A Simple Saturday

Well... when I woke up this morning, I definitely could not have predicted how this day was going to go.  I was planning on doing some laundry, cleaning, doing the grocery shopping, and generally being productive.  And welp, absolutely none of that happened today.  Because when I got out of the shower, I pulled a muscle in my neck (for the second time in a few months).  And it is debilitating.  Mer.

So, the pain put me on the floor, and then I couldn't get myself up off the floor.  Double mer.  So, I've mostly sat around today doing things where I don't have to use my neck muscles to hold my head up (mainly binge watching "Criminal Minds" on Netflix).  Thank goodness it's not as bad as the first time I pulled it, but it's still pretty painful.

But thankfully, My hubs is wonderful, and he is very sympathetic toward my low pain tolerance.  When I was feeling a bit better, we grabbed some lunch out and then went to a movie (another thing I can do without having to hold my neck up).

We decided on "American Sniper".  And it was incredibly interesting.  Going into it, I had heard of Chris Kyle and that he was "the deadliest sniper in American history", and I also knew that he was killed after he came home.  But, beyond that, I didn't know anything about who he was or what he had done.  And I don't know if the movie accurately portrayed his life or not, but it was very enlightening.  I enjoyed it.  I certainly covered my eyes a few times, and teared up a few as well.  It definitely reminds me that there are so many people out there that have given more than I can possibly imagine for the freedoms I enjoy and take for granted.  And I am very grateful to those people, not just the soldiers, police officers, etc, but also their families and friends.  Truly, thank you for your service and your sacrifice.

And now, I'm back home, doing more Netflix binge-ing, working on a gallery wall for work, and desperately wanting a snack.  Happy Saturday night!  Lol!

Hello 2015

2014 is gone and now 2015 is well underway.  I know I owe a few updates... I'm not sure I know where to begin.

I can not wait until Thomas and I buy a house.  I got some more fantastic kitchen stuff for Christmas, and I am so excited to have a kitchen to put all of it in soon!  We're finally getting the process started, but who knows how long it will end up taking.  I'm so excited though.  I can't wait to get to pick out my own paint colors and design the rooms.  Yay!  My biggest struggle is definitely my impatience.  I just need to keep myself in check and try to enjoy the process and not just the end goal.

Thomas also got me an amazing Christmas gift that speaks to my inner geek and book lover.  You see, in my perfect world, whatever house I had would have a "old world" style library (no matter the style of the house).  It would have books from floor to ceiling, so much so that you'd need one of those fabulous rolling ladders to reach the books on the higher shelves.  There would be a huge fireplace and old red leather high-backed chairs.  And one wall would be filled from floor to ceiling with antiqued maps.

So for Christmas, Thomas added to my collection with a beautiful map of Narnia.   It's a beautiful shadow-box, and the map has beautiful color and detail.  Here's the photo from Amazon.

Of course, I know that our house won't have a magically fantastic library in it, but I will have enough walls to hang my growing map collection!

So long for now!

Woah!

So... it seems that I haven't posted in almost two months.  Woah.  It's been a lot different since we moved to Missouri, and I seem to have a hard time turning my computer on.  It's not that I don't want to blog... I just don't feel like I have much to blog about.  If you follow me on Instagram, you'll usually see the high points of my life in photo form, but otherwise, I just have a pretty routine life right now.

But, here are a few updates from the past two months.

We've been enjoying our two lovely kittens.  Lo is returning to her normal calm and happy self more everyday.  And Luna is as rambunctious and ridiculous as ever.  She feels the need to be attached to me almost every minute of every day.  She is not the most graceful cat in the world.  And she's gotten in so much trouble in the last week for trying to eat all of the Christmas decorations.  I took this photo about two minutes after hanging some of my paper snowflakes on the door, and she had already mangled one.  About 10 minutes later, two others would be destroyed.  And in between murdering snowflakes, she'd run over and try to eat the tree.  She's driving me crazy, but at least she hasn't done any real damage yet.

Speaking of Christmas decorations, our "apartment" is about as festive as it's going to get.  I just love the glow of Christmas lights!

We had our first snow in November, and a couple of frigid days with some flurries and ice since then, but it's certainly not looking wintry white outside yet.  In part, I'm happy for temperatures that are too warm for snow, but on the other hand, it's still really cold so another ten degrees lower so that we could have snow would be nice.

Thomas and I have seen a couple of movies recently.  I can't think of all of them right now, so I'll have to do a review post soon.  But two of them are Big Hero 6 (adorable) and Mockingjay (wow).  So, look out for that post.

We also went to a Blues game a few weeks ago, and it was a really good time!  There were a few very amusing fights, and the game went all the way to a shoot out!  The Blues lost, but it was still a really good game!

I've got almost all of my Christmas shopping done.  Thomas is getting a killer gift this year!  I'm so excited about it, in fact, that it's wrapped and safely tucked away at my parents' house so that I can't lose my patience and give it to him early!

Well, that's all for now!  I'll try to make it less than two months before I blog again!

