10.29.2009

Dear J.Crew,

First off you know I still love you it's just that, well, we have to take a little "break." We're not breaking up. Don't worry I WILL BE BACK, but for the time being I won't be able to visit you and if you could please stop tempting me with your extra 30% off, Free shipping, and New Arrivals emails that would be much appreciated. See J.Crew the economy has taken a downturn over the past year (but I hear it's on the upswing!) and we did just have a wedding so I am trying to tighten my belt and put more money into our savings account. I'm already not very good at saving so I need as little temptation as possible, got that?

Thanks for understanding,

Your Loyal Customer Nat

P.S.- I may still be browsing the website from time to time but only when I'm feeling strong

P.S.S.- Do let me know when the wool flannel school boy blazer goes on sale though, thanks!
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10.27.2009

I'm not Perfect

Sometimes I feel like I sugarcoat this blog, like I only show you guys the good/fun/exciting parts. So I decided today to let you in on a few of my flaws because let's be honest we all have them :)

(I hope this doesn't come off as too depressing or angry, I'm just trying to shed some light on the side of my personality you rarely see! )

- I am quick tempered. I get mad quickly and I get over it just as quickly. I can't stand people who hold grudges, like K.

-I am Catholic and went to Catholic school for 12 years yet I have doubts. I worry about raising my kids with "Catholic" guilt.

-I have horrible road rage and I'm not really sure how to handle it. I don't do anything crazy, it's mostly just me yelling at other drivers in my car with my windows rolled up so no one can hear how crazy I am.

-K works until 9:00pm most nights and it doesn't really bother me. When I tell this to other people they gasp, and ask how I handle. Do I get lonely? Yes, but I know how hard he has worked and that he loves his job. I would never want to take that away from him.

-I don't eat red meat. I always feel the need to justify myself to people, like "No, I don't love cows I just don't really like the taste." I'm still not sure why people care so much?? I also don't drink cows milk because it grosses me out. People also get angry with me over this, again not sure why they care?

-I don't really enjoy reading unless it's chick lit or written by James Patterson.

-I hate when people say you're so lucky to be in a relationship or be married, now you're life is easy! Like once you've found "the one" you don't have to try anymore. Relationships are hard work. Anyone who tells you otherwise clearly hasn't been in one long enough. After 6.5 years together I can say that K and I have had been blessed with many good times but we've also had bad times and major fights and times when we've almost broken up but we love each other and would rather be together than apart. So we work through things, we make changes, we make compromises and that can be hard and frustrating at times but that's what you do when you're a team. You learn to work together.

-I gossip. A lot. It is an awful habit and I really need to stop. I just like to be in the "know."

-People always comment on how laid back I am. I am not laid back, I am actually quite a control freak. I just know when to be in control and when to go with the flow.

-I am not really interested in politics. I'm very middle of the road-my thought is do whatever makes you happy, if it isn't bothering me why should I care?

-I hate when people say you're so lucky you're skinny you can eat whatever you want, like I eat donuts, fast food, ice cream, and hamburgers all day long. Yes I do have good genes but I eat right (most of the time) and I have to exercise. I love junk food just as much as the next person but I know I have to enjoy it in moderation.

-I'm awful with grammar and spelling.

-I despise going to the movies. Asking me to sit still and pay attention for 2 hours is torture. Unless Will Smith is saving the world, then I might be convinced. I will watch a movie at home but wine must be involved.
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Fab Bag

My BFF and totally awesome Mom (to the cutest little boy) Abby is hosting a giveaway this week, well actually last week I'm a few days behind, but you still have a few more days to enter!!

So here it is:

Ta-da!
A diaper bag!




This fab bag here is a Carter's Big Dot Tote Diaper Bag in Black & Lime. It is a $39.99 value that you can have totally FREE!!!! So make sure to check it out and enter here.

