Day 6 – A photo of an animal you’d love to keep as a pet.

You know, I'm really not sure on this one. I've never seen myself as an exotic pet person (though I desperately wanted a lizard as a kid!). We have our cat, Ella. One day we'll get a dog. Maybe we'll get a guinea pig or fish or something one day when we have kids.

I think I'd really really really love to have a bird. A parrot or a cocktoo - ya know, something I could teach to talk and be cute. But, at the same time, I'd want it to be quiet when I wanted to be.

Which is why I'll never have a bird.

Thankful.

Okay, this is 3 days late. But everything I have to be thankful for, well, it kept me busy this weekend!

I'm thankful for our wonderful families. For my family, with their traditional, pass the bowl around the table and traditionally baked turkey, to Sean's family's buffet line with a deep fried turkey (for the record, I'm on Team Baked). I love our black Friday traditions - shopping with Sean's mom and sister, then meeting up with my mom for breakfast (my sister started shopping this year, but only lasted until 4 am - pretty good for a 10 year old!).

I'm thankful for Sean. He keeps me balanced. He loves me, unconditionally. I love that we don't have a fighting relationship - and we rarely bicker. It's just not our style. I love that he's working hard in school, even if it means that we might be going long distance for the summer, so he can get a good internship. I just love...us.

I'm thankful that we have a house that we feel safe in, and I can't wait to decorate it today.

I'm thankful that we have two working cars, and that we can afford to keep both of them well maintained and running.

I'm thankful I have a job that I love. The only time I don't want to go to work is when I don't want to get out of bed (and during those times, I wouldn't want to get out of bed for chocolate). But frankly, I love being there.

And I'm thankful for my friends. I'm thankful that just hanging out a few minutes is fabulous, whether it be in a steak n shake or at a football game. They're fabulous.

Life is good guys. Life is good.

Day 5 – A photo of yourself two years ago.

Two years ago, huh? Wow. Two years ago, I was celebrating (and mourning) my last year at Mizzou. I was graduating. I was in full-fledged wedding planning mode. I was having a blast. I was partying, I was studying, I was rocking everything, I was in love. I kinda miss those times. But at the same time, I love who I've become and where I'm at now. Weird how that is.

(Marching Mizzou graduates received a rock from the Big M at their last home game, and get to beat Big Mo!)

Day 4 – Your favorite photograph of your best friend.

Okay, I've totally been failing at this. But here I go again!

I don't believe in one best friend. I think it's entirely necessary to have multiples. And I do. I have my main best friend, Sean. Yeah, cliche. But he's not my only one, because let's face it, there are some things that I prefer to talk to other people about. So I've got my best friend from grade school - we sometimes don't talk for weeks or months, but when we get together, it's like we never stopped talking. It doesn't matter what we miss in between, it only matters what's in the now - we're very much alike (as long as you look past the fact that I live in a world of country and rock and roll, and she lives with ranchero and reggaton). I've got my best friend from high school - we're a support staff for each other. Like high school, we'll always feed on pedis, coffee, and drama. Call it superficial, but we're close and that's what we love. I've got my college best friends. We're crazy and we're different - we don't always see eye to eye and we definitely don't agree on things, but we stay close with our ridiculous memories and jokes, and together we're whole.

 

(It was 19 degrees on our wedding day - this is us, outside, laughing at how incredibly crazy we are)

(Moni, Jess, me, and Tori - Moni and I have been friends since 4th grade, this is us senior year of high school in Mexico)

(Bonus shot! Moni, Me, Allie, and Rachel on the night of my bachelorette)

(This pretty much sums up who we are. Mizzou-obsessed, crazy, klutzy, and special. And awesome)

Meal Planning.

I never technically meal planned. It seemed like too much work, and I've always come from a family where we had pretty much everything in the fridge, and if we didn't, we lived less than a mile from the grocery store. Even now, Sean and I live .6 miles (a 5 minute, round trip drive) from Hyvee. It's not a big deal if we don't have something, because we can just hop out and get it - faster than the beef can thaw in the microwave.

And then my schedule changed at work.

Now, I don't get home until 7 (on a good night). I don't want to swing by the grocery store on my way home, and if I don't have something in mind for dinner, we usually just have sandwiches. Which is kinda unfulfilling and, well, boring. Plus, it doesn't leave me left overs to take for lunch the next day. And so I will start to meal plan - in my own way. Basically, I'm going to have set options for meals. 4 or 5 options a week, and we'll just make them as we go. That way, if I don't get a crock pot meal on before I leave for work, I can whip something quicker up when I get home that evening. I think it'll work for us.

