Book Review: Matched by Ally Condie

Just 2 days into the new year and I already have read a book! This book is a super simple read and keeps you interested all the way through.

Matched by Ally Condie is about a "perfect" society designed to keep everyone happy and healthy, at least until their 80th birthday. Cassia is a girl who lives by the Society's rules and trusts they know and do what is best for it's citizens. On the eve of her 17th birthday, Cassia has her Matching Ceremony, where she comes to find out that her perfect match is her best friend, Xander. This is rare to be matched with someone you already know. Her faith in the Society waivers after that ceremony when she is confused by a glitch in her microcard that supposedly has all the info about her match. Xander's face appears, then fades away, and another boy's face appears... and she knows this one too.

I feel like Matched is like a cross between 1984 by George Orwell, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, and the recent hit The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. So if you like any of the previously mentioned books, with a little romance and rebellion, I recommend this one.

Accomplishments of 2011

This year was a totally crazy one! It went by so fast, yet played out in slow motion. I feel like I have accomplised a lot in this past year and want to share those moments with you! Here is my list of my "11 Goals for 2011" that I made at this time last year:

11 Goals for 2011

1. Find a DH Job!

- and I can check that one off the list! I just hope that it continues out to be a full time position and things pick up!

2. Find an apartment/house

- another check off the list! We are loving our new place and you can view it here!

3. Learn to quilt - Quilt a t-shirt quilt, a baby quilt, and a quilt for me & Phil

- I unfortunately did not complete this goal, but I kinda think I dreamed too high with this one with all the wedding planning going on! We did receive a quilt from Phil's grandmother and one from my friend Jeff's mother for our wedding!

4. Continue eating healthy and working out

- I did accomplish this goal until the latter part of the year! The holidays hurt me, but I plan on getting back on track! I will list this as goal complete because I did so well for 95% of the year! (that is a made up percentage so don't even try to calculate that!)

5. Use my crockpot

- check! We have made a couple different dishes in the good ole crockpot, including a potato casserole, thai chicken, and chili!

6. Have fun planning mine and Phil's wedding!

- check again! Planning was definately fun, but also very stressful as well! I am glad it is over with, but it was truly the happiest day of my life!

7. Make tooth-fairy pillows for my cousins/nephews!

- this did not happen! Luckily noone has lost a tooth yet! haha I did make the ring bearer pillow for my nephew, Alec, to hold while walking down the aisle!

8. Get a kitty

- this hasn't happened either, but it can't while we are living in our new place cause we aren't allowed to have any pets except our fishies. We did acquire a kitty friend that most likely belongs to a neighbor that comes to visit us and we call Muffin!

9. Continue to read for pleasure as often as I can.

- this I did! Although I didn't read as many books as I did last year, I did read as much as I could with all the craziness going on! I read a total of 18 books and plan to read more next year!

10. Start paying off my loans.

- I started doing this! Big accomplisment here!

11. Continue to blog!

- although I've had some trouble, I have continued to blog as much as I could! I fear though that I have lost many followers due to my absence!

I am happy that I completed 8 out of the 11 goals that I have set for myself! Many of which you may see again for 2012! Come back tomorrow to see what they are!

...and have a safe and happy New Year's Eve everybody!

Week #35

I hope everyone had a happy Easter! I actually have a pic for each day this week, and also slept so much better!

Day 239: Phil and I are pretty much finished registering! We finally found these pint glasses we've been looking for forever and put them on the registry! haha All I have to add is some bedding stuff and maybe a few other decor items that he isn't too interested in!

Day 240: Mom got me this handbag from the new store here at our mall called Charming Charlie! I love this purse cause it's lacey! This place is pretty much awesome and is organized by color! You could spend hours in there and still not see everything! It's pretty overhelming!

Day 241: This is a pic of my orchid sprouting a new little branch! I've had this orchid for about 10 years, and this past year it has grown more than in the previous years combined!

Day 242: Mom and I went to the florist today for a wedding consultation! I know this can be a big expense for a wedding but we are trying to do our best to keep it as low as possible! It is probably one of the most exciting parts of planning for me!