I honestly think this is an awesome diaper bag because it doesn't really scream "Look at me I'm a diaper bag!!", which I like. I will not be entering this giveaway as I just got married and I'm pretty sure a diaper bag would send K running and screaming in the other direction. Anyone can enter though- Moms, soon to be Moms, Mommy wanna be's it doesn't matter so head over if you're interested. Oh and check out Becks he's just too cute!!
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10.25.2009

Cooking & Cleaning

It was a pretty uneventful weekend here at the Charmed household. We stayed in all weekend and I tackled some heavy duty cooking and cleaning while K studied away up in the office.

Saturday= Cleaning & Purging day. I had to purge my closet. There was no getting around it. I stand in it every morning and proclaim loudly that I have NOTHING TO WEAR yet my closet was packed to the brim. Soooo the only way to justify my much needed fall/winter shopping was to truly purge everything I didn't need or hadn't worn since 11th grade. Let me just tell, it felt AMAZING. Seriously you would be shocked at some of the stuff I got a rid of, I'm not even sure if some of it was every in style. Like say my white jean jacket?? It's not a styling one either, no it's a straight up mom one. My wardrobe is a little slim at the moment but now there it plenty of room for new friends to join :)
We have no very little storage here so it's important to keep it organized. So I spent the second half of Saturday cleaning the guest room and office. We're getting some furniture from my parents in 2 weeks and I'm so excited because it will give us more storage and our bedroom will finally look like a real grownup bedroom rather than a dorm room.

For all my hard work K made a delicious dinner of pan seared scallops, scalloped potatoes, salad, and some red wine. Can you say YUM?? It was such a treat!

I spent all day today cooking. I'm trying to be more domestic, well more of a cook, because as we all know the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. I can cook some basic things but I'm trying to cook more often. I personally could live off shredded cheese, ice cream and cereal, K on the other hand cannot.

Here is my work below:


Turkey Chili

I use the chili recipe from the Betty Crocker cookbook. I don't eat red meat so I made it with ground turkey. I usually make it for K with beef but decided to try this. He said it was delicious but he thinks it needs more spice because it was spicier with beef.



Cornbread and Brownies
These were both out of a box. I'm no Martha Stewart yet. Obviously you can't have chili without cornbread. This was the fat free Krusteaz brand- It' so simple all you have to do it add water!
My brownies got a little burned and were more cake like today, I prefer them chewy but were still delicious.


Now to my favorite thing ever....



Homemade Chex Mix- chex only.

I LOVE Chex Mix but I only eat the chex. If I buy a bag I will open the bag completely and eat all the chex and throw the rest away. So I decided about a month ago to just start making my own with only chex.
I use the microwave recipe off the box and I use Corn chex & Rice chex. I usually use 8 cups of corn chex and 4 cups of rice chex. The corn chex has more flavor on it's own that is why I use more of those. I also add a little extra garlic powder since you're not getting garlic flavoring from the garlic chips. The recipe is so easy and I swear it tastes much better than the premade ones and it's not that bad if you use margarine instead of real butter.
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10.19.2009

I ain't as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was

I felt like that Toby Keith song this weekend for all my country music fans. Meaning Ladies, I just can't party like I used to. My days of out until 4am drinking vodka sodas & dancing the night away with my girlfriends are long gone, but for many of my single city living girlfriends this is still there way of life.

I promised myself that I would be a good sport and try to keep up with La and her glamorous NYC life. So Friday night I put on my new Jessica Simpson knee high boots (Marshalls $99) and my new adorable Forever 21 shirt with my skinny jeans and hit the NYC streets running. Let me just tell you we had so much fun!! I danced the night away and drank champange and you would have never known I'm an old over 25 married lady from the suburbs! I felt very glamorous! We ate dinner at Ruby Foos (yummy sushi) and then did some bar hopping.

After our wild Friday night we went out to lunch and shopped and walked around all day Saturday. Saturday night we stayed in, made dinner and just sat on the couch chit chatting until I feel asleep at 10:30pm mid conversation, it reminded me of our saturday night high school sleepovers!
Sunday we got up and went to brunch at this fun place Vinyl where we enjoy my favorite meal of the day with some mimosas. All in all it was a very exciting, very fun weekend and I can't wait to do another one soon!!

