Not really rude...

... more just funny.

(This conversation took place Sunday night right before Chad and I fell asleep, which - sidenote - is always when I decide to ask these random inquisitive questions.)

Me: "Do you think we fight a lot?"
Chad: "No. Do you?"
Me: "No... we hardly ever fight."
Chad (after a few seconds of thoughtful reflection): "...except when you're being irrational."
Me (after .0000001 seconds of thoughtful reflection): "...except when you're being a bully."

Then we went to sleep.

Glazed Orange Cookies

So a few months ago, I went to a family friend's 75th suprise birthday party.

At the party were maybe the most delicious cookies I've ever had. The cookies were really soft - almost a cake-like consistency - and were lightly glazed with this orange frosting.

Incredible.

Truth: I think I ate like five.
More truth: My brother Kevin actually wrapped like 7 cookies in a napkin and put them in his pocket to take home for later.
Even more truth: Chad may or may not have bribed Kevin with money for said contraband cookies.

So, in other words, cookies so good they'd make you steal 'em from a 75-year-old woman.

Right when we got back from the party, I began scouring the internet to find the recipe... and thanks to my amazing Google skills, I think I've found them. They're called Beth's Orange Cookies (since that is what Beth wants to call them.) Personally, I would have made a much more inventive name, but hey, to each their own.

So here they are:

Glazed Orange Cookies So Good They'll Make You Steal 'Em From a 75-Year-Old Woman

Ingredients
Cookies:
* 2 cups white sugar
* 1 cup shortening
* 2 eggs
* 1 cup sour cream
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 5 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 3/4 cup frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
* 2 tablespoons grated orange zest

Frosting:
* 1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest
* 2 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 4 tablespoons butter, melted
* 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions
1. Cream white sugar and shortening; add eggs and stir. Add sour cream and 1 teaspoon vanilla; stir and set aside. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add little by little to the creamed mixture and stir well. Add 3/4 cup orange juice concentrate, and 2 tablespoons orange zest. Drop onto greased cookie sheets by teaspoonfuls.

2. Bake at 375 degrees F for about 10 minutes. Frost cookies when they are cool.

3. To Make Frosting: Mix together 1/2 teaspoon orange zest, 2 Tablespoons of the thawed orange juice concentrate, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 4 Tablespoons of melted butter, 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar or enough to make frosting of spreading consistency.

This cookies would be perfect for an Easter Sunday dessert! Make these this weekend and report back to me how much you love me for introducing you to them.

This is the week!

We close on Wednesday morning! After five months of patiently waiting - and lots of decisions - we'll be in the new house.

... and I cannot WAIT!

Just sayin'

So I just got off the phone with Chad.

Me: "So far my day at work.... blah blah blah... have you blah blah blah..."
Chad: "My day so far has been blah blah blah..."
(aka: regular random conversation)
Me: "All right honey, we'll I'm going to run. Have a good rest of the day. I love you."
Chad: "I'm eating Chick-Fil-A."
Me: "Ohkkkayyyy... why are you telling me that?"
Chad: "Don't know. Just wanted to tell you."
Me: "Weirdo. Bye."

I say "I love you" - he responds with "I'm eating Chick-Fil-A."

Rude.

We have a yard!!!

So I went over to the house yesterday with Chad to check out the landscaping. We finally have a yard... and a garage door!

I'm super pleased with the results so far:




Oh yeah, and they finally installed my range. I can't wait to begin cooking in my own kitchen again!


Also, remember awhile back when I did the poll to choose our dining room chair fabric? We'll I went rouge like Sarah Palin and picked a different material than the ones I was originally looking at - sorry kids. I love, love, love them though. Chad and his dad have spent months refinishing the dining room set - and I can't wait to see it all come together.


We have a walk-thru with our builder today, and this time next week, Chad and I are going to be signing a lot of paperwork! Here's to hoping things go smoothly between now and then.

My Other Chad

So my boy Chad Ochocinco is on this season's "Dancing with the Stars." I will watch this show for no other reason than to support him. Ocho has been a staple on my Fantasy Football roster and will remain there even when he doesn't play well - for no other reason than his antics on - and off - the field make me laugh.

Ocho regularly gets fined by doing (harmless) inappropriate things during games like fake bribing an official with a $1 bill to overrule a call...


... or the time he decided to put on a sombrero after a touchdown...


