My Addiction

I have a confession to make. It's shameful, it truly is. It's something I have to do, almost nightly in order to get a fix.

.......I MUST watch terrible reality T.V. shows. MUST. It's like heroin to me. I LOVE them. Real Housewives of whatever city/county/state. Jersey anything. ANY Kardashian sister. Oh yes - you name it, I'll watch it. I just can't help myself.


Yes, friends, nightly. I may need an Intervention. Speaking of which! I can have ALL seasons of that lovely show on my Netflix Instant Queue!

You see?

See??

It's a disease.

Death Pie and Pine Cones

I have a four-day weekend coming up for Thanksgiving. Thank goodness. I need a BREAK. And I have plans. Oh yes, plans have I. First on the agenda - Make This:

Pumpkin Cake (or Death Pie, whichever you prefer)

I saw this recipe from the lovely Paula Deen and I have vowed to make it for myself...and others. But mainly for myself. Because I'm greedy that way. Anyhow, I'm not sure where exactly I am going to bring this cake, as Thanksgiving plans are slightly up in the air at the moment. So, I may very well get to dive face-first into that cake, all by myself. Splendid.

T's step-mother gave me a bag full of huge pine-cones to decorate for Christmas. And since I was a rebel and put up some of my decorations BEFORE Thanksgiving, I figured I may as well make a trip to Michael's this weekend and buy some spray paint and other sparkly things to put on said pine-cones. I must Google.  I do believe the glue-gun will be making an emergence from it's long hibernation! Glory!

More to come about the pine-cone and Death Pie project. I may do a test run of the Death Pie just to make sure it's fit for human consumption. You know...for everyone's benefit. *ahem*

-A

My Mission

My mission this holiday season is to conquer these:

Cinnamon Rolls 

These are the Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls. And oh my goodness, they look decadent. What makes these different is that they are made from scratch. I don't think I have ever made anything from scratch. Well, correction - I tried to bake a cake from scratch once but that did not turn out so well. I forgot the sugar - you put together the rest.

As I have gotten older, my need to forge some sort of domestic life for myself has gotten stronger and stronger. I never thought I would be the type to want to provide and care for others, but here I am, planning to conquer home-made cinnamon rolls.

I suppose to understand where I'm at now, I have to examine where I was. When I was a little girl, my family used to have holiday dinners together. My mother, my dad, my aunt and uncle, my cousins, everyone. Then something happened which tore my family apart. I won't go into that here because it's so convoluted sometimes that I don't even understand it. However, after the dinners stopped, I found myself missing them intensely and promising myself that one day, I would have those dinners again.

So here I am, 28 years old and trying my best to scramble together a life for myself. I am lucky enough to have friends that are like family to me and a boyfriend who has the same goals that I do in life. I hope that soon I can start a family of my own and start new traditions and rekindle old ones.

Until then, I'll settle for the cinnamon rolls.

-A

Meet the Parents

One of my favorite movies, I must say. This weekend the boy and I took a wee trip up to Georgia so I could meet his dad and his step-mom. I've always loathed this process. Not because I dislike the people who I am meeting, but there is something unsettling about meeting people who you KNOW are judging everything you do and/or say. So, needless to say, I was nervous.

I put on a good face for the boy though. The conversation before we got to his parent's house went something like this:

Him: "You okay honey?"

Me: *too high voice* "I'm good!"

Him: "You sure? You're not nervous?"

Me: *lying through my teeth* "Noooo, not one bit. I'm good! Not nervous at all. I'm fine"

While inwardly, this was my thought process: "Oh god, they won't like my scarf!!! I'm DOOMED! Oh god, they will think I have too much make-up on. I'm DOOMED! Oh god, does my breath stink? Am I wearing too much perfume??? I'm DOOMED!" Now, that was all kept inside because heaven forbid my boyfriend actually have some insight as to what my internal monologue was like. I was sweating bullets. On the inside. On the outside - cool as a cucumber.

Luckily for me, his parents were wonderful people. His step-mom was so warm and inviting. She gave me pine-cones to decorate! Apparently she is craftier than I am, so this was splendid. His father was very nice and told me a lot about cooking, which I found rather interesting. And he gave me purple lilies! Observe:

Sweet man. I guess I know where the boy gets it from. Please ignore my very messy desk.

Until next time - A.

Crafty McCrafterson

I mentioned previously that I love my glue-gun. Allow me to expound upon that point, if you will. When I first purchased my glue-gun, I was drunk with the power of it. Oh, to have that kind of sticking ability at my finger tips was intoxicating. It got to the point where I intentionally broke things, just so I could say "Never fear! I have a GLUE-GUN!". Yes, friends, it was that bad.

That being said, I love to make things with said glue-gun. Wreathes, centerpieces, spiderwebs with my fingers, you name it. So as the holiday season approaches, I am tempted to start making a new set of holiday decorations. I find that buying them pre-made sort of takes the fun out of it. I can remember watching my mother make things with her glue-gun and telling myself that one day I would be that crafty. I hope that one day I can show my daughter (should I ever have one) how to create beautiful door decorations just like me (hey, we all have dreams, allow me mine)!

However, I find myself bereft of ideas this year. What should I make? What should my theme be? I thought about making an Ohio State University wreath for T (he graduated from there and is a psychotic fan). I have seriously considered this option. I thought it might be fun to gather as much Ohio State stuff as I could possibly find and go nuts (haha, I made a joke. Ohio State's mascot is a buckeye. A poisonous nut. Go nuts! Get it? I kill myself...).

Certainly something to ponder. I do believe a trip to Micheal's is now warranted.  Yes indeed...

So this is a Blog, you say?

I've always wanted to start a blog. I've always loved rambling (typing) on and on about whatever thought-stream happens to be going through my brain at any one particular moment. However, I never really thought seriously about publishing said thoughts. Until today. Today I thought to myself "Self - you should start a blog. You have thoughts. You have words. Just do it. What do you have to lose?". So, here you have it, mighty intarweb. My Blog.

So, about me. I'm 28 and I live in Jacksonville, FL. I dislike living here. No, correction, I despise living here. Don't get me wrong, bloggy friends, I love my friends and my family but I am just not built for Florida weather. I'm allergic to the sun, for pities sake! My boyfriend calls me "Powder" if that tells you anything. Anyhow, moving right along. I have two cats, Atticus and Gypsy. One is fat and lazy and the other is spastic and neurotic (I think she gets it from me, honestly), respectively.

I am a paralegal by day and a bookworm and TV addict by night. I love my glue-gun. A topic of which I shall explore later. I enjoy cooking and cooking for people. Feeding people gives my joy. I think it's a southern thing. I have a lovely boyfriend, who shall go by T for the purposes of this blog. I enjoy him very much as well.

Here, in my little corner of the web, you will find the various activities of my life and whatever random thoughts happen to stroll through my brain at any given moment. So, sit back and enjoy. It'll be a weird, albeit entertaining, ride.