I love a man that can cook

Culinary excellence in the form of challah french toast. This is my victory "breakfast" (note the time stamp) for a sweeping win in this weeks football bets. Also, never eat a spoon full of cinnamon. Trust me, it's just a bad bad plan. At least with a stuffy nose.

Merry Christmas!

I can honestly say, that this was the best christmas I've had in a while. Looking back on last year still makes me sad, and this one..was..awesome. Christmas eve was spent at the Commune in Chapel Hill. We played Tony Hawk for a bit and then sang alot of Karaoke. Dinner, well, that was typical classic awesome commune: Dinosaur chicken nuggets, mozarella sticks, mac and cheese (made with no milk, but an ENTIRE STICK of butter) and pasta. Quite tasty, and a good time was had by all. Mike and I drove back home that night where he found a "Merry Christmas" lint roller under his car

Christmas morning Mike and I woke up at my house, we lit up the tree, lets the cats have their stockings (super bad for them cat food), dobby ate his (crickets...yum?) and we opened our stockings (seriously, HP silly bandz and gold coins..yum) I got him a chess set (which he has beat me with twice) and he got me a color change coffee mug, HP cookbook, another book Ive been wanting to read. He's excellent. After a quick stop at Waffle House we headed up the mountain to my parents'.

We let mom and dad open their gifts and took a bunch of photos. Mike was super proud of have gotten dad a 2 pack of JIF (you can see him guarding it below) and Mom loved the gift basket he got her. I made a calender for mom and then got dad a couple really thick books in various subjects for him to look at. Everyone seemed really happy at the end of the day.

I ended up having to show Mom and Granny their calenders on my computer, because they had yet to arrive (from who knows where) so Mike got a couple shots of everyone crowded around the screen.

Finally. Aren't we cute? Seriously.

my apologies for being quite so pic heavy. that's the point of the holidays, no?

Christmas is HERE

I spent weeks and months away from a computer. It helped to have a mini computer, ala McD, but it's not quite the same. I am back. Horray. I will do my best to catch up. We shall see how it goes. My mom and dad brought me some holiday decorations. First up, MY TREEEE. The cats are probably demolishing it as we speak, but, they can not kill my love of the tree. My mom and I decorated it in an NCSU theme. I happened to have a Anti Carolina button, if you look closely I think you can find it. It was my first time actually getting to decorate MY APARTMENT. So, I got to do an awesome table centerpiece with a really pretty silver charger and a advent calender.

Finally, today, the weather finally got a bit frightful. No work, so I kept inside and caught up on some sleep. Some desperately needed sleep.

Happy Christakah

Four Things

With all the weirdness that has been going on as of late, it's easy to forget all the little things. I used to keep track of a "happy list" that always made me smile. So, here goes, 4 simple things that are making me happy this weekend

2. Ive been looking for new winter boots. THESE lovely things are to DIE for and are quite cheap, and will do the trick for the season.


3. This. Show. Is. Addicting. I can't help it. I have been worthless all day. I only feel *slightly* guilty about this fact.

4. So, this game is the only thing that has kept me upto date with Mike while he's hiking in Whotah. It's how I know that he is not dead, I do enjoy this momentary update, until he disappears and I do have to remember that service in the desert, is a bit sketchtastic.


5. Learning how to play guitar, in the middle of the night, in my happy place. I Look like I know what I am doing. I don't. Yet.

101 things in 1001 days.
The New List.
Started: 11/12/2010
Ending: 8/8/2013

DIY Goddess

A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something. - Frank Capra

1. Learn how to crochet.
2. Take at least one picture a day for 6 months, upload to flickr/blog then make a coffee table book using those pictures
3. Get a sewing machine, complete 5 sewing projects after getting said machine
4. make a quilt
5. complete 33 crafty/DIY projects from online
6. learn to use my candy making kit
7. give only handmade items as gifts for Christmas.
8. fill my bookshelves with beautiful thrifted books
9. learn a new language, enough to be able to converse in that country
10. go to the ballet
11. buy an SLR and take classes with it

Be a healthier hippie
Strange is our situation here upon earth. - Albert Einstein

1. Break habit of hitting the snooze button for hours
2. Go get an eye exam and renew contact/glasses prescription, a dental check up and a woman doctor visit YEARLY
3. take a spin class.
4. Find new ways to reduce regular expenses/bills (i.e. groceries, cable, internet, cell phones, utilities, car insurance, etc.)
5. develop five habits to make my life more "green". (4/5: eliminate paper towel usage as much as possible, bring mug to work to reuse for water/coffee, buy more organic fruits & veggies, remember to use cotton grocery bags on a regular basis)
6. workout at least 5 days a week
7. give blood
8. save 3 months of expenses.
9. find a way to dispose of nasty cat litter, eliminating plastic bags
10. go through the magazines, collect the articles that are worthwhile, and throw the bulk away
11. be able to do 25pushups in a row
12. Don’t drink caffeine or carbonated drinks for 21 days.
13. cook with my own kitchen counter-top herb garden
14. plant an outdoor patio container garden, wildflowers included!
15. buy myself flowers five times.
16. buy 10 handmade things
17. Host a swap party with friends.