Visiting my single gal pals always makes me realized how blessed I am to have found someone to spend the rest of my life with because let me tell you, it is a TOUGH dating scene out there and I don't know if I could handle it.

I didn't end up taking a lot of pictures but here are a few:


Me, Chip, and La out at dinner at Ruby Foos




Having some drinks at a glamorous NYC bar


Times Square


More Times Square

Oh yeah did I mention that Chip (La's fabulously good looking and of course gay roommate) works at Origins so I totally scored some awesome skincare products that I will definitely review for you all of you.
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10.16.2009

Headed to the City...



I am NYC bound!!! I am headed up to visit my bridesmaid and high school best friend Laurel!! I haven't been to NYC in 10 years and I haven't had a girls weekend in a long time so I'm extra excited!!
Even this crappy weather up north here isn't putting a damper on my mood!

I promise to return with lots of pictures and stories!

I also want to say good luck to my bloggy friends that are getting married or running 1/2 marathons this weekend!!!
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10.15.2009

Kristin, Brody, and Justin oh my

Alright ladies let's talk about The Hills. I know I'm a little delayed on this but I just got a chance to watch it on the internet because I forgot to DVR it.

First off I have to admit this. I think Brody is HOT and I've had a crush on him since he first appeared on my radar dating KCav like 3 yrs ago. I don't even mind the Jenner tattoo down his side, I kind of think it's sexy. K couldn't be further from Brody but we can have innocent crushes right?? Feel free to make fun of me. Ok now that I've gotten that off my chest let's move on.


Sorry I just had to add it
(source)

- Were you surprised that Justin didn't show up to Brody's birthday??? I wasn't. That is his MO.

-I'm not a huge fan of Jayde. Who name's their daughter Jayde Nicole, with a name like that she was destined for Playboy. ( I apologize if I have offended anyone with the name Jayde, but it's my blog and it's just my opinion)

-Brody may be HOT but he has the maturity of a 19yr, that might even be generous maybe a 16 yr old. He probably shouldn't have been calling his girlfriend that he "loves" a b*tch and then left her alone while he went to party at his ex's

-I don't blame Jayde for getting mad at Brody. First his ex gives him sex toys for his birthday (inappropriate but not off base for KCav) and then he ditches her to go hang out with her. I would be p.o.'d too.

-As I said before Stephanie is WAY TOO SKINNY! Did you see that scene where her and Audrina were walking together, her thigh was the size of my upper arm!!

-Again Spencer with kid, what is the deal with that story line?? I don't mind watching him being mean to other adults but I don't like watching him mock that innocent little boy. Also what was with that ridiculous hat he wore to dinner??

-The guy that Audrina went out with Derek.... whoa UPGRADE. He was HOT and treated her like 1000 times better than Justin but I have a feeling Justin slithers his way back into her life this season
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10.13.2009

Our Wedding: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

As I said before our wedding day was absolutely amazing and it was everything I thought it would be but that's not to say that it didn't have some bad and ugly parts.

The Good:


-The Weather: We got sooo lucky! I started stalking weather.com exactly 10 days before the wedding. I even went as far as to stalk the Farmers Almanac but I wasn't willing to pay $8.99 for the "real" forecast so back to weather.com it was. It was such a tease. First it said sunny and 78 and I thought Wow, MD weather is really going to work out for me. Next it said chance of scattered thunderstorms, Ok, Ok I can deal with that, probably a late afternoon heat storm. Then the day before it said partly cloudy with a chance of rain 30%. So I went into my wedding day fully prepared for clouds and rain. The morning was pretty blah- no rain but clouds and I was totally ok with that.
Well... when we walked out of the church after the the ceremony the SKY WAS CLEAR. Seriously not a cloud in the sky. Just bright blue skys and hot, hot, hot sun but at that point I was so happy to see the sun I didn't care how much I sweat. I know my Gigi was looking down from heaven and cleared the sky for us.