He often tweets his intentions before the game saying things like, "What I've planned for today will get me fined when I score but it's so worth it."

I actually think he rarely plays in a game without getting fined for something - hence this sign he made for the NFL Commissioner:

I think his antics are harmless and hilarious - which the NFL needs more of! I mean the man legally had his name changed from Chad Johnson to Chad Ochocinco (his football number in spanish - except not... he's spelling it "8, 5" as opposed to "85"... EVEN BETTER!)

I'm so Team Ocho. In fact, I've told Chad to never bother buying me a football Jersey unless its a Bengals #85! ;)

Rude: Part 2

Me: "Hey hon, we're going to be getting new laptops at work."
Chad: "Nice, awesome."
Me: "So I'm going to need to buy a new laptop case..."
Chad (silence - probably sensing where this is going.)
Me: "I'm pretty sure Kate Spade makes a nice one."
Chad: "So does Kate Spade's sister Case Logic."

Sigh.

This:

versus This:

Double sigh.

Fine - girl blog

Okay, my girlie readers are mad at me for posting about basketball teams...

So let's talk about nail polish.

Truth: I had a deep desire right now to go get some gray nail polish - like this lovely color from Chanel.

So like we would do in the world of public relations - let's create a SWOT analysis...

Strengths:
1) I have the $ to go purchase said nail polish.
2) I'm phenomenal in that I can do my nails myself as well as if I paid someone to do them (yes, that even includes painting my right hand.)

Weaknesses:
1) My father-in-law hates when I wear "weird" color nail polish...aka: anything that is not pink, red or french tipped. And he'll call me out on it. For instance, once I was wearing a deep, deep berry - almost black- and he said, "Is that black nail polish you're wearing? I don't like that." So I don't think he'd be too pleased with a steely gray.

Opportunities:
1) I've been in a writing funk lately. Maybe watching my little fingers type away with a hot new nail color would bring some inspiration to my life.

Threats:
1) My nails are long right now. I think dark nail polish only looks good if my nails are really cut down shorter. Which leads to... --->
2) Chad will throw me out in the streets if I cut my nails. The man loves his back scratches... and he thinks my nails are in top scratching form right now.

Decisions, decisions.

Last MD post of the season, and then I'll move on...

Great Washington Post column about MD and Greivis... which actually made me cry.

Even if you HATE the Terps and GV (which I think a lot of ACC fans do for some reason), read this. I think it explains why us MD fans love him so much and why, for some reason, yesterday's loss was honestly the hardest one we feel like we've ever experienced:

http://bit.ly/aFRRLs

Can I have a moment of silence...

...in remembrance of University of Maryland's 2009-2010 basketball season?

WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Oh friends, it was just a very bad, no good, horrible, awful day yesterday when Maryland lost to Michigan State. I don't know if you watched the game or not, but the Terps weren't playing bad - just NO shots were falling, whereas Michigan State could do no wrong. They were hitting everything. And they were without 2 of their top players.

But in true MD fashion, we rallied from a 16-pt deficit at the end with an amazing run by Greivis. We were up by 1 with 6 seconds left when Mich State came down and hit a buzzer beater three point shot to win the game.

I think the loss hurt so much because we were certain that we won when Greivis hit that last shot... and to lose at the buzzer after such a great rally was just terrible.

The sads also come into play because my whole family just loved this Maryland team - and it'll be sad to see our seniors Vasques, Hayes and Milbourne go. We had so much fun pulling for those guys over the past four years. But we are proud of how all three went out on a high note of really pulling their team together against a great Michigan State team - even if the end result didn't go our way.

So we keep trying to tell ourselves that - since we were crushed yesterday. But Vasquez will go down in history as one of my (and most other Terp fans) favorite players in MD history - alongside Juan Dixon, Steve Blake, John Lucas, Joe Smith, Exree Hipp, Len Bias, Len Elmore etc.

On a bright note - I'm #1 in my work bracket pool... with both my teams in the final game still in tact. So I'm trying to still say invested in the tournament despite the fact my team is out - which isn't too hard to do since this tournament has been one of the wildest I've ever seen in my lifetime.

However, the depressed part of me is ready for NCAA basketball season to be over because that means - it's Masters time!!!

Huge news

Wow. It is being reported that a movie - starring Reese Witherspoon -- is being made about Pioneer Woman's life. How jealous am I?

Why does no one want to make a feature film about MPLT?