Day 243: Today I had a girl's day out with my friend Heather! We went to Panera Bread to eat lunch/soup, then shopped at Target and Sally Beauty Supply. The main point of going to Sally was to get this crackle nail polish that came out recently! I really wanted grey but all they had was black, white, and this blue color. You can see which I picked. Sorry for the pic of my toe, but I painted under the crackle a yellow color so my toenail isn't really yellow! haha The crackle worked pretty well as long as you worked pretty fast, cause it dries on the brush fast and goops up. Try to make it a thin layer on your nail.

Day 244: Before I left to go to Phil's house today, mom and I colored Easter eggs!!! I LOVE to do this! I got the one where you have to color the egg then glue it and then apply the foil! I think they turned out pretty well, but they got kinda sticky after we hid them in the damp grass on Easter!

Day 245: Phil and I went oot and aboot today to a game resale store where I actually bought the 1st Harry Potter book for $1 (that I will be able to read after the last Harry Potter movie comes out!) and got a computer game as well. We also went to a antique store that had this fantastic (*sarcasm*) inflatable Incredible Hulk that Phil loved. I love the Hulk probably almost just as much as Phil, but where would I put this??? Let me just say that it was nice that it cost $500 cause Phil is probably just as frugal as me, if not more!

I hope everyone has a happy Monday! I get to go to an orientation today and tomorrow for a job that I will be working for the next 3 months! It's only temporary because the hygienist will be out on maternity leave. Yay for working! haha

Week #32

Happy Monday everyone! I hope it is going okay for you so far! I hope some part of my week will make you smile!

Day 218: This Sunday, Phil and I sat around and watched our collection of Jack Ass movies and finally watched the newest one. In a lot of ways I cannot stand to watch these movies, but in part they are quite hilarious and I cannot take my eyes away! haha No matter what, it's always nice to be able to laugh together!

Day 219: Today, I went to the Y and ran! I also finished up watching the Square Pegs DVDs I got for Christmas. Has anyone else ever watched this TV series? It is like totally 80s, totally! I had never heard of it before I got it as a gift, but it was a lot of fun to watch! I believe this was one of Sarah Jessica Parker's first roles.

Day 220: Mom and I went to another florist's shop today to get a feel for how they would be for the wedding. The woman was really nice there and I have a feeling she is who we are going to go with! From there, we went to Hobby Lobby and picked up a few things including these (pictured) that we are going to use as table numbers. What do ya think?

Day 221: I spent the better part of this evening going over our gift registry and figuring out everything we still need to register for. I printed off this checklist and compared it to what we already have bought/registered.

Day 222: Today, I got called into temp work at a new dentist's office (that's #5)! Their dental hygienist hurt her arm which is so sad considering her line of work, but I'm glad I got an oppurtunity to fill-in somewhere new and meet new people. My aunt, uncle, cousin's wife & daughter (Asyra) left today to see my cousin graduate from basic training in Texas! This pic is Asyra and mom playing the 'scrub your ears' game she made up!

Day 223: I went to Phil's house this weekend. This evening Phil and I went to Point Pleasant to eat at a new place. Then, we went back to his house to relax. This pic is of Phil's mom's dog, Baby. Baby loves me and cuddled up on my lap tonight and went to sleep. I sure do miss having a doggy!

Day 224: Phil's nephew Alec turned 6 years old the day before, but today we, along with Phil's parents, took him to Chuck E. Cheese's to eat pizza, play games, and get prizes! He had a blast! After, Phil and I went to the bookstore where I finally got "Dead in the Family" by Charlaine Harris since it just came out in paperback! I cannot wait to go read it!

Have a good week!

Registry: Library

Okay, this really doesn't have anything to do with my registry besides only hoping I could be lucky enough to have a library like these some day! ...or maybe I could register for books? haha

We may not be able to have a library, but it would be nice to have a little office/extra bedroom to have bookshelves and be able to display my hoard of books! Oh, and I want the walls to be kelly green!

Week #27

Hi all! Here on time this week's Pic-A-Day at it's normally scheduled time! Yay!

Day 183: I read this book - "The Girl Who Chased The Moon" by Sarah Addison Allen - in one day. It is an easy read, not to mention romantic and magical! I am trying to watch how many books I buy right now, so I may start reading some old mysteries I read a long time ago that I have forgotten what they are about, but I may just have to go buy the other 3 books by Ms. Allen!

Day 184: It seems like this whole week has been about the rain. It goes from warm to cold, rain to snow, but at least rain means that Spring is near!

Day 185: I got to work again at the same office I worked at last week! I didn't want to go out in their waiting room to take a picture so this pic I took from the internet will have to do! Yes, they have a Ms. PacMan table video game in their office! I wanted it badly!

Day 186: I worked again for the same dentist office again today! So excited that they will be able to use me so much! I just wish I could be a full-time hygienist there. Mom met me at Burger King today for my lunch break!

Day 187: My friend, Lee, won tickets and took me to see "Chorus Line" at the Keith Albee tonight! It was pretty good, but has to be the cheapest musical to produce ever! The characters all had the same clothes for the entire show except at the end for their "One Singular Sensation" finale and the background was just dance studio mirrors. This pic is of the inside of the Keith Albee, it's pretty amazing.

Day 188: On Wednesday night of this week, my babysitter/3rd grandma passed away. She was two months shy of her 90th birthday and such an amazing & strong woman. Anna took care of me from the time I was 7 weeks old until I was about 12 years old. I will miss her dearly. This day was the day of her funeral. She had tons of pink roses at her funeral, pink being her favorite color.

Day 189: I finally got some material to make Phil's nephew, Alec, a tooth-fairy pillow. I hope to have it done by his 6th birthday on April 1st. Do you like my fabric choices? There are so many different ones I love that it takes me forever to pick them out!

For those of you who want to know, my ankle is feeling alot better now. I am still limping a bit, but Ibuprofen helps tremendously. I am going to try and work out at the Y today cause I feel like I've gained every pound back again that I had previously lost.

So, my week had it's highs and lows... how was your week?

An Annoyance & Resolve

So Monday night, I was watching The Bachelor on the TV upstairs in our house. It was over, so I was going back downstairs carrying some munchies and my phone in my hands. As I was coming to the last step, I look out the window and get distracted by yet another snowfall when I myself start falling, due to too many steps left when I only thought there was one. I land on my right ankle and down I go. Pain ensues. Crying starts. Stupid snow! My first reaction was to call Phil, I tell him what happens and start sobbing into the phone. He wants to come over, but I don't let him cause it was snowing outside and dark. I tell him I'll call him back.

I am all alone. My parents are away for a week, lovely. Good thing my aunt and uncle live just next door so I call them up. They rush over with their spare key and help me assess the damage. A LOT of swelling. I feel nauseous. They help me to the couch where I prop up my ankle and apply an ice baggy. Oh man it hurts! I told my aunt and uncle I didn't want to go to the hospital and would wait til the next day to see how I felt.

I find out that not having crutches is TERRIBLE! I hopped around the house on my left leg all night, and sometimes crawled on my knees just to get another baggy of ice at 4am. Thank goodness the bathroom is like 5 hops from the bed! This is all on the main floor of my house and my bedroom is in the basement. So I stayed in the guest bedroom. I went to the doc, got some x-rays, it is only a sprain thank goodness, then got the crutches which are pretty bad too but not as bad as none.

The sprain will have many annoyances: pain from both my right ankle and my left thigh from hopping (good thing I've been working out!), not being able to keep up with my running (which I got up to running a mile recently!) and *hopefully* won't interfere with possible job offerings which I'm supposed to find out really soon. This week I also had a "To Do List" of cleaning and running around doing errands, both of which isn't possible cause I can't go up and down stairs and I can't drive my car with my left foot without scaring myself.

Resolve: It had been 2 years since Phil proposed to me. Didn't plan on seeing him this day cause he works, but he took off at lunch to come help me out. He brought me food (I'd only had a banana all day), he got some much needed items for me downstairs out of my bedroom and bathroom - including my toothbrush and books to read, and he actually helped me into the bathtub because I was feeling pretty nasty (hopping around can really work ya out!). This gave me a glimpse into our future when we are old. It was a little awkward but sweet at the same time. But mostly he was there for me for company and hugs. I think he may be off the hook for Valentine's Day :-)

Sorry about the long post on my ankle. It is all I am thinking about since I'm here alone moving from the couch to my bed and to the bathroom. Better posts to come!

Book Review: One Day

I had promised this awhile back but just now getting to it. It's been busy for me the last couple weeks with all this wedding stuff piling up on me! Anyways, here's the review...



One Day by David Nicholls is about Dex and Em, Em and Dex... you'd get it if you read the book... two people who went to college together but never really met/became friends until the night of their graduation. You follow these "friends" over the course of 20 years, but here's the kicker: you only follow them on July 15th of each of those years. The author does a good job of catching you up on how each character is doing during the rest of the year which makes it an easy read after you get into the book a couple chapters.

I wasn't sure how I was going to like it at first. I sort of made myself read the first few chapters, but then I was hooked and loved it. It wasn't like The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo where I pretty much had to make myself read 3/4 of the book while only 1/4 was good. One Day always makes you wonder: what is going to happen to these people next year? The book is filled with ups & downs as Emma and Dexter go through their lives with and without eachother.

• Have you read this book before?
• If so, what did you think of it?
• If not, do you want to read it now?
  

Week #23

I hope everyone had a good week and will enjoy week #23 of my Pic-A-Day challenge!!!


Day 155: Today we celebrated my mom, aunt, and cousin Zach's birthdays! My family got together and ate some cheese fondue, pizza, and ice cream cake. My little cousin Asyra made this picture for my mom using some glue and leftover confetti from her mom's baby shower! Isn't it cute?!

Day 156: I started reading Breaking Dawn for the second time today. I had borrowed the book when I read it the first time, but when I got it as a present for Christmas, I decided it was time to read it again! I'm almost finished with it now.

Day 157: I have been obsessively going through the new WV Weddings magazine since it came out! Love it!

Day 158: I had gone over to Phil's house the day before cause I felt like just being a normal couple and getting to see him whenever I wanted. It's hard just being able to see eachother on the weekends! Anyways, I left from his house this morning when he left for work and it's a good thing I did cause shortly after, it started pouring the snow!

Day 159: Mom and I went here to Nandel's so I could try on some more wedding dresses. The people and the dresses were nice but it just didn't compare to THE dress that I'm going to go purchase today!

Day 160: Dad cut his fingers on a countertop he was moving so bad that he needed 19 stitches! His hand looks like Frankenstein's!

Day 161: I was at Phil's house again this weekend and we went to go eat at the Buffalo Diner. This is who we want to cater for our wedding! The food is sooo good! I got the stuffed chicken, pasta with garlic sauce, green beans, and garlic cheese bread! Mmmmm...

This coming week is looking fairly busy for me, so hopefully I'll have an easy time getting some pics to share with you all for next week!

Busy Bee!

This week has been pretty busy for me sending out MORE resumes and celebrating my mom's birthday. First off, I hate when people don't return phone calls. Especially important ones like about someones future job. Anyway, it all worked out for the best. Yesterday was mom's birthday and I took her out to lunch and we got an assortment of some delicious cupcakes from this place called Paula Vega Cakes. Yum!

This weekend is going to be pretty busy too! I am heading to Phil's house this afternoon. Tomorrow we are meeting my parents for a tasting at the place where we might have the wedding. I hope it's good! Later that night, Phil and I are going to his work party/dinner. I haven't spent that much time around the people he works with since I've usually been away at school when they've held this annual party before. I hope I won't become too shy! Then Sunday I will be going with my mom, aunt, and possibly Sarah to the Bridal Expo at the civic center! I've been waiting forever (it seems) to go to this! I hope I can find some good ideas/vendors for my wedding!