- Our family & friends: It was so amazing to have all of our family and friends together with us to celebrate. I cannot even express how much love and support we felt that day from everyone. Not just from my IRL friends but even from all my bloggy friends- you have no idea how many times I thought ohh I need to remember to blog about that so they can see that, haha I still have many pictures to share. Thank you for all the supportive comments over the last 10 months!!

- The food: One of my biggest concerns during my entire planning process was the food. I went into total "hostess mode" and I wanted to make sure that we had not just a wide variety but enough food to feed everyone. I was not disappointed. The food was amazing and people were able to go back for seconds and thirds. Of course I only ate half a crab cake but from what I heard it was delicious.

The Bad

-My groom: He managed to get drunk one hour into the reception. Thank god this never got to ugly. When K walked up behind me and smacked my ass in front of everyone I knew someone had been slipping him drinks. Thankfully I was able to wrestle the Rum & Cokes (he NEVER drinks rum) from his hands and threaten his old fraternity brothers if the brought him another shot and by the time the Mother/Son dance rolled around he was back to normal. It's funny because K is not usually a get drunk fast and be wild kind of guy but I think the nerves got to him, along with the drinks people were just handing him. So he was forgiven.

- The guest book: I had bought an Annapolis coffee table book to use a guest book. Basically I wanted everyone to sign on the pages and then we could have it as a keepsake and be able to display it! Well I had really good intentions... about half way through our reception I saw it being passed around by people, who looked confused like they didn't know what to do with it. I realized that it got passed through so many hands(never making it to the event coordinators on-site) that no one knew what to do with it. I'm sad because I would have loved to see what everyone had to say but at the same time it was such a minor detail in the end it didn't matter.

- My dress: This is a good/bad. I LOVED my dress but I should have gotten married in November and gain 10lbs and a pair of bubies.
My dress was very, very heavy so I was H-O-T. Then I some how lost weight in the month between my fitting. The first place I lose it is the chest. I don't have any bubies anyway so to lose weight was pretty damaging. Let's just say I spent 80% of my time pulling my dress up. Even with the McGuyver dress/bra/safety pin combo the weight of the dress dragged it down most of the day causing it to scrunch up/wrinkle around my waist line. Honestly it is somewhat my fault because I picked it up 1 week before the wedding and never tried it on because it fit so well at the final fitting I just assumed it would right. Remember to never assume.

The Ugly


- Someone brought their kids: Yes, you read that right. Someone brought their kids to my NO KID wedding. This relative will remain nameless and they did not bring the kids to the reception just the ceremony, which is somewhat forgiveable. K and I choose to not have children because no one in our immediate family has children and at our venue there was no separate price for kid meals and there was no way I was paying more than $20 for a kid meal. The no kids was a HUGE issue for one of my family members, I mean HUGE like so upset, almost didn't attend my wedding but attended anyway and sulked about their kids not being there to me , more than one time. So when I was making my recessional and the girls waved at me I almost tripped on my dress. As I said they did not end up at the reception but with all the drama I had dealt with smoke was coming out of my ears I was so angry. Why can't people just follow the rules? This nameless relative had the nerve to say to me the next morning at my brunch: "The girls really enjoyed coming to the ceremony, even though they weren't "allowed" at the reception they were happy to be there for at least a part of it" Let me just add that she had zero kids at her wedding 15 yrs ago.

-Wedding Planning: I had more than one bridezilla moment. I'm not proud but it's true. Someone of you many be shocked but I tend to keep my crazy emtions off my blog. I don't purposely do it. I've just usually calmed down by the time I sit down to write. My mom and I are the same person so we have ALWAYS butted heads. So take that and couple it with an event as huge as a wedding and it can only be bad. Needless to say we made it through alive but not before we fought over 100 times over the tiniest details. Let's just say both of us have our way of doing things and we don't like to be told to do it differently. I know most of the time she was just trying to help or doing her motherly duties but it can be hard for me to keep my mouth shut. My poor sister she was usually the one who had to listen to both of us complain about the other one...

