Why Men Can't Go To The Grocery Store

Every woman in  the world knows that if they send their manly significant other to the grocery store for something...they will either get:

Items on the list PLUS excess items not on the list
Excess items not on the list; and not the items on the list

We've all learned early on, probably from our dads, about this phenomenom.

Example 1:  My dad

My mother would send him to the store for a few necessities.  He was always good about coming back with the necessities... and a few bags of candy.  Oh, and probably some ice cream.  I'm pretty confident he probably still does this.  I think it's pretty funny and cute.

Example 2:  Sparky

Sparky's #1 problem is that he seriously somewhat lacks in the searching department.  Last week, Sparky suddenly got a random craving for animal cookies.  We have never purchased animal cookies.  So, he stopped by our local grocery store to pick up some animal cookies...with a sense of urgency like a pregnant woman.  He came home infuriated!  The world had gone mad!  They (the grocery store devils) don't have regular animal cookies!  They only have the frosted animal cookies!

Oh, the humanity!  Right?

I personally love the frosted animal cookies.  I, of course, ask why he didn't get the frosted animal cookies for me?  He's soooo incosiderate!  J/K!  He didn't quite think that was so cute.  BUT, he did manage to bring home ginger snaps...ew.  He seriously picked ginger snaps over frosted animal cookies!  Who does that?

Oh, the humanity! Right?

Anyway, fast forward to last night.  I ran by the very same local grocery store to pick up a few choice items.  I happen to be strolling down the cookie isle...-I don't know how or why I would be strolling down the cookie isle...- when without searching and just strolling by...

I see a bag of regular animal cookies.  Lots of them.  Right next to the frosted animal cookies.

ugh.  All I could think was ugh! 

So, I picked up a bag of regular animal cookies for Sparky the Blind...and I'm not saying that I did or that I didn't pick up a bag of frosted animal cookies for myself...but somewhere in the world near or around or in my home last night a frosted animal cookie or a few got eaten...

...and there's a strong possibility a few frosted yummies may have made it into my purse this morning to join me for a day at work...

So, another reason why men can't go to the grocery store is that we end up having to go back to the store anyway; and we buy stuff we wouldn't normally buy...and we get fat.  Haha.  Just kidding!  kinda

But, what would we do without the laughter and the love and entertainment they provide?

Keep on Keepin on.

Custom Cake Toppers

I love the idea of custom quirky cake toppers...

I am absolutely crushing on these little cake toppers I found on Etsy!  They are so cute and happen to resemble Sparky and I fairly well.

yes/no?

Keep on Keepin on.

Loving "Loved"

I'm loving the "loved" ring from Catbird.  I love all their jewelry and their great price ranges!  I have my eye on a few pieces of jewelry from Catbird...and I don't even like to wear jewelry!  I'm seriously thinking of getting the "loved" ring as my wedding band.  It's simple.  It's sweet.  It's straight to the point.  It's perfect.

Keep on Keepin on.

Bridal Show Debacle with a Trip to the ER

I'm normally not one for events that require hundreds of people (especially women) to be shoved into a space, barely tip toeing through the crowd just to look at "stuff".  After Sunday afternoon, I'm especially not a fan.

All this wedding hub bub got me thinking that I should just check out the local bridal show.  I decided last minute to venture to the Oklahoma Bridal show this past Sunday afternoon.  My plan was like how I handle shopping...with a purpose.  Look and leave as quickly as possible.

Three other girlfriends and I met at the show and very slowly and barely got through the crowd of wedding crazy hungry brides.  I thought the space would be bigger and have more vendors, but it was really cramped.  All the people walking around made it really difficult to get to each vendor even if you did want to retrieve some detailed information...except Lindi.  My friend Lindi is already married but we lost her in the crowd to EVERY vendor that had any free food or drink available.  She always managed to get through the crowd for free food.  The great thing was that if you could get through to the vendor, most of them offered up discounts for attending the show.  Me loves discounts.

So, after a full one and half hours of nothing but wedding stuff, my friends and I were ready to ditch the crowd.  We exited the building and stood outside and started talking since we could hear each other finally.  We were standing to the side of the entrance trying to stay out of the way of people entering and exiting the event and trying to also stay out of the street.

In the midst of conversation, a woman working the event came up to us and suggested we move over a bit because she was afraid the 15 ft tall steel metal contraption holding the bridal show sign located not too far from us would blow over. 

This is the metal sign contraption that fell over on us. 
This picture was taken as we left and
they had already started to take it down.

So we did.  We scooted over.

but not enough...

About 10 or so minutes later, my friend Kristen started screaming to watch out and my other friend, Lindi  grabbed me to pull me toward her.

All I felt was a huge hard thump on my left upper back area.  I was so startled and didn't know what had happened.  I looked over to my right and my other friend, Bridget, was on the ground with the huge sign laying on top of her!

I instantly ran to her and attempted to lift the sign enough to scoot it off of her.  She laid there for a moment stunned and then she finally sat up.  Her elbow was bleeding and she was holding her head.  The sign had hit her in the head and knocked her to the ground. 

At this point, there were many other people who had seen what happened and the event and hotel staff were all there trying to help.  We were all really concerned about Bridget since the stupid sign fell on her head.  We had to fill out paperwork and Bridget got doctored-up by a staff member.  The bridal show and hotel staff were all very helpful and sympathetic, which helped.  They urged for Bridget to go to the ER.

So we did.  Another friend, Lindi, toted us to the ER, where we both got checked out just in case.  Some of the nurses couldn't help but laugh when we tried to explain what happened.  I don't blame them. 

Nurse:  "Hi, Mam.  How can we help you today?"
Us:  "ummmm, we were at the bridal show across the street, and a 15 ft steel metal sign thingy fell on top of us."

chirp
chirp

Nurse:  giggle giggle
Long story short, although Bridget was pretty beat up, the ER doc prescribed us both some muscle relaxers and sent us on our way.

After I got home, I finally got a chance to get a look at my back.  When I took off my shirt and barely turned to look at my back, I could instantly see the big bump on my left shoulder blade area.  It was gross looking.  I knew my left side had gradually started to hurt more and more, but I didn't think I'd have something growing out of it! 

My muscle contusion.  ew.

That night, my left arm and fingers started to tingle.  The sensation was the equivalent of a limb waking up from being asleep for a few minutes and it feels like needles are poking around the area.  I ignored it for then, but the feeling was still there when I woke the next morning.  I waited until I got to work to see if the tingling feeling would subside.  It didn't.  So, I called my primary care Dr. and made an appt for that afternoon.

The Dr. said I do have muscle contusion right in the left shoulder area where some main nerves are located.  But nothing serious it seems since I have full function of my arm and hands.  He does predict that the tingling feeling will probably not go away for about 2 weeks.  awesome, right?  He said the muscle relaxers probably won't do any good and prescribed some anti-inflammatory instead.  I have yet to take any of it.  I'm not much for drugs...especially muscle relaxers.  I might give in to the anti-inflammatory though.  :(

So, today, I still have a little bit of tingling in my left hand.  My back keeps bothering me, though. My neck and lower back have started to bother me.  Nothing major I don't think.  I'm hoping I'll probably just need to get a really good massage once the soreness and bruising go away  from my "muscle contusion".  lol.

I checked with Bridget yesterday morning and she said she was sore.  Her head was obviously sore and so was her leg.  But she's such a trooper and still got up and went to work yesterday!



Bridget being a good sport while being doctored up by the event staff.


So, we're all good in the hood.  Throughout the whole ordeal, we couldn't help but laugh.  I mean, who goes to a bridal show and has the huge bridal show sign fall on them?!!  We do!  I've been friends with these girls for a long time and through all our adventures, which include rocking climbing, running, and traveling across the US and in different countries, we come home unscathed...but go to a local bridal show and we end up in the ER!

Some people have joked that I should get a free wedding out of this, but I'm happy with just having them pay for the ER visit and moving on with our lives.  I mean, I wouldn't object if the Bridal Show people so kindly offered up some kind of awesome deal...but I won't go asking or expecting.  cough. cough. eh hem. eh. hem.

One of the reasons we couldn't help but look at the bright side was that we were ironically grateful it hit Bridget and me rather than our friend Kristen who happens to be 3 months pregnant.  That would have been bad news bears for sure.  So we joked that Bridget took one for the team.  I guess we're kinda glass half full people.

But we probably won't be going to anymore bridal shows.

Keep on Keepin on.

Thrifty Breakdown

I am so stoked about Sparky and I's finds this past weekend!  In planning our wedding, I have decided that we need to try to do as much of our wedding recycled and reused.  This will prove to be a fun challenge in my opinion and not only be environmentally friendly but also budget friendly.

In Sparky and I's secret preparation the past few months, we have already accumulated a few items.  We love going to estate sales and the area in which we live always seems to have a lot of awesome estate sales.  At one of the estate sales we came upon a few months ago, I was able to score A BUNCH of mason jars plus assorted glass vases.  We toted off from the estate sale with 4 boxes full of mason jars and glass vases for only $5 total.  It was a super sweet deal if you ask me.

We have also been trying to pick up any good  chairs we can find.  Our goal is to collect as many assorted chairs as possible so that we won't have to worry about renting them later.  At one garage sale, we picked up three wooden folden chairs for another $5.  So far, Sparky and I have approximately 25 chairs due to all our random chairs we already have in our home and in our attic and we still have only spent $5.  If we come up short on our wedding day, I already have some cute ideas up our sleeve that will allow for some perfect seating...but I'll keep that info to myself for now.

But, this weekend, we accumulated some good decor items.  We were headed to the local Salvation Army Thrift Store when we stumbled upon some no name thrift stores.  I'm pretty confident these people just go to garage sales and then re-sell their items in a "thrift store"...just sayin.  Sparky and I had to DIG through stuff.  But, we found these 4 lanterns still with their wicks for $3 each and 3 aqua glass electrical pole insulators for $2 each.  I can't decide if I want to spray paint the lanterns all a matching color...like white or silver?  I'm still pondering this.

4 lanterns at $3 each

3 electrical pole insulators

$2 each

On our way home, we stumbled upon an estate sale that was just about to close up shop.  Needless to say, they were very willing to negotiate just about anything and told us everything would be an additional 75% off.  The place seemed emptied out and I didn't think we'd find anything. 

I spotted a table with some gloves and realized there was a stack of assorted dainty handkerchiefs.  I picked up 20 of these cute fabric squares for just $0.25 each for a total of $5.  I will probably either make a garland of some sort with them for the wedding or accumulate more and use them for napkins at the wedding.

20 assorted handkerchiefs for $5.

I went into the kitchen and sitting on the kitchen counter were these cute little white ceramic birds.  I kid you not, I have a picture of a similar bird (not color) already printed off from save-on-crafts.com and in my wedding binder.  There was no way I was going to leave without scooping up these little birdies.  I was able to score both birds for just a $1.

$1 total for both birdies.

I was just telling someone the other day that I do not have a punch bowl...but now I do!  I saw this bowl and ladle sitting all by its lonesome.  I think it may be meant for soup but I'm all about it being a cute punchbowl.  Any objections?  I doubt it.  It was totally worth the price of a whopping $5.

Cute bowl/soup bowl and ladle for $5.

Our biggest purchase was the dishes.  Sparky and I are pretty picky when it comes to dishes...which is why we currently have solid white dishes.  I actually love solid white anything, so I still love the solid white dishes.  But, Sparky was totally diggin on these dishes at the estate sale and we could not turn them down for the price.

I counted a total of 59 pieces.  12 dinner plates, 12 bowls, smaller plates, coffee cups, cream and sugar set, serving bowl, two serving platters, a few other random bowls and plates, and a gravy boat!  I am actually really excited about the gravy boat for some reason.  We got all 59 matching pieces for only $12!!  That's a super deal!

That's all of our great thrifty finds this past weekend.  Now I have a lot of dish cleaning to get done so that we can use some of them for dinner this week! 

Do you have any great thrifty finds that you are super excited and proud?

Keep on keepin on.

Start Your Weekend with Some Thrifty-ness!

Sparky and I were thrift store and estate sale shopping fools this afternoon (partially in search for wedding stuff).  Here's a preview of our great finds!

I'll break down all this splendidness and the awesomeness hidden in the sacks later!

Have a wonderful rest of the weekend!

Keep on keepin on.

Let's Talk: Laser Hair Removal

We are about to get real personal here, peeps.  Leave now if that's now your thang.  Actually, I hope you don't leave, so I'll try to be as polite as possible.  (yeah right)

If you look over to the right at my profile, you will see that I am a Pacific Islander, aka hairy ethinic beast.  Just sayin.  I can totally relate to those Kardashian chicks even though they are Armenian.  Dark ethnic hair is dark ethnic despite its origin.  (You "light hair" people don't know how good you really have it).  Dark, thick hair is totally obnoxious, annoying, irritating (physically and mentally).  One thing I have always wanted to try...well ever since it was created...is laser hair removal.

Laser hair removal is right up there for me in the unknown and scary category.  I normally don't like to experiment too much with my body...with exception to my pierced belly button and my tattoo.  Ok, so maybe I'm a little ok with "trying new things"...whatever.  Anywho, LATELY and as I have matured, I've been a little freaked at the idea of permanently altering my body.  But, the hair issue is just too much!  Shaving and waxing is just not enough.

I joined the Groupon website a couple of months ago, and I absolutely love it.  So far, I have purchased two great deals and have been really pleased with the process and the outcome of it.  I'm a huge fan and I would totally recommend anyone to join. One of the Groupons I purchased was just a no brainer for me.  I saw it and had very little hesitation to jump in on the deal.  A local day spa, Body Trends, had an AMAZING deal.  They offered 6 treatments of laser hair removal that was worth $750 for only $99!  I jumped at the opportunity.  If I was ever going to give laser hair removal a try, this was the best opportunity that I had for it yet.

Last night was my first treatment.  I won't lie.  I was definitely terrified nervous and excited all in one.  One of my biggest fears is the side and after affects of anything new and different that I expose my body.  This paranoia was definitely lingering heavily in my mind.  I still went with it, though.  I just had to remind myself that I needed to try it once.

The laser hair removal technician, I want to call her expert, was so incredibly kind and professional.  She definitely made me feel welcome and comfortable, but most importantly, she eased my anxiety without me having to ask her to do so.  She explained the process to me before she started and she was really patient with my million questions and jibbery nervous talking.  I will praise her a millions times for just dealing with my uber awkwardness so well. 

After all the talky talk, the technician expert, had me lay down on a bed.  She put goggles on me, in which I could not see anything but absolute darkness.  She started on my left underarm.  Oh wait, did I mention that I chose to do my underarms?  Sorry.  Yes, I chose to do both underarms first.  This is one of my more annoying "hair" areas to me and I figured for my first time it was a safer option than my face.  Sooooooo, moving on.  She started with my left underarm.  The first burst of laser hit and it HURT.  Oh, dear.  It seriously hurt.  I now think that it was more of a shock but at that moment and the rest of the underarm, it hurt.  I can equate it to the first time I ever had my eyebrows and lip waxed and I thought it was the worst pain ever; and now I don't even think about flinching.  So, I'm sure the sharp stabbing laser pain will soon be a nonsense thing of the past.  If you've ever had a tattoo, it's kinda sorta a little like that.

After twenty minutes of holding my breath and going to my happy place, the technician expert was done with both underarms.  After only being able to smell the wonderful aroma of burnt armpit hair for a good twenty minutes, she lifted off my goggles.  I was anxious to see what my underarms would look like.  I was thinking they would be bright red puffs of underarm skin, but no.  They were perfectly normal but with less hair than before.  The technician expert applied some cooling aloe to both underarms and we were done.  No biggie. 

My next treatment is in about a months time, so I'm sure I will update you again after that treatment.

As of today, my underarms feel absolutely normal.  We are good to go.  No swelling, no soreness, no wierd growths...haha.  But, seriously, everything so far is peachy.

I think laser hair removal is my new best friend.

Keep on Keepin on.

Photographer Frenzy

It's no secret that I am a lover of all things photography.  I am more of an obsessed admirer on a daily basis rather than an avid photographer myself, although I do flirt with my camera a little here and there. 

For the past year and plus some, I have been obsessed with photography, and more recently wedding photography for obvious reasons.  Daily, I peruse photographers both local and beyond to dissect and enjoy each artist's differences and magnificence.  It's amazing how some photographers get the most perfect and unbelievable "shot" without really having to try...or so I suspect.

So, with so much love for many photographers and styles of photograpahy, I have been torn and slightly disgruntled in trying to decide on the perfect photographer for all things Sparky and Babalou gettin hitched.  I think I have e-mailed and bugged every just a few photographers in the okc metro the past few weeks, not to mention I checked on the amazing and beautiful Simply Bloom Photographers in Alabama as well.

Although I am all about being frugal smart with our wedding budget, a wedding photographer is the one element that I am on the very tippy-toe-edge-teetering-about to fall off the budget bridge willing to splurge.  I know that I don't intend to have a HUGE wedding, but that means all the personal, intimate, DIY stuff should be documented even more, right?  BTW, I am the master of justifying anything I deem necessary; arguing with me is absolutely useless.

Anywho, after many mental and emotional internal battles, I THINK, at least for today, I have narrowed down the photographer choices down to two.  These final two choices are so very difficult for their own very specific reasons.

First, we are considering Andrew Chasteen photography.  He's local, slightly "newer" to photography, more budget friendly than the other choice, and an acquaintance of Sparky's.  I do also like his style.  He does non-traditional photograpahy which I love.  The more artistic the better...no posing for this gal.

Second, Sparky and I absolutely love love love Carl Zoch photography. 



Who wouldn't love this image from Carl Zoch?

 He too is local and has amazing style.  In addition to digital photography, he also does a little bit with the Holga.  Sparky and I have a Diana and are huge fans of these little plastic wonders.  Carl Zoch would be a huge splurge for us, but I think we are willing to take the plunge!  I am currently waiting to hear back from him to get more information. 

If we can make the budget work, we may splurge on our dream photographer.  At the same time, I am all about up and coming new artists and professionals and I seriously want to give Andrew a shot also.  I think both photographers would be super awesome and I just can't decide! 

Oh well, I'm sure all the answers will come to me in a dream or a game of rock paper scissors...the answers to most of life's questions normally come down to rock paper scissors.

Keep on Keepin on.

Living and Dining Changes

So, I know everyone loved my dining table I had before, but I was just up for some change.  Plus, my table just really didn't go with the style we have for the rest or our home.  So, out it went. 

I searched and searched for its replacement and finally decided that Ikea was the winner.  Sparky and I planned on a Friday to head 3 hrs south to the nearest Ikea but I didn't want to go unprepared.  A friend of mine offered up her truck just in case the table was slightly too big for the good ole Subaru.  So, we switched vehicles at 7:00 am and then Sparky and I were off to furniture splendidnous.

We should not have taken the truck.

Our logic while Sparky and I were in furniture and home decor heaven consisted of..."Well, we have the room since we got the truck.  We might as well get what we can now while we are here and have the truck."

So, we went down to Ikea  for one $400 dining table.

We returned home with...

a differnt dining table
duvet cover
blanket
and a new sectional sofa.

Yes.  I said sectional sofa.

We must be crazy, right?

I'm so happy we splurged, though!

We have been enjoying our sofa for a few weeks now and it ended up inspiring us to paint the living room and to finally add a photo wall of my pictures.  So it all worked out in the end.

Below is our new dining table, the bjursta from Ikea with only one leaf in it.  This table has an additional leaf that expands the table to fit 10 people!  It may not seem like it, but the table is HEAVY and solid.  The lighter wood really brightens up this space and it's exactly what we needed.  (*please disregard the door hardware in the right side of the photo...that belongs to another unfinished project...story of our lives.) 

The chairs are actually chairs we already had around the house and we just decided to repurpose them...so they were free!  We have about 6 additional of the middle white chairs in case we need to whip out that extra leaf for a dinner party!  So, all in all, we drastically changed our dining space for only $300 and we can seat more people!  What's even better is that I sold the old table for $400...so I made $100 too!  Now that is a sweet deal.  I love Ikea.

AND...

Then we spent our Saturday evening and Sunday morning painting the living from an orang-ee brown to a bright white.

AND...

Then we donated this old thing to the wonderful Salvation Army.

AND..

Here is our new sectional.  Kind of a poopy photo but it will do for now.  I've been eyeing some yellow and grey pillows at target to go on sale...but no luck yet.  They would be the perfect addition! 

As you can see, in this photo, the far right wall is a white empty canvas.    The other two walls in the room each have Sparky's paintings.  He has been saving the extra wall all for my photographs.  Our goals is to only have our own artwork in our home.  This is my new picture wall of our dogs that I will share later!

(*yes, that is Sparky's arm and leg on the right side.)

I will try to get some better photos of the new living room as soon as I can! 

Keep on Keepin on.

History of Rap

So my friend/cousin, Bree, sent me this video yesterday.  It's my future dream husband best friend, Justin Timberlake, and his close competition, Jimmy Fallon, for this honorable title doing a little hip hopitty rap.  Bree thinks JT is her future husband, but she's totally WRONG.  Anyway, the rapitty rap is so incredibly cute and funny!  You musst watch the ENTIRE thing.  (yes, you have to wait for the commercial at the beginning)



I hope you got a good belly laugh and a big smile out of this!

Keep on Keepin on.