My ninja name is Mirishikiarichifu.

Source: polyvore.com via Kristin on Pinterest

Why or why not I may or may not be M.I.A.

1. My wedding is less than 3 months away... AHH!! Ordering invites, programs favors, finalizing menus, organizing song lists, first dress fitting (my dress is Ah-mazing!), got my shoes, hunting for and saving tons of 'wedding hair' potential photos, scheduling final meet ups with vendors, etc. etc. etc. Phew.
2. Football Season - I'm a loyal and devoted Clemson fan and of course a season ticket holder... Labor Day weekend was a trip to Clemson and I'll be back again this weekend for the Auburn game.
3. I'm finally getting serious about weight loss and healthiness - I now have a nutritionist (love!) and a personal trainer...
4. Work. The usual.
5. This past Saturday was me and my fiance's 5 year anniversary.
6. And what's really, really keeping me busy -- WE BOUGHT A HOUSE! {cheers...applause} We got an amazing house for an amazing price in Mt. Pleasant... we went from looking for a house to rent to making an offer and getting a contract on a house...all within about a week's time.

All of these warrant their own (or many) blog posts...so hopefully soon I'll have time to actually share more details with you.

Meanwhile... enjoy this randomly cute puppy photo of Willow to start your week with a smile... :)

Doesn't he look like Uncle Sam? He'll be 1 years old in a month!

P.S. I don't know if I'm using Pinterest correctly.. lol... I do a search for a keyword...say... 'bedroom inspiration' and I don't get very many search results. Is it only showing me the photos pinned by people I follow? Do I have to expand my Pinterest network to get more results??

How to Focus in the Age of Distraction

In lieu of the fact that I haven't blogged all week...if you find yourself incredibly busy with a million things on your to do list, and on top of that a million distractions, this neato graphic could help out... thinking I need to follow some of those arrows.

{via}

Babies are here!!

Miscellaneous Monday

It's another rainy day in Charleston and I'm trying to stay focused at work with little success. It seems like everyone in the office is on their phone, on speakerphone, etc. and I cannot focus at all - it's like a hundred different voices swarming around me. I want to stand up on my chair above all the cubes and yell "BEEEEEE QUIEEEEETTTTTT!!!".

It's Monday.

So last week I finished listening to the audiobook of The Carrie Diaries. I'm a big Sex & The City fan, so I was really excited about this prequel that follows Carrie's senior year in high school.

It was... ok.

To the book's credit, it is targeted towards a preteen/teen audience, so I think if you're in high school, you can relate to the trials and tribulations of being a teenager. The greatest conflicts in the book are whether or not to have sex with a guy, girlfriends stealing boyfriends, and getting into college. Yawn. So for someone who is way past her high school days and actually wasn't a fan of high school when I was there - I didn't like being reminded of how much high school can stink.

And I think listening to the audiobook for this one was a bad idea as well - the narrator of the book was obviously trying to sound very 'Carrie' like, which was cool at first, but then just became really annoying. Ok, we get it.. you're trying to sound like SJP.

And finally, I didn't like the way Candace Bushnell created Carrie's high school persona - it didn't feel like Carrie to me, I had a hard time connecting this Carrie Diaries character to the Carrie in the show and movies that we've all gotten to know and love. So that bothered me as well.

The biggest redeeming quality of the book, however, is the very, very, very end. The very last sentence. That's really the only part I really liked.

Now I'm listening to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and so far it's captured my interest - it's pretty good so far, but I have to pay attention - it's filled with a ton of characters with foreign names.

I've started using one of my new Lily journals I got in the Rue La La Lily sale to track what I eat each day. I don't eat bad, but I have crazy portion control issues - so I'm hoping by tracking what I eat, I'll be able to manage my appetite better. I've also started loosely tracking weight watchers points to see if I'm staying within the daily points level I should be maintaining.


I almost hate to write in this thing...it's so darn pretty and cute. I feel like I'm ruining it.

