Subscriptions: Julep January 2014

 

Subscriptions: Skoshbox January 2014

 

So I had this review all written out, and then somehow I must have accidentally written over it while doing my New Years Resolution post (you can tell by the URL.) Hopefully I'll remember everything I had written down and I'll make sure not to do that again! Uggh!

Liebster Award!

The gorgeous Melanie at Jetsettin Daisy nominated me for a Liebster Award! She has some of the coolest adventures I've seen on the blogosphere; you've got to check her out!

The way this award works is you give 11 random facts about yourself, answer the 11 facts your nominator gave you, nominate 11 people yourself and give them 11 questions to answer, and then stick the award graphic somewhere on your blog! Here goes mine:

11 Random Facts About Me:

1. I was 21 when N and I got married, and 22 when I had R. But I don't feel very young!

2. I got my first tattoo when I was 17 and in Madrid, Spain on my senior trip. I went in to a clean looking shop, chose a piece of flash off the wall, and pointed to where I wanted it- on my hip. The receptionist wrote down this info on a little card for me to give the tattoo artist, and under placement I shit you not she wrote "pubis"! I knew no Spanish, but I was pretty sure that didn't mean hip. Although I was totally freaking out I went with it. Let's just say it's sort of on my hip, but you can't see it in bikini bottoms.

3. I also got my bellybutton pierced on that trip while we were in Barcelona. I took it out within a week of coming home because it started rejecting.

4. The first time I got stitches was when I was 19 and in a really bad car accident. My car didn't have an airbag because it was older than me and my face hit the steering wheel, busting it open from below my nose to the top of my lip and a little below my lip. In the ER they tried to inject numbing medication into the wound right below my nose and that was the WORST pain I've ever felt in my life. The scar is fairly noticeable but I've never felt self conscious from it (which is strange for me!)

5. I have neither an appendix nor tonsils. And despite asking to keep both I was not allowed to. :/

6. I had a septoplasty in high school to correct a deviated septum. They told me it wouldn't change the appearance of my nose but it totally did- and not in a good way. I have also had a turbinate reduction and it was basically the worst thing ever.

7. When I was giving birth to R my epidural wore off right as it was time to push. There was a lot of pleading and tears with my anesthesiologist but there was nothing she could do. I ended up pushing for the six longest hours of my life.

8. Above I spelled anesthesiologist as "anestigologist" and had to google how it's really spelled.

9. I currently have 5 tattoos, and have had one removed.

10. The first place I went to get my chest tattoo removed lied to me and used a facial laser on my tattoo instead of a tattoo laser. The removal process would take about an hour and by the time we were done my legs would be shaking uncontrollably in pain, and I would practically be choking on the smell of my burning skin. I'd have blood blisters the size of quarters and the pain was just a tiny bit below the shot I told you about earlier, but lasted much longer. It's like getting snapped over and over with a tiny, electrical rubber band. It is WAY worse than childbirth- even without an epidural! When they were closed down I went to a legit tattoo removal place and the entire procedure hurt just as bad, but only took about 5 minutes. I also never got blood blisters or any other type of wound.

11. I still want many more tattoos! ;)

11 Questions I Was Given:

1. If you could only eat one thing for a month, what would it be? This is a hard one! There's a lot of food I love to eat, but I don't know of much I could eat for a month straight and not get totally sick of. I suppose I'll go with fajitas. Yum!

2. If you could dress up as anything for Halloween (no budget or time constraint), what would it be? I have always wanted to be Alice from the America McGee video game! I've seen them come out with better and better costumes as the years go by, so maybe I'll get one for next Halloween!

3. If you won a free trip anywhere with anyone, where would you go and who would you take? I think I would go to Banff, Canada with N. We were going to go there for our honeymoon, but his mom couldn't find his birth certificate for him to get his passport. We ended up driving to our favorite mountain town in the Rockies, Telluride, CO. It was wonderful.

4. What is your favorite magazine and why? Martha Stewart Living! That shit is my JAM! Will I ever have the money to decorate or eat like her? Hell no, but that doesn't stop me from dreaming! Martha Stewart is my spirit guide.

5. What is your favorite candy? Oh man, I really love all candy. I eat candy WAY more often than I should. What my favorite is usually depends on my mood- sometimes I crave chocolate and sometimes I crave something fruity. I'd say my favorite of all time are juicy pear flavored jelly beans! I love getting bags filled with just the jelly bean flavors I like!

6. If someone gave you a $1000 gift card, where would you spend it? Louis Vuitton! ;)

7. What three websites do you have to check every day? Facebook, Bloglovin, and Jezebel (proud Jezzie right here!)

8. What photos are sitting on your memory card right now? Pictures of the Skoshbox I got a few days ago, wrote an entire post about, and then accidentally deleted! Uggh!

