WILW and Oh How Pinteresting!

Oh Em Geeeeeee, it's Wednesday! Middle of the week. Weekend is steadily approaching.....Thank Goodness!

I am super glad we have hit the halfway point of the workweek for many reasons, one of those being that it's two of my fave linkups, WILW and Oh How Pinteresting!

Let's get started with a little bit of what I'm loving this week with Jamie at this kind of love:

I'm loving that I am surviving my first week back to work after a pretty long vacation. Although, after two days back to work (three now), I am left sitting here thinking "what vacation?" haha

I'm loving my Kindle Touch...it is SO nice to have on the metro when I'm commuting, especially since the commute has had it's pitfalls the past few days. LOVE!

I'm loving that I can be self-less. This sounds weird, but hang in there with me. MG got offered a new position at work, and it is going to mean more hours and more stress for him. BUT, it's a great move for him and his career. I found myself a little apprehensive about it, but was pretty proud of myself for looking at all of the positive things that will come from it, even if it means a little less time with my dude during the week. Big girl panties moment! :)

I'm loving that tv shows are back in full force. I love mind-numbing, especially now that I'm back at work, and it has been FAB!

I'm loving that this coming weekend is a 3-day weekend! Woohooo!

And, I'm loving the heck out of Pinterest, and Michelle over at The Vintage Apple's link up:

This week I've been pinning a little bit of everything....

A little bit of yummy....Penne A la Betsy, via Pioneer Woman, and it has shrimp! Mmm

A little bit of crafty stuff...

A little bit of cute and comfy style

A little bit of just plain cute!  (Japanese Flying Dwarf Squirrels)

annnnnd a little bit of hilarity!

and a little bit more yummy...just cuz! Cilantro Lime Fish Tacos 
These look YUM!

I hope you enjoyed my eclectic mixing of pins!

What are you pinning this week? Link up and show me!!!

Happy Hump Day!!

Product Review: Diamond Ultrasonic Toothbrush

Hey peeps! I'm back, but this time with a review of a new "product" I got in the mail yesterday. Now, don't get TOO excited.....

It's the Diamond Ultrasonic Toothbrush!

(Photo from Bling Dental website)

The toothbrush and UV sanitizing station is a product from Bling Dental--pretty snazzy huh? I first saw this guy on a LivingSocial deal. The whole thing was regularly $219 (and it comes with everything you see above, including three toothbrush heads), but the living social deal was for something like $75 or $79.

MG had been raving to me about his electric toothbrush, telling me once he got his he was never going back to regular toothbrushes. And I had been going back and forth about getting one since I am a hard brusher--I brush really hard, and without even realizing it. My gums are showing some wear from it, and the electric toothbrushes are supposed to help reduce that.

So, I said, "Why the heck not?" After all, I've wasted 70 bucks on more stupid things before (Remember Hello Kitty sewing machine, that I still have yet to use?? Whooooopsie!). 

The only thing that sucked is I waited like 2 months to get the dang thing (part of it, though--I think-- was that I dont think my order went through the first time I went to purchase on the website). But, it came yesterday!

Girls (and the few dudes who read this), this toothbrush is awesome! It has three settings: Whitening, Massage and Gentle. I used the Whitening setting last night and my mouth was all a-tingle for a little while after using it, and my teeth felt SUPER clean. I used it again this morning and it was great!

Another cool thing is that it has a 2 minute timer built in (which apparently is the recommended amount of time to brush your teeth)...and every 30 seconds it does a slight pause to let you know to move on to another 1/4 of your mouth. So, now I can go even more brain-dead while brushing my teeth!!! :)

It also has a UV station that apparently sanitizes and de-germs the brush head which I think is pretty snazzy! I'm not sure if it actually does anything, but a pretty blue light comes on when you put it in there, so if nothing else, my toothbrush head is getting its version of some sunshine! :)

So, if you're in the market for a new toothbrush, I TOTALLY recommend this guy! 

Side note: in the midst of search for images to use in this post, I stumbled across "Tooth Gems"....

For real????

I jinxed myself...

With yesterday's post, I must have drawn the attention of whatever force in the universe controls the aspects of commuting, because this morning's commute SUCKED. Like, sucked so bad sucked.

Usually my commute, once I get on the metro, is about 25-30 minutes. I have to change trains from yellow to green line because, for some dumb reason, the yellow line stops at a certain point during rush hour.

So, I'm riding merrily on the metro, reading my Washington Post Express...reading about the fare hikes Metro is thinking about, with statements from the head of the Metro with things like "Everyone says we need to make improvements but we're all gonna have to chip in to make that happen"....and what happens when I get off to switch trains (usually a 2-3 minute wait)? The train I JUST got off of stalls out IN the station while another train is lined up outside waiting to get in. And then I wait.....and wait....

And the dreaded person comes over the speaker and says that there's a switch problem outside of the station that I'm at. Awesome. I waited there for OVER 25 minutes before it was resolved, so my normal 25 minute commute turned into over an hour. Not so awesome.

Dear Mr. Metro Head Guy,
      How about you fix some of this crap, and then when things are working more smoothly, people might be a LIIIIIIITLE bit more reasonable with increasing fares. I get the concept you're after, but no one wants to pay MORE for WORSE service. Especially not this girl who barely makes enough money as it is!


 Love,
 Your poor commuting teacher

Let's hope that the universe/karma/jinx people don't jinx-bomb me with this again tomorrow morning! hehe

I'll try and make it back amid the chaos at work for a more fun post! In the meantime, have a great Tuesday!

