You Owe Me Old Navy...

I am completely aware of the fact that Christmas is right around the corner. Normally, I would be in pure panic mode right now, but I'm still eerily calm about all my shopping that needs to be done. Don't worry though, I'm still shopping. Just not in the Christmas spirit unfortunately.

Yesterday, over my lunch break, I found myself in the Old Navy parking lot. It has been quite some time that I have even taken a lunch, so I'm a little out of practice with what a lunch break should really be. Anyway, Iwent in thinking I could do some Christmas shopping. I was wrong.

As soon as I walked in, I found a table full of the perfect cardigan in every color you'ld ever want. And when I saw this one...

I somehow was reminded of this...
You may remember this one from earlier this fall. This cutie is from J.Crew and I still wouldn't be too terribly upset if it somehow showed up under the tree with my name on it.

I felt rather selfish as I made my purchases, but while I swiped my card, I was on the phone with my sister and we decided this is going to be yet another Gift Card Christmas. We decided who gets what and we'll probably "shop" Christmas Eve whenever I get home. So, Christmas is taken care of . Hey, I never claimed to be a great gift giver!!

A Flickr Question...

Ok you bloggers out there who never speak up, I need your help today!! So I'm pretty much a blog addict. I'll admit it. And I've been trying to change up the look of my own blog, but continue to fail. I found a website that gave step by step instructions to achieve the look I want, and when I went through about 20 minutes of changing HTML code, I hit save changes and got a big fat message telling me "It aint happnin'."

So, I have a question for you guys out there. And this time, I hope I'm not just throwing this out to the universe,but instead actually get responses:)

Can anyone give me advice on how to upload pictures from my flickr account to the blog?


And here's one of the little man/monster!!

I'm back home...
and wouldn't it be nice to plop all my bags down here and just jump in bed? I can dream!!

I got home late last night after a long day in Destin. It wasn't too terrible to stay inside a restaurant all day with beach views, while I worked. Not too many complaints about that. But now, I feel like a big MAC truck has hit me several times.

Wednesday night, after setting up for our event, I convinced my co-workers to have a Harbor Docks sushi night. I've only been raving about how incredible their sushi is for a year, so they just wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

As always, it was incredible. (**Sidenote: the best roll isn't listed on the menu probably for modesty purposes. Its called the Orgasm Roll. Try it, you WON'T be disappointed, I promise!!)

It was my boss's birthday, so we had several drinks to celebrate. After her 3rd of 4th glass of wine, she turned into a heavy eyed chatty Cathy. She started talking about how my style has changed throughout the year I've worked there. Apparantly, she can tell the kind of mood I'm in based solely off what I'm wearing that day. She really must have been doing some serious observations.

She pointed out that when I first started working there, I was very put together. Always wearing sweater sets and trousers or pencil skirts and ALWAYS with a set of pearls on. But then, as time went on and I got more comfortable, the Florida vibe just hit me and she noticed the sweater sets weren't making as many appearances and neither were the pearls. All of the sudden, I was wearing chino pants with solid tees and cute sandals. Then we flash forward to the breakup time and I just didn't care AT ALL. I'ld come in with wet hair, no makeup and outfits that clearly were never thought through. After that beating, she did change her tune and talked about how I snapped out of it and now am more "trendy." I'm not really sure how I feel about this.

So this morning, even though I really want to walk in with wet hair and no makeup and a terrible outfit, I'm not going to. There are eyes watching!!

I'm opting for a comfy look today, but with a twist. The best way to do this is wear something that feels good and dress it up with something ridiculously fancy. I found these in my files this morning and think I could really put them to use today!!

Emily at Cupcakes and Cashmere NEVER gets it wrong. I could go for an all black outfit just like this with those cute boots!!

Or I could just wear one of these unique necklaces...

It's Friday, which is good news to me!! Hope everyone has a fabulous over the top kind of day!!

I'm Starting To Like It Here...

We're packing up the cars and heading to the beach...