I need to step my game up.

Rude

This weekend, I was with Chad and he was running his hand through my hair.

Chad: "Your hair feels really soft today!"
Me: "My hair feels soft everyday." (this is truth: my hairdresser said I have hair like a baby)
Chad: "Not really."

And then walks away.

Rude.

A Birthday, A Rant, and Some Leprechauns

Let me start with a housekeeping item.

Fact: I haven't been blogging as much, lately.

Sorry team, but daily blogging has really taken it out of me, and I'd much rather have awesomely great blogs every other day or so, than struggle to put together something for the sake of daily blogging. I hope that's okay with you.

Okay, onward and upward.

Let me start by stating the obvious: Today is St. Patrick's Day.

Let me follow up with the not-so-obvious: I don't care. In fact, I detest the fact I'm even wearing a green shirt today, but it's only because a couple years ago I didn't, and some random stranger man pinched me... WEIRDO! I refuse to be accosted by anymore leprechaun freaks, so I gave in and wore a green shirt today.

That said, my heart is still black to St. Patty's day - like it is to Halloween, Cinco de Mayo and other frivolous holidays. Chad would argue that this makes me a grinch - which I would obvi fight back and say that I loooooove Christmas and Easter - which are real holidays.

Not that I owe anyone an explaination, but here are my reasons:

1) St. Patrick's Day: I'm too old to want to go out and drink a bunch of nasty green beer. My waistline doesn't like it, nor does my head the next morning. Plus, I hate being forced to wear a certain color to avoid some wackjob trying to put his hands on me.

2) Halloween: I'm all for Halloween - for people under the age of 13. I think it's cute seeing little kids dressed up in costumes and getting to walk around and visit their neighbors for candy. I'm even cool with decorating your house all fun for the occasion. My hate with Halloween is why women 18+ use Halloween as an excuse to dress like a prostitute for the evening. I actually remember working in a bar in college on Halloween and a girl walked in wearing white lace underwear and a bra... and nothing else. Honey, that's not a festive costume - that's your excuse to dress like a whore. You're not fooling anyone. And why does every adult costume for women begin with the word "slutty?" Slutty nurse. Slutty secretary. Slutty teacher. Slutty McDonald's cashier. Okay maybe not that last one. But you get my point. I'm an old soul at heart.

3) Cinco de Mayo: See #1, minus the pinching part and sub the green beer for margaritas. But I will use Cinco de Mayo as an excuse to cook/go out and eat Mexican for dinner... because it is delish.

However, the most important reason I don't need to celebrate St. Patrick's day is because there is something a lot more important to celebrate. March 17th is MPLT's dad's birthday! And since reading about my pops has led to lots of LOLs from you - like from this post, or this one, or this, or this - maybe we can all can agree that my dad is the real reason to celebrate March 17... not green beer and pinching.

My dad is usually the last one up in the morning. However, today he was out of the house before I even came downstairs. No doubt he was excited to get to his favorite coffee shop (where he works from most weekday mornings - since he's in sales and doesn't have a "real" office) and tell all the coffee shop workers and patrons that today is his birthday. Since my dad makes friends with everyone he meets - from the dry cleaner, to the guy who changes the oil in this car, to the fella he sits next to on a plane ride - no doubt there will be a chorus of cheers celebrating my dad over lattes this morning.

So happy birthday, daddy! You're way cooler than a leprechaun.

PS: My dad had these shirts made for his nieces - two for each of them. One on a white tee, and the other on a pink tee (for dressier occasions, he pointed out to them.) This is why my dad deserves celebration.

Down the home stretch

We are nearing the end, my friends!

2.5 weeks til closing... can you believe it?

We're at the point where we've been stopping by the house daily to see the updates, but now they've started locking the house (not that I'm complaining), so we'll only be able to get into the house on weekends when we can get keys from the builder's agent. However, that's not such a big deal anymore because other than touching up the paint and putting the doorknobs on, the inside of the house is 100% done!

This week they'll be starting the landscaping and then they'll powerwash the outside of the house, and have a cleaning crew come inside to make sure the inside is move-in ready for us. Our meeting with the landscaper this weekend was great - even though I didn't understand a word of it. Chad and I enlisted the help of our friend David "The Fabulous Mr." Fox to help meet with the landscaper, since Chad and I aren't really "plant people." Luckily, David's yard is gorgeous and he was willing to help us out. Toward the end of our meeting, the landscaper wasn't even asking Chad and I questions - he looked straight to David... which was fine by us. So all I know is we've got some knock-out roses lining the side of the house, a Japanese maple up front, a couple of cone holly trees, and a beautiful crape myrtle in the back. Other than that, I have no idea what other tree/bush/flower they will be planting. But I'm looking forward to seeing the end result this weekend!