I would also like to say that the new Michael Jackson Album is pretty great!

And I'm reading a new book called "One Day" by David Nicholls and it is not part of a series! So far it is okay, just starting out slow, but it is getting much better! Someone I know that blogs had written a review of this book and that's how I found out about it. I can't remember who it was though! Was it any of you bloggy friends? When I finish, I'll try and write something more about it.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Goals for 2011

I've decided to make goals for myself for the new year. They really can't fall under the category of "resolution" since they aren't really things I need to change, although I do have few resolutions too.

11 Goals for 2011

1. Find a dental hygiene job!
2. Find an apartment/house for me and Phil after finding that DH job!
3. Learn to quilt - by year's end I would like to have finished at least 3 quilts: My t-shirt quilt, a baby quilt (for my new little cousin due May 1st!), and a quilt for me and Phil.
4. Continue eating healthy and working out.
5. Use my crockpot.
6. Plan mine and Phil's wedding and have fun doing it!
7. Make tooth-fairy pillows for my little cousins/nephews.
8. Get a kitty.
9. Continue to read for pleasure as often as I can.
10. Start paying off my loans.
11. Continue to blog!

Resolutions

• Begin going to sleep earlier and waking up earlier - This will be a hard one to start and I'm afraid that it won't happen until I find a job I need to get up for.
• Start writing down what I eat everyday - I was doing this really well for the first part of my weight-loss program I joined at the Y, but lately I haven't at all.
• Be more patient.
• Hang out more with my friends!

Last year my resolution was to call my family/friends more often and get over my phone phobia. This resolution didn't turn out too well cause I never did. Bad Mariah! I hope this year's goals/resolutions turn out better than last year's!

I've also added the 11 Goals for 2011 to the left sidebar so you can track their progress with my other lists!

• Do you have any goals/resolutions for the new year?
• How did you do with last years resolutions?

The Year I Read 35 Books

On this special edition of "The Day...", I decided since it is that last day of the year that I would entitle this post "The Year..." and give you a run down of all the books I read this year. I quite honestly don't think I've ever in my life read this many books for pleasure, or for really anything, in a single year. Here's to hoping I can do it again!

1. Grave Sight - Charlain Harris
2. Grave Surprise - Charlaine Harris
3. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
4. An Ice Cold Grave - Charlaine Harris
5. Shakespeare's Landlord - Charlaine Harris
   
6. Always Looking Up - Michael J. Fox
7. Animal Farm - George Orwell
8. Shakespeare's Champion - Charlaine Harris
9. Shakespeare's Christmas - Charlaine Harris
10. Dead and Gone - Charlaine Harris
11. Shakespeare's Trollop - Charlaine Harris
12. Shakespeare's Counselor - Charlaine Harris
13. Honeysuckle Summer - Sherryl Woods
14. The Inn At Eagle Point - Sherryl Woods
15. Flowers On Main - Sherryl Woods
16. Harbor Lights - Sherryl Woods
    
17. About That Man - Sherryl Woods
18. Ask Anyone - Sherryl Woods
19. Along Came Trouble - Sherryl Woods
20. The Last Summer (Of You And Me) - Ann Brashares
21. True Colors - Kristin Hannah
    
22. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
    
23. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson
24. Stealing Home - Sherryl Woods
25. Real Murders - Charlaine Harris
26. A Slice of Heaven - Sherryl Woods
27. Feels Like Family - Sherryl Woods
28. Welcome To Serenity - Sherryl Woods
29. Home In Carolina - Sherryl Woods
30. Grave Secret - Charlaine Harris
31. Sweet Tea at Sunrise - Sherryl Woods
32. A Bone To Pick - Charlaine Harris
33. Three Bedrooms, One Corpse - Charlaine Harris
34. The Julius House - Charlaine Harris
35. Dead Over Heels - Charlaine Harris

To group these together I have read:

1. The whole Harper Connelly Series by Charlaine Harris
2. The whole Lily Bard Series by Charlaine Harris
3. One book of the Sookie Stackhouse Novels by Charlaine Harris (Because the previous year I had read the books leading up to it and there are no more in paperback yet.)
4. The Chesapeake Shores Series by Sherryl Woods (that's so far in paperback)
5. The whole Trinity Harbour Series by Sherryl Woods
6. The Sweet Magnolia Series by Sherryl Woods (that's so far in paperback)
7. Part of the Aurora Teagarden Series by Charlaine Harris (I'm finishing it up first thing in 2011!)

