Awardies

I have gotten the Liebster award from, actually, two wonderful bloggers these past two months.  I didn't post earlier when Angi nominated me (sorry don't hate me, but I might have forgotten), but last week Lauren nominated me and I am feeling so blessed getting these awards.

I know they (these awards) float around the blogosphere, but it does mean a lot when someone nominates you for anything!

I'm supposed to write facts and then nominate some bloggers, but I'm going to skip the facts and nominations.  Can I actually be honest with you?  I wanted to do this post because I wanted to answer the questions AND most of the bloggers that I would nominate HAVE been nominated.
 
I know I'm awful and lazy.  You can hate me if you want.

I'll have lots of fact posts you can read in the future and here are some previous award/fact posts here and here.




 
Angi's questions:

1.  What band do you listen to the most? 
Currently, I listen to Punch Brothers, Esperanza Spalding, and Mumford & Sons the most.  I just discovered Spotify, though, so I may be trying to find some new groups to listen to.  How did I miss Spotify before?!

2.  If you could change careers to anything in the world, what would you be/do?
I'd love to be a stay-at-home mom/housewife, but if I had to pick a career it would be to own my own dog kennel.  I've wanted to since I was younger and it would be so much fun.  Ideally I'd have a huge house near some water and I'd do dog-sitting.  I don't like dogs at all, couldn't you tell?

3.  Describe the best vacation you've ever taken.
Our honeymoon to Kauai.  It was the best because we went to relax and enjoy married life.  We spent lazy days on the beach and forgot about real-life problems.  Well, that's not totally true because we did deal with money.  You get it, though.

4.  Are you a cat person, a dog person, or a no-pet-person? 
I think you can answer this for yourself.  See question 2.

5.  If you could steal the style of any movie or television star, whose would you steal?
I really don't know how to answer this because I don't really follow celebrities unless they're in one of my favorite shows.  Also, I can't think of a single celebrity's style that I really like because, well, I don't follow their fashion.  Most of the women on Pinterest have great styles.  I'll just take all of theirs. 



Lauren's questions:

If you had a free Saturday, what would you do?
I would either spend a day in my clean house crafting, making a delicious dinner/dessert, and then watching a great movie or TV show on the couch with my husband.  OR I would go out for coffee, followed by a nice hike and then out for a yummy meal filled with calories (with my husband of course)!

What's your favorite "go-to" thing to cook?
Nick and I tend to make some yummy burritos lately.  I'd take those or Costco's black bean chipotle burgers.  We eat those so much.  At least one a week I swear.

What's your favorite book of all time?
This is a really hard question.  I really liked Water for Elephants and the Hunger Games, but The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks still holds a special place for me because I love cheesy novels and that one really surprised me.  I like a lot of books, though and it's hard to pick just one.

What would you do if you won the lottery tomorrow?
I would pay off all of our debt and start looking at houses!  We'd probably invest lots of it,  adult stuff, yuck, but then we'd both go on shopping sprees.  Hello Etsy and a new wardrobe :)

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What's your dream career?
A part-time teacher and part-time stay at home mom.  I could also take full-time SAHM, but I think once my kids get to be older I'd want something to do.

If you could give the 18 year old version of you advice, what would it be?
Don't worry about boys so much.  Seriously.  Your friends are amazing (and will be for many more years) and you'll meet some amazing people in college.  ENJOY IT!

Of all your Pinterest boards, which is your favorite?
Craft Time or For the Home.  I love both of those and usually look at them a lot!

What's your favorite holiday tradition?
One that I love is that my Oma and Opa host a stocking party for my dad's entire extended family (15+ people) and we open stockings filled with very random things.  Sometimes they're useful and sometimes they're just silly.  Then the throwing of wrapping paper commences once someone has finished unwrapping a gift.

My newest favorite holiday tradition (thanks to my in-laws and Nick) is going out into the forest to cut down our own Christmas tree.  We always went to tree farms (there were some really fun ones, though), but going out into the wilderness to find a tree is so much fun.  Especially when you get to bring sleds and hot chocolate!

Are you a dog or cat person?
Dog.  Always have been and always will be!

What's the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?
Use the bathroom and brush my teeth.  Very exciting stuff here.

