Ups and Downs

Well!  If you'd seen me around my house last week, you would have seen my not-so-awesome self.  Last week had some great moments, but it was also stressful and tiring beyond all belief.  Here's a little bit of what you missed.

We have now had Luna for a little over a week.  And she is absolutely adorable, but golly gee is she a stinker!  Even as I type this, she's on my lap (in Lolo's usual spot) trying to eat all of my shiny jewelry.  She can hardly stand when both hands aren't petting her.  She purrs like a freight train.  She HATES being put in her room when Thomas and I have to leave.  She loves to climb her new house.  And she's been sick for a lot of the time that we've had her. 

We were thinking that it was just taking her some time to get used to her new food, but we've taken her to the vet and tried several diffferent things and she's still not improving.  Thank goodness that she's extrememly well litter box trained.  I don't know what I would do if I was having to clean all of her grossness off the floors!  (But we haven't had one accident!  Woohoo!)  So, now we're trying to figure out what to do next, so we'll be back off to the vet again.  :(

Lo and Luna are getting much more comfortable around each other, but we still don't trust them alone together unless we're only going to be gone for a few minutes.  Lo is still struggling to get used to Luna's pushiness.  And right now we sort of have a "ya snooze, ya lose" situation going on around here which means Lo loses most of the time.  But I'm hoping that as time goes on, Luna will get a little more independent so that Lo can catch up on getting attention.  One plus side is that Lo has been sleeping with me almost non-stop at night since she doesn't get quite as much attention during the day, and it just melts my heart.

A highlight of last week was that we bought Thomas' new motorcycle!  He's been dreaming of having a motorcycle for I-don't-know-how-long.  And now he is in love... Big time!  And I am so happy for him.

Another highlight was that I did a great brick workout on Saturday.  I rode almost 8.5 miles and then hopped off the bike and ran 2 miles.  And it felt great!  I am excited that the race is getting close (just a month away now), but I'm also getting nervous.  I really need to work on my swimming.  Yikes!

I haven't painted my toenails in weeks, and it's killing me!  But now, I can't paint them unless I want paw marks all over, which is not desired.  So, I'm trying to find a time... Sad face.  Lol.

Anyway, those are all of the updates for now.  I've got a couple of other posts in the works, it's just about finding the time to finish them up now!

Movies I Want to See {Part 3}

It's a little past time to update you on movies I want to see in the next few months.  June slid past pretty quickly, and I was hoping that July would slow down a bit... but that's not really happening!

We have seen How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Transformers: Age of Extinction, so I'll be posting reviews of those two soon.

Surprisingly, there aren't a lot of summer movies that I really want to see this year.  There's really only one movie in July that I'm even remotely interested in seeing (and that's rare)!  But, here's the list anyway.

July
Hercules (July 25) - We recently watched The Legend of Hercules (with Kellan Lutz) and it wasn't bad.  But this version of the Hercules myths seems like it will be completely different.  The great thing is that there are so many myths to choose from, so this movie with Dwayne The Rock Johnson will be a totally different storyline and genre than the previous movie.  I like The Rock, so I'm interested, but I, in no way, expect this to be a spectacular movie.

August
Guardians of the Galaxy (August 1) - Ok... This movie looks hilarious.  It's one of those superhero movies where the characters only think they're superheros.  It's another Marvel film (surprise surprise), so it's bound to be full of action and comedy.  If you liked The Avengers or any of the other Marvel movies that have come out recently, I'm pretty sure you're going to like this one too!  I mean, come on, Bradley Cooper's a raccoon and Vin Diesel is a tree...

The Expendables 3 (August 15) - So I'm not super excited to see this one, but Thomas is just giddy with anticipation.  They've pretty much gotten more out of hand with each of these.  And this third one has just about every 80's action star you can think of in it.  It's going to be so over-the-top cliche and cheesy that it will almost work.  To give you a hint: In The Expendables 2, Chuck Norris made a Chuck Norris joke.

