Tag Archives: coordinated kate

Day 10: Most Embarrassing Moment(s)

Posted on by

2

Oh boy… I’ve been doing everything humanly possible to avoid writing this post today. I watched The Place Beyond the Pines and I even watched 21 & Over. What an awful movie! I haven’t drank any caffeine this morning thinking that maybe I would take a nap and forget about this post. I went to sit outside and catch some rays but an annoying bee chased me back in. Gosh!.. I guess I have no choice.

Let me begin by saying I have a nervous stomach. My story starts off in July of 2010. Sam and I were driving from New Jersey to Pittsburgh for my Uncle Joey’s wedding. After I picked Sam up from work we decided that we would get something to eat before we hit the road. I’m a lover of anything Panera Bread so we decided that we’d stop there. I got the cheddar broccoli soup and Sam had gotten some kinda sandwich or something. We made sure to eat quickly because we wanted to beat traffic near Philly, which if you remember is one of my big fears!.. We get back in the car and we’re on our way! After about an hour in the car my stomach starts to bubble.. severely. Oh man, this is so embarrassing. We’re on the turnpike and there’s traffic! I’m freaking out. I’m breathing as if I’m in labor and I’m sweating through whatever it was that I was wearing. I needed a bathroom, and fast!!! We’re sitting in traffic that is literally crawling and I’m thinking to myself how bad it would be if I HAD to get out of the car right here in front of everyone and just release myself! I make it to the first exit that we saw and I’m searching for a place with a bathroom. We drove for like 5 minutes and didn’t see anything but farm land and I couldn’t hold it anymore. I park the car on the side of the road, grabbed some tissue from the glove box, shuffled down a small hill (which luckily was hidden from the road), and pulled down everything and shit. How lady like! After I was done I noticed there was a huge house that was about two football fields away from me with wall to ceiling windows and I thought how lovely it would be if someone had seen me in this ridiculously hectic state. I get back in the car with my head hung low and Sam says, “Feel better, fertilizer?” You would think that a situation like this would become funny after time has past, but for me… it’s still not funny.

Blogging about this makes it 10x worse!



Mother’s Day Gift Idea! It’s Not Too Late!

Posted on by

1

If you haven’t already got something for all the mothers in your life then you should definitely consider checking out Fairytale Brownies! I was introduced to them a couple years ago when the insurance broker for our company sent a huge box of them to our office. They are AMAZING! I started sending them to family for special occasions and I actually sent a box to my mom this year. I think I saved $20 by having it delivered early instead of on Sunday (the sooner the better!) and my mom received them today.

IMG_1864

Isn’t my mom so adorable?!

My mom’s favorite brownie is the cream cheese brownie. My favorite is the cheese cake brownie which is to die for and Sam’s favorite is the mint chocolate brownie. They have all different kinds like raspberry swirl, pecan, toffee, peanut butter, espresso, caramel, and a ton more! They’re all individually wrapped and come in big and small sizes. Also, the packaging is beautiful! Not only were my coworkers fighting over their favorite brownies but they were also calling dibs on the adorable boxes that the brownies came in. They have holiday boxes around Christmas and Thanksgiving and Easter and they also have ‘Get Well’ boxes and ‘Thank You’ boxes and ‘Sympathy’ boxes and a box for any occasion that you can think of. Do yourself a favor and CHECK THEM OUT! If you decide to purchase anything use code ‘ML608′ to save 15% before it’s too late.

Day 9: A Moment In My Day

Posted on by

3

Today’s prompt is nice and easy. Just the way I like it!

20130509_152541

This “moment” is from this afternoon. After work I went to Barnes & Noble to get my iced tea and possibly write these blogs but it was packed and there was no where to sit so I ended up walking around a little bit. I found myself in the magazine section and thought I’d check out Southern Living and Country Sampler for some ideas for my sister’s grad party. I didn’t find anything but that leads me to my next point! I bought something for the party that I think is pretty hilarious.

20130507_135807

It’s a door cover that looks like the door to an outhouse! It’s going to be perfect for the powder room door at my mom’s house. I also got some cute sheriff badges. The party is one month from today and I can’t contain my excitement anymore!



This week is my short week at work so I have a three day weekend ahead of me. I almost said “Have a happy Friday” but had to stop myself – haha..

Happy Thursday!