My least favorite book would have to be The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson and my favorite would probably be The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins because it is really hard to pick a favorite out of a series. And it is really hard for me to pick a favorite series. There was a book that I began reading but just couldn't finish and that was the classic book The Lord of the Flies by William Golding. I will try really hard to finish this one in 2011! And there was one book that I read twice which was Honeysuckle Summer by Sherryl Woods, because I started out reading her books at the end of one of her series so I had to go back and read it again after I read the previous ones! I didn't count it as an extra book though!

I owe finding out about Sherryl Woods to my friend Jennifer over at Crazy Shenanigans. We ironically have the same favorite and least favorite of the year! Maybe next year I will branch outside of Charlaine Harris and Sherryl Woods, but if they keep producing books then I know I will read them!

Do you have any book suggestions for me for 2011?

What was your favorite/least favorite book of the year?

Week #18

So this is the crazy week that led up to Christmas! I hope everyone had a happy holiday!

Day 120: I got me some Kroger sushi to eat today! That's really all I did, but it was delicious! haha! My favorite is the salmon with avacado roll.

Day 121: My phone woke me up at 6:30am to the dental office that I temporarily work for calling in to see if I could work! Yay! Working this whole day helped me out for Christmas so much! I just wish I could work more often cause I love cleaning teeth! This pic I took of myself in my car on my lunch break. Notice the hair sticking out from my goggles!

Day 122: Phil and I had made some mint chocolate Oreo truffles this past weekend (we are pretty addicted to them!) and I couldn't wait until Christmas to eat'em! So I snuck one... shhhh!

Day 123: Mom and I did some last minute Christmas shopping. And it had been a while, so I painted my nails all sparkly and Christmas-y!

Day 124: On Christmas Eve Eve, my uncle got into town from Atlanta! I went to the movie "Little Fockers" with him and my parents, then ate at the Thai House Restaurant, and got me a couple more books in my "Aurora Teagarden Series" by Charlaine Harris to read! This pic is of me and my Uncle Abbie by the tree at Pullman Square. Later that night, my best friend Adam was in town so he picked me up and we went to Jolly Pirates for some donuts and scratch-offs! It was great to drive around and catch up!

Day 125: Christmas Eve! I went over to Phil's grandmother's house to spend this day with his family. This is a pic of his nephews opening all their presents! They had such a good Christmas! After we left his grandmothers, we went to his other grandparents house to visit. Then, we went back to his house before heading to my house! We did things a little differently on Christmas Eve at my house this year. Usually we only open one gift, but this year we opened them all! It was pretty crazy for my family to do this, but we knew we could do it this way or lug all those presents to my aunt's house in the morning! It was a great day!

Day 126: Christmas Day! And it was a white one! We went to my Aunt Cheryl's house to eat and open presents. It was nice that we had opened most of the presents the night before because we got to enjoy watching my little cousin Asyra open all hers, like in this picture! Don't you love her Christmas dress?!

Well, that's it folks! Christmas is over and New Year's is upon us! Hope your Christmas was merry & bright, but it's finally time to relax!

Week #12

Welcome to Week 12 of my Pic-A-Day challenge! This week I got better with the help of the antibiotics I'm taking so there is a little more variety in the pictures I took this week! Enjoy!

Day 78: Still feeling sick when I wake up in the morning since that is when my nose is crusty and my throat is dry. In the afternoons I feel better and on this Sunday Phil and I got some Christmas shopping done! This evening I started losing my voice though.