The Giver (August 15) - I have not read the book (I know, right?  And I'm such a book-lover.), however, the trailer for this movie makes me want to.  It's about a "utopian" society that gets rocked when an old man chooses to share what humanity was supposed to be like with a teenage boy.  There are some great stars in it along with a few no names.  I'm not sure if I'll see this one in theaters (because Thomas probably has no interest), but I will at least watch it when it comes out on DVD.

When the Game Stands Tall (August 22) - I have a feeling that this movie is going to be the current generation's equivalent of "Remember the Titans".  It's about a football team that's been undefeated for years and years, and then... they lose a game and break the streak.  So they have to deal with the disappointment of being the ones who lost the streak and find their way back.  It looks pretty awesome to me.

September
The Maze Runner (September 19) - This is based on a series of young adult books (The Maze Runner Trilogy) set in a post-apocalyptic society.  It's kind of similar to Divergent.  A bunch of teenagers are put into a society with no adults and have to find a way to live life.  There aren't really any famous people in the movie, and the books were alright, not incredibly awesome, but I am interested in seeing this one.

The Equalizer (September 26) - Denzel Washington... need I say more?  No, really though.  He's an ex-black ops soldier who comes back out of his quiet life to save a friend who has been kidnapped.  Yes, I know this general plot has been done about a hundred times.  I still want to see it though.

So there's the list!  Like I mentioned, I've got some reviews to post soon.  Other posts coming up will be my July Julep box (hopefully I'll get around to that before August, lol), an update on the kitty cats, and maybe even a new recipe!

The Best Anniversary Present Ever!!!!

Meet Luna, our new kitten!

Yesterday we adopted her from the Humane Society, and I could not be happier!  She is such an adorable little kitten!  She is a domestic shorthair (which is fancy talk for being a mutt), and her color is classified as blue with little patches of cream.  She's about 3 1/2 months old and weighs in at just 3 lbs.

Back story:  I just love animals.  I'm not just a cat person; I'm an animal person.  We rescued Lo a few years ago.  She was a stray that we found in the parking lot of our apartment complex on a cold January night.  We turned her in to the Humane Society just in case she had an owner, but I had already fallen in love.  So as soon as the waiting period was up, we adopted her and moved to a new apartment complex that allowed pets.  When we moved to Florida, our new complex had a rule of a $350 non-refundable deposit for each pet you owned.  So getting another animal was pretty much out of the question.  We kept saying that we would get another pet when we didn't have to pay a deposit.

So, since we've moved to Missouri, I've been feeling bad about how much Lo is left alone.  Thomas and I both have jobs, so she's alone for a good portion of the day.  And then soon after we get home, we have to go back upstairs to cook and eat dinner (she's not allowed to come upstairs because Thomas' parents have two 130-pound golden retrievers), so she's also alone for quite a bit of the evening.  Thomas has sort of joked/hinted about getting Lolo a sister to keep her company while we're gone, but I never imagined that he'd go pick her out and bring home a picture of her, telling me that a kitten was my anniversary present!!!

Going in to this , we knew that Lolo would probably have some trouble adjusting since she's been an "only kitty" for her whole life and has never really been socialized with other animals much.  She's being pretty difficult, but Luna has such a sweet personality that I'm confident that they will get along great as soon as Lo calms down.

So far, we've noticed that Luna absolutely loves to play; she's got that adorable kitten clumsiness.  She really enjoys climbing up onto our shoulders.  And she hasn't really realized that she can jump yet.  She also purrs like there's no tomorrow.  It's LOUD.  And she loves to be petted with two hands at the same time.

We are so smitten!

Twenty-Six

I am now officially 26 years old.  Officially closer to 30 than 20.  Officially over halfway to 50.

Do I care?

...No.

Getting older doesn't really bother me.  Yet, at least.

I had a good birthday.  I had a "first" too.  Yesterday was the first time I've ever worked on my birthday.  I usually have a rule that I ask off work, don't do chores, etc. on my birthday.  But this year, I decided to forgo that and just have a regular day.  And it was.