Day 8: Advice for your readers

Posted on by

2

I’m playing catch up, if you haven’t noticed. Yesterday after work I went grocery shopping and did some other running around so I was pooped by the time I finally made it home. Anyways, the prompt for yesterday was a piece of advice you have for others. My advice would be that you’re never too old to educate yourself. Even the wisest man has a lot to learn. Knowledge is power and yadda yadda yadda! But seriously, Knowledge truly is power and the ability to share knowledge is even more powerful. You’re never too old to go back to school or take a class or go to a workshop to learn something new.



Day 7: The Thing(s) You’re Most Afraid Of

Posted on by

2

I’m in trouble. I didn’t blog yesterday. The prompt for yesterday was something like, if you couldn’t answer with your job, what would you say that you do. My job is pretty unrewarding so I couldn’t come up with anything inspiring and yesterday was a really long day and I decided to skip it. So sue me!

______________________________

I hate writing about things that scare me because I don’t like admitting that I’m scared of anything, but the truth is… I am. There’s a couple things that I’m really scared of so I thought I would just share those.

traffic

One thing that really freaks me out is when I’m driving to Pittsburgh from New Jersey and I get near Philadelphia and the traffic gets really congested. It’s not stop and go kinda traffic, it’s like really fast, really congested traffic. I’m not nervous that I’ll get into an accident but my fear lies in other people’s driving ability. There are crazy drivers out there! So after I get passed Philly it’s pretty much smooth sailing the rest of the way to Pittsburgh.

Another thing that freaks me out is house centipedes! I google imaged them and couldn’t even look at them long enough to save the picture so you can google it or use your imagination. I don’t think everyone gets these but since our apartment is close to a small wooded area we get them all the time in the summer. And it’s so weird because I always see them. It’s like I have some sorta house centipede radar. My eyes always focus in on them when I see them on the walls and then I start breaking out into a cold sweat and more often than not, I start crying. I’m not ashamed to admit it. I cry. People cry, ya know! Geez, they’re the scariest, most unwelcomed, ugliest insects ever!

And that’s all I can come up with for now. I must seem really tough considering I could only come up with two fears of mine, but we’ve only scratched the surface!

Have a good Tuesday evening!



How to Properly Store Your Wedding Dress

Posted on by

0

BB0912_johnsons_Wedding_Dress_Image_hi_resIs it just me or does this look like a wedding dress coffin?

So I wanted to publish this post during the month which is most popular for weddings, but the internet failed me. I googled, “What is the most popular month to get married?” Well, google presented me with results that consisted of every month except for January, February, March, April, November, and December. So that leaves us with May, June, July, August, September, and October. I was looking for one month and I ended up with half the year as my answer. Oh well… If you’re about to get married or just got married CONGRATULATIONS! I thought I would write a post about the proper way to store your wedding dress.

 The first thing you need to do is get it professionally cleaned, ASAP! Sweat, perfume, make up, and alcohol stains may not be visible at first but the longer you wait, the darker the spots will eventually get. Therefore, harder to get out. Make sure you research cleaners in your area because a lot of them won’t clean wedding dresses. Get references from friends who recently got married or look at reviews online. The last thing you want is your dress that cost thousands of dollars to come back and be accidentally dyed purple or something. Unless your wedding dress was actually purple to begin with, which is pretty unique. Anyways…

 The second thing you need to do is decide whether you’re going to keep your wedding dress in a box or on hanger storage. Either way you’re going to need acid-free tissue paper.

If you’re going to store your wedding dress in a box make sure you purchase a big box. You don’t want your wedding dress all squished up in a box for all of eternity. Start by lining the box with acid-free tissue paper and put the hem, or bottom of the dress, in first. Then layer it accordion-style and put the tissue paper in between each layer. If your dress has sleeves, be sure to stuff the sleeves with the tissue paper also.

Hanging your dress may be a little easier. Make sure to get a wide, padded hanger. Once the dress is on the hanger be sure to stuff the sleeve and any deep folds of fabric with acid-free tissue paper. Then just cover the dress in a muslin garment bag that you can get online for around $30-$40 dollars.

For real preservation of your wedding dress, check on it once a year. If your dress is hanging take it out of the garment bag and wash the bag. For boxed dresses, take the dress out and repack it so that it’s not folded in the same places.