Day 79: My voice was partially gone today, but I felt better. So it made for a good day for mom and I to clean out my old closet from when I was little and I sort through clothes I wanted to keep and ones I wanted to give away. In this closet I found my Lite Brite and got a little too into playing with it again. This is my creation I present to you!

Day 80: I found a new gum I love! Extra's Dessert Delights is amazing! Although it does not have Xylitol in it, it is still sugar-free! The Key Lime Pie flavor is definately my favorite with the Mint Chocolate Chip coming in as a close second! I thought I would like the Strawberry Shortcake flavor the best, but it tastes a little weird to me so it is in last.

Day 81: Cut my nails and painted them black today. This is kinda a strange shot of my hand.

Day 82: Mom and I went shopping today and I wore my new ankle boots for the first time! They were really comfortable, but I would like to where them with something besides jeans where you could see them a little better!

Day 83: Went to see Phil this Friday and got some little tin candy cups to put the Oreo Truffles we are going to make for Thanksgiving (and Christmas)! Mmmmm... I cannot wait!

Day 84: Got a new Brides magazine to read, along with the next book in my Sweet Magnolia series by Sherryl Woods. I got the book at the flea market for only $3!

Hope everyone had a great week! And I wanted to give a birthday shout-out to one of my BFFs, Jeffs! I don't think he's ever read this blog, but Happy Birthday to him anyway!

Week #9

Welcome to Week 9 of my pic-a-day challenge! Hope you enjoy this week's pictures with the stories behind them!

Day 57: So this is what mine and Phil's pumpkins look like lit up! It has now been 3 weeks since we've carved them and I'm afraid to say that we got a little excited a little too soon cause they are starting to collapse a bit. Hopefully they'll hold out a few more days for Trick-or-Treat!

Day 58: I woke up this day sick. A not fun day that consisted of me mostly laying in bed and making trips to the bathroom, lots of reading and not too much eating. That night I had a temperature of 101.3, so this is a pic of my thermometer.

Day 59: I was still sick on this day, but I did venture out to my deck to get some fresh air and see what a pretty day it was even though I didn't feel too pretty myself.

Day 60: My mom brought in some hanging baskets this night cause she thought is was going to frost. This birdie nest with eggs was in one of the plants, and unfortunately the mommy bird was too, so we had to shoo her gently out of our house and place her nest out nearby.

Day 61: I was in the mood to decorate so I put some Halloween lights around our front door.

Day 62: Phil and I went to an old cemetery near Beech Fork campground today. Alot of the graves date back to the 1800s and many of them were babies. It was sad.

Day 63: Saturday night Phil and I decided to make these Oreo Truffles and dress them up with a festive candy corn. They were pretty yummy!

Hope everyone had a great week and was not sick like I was! Hope the upcoming week is good as well!

I Got Tagged!

My friend Miranda over at Hangin' Loose With The Tucci's tagged me with her little question/answer thingy! Here they are:

1. What is your daily routine like? What time to you get up, go to bed, dinner routine, etc.

• You all probably don't wanna see this, but during the week I usually get out of bed around noon. I was going to lie and say around 11am, which is sometimes true I guess, but more than likely it is noon. I love my sleep and I don't usually have anything to do early anyway. I am a night creature and looooove staying up late and go to bed around 2am. Obviously this will chance once I have a job! During the day I am usually looking for a job, planning my wedding, going to the Y, and/or hanging out with my mom. On the weekends, I am with Phil since we don't get to see eachother during the week very often. And believe it or not, it is the weekends that I get up fairly early (for me anyway) cause Phil and I like to go go go!

2. What are things you do with your family for fun. And for those of you with children, what fun things to you like to do with your kids?

• I love to travel with my family. My fondest memories are ones that involve the beach, skiing, or going on any trip! Family birthdays always turn out to be interesting too... my Aunt Marcia has seriously used the same wrapping paper for presents my entire life and most likely longer! Thanks old Lazarus!

3. What are your FAVORITE holiday traditions?

• My favorite holiday traditions are: carving pumpkins with Phil, going to haunted trails/houses/hayrides/places for Halloween with friends, decorating the Christmas tree, waiting (or trying to wait) until midnight on Christmas Eve to open a couple presents with my mom, dad, and Uncle Abbie, eating and filling up the living room with wrapping paper with my entire family on Christmas Day, and dying/hiding/hunting Easter eggs.

4. What do you do when you want to relax and have some "me time" ?

• I usually get online (here), watch some TiVo, or read a book.

5. What is one of your favorite books you've read so far?

• This is sort of a hard question. My answer I always have given before has been "Every Living Thing" by James Herriot as my all time favorite and I'm pretty sure that still stands true. His books could be counted as a series but I like that one as it stands on its own. My favorite series would have to be the Sookie Stackhouse Series by Charlaine Harris. I could also say my favorite mystery book is "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie.

6. What is your biggest guilty pleasure?

• Ice cream. That was an easy one :-)
  

Now I have to come up with my questions for 6 lucky readers:

1. What is your favorite book(s) of all time? <- I liked this question courtesy of Miranda :-)

2. Do you have any pets? If so, tell me a little about them! If not, is there a pet that you would like to have?

3. What is your favorite color and why? <- kinda lame but I'm curious!

4. If you are not blogging, what is your favorite website you like to visit?

5. What is your favorite vacation destination or one you'd like to go to?

6. Do you have any wedding planning tips for me??? <- anyone can comment on this one!

The 6 lucky readers I am tagging are:

Kelsey Claire @ Lavender, Leopard, and Lace

Jennifer Fabulous @ I know, right?

Hutch @ Be Awesome Instead

Sarah @ Princess & the Blog

JMJE @ Making Stuff is Fun.....

Not Quite Awake @ Reality Faker

Do this only if you want, and anyone else who wants to do it, please do!

Week #4

To see previous Pic-a-Day posts you can go here.

Day 22: Sadly, this was the season 3 finale of True Blood. Now I have to wait all the way until next summer to see it again! I've been thinking that I will now have a True Blood marathon since I own seasons 1 & 2 and have 3 on my TiVo. Did I tell you this already? Cause I think I may be repeating myself, but oh well... I love True Blood!

Day 23: These are some pretty flowers mom and I got the previous week that were still really pretty! They felt really fall-ish to me!

Day 24: Apparently, Kroger thinks it is National Ice Cream Month. So to verify it, I looked it up and Ronald Reagan declared July National Ice Cream Month in 1984 and National Ice Cream Day is the Third Sunday of July. Kroger, I enjoy your eagerness to have ice cream recognized every month because I am ice cream's biggest fan! I declare it National Ice Cream Year every year!!!

Day 25: So as you can probably tell, I did forget to take a picture this day. But I can tell you mom and I went to go see the movie "Eat Pray Love". It was pretty good, but it didn't inspire me enough to wanna go out and buy the book to read.

Day 26: Yay! Pumpkins are out at the Kroger, along with their friends the mums and cornstalks!

Day 27: This is the third time I went to Kroger this week! This is what Phil and I found in the international aisle... yes, it says "Spotted Dick" and apparently it is a pudding... ew.

Day 28: Chilifest! I tried so many chilis and each was really good and it was for a good cause - The Ronald McDonald House! Phil got some chili too and this one guy asked if he wanted extra hot sauce in his and of course Phil said yes. So this guy proceeds to put a heaping teaspoon of this black sauce on his chili and Phil stirs it in! Phil took 2 bites, threw it away, bought and chugged a bottle of water until I told him to eat some crackers. I've never seen him not like something spicy so much!

So yeah, I went to Kroger 3 times this week... and I really did cause the first time mom and I went, then I went to pick up some stuff mom and I forgot to get, then Phil and I went cause we wanted to make quesadillas for dinner but didn't have some stuff I needed for a recipe I found online. I think it is my official record, but that could be broken! Hope everyone had a great week and I'll try to remember next week to take a pic every day!!!