Ok. Not really for a vacation, but still. Tomorrow we have our last fundraiser for the year in Ft. Walton Beach. If you were a reader of this blog last year, you might remember that on my FIRST day of work with MDA we headed over to Destin for a fundraiser. I remember thinking, wow this isn't too shabby...first day at work spent on the beach. Little did I know, I'ld never touch the sand. BUT it isn't too terrible to spend the day with the water playing as a backdrop.

Its crazy to me that I've lived in Florida right at a year now. Yesterday was my official one year anniversary with my job and while some may think that its not that big of a deal, I do. This has to be the most challenging job I've ever had. Its a love/hate relationship on a daily basis. There are so many times that I just think, forget it...its time to whip out the resume. And then for some reason, I change my mind later in the day. I guess its because it is such a rewarding job. There are so many days that we start morning meetings off with "HOW ARE WE GOING TO RAISE THIS MUCH MONEY!!" conversations. It can be quite depressing to be completely honest. The pressure is always there and there's never a minute to just sit back and semi-relax. But that's the beauty of it. I blink my eyes and it is already 6pm. This happens on a daily basis.

All this to say, that now I'm actually starting to feel settled in here. It has taken me a year to really get that feeling and I don't think I'm completely there yet. Anytime you move to a town that isn't really geared towards young adults, it becomes quite the challenge to actually form a friend base. I've always been social, so this has always bugged me here.

But this morning, I couldn't help but notice that I'm content. I was taking the dogs outside at 6:45 this morning in shorts and a Tshirt. How many people can say they do that in December?? Its Florida. That's all I have to say. Don't get me wrong, we do have cold weather but it is sporadic. Just enough to wear my cold weather clothes and then once I'm tired of the cold, it turns 70 again. No complaints here!!

So for all of you in snow, I do envy you...some. But I'll take my palm trees with Christmas lights any day, thank you very much!!

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say its a safe bet that 78% of women enjoy fresh flowers in their homes. I personally do. In fact, I really enjoy buying a HUGE bunch of different flowers (Fresh Market is the place for this!!) and going in my mom's yard and gathering all kinds of greenery and making a ridiculous arrangement.

I remember when I was a freshman in college, my parents had the daunting task of decorating their new home, which happened to be twice as big as the one we had lived in for 15 years. Not to mention the fact that we had NO furniture because it was all on backorder, our home looked like a shell.

The next Christmas, the house looked a lot more lived in, and mom decided that year that she would go all out and make it a Christmas Wonderland. She hired an independent florist (Jennifer Riley) and told her to just go to town with decorating. Well, if any of you have ever seen Jennifer's work, you will know how INCREDIBLE she is!! I came home from finals to a house that literally looked like I stepped into a Traditional Home photo shoot. It was TDF!!! So, every year since then, Mom hires Jennifer to come back and decorate. She uses the same things, but adds a twist here and there and its just pure magical. I'm excited to see it this year. The 'rents had the Supper Club Christmas party there last Saturday, so the house is shining in all its Christmas glory right now.

I digress. ANYWAY!! When Jennifer first came to the house 6 years ago, she and I started talking about how she got her start. Apparantly, she worked for a florist in town and he saw major potential in her so he sent her over to Amsterdam to this most incredible Flower Market/Auction site where she learned everything one could ever dream about flowers. I think if I were to go there, I'ld drop dead of a heartattack. Its been my dream to follow in her footsteps, but I don't think the career path I'm on right now is really heading in that direction. So, instead, I can just make little pretty arrangements for myself and my mom.

I was going through my files of pictures and came across these little arrangements. Sometimes the simplest ones are the best {**notice my header up there:) }. You will find, however, a wild card that I found the other day on one of my favorite blogs. She usually gets it right, but this time she was way off!!

ENJOY!!
This makes me think of my friend Sara. She has a knack for collecting odds and ends like these and using them in ways most people wouldn't think. Although she probably would place herbs and greenery in here instead of flowers, I still think of her!

And if this doesn't make you just want to fast forward to spring, I really don't know what will.

Here we go with the big NO MAM!!! arrangement. Here's my rant for the day. I HATE carnations. I cannot say this enough. I don't care how tightly you cluster them together and place silver sticks in there with them, they are still the cheap tacky funeral flowers. I despise them. Always have. Always will. I know our economy is pretty much shot right now and we're all having to learn to live on tighter budgets, but seriously. I'ld rather have no flowers than these!!

I remember when Ryan and I first started dating, I went to visit him for a weekend. He showed up to my hotel room to pick me up for dinner with a bouquet of carnations behind his back. He was beyond proud of the fact that he had taken the extra step and bought flowers. I had to fight it with EVERY inch in my body to pretend as though I liked them. Later my sister told him to NEVER show up with carnations again. Ladies, he never showed up with flowers ever again. But that's ok, because I never had to pretend to like the funeral flowers ever again!!

For all your fist pumpers out there...

Last night I came acroos a GOLD MINE!!!

I've been wondering what is going to fill the void since my beloved Hills and City are no longer with us for the time being.

And then this INCREDIBLY entertaining/low budget Real World-esque show came on.

Look below at all this deliciousness.
No blondes, tons of tats and spike hair, fake bubbies everywhere and nicknames for all.

Could it really get any better??

Yes it could.

It got better when a girl called herself a guidette.

I lost it. Completely.

If you've ever had the "priviledge" of going out with me, you'll know my trademark. I assign any guy I meet a name. It usually falls in the category of some guido name (i.e. Tony, Ricky, Ronnie, Donnie, Johnny, etc.). The looks I get are beyond priceless.

The conversation usually goes something along the lines of this:
Rach: So what's your name?
Rando: Jack
Rach: No, you look more like a Tony to me.
Rando: my name's not Tony
Rach: No its Tony.
Rando: Where do you come up with this?
Rach: (walks away and a couple minutes later finds the sucker and walks straight up to him and says) Hey Tony!!
Rando: Ummmm my name's Jack? I told you that already.
Rach: Yeh I know. I just think you're better off as Tony.

I'm not making this up. I wish I was. But its oh so very entertaining to get their responses. It works best on the most conservative un-guidoesque type.

Its my trademark. What can I say??

ANYWHO....

When the roomates all came on the show and introduced themselves, I literally fell out of my chair laughing.

"Hi my name's Nicki, but you can call me Snookie"
"The name's Tony."
"Yeh I'm Ricky."

So this morning, my co-workers and I decided its time to implement the fist pump in their honor. Anytime any of us got money for the day, it was required to throw the fist pump in the air.

We all have our own versions.

Hines' looks like she's hitting someone. I take the more side hook approach. To each his own.

Sunday Funday...

It was a typical Sunday. Cleaning, errands, naps, walking the pups. Majority of it was spent cleaning my dump of a place. Turns out my broken vacuum cleaner (broken for prob 3 months) only needed a new belt. You guys, you read correctly...I repaired an electronic?? device!! I'm not usually one to be handy. In fact, I hesitate to even hang pictures. But today, the inner go getter said, ENOUGH!! and whipped out the screwdriver.


It wasn't like I really knew what I was doing or what I was looking for. You know, just one of those moments where you just are hoping you miraculously find a problem...one you can fix.
Ok, I'm rambling about a vacuum cleaner. But the point is, after 2 stores I found the golden ticket and now my house is squeaky clean.

Look below, and you'll see the end result.

No seriously, that's mine!

My friend Abby and her husband just bought their first house this week. She asked me where I get all these pictures I have on here and all I can say is I find them on TONS and TONS of other blogs. I find new blogs almost daily, so there's never any telling where I find the next one. I'm so excited for her though. Decorating an old 20's home should be incredibly fun!! GIRL I think you need a blog. Just sayin....


And when I was in Publix picking up my weekly round of groceries, I also picked up this sweet thang...

You guys, it gets better and better each month. AND a tutorial on making magnolia wreaths. Oh I die!! Now, does anyone know how to make magnolia garlands? If so, send instructions my way!!