…and Blue Sky

This is my current Twitter and FB profile pic. I like to go way over the top tacky festive for holidays.

Here are my favorites for this week!

1. My friend Kelly introduced me to the concept of bullet journals, and now I’m obsessed with planning out ALL THE THINGS.  I’m actually running to K-Mart after I get this post finished because there’s a certain notebook that I want for my 2016 bullet journal, and that’s the only place that sells it. Can’t remember the last time I was at K-Mart, but I will bravely embark on the journey in the name of the perfect notebook!

2. THIS BAG! You guys, if there’s a Dollar General near you, GO. These reuseable Star Wars shopping bags are A DOLLAR. There’s also one with an Episode 1 design, but screw that, I wanted the original trilogy bag. This is easily the best dollar I’ve spent in ages!

3. Here’s this week’s total Cat Lady moment!

Yes, my cats have stockings. The little name tag thing on this is actually a collar that I made for Bear when he was a tiny kitten! The red fabric is a scrap from a dress I was sewing at the time, and then I embroidered his name onto some white fabric. CAT LADY ALERT!

The cats always get tasty treats and toys for Christmas, and this year Chewy.com was awesome enough to send me two boxes of the Wilderness Tasty Toppers Wild Cuts from Blue Buffalo, so each cat got their very own package! (With plenty to spare for later use!) These are meant to be added on top of dry food to make it more exciting, or served as a snack. You can find ’em here! (They’re on sale!)

BTW, for my fellow bloggers who have cats – do they find a way to sneak into EVERY PHOTO YOU TAKE EVER?

 

Impending Photobomb!

Hey! You’re not Bear! At least steal stuff from your own stocking! (Right after I snapped this pic, he grabbed that feather toy and ran. Cats, man.)

4. All of our Bloglovin/RSS feeds are overflowing with so many “2015 in retrospect” posts that it would takeuntil 2019 to read them all, but I really liked Megan Starr’s take on an end of year wrap-up post, which she did by telling the stories of her favorite drinks this year.

5. Best Buy had the ENTIRE SERIES of Daria on DVD for $10 this week, so as a good 90s teenager, I snapped that up ASAP! It’s supposed to arrive tomorrow, so I’ll be spending the weekend reliving my high school years, minus that icky “high school” part. YAY.

That’s it for this week! How is your year so far?

Linking up for Friday awesomeness!

Merry Monday After Christmas, everyone!

Um, heck yeah I’m reusing this pic I took for Halloween!

Woohoo, we all survived the holiday weekend! I spent Christmas with my mom, two of my sisters, and a whole lot of cats. This weekend involved lots of reading in bed to avoid the crazy pouring rain, and more crying at the Disney World commercials that ran during the Disney Christmas parade than I care to admit to. (I MISS HOME! And I miss working for Disney and making magic! And I miss 75 degree winters!)

Since I didn’t do a Friday Favs post last week, I thought I’d start this week off with my Christmas favs from this year!

Favorite Gift I bought For Myself:

 

These Yeti socks from Target were on clearance for $3.50. There was an extra 20% off clearance clothing promo code (EXTRA20 – It’s still valid! Go shop!), and I got the bonus 5% off with my red card, so awesome socks for $2.66 plus tax. SCORE!

Favorite Present Given:

My cats love “thing on a string on a stick” type toys, so I knew this would be a winner! I expected the feathery attachment to be the favorite, but they actually prefer the one on the left. (or “the Muppety one”, as I like to call it.) You can find it at PetSmart or online here!

Favorite Christmas-y Scent:

I have two of Bath & Body Works’s “Tis the Season” mini candles. They’re from different years, thus the different designs. I kept he silver and red one in my box of Christmas decorations all year, so since it doesn’t have a lid, I got a huge rush of scent as soon as I opened the box. LOVE! Definitely doing the same thing when I pack everything up again this year.

Favorite Christmas-ish Drink:

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Silver Dollar City (Branson, MO theme park) for the first time in like a decade. Other than seeing all of the pretty Christmas stuff, my #1 mission was to get some wassail mix. I’m pretty sure it’s just like 90% sugar with a pinch of fruit and spice flavors thrown in, but I don’t care. IT IS SO GOOD. (I have a post about Silver Dollar City’s Christmas festival in the works, hope to have it up in the next few days!)

Favorite Way to Survive A Family Holiday Weekend:

$5 worth of mini bottles at my fav liquor store (Macadoodles is awesome if you’re ever in the Springfield/Branson MO area!) = Woohoooo! The UV Cake vodka is nowhere near as good as Pinnacle’s version of cake, but omg is cherry Three Olives deeeeelicious.

Linking up with B Loved Boston for Weekending!

Happy Friday, all! Here’s what I’m loving this week!

1. I finally decorated last night!

I decorated my tree while watching Maddow (because of course I did), and then thankfully snapped a few pics. Oooh, foreshadowing!)

Bet you’re totally jealous that your house doesn’t have a 60s style faux rock wall!

Nothing says Christmas like Jessica Rabbit!

I left the tree plugged in, and was happily curled up in bed with the new Paul Theroux book when I heard the crash.