Work Work Work

This has been a crazy week!  I'm super glad it's Friday night and I've got a weekend of hanging out with my hubby ahead of me!  So, I'm at home, sitting in bed in a comfy new sweater watching some "Criminal Minds" and typing away!

I got some new responsibilities at work this week.  And I can be good at multi-tasking when I'm prepared, but when I'm not, I get overwhelmed pretty quick.  So, getting used to my new responsibilities took quite a bit of brain energy.  I'm glad I have the weekend to get my head around it more, and then I get to start next week fresh and with a plan!

Thomas and I are going to see Dracula Untold tomorrow.  I'm not sure how good it will be, but getting to hear Luke Evans talk for two hours will make sure a good movie!  He has one of those really great speaking voices, you know?!  And I am definitely interested in a story of how a good man decided to become Dracula.

Then we've got plans with my family to cheer on the Cardinals.  I know it's pretty much a crime to not be a huge Cardinals fan when you live in St. Louis, but I'm not.  I will watch parts of the game with Thomas when he wants to watch them, but I don't really care about baseball.  So really, I'm going for the food and the company, but don't tell the rest of St. Louis that.  Lol.

Man, am I missing my Florida lately.  It's been getting colder and super rainy this week.  I miss my sunshine and warmth and my friends.  Missouri certainly has its high points, but this week their not as easy to see.

I'm going to get started at my weekend started!  Enjoy yours!

Kittens and Hair-dos

We've had our adorable little kitten for almost three months now.  She is every bit as adorable, obnoxious, inquisitive, and persistent as the day we got her!  The only difference is that she's getting bigger.  We love her to death but still don't trust her one tiny bit!  I'm looking forward to two weeks from now when she'll have her front claws taken out so that she won't accidentally spear me when we're playing.  But I will miss her fantastic climbing skills.  Here are some pics of my babies!

The ceiling fan was on... This is the face I got.  Not to mention the fact that she's laying in my jeans.

Both cats seriously love this box.

"If I fits, I sits." -Lolo

My slippers are really soft and fuzzy (and hideous, Thomas says).

I was watching a cat video, so she came to watch with me.  She kept pawing the screen and pausing the video.  It was so adorable.

Lolo has been obsessed with towels that have outside smells on them right now.

Luna loves to nap with me.  She totally hopped up and laid with me like this all by herself.

She and Lo are getting along much better.  They're definitely still not best friends, but they are warming up to each other.  Luna is working at keeping Lo young and fit by playing with her constantly, and Lo is making up for it by eating most of Luna's food.  Lol.

What can I say... I love them!

I'm also totally still loving my hew hair cut.  I've been playing around with different styles.  And today I wore it in a ponytail for the first time.  Lol.  Pony tails used to be my go-to, everyday style, but in the past year or so I just haven't been wearing them hardly at all.  Weird.  I'm more into the braids and more "interesting" styles nowadays.  Here's the original pic (blowdry only) and straightened and curled, all of which take so much less time to do than they did with hair that was almost a foot longer!

Happy Saturday!

Surprise Date Day

Thomas is super awesome, so he informed me on Friday that he had made plans for us on Sunday.  He knows I love surprises, so he wouldn't tell me anything except how I should dress.

Even when we were in the car driving to our destination on Sunday, he still wouldn't tell me where we were going.  It wasn't until we were two miles away that I saw a sign that gave me a clue.

He knows how much I love history, so he took me over to Illinois to the Cahokia Mounds.  For those of you who aren't huge history fans, the Cahokia Mounds are a bunch of hills that were created by Native Americans.  There's a really cool museum with a ton of information about how the tribes lived and what the mounds were used for, and then you can walk the grounds and climb the biggest mound.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day, and we had a great time!  Here are some pics from the day!

 The tribes built pretty big walls around some of their dwellings.

The mounds come in a bunch of different shapes and sizes.

Another reconstruction of one of their walls.

The biggest one, called Monk's Mound, is over 100 feet tall.

You can climb to the top of Monk's Mound via a lot of stairs.

And from the top, you can see downtown St. Louis.

A photo op at the top of the mound.

It was an awesome day!  Afterward, he took me for a BBQ lunch.  He's pretty awesome!  Here's to you, honey!

Apple Cinnamon Squares

Fall is here.  And every year with fall comes all things apple.  And you know I just absolutely love apples.  So last week I whipped up a batch of these delicious apple cinnamon squares.

These are a super yummy treat that are easy to make!  You don't even need a lot of apple, and this recipe uses ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen.

Apple Cinnamon Squares
Adapted from: Allrecipes.com
Makes: a 9x9 pan

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped apple
 For Topping:
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9x9 inch pan.
2. In a medium bowl, stir the melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together.
3. Stir in the egg and vanilla.
4. Mix in the dry ingredients until just combined.
5. Add in the chopped apple and stir.
6. Spread the mixture into the prepared pan.
7. Mix the extra granulated sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl.  Sprinkle on top of the batter.
8. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the center is set.
9. Allow to cool in the pan and then cut into squares.

Enjoy this yummy fall treat!