What is your favorite season?
I love spring the most.  Even though in the northwest it means a lot of rain, I love seeing everything bloom, turn green, and the weather starting to warm up.  It also means that it's just about time for sandals and hiking season.

It's Ok Thursday:

It's Ok...

...that I watched three episodes of Walking Dead last night.  One thing, I'm glad certain people have died, but I wish others would be by now.  That's how these shows work though, right?  Feed off of your emotions and what you THINK you want.  I'm almost caught up to the current episode!  

Source: the-walking-dead-funny.tumblr.com via John on Pinterest

...to find hilarious old pictures of your husband and post them on Facebook.  He even said it was ok.

...that this Sufjan Stevens album is awesome.  Listen to it on Grooveshark for free if you like hipster music AND Christmas music.  It'll bring you good tidings of flannels and beards.

 

...to be super behind on getting my haircut.  I haven't had it cut in MONTHS.  That's bad.  Good news: I'm going tonight!  Hooray for getting bangs back!

...that we don't have a Christmas tree up yet.  Soon...very soon.

...that we also don't have a way to hang up stockings (no fireplace), so I'm forced to be extra creative.

...that the other night my husband and I stayed up 'til 2 am watching Parks and Rec.  We may have watched about 6 episodes in a row.  I don't know why or how we did that, but it happened.  

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...that I spend extra to buy jeans from American Eagle because they are one of the few jeans that actually FIT my body.  Plus, you can get any size in long and my legs are too long for regular jeans.

...to have a fighting match with your sewing machine.  I will be able to sew.  I will be able to sew.  Please?!

...that I just found out that I'll be working mostly 12 hour days come January.  Mo' money yo... but less sleep.

...that I'm just NOW working on Christmas cards.  That's ok, right?

...to have way too many Christmas decoration ideas.  I just need to pick one and do it!


What's okay with you?
Linking up with Neely and Amber.
  

 

Christmas Wishlist

Thanksgiving is over and that means it's time for some really fun gift making ideas and Christmas posts.  Hooray!

I love Christmas and everything that goes along with it.

To start of this wonderful time of year, I wanted to give you a glimpse into our Christmas wishlist.  In case you were buying us thing.

 

1.   Etsy gift cards.  Etsy is such an awesome site with some great shops and handmade goodies.  I'd love to spend money there!

2.  Tickets to see The Hobbit.  Nick and I are such LOTR nerds and we are dying to see it at midnight opening night!  We're not going to dress up, though.  Sorry.

3.  These boots.  They are incredibly cute!  I'd take them in either brown or black, but I think brown looks a little better.

4.  Rubber stamps.  I need more stamps in my life and I LOVE nature stamps, especially these tree stamps.   These ones are also a close second favorite, but really any stamp will do as long as it's not cheesy.

5.  Nick and I love Portlandia, and I still haven't seen season 2 yet.  Anyone want to buy us both seasons?!

6.  We have a Nintendo 64 and we definitely need better games.  We have Goldeneye and Starfox (two classically awesome games), but Mario kart 64 and Super Mario 64 need to be in our collection.  How can we have a 64, but not have these games?!  On that note, we could use some more controllers.  Wink wink.

What do you want for Christmas?

 

Turkey day + a winner!

We have a winner folks!

I'm very pleased to announce that Malo, from Life Feels Good in Portbail Beach, has won my blogiversary giveaway!

Congratulations Malo!  I've already sent you an e-mail all about it.

On that very wonderful note, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

We had a lot of fun being around family and friends with bellies too full and our days packed with things to do.

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We tried to do some Black Friday shopping.  By "tried" I mean we went to Best Buy to get an extremely good deal on a desktop computer.  We even waited in line for about 15 minutes (long time, I know!) until the store opened.  When we got in the store we looked everywhere for this computer deal.  We asked someone and apparently our deal was a doorbuster deal and we needed to get handed a ticket in line for it.  We were no where near the front of the line so of course we didn't get this ticket.  I was pretty upset.

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So instead we went to Walmart - we were already awake - and bought a few $2 movies.  I love Walmart for that reason.

We actually ended up finding a desktop computer the next morning from a local second hand computer shop called Second Time Around Computers.  The deal was a MUCH better deal than Best Buy had and we got a sweet custom built computer. I'll show pictures later, promise!

