the organization I work for, but that's about it.  I'm a people person and really enjoy working with a great team.  However, I'm on a three person team here (including myself) and the others are a bunch of workaholics who could care less about who I am outside of work.  I'm not saying that I think we should socialize the day away, but it's nice to actually be friends with the people you see almost as much as your own husband and not just sit in your cube by yourself all day. 

Also, my supervisor is the worst micromanager ever and that really does not mesh well with my working style.  I think it's a waste of time to constantly be interrupted for progress reports.  I could get my work done much more efficiently without so many interruptions throughout the course of it.

Lastly, I just really don't like the kind of work I'm doing.  Not too much to elaborate about on that one.  I feel stuck though.  Coming from a recruiting background, I know how bad it looks on a resume to see that someone stayed at a job for just 3 months.  JOB HOPPER!   But really, I don't know how much longer I can take this.  And apparently I'm not the only one.  There has been so much turnover in my department that it really makes you wonder.

I'm an anxious person to begin with, but this job is really messing with my sanity.  I go to bed worrying about the next day, I wake up very early in the morning with a pit in my stomach thinking about it and now I have a nervous muscle twitch in my stomach from it.  I know I sound like a drama queen, but I would hate to feel this way for the next few years.

So anyway, all of this professional unrest led me to consider a major career change.  I always wanted to do some sort of fashion related work, whether it be designing or writing.  I'm a very creative person and I feel like it's all just being wasted doing what I do.  That's one of the reasons why I started blogging because I wanted to write more and give myself more practice.  Or I could even see myself teaching history or another subject I love.  There are tons of options out there, but they're not going to be easy.  They're probably going to take more schooling or a paycut or something that we can't handle right now.

Really, anything seems better than what I'm doing right now so I just need to do some soul searching and figure things out.  Any ideas on what to do with a BA in Leadership Studies?

Favorite Things Friday

For all of you who have been reading my blog since the beginning, you'll remember my dog Holly recently died and that her death has been especially tough on me (The Story of Holly).  For that reason, I've been putting off finishing a book my mom-in-law got me for Christmas, entitled "Marley & Me: Life and Love With the World's Worst Dog".  I had actually started reading this book months ago, but I stalled when it came to finishing it because I just knew that it would bring back a flood of memories of Holly.

And that it did.  It's not that I don't want to think about Holly, it's just that thinking about her always makes me tear up because losing her is still so fresh.  It's obvious that the author John Grogan loved his dog just as much as I loved Holly.  His story of Marley's life and death really hit home for me and I just spent the last week crying every night as I finished up the final few chapters.  I think I worried Jon because he would come into the bedroom and fret over me afer finding me bawling with the book in my hands.

It was worth it though.  For anyone who's loved a dog (or any pet for that matter), "Marley and Me" is my new favorite book and a must-read.  Just don't take it to the beach :)  You will definitely cry and people might think you're crazy.  Thank you, John Grogan, for writing such a moving tribute to the special dog in your life and for helping me to remember all of the beautiful memories about mine.

Why do I love my hubby so much?

Because he takes pictures on my camera like this:

Further proof that I married the sweetest guy in the world! 

<Collective awwww here mandatory>

Everyone needs a friend at the beach...especially a best one!

Jon and I were at Virginia Beach for the weekend visiting my best friend from high school and her husband.  We don't get to see them often, but my friendship with her is one of those friendships that I know will always be there.  We met when we were 12 years old and we were pretty much two peas in a pod from that point on through high school.  Although we grew apart a little in the later years of high school and when we went to different colleges, she's the type of friend I can go months without talking to and then pick right back up where we left off. 

I value my friendship with her so much, because not only do I love her like a sister, but she's one of my only married girlfriends.  It's been kind of hard for me as a young newlywed because most of my close friends are far from getting married, or even engaged.  But she understands what it means to be a wife; she knows that there are commitments and responsibilities that come along with the diamond ring that you wouldn't really understand if you haven't been there yourself.  Don't get me wrong, I love all of my girlfriends, single gals included, but it's nice to know that someone else is worrying about their mortgage or when to start the babymaking! :)  (Sorry parents, we need a house first!)

Not only are we still so much alike though, but I swear we married twins who were separated at birth.  There's nothing sweeter than having your best friend's husband get along so well with your own husband.  It's refreshing, especially considering some of the issues we've hit along the way with other friendships (Toxic).  They're both these very tall, easygoing guys with hearts of gold and I just love that we've both ended up so happy.  This weekend, I loved just watching the two of our husbands laughing together and enjoying each other's company while I got to catch up with my girl.

She and her Navy husband are moving overseas very soon, so it won't be as convenient to drive down the ocean to see them.   But they're definitely worth the plane ride too!

To S.W.:  Get out of my bathtub! :)  BFF

Favorite Things Friday

Work has been kicking my butt lately, so I apologize for the lack of posts.  Not that I have a large reader base (YET!), but just thought I would explain my absence.

Now, onto my new favorite things this week.  And of course, me being the junk food junkie that I am, my new favorite thing this week is probably very bad for you.  But do I care?  Nope, because they taste like Szechuan heaven.  Szechuan Barbeque heaven to be precise.

Jon and I were strollling down the potato chip aisle on our weekly grocery shopping outing on Monday night when he stumbled across the most perfect chip ever: the new Pringles Select (yes, they're that special) Szechuan Barbeque chips.  They come in a fancy pants bag and are perfectly bite-sized so you don't have to worry about poking the roof of your mouth on a sharp chip.  (does that only happen to me?)