Today, I spent $108.00 at the grocery store. Keep in mind, there was a meat sale, so I bought over 5 lbs of ground beef to freeze, plus I stocked up on chicken broth, pasta, bacon, and coffee. But, in addition to that, I have food for the following meals:

-Stuffed shells and meat sauce
-turkey and cheese sliders with honey-dijion glaze
-tacos
-hawaiian bbq chicken
-spaghetti
-empanadas

Plus, a few hot pockets for those "I don't wanna cook" days. Aaaand because I spent over $100, I get 10 cents off my next 20 gallons of gas! I love PriceChopper.

It's the first major grocery trip I've taken in over a month, and hopefully I'll only need to pick up a few perishables for the next couple of weeks (I certainly won't have to buy meat or sides though!). We shall see - hopefully I can keep going and save myself some money!

Day 3 – Your idea of the perfect first date.

Perfect first date huh? To be honest, it's really hard to answer this question. Sean and I never had an official first date - we kinda fell into dating one might say. We were just friends, and then...well, then we weren't.

But, my perfect first date would definitely be a combination of fun and romance. I think an amusement park, or a beach, or a lake we be awesome (or even a mini ski trip!), followed by a packed dinner and ice cream. Ice cream is essential for any date for me - even now.

Maybe it's not so much the date activities themselves, but who they're with?

Day 2 – A photo of something you ate today.

So I came home, made dinner, and ate it. Then, looking at the empty bowl, remembered I was supposed to take a picture. Whoops. I had grilled cheese and soup though - it was delicious!

It looked something like this...but not as perfect lol

Day 1 – A photo of yourself and a description of how your day was.

Today has been...a day. Lol. It started out being 65 degrees, and ended rainy and in the 40s. It's supposed to snow tonight. Have I mentioned that I work about 50/50 outside? Yea, sucks. I also have a huge work project that I need to finish. It's due tomorrow, but I was required to go over certain numbers with my district manager (mind you, I can't even access the numbers without him), and he wouldn't sit down with me until today. So tomorrow morning, I have serious work to do. It's 8:15, and I just put dinner in the oven - and it's not a meal I've made before, so it may have been all for nothing. Sean went grocery shopping, but he got all the wrong foods (seriously, anyone have any idea of what to do with an entire bag of frozen shredded carrots, other than an icepack?). He defrosted meat, but put it in the microwave for so long that it turned in to one big piece of rubber - and completely unusable. *sigh*

Things that are good? I have a job, and it supports us well. One of my BFFs is moving back to the midwest in roughly a week, and I have the entire week of Thanksgiving off. Another BFF is visiting right before T-day, and hopefully my SIL is visiting somewhere in there too. It may be gross and rainy, but the area desperately needed it. My house is a mess, but it's lovely at the same time. I've got a pretty darn good life.

And to be true to the nature of this challenge, here's a pic of me right now - at 8:30 pm, after a 9 1/2 hour work day, half of it in the rain. On a webcam. Rock on.

30 Day Blog Challenge.

So clearly I can't seem to keep this blog updated lately. I'm not really sure why. Part of it is that I'm just plain busy, but a lot of it is that it life hasn't been the best the last couple of weeks. And nothing interesting has really happened. BUT! I'm changing that. Hopefully. I'm doing that 30 day blog challenge thing (and hopefully finishing it). So I'm starting it tonight. Let's get this done!! lol

Day 1 – A photo of yourself and a description of how your day was.
Day 2 – A photo of something you ate today.
Day 3 – Your idea of the perfect first date. 
Day 4 – Your favorite photograph of your best friend.
Day 5 – A photo of yourself two years ago.
Day 6 – A photo of an animal you’d love to keep as a pet.
Day 7 – Your dream wedding.
Day 8 – A song to match your mood.
Day 9 – A photo of the item you last purchased.
Day 10 – A photo of your favorite place to eat.
Day 11 – What’s in your makeup bag?
Day 12 – A photograph of the town you live in.
Day 13 – Your favorite musician and why?
Day 14 – A TV show you’re currently addicted to.
Day 15 – Something you don’t leave the house without.
Day 16 – Your celebrity crush.
Day 17 – A photo of you and your family.
Day 18 – Something you crave a lot.
Day 19 – Another picture of yourself.
Day 20 – The meaning behind your blog name.
Day 21 – A photo of something that makes you happy.
Day 22 – A letter to someone who has hurt you recently.
Day 23 – 15 facts about you.
Day 24 – A photo of something that means a lot to you.
Day 25 – What’s in your purse?
Day 26 – A photo of somewhere you’ve been to.
Day 27 – A picture of you last year and now and how have you changed since then?
Day 28 – Your favorite movie.
Day 29 – Something you could never get tired of doing.
Day 30 – A photograph of yourself today + three good things that have happened in the past.

So here we go!!!