I hope this helps you keep your wedding dresses nice and pretty! Some women save their dresses for their daughters or just for sentimental value, but I think after a few years, take it out, modify it, and wear it to an anniversary party, or make it a little more casual and wear it out to another event. Make your multi-thousand dollar dress multi-purpose and put it to use, girl!

Happy Sunday everyone! Geez, where did that weekend go?!

Day 5: Publicly Profess Your Love & Devotion

Posted on by

4

Today’s prompt: Publicly profess your love and devotion for one of your blogger friends. What makes them great? Why do you love them? If you don’t have blogger friends, talk about a real-life friend or even a family member.

This prompt was tricky for me. I don’t follow too many bloggers. Not because I don’t want to but because I haven’t found or searched for bloggers that I may be interested in. I’ve been OBSESSED with Story of My Life’s blog since I found it last week but I thought it would be extremely corny and not to mention weird to blog about her considering I’m on her blog like 2 hours out of the day trying to catch up on her life and I’m participating in her blogging challenge. So I decided to be super original and blog about my husband, Sam. I mention his name a lot on my blog but have never really talked about him but he definitely deserves a shout out and I believe this is the perfect opportunity.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

My husband Sam has got to be the greatest man I’ve ever known, besides my dad of course. He’s always there for me, even when I’m upset and he doesn’t know what to say, he knows that him just being there is all I need. Whenever we have arguments he’s always the first person to say sorry because he knows how stubborn I am and to avoid us never speaking again, he gives in. He’s hilarious and the perfect bit of immature. I truly believe that men never completely mature, or at least don’t mature at the same speed that women do. I get that and I accept it, so when he laughs at his own farts, I can’t get too upset. He calls me things like “butt scratcher” and after not shower for a good 24 hours he says that my armpits “smell like India”. Totally inappropriate but the comedic value of it all makes it ok. He is a genuine goofball but he’s also got a huge heart. Each day I am becoming a better person simply because he’s in my life, transforming me in a way, to being a better and more complete me. I couldn’t have asked for a better person to share my life with. I love you Bubby Bear!

5 Facts About Sam:

- He’s a HUGE Chicago Bulls fan and so relieved that they beat the Nets last night (woo-hoo!)

- He was born in Georgetown, Guyana.

- His favorite album of all-time is Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt.

- He’s pretty superstitious and has weird rituals that he does that he thinks will improve his team’s chances of victory. (Including not letting his feet touch the floor during the game, keeping his hands folded a certain way, ect.)

- He’s from the land of many waters but he’s really bad at swimming.



Day 4: Favorite Quotes & Why?

Posted on by

0

“Nothing can be done against the truth, no matter how we remain in denial.” Selah by Lauryn Hill

I love this quote 1)because it comes from one of my favorite songs and 2) because it reminds me that whenever I have a problem or feel a certain way I have a tendency to pretend like it’s not happening or I pretend that it doesn’t exist at all. This reminds me to acknowledge my problems and work through them. If I don’t, I think they will literally EAT me alive.

___________________________________

“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.” – Ernest Hemingway

This quote is great! Man, that Hemingway, he was a pretty clever guy, huh? This quote is all about bettering yourself. Work hard, not to try and be better than someone else, but to be better than who YOU were yesterday.

 ___________________________________

“I cured myself of shyness when it finally occurred to me that people didn’t think about me half as much as I gave them credit for. The truth was, nobody gave a damn. Like most teenagers, I was far too self-centered. When I stopped being prisoner to what I worried was others’ opinions of me, I became more confident and free.” – Lucille Ball

If you don’t know by now, Lucille Ball is my favorite woman, redhead, comedian, ect.! I’m in love with her so this quote really spoke to me. I’m always worried about being judged. Let’s take last night for example. I got a box of hair color (yes, I know, I should just go to the salon but I have like a million greys on the top of my head and they needed to go quickly) and I colored my hair and it came out BADLY! The hair on the top of my head was a light reddish mess (hey! Lucy and I match!) so I went back to Target and I almost had a panic attack. I went in to buy another box of color to correct the problem and I thought everyone in the store was looking at me and my awful hair. In reality, I’m sure no one even noticed me. Well except for the girl in front of me at the check out who I’m pretty sure was laughing at me. I like this quote because it’s kinda like a reality check. NO ONE cares or even notices as much as you think they do so be yourself, don’t be embarrassed, and live your life the way you want to.