See the sights
“He who does not travel does not know the value of men.” – Moorish proverb

1. Go on a cruise.
2. Attend a music festival.
3. Stay in a bed & breakfast.
4. go on a roadtrip through states ive never been to.
5. Take a weekend trip to a different city.
6. go to france OR italy OR australia
7. go back to NYC and DC
8. travel somewhere by myself, ALL ALONE,
9. go to vegas
10. go somewhere special with my mom, for a trip. far away
11. see a broadway show, on broadway, with decent seats
12. drive down the NC coast, hitting every lighthouse along the way
13. go camping outside NC, and hike to a waterfall
14. visit canada again
15. go to 5 museums in different cities
16. go sailing/ boating
17. go to an amusement park and ride all the coasters

Act like an adult
You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.” – Abraham Lincoln

1. upload and organize the files on my old laptop
2. buy my own house
3. set a schedule of when to do things (cleaning and bill paying, etc) and STICK TO IT, for two months
4. clean and fix my car
5. pay off my debts
6. Get a nice flat screen tv.
7. put my old videos onto DVD's
8. buy a piggy bank and put at LEAST $2 in change in for every completed task.
9. clean the boxes of clutter out of my apartment
10. complete apartment therapy
11. cook and host thanksgiving at my house, with a sit-down dinner spread
12. keep track of everyone’s birthdays and send real birthday and christmas cards
13. get in the habit of taking my own lunch to work at least 3 days a week
14. go to IKEA and buy way too much.

Play like a little kid
I was wise enough to never grow up while fooling most people into believing I had. Margaret Mead

1. Build a snowman and a sandcastle
2. Carve a pumpkin
3. learn to ride a motorcycle, and then buy my own
4. ride an inner-tube down a river
5. get a new tattoo
6. listen to killer queen while drinking Moet Et Chandon
7. throw a costume party, a big one..
8. host a yuppy dress up dinner party
9. have a hammock and drink sweet tea while swinging in the breeze
10. take ballet dancing classes
11. reunite with the fourple
12. go on a real picnic, with picnic basket
13. purchase five books I remember from my childhood

I am me, just better.
Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else. ~Judy Garland

1. Read 30 books (5 of them being classic novels, 5 “Best Sellers” 5 “change the way you thinks/teach you somethings”, 2 biographies.) (1/30, 0/5, 1/5, 0/5, 0/2)
2. Get a bicycle
3. learn to love my PS3, or stop using it as a bookend
4. get a library card, use it.
5. go an entire week without gossiping and being negative.
6. do a "whats in my bag" blogpost, bi-monthly, and post an "outfit of the day" photo, once a month
7. be in a boudoir shoot
8. find 33 things about myself that I love.
9. get a tan, a nice tan, not a "im a pale irish girl burn"
10. get a massage every 6 weeks
11. get proficient at shooting a 40cal
12. style my hair and do my makeup every work day for 3 weeks
13. wear dresses every weekend day all summer long
14. do the full face/teeth routine everyday for a month
15. get a new wardrobe, to dress like an adult
16. go back to grad school
17. Write down 5 good things a day for a month straight (or longer)
18. bake at least 1 pie/cupcake/etc each month, from scratch

Comfort Zone, what?!
Life loses its meaning when we get stuck up in comfort zone. M.K. Soni

1. go bungee jumping
2. go skydiving
3. surf.
4. try three foods I've never had before and have at least 2 bites of each
5. attend five concerts
6. try out five local restaurants that I've never been to.
7. have a wine tasting party
8. get a dog
9. go on a ghost hunt
10. take pole dancing classes
11. learn to drive a stick shift.

Why a new list? Why a new blog?

So, I started a new 101 things list, and I also started a new blog. "I triceratops...' only reminded me of bad memories, so I had to clean that out.

Life, Liberty and Wine. This blog will serve as a driving force to finish the goals on my list, pushing my -Life- to new comfort zones.... I had to make a new one, but Ill get to that in a moment. I feel pretty free - Liberated - even, and I feel pretty confident moving into things. And -Wine- ... needs no explanation.

When I looked over my old list, alot of things just were not valid anymore. I have a 401K now, thanks to my job, I don't need to repaint my entire apartment, I moved into a new one, and I don't have to make my tank awesome, I got rid of it. I did fly by myself, but that's a memory I don't mind forgetting, so it didn't make the new list.

I'm excited about this new one. I think it'll lead to awesome fun times. I have a couple people that are willing to join me on alot of my crazy adventures, so, things are looking up.

Stick around :)