I went to work, where they had decorated my desk with streamers, a "Birthday Girl" crown, etc.  So that was fun.  And then we had a family dinner at my parents' house with Oreo Pie for dessert!  Yummy!

I'm enjoying my birthday present (my bike) immensely!  I've started my brick workouts (riding the bike and then hopping off and immediately going for a run), and they are intense!  My legs feel like cooked spaghetti when I get off the bike, and after about a mile of running my calves feel like they've rolled up into one big lump on my legs.  But, I'm getting more used to it each time.

Thomas also got us some starter sets of disc golf frisbees for my birthday.  There's a great disc golf course at one of the parks nearby, and we've been itching to play, so now we can!  We're thinking of playing on our anniversary and then having a picnic lunch in the park (I've been craving Jimmy John's like no other!), but it's supposed to be 95 degrees on Saturday, so we may just spend the morning or afternoon at the movies instead!

And Friday, we're celebrating my birthday with Thomas' parents, which means a trip to The Spaghetti Factory!  I can't hardly wait!  Yum yum!

It's probably Friday by the time you're reading this!  Yay!

Jumbo Chocolate Chip Muffins

I can't believe I haven't blogged this recipe yet!  I hopped on the blog this morning to whip up a batch and realized that they weren't on here!  I was so sure that I'd blogged them that I had to go through checking for them several different ways before I was convinced enough to start writing this post.

These are Thomas' favorite muffins.  He's a sucker for chocolate chip {anything}.  And of course, I don't mind them too much either!  ; )

They are a bakery-style muffin that is designed to be made in a jumbo-size muffin tin.  However, if you don't have a jumbo muffin tin, you can make them regular sized.

These beauties have a little bit of spice in them, a lot of chocolate chips, and the perfect consistency!  There's just a tiny bit of crust on the outside, and they're soft and fluffy on the inside.

Jumbo Chocolate Chip Muffins
Makes 6-8 jumbo sized muffins or about 18 regular size
Adapted from: Sally's Baking Addiction

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk + 1 tablespoon white vinegar (or 1 cup buttermilk)
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
heaping 1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Prepare your muffin tins with either paper liners or cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl,  combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Toss together.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs.  Then add the milk, oil, and vanilla, and whisk.
4. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir as little as possible with a spatula.
5. Fold in the chocolate chips.
6. Spoon batter into the prepared muffin pans.  Fill each cup about 3/4 full.
7. Bake jumbo muffins for 30-35 minutes.  Bake regular sized muffins for about 20 minutes.  Tops should be very lightly browning and a toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.
8. Turn out onto a cooling rack and enjoy!

These muffins are super delicious!  I hope they remind you of your favorite bakery!

Taking Stock

This is a post I saw on my favorite blog (The Small Things Blog).  Apparently she got it from the original on Meet Me at Mike's.  I thought it was a cool idea, so I made my own!

Making : a new scarf on my loom
Cooking : different pizza recipes
Drinking : sweet tea… always sweet tea
Reading: The Chanters of Tremaris trilogy
Wanting: ice cream… every single day  J
Looking: at beautiful flowers growing
Playing: Spider Solitaire on my phone
Watching: "Doctor Who" reruns on Netflix
Wasting: gas on country drives (though it doesn’t really feel like wasting)
Sewing: the finishing touched on my scarf (once it’s done)
Wishing: to go hiking and to Six Flags
Enjoying: the hot weather
Waiting: for August 23^rd (the sprint triathlon)
Liking: my new job
Wondering: if I’ll ever get into a pattern after the move
Loving: my new bike

Hoping: the weather stays nice for the 4th
Marveling: at the lovely countrysides and rolling hills
Needing: to sleep better
Wearing: summer dresses and sandals
Noticing: how quickly the days go by
Knowing: I need to work on my swimming
Thinking: I want to make some madeleines
Feeling: very full…very