Speaking of food...I grabbed a turkey sub from Subway today and lo and behold SunChips has a new flavor! Monterrey Jack and Sundried Tomato. It was actually very good and contained a lot of fiber. The taste reminded me of the Pizza Chips from the 90's - anyone else eat those? :)

And just in case you want to mark your calendars...my birthday is this Saturday. And in true Leo fashion, I'm celebrating all week. Tonight my best girlfriend and I are going to a place called Bottles & Brushes in Mt. Pleasant. You bring a bottle of wine and you get to paint a picture... this is the picture we're painting tonight - perfect for my beach themed condo.

So, how is your Monday going?? Is it as (un)eventful as mine??

Rainy Sunday

It rained all day today in Charleston - a rare occurrence. And it didn't just rain, it poured. I love lazy Sundays inside with the sound of rain outside...it was perfect.

One of my neighbors, a white egret, must have needed a shower - he sat out in the downpour, just chilling on a little branch.


Also mommy duck is still keeping her post on the nest... here are a few more pictures of her and a few of her friends. P.S. I did make a sign... :)

Charleston Bloggess Meet Up at Social tonight...

I'm excited about tonight...and I'm a little nervous too, lol.

What if I can't think of anything to say? What if nobody likes me? What if...what if...what if..

And most importantly...

What am I going to wear!?!? Ahh!

I'm hoping I can leave work a little early so I can get home and change, etc. and try to get to Social by 6pm. It's going to be cutting it close...

And is it silly that I might just take a cab so I don't have to worry about parking (and/or how many glasses of wine I consume)??

Looking forward to meeting everyone...see you there! :)

My new neighbor, mommy duck

Yesterday my boyfriend and I took a two hour bike ride down Rifle Range road in Mt. Pleasant (burbs of Charleston) looking at all the pretty houses.

We got back to my condo and my neighbor was outside fishing with his two little girls in the lake in front of our condo - he said to me, "Hey, did you see the surprise left in front of your front door?"

I was caught off guard a little bit - I've only met my neighbor once before, and I couldn't imagine what in the world he was talking about.

"One of the ducks has made two nests right in front of your condo - with about 20 to 30 eggs in it."

One of his little girls said, "I'll show you!" and promptly walked me over to my front door where we leaned over the railing looking down into my 'front yard'. Sure enough, there were two swirls of pine straw - and the mommy duck was snuggled on top of one of them - eying us cautiously.

I'll have to admit, it was pretty neat and I hope nothing happens to the nests so the babies can hatch and I can possibly watch the moment when they march down to the lake single file.

On the other hand, part of me is wary that her eggs may attract other creatures that have an appetite for eggs. {shutters}

I captured some photos this morning before work (mommy duck was still sitting there - does she stay there until they hatch??) - they aren't very good photos since it was partially shaded and my camera lens kept fogging up because of the heat (gotta love 90+ degree weather at 8:30 AM).

Should I make a little sign that says "Careful - duck nests here, stay off pine straw" to keep any condo maintenance folks, UPS, etc. from walking there? I would be devastated if I came home and the nests were crushed or in disarray because I didn't make a stupid sign... I think I will.





I'd kind of like to give the mommy duck a name - any suggestions?

Set Fire to the Rain

"I love food and hate exercise. I don't have time to work out... I don't want to be on the cover of Playboy or Vogue. I want to be on the cover of Rolling Stone or Q. I'm not a trend-setter... I'm a singer... I'd rather weigh a ton and make an amazing album than look like Nicole Richie and do a shit album. My aim in life is never to be skinny." - Adele.

I think I will buy all of her albums just because of that comment. :) Oh yeah..and her music isn't too shabby either.

Nail polish for girls who don't paint their nails

Wow..I have been really MIA this past week... oops. Things have been crazy busy as usual.

Anyways... I wanted to share with you my new favorite, fun nail polish.

I hardly ever paint my nails. I don't really have long nails, and even though I try, they just don't grow. I also rarely get manicures -- I just can't get myself to spend $12 on something that I can do myself, sometimes better. And even though I can do it myself... I rarely do because I get frustrated when only days later, it's already chipping.

