Guest Posting at It's All in the Details

I'm guest posting over on Samantha's blog today while she's away on her honeymoon!

And you can sneak a few peeks from her wedding day on Instagram while you're there, too (like this gem):

Go check out her space :)

Oh Hey Friday Favorites!

I'm so glad it's Friday, I can't even tell you!

I'm even also super glad to share my favorites from this week!

 

Here are some of my favorites:

{1}-Favorite Purchase

I saw this winter coat online yesterday, on sale for $100, and couldn't resist. It looks super warm and I've wanted a longer puffy coat for a while. Worst case, I'll return it if it doesn't work, but for now, I'm pretty pumped about its arrival. Not as pumped about winter's impending arrival, but that's another story...

{2}-Favorite Weekend Plans

MG and I have all kinds of plans this weekend. Friday night is a friend's bday so we're meeting up for drinks. Saturday we have plans to hang out with one of our favorite couples (although we don't have a set plan yet) and Sunday there's been talk of going to a winery or two with my girl friends from work to celebrate our one friend's birthday. I'm kinda tired thinking about it all  but whatever we end up doing, it's sure to be a blast.

{3}-Favorite Pins

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{4} Favorite Mid-Week Hangout

Wednesday I got together with my friend Bree and another SLP friend for happy hour. It was nice meeting up just down the road from my house and relaxing mid-week. We got to celebrate the one girl getting her CCC's (speech stuff), and got to talk about and re-live Bree's wedding from the other weekend.

 It did, however, make me think it was Thursday so when I woke up on Thursday and thought it was Friday, it was a rude awakening.

Still fun to hang out tho! :)

{5} Favorite chat
On Thursday I was talking on g-chat off and on all day with one of my best friends who I've known since 6th grade.  At the end of the day, I told her I was going home and would talk to her tomorrow. She thanked me for entertaining her, told me she barely got any work done that day, said that it had been fun and then ended it with:
"To be continued forever"
Love that. From 6th grade to forever.
I have the best friends--lucky girl, party of: me!

On that note, I'm gonna bust through the workday to get to that sweet sweet weekend.
I hope yours is as laid back (and cute) as a puppy laying in a pile of leaves!

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Who Has the Time/Whyyyyy? Part 5

It's Thursday which means we just have to make it through today and tomorrow before we can get to the weekend (that is, unless you have a long weekend, in which case, sit down and be quiet...no one likes a bragger :)

To get us through I thought I'd share another edition of Who Has the Time/Whyyyyy??? based on the weird, interesting, strange, "creative" things I've stumbled upon while perusing Pinterest.

I hope you find them as weird/entertaining as I did:

I don't even know what this is supposed to be...

it looks like a weird wonton...to sleep in?

Now if I could have this little pod at work, that might be another story.....

The original caption said 101 things to do with old jeans...

If this is one of them, I don't need to see the rest.

I definitely don't have the time to use up old jeans and make them into a chair cover.

And I'm pretty sure this wouldn't really go with the decor in my house.

Corn-a-saurus (I'm not making this up)

Not only is that scary as heck, I don't even want to know how difficult (and unsanitary) it is to do this.

I don't know who would want to wear these shoes....or whose twisted mind thought this was a good idea:

I don't understand. Plus, these wouldn't look right even without the doll heads in there. Weird.

This one I have mixed feelings about. It's a cool concept, but I have a feeling if I saw a bunch of these glass flowers made out of dishes in someone's yard, I would think it looked junky.

I also didn't know what it was when I first saw it, until I read the caption on the pin.

Why are there so many incredibly weird things out there to do with jeans? This jean stool is odd. And a bit creepy, too.

I will give this pin credit tho, because the caption was "18 things NOT to do with jeans"....
and I'd have to agree, you definitely should NOT do this with jeans. Or any other clothing material for that matter.

This was listed as "DIY craft Barbie legs ring/jewelry holder"

Looks like something you'd find in a murderer's house...
It also had the hashtag "#jewelryinspiration"--if that's what you need to be inspired, I'd go ahead and add a psychiatrist to my speed dial.

I think the Barbie-leg jewelry holder is a good note to go out on. Mainly because I don't want to find anything else more creepy than that.
Have you found anything crazy or weird on Pinterest??
Until next time.....happy pinning!

Mid-week Confessions

It's hump day and I'm ready to do some confessin'!

I confess that....

.....seeing giveaways on blogs is exciting, until you realize that you have to follow 100 people's pinterest boards or twitter accounts in order to qualify. No thanks.

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.....I hate that I don't have control over the air temperature in my office. Most of the day it's fine now with milder temps outside, but in the afternoon sun, my office heats up like a hot box. Luke warm air out of the air vents does nothing to help that #sweatyprobs

.....after visiting with the new puppy last weekend, I half-convinced myself that I want another dog. Then I realized how much work that would be and slapped myself back to reality.

{via}

.....I really want a cute jean jacket and a navy puffy vest for the Fall....but I don't want to pay for them :)

.....I keep seeing a ton of Fall recipes and I'm kinda jazzed to try them. Soups, things with butternut squash or pumpkin in them....I want them all!

.....sometimes it's better to beg forgiveness than ask for permission

....I saw a car pulled over by 2 cops on my drive home from work on Monday, and proudly flying on top of the car was a Cowboys flag. Then 5 minutes later I got stuck behind someone who was an awful driver, and noticed they had a Cowboys license plate holder. Both things made me smirk. #skinsfanforlife

....This makes my heart happy:

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.....MG brought me home a cupcake on Monday and it made my day--I have the best husband :)

....Emma Watson impresses the pants off of me (you need to watch)
#heforshe

Happy Wednesday!

Recipe Files: Sweet Fire Chicken (Panda Express knock off)

So I finally got myself back into the kitchen to try a new recipe last week, and despite the work (which was easy, just a little time consuming), it was really tasty!

My gal over at Damn Delicious still has yet to fail me. This is her recipe.

What You Need:

-1 lb chicken breasts cut into 1 inch pieces

(I got the thinner kind so they'd cook faster)

-1 Tbsp olive oil

-1 red bell pepper, chopped

-1 1/2 C. diced pineapple (I did canned)

-1/2 C Thai sweet chili sauce

-2 green onions, chopped *optional

-1/2 C vegetable oil

-1 C. all purpose flour

-2 large eggs, beaten

What You Do:

1. Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Working one at a time, dredge the chicken through the flour, eggs, and then flour again.

2. Add the chicken to the skillet and cook until golden and crispy (about 3 minutes).

(As you're waiting for these to crisp up, start working on the next "batch" of chicken. Push the crisping chicken to one side and add in the new chicken pieces. By the time you're done adding the second batch, the first round will be golden and crispy and ready to remove.)

3. Transfer the chicken to a plate that's lined with a paper towel, to soak up the extra oil.

4. Once the chicken is done, heat the olive oil in a skillet (I rinsed and used the same one) over medium heat, and add in the bell pepper and pineapple chunks. Stir occasionally and cook until tender (about 4 minutes)

5. Add the chicken to the pineapples and bell peppers, along with the Thai sweet chili sauce. Stir to coat, mixing well, for about 2 minutes.

6. Garnish with the green onions (if you're using them). Serve immediately. I put mine over brown rice and it was really tasty.

Despite the name, it's not spicy at all (the spice will depend on the sauce you get). 

The only part about making this recipe that I didn't like was the dredging of the chicken--it took much longer for me than the original recipe said (took about 45-50 minutes from start to finish) and was just a lot of work. If I made this dish again, I might try it with shrimp and skip the breading.

Happy eating!!

Weekend Highlights: puppy edition

If you were here last week you know that this weekend was ALL (mostly) about meeting the new puppy that my sister-in-law and her family got the other weekend.

My Weekend Highlights included:

-Friday night drive up to Philly

-booking tickets to Minnesota in October to visit our friends (woohoo!)

-Saturday morning puppy time

-meeting the new puppy, Burton

-My nuggets field hockey game

-Pedis with the kiddies (and my sister-in-law)

-More puppy play time and snuggles

-Sleepy puppy selfies:

I love that he has a resting smile :)

-Our nephew's football game

-Delicious cheesesteaks for dinner

-All three of the pups meeting all together, and a family puppy photo

-Last minute snuggles with Burton:

-Sunday easy drive back home (only 2.5 hours!)

-haircut and color

-Watching the Skins-Eagles game, and being highly impressed with how good the Skins finally looked, despite their loss (at least the hubby's team won! :)

I warned you it was going to be a puppy-filled post! He's the sweetest little puppy ever. I'm so glad that we got to see him so tiny before he gets bigger. 

I hope that even if your weekend wasn't puppy-filled, it was still fantastic :)

Linking up here today:

Oh Hey Friday Favorites!

Haaaaaaapppy Friday!!!!

Another week in the books, and another weekend to look forward to ahead!

 

Here are some of my favorites from this week:

{1}-Favorite Weekend "event"

My little nugget is growing up so fast!!! :(

MG and I are making our way up to Philly this weekend to see his family (we haven't been up there in a really long time since this summer was insanely busy). Not only do we get to see everyone--including my little nugget, Jill,--but we get to meet Burton, the newest puppy member of the family!

I hope he's prepared for the mega amount of snuggles and belly rubs he's about to get!!

{2}- Favorite Work Accomplishment

I've been working super hard this year to get myself in super organized shape. This week I did an overhaul of all of my filing cabinets, got my current files in order, placed an order for some supplies to help, and I'm feeling SO much better prepared for the school year. Which is huge since I'm split between two schools this year. Every little bit helps!

{3}-Favorite Realization

I realized that this month my credit card bill will not be higher than $700. That is the lowest it's been in I don't know how long (if ever)! MG's and my month of no spending on house or clothes (plus some gift cards we've had) has really helped out! Now, I just need payday to get here!

{4} Favorite Pins of the Week

{via} this one made me chuckle the other day

{via} Seems like lots of people went there!

{5} Favorite New Meal

Remember how I said I hadn't tried anything new in the kitchen in a while? Well, I broke that record and tried making sweet chili thai chicken the other night. And....it was a hit!! Stay tuned for the yummy recipe!

I hope your weekend is comfy-cozy and stress-free!

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Happy Friday!

STOP and THINK!!!

I had another post that I was going to put up today but then this morning happened.

I was driving to work, about a block from my school when I saw ahead a little figure in the middle of the road. Then I realized it was rolling. And then I heard the scream.

A boy on his way to middle school on his bike, had just gotten hit by a truck.

I immediately pulled over and went over to where he was--which was luckily already surrounded by adults. He was able to tell his phone number and his name, so parents were called along with an ambulance.

Meanwhile, all of these vehicles, that had been there when I was, were just driving by.

What??

A child was just hit by a TRUCK....his bike is lodged UNDER the truck, and he's screaming in pain. And you don't have a minute to pull over and make sure that he's ok??? I understand if you pulled up after it totally happened...but the same cars that were there when I was just drove off.

What the hell is wrong with people?? What if that was YOUR child? Would you want someone to just drive off? What if it was your sister or brother's kid??

People need to STOP....and THINK.....get out of your own busy head with your appointments or whatever.

I'm sending out prayers to that boy and his family, and I hope that he's alright.

And I'm sending up some prayers for the people who drove off, that they get some clarity in their lives about what's not only important, but the RIGHT THING TO DO.

I'll get off of my soapbox now.

Confessions

Today, I confess that....

.....it took me almost the whole day on Sunday to recover from my friend Bree's wedding

.....I'm a little in disbelief (and some anger) that my school district, which hasn't given me a raise in I don't know how long, all of a sudden is considering changing the start times of high schools, that will cost 5 MILLION dollars....where's that money been while I've been scraping pennies???

....I can't wait to meet this little pup this weekend....oh, and see the rest of my in-laws too hehe!

......I may have figured out why Cooper's had seizures the last 3 years--and it's something totally common that dogs take

.....I'm bordering on fury that my vets never ONCE mentioned this as a possible cause

.....I've been an oxymoron every morning this week (no, I didn't say moron, although that might be true, too), because I left my house in flip flops, wearing a jacket and then putting on my seat warmer in my car. I blame it on the transitioning weather :)

.....I've been having flashbacks to Cooper's seizure on Friday because it was SO intense--and I've been loving up on Cooper in extra amounts.

....I love post-its

......this license plate made me smile the other morning on my way to work

"Kidilac"

.....my ex (who I happened to write about yesterday) requested me on LinkedIn on Monday. Uhhh, whyy???

...Yesterday I wore white pants after Labor Day....insert gasps and hands covering mouths now.

I'm trying to trick myself into believing that Summer isn't over yet

....seeing the 4D pictures of my online bestie'sbaby yesterday melted my heart! I can't wait for him to get here!!!
What are your confessions today??

Happy Wednesday! :)