Favs on Friday - Sparkley Shoes

This week I was contemplating what would be my favorite this, it was kind of a toss up. But I decided to go with Sparkley shoes. I actually have three pairs however I was only wearing this one thru the week at my new client site. Sparkley shoes jazz up my usual drab work attire which is typically various shades of gray and black (I'm probably the least colorfully dressed person at work). But having shoes that sparkle just make me smile and they add that extra surprise element.  (Photo snapped on the sidewalk when I was exploring Raleigh, and on the hotel carpet also Raleigh).  See other favs here. 

Three Destination Birthday Party

For Kathleen's birthday we did it up right.  We had a three destination birthday party.  

Destination 1 - Hardees:

First stop Kathleen's favorite "date" spot Hardees.  I can honestly say I don't know that I have ever eaten there.  But we partied hardee style complete with all the teenie popper favors - hair feathers, sparkles, Justin Bieber posters and fancy decorations.  It was a hilariously good time and apparently this fast food joint is classy they bring you your dinner. 

Check out those classy table decorations. 

Momo got Kathleen this cute tea pot. 

This gift was hysterical - Britney gave Kathleen a hand drawn photo of Justin Bieber it's quite the likeness don't you think.

No photos are complete without group photos!

Destination 2 Great Times: 

I really wanted to ride go carts and play in the batting cages however it was raining.  So we hit the gameroom arcade.  Skeeball was uber popular.  We were horrible at the dance revolution game and I mean HORRIBLE.  Kathleen the birthday girl hit it big on some quarter rolling game and ended up getting like a crazy amount of tickets.

And another group photo too funny. 

Destination 3 My House:

After all that fun we went to my house for cake and games and a slumber party.  My house which had appliances in the living room!  However we made it work.  We had a great time and we celebrated Kathleen it was a great time.  

Almost There - Tales of a Kitchen Remodel

After 4 days of work work work on the kitchen. We are in the homestretch with the kitchen.  

Demo done. 

Floors In. 

Walls patched.

Drywall installed.

Prime up. 

Paint rolled.

Floors in.

Baseboard up.

Counters in.

Sink in. 

Faucet and disposal working.

Tile laid.

 Almost there.

Apparently we were a bit optimistic on the timeline who really thought this could be done in 4 days? When we started remodeling in 2009 and haven't finished??   We had a few setbacks with stubborn floor, some drywall replacing, cabinets aka cupboards that needed to be joined, crazy leveling of the base cabinets, only like 7000 coats of paint and 10 or so trips to Lowes.   But I'm starting to see it all come together and I can't wait.
Shout out to my helpers - Kathleen, Amy, Qunmhy, Momo, Jono and Ricky.  Especially to Jono and Ricky who are really the muscles behind the project - you guys rock!

Happy Birthday Kathleen!

Justin Bieber and I want to shout out to my friend Kathleen! Today's her birthday she's having a rough week. But no matter what me and the Bieb still love her. Have a fantastic birthday girl and cheer up it could be worse.

Remodel Kitchen Bungalow Bill is Going Down

We are getting crazy busy on my kitchen these days. With any luck by sunday I'll have a finished kitchen.   Big shout out to Ricky, Qunmhy, Amy and Jono for jumping in and helping make this action happen.
 

Prom - Soak Up April

Yes that's right this weekend I went to Prom.  Adult Prom put on by the Smiley Morning Show.  It was a super good time.  We pretty much got all dressed up and went out to dinner at Maxine Chicken and Waffles (which is good people), and then we went to prom.  We danced all night long like 5 hours (not really exaggerating).  It was like a formal wedding reception that kept going and going and going.  It was so fun, the kind of fun you don't have all the time.  I kinda wished I had invited everyone I knew.  It was better than dancing at a club because weird creepers were not dancing on you and inappropriate touching was at a minimum ;).  Anyhow despite the fact that I was sooooo sore on Sunday it was fantastic.  I hope we go again next year and I do invite everyone I know.
Photo time! 

Rachel, Amy, Kathleen, Me, Megan and Dan

These dancing shots are priceless. Dan, Kathleen, Me, Megan and that one guy who's name I don't know.

More priceless dance shots.  What's with the peekaboo and Ana and Amy with their mouth's open?

I love this photo of us girls

Again we feel like mouths should be open.

The glow necklaces were just too fancy weren't they? 

a little girl formal photo.  we did not wait in line to have professional photos taken because well we needed to start that dancing.

The Prom Dress that Got Away.

Tina Turner Sparkle

Let's talk for a minute about Prom Dress Shopping. I knew whenever Amy suggested we get a bunch of people together and go to adult prom, that I wanted to have a SUPER SPARKLEY dress. 

The kind that you look at and get blinded. You know what I'm talking about right? 

Think Tina Turner Gold for someone who is almost six feet tall. (see photo). 

Every girl wants a sparkley dress - right? 