However... I keep my toes painted, so I buy fun polish colors from time to time to try out on my toes. Two weeks ago, I randomly tried this Celeb City polish from Sally Hansen on my nails just for fun while taking a break at work...and I loved the way it looked.

Blurry, but says "220 Celeb City"

This polish went on so easy and effortless - and you could do one coat for a more sheer look, or multiple coats for a more opaque look. It also has just enough of a sparkle to match my personality. :)

Plus, it didn't chip for well over a week. Winning!

Since it goes on slightly sheer with one coat, I used it on my toes over a navy polish -- looks really cool. But sorry, no pictures...as someone with ballet dancer feet, I promise the last thing you want to see are my toes! :)

Sorry I have been so lame in updating this blog...will try to do better this week. Cheers!

Need some bloggess expertise...

I have a favor to ask of all of you bloggesses out there...

How the heck can I adjust my blogger thumbnail so when I follow all of your amazing blogs, you actually see my face...and not my butt like it's centered on now? Lol... I can't figure out if there's a way for me to edit the thumbnail so I can adjust it up (like Facebook lets you do with your thumbnail image).
Or was my very vertical profile picture choice not the best to use?

Any help would be mucho appreciated.

And one last thing... does my blog take forever to load on your computer? I use FireFox, but have noticed when viewing my blog in Internet Explorer it takes way longer to load and isn't as pretty... is it like that for you?

I have a script in my HTML to make the side columns the same length as the background so it fills up...and I think the one I chose may be causing the long load time... any ideas?

You would think someone with a Computer Engineering degree would be able to figure this out on her own...lol.

Help! :)

Dear South Carolina drivers...

If you are driving on a major road and see MULTIPLE traffic signs that clearly say "Incident ahead. Left lane closed", then that probably means you should put your blinker on, and get in the right lane.

Choosing to stay in the left lane and breeze by everyone else, then get up to the 'incident', stop almost completely and put on your blinker then (if you put your blinker on at all - this is a blog post for another day... #petpeeve) and wait for some chump to finally let you over (and you better wave thank you dangit! Yet another post for another day. #petpeeve) -- this is why there's traffic!

Bottom part of sign didn't show in pic - but clearly says, "Left lane blocked".
Check out all the cars in the left lane! Grr.

Then, when you drive by said 'incident' and completely turn your neck 90 degrees to the side, brake, and gawk at said 'incident' (which is usually just a minor car accident).... this is why there's traffic!

Oh, and check out the genius that is this major intersection in Mt. Pleasant currently undergoing construction... granted, it desperately needs the upgrade and once it's all said and done, it will be so much better (here's hoping)... but until then, they've...um... really screwed up this intersection... a stop light within a stop light? So, yes, I fear for my life every time I have to navigate this intersection...yikes!

Hey Mr. Stoplight, I would love to accelerate and go,
but there are still cars driving through!

And, is it really only Wednesday? I actually went through half the day today convinced it was Thursday... doh! And did my car really say it was over 100 degrees outside? :-/

Phew..ok. I feel better  Rant Over. :)

How about something cute and positive?

My little eskimo puppy - all curled up in the sheets.

Wine Radar

So I'm all moved into my new place - a million unopened boxes and furniture everywhere. It looks like Hurricane Hate on Christy came to town in my condo. Ugg... I can't move furniture where I want it because the boxes are in the way...so I have to unpack boxes to then move furniture and so on and so on and so on..

Today has been typical - dropped a wad of cash with Two Men & a Truck to move all of my furniture. It's worth it though. These guys have it down to a science. If you're moving, spend the money...hire a moving company. I've always used Two Men & a Truck and they are great. I definitely recommend them.

After they left, two cleaning ladies stopped by -- they came highly recommended from a good friend of mine. The condo was clean before I moved in...but it wasn't clean clean. I'm a neat freak...and I just wanted someone to come in, save me some time, and put a little elbow grease into the important spots (kitchen and bathrooms) and make the condo smell clean.

Well, the condo smelled clean, but after they left I inspected and found cob webs still in the window corners (after they told me they cleaned the windows), kitchen sink still scuzzy, bathroom floors dirty, tub obviously not cleaned... I was so upset to the point that I had a decent cry. When I get angry, I cry. It's annoying, but that's how I work. So now I guess I have to call them in the morning and play bad guy and tell them to come back... it was just not something I wanted to deal with this week. Why is it always so hard to find a good trustworthy cleaning person?? All I kept repeating in my head while wiping my tears and blowing my nose was..."If you want something done right...do it yourself." I guess being the control freak I am, I should know better.

On top of that, I have to replace the blinds and stay on the phone bugging my realty company until they fix the holes by the front door lock (yes, holes) and the window that is supposedly hanging by a thread in one of the bedrooms. Ugg...And then, I have no idea how to turn on and off my porch light, lol. It was off yesterday and my BF and I tried every switch in the entire place with no luck. Well, tonight I randomly noticed it's on... no idea how it got turned on and I have no idea how to turn it off! Ahhhh!!

This too shall pass....this too shall pass.....this too shall pass...

So needless to say, I needed a nice cold glass of Chardonnay tonight... and I had a bottle I moved today from my old place. But... my wine openers were all packed... and remember I have like one million boxes all over the place.. no rhyme or reason to them.

And somehow...just somehow.... the very first box I opened had a wine opener in it! Praise God! He must have been well aware how much I needed that glass of wine. :)

Siiiiiggggh....
So a small bag of popcorn and a glass of wine for dinner tonight...the unpacking-palooza starts tomorrow after work. Wish me luck!

P.S. My fave Chardonnay of the moment... Woodbridge. Yum! I could totally be their spokes-girl...

Monday, Monday

Things that made me 'blah' today...

1. People who don't use their blinkers when driving - ok, this is a lifetime annoyance, but seemed to notice it more today
2. The random cold that has snuck up on me today for no reason {cough, sniffle, cough}
3. That it hasn't rained in like two weeks and it's still sooo hot -- fingers crossed it rains later this week
4. My puppy Willow wanting to go outside every five minutes - not to pee or poop - but to eat sticks and pinecones
5. The fact that I can never get to bed before 11pm...ok, who am I kidding, before midnight.
6. Wedding vendors not being cooperative, not doing their job, trying to add on ridiculous extra charges, etc. I'm looking at you Mr. hotel and Ms. reception hall!
7. The fact that wedding vendor stress (see #6) made me have a mini 30 sec. cry session
8. Work and work stuff.
9. A shrinking bank account.
10. It's only Monday.

Things that made me happy today...

1. Bridesmaid appointment at Bella Bridesmaid downtown with best friend Jtay, and I think we've found the dresses!
2. Large tumbler glasses that fit a LOT of coffee in them to keep me motivated through a blah Monday
3. The fact that I now drink coffee (officially a coffee drinker for a full week - lol!)
4. Gloria Akalitus on tonight's Nurse Jackie episode did the blowing in the raisin box to make a whistle trick -- I used to do this ALL the time when I was little. I forgot about it until tonight.
5. Daniel Island Hip Hop classes on Monday nights that take my mind off stress for 2 hours -- because I'm focusing so hard on learning the dances and trying to keep up...but also getting a killer workout
6. My puppy Willow - he can drive me crazy, but one snuggle and kiss from him makes me fall in love all over again
7. Unexpected friendships -- found out today that someone I wouldn't expect to had booked her flight to Vegas for my bachelorette
8. Packages on my doorstep when I get home from work with goodies from RueLaLa
9. An awesome fiance who not only takes over dog duty for the night, but also takes the Netflix movie back so I don't have to take the extra trip to Publix
10. Remembering this past weekend and knowing that we have another weekend coming up in Charleston with another Happy Hour and another beach day...#10 will get me through this week alone...{sigh}

Photos from the weekend...

Happy Hour on dock of Shem Creek Bar and Grill. This looks like a painting to me.

Gorgeous sunset views.

Plenty of shade and a breeze - how have we not come here before!?!

Very cool picture ruined by guitar man's ashtray and cigarette...but still
cool picture. Would love to take kayak tour on Shem Creek sometime.

Guy with guitar - great live music.

Bathroom stall sign in Shem Creek Bar & Grill. Hilarious.

Dinner at new Triangle bar in Mt. Pleasant - everything in there is recycled.

Part of the menu - had the Popcorn app (definitely recommend!) and
Pimento Cheese burger with sweet potato fries. Delish!

Miscellaneous Musings

Tonight we have Willow's final training class - his big test. We've been practicing and he can even do commands with just hand signals -- but -- he has to be calm to pay attention. When he's in hyper, excited puppy-mode, it's hard to get him to listen, let alone sit still. Wish us luck tonight! I hope he gets a cute little graduation cap.

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I really need to trim down my blog reading list -- but it's so hard.. I keep finding more blogs to follow instead of blogs to not follow. Yesterday alone I think I found four new Charleston blogs to follow - check them out in my right column. And they are all way cooler than me...

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And speaking of Charleston - this town is 'small'. Really. I feel like every day I meet someone who I know through some sort of crazy six degrees of separation. And now it's happening in the blog world... I just read on one fellow Charleston girl blog about a guy she hung out with one night last week... who just happens to be the same guy who stood up my best friend for drinks on Friday night...as in didn't even have the you know whats to send her a simple text and say he couldn't go. Geez....it's a small world after all.

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And speaking of Charleston bloggesses...and all of you bloggesses... I'm constantly amazed by how all of you can keep your blogs updated daily, work full time jobs, wear fabulous outfits EVERY DAY, exercise for at least an hour EVERY DAY, cook amazing meals (and have pictures posted on your blog to prove it) several times a week, paint your nails AND your toe nails a different color every week, go out on the town AND STILL HAVE TIME to reply to all of your blog post comments by email....

I often wonder what the heck is wrong with me... I somehow manage to get home from work at a decent time, do some sort of exercise (almost daily, but never daily), take a shower, eat dinner - which is usually some sort of microwavable meal, and barely get to bed at a decent time.

So really ladies -- HOW DO YOU DO IT?

Reading your blogs makes me think I need to take more time for cooking, going out, enjoying this amazing town that I live in...and not be so caught up in the rat race...sigh...if only it were that easy.

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Last month Southern Weddings Magazine put out a call for REAL reader couples - dating, engaged, or married - who live in Charleston for a photo shoot for their next issue. Since my fiance and I are REAL people and are engaged and live in Charleston...surely Southern Weddings Mag would totally pick us. They asked for models though... and headshots. Huh? But surely they want real people to accurately depict love and authenticity... so, maybe I could just send some fun, cute pictures of my fiance and I and surely they would pick us... and add in a cute email that talks about how in love we are, how we're not models, but we're fun, etc. etc. etc.... perfect, right?

I never heard back from them - not even a "We're sorry, but we found someone else" email. Or a "Sorry, we don't take pictures of short 5'3 girls with short, stubby legs and thin hair - we're looking for those beautiful Charleston girls that weigh 90 pounds." Nope, not even that. I got nothing.

And just yesterday they tweeted about the two 'awesome' couples that were 'so fun' for the Charleston photo shoot....

Blah. blah. blah. blah.

Yeah. I'm bitter. Lol.... I don't know why... but I AM! Ha ha... And yes this is dripping with sarcasm, so try not to take me too seriously.

Have you ever applied for something like that and were convinced you'd get picked - even as unrealistic as it was -and then when you didn't, were really bitter about it?

Yeah, yeah.. I'll get over it. But let me stew just a little.

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And can someone please explain to me why it's so crazy hot this week in Charleston? It's only May and it's already this hot!?!?! :(

Taken in my car on my way to grab lunch today - if you can't tell, it says 100 degrees F. Yup...100!

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And...it's official! My bachelorette will be in Vegas! Alright ladies -- all of you that have any kind of Vegas connections, it's time to help your 'ol blogger friend out here. :)


One of my best friends and I in Vegas last year for her 30th

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Ok...enough out of me. How is your week going? Who's ready for the four day weekend -- ME!!