That “war on Christmas” you keep hearing about? Turns out it’s my kitten, Rachel. Everything survived except my beloved Disney World ornament. The castle is fine, but the bulb is in a zillion pieces in my trash. RIP, ornament!

2. While poking around for something to watch last night, I discovered that my cable provider has season 2 of Daria available on demand!

It’s crazy how well I remember some of these episodes, given how old they are.

3. My beloved seasonal Sugar Cookie Pop Tarts are back!

4. THESE SOCKS! Just ordered them as my Christmas present to myself. $5 well spent.

5. As soon as I finish this post, I’m running out to mail my gifts from Jordyn’s Blogger Secret Santa exchange. I had so much fun shopping for my person, hope she loves everything! And of course I’m super curious to see what kind of presents I get, too!

Linking up with these other awesome blogs for all the Friday fun!

 

 

*This post contains affiliate links, because I am poor.*

Oh, internet. Thank you for glorious art like this.

1. It’s my birthday! WOOHOO! I’ll just copy what I posted to Facebook, because it’s my birthday and I can get away with being lazy.

2. I met this chameleon at PetSmart the other day and fell in love. I seriously stood there watching him do his weird version of The Robot/that “mime in a box” thing for a good 10 minutes. I think he’s my soulmate.

 

3. Serial is back! How crazy is it that I just blogged about finally listening to season 1 last week, and then season 2 started this week? (Thanks so much to Meg of My Monochromatic Life for telling me about the Undisclosed podcast in the comments last week, btw! I’m only up to episode 9, but there have been so many “OMG, this changes everything!” moments!)

4. I couldn’t resist stopping to have my cards read while I was browsing the awesome nerdy/new-agey bookstore in Springfield this week. I’m not sure how much I believe in this kind of thing in general, but almost every card that came up had something to do with being in transition between an old life and new, which is *exactly* where I am stuck. I’m so ready to let go of where I am now and move back to Florida and start fresh, but getting the timing right seems to be a thing.

Real or not, the woman doing the reading said pretty much exactly what I needed to hear right now.

But, like.. for realsies, I got this exact card.

5. On a search for ugly Christmas sweaters, I came across this one by Blizzard Bay, and um, hello, not only is it not ugly, but a) it’s freaking adorable and b) the bird’s little skis (ice skates?) LIGHT UP. I need this in my life ASAP. C’mon, Santa! I’ve been… well, decent this year!

 

Linking up with these lovely blogs!:

 

I can’t believe it’s December! Hooray for my birthday month! Here are my favs for this week:

 

 

 

1. I know that I’m like a year behind the rest of the world, but I finally listened to Serial podcast over the past few days and am now reading through all of the updates that have happened since it ended on their site. SO ADDICTING! I need some people to discuss theories with ASAP!

2. My local thrift shop has a bag sale at the beginning of every month, and I scored some fantastic stuff this time! I got like fifty-something items for $5. Included with that was a charcoal colored Old Navy fleece vest, two purses that I’d best describe as kinda Southwestern-style?, a really unique wooden beaded bag, a cute Banana Republic top, and a whole lot of clothing items that I’m going to want to alter before wearing. (My to-sew pile is OUT OF CONTROL.) Do you guys want some kind of thrift store haul post? Just lmk if you’re interested!

3. I can’t even remember how I came across these nausea bands on Twitter (Twitter is a black hole for me in the same way that Wikipedia is for most people. You know how you look up one thing and next thing you know it’s 4 am and you’re reading about the life cycle of the honeybee or the history of Argentina something?) Anyway, I contacted the company (No Mo Nausea) ASAP because nausea is something I deal with way too frequently, and they were kind enough to send me some free bands to try! (This was way back in June, btw! I wanted to have plenty of experience before I shared!)

They look a lot like those rubbery wristbands that you wear to support various causes, but they have a little rubbery bump designed to hit the acupressure point on your wrist that helps with nausea. They’re also lightly peppermint scented, since peppermint is a popular aromatherapy for upset stomach.

 

I’ve been using these on and off since June, and they really do work! I’ve tried to make a point of slipping one on when I first start feeling icky, and that usually helps it fade away pretty quickly. The bands last quite a while, too. I think the first one I use made it about 3-4 months before it got weak from frequently being stretched over my big wrists and finally snapped. They’re definitely worth a try at $12 for a pack of 2 if you’re prone to nausea, are going through morning sickness, etc and want a natural remedy. (And nope, they’re not paying me to post about them or anything!)

4. It’s been 3 weeks since I announced this new blog, and I’m pretty excited that it already has almost 1400 page views! I know that’s a slow *day* (let alone several weeks!) for a lot of bloggers, but given that I haven’t had a ton of time to devote to it yet, I’m pretty pleased!

5. I joined in Jordyn’s Blogger Secret Santa this year, and I’m having a blast shopping for my recipient! (What’s the term for that? My gift getter?) The awesome thing about it being all bloggers is that we can totally put our social media stalking skills to good use for once to figure out what to buy!

As a final note, I am SO close to hitting 500 followers on Pintertest! I’d love if you’d visit my boards and consider following any (or all) that you like!

Linking up with these lovely blogs!: