Brrrrrrrr....

Why does disastrous winter weather arrive at the worst times?

We're going to get about 5-8 inches of snow through the day tomorrow, NEW YEARS EVE.  Thanks, Mother Nature.   And not only that, my cousin Colleen is getting married tomorrow and had to postpone her reception to an undetermined date (we would have to have an atom bomb strike us for her to postpone the wedding altogether, haha).  So, because I feel gripe-y, mopey, and sour I'm going to list out all the ways this negatively affects me:

Current conditions in my area.  Photo is from about a few blocks from where I live.  Don't be fooled, those roads are SLIPPERY.
Photo from SafeTravelUSA.com

1) Everyone keeps saying "I'm not sure" in regards to NYE plans.  STOP SAYING THAT!  YOU'RE ALL GOING TO CELEBRATE AND YOU KNOW IT!

2) I'm now going to be wearing stocking and boots with my high waisted skirt tomorrow.  Thankfully, I'm going to a party and avoiding the bars (Long lines in this weather?  Screw that!), so those boots will shimmy off RIGHT away.  I'm still annoyed that I can't dazzle in one of my really cute pairs of heels. (I can't believe I've never revealed my shoe obsession on here.)  Grrr.

Very old photo (seriously, 2007 I think) of a small portion of my shoes.  I only have the yellow heels left and of course, all the flip flops.  I have enough flip flops to wear a different pair every few days during the summer I think, so they never seem to wear out on me.

3) Colleen's reception has been postponed as noted above, and I'm sad that now she has to decide if she wants to put her wedding dress back on when we have the dinner and dance.

4) I now have no reason to wear my sexy high waist skirt to her reception, and will now have to come up with an equally dazzling outfit to wear then.

5) I was going to go spend this evening visiting with one of my very good friends, Autumn, and to play with baby Ave', of course.  I was going to bring her her Christmas gift and Ave's birthday/Christmas gifts.  This brings up the only silver lining - Colleen's reception postponement means I can come to Ave's first birthday party!  Yes, she's an NYE baby. (If I get her mommy's permission, I'll post photos of her at her birthday party in a few days :P )

6) The worst downside of all - The interstates have closed, and my darling boyfriend was due back later this evening, but is now stranded about 2 hours away.  He might not be able to go with me to the wedding tomorrow.

7) Looking at the Phoenix forecast, which USUALLY makes me feel better (because my best friend lives there so I visit here and there, and hope to move there once I have my HR degree), didn't make me feel better at all, because somehow, they have a freeze warning, and somehow, they were looking forward to having 20 degree weather, when they usually are hitting the 60's mid-winter!

Phoenix freeze warning from weather.com

8) I have to keep a closer watch on Tony's fish tanks, because he keep African and South American Cichlids which need to have their water warmer rather than colder, and I'm awful at taking care of those fish.

There are four in total of the cichlids, but only Bob (yes, thats his name) seems drawn to cameras.  Camwhore. haha

9) I'm TERRIFIED to drive in this weather, (and was when I left work today as well), because of what happened to my car earlier this month-- see previous posts.  I keep being absolutely terrified that my tire will rip off my car again like it did the day after our blizzard.  I still have NO clue how that happened.  I have a new tire but my rim is sort of bent, and I've lost all sense of safety in the car, which is leading me to believe I should sell and buy a new car sooner rather than later just for my own peace of mind.

Yeah, thats pretty much what I'm afraid of.

10) This whole back and forth between freezing rain and snow makes scraping ice off your windshield impossible.  I had to warm my car half an hour before I left work to make sure it melted enough so I could scrape it off.  Normally about ten minutes defrosting will get rid of all ice completely.  After half an hour, it just made it soft enough to get rid of.

If you knew me personally, you know I could find crappy things about a situation when I'm in one of my "moods" for hours.  Honestly, if Tony had been able to make it home, alot of those things wouldn't bother me so much, because at least I could have my boo to snuggle with with the snowfall outside. 

Now poor Zuma has to deal with my snuggling, and she pretty much hates that.  Someday, I'll have Tony take a picture of the miserable face she makes when I make her cuddle with me.

It just doesn't help that I'm still really upset about Abby.  It's really hard dealing with the fact that she's gone for good, and I'll never see her again.

So, I think I'll go and have some wine and see what my DVR picked up today for me to watch.
  Hopefully NYE goes well regardless of the weather!

Until then--

DON'T STOP THE POP

It's finally here!

DJ Earworm's mashup for 2010 has arrived.  If your not familiar, at the end of each year DJ Earworm does a song and video mashup of the top 25 songs of the year according to Billboard.  He's been doing it since 2007 (I think) and I only discovered them last year thanks to PerezHilton.com.

You can find the list on billboard.com or in the information box below the video.  Please enjoy!

Until then--

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BzB LOVES makeup.

If there's one thing I absolutely love, its playing around with good makeup!  I'm no makeup snob in the least; 99% of the products I use are drugstore products, as I am a forever deal finder and hate the idea of overspending on anything.  The occasional products I have that aren't drugstore products are gifted to be by my amazing best friend-- something that hardly ever happens since she moved to Phoenix.  Must. Visit. Phoenix.

ANYHOW, I have been wanting to do a review of my favorite products for awhile.  No, this entry is not it.  I will do it, someday, and YES, I mean Rihanna entry someday (as in, I will do it within the next month, HA!)  What can I say?  I'm laaaaaaaaazy.  And it's winter, so boo.

Why bring it up then?  Because on Christmas Day I managed to put the Abby situation out of my mind (read last entry if this confuses you, assuming this even gets read by anyone), and to do so I went into a makeup trance and started creating a holiday look for myself.  I was pretty happy with the end results!  Products I used, all of which will be reviewed in the above stated timeframe:

 -Original Olay Active Hydrating Cream
-Loreal True Match concealer and foundation, in warm shades.
-Almay Eyebase + concealer
-Coastal Scents 88 Shimmer Pallete
-Coastal Scents Highlighting and Contour pallete
-Rimmel Sun Shimmer Maxi Bronzer
-Revlon Illuminance Creme Shadow in twilight
-Victoria's Secret Beauty Rush eyeshadow in Emerald City
-Maybelline Instant Age Rewind primer
-Covergirl loose powder
-Coastal Scents gel eyeliner in Exotic
-E.L.F. stick eyeliner in black
-E.L.F. clear mascara
-Maybelline Colorsensational lipstick in Nearly There
-Chapstick moisturizing (the blue one)

Long list, but 1/3 of the list are simple priming things, like lip balm, moisturizer, and of course primer or base, all essential for having the best results and keeping your makeup on alot longer.  I'm no expert by any means, just learning, so I get pretty pumped when something I try works out.  For the eyes I used the pink shade of the illuminance cream eyeshadow all over to have a very soft pink base color.  I used the two gold shades in the 88 shimmer palette on my lids, on the outer half the lighter shimmery green Victoria's Secret eyeshadow, and the outer V I used a pine green color from the 88 shimmer palette, and blended it to make it look soft.  The coastal scents liner was used on the top, and the E.L.F. eyeliner was used on the bottom.  I only curled my lashes and used clear mascara to make it less dramatic for the daytime, plus I still haven't found a mascara I'm fond of.  I used the blush from the contouring palette as well as the dark and light contouring shades (hey, it's Christmas!), and obviously the only lipstick I listed.  Lip balm was used when priming.  I'm not a huge lipstick fan, but I like how it looks on camera, so I really only had it on at home, and only used lip balm when out.  Baby, it's cold outside.  So, here's the finished product, if you managed to read this far (assuming anyone read this at all!).  Cheers :)

All done!

I forgot to mention I highlighted my inner corners with the shimmer palette, but I'm too lazy to go edit it in. :)

Best view of the colors.  If you didn't know, photographs make the vibrance of the colors less visible, especially if the shadow is shimmery, which mine is.  My point and shoot just can't compete.

OK, I just really, really like my hair in this photo :)

  

From the right, for good measure :)

So if anyone does read this post, and actually makes it all the way down here, please feel free to comment, I'm always looking for new stuff to try out and new tricks :)

Until then--

I can hardly see, my eyes are so bleary, and my heart hurts so badly, and I feel like I'll never stop crying.

I got a Facebook message from my ex-boyfriends either current girlfriend or more recent ex, not really certain, but we have hung out before and get along well, so a message from her wasn't surprising.  What it said was.

A few posts ago, when I went on and on about Zuma, I gave a little back story as to why I adopted her.  Like I said before, Abby was the reason I adopted her--because when my ex and I split, she stayed with him and I missed her so much I decided to adopt an animal myself to care for.  I still visited her, brought her treats and bought her collars, but tried not to visit so frequently to help myself with the separation not only from her and my ex, but to help get over the fact that that part of my life was over.  Still, I loved that dog more than anything, and to me, it was like a child.  I would come over to my ex's place and pick her up and walk her for hours, just walking and going to the park and playing.  But I hadn't been in a long while.  The last time I had visited was late February/early March.  The last time I had alone time with her was exactly one year ago.

Linda's message said that I needed to call my ex as soon as possible, because Abby was being put to sleep at that moment and he needed to be comforted.  When I read those words, I really could feel my heart sinking, sinking, sinking from my chest to my stomach.  She said that Abby had bitten my ex's grandmother.  The message had been sent four hours earlier.

When I called my ex, he told me that she had bitten a neighborhood boy a week earlier, and Animal Control traced the bite back to her and had her under observation for ten days.  On day 7, she bit his grandmother.  I know she's been aggressive her whole life-- we think it was because she was the run of the litter.  But I never thought she'd actually bite anyone, or that her aggressiveness had gotten so bad.

So now she's gone.  On Christmas Eve, she was taken and there's no way I can ever get her back.  I can't ever say goodbye, I won't ever pet her head, I won't ever hold a treat to the ground and say, "crawl" and have her come get the treat.  I won't ever see her ears bounce while I'm walking her, see her happy face when she brings a ball back for the 1000000th time in a row.  Never again.  And I chose to stay away to make things easier for myself, and all I've done is set myself up for heartache.

I love you Abby, and I wish I could have shown you just how much I loved you before you were gone.  You were born November 14th, 2007.  You came into my life December 24th, 2007.  And you've left my life on December 24th, 2010.  You were only three.  God, how I loved you.

Wish you a Merry Christmas!

... And a happy new year <3

Oh na na...

After yet another long absence from blogging, here I am, ready to give my opinion on Rihanna's newest CD.

My overall thought on this is that this is going to be one of her "classic" albums.  Obviously, Rihanna has solidified herself as a pop icon, now she needs to worry about having that permanent mark on the industry. Loud makes a pretty good imprint.

The album opens with "S & M", which, true to the album, has this wonderful loud beat.  I can see this one being a single, and it has that flavor we expect from Rihanna.

"S & M" is immediately followed up with "What's My Name" easily my FAVORITE song on the whole album.  When this song shot straight to number 1 on the Billboard charts I wasn't surprised at all.  It seems like you can't go one day on Facebook without someone writing "Oh na na" on their status or something to that effect.  The song has this smooth beat and seems to deviate a little from your standard song setup -- what I'm referring to is the chorus of the song, which repeats itself twice before leading into the ever popular "oh na na".  When I first heard the song, I didn't expect that repeat, and when it was followed up by the popular catch phrase, I was sold.  I also thought it was unique how Drake's guest feature musically was the very first verse only-- you don't hear a peep out of him after that!  Most featured artists get placed on the hook or the chorus, so I thought this was really innovative.


I do like "Cheers" but I could really do without the Avril Lavigne sample.  I really can't stand Avril, and I think my reasons are pretty obvious (read: FUCKING ANNOYING.)  But I love how the song has a good beat to dance to while still being slow.

Fading keeps that same slowed down beat, and gives a little bit more emotion and depth than any of the previous songs -- focusing more on love and emotions rather than clubbing and partying.

Rihanna's other single, "Only Girl in the World" follows this song directly, picking speed up and getting you ready to dance again.  One thing I really like about this song is how she demonstrates just how strong her singing voice is-- it takes quite a bit to sing that powerfully for most of a song!

Then, we slow waaaaay down into the slowest song on the album, "California King Bed".  The song is definitely the most vulnerable song on the album.  One thing that stood out to me about this song as well as the last is that there seems to be a strong rock influence and quite a bit of both electric and acoustic guitar.

Next up is "Man Down", which has a strong island beat-- "What's My Name" has traces of this, but the beat doesn't really come full force until now.  I like how the beat for this song picks up a bit from the last, and doesn't barrel right into a full dance beat.

"Raining Men" has traces of this beat, but moves more into that dance beat we know and love Rihanna for.  Nicki Minaj is featured on this song, and gives a bit of a harder flavor to the song as a whole while still maintaining that beat.  These girls collaborate well together.

"Complicated" has Rihanna flexing that powerful voice of hers during the chorus, but I do think that the verses and general feel of the song is lacking somewhere-- it definitely is the song that I have the least amount of interest in.

Following, we have "Skin".  The song starts really slow with a feeling that we're about to build to another strong dance beat.  This never happens, but the song has a really sexy feel that keeps me wanting to listen (versus "Complicated", had to stop myself from hitting next!)

The Album closes with "Love the Way you Lie pt. 2" which appropriately features Eminem, as Rihanna was featured on one of his hugest songs of the year -- Yes, you guessed it, "Love the Way you Lie".  The song seems a bit slower and darker than the first version, but I like how each of them essentially made their own interpretation of the song, and I think Pt 2 gives us a bit more of feminine emotion, versus the raw emotion we get from Eminem which feels much more masculine.

All in all, I would have liked the CD to have either ended with a bang-- as in a strong dance song, or at least the song right before the last to have that feel.  Besides that, I obviously loved the album, and I have no doubt in my mind that decades from now, people will look back on this album as being full of Classic Rihanna hits.

OMG. OMG OMG OMG.

On the way to work this morning, things seemed as per usual for a December morning.  It was cold, there was a light snow overnight, and it was cold.  OK, I said it twice, but winters here are seriously cold.

So I'm driving down the interstate, and about a 3/4 mile to the next exit (my exit was the one right after), I start hearing THWAP THWAP THWAP THWAP THWAP.  I immediately slow down to ten above the minimum, and as I do, the car suddenly SWERVED and I almost lost control!  The truck that was behind me slowed WAY down when that happened, and I didn't blame them-- I wouldn't want someone who was losing control to hit my car, either.

The portion of the interstate I am on is in town (obviously) so although I'm in the right full lane, there are ramp oncomings and incomings one after another, so you literally have this mini lane that never tapers off into the lane next to it, it just leads to the off ramp of the next exit.

There is space off on the left, but I'm positive at this point there is something wrong with my tire (or even TIRES), and I decide crossing three lanes of traffic traveling about 20 mph faster than me is not the best idea, especially during a Midwest December.  So I finish the half mile to the exit before mine, which is really spacious and had a triangular space where my car was able to fit without ever reaching the road the off ramp lead to, or obstructing traffic in any way.  As I get out of the car, I notice that the same person that was behind me when I nearly lost control is also directly behind me.  He starts to get out as I cross the front of my car to the passenger side and immediately says, "You lost your whole tire." at the very same moment that my eyes fell on the place the tire was SUPPOSED to be.  All I had left was a rim, and what looks like the other side of the tire.  In fact, I took a picture as proof to my boss that I nearly severely hurt myself on the way to work to explain my tardiness. 

See where the tire ripped off?  I still have tire on the side of the car!  Black thing in upper right corner is one of my rescuers getting ready to jack up my car :P

The man asked me, "Do you have a spare?"  I thought back to when my boyfriend was working on my car from the first bad thing happened to it.  Since he was dealing with some electric components, we had to access my battery to disconnect it, and in my particular vehicle model, my battery is located in the trunk. 

FYI, this is a huge design fail.  lets say that in the process of doing this, the trunk is inadvertently closed before the battery is reconnected.  If you have your original key, this isn't an issue, but if you have happened to lock your keys in with the trunk, or  if you've needed a key replaced, about 50 bucks a pop, thanks to the electronic chip, for some reason your "universal" key can turn your car on, but couldn't open the trunk for anything--which I know from experience, you are basically SOL.  Automatic trunk opener from inside the car?  Electronic, of course--requires the battery to be connected, which it is NOT.  You'd think that you might be able to lay down the backseats to get in, but a different design fail makes this impossible--in order to lay the seats down, you have to pull a lever unlocking them.  Guess where the lever is located?  Yeah, the trunk.  fail fail fail fail fail.  If anyone ever happens to read this, try and guess what kind of car I drive, if you didn't already figure it out from the photo I posted.  My feud with my car, however, is a completely different post.

ANYHOW, (I really have tendencies to get off subject, obviously), when Tony was working on my car had me come out to help him access the battery.  The trunk has somewhat of a false bottom, and he needed me to lift it so he could have two hands to work.  While holding it up, I couldn't help but notice the doughnut tire lying under the false bottom, though at the time, I thought nothing of it-- I was much more concerned with going to Target at the time to get a new steering wheel cover, because when I want something, I want it.

Anyhow AGAIN (see?  off track!), I remembered this moment in time and told the man, "I think I've got a doughnut thing in my trunk.  I popped my trunk, and lifted the false bottom.  He took the tire out and unsecured the jack that comes with the car (Design win).  As we went over to begin jacking the car up, another truck stopped, and ANOTHER man came out to help!  In hindsight, I think the guy behind me just wanted to make sure I'm OK, but probably didn't have much more car knowledge than I did.  the guy that pulled over seemed to know exactly what he was doing, setting the jack up with ease and removing the rim from my car.  Between the two of them, I didn't lift a finger and they had my car driveable again (albeit with a 45 mph speed limit) within fifteen minutes!  (I only know this because I was only fifteen minutes late, and I usually arrive at work precisely when I'm supposed to be there.)

So I have to get a new tire, which I plan on taking care of on Saturday, but until then, I'll be leaving for work ridiculously early because now, a ill-lucked girl must travel through the city to go to work instead of zipping to work in ten minutes using the interstate.  And I'm still in shock that it actually happened, I know I have bad luck, but it's never usually THAT bad!  I'm hoping that's it for car issues.  Between the cracked radiator (what Tony was fixing in the lovely anecdote earlier), the transmission that was replaced for $1,220.27 (a price I'll NEVER ever forget), and now this, I feel I have racked up my amount of incidents in the "rule of threes".  that's it cosmos!  Find someone else to pick on!  Bah!

I'd rehash all the being quiet and keeping to myself I managed to do today, but I'd rather not bore myself.

So the last couple days?  Sixteen and Stupid (bwahahha) was just an "unseen moments" episode, even though there is apparently a completely new episode with a new girl next week.  But this girl is another one dealing with the adoption option.  Seems like it's alot messier than Catelynn's situation, and that's pretty tough to top. (Again, for a completely different post, I feel pretty bad for that girl!)  So that should be interesting.

Oh, and the challenge is over hurrah.  The red team won surprise surprise.  It was really, really really anticlimatic. It was completely bittersweet though to see Laurel crying her ass off like a little kid, and the bane of her existence, the mysterious Cara Maria, trucking on like a champ. The reunion, which can be a hit or miss, ended up being this emotional clusterfuck of a group therapy session.  We have Paula bawling her eyes out after being told for the millionth time that she's weak and can't hack the game, and Easy shows up only to call Laurel out for being a complete bitch.  (Who by the way, should have just shut the fuck up long before she opened her mouth.  She spent the entire thing lashing out at people for being weak, and just hearing her voice was so annoying.  Even annoying ass SARAH apologized to Cara Maria, and Laurel STILL thinks that she's weak and didn't deserve to be there.  Like really honey?  Pretty sure she wasn't sobbing her eyes out about how tired she was, hint hint LIKE YOU WERE.  I think though that she's absolutely incapable of apologizing to people, she's one of those people who cannot stand to be wrong, and will go to the ends of the Earth to make herself the "winner".  Even sitting there on stage, when Easy is calling her out, she tries to turn the entire thing into an argument of if she tried to call him to apologize or not.  JUST APOLOGIZE AND SHUT UP!  That girl needs not just a slice, but an entire humble pie.

No pictures, because anticlimatic makes me frustrated and mad and all sort of other unpleasant things, and so does Sixteen and Stupid.  (If I see one more fucking southern teen get married to her baby daddy and talk about values and fall on her face when she realizes that they can't afford shit with one of them working a part time job, I'm going to to scream.)

Well, it's 1 AM, and if I don't go to be soon, I'm going to be one pissy missy tomorrow.

Until then--

Zuma!

Today was pretty uneventful-- its finals week and I have two online finals to take which I'm thinking I'll take tomorrow night.  They're due Saturday but I really don't want to drag it out!  The sooner I'm done, the sooner Christmas vacation is here!

I can't BELIEVE I missed that there isn't going to be ANY Gossip Girl until late January!  Devastation!  BUT it gives me more time to watch all my Christmas specials, and get some things done for once!  haha.

When I got out of school, I started running around town and taking care of a few errands.  By the time I got home it was close to 3.  I completed a Tae Bo video, and after I showered, I had a pamper day and just relaxed.  After all... vacation is coming!

SO, since nothing is really happening today, I decided it would be a perfect day to immortalize the cutest kitten around!

Presenting:

Zuma enjoys the finer things in life

Zuma!  My little three year old gray baby liger.  OK, she's a normal cat, but she's got more personality in one of her ears than most people do at all!

November 2008 I was feeling very sad about not having a pet around all the time, since when the relationship between my ex and I had ended, Abby - the dog, stayed with him.  It definitely sucked not seeing her every day, and I had always wanted a cat but my ex had always refused, so now was my chance to have a kitten once again!

I went to Second Chance Rescue Center to find a young kitten to adopt.  But when I got there, they told me that all the very young kittens had someone of a "kitten cold" and they weren't able to be adopted until they had recovered.  I still stayed behind and checked out all of the animals.  Being inside Second Chance was so heartbreaking!  All those animals just wanting someone to love!

When in the cat room, we saw alot of sweet cats but then noticed this small grey tabby that one of the volunteers had let out to play.  She played so well with the other kitten and was so lively and mischievous--like the kitten would never grow out of her!  We learned that her name was Tally, and she was estimated to be about 9 months old.  Tally was pretty shy, a strange combination with her feistyness.  She would hide, and then bolt out across the room!  Just holding her and playing with her I knew that I didn't want to leave without her.  So I took her home for an overnight visit to see if she would like living with me.  That first night, we decided that we were definitely going to keep her!  That night, we decided to name her Zuma, which we thought fit alot better than Tally.  And she's been with us ever since!

I love her attitude, and how one minute she can be in full huntress mode, attacking anything that catches her interest, and the next climbing on your lap looking for a scratch behind the ear.  I don't know what I'd ever do without her.  So, without further adieu, a few of my love, Miss Zuma!

The first night we had her, she curled right up and hid her eyes for hours!

From the beginning she's been a tough one to photograph...

Spookface

Doesn't she look so soft!?!

Naptime

Always doing something strange!

Social butterfly - Italee and Zuma having a relax sesh

Yeah they got pretty close!

Sunbather - I love how she looks like a white tiger when in direct sunlight

Always getting into sticky situations!

Don't even get me started on the bag obsession!

Well, imagine that, Zuma's gone shopping

Aww, poor thing couldn't leave things alone!

Oh yeah, and boxes.  We can't forget boxes. (Can you tell these are taken with a much better camera?) :)

Exhausted from watching me pack

Someone was a ballerina for Halloween!

She really is so sweet looking when she sleeps!

And she never has a problem finding a place to sleep!

Being a bit undignified

More Ballet!

The first place she claimed at our new apartment

Daily antics

She does this for attention, because she knows I think it's so freaking cute

 Well, now you're aware of Zuma's infinite adorableness, so I can go rest my legs from my Tae Bo sesh today.  I've been meaning to write my thoughts on Rihanna's CD (have I been repeating myself?) and have actually heard the whole thing through, so now it's a matter of WRITING!  Gah!

Until Then--

OMG!!! IT'S BEEN ALMOST A WEEK!

I seriously can't believe how long its been since I've posted here!  I wish I could say I have been busier than normal, but I really haven't.  The boyfriend came in early this week, and we've been enjoying time together watching Christmas movies and of course, caught up on our favorite shows.

Not having him here has been quite the situation, but we make it work.  We definitely appreciate each other more when he comes home!

So, since I've been away for so long, and even though I don't think anyone actually even reads this, I'm going to make this entry rather lengthy and go through what I've been up to the past week.

Monday was pretty uneventful for me.  I didn't work that day, so I had the day to myself after school.  When class was out, I went to the courthouse to take care of a couple of tickets my boyfriend had gotten a couple weeks ago.  Since he was working out of town, I brought down his insurance card to prove he had insurance, and a check he had written out for a traffic violation.  Before I went in, I spent a good amount of time talking to my friend Autumn on the phone.  She's going through a terrible breakup, and I hadn't had chance to touch base with her until that day--plus, I wanted to give her time to herself, and didn't think having Miss I'm-So-In-Love around was going to help cheer her up in the least, especially right after it all happened.  So I sat in the courthouse parking lot in my car for 45 minutes talking with her about everything.

When I got home, I did some housework and then sat down to have some lunch.  Also got a little bit more decorating done-- we bought this great cityscape wall art that we hung above our couch, and have our eye on a few more things at different places in town.  Decorating has been going really slow with our budget, but at least its been going...right?

Anyhow, Monday's marks the night of my guilty pleasure, Gossip Girl.  I have been a HUGE fan of the books since I was in junior high, and actually own the entire series.  This season definitely has not been a disappointment-- and this weeks episode was one of the best!

To make the recap a short one, Blair and Dan team up to find Juliet and bring her down for attempting to ruin Serena's life.  They don't find her, but do end up finding Damien and Juliet's entire past in her hometown of Cornwall, CT.  Slowly, they piece together the history of how Juliet and Serena are connected, while Serena simultaneously fills in the holes to her psychiatrist during treatment regarding her past--starting with her betrayal of Blair which caused her to flee to CT to begin with, and ending with her return to New York.  The story in between detailed a relationship Serena attempted to persue with a teacher at her boarding school-- a teacher who turns out to be Juliet's older brother.

Flashback scene of Serena persuing her teacher, Mr. Donovan

When Lily uses the rumors to help improve Serena's school records to get her back into her school in New York, the plan backfires and the police become involved, which ends up with Lily signing her daughter's name on an affidavit stating that there was an improper relationship between her and the teacher.  On a plea bargain, Ben ended up in prison for five years, and Juliet was left vengeful over her brother's tarnished name.
All the detective work in CT is pretty pointless, however, because Juliet made her way back to New York to confront Serena once and for all and come clean about why she did what she did.  Serena realizes what her mother has done, and allows Juliet to get away before going to a business party at her mother's home being held by Lily and Chuck in regards to Bass Industries, and calls her out in front of everyone.  Lily admits what she did when confronted, and at first has Chuck coming to her defense, until Rufus steps forward and forces Lily to admit she was going to be selling Bass Industries--exactly the opposite of what she had told Chuck that she planned on doing just earlier in the day.  Thus begins the fall of Lily Van der Woodsen/Bass/Humphrey, and the start of what is likely going to turn out to be alot more trouble for Chuck-- as it seems like he has every intention of getting ahold of his Uncle Jack to stop the sale of Bass Industries.  As Blair warned, Jack can't be trusted, so it will be interesting to see what the next few episodes have in store.

Juliet coming clean, and getting away with it all

Long recap, but ALOT happened on this episode.

Tuesday was another night alone, and after work and school work, I decided to wind down with some red wine and a little Sixteen and Pregnant.  There's really no need for a recap of this episode; completely boring up until about the end.  I think the biggest thing I learned is that the stereotypical Southern accent DEFINITELY comes from Alabama.  So, a quick and dirty for you:  Southern pageant girl.  Supportive boyfriend. Supportive parents. No risk of not graduating.  No risk of giving up secondary education.  Baby daddy proposes.  Southern pageant queen accepts.  Premature delivery.  Healthy baby boy.  Baby daddy is helpful.  Family is helpful.  Baby daddy wants own house.  Southern Beauty queen has a brain.  Refuses to leave stability for instability.

The only thing of interest on this episode, besides the fact that yet ANOTHER teenage girl either agrees to or gets married on the show, is that this girl was actually idiotic enough to climb on top a horse with a four week old baby who was born prematurely no less!

She practically laid on top of that baby to climb on that horse.
Photo from MTV.com

Wednesday, Tony came home from Aberdeen early, so I've been spending the remainder of my week with him!  We did end up watching our favorite shows as of now through the week.  I'll recap them both, because writing this is just taking me forever.

On The Challenge, Laurel once again just annoyed the crap out of me.  That girl talks ALOT of shit.  I seriously can't stand her.  The whole thing was this huge bitch fest where she talked down to Cara Maria as usual instead of just ACTUALLY performing better.  Honey, there is a reason why SARAH is your only friend, because SARAH is right up there with you in being ridiculously annoying as fuck.

Photo from MTV.com

Nothing really else to say, other than two "to be continued" episodes in a row is kinda lame!  But we're reaching the end soon.  I like these shows because they involve an elaborate game, but then you end up watching The Real World because you want to know who that is when they show up on a challenge. 

Thursday, we picked up some champagne and watched the new episode of The Office!  I am a huge fan of the show, although I haven't really mentioned anything quite yet.  I even own the first three box sets on DVD, and record old episodes on my DVR.  I'm so sad it's Steve Carell's last season.  Every episode I'm afraid it could be his last, haha.  Tonight was a new Christmas episode, and I was so glad because Holly was in it.  It wasn't especially happy, but I've waited awhile for Holly to come back!

Holly returns!

I didn't really like the whole snowball thing through the episode.  I laughed when he threw the snowball in Dwight's face, and at the end with the snowmen, but the buildup to the ending was just weird... one one hand, I like that it broke the mold of Jim playing stupid tricks on Dwight, but on the other, the prank just seemed to be alot more brutal, which I know was the point, but I guess the only thing that got me is that it was so uncomfortable to watch, and normally, I can still find the things Dwight says and does funny, but this time, I didn't.  Kind of weird.

Darryl's storyline was really sad too, but I'm glad that it ended up having that same Office ending I love.  That little girl was cute too, and Andy didn't fail as the guy with good intentions who always seems to mess things up.  I'm excited to see what happens next, especially since Holly is here to stay for awhile!  I really want to see how this "ultimatum" issue pans out.

And in between all of that, we have gotten ridiculously drunk and watched Christmas movies and Harry potter movies.  Definitely making the most of our long weekend!  Last night we bought everything we needed for Tequila Sunrises, and tonight, we plan on getting our drink on.  I was supposed to work today, but even though I went to bed to a street with no snow last night, when I awoke this morning, there was a blizzard happening!  It's still going on right now.  So at least we have plenty of entertainment tonight!

Back to spending time with my boo.  I'll do my best to keep up better.

Oh, and I've FINALLY listened to Loud.  My thoughts coming soon, hahaha

Until then--

Been a few days!

I just can't WAIT for holiday break at school!  Only a year or so more of this full time school/work business!

Plus, I've been ridiculously busy watching Christmas movies during my relaxation time.  I love this season.

I'll be back soon!  Probably tomorrow.

Until then--

WE FINALLY HAVE A DINING ROOM TABLE!

After one complete month of searching, we finally have a place to eat dinner that isn't in our living room!  The place is finally coming together-- I can't wait to finish hanging things up!

I actually had to drive slightly out of town to get it and it was pretty tough to get the thing in my car, but we got it done!  The people we bought it from were extremely nice and helped me load it into my car.  And the cost?  only 25 for the table AND chairs!  Everything is in near perfect condition, I can't even tell that this thing has been used!

Well, I wanted to immortilize my cat Zuma today, but the table pretty much took up all my after work time.  That and scoping and pricing out wall art.  But now, we know exactly what we want!  Now just have to purchase.

So to come - Zuma post of amazingness (she is amazing, obviously), and am considering reviewing some of my favorite drug store makeup (because lets face it, MOST of us can't afford MAC... and we KNOW it's good already, makeup snobs!)  I'm a firm believer of the fact that just because it's in a drug store doesn't mean there is no way it is of good quality.  Obviously there IS crap makeup in drug stores, but I LOVE looking for a good deal.

until then--