I'm still pouring over my professional photos but once I've picked out my favs I promise I'll share them with you :)
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10.11.2009

What Do You Do All Day

I thought you ladies would enjoy this, I received it in an email and I'm pretty sure most women can relate!!


What Do You Do All Day??
A man came home from work and found his three children outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and 20 wrappers strewn all around the front yard.

The door of his wife's car was open, and so was the front door to the house and there was no sign of the dog. Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall.

In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing.

In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door.

He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened.

He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door.

As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over
the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls.

As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel.

She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went.

He looked at her bewildered and asked, "What happened here today?"

She again smiled and answered, "You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world I do all day?"

"Yes," was his incredulous reply.

She answered, "Well, today I didn't do it."
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10.07.2009

A few questions for the cast of The Hills

1. Justin Bobby? Really? No seriously, what is the attraction? Kristin is obviously just doing it to piss off Audrina, but Audrina- you are gorgeous what are you doing pining over such a loser. (Is it just me or does Justin Bobby seem more animated with Kristin?)

2. Kristin, how much is MTV paying you to ruin lives?

3. Lo, why do you always act so fake? Is it that you can't "act" or are you really just that fake all the time?

4. Stephanie, when was the last time you ate? Being anorexic is not hot.

5. Heidi did you actually think Spencer would grow up and start respecting you? If you answered yes to that question I feel sorry for you.

6. Spencer why are you taking your anger at Heidi out on a poor 7 year old?


I have to admit something. I actually like what Kristin brings to the show. Let's be honest LC was great and very sweet but she didn't really have that much drama. Most of her drama centered around Jason and Speidi. Where Kristin on the other hand brings drama with her where ever she goes. So it's definitely fun to have the antagonist back in action.
I can't wait to see what type of moves she puts on Brody...
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10.03.2009

If you're still mourning the loss of Domino Magazine...

Then you're in luck! Lonny Magazine is up! It is an online home decor magazine is the baby of Michelle Adams a former Domino employee and founder of Rubie Green.
I haven't gotten through the whole thing yet but I love what I've seen so far!



I LOVED Domino and waited patiently each month for it to arrive. When I received my last issue in March 2009 I was pretty sad. Conde Nast kindly sent me Glamour to finish out my year long subscription, but really Glamour in place of Domino?? I'm not looking for tips to spice up my sex life or have a runway style wardrobe, but thanks for the effort Conde Nast.

Thankfully my prayers have been answered and Lonny is launched! The best part about it is if you see something you like you you can click on the item and be directed to webpage for the item! No more marking the magazine and then sitting down at your computer to put in the link or google the item!

Off to enjoy this gorgeous Saturday afternoon!
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10.02.2009





See the above picture. I plan to have at least 2 of those tonight, maybe even 3 or 4. I have just had one of those weeks. Work is crazy busy, not because we have more business but because people are either giving birth or quitting so we all are having to do a "little bit extra" to help out and it's exhausting.

In other news:
-I managed to write all my thank you notes. About 5 thank you notes in I decided that K had to write the ones for his friends and family because seriously it's only fair and I couldn't write stuff like it was so great to celebrate with you at our wedding when I'm not even sure I saw half of them.
-I ran 3 times this week, which is an incredible improvement since I'm pretty sure I haven't run since July
-I am almost through Gossip Girl season 2 so I can finally start watching in real time
-The Hills and The City are back... I can't wait to see what kind of destruction KCav and Roxy cause
-I love the new show Modern Family-hysterical!! and Eastwick-I'm interested to see where this show goes, and I'm not going to lie Cougartown isn't that bad

Alright I'm off to enjoy my wine, have a good weekend!
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