 ___________________________________

“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.” - Abraham Lincoln

This is a pretty popular quote and it’s one of my favorites. It’s weird because I think about this quote a lot. It’s kinda like a “think before you speak” or “if you don’t know what you’re talking about, don’t say anything” reminder and sometimes I REALLY need to do that.

 ___________________________________

“If you think nobody cares if you’re alive, try missing a couple of payments.” - Earl Wilson

I thought this quote was hilarious! I’m not sure if it’s the baseball player Earl Wilson that said this or the columnist but either way, they are correct! You miss paying a bill or you accidentally pay it late and you just made a few new “friends” that don’t mind calling you multiple times a day and sending you letters in the mail.

Let’s recap! All my favorite quotes remind you to not run away from your problems. Acknowledge and keep it moving! Always work on improving yourself for the sake of being a better person. Don’t let the fear of judgement from others keep you from living your life. Sometimes being quiet and not saying anything is best. And finally, pay your damn bills on time, people!

Have a great Saturday! It’s beautiful in New Jersey so I think I might venture outside today.



Posted on by

0

images

I’m sitting at Barnes and Noble right now. Just got a black ice tazo tea unsweetened and I’m feeling good, finally, considering I’m out of work for the weekend. I’m just passing time until I need to go pick Sam up from work at 5 and I’m looking out across the busy parking lot. People coming in and out of the store. Cars buzzing by. People walking back and forth. It should be relaxing to just sit here and type what I’m seeing and how I’m feeling. But I’m bothered. Not by anyone in the parking lot or in the store for that matter. Not bothered by any noises or loud children. It’s actually fairly quiet here. I’m bothered because my back is to the entire store. I’m not sure why this bothers me haha! I’m waiting for a table to open up near me that I can slip into without looking like a complete idiot. If I have to sit here much longer I’m going to leave. It’s weird not being able to see what’s going on behind me. I can’t prevent an attack from behind in this position which is unlikely but very scary. Nonetheless, I’m trying to not think about it which is why I’m even writing this but considering I’m writing about it I’m afraid it’s not helping. I’m kinda hungry and I noticed that they sell The Cheesecake Factory’s red velvet cheesecake which I’ve had before and LOVED but I’ll hate myself later for it. On top of all the calories I don’t like eating in front of people when I’m alone. I’ll stuff my face to hell when I’m with someone or a group of people but when I’m alone I feel silly eating. Godddd, why am I so weird?! I also left my phone in the car by accident which is giving me a little bit of anxiety.

OHHHH! A table behind me just opened up. See ya later guys! Have a good weekend.

Day 3: Things That Make You Uncomfortable!

Posted on by

1

victoriasecret-store

I think I’ve mentioned it before but doing laundry is a pain in the butt! We don’t have a washer and dryer in our apartment but what we do have is a “laundry facility” “on-site” which actually means it’s down the block. It also means that we’re forced to share it with the other inconsiderate apartment dwellers that live around us. They’ll leave their laundry in there for an hour after it’s been done even though they know people are waiting to use it! Grrr, talk about ANNOYING! But recently, Sam and I did ALL of our laundry. Usually we just do bits and pieces and take up as many washers as we can get. Afterwards, I noticed that I was missing a lot of underwear and immediately though that we have a creepy neighbor that steals women’s panties or (and more likely) the washer ate all my underwear. Soooo, that meant that I needed to make a trip to the mall and head into Victoria Secrets! I was super excited about getting new panties… until I walked in. First, I checked out the deals that they have at the table when you first walk in. You know, the 5 for $25 or $26 or whatever and I notice that this girl and her boyfriend are just standing there. They’re not looking at panties or anything. It seemed like they were just standing there people watching, in an underwear store, like what?!… So I move towards the back a little bit more to look at other panties and this young girl had her grandfather in there with her. Just kinda creeped me out. I know that everyone has a right to go into Victoria Secret and maybe they’re actually there for a reason… but I doubt it. I wanna go back to the time when guys were too embarrassed to go inside a women’s bra and panty store so that I can shop in peace and not feel like I’m being watched and judged by creepy old grandpas and young, annoying boyfriends and girlfriends. I’m being bitchy today and I’m not sure why because it’s finally FRIDAYYYY! This week has honestly been the longest week of my life, I think.

Have a fun Friday night everyone!