So now, what you've all been waiting for - picture time!

Front:

Master bedroom:

Master bathroom:

Kitchen:

Breakfast area:

Stairs:

Baby chandelier in the downstair's powder room:

Guest bathroom:

Bonus room:

And not house related, but sweet baby Emma Claire - my friend Whit's baby... just a little over 2 weeks old at the time of this picture. Isn't she presc? I love her.


Happy Monday, y'all!

Never enough time

Sorry guys - blogging is going to be weak today. I am slammed with 5 meetings on the docket - and it's only 8:30!

Will you love me anyway?

Good.

So instead of a blog, I'll share the first few random thoughts that come to my mind.

1) I'm on my third Tervis Tumbler cup of hot green tea. I probably will have three more before the day is over.

2) My baby bro Kevin comes home today. Kevin whines that I never blog about him. So there you go. Yay Kevie! But I do really miss him, and am glad he'll be home for ACC Tournament weekend. ACC TOURNAMENT WEEKEND! Woo! I'm excited. I hope Maryland makes a good run in the tourney. Now Kev will be upset that I didn't even give him a full bullet point to himself.

3) Chad forgot to put gas in my car this weekend. My gas light has come on. I panic at this. I don't let my gas get below 1/4 a tank out of irrational fear that I'll run out of gas while driving on the highway and be stranded. I knew it was getting low, but I thought I'd make it til tomorrow - when Chad is taking my car anyway to get the oil changed, etc. So now I'll have to stop and get gas by myself. I hate that.

4) Our house is almost done. I need area rugs. And blinds. Stat.

5) I sang loudly to a power ballad that was on the radio on my ride in this morning. I tried calling Chad to sing it to him, but he was in his morning meeting. I considered leaving it on his work voicemail, but was scared that he'd put it on speakerphone to play to all his work friends. I don't share my singing with just any one.

So there you go. Happy Thursday. I'm an open book baby!

The Color of Spring

Oh lawdy, I'm so happy it finally feels like Spring. Since this is the 5th day in a row of 60+ degree weather, my mood has officially been lifted - and with it, my wardrobe. I was happy to skip right over the black turtlenecks and charcoal pants today, and put on a more - cheerful - ensemble.

One of my favorite fun color combos to wear are: navy blue, bright orange and gold. Love. Love. Love it.

A variation of my outfit today is as follows:



Bring on the Springtime!

Guilty pleasure

So Chad is absolutely obsessed with the holiday's Reese's cups. He gets excited every year when the Reese's Christmas Trees come out... then the Valentine's Day Hearts... but his favorite are the Easter Eggs. We cannot take a trip to the g-store, Target, Walgreens, etc. without him buying a pack of 'em.
But I can't judge because I have my own holiday candy obsession...

Cadbury Mini Eggs.


NOT to be confused with Cadbury Mini CREME Eggs - which Chad always buys me instead, to which I say, "That's not the kind I like!!!" And when I tell him to buy me Cadbury mini eggs for my Easter basket the next year, he'll inevitably say "No - I refuse to buy them for you since I bought them last year and you never ate them." To which I remind him, again every year, "NO you bought me the CREME eggs... I want the plain MINI eggs."

It's a big ordeal.

But they are heavenly. If you spot the purple bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs - do yourself a favor and purchase them ASAP.

I have a bag at my desk and it's going to take every ounce of willpower to not eat the whole dang thing.

I'm alloting myself 7 eggs a day.

I haven't even had lunch yet and I've already had 3.

Almost there: House pics

We're really winding to a close guys! It's kind of bittersweet. Obviously I'm super excited to be moving into our new home... but at the same time, we've spent the last 4+ months devoted to the process! We're nearing the end.

So here's what was new this week!

Major things: Finished the painting. Started putting in the lighting. Started putting in the appliances. Put in the toilets/sinks. Put in the plumbing fixtures.

Still to do: Finishing the hardwoods. Laying the carpet in the bedrooms. Putting the handles on the doors. Landscaping the yard.