When I think of all the dresses I've owned and worn - there's not a single one that is UBER SPARKLE. 

I'm in my thirties now and if I haven't owned one yet when is the time? So I looked and I looked for it. 

I went to thrift stores. 

I went to bridal dress stores. 

I went to department stores. 

I went shopping with friends. 

I went shopping with almost strangers who probably have never been dress shopping. 

I went with co-workers. 

I went shopping on the internet. 

I tried on dress after dress.

I tried on short ones. 

I tried on long ones. 

I tried on inappropriately cut ones. 

I tried on the ugliest ones.

I tried on sequin.

I tried on beaded.

I'm telling you I looked.

I looked high. 

I looked low. 

I looked everywhere - but that Tina Turner UBER Sparkle dress alluded me unless I wanted it to be costumey rather than formal wear - it will be forever that one that got away. 

So I abandoned that idea and just wore sparkley accessories, which was probably good because almost 5 hours of dancing in sequins might have caused me to break into hives. 

And a little throwback to Proms gone by here are photos from my proms in the 1990's. 

Junior Prom Circa 1997 - Laura, JennyG, Me and Jordana.  Goodness was my mouth overly big in this picture.

Prom 1998 - See me in that stripped tie-dye dress and stupid sunglasses that was like $10 and it matched that blue leisure tux so well.

Ingredient of the Week - Chick Peas

I think I'm going to start a new "semi-regular" segment on my blog called "Ingredient of the Week".  It's no secret around here but I'm not really a traditional lunch liker - who really likes lunchmeat sandwiches or even PBJ???  

When I'm working from home I struggle with what to fix for lunch and often times I skip it.  This is bad practice especially when you probably only had hot tea for breakfast. So this week I opened a can of chickpeas and thus the ingredient of the week was born.  4 times this week I had my ingredient of the week for lunch - it was fun to try and make each meal different.  So here are four super simple recipes for fixing yourself chickpeas for lunch (sorry I only took one photo).   And sorry but this only probably works if you work from home or pre-make these.  

Recipe #1 - Broccoli & ChickPeas

1/2 cup cooked broccoli

1/4 cup chickpeas

pinch garlic salt

directions:  tossed this into a bowl and just ate it like that.  (Did I mention these were simple?)

Recipe #2 - ChickPea Avocado Salad

1/4 cup chickpeas

handful lettuce

leftover guacamole

few sliced carrots

salsa

directions: mix in bowl and eat.  this was probably my favorite you don't need even need dressing the guac has you covered.

Recipe #3 - ChickPea Grilled Cheese

leftover hamburger Bun

provolone cheese

1/8 cup chick peas

pickles

butter

directions:  butter inside of bun and grill.  add in cheese pickles and chickpeas let the cheese melt around pickles and chickpeas. Slice. Eat.

Recipe #4 - Wild ChickPea

1/4 cup chickpeas

1/4 cup wild rice

1/4 cup water

handful sliced carrots

pinch galic salt

directions - cook rice as mentioned in rice cooker when rice is almost done toss in carrots/chickpeas. This one needed a little something I wish I had put in some broccoli or something to jazz it up.

4 lunches all made using things we have in the house, and mind you NONE of these even had meat. mmmmm

PS. I would like to thank my former roommate Jordan for leaving me these chickpeas and for the rice cooker that I should probably send him back.

Favs on Friday - IMQG

I didn't have to think long before I came up with this week's favorite.  It's my quilt guild - Indy Modern Quilt Guild.  And before you go off thinking that this is some old lady quilt club - this is NOT that type of quilt guild.  I'm pretty sure we don't really resemble the other guilds in the area as some of their members have told us we don't.  Without getting to sentimental on a Friday - do want to say I just love the guild and the ladies in it.  They rev me up and get me excited to sew.  They don't mind that I don't like patterns.   The guild has encouraged me to branch away from "squares and rectangles".  I get more things finished now.  And best of all several of the women have become some of my very best friends (holla Tisha and Rachael).  2012 is going to be an awesome year for the guild and I look forward to seeing us grow and change and quilt like crazy. Today some of us are off to Cincy and we will get to meet up with some of their guild members.

If you live in the Indy Area and like quilting check us out. 

Oh and to see other favorites click here.
 

April Goals

In March I set these really ambitious goals in the planner in my phone, I accomplished exactly ONE of them - that was really smooth.  And I was going to move them all to April's list and add a few and blog about it and then I had this conversation with myself about being realistic and making goals be obtainable things.  It sounded exactly like the Project Manager Katie was at work.  But PM Katie was right if I'm going to achieve things I need to be realistic with my work load and keep time in there for other things like cleaning, friends, family and running. 

So with that said my April Goal list is two things:

1. Soak Up April (thanks JCPenny for having that slogan on your door). 
2. Get busy kitchen remodeling.

As a result my planner app is probably dying of boredom however my to do list app is exploding from the seams as I moved many of those goals to it.  Oh well onward and upward into April.