The rest of the weekend was spent hiking around with family, eating out at a few places with said family, and I even went mall shopping on BLACK FRIDAY with my 9-month pregnant friend (all her idea).

We hiked around Deception Pass for the first time this weekend.  It's such a beautiful area!

It was an awesome weekend.

How was yours?

T.Hanksgiving

I heard on the radio that Wednesday is supposed to be Hanksgiving.  It's a day where we give thanks to Tom Hanks.  I support Tom Hanks (and love most of his movies) and so I am thankful for him.

On that note, I am thankful for family.  Being surrounded by such wonderful people is a great blessing!

I am thankful for Pixar.  I watched Up the other day and I forgot how much I love all of Pixar's movies.  They can make me smile, cry, and laugh.  Love them.

I am thankful for the internet.  It allows me to waste countless hours, write to the world, and find funny things like this.

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I am thankful for being able to blog for a whole year.  You can still enter in my giveaway!  You have 'til Friday.  Blogging has allowed me to make some pretty wonderful friends.  You are such amazing people.

I am thankful for food.  Especially good food!

I am thankful for Nick.  I couldn't ask for a more loving and supportive husband. 

I am thankful for friends, both in real life and in the blogosphere.

Last, but not least, I am thankful for awesome TV shows.

Source: go-unicorn-go.tumblr.com via Alison on Pinterest

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Quinoa Soup

This is one of the easiest and yummiest things I have ever made.  Best thing about it?  It's healthy AND vegan!

It doesn't have an official name, but I just call it quinoa soup.

Here's what ya need:

Ingredients:
 --  4 cups of broth
 --  1 cup of quinoa (uncooked)
 --  1 cup of corn (canned or frozen)
 --  1/3 cup salsa
 --  Cilantro (we used about 1/4-1/3 cup of fresh cilantro)
 --  1 ripe avocado
 --  Lime (wedges or juice)

In a large pot boil the broth.


Once it's boiling, add in the quinoa.  Cook for about 15-20 minutes on low heat (cook until the quinoa is done).

After the quinoa is cooked add in the corn, salsa, and cilantro.  Bring to a boil.

You can either let it boil down or have it with a little more liquid.  It depends on what you want.  I liked it with just a little bit of broth, but not so much that it's runny.

Add in the avocado and lime juice in the pot or when you serve your soup (add to taste of course).

Serve it and eat it!  It's incredibly filling and so easy to make.  We made a double batch and froze it and it seems to be just fine.

Ear Candy: A few favorites

It's almost Thanksgiving and you know what that means?!
Christmas things and goodies are coming out this weekend.  YES!

I love decorating for Christmas, and Pinterest has been providing me with a million different ideas for Christmas decor, handmade gifts, and so much more.  I know Christmas isn't about any of those things and it might be the commercialism speaking, but it is one perk that I really enjoy.


I am so excited.  There was a lot of excitement in that period.
So excited in fact that I am going to share some ear candies that make me excited because they are some of my favorites.  I hope you enjoy!



Jamie Cullum
I love Jamie Cullum.  He has some awesome covers of great songs.  One of my favorites:

Ratatat
Nick showed me this group.  This album (9 Beats) is pretty fun to listen to when you just want to walk around like a gangster in your house.

Mumford & Sons
I finally jumped on the Mumford & Sons train.  A little late, I know.  BUT, I'm so glad I did!  This song could play in my car everyday and I wouldn't care.

Sufjan Stevens
Nick introduced me to Sufjan (pronounced soof-yawn) when we first started dating.  I'm half and half with his music.  Some of it is hard for me to get into, but there are a lot of songs that I really really dig.  This is one of those songs (probably one of his most famous as well).

Lonely Island
Nick and I love Lonely Island.  I love the humor and the irony of most of their songs.  I know most of them have language, but here's one that I tend to jam out to that only swears a couple of times. You have been warned!

It's Ok...to be Ron Swanson.

First off, it's not too late to enter into my blogiversary giveaway!  You have until next week Friday, so get to it!

Now, onto a linkup that I've been doing since the beginning of my blogging life.

It's Ok...

...that I've been blogging for a year now and I still don't have it down.  I go through writing blocks (thank you themed linkups like this for saving me!) and I'm still trying to figure out the best way to plan out posts.  Sometimes I get too excited though, and I want to share it with you right away.  Someday I'll master this.

...that I spent a few minutes moving around that comma after though.  Should it go before or after?  Or both?  AH!  My brain has run away from me!

...to watch the Price is Right from time to time.  I watch it more for the reactions.  These people are pretty ridiculous sometimes.

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...that I'm excited and nervous to watch all four girls (that I nanny) overnight!  Should be crazy, but at least I get to cuddle with a 4-year-old and a cuddly dog.  Makes up for not having Nick with me.

...to write a blog post in the middle of the day.

...that I saw this video on Facebook and laughed so hard.

...that I'm so far behind on Christmas gifts.  I've made a few, but I know I'm going to be running around crazy if I don't do them soon.  Damn procrastination.

...that that was my first time ever swearing on my blog.  I'm pretty sure.

...to be super surprised by the incredibly nice weather and wish you didn't have to work so you could go hiking in it.  COME BACK SATURDAY!

...to laugh really hard last night while watching Parks and Recreation because of this face.

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...that I am suddenly loving all of these gifs around the internet world.

Blogiversary

Here it is!  Did you think it would ever come to this?  I didn't!

If you would've asked me a year ago where I thought my blog was going, I probably wouldn't have had a clue.  I'm sure it also wouldn't include having 130+ followers!

You guys are all awesome. 

Technically, I didn't start my blog a year ago (I had it before, but it was nothing.  Just a webspace), but who cares!

It's time to celebrate!

In honor of that and all my wonderful followers, I wanted to do a little giveaway.

Want to know what you could win?

A nice relaxing gift set chosen by me!  I thought we all could use some nice relaxing treats on this fast-approaching winter time.

 
I picked two of my favorite books (Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie), a very nice and eco-friendly travel mug, and a Starbucks gift card.  A few things that help make me relax.

Go ahead and enter in below.  Good luck to you all and thanks so much for being apart of this blog journey of mine!  I wouldn't change this past year for anything.

Giveaway ends on Friday, November 23rd.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
All items were purchased by me and will be shipped via USPS.
Winner will be notified by e-mail.

Japan!

The fun thing about having a best friend who lives in Japan is that you get to receive really, and I mean really, random, silly, yet cute, gifts.

Check this out.

Aren't these awesome?!

They're blow-up paper penguins.

You blow them up from a hole near their feet (yeah it's a little risque) and viola!  You have cute little paper penguins!

I have decided that they are to be the start of our winter decorations.  Hey, it's already snowing on the east side of the state!

Previous Japanese presents have included: a sushi car freshener (because I dislike sushi and no it didn't smell like sushi), a good luck waving cat, singing cards (even written in Japanese), and many more that I know I'm forgetting.

What are your silly gifts?!

Wicked + fabric decor!

First things first.  Wicked.

It blew my mind.  It was so much better than what I thought it was going to be!  The set design and changes were amazing and the singing was phenomenal. 

 I may have snuck a picture before it started.  Sshhh!

I forgot how much I love musicals and how fantastic they are!  I even warned Nick to expect more trips to come.  He's dreading it so excited!

Continuing on!

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We've been living at our place for about 8 months now and we still have empty walls.  It is seriously difficult to find cheap, but still cute decorations to put on big wall spaces.

Our bedroom has been the one room to be pretty neglected and it's sad!
 
I searched Pinterest for a long time before finally coming up with an idea for the space above our bed. 

I tweaked a project I found and made it into my own.

I like it.  I was a little on edge at first, but it really does look good and if you work it right, it can be a super inexpensive decoration idea.

Want to know how to make it?  It's pretty simple!

Here's whatcha need:

 
-- Staple gun (with staples, of course)
-- 3 foam boards (you can buy them at Michael's or any other craft store)
-- Fabric (I got two different kinds to match our bedroom.  You'll have to get enough depending on the size of your foam board)
-- Scissors
--  Yard stick or ruler (to help measure and cut your fabric)


Measure out your fabric to fit your foam boards.  I made it so there was an extra foot on each measurement (a foot for width and a foot for height).

When you've got that all cut out and measured go ahead and get your first board ready.

Put the fabric flat on the ground and center the foam board on top of it. 

I started by stapling the top and bottom first.  After you staple one side, for example: the top, and your going on to the bottom, make sure that you are pulling the fabric nice and tight as you go.  If you don't then you are likely to get some nice big air bubbles or wrinkles in your craft.  Not too flattering!

You can staple as far apart as you think you need it to be.  It's a judgement call.  Mine are only a couple inches away from each other.  I was pretty paranoid that it was going to pop off, that's why.

Once that is done, move on the sides of the board.  Staple the corners like you would fold a present. 

The back doesn't need to look perfect because, well, it's the back!  

Mine definitely isn't the prettiest.

 Do the same thing for all three boards, making sure to pull nice and tight around all the sides of the board.

That's it!

I've seen some people stencil things onto fabric, but I couldn't find any nice stencils around here, so I used some of my many alphabet stencils instead.  My husband would like to mention that he is the one who thought of the curving dream (it's nice to have a second opinion on things).

 If you make it, let me know how you did and if you changed anything!

Hello Friday. How are you?

Dear husband, I hope you feel better soon!  Although you are pretty cute when you're sick and trying to sing along to songs.

Dear house, why do you always get so messy so fast?!  I feel like I just cleaned you and here you are laughing at me with your stuff everywhere.

Dear Office,  you are still hilarious.  Thanks for being funny even when Michael Scott isn't there.  I'm going to miss you next year!

Source: Uploaded by user via The on Pinterest

Dear Netflix,  stop feeding my husband's obsession with weird movies.  Seriously, too many weird movies for me.

Dear society, please use proper grammar.   

Source: weheartit.com via Alison on Pinterest

Dear sun, I love seeing you!  Thanks for coming out these past few days!  Stay out for another day so Nick and I can go exploring in the sun.  Thanks!

Dear bloggers,  is is rude to not swap buttons with someone?

Dear dogs and house that we're watching, I hope you treat us well this weekend!  I'm excited to play with all three of you border collies this weekend out in the country.  Hooray for getting my dog fix in!  We really need to get our own dog.

Dear America,  

Run, run, run as fast as you can...

Today is my Friday.  THANK YOU!

I have been up since 4 this morning and I am more than grateful for sleeping in tomorrow.

[insert transitioning paragraph here]

Now, I think it's time for a little running update.  I haven't talked about training/running in awhile and I'm sure you all are dying to know!


Well, it's going alright.  Nothing spectacular (minus the fact that I can run at least 2.5 miles non-stop!), but then nothing super depressing either.  I have learned quite a few things about myself and running in general, so I wanted to share a little with you.


What I've learned from my training so far:

1.  I can only run half as much on a treadmill than when I run outside.  We got memberships to the Y and I just about died tried running 2 miles (don't criticize me), but got super sore and tired after running not even a mile!  What is that?!   It may be because I need more stimulation when I run because I tend to let my brain wander into all of my aches and pains if there isn't anything going on.  This brings me to my next point...

Source: gatopreto.ciberarte.com.br via Daniela on Pinterest

2.  Running is so mental.  Seriously.  If I'm running and think I can't run a whole lot that day, then I won't.  If I'm on a treadmill and there isn't anything really going on around me, I may focus on my running a little too much.  Why can't they have TV's at the Y...  I'm going to try reading while running and see if it works, if not then I may just have to resort to running outside (which is okay).

3.  Underarmor = instant warmth.  I put on my Underarmor shirt and instantly became warm.  It felt so good!  If you are running outside in the cold, I highly recommend getting a nice base layer (tight spandex-y shirt).

4.  Running with a partner or good music makes the time FLY.  This goes for running with my husband or just my iPod.  My favorite partner, however, is this cutie: Conway.

5.  I can't push myself too much.  I had to take almost a whole week off because my calves were fire.  Seriously, I tried to run a mile and they were in so much pain.  Same thing happened two days later when I tried again.  I don't know if I didn't stretch enough before/after my runs or if I just pushed myself too much.  I'm trying to not run so hard so fast right now, so we'll see!

 

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Any good running tips?