So here are a slew of pictures...

Guest bedroom 1:

Guest bedroom 2:

Bonus room:
Foyer - Chad loves this light:

Dining room - I love this light:

Oh chandelier. You were worth fighting for:

Master bedroom (camera was splotchy - not the walls):

Master bathroom (don't know why it's wet there... kinda gross):

Power room downstairs:

Kitchen faucet (thanks for voting - I picked yours!):

They also finished painting the front and back porches. Pretend there is a picture of them here:


So there you go! Hopefully next week we'll be even further along.

It's definitely a Monday

I woke up this Monday morning in a surprising really good mood. I had some quiet time - prayed a bit about being enthused about this work week, etc. I hate that so often I just look past the 5 days of work just so I can get to the weekend. I'm in the minority that actually really loves my job, so I need to start acting like it!

So I was up with a smile on my face this morning.

I get ready, go to put on my favorite pair of Ann Taylor sling-back wedges, and what do you know? I break the strap. Like completely rip it in two. Whatever, not a big deal. I can take it to the shoe repair shop.

I go downstairs, make my morning cup of hot tea, and walk to my car.

Since we're living at my parents' house, we have to shuffle the cars around (all 5 of them) to make sure people can get out to work in the order they need to leave. Since I'm the next to last one to leave the house, I usually just park on the street so I don't block anyone in. I park really, really close to the curb so as not to block people driving on the street.

Well in order to step into my car this morning, I have to step over a pile of rosebush shrubs that have been trimmed from the bush... literally they are right below my driver-side door - no way to get in the car without stepping right in the middle of them. So of course the thorny branches start sticking to my slacks, which causes me to step out of my flats (that I had to change into since my wedges broke) and into a pile of dirt, while at the same time spilling the hot tea all over my hands.

So I literally have been dragged through the thorns, into the dirt and ended it with a burn - all before 7:30 this morning.

I hope that is not an omen for how the rest of my week is going to go!

Put a smile on your face!

I've gotta say, it disturbs me the number of people who appear so grumpy all the time. It never ceases to amaze me to be standing in line at the grocery store or sitting next to someone at a restaurant and see how they don't smile at ANYONE. I think its the most odd thing!

It is a natural reaction to me - if I make eye contact with someone I smile.

If I'm in line at the grocery store, I smile and say hello to the cashier and bagger, then say "thank you - have a great day!" when I'm done.

That's how life is supposed to be. We're all living on this earth - we could at least try being nice to one another.

So today is a Friday and we're about to kick off a beautiful weekend - sun is shining and it's going to be warming up (at least for my North Carolina readers). Do me a favor, will you? Smile and make eye contact with every person you pass this weekend. If you walk by a landscaper working in your office park on your way out the door today, give them a grin and wish them a great weekend. If you're checking out at the drug store, thank the person as you're leaving for their help.

It's not that hard people.

And it's good for the soul. :)

Life is beautiful, folks! Don't forget it.

Help me pick out a new desk!

Alright, since I'm all cool now and have my own side consulting business (it's actually official now, I finally opened a designated business banking account ---only 10 months late), it's definitely time to start putting together my home office.

Once I have a home, of course.

For now, we'll put my office in the bonus room - but pretty soon we'll be converting some storage space off the bonus room into another finished room. We'll turn that into my new office.

Chad doesn't know that yet. He still thinks it's going to be a man room. Psych.

So I want that room to be all cool and creative so it can fuel my brain power so I can be super successful. In order to be super successful business woman, I need a power office. I'm going to convince Chad to put some hardwood floors in there, and I'll paint it some fun, funky color. And have tons of pillows around on the floor so I can lounge.

Anyway, I'm pumped. I've obviously given this a lot of thought.

But I need to start with picking a cool desk to go in my cool office space. I saw in a picture on another blog (that which I cannot remember at the moment) of a person using an antique gold Chiavari chair as her desk chair. I made mental note to purchase said chair for my own office.
Yeah. I dig it.

So now I need a desk. My desk frustration is compounded by the fact that I found a desk that I l-o-v-e-d before Christmas, and we were going to buy it but for some reason I cannot recall at the time, Chad convinced me to wait. Now I don't even think the cute little boutique I found it at still has it. Sads.

So can you peanuts help out? Here are some I've found. Let me know what you like by voting in the top right corner.

White desk:

Red desk:

Black desk:
Thanks you precious thangs.