Anywho...they come in other flavors but I bypassed them all for the awesome goodness of Szechuan and BBQ.  Perhaps I'll give the other ones a try soon, but for now I'm stuck on these.  Come to think of it, I should probably at least try the Cinnamon flavored ones because while they are quite tasty to eat, they give you stank nasty breath.  And I usually only snack on them at work.  I guess that's a payback to my boss for being so anal-retentive :)

So anyway, go try them...they are delicious :)

Dancing Queen

From about the age of 10 until, oh, about now, I've always had this dream of being a dancer.  Shows like "So You Think You Can Dance" and "Dancing With the Stars" only serve to fuel my irrational desire to be a good dancer.  I mean, come on, I'm 5'3" and have big feet with long ass monkey toes.  How in the world could I ever expect to be able to dance on pointe?  Or is it en pointe?  Whatever.

I was a ballet and tap class dropout at age 3.  I tried to pick dance back up again in 8th grade only to realize that I suck, absolutely suck, at technique.  It takes me forever to learn a routine, and honestly, I can't even do actual steps or moves, or whatever the hell they call them.  That still didn't stop me from attempting to do the end routine from Flashdance where she does a flying somersault in the air then lands and continues to dance, but that's a story for another day.

It wasn't until I got to college that I realized I could actually dance.  Sure, not ballet or jazz or other fancy dances, but damn, I could get down on the dance floor.  And I didn't even have to be drunk!  I received the best compliment I believe white girl can get: "Girl, you dance like a black girl!"  I can actually do, er, what should I say...dirty dancing?   I dance best on top of a bar, folks. 

Yup, that was me, the girl in the poofy white debutante dress at University of Richmond's snooty Ring Dance, dancing on top of the speaker.  By the way, that was my pops getting down with me and the girls on the dance floor.  I wonder who I get it from?  Might I add that I was picked out of the crowd at a concert to sit on the shoulders of the bassist from Otis Day & the Pips (hi, Animal House!) because he liked my dancing?  And pulled off the streets of Washington, DC to come into the bar (VIP I might add) because the drummer of the band that was playing saw me dancing on the sidewalk through the window of the bar and had the bouncer come get me?  Sigh, those were the days... 

Maybe it's just because I love a good audience (and it's hard for creepy men to touch you on top of the bar) (and sometimes the bartenders feed you shots right from the bottle), but whatever the case, I'm glad I finally found the kind of dancing I'm good at.  It might not ever get me on one of those fancy schmancy dancing shows, but let me tell ya, I can sure as hell get free drinks!  Jon tells me that I like it so much because I always need to be the COA (Center of Attention).  He's just jealous :)

*Disclaimer* Now that I'm an old married girl, dancing on top of bars and tables and other "inappropriate" dance floors comes few and far between.  I still get my chance every now and then though.  Hello, weddings?!

P.S.  Yeah, and I still want my own pair of pretty pink pointe shoes.  A girl can dream, can't she?

*Yes, that's a penis on my head.  It was my bachelorette party, so it's allowed!

Weekend in Review

Things I Did This Weekend (in no particular order):

1.  Had lemon and blue raspberry jello shots after drinking several glasses of rum punch. 

2.  Was flashed by a random woman in the streets of Baltimore.  Invited said flasher into party; she declined.

3.  Watched the O's lose to the Rockies, but got a sweet Cal Ripken bobblehead out of it.

4.  Was the 7th person standing in Survivor Flipcup (after starting with about 25 people).  It was down to milliseconds, people!

5.  Visited my mom in the hospital where she was recovering nicely from knee surgery.  (Note to self: call flower shop to complain about expensive flowers that arrived wilted).

6.  Tested out whether or not I'm the type of girl that Carrie Underwood sings about in the song "Before He Cheats" that has "fruity little drinks because she can't shoot whiskey". (Apparently I can shoot whiskey, but only after having rum punch, jello shots and lots o' beer first.  You decide if I kept it down or not).

7.  Got completely scratched up by a 4 pound dog while trying to clip said dog's toenails.  I might look like I have tracks on my arms now, but I swear it was the dog.  I say no to drugs, baby.

8.  Danced to Justin Timberlake and various other pop artists in my bra and underwear on a chair surrounded by many other people (read: drunks).  For 3 hours.  My quads hurt.

9.  Ate a McDonald's bacon, egg and cheese biscuit with a hash brown for breakfast and subsequently threw it right back up.  So much for greasy food curing hangovers.

10.  Dominated the beer pong table with my husband for many games straight even though I haven't played in ages.  I've still got it, folks. 

Things I Learned This Weekend:

1.  I'm too old for this shit.

Want more details?  Comment me and I'll fill ya in.

Favorite Things Friday

Welcome to my first installment of Favorite Things Friday.  I figured it might be fun to highlight the thing that is currently rocking my world (this week anyway!).

Today, I just wanted to share how much I love, love, love my new dishes from Crate & Barrel.  Jon and I had originally registered for beautiful Kate Spade dishes for our wedding.  We received a whopping 2 plates and they were from my mother-in-law because she felt sorry for us that no one was buying us any dishes!  Needless to say, we did not complete the set on our own, so we settled for a very basic and plain white set of dishes from Crate & Barrel that Jon loved and I did not.

I've been threatening to buy new dishes ever since because we still had a significant gift card to Crate & Barrel.  Last weekend, while Jon and my father-in-law were renovating our bathroom, my MIL and I went to Crate & Barrel to pick out some new dishes.  And I love them!  And I'm happy!  And I can't stop admiring them!  So, without further delay, here is my favorite thing this week:

Aren't they lovely?  They're a very light greenish-blue color with swirls throughout.  Plus they were on sale!  And if you would like to buy your very own set, you can find them here.  Hooray for my new favorite dishes!