9. What is the design on your phone case? Right now my phone doesn't have a case on it because I'm in a fight with the $60 personalized Otterbox that 1) had the design chip off of (it was chevron with my initials), and 2) started to break apart!

10. What is your favorite cookie? The double chocolate cookies that my cousin made N and I once, and now we eat all the time! They are the BEST cookies ever, and I am not just saying that! I posted the recipe here!

11. If you won free tickets to any concert, who would you see? Well, Taking Back Sunday is definitely my favorite band but I've already seen them in concerts a few times. I also really love the band Brand New but have never seen them in concert before so I'd have to go with them!

11 Questions For My Nominees:

1. What's the meaning behind your blog name?
2. If you could be any animal, what would you be?
3. What's your biggest pet peeve?
4. What's your dream car?
5. What do you enjoy the most about blogging?
6. What is your favorite breed of dog (or cat if you're a cat person)?
7. Where do you get your news from?
8. What is something crazy you've always wanted to do but never have?
9. What was your favorite toy growing up?
10. What recipe have you been dying to try but haven't yet?
11. What are your goals for your blog?

My Nominees:

Jamie @ The Growing Up Diaries

Jen @ Another Mile Another Memory 

Bethany @ Absolutely (Extra)ordinary

Britney @ Lady Luck

Alicia @ Brew Mama

Amanda @ My Show

Dawn @ Luck Be A Mommy

Danielle @ Lean Green Mom

Jerika @ Everyday Bay

Alison @ Alison's Blog

Crystal @ Brayden Means Brave

My New Years Resolutions

Since it seems like every other blogger on my Bloglovin feed has been talking about resolutions, I decided I should probably jump on board. I'm not really one for resolutions because life happens and I hate to disappoint myself, but I also believe that I need to be held accountable for my goals. Here are some of what I hope to do in 2014...

Source

1. Speak exclusively in a Southern accent. This is my calling y'all. I may be a fourth generation native of Colorado, but my voicebox belongs in the South. I announced my intentions to N tonight- in a glorious accent of course- and he told me I sounded authentic! That is a real compliment coming from him. This is my destiny! Y'all!

Source

2. Watch even more My Little Pony. I let R watch multiple episodes of MLP (Friendship is Magic) every day on Youtube. But honestly, I just don't think we have enough MLP in our lives. I was looking at the MLPFIM wiki last night (of course one exists) and there are SO many episodes we haven't even seen yet! I don't know what we've been doing with our lives up until this point but we really need to get it together.

OH MY GOD IT'S ONLY $17.48 ON CLEARANCE RIGHT NOW!!!

3. Spend even more money on crap we don't need. I'm pretty good at spending money on all kinds of crap that we don't really need, but I think in 2014 I could be even better at this. I like to take loads of things to Good Will all time time- and then go into the store and walk out with even more stuff than I've donated! And Target?! Challenge accepted! Do we need a white, ceramic deer head? Well no, but that's all the more reason to buy it! Yes I could live without it but I don't WANT to.

There's even a pony in there!! This is a SIGN!

4. Stop eating at home completely. We already aren't the best at eating at home (N is super picky and cooking for him is all but impossible, and he's often too busy to cook himself) so I figure, why not just go balls to the wall and stop? We could eat McDonalds for every meal! Doesn't that sound delicious?! Of course, we could switch it up and eat Taco Bell every once in awhile, but I think 3 square meals a day at McDonalds really sounds like the way to go. You know, something about this is sort of ringing a bell for me? Was there a movie about this? And the guy practically died? No, I think I might have just dreamed that.

5. Stop wearing yoga leggings all winter and yoga capris all summer. HAHAHA HAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA (never.)

I hope all y'all had a wonderful New Years! We're cycling through the flu right now so it hasn't been the best start to the year, but we've got another 354 days to see how things pan out. ;)

Conquering the Classics: Journey to the Center of the Earth

Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

Source

I've never been one for adventure/ science fiction books, and despite the critical acclaim for the books of Jules Verne (and H.G. Wells for that matter) I've never read any of these stories. I decided to ignore my preconceptions of these books a few nights ago- and it turned out that they were instead misconceptions! I really enjoyed this story, and I thought the translation was very well done. This adventure kept me on the edge of my seat (well, bed) for three nights until I finished it, and I was left longing for more. Luckily Verne has many more titles that I have yet to read, and though I plan to proceed through my list alphabetically, I'll be looking forward to his other works.

My rating: