Monday surprises at work make me smile :)

That guy I date.. ya know... Eric..... yeah... He kinda made my day just now. :)

Have a great Monday, everyone! *still smiling*

This post is likely b/c I'm tired.

Hi peeps! Girls weekend at the lake=a total blast! I'm tired so pics will wait til tomorrow, but they're all uploaded and edited...(this info is more for the girls on the trip so they don't think I went and forgot. Love you, hottnesses!)

A quick post tonight...

My roomie's dog and mine are friends...see?

But, when my roomies dog...(see below)
...is outside tonight like this...
...and then IMMEDIATELY walks in and does this....
I kinda lose it a little...

Just.sayin.

I really love her dog...but...

(yes, the pic is gross. sorry.)

Anyway.....

Hope you had a great weekend! :)

GUESS WHAT?!

You can likely tell from the extremely artistic rendering, but in case it's not 100% clear (haha)

...... ERIC AND I ARE GOING TO HAWAII!!!!!!!!!!!!

We've wanted to book something for the fall...aka when the Caribbean is in hurricane season. Sure there's trip insurance, but that just means no vacation if a hurricane comes....or being stuck in one. Both not fun options. So, we started looking stateside...and couldn't decide. We looked in Mexico, but again, couldn't decide... and we didn't really want to go all-inclusive b/c we're explorers of sorts and don't like being stuck one place for meals, etc. (Granted, all inclusives are kinda awesomesauce). We looked at Canada, but Oct/Nov might not be the most fun in Canada (brrrr!!). We did a random search for Hawaii and low and behold, the fall is "shoulder season" aka rates are EXTREMELY low to get there. THEN, the hotel Eric's parents loved is having some minor construction onsite, sooo rates are like 70% off. It was as though someone was screaming "ARE YOU MORONS?! BOOK THIS RIGHT NOW!" We're going to Hawaii more cheaply than we'd be going almost anywhere else we looked beach-related. YEEHAW!

My logical brain kept saying "Save money. SAVE MONEY." But, everything else was saying "Hey, Planny McPlannerson, do it. You're single, don't have children yet, and might as well go see as much as you can!"

So, it's obvious which side won.

I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!

We're going to Maui.. tips/advice/recommendations appreciated! :)

(last) weekend pics....and this weekend's recap!

From the jalapeno hand weekend... with this weekend's recap below it... :)

Jalapeno Hand weekend:

Me with my corn dip! Note my shirt. Remember when it was a dress? Yeah, well.. lesson in not buying things from Tar-jay (yeah, I said tar-jay. I hear that's cliche. so sue me. whatever). and expecting them to stand the test of time. :( I didn't even dry it! Hell. Whatever. Check out my cute, new shirt then! ha!

Eric's friend had a hulk hand (it was really soft despite how it looks), that said something like "Hulk scores!" or something (I dont remember) when you touched anything. Check out Eric pretend cowering as I look semi crazy. (the crazy wasn't intentional, but I really do look a little maniacal. Nervous). ;)
Eric with the hand looking threatening. (Being threatening in a papasan takes away a couple intimidation points) ;)
The girls..
The guys...
Did I tell you we decided to go play laser tag? ha! Yeah, we did. I'd never played. We got put in the (very hot) maze with a bunch of high schoolers likely wired on 5 hour energy....b/c I dont ever remember being that excited about anything in high school. I didn't know how to adequately shoot my gun and ended up getting a tinge frustrated. Have I mentioned I'm competitive? Yeah. Not as much as I used to be before law school, but sometimes it comes back. I don't throw a tantrum or anything stupid, but I was definitely pouty in my head b/c I placed something like 19th. *cringe* It was fun, though...have to admit.

Oh and um.. saw this randomly hilarious picture and thought "whoa!" I drew an arrow to show you what I'm referring to... Be scared of these guns, peeps. I haven't been doing tricep dips for nuthin. ;) I'm so intimidating...haha...right. This is the right lighting with the right angle with a heavy handbag. But still...

Here we are, girls holding their scorecards! (I'm fake smiling b/c I was a little miffed that I lost so badly but was trying to not be a baby...haha!)

*********

Now this this last weekend!

Well, I didn't take any photos. *shrugs* Didn't do much Friday. Saturday, got up SUPER early and took my car in for a long overdue oil change, tire rotation, etc. Do you feel so victorious when you do car errands? Yes, that's a girly thing to say, but dangit I feel good when I do it.

Anyway, my car got a great report (I was totally thinking they'd tell my lead-footed self I need break pads soooo that was excellent news). Then, I headed to the gym! Yes, peeps.. on a Saturday morning...before 9:30. (In case I've never mentioned, I'm not a morning person. Never have been. Never will be.) Was home and in my swim attire ready for a random day at our local water park with some of Eric's friends..very proud of myself I might add..feeling so good about how much I'd gotten done and going to enjoy some sun when...peeps canceled. Grr! *stomping foot and actually growling*

No curly slides. No intertubes. No overpriced entrance fee. No acting like a 12 year old. No wave pool. Hmph. (I really wasn't that upset; just being dramatic)

So, I proceeded to sit in my bikini/coverup and research tropical vacations whilst watching the travel channel, smelling like my pre-applied sunblock (I'm prepared) and pouting a little that I'd hurried to get a lot accomplished and had then been halted... All in all, I'm glad we didn't go though b/c it was freaking 100 degrees outside and that would have been miserable. And since we didn't go, Eric got some extra studying in so we went to dinner then out to the riverwalk for dessert for a bit.. We'd wanted to see a movie Saturday night, but we're old were just too tired.

BUUUUUT, we saw it Sunday! What movie was it?

Inception! Have you seen it? Cause um.. it was right up this Lost watcher's alley. Loved.it. Confusing as hell during some parts, but really dug it.

And yep.. that was the weekend. Didn't do a ton, but a good one overall for sure! :) Is it SO HOT where you are right now? We have crazy heat advisories going on! I feel like I'm baking myself when I walk outside. Hope your week has started off well!

Morsels of randomness

Yeah yeah.. I'm lazy and haven't uploaded the weekend's photos yet.. haha.. But, for some randomness:

1. A few of you asked for the spicy corn dip recipe. It's so easy and heeeeere it is: RECIPE. :) Just please...remember to wear gloves unless you want to join the jalapeno hand club. :)

2. My roommate just told me she has pink eye. And has had it for three days. She's on meds...now. But, that might have been good info to have a few days ago...haha.. Sooo.. cross your fingers that I don't get the elementary school illness of freaking pink eye.

3. Eric's new neighbors moved in a week or two ago during the night and are nice...enough. But apparently had goats at their house.. and when asked about it by another neighbor, they said they were going to kill them. And they did. In the backyard. To eat. Eric said he thought a child had been crying or something. I'm so disgusted and disturbed and I'll refrain from a tangent about this... for now. Gracie is never going to Eric's house. That's all I'm sayin. (and yes, Eric lives in a nice little neighborhood...not on a farm. Crazy!)

4. I have a girls weekend NEXT WEEKEND and am SO excited I can barely stand it! :) A group of us have rented a house on the lake and are gearing up for some laughter, wine, outlet shopping, and overall awesomeness. Then....Eric and I are headed to COLORADO for a concert! I've never been to Colorado in the summer...or in YEARS for that matter! I'm so excited, I google photos of Colorado when I need a break from work...haha.. :) We're still thinking about planning a longer vacay for the fall, so who knows...but right now I'm excited for some long weekend fantabulousness with good peeps! This is coming from someone who hasn't taken a formal (non holiday) day off since long before I switched jobs! (left old job on a Tuesday, started new one on that Wednesday).

5. I've been sticking with this working out and eating well thing. I mean.. I don't eat tofu for ever meal or anything...by any means... but I've been snacking healthier and hitting the gym even when I'm unmotivated. Jax=proud of herself. :) (no idea why I just said that in third person. Sorry).

6. I went to get my birth control today and was informed it now has a generic. That's good...right? Sure. EXCEPT I now I have virtually no choice but to take the generic b/c the nongeneric shot up to 80 bucks under my insurance since a generic is now available. Arg. I've read mixed reviews online about it being 100% fine...all the way to it causing chest and stomach pains. Arg. We shall see, huh... That was all TMI, but it is what it is.

7. Ohmygosh, so do you have a carbon monoxide detector? If your answer is no, this story is about to scare you a little. Eric has one (it's combined with his fire alarm). It started going off on Sunday out of nowhere. Not having ever heard it before, he walked to it and saw that it read "Move to clean air." AGH! Two firetrucks later, it was determined he had enough carbon monoxide in there to likely cause him to not wake up if he'd gone to sleep that night. HOLY WHAT?! Apparently, his hot water heater needed to be replaced... Anyway, whoa. This is my PSA for carbon monoxide detectors.

Yeah, there was no rhyme or reason to any of that so thanks for reading the random thoughts in my little brain this evening. Happy middle of the week, peeps!

Cooking Lesson

This weekend, Eric and I went to a friend's bbq. (more pics coming tomorrowish). I was super excited to make spicy corn dip. Spicy corn dip=awesomesauce dip my friends always make for stuff and it's extremely easy and YUMMY! It's seriously the crack of dips, people. So, I obviously wanted to take it to Eric's friend's bbq and be the girl who brought the amazing dip. Duh.

After an interesting episode at the grocery store where an idiot employee tried to tell me hominy was the same thing as Mexican corn and I almost flipped sh*t b/c I was running incredibly late, I made it home (thanks to Jenny's calming advice as to where Mexican corn is located in that particular store). I had 30 minutes to make the dip, shower, and get ready/to Eric's house. (See, I said I was running late).

I immediately started frantically chopping things and combining ingredients.. I was rocking.and.rolling. like freaking M@rtha Stewart, people.

I made the dip in 10 minutes or so and rushed to the shower...when my hand started hurting.

You know I'm not exactly a chef if you've been reading this for awhile, but I get points for trying. And I'm not bad.. I just don't have a lot of cooking experience.

Well, here's what I learned this weekend:

When seeding these...

always wear these....
B/c if you don't, your hand will feel like this....
...for um, hours.

(Thanks to Eric for pouring milk over my hand in a bowl, taking an ice pack to the party for me, and not making fun of me...and also immediately complimenting me on my dip)

As an aside, the dip was a freaking major hit. Jalapeno hand=worth it.

The birthday/holiday weekend post with all the pictures...

...and I mean a LOT of pics. Sorry, I couldn't really help myself...

Thursday=bday dinner with some of my girl friends at Sonoma... yum!

Then, Friday, dinner with some of my really good friends at Ciao! I lurve my girl friends from the above pic, but I also wanted a chillax, low key dinner with some of my very close friends. Last year, I had a happy hour thing with what became a somewhat big group-girl friends from above, old friends, close friends, strangers I didn't know (seriously), and felt a little overwhelmed... Soooo Eric planned a separate dinner for Friday and I'm so glad he did... I had a really good time...:)

As an inside joke, Eric got me a bottle of wine with a puzzle lock on it... I'd tell the story, but it's long and doesn't matter. It's random and funny..and none of us could get the puzzle undone. :) (Side note: Puzzles frustrate the hell out of me, but Eric's given me gifts in them before and they're kinda fun....before you get really frustrated and want to break it; not like I've ever done that. ;) If you need a fun way to give a little gift/gift card/cash, etc, it's a great idea.... Here's one).

This woulda been adorableness, but there's an orb on Maureen's face. I forgot to get another one... hells bells...
Timberly brought an adorable cake and I managed not to drop it in this photo.. :)
Awww... :)
Woke up Saturday morning and.....it was pouring. It actually poured all.freaking.day. But, Eric=awesomesauce and the day was pretty freaking fab despite the rain! :)

He made me breakfast, peeps! (No one has ever made me breakfast...well...except for my mom). Loved it.
Annnnnd in case I haven't mentioned before, my boyfriend can cook...and cook well. Breakfast potatoes from scratch, bacon, eggs, blueberry pancakes, fruit....and mimosas. I could kinda go for a mimosa right now, but that's an aside...
Then, it was present time!!!
Okay, so I'd bought a fedora at Forever21 and I'd really wanted to wear it Saturday in the sun. It wasn't sunny, so I opted to wear it in the house. Whatever. It is what it is. And please note.. among my gifts from Eric were two swimsuits! ha! Yes, I'd wanted them, but if you've been reading awhile, you'll remember my post about my slight obsession with swimsuits. I like that my boyfriend supports my addiction... But, see how happy they make me?! And c'mon...with the fedora?! Helllllllo I'm practically on a beach in this photo... haha.. ;) The rest of the day was spent going around down, eating lunch, hanging out, and darting in and out of the rain :) He'd gotten tix to see Eclipse (signs he must really love me..haha) so I subjected him we went to see it early evening then headed for some sushi...
A fabulous birthday...rain or not. I think it was almost more fun BECAUSE it rained... The best days are the ones where plans go awry sometimes... :) My mom had to go out of town and most of you know I'm an only child, so I was extra thankful for Eric making my last bday in my 20s special and fun...

And on to the 4th of July! There are a lot of pics, sooo I'll keep text to a minimum.. We went to two bbqs and ultimately ended up watching Tulsa's main fireworks show over the river while the rain slowly came down.... :) And while Eric tried to grill, I played with the camera. Typical.

Ooh ooh! Lookie at my shoes in the below! They were one of my gifts from Eric! I really wanted some Sperry Top Siders and I got some! (please ignore the fact that now our shoes kind of match. That was an unintentional outcome of wanting said boat shoes and the likely reason he didn't get me navy blue ones). If you've never tried Sperrys, you need to...sooo comfy.
How many guys does it take to get the grill going in the drizzle with the wind blowing?

One?
Two?
Three? Yes. Definitely three. ;)
Demonstrating my grill helpfulness...or just wearing a ring from one of the cupcakes and trying to look like a bad@ss. Whatever.
The dumpster takes away from the setting, but whatever. I like playing with self timers and black and white.


Afton (the cute blonde) and Brian brought their baby girl to the bbq. She was on her 3rd Independence Day outfit! ha! Adorable.
I didn't feel like beer, so I put wine in the cooler. Judge me. It's fine. (plus we finally got that damn puzzle off from above)


A little rain-soaked but whatever... :)
Awesome weekend. 6 stars on a 5 star scale...:) Thanks for sticking with this post til the end... I get rambly in my old age... ;)

So, I'm 29.... :)

First of all, THANK YOU for the sweet birthday wishes! :) I'm totally an excited kid with every bday wish.. all cheesy and smiley. :) Thank you for thinking of me, friends. :)

I took a LOT of photos this weekend and am too lazy to upload them all right now, but I'll leave you with one.. Did anyone in your yard resemble Eric and friends attempting to set off fireworks then ducking/darting to safety? Yeah. Comedy.

I hope everyone had a great and loooooong weekend! (although never long enough, right?) We got a TON of rain, but still had a great weekend... and I had a fantastic birthday! Pics to come.

So, in my 29th year, I've decided that by the age of 30 (next year..agh!), I am going to be in awesomsauce shape. Yes, I am going to ring in my 30th birthday with a fab physique and healthy eating habits. I'm admittedly not horrible with eating..and I get to the gym...but just think about how healthy I'd be if I made those things a top priority?! Just.sayin.

Happy Monday on a Tuesday! Hope your short work week is fabulous! Will upload pics manana.. :)

This weekend....

Hi ya'll! Hope you're gearing up for a fabulous, long weekend! :)

This weekend, I plan to wear one of these...or at least in spirit...
...and hopefully will not have a nervous breakdown that I'm 29 tomorrow..aka a year away from 30.

...which might explain my plan to have a few of these.....

(I'm teasing btw.. totally fine with the birthdayness...) :)

We plan to do some of this...

...and see some of theeeeeese....

And hopefully look like THIS by weekend's end.. except maybe less yellow and with hair.

Hope everyone has a great, long weekend!

In Memory of Cohen..

...a day of blog silence. Please click the image to read Cohen's story.

Randomtown

Your unsolicited dose of Jackie-cant-sleep randomness...

***I want a fedora. Everyone is sold out of the cute ones. Advice appreciated. I dont know why I want one, but I just do. And it doesnt hurt that my stylist told me my scalp was dry dry dry from getting it fried a few times this summer since I don't wear hats at the pool enough. Hells bells. Anyway, I want a fedora.

***Ya'll remember how my dog had a history of...ahem...glandular issues of the rear end? It's tmi, but seriously.. we were at the vet A.LOT. with this issue...and it was often very unpleasant for the poor pup, requiring antibiotics, etc. :( Well, a vet tech told me last time to put a spoonful of canned pumpkin (not the pumpkin pie mix...just pumpkin), in her food b/c it would totally help! It's been MONTHS and no issue at all! (knock on wood). Anyway, yay! If your pup has issues, go to Whole Foods and get some! (the only place I could find it in town).

***Went to my former Vice President's casa tonight to watch the Bachelorette, have some fajitas, and share some laughs.. :) I'm so flattered they still include me in that stuff since I no longer work there. I dig my friends from my former jobbidy! :) She also got us all candles from her interior designer's place! They came in these cute little boxes.. They smell SO GOOD, peeps. SO GOOD. I just lurve scents, don't you?! They totally affect my mood. I could sit there and smell yummy things forever.. I just find it so calming. Anyway, I think I'm going to have to do a giveaway with one of these candles b/c they're awesome. And I may have it sitting beside me (unlit) on the bed so it wafts to my nose as I type this... Mmmmmmmmm!!

What are you fav scents and from where (if they're a candle or something)? :)

***While we're on the Bachelorette, who's your fav?! I just love Roberto. I love Chris L, too, though.. I've never enjoyed Frank, so the previews for the next few weeks really pissed me off at that little man. Just sayin.

***My roomie was walking around in sweats complaining of having the chills when I got home. Drinking vitamin C stuff like nobody's business b/c if she gets me sick for my birthday, I might have to train Gracie to be an attack dog. Or something. *glancing at Gracie and see her beached on my bed; definitely not attack dog material. Whatevs.

Off to dreamland....xoxo... :)