Back to work, back to commuting...

Hey all....it's that time. Yes, that time for you to feel sorry for me. After a nice looooong break from work and kiddos, paperwork, and mayhem, I'm back to work today.

Which means, I'm also back to commuting on the metro. Oh, the joys! You can recall some of my "metro musings" from this post here in case you forgot about the joys I've expressed about taking the metro (I hope you can note the sarcasm ooooozing out of that statement). But, anyway, I thought I would give you all something light and funny to start your work week:



If any of you are from around here, you have probably heard of the Arlington Rap, (about Arlington, VA, which is notorious for being where a lot of young, well educated people live...and it's also extremely expensive to live in). The video was absolutely hilarious. If you haven't, you can check it out here (it's pretty funny). This metro video is done by the same guy, Remy, who lives in Arlington. He has a TON of other videos (so if you're really bored, you can check them all out today).

I hope it lends a little laugh to your day! I know I'm probably gonna need it.

And, now I'm off, to deal with temper tantrums, attitudes, funny kids, paperwork, and chaos! Wish me luck!!!

P.S. Stop by Michelle at The Vintage Apple to sign up for her giveaway! At least there's ONE thing to be excited about on this Monday morning :)

Confessions....

This is my first time linking up for Confessions Friday, but I liked the idea, and since it's my last day of vacation, I figured, WHY NOT!

I confess....that although this is my THIRD week of vacation (and today is the last day of it--boo!!), I am still not even CLOSE to being tired of being a lazybutt. Although I'm sure MG would beg to differ---poor guy getting up and ready for work while I stay laying in the comfy bed, sleeping away :) I don't want it to end!!!

I confess.....that I am DREADING the return of my roommate today. I don't know when she is coming back, but I know it's today, because she said so on facebook. Frankly, she never even told me that she was going to Europe for a week...she just left. Is that weird not to tell your roommate, even if you're not close? I would assume you'd tell, just in case something happened while you were gone. But, what do I know?

I confess....this week has NOT been as good as I had hoped for working out. I told myself I was going to work out today, but my legs/butt are STILL sore from Wednesday's Jillian Michaels workout. So, I've already begun to talk myself out of it. Perhaps I'll muster enough energy to go run on the treadmill for a bit...

I confess....I wish I was more crafty than I am. Or, at least that I tried more of the crafty things that I see on Pinterest. I wish that I was more creative and could turn that into a side/fun thing. Alas, that has yet to happen...

I confess....that I love blogging. And all of the cool people I have met/talk to because of it. You all rock. End of story! :)

I confess...that I have slowed down on my reading rampage this week. I've gotten sucked into playing games on my Kindle rather than doing real reading. Im determined to make that change today and maybe this weekend, too. 

I confess...that my credit card bill this month is rivaling last month's which had the majority of my Xmas stuff on it. Dang it, I gotta get these finances under control! I'm gonna try not to do anymore online shopping for the next month....(she says after she just spent $100 on sale stuff at Victoria's Secret earlier this week). I swear....NO MORE! (I hope?)

I confess...that I really like this link-up. There's something cathartic about it! :)

Hope you all have awesome weekends! I will be soaking up the remnants of my vacation (come Monday morning you might find me curled up in the corner crying...lol)

Hugs and Love,

WILW and Oh How Pinteresting!

It's Wednesday which means that it's the halfway point for my final week off from work. Time flies when you're being a complete lazy ass having fun! :)

Since it's Wednesday, it's time to share some of the things that I'm loving this week with Jamie at this kind of love!

I'm loving that I have such good friends who make listen and help me talk things through. You guys mean the world to me!

I'm loving that we had some lovely unseasonal weather this past weekend! It was so nice out I only needed a long sleeve shirt, and MG and I were able to go for a hike nearby. It was a fab way to end the year and bring in 2012!

I'm loving my Kindle Touch. It's awesome. I've finished one book on it so far, and I am just loving it. Plus, I got some games over the weekend and those have been entertaining me as well! :) LOVEEEEE

I'm loving that tv shows are finally starting to be new again. My DVR was getting lonely with nothing to do the last week or so. It, and myself, are both pleased with the new stuff!

I'm loving Pinterest for all of the neat stuff it offers, including last minute holiday dessert recipes, which I totally used for our NYE party! Woohoo!

Since I love pinterest Oh-so much, I'm linking up for Oh How Pinteresting with Michelle at The Vintage Apple





Here's what I have been pinning this week:

This looks comfy...and with my new cable knit Uggs, it would be great!
Might need a bit more color in the jewelry so it's not so drab tho!

Slow Cooker Shrimp and Artichoke Risotto I love me some shrimp, and
I love using my crock pot!

Ahh, this totally looks like something that I would do :)

Sugar Cookie Martini with sprinkles on the rim. Mmmmm

I just love his cute little face!

teehee

What have you been pinning this week?

Show me! Show me!! :)

Love ya, girls!

Tasty Tuesday: S'more Treat!

Happy New Year, officially, bloggie friends! I hope you all had some great celebrations to ring in the New Year. MG and I were at a friend's place, which was actually a really nice way to do things.

As you might remember, I was debating on what dessert to make, and since the overwhelming response was the S'mores dessert, I went with that, from Pinterest here

This is what is was supposed to look like....you will see that mine did not get nearly that thickness, which was probably due to the fact that I was using a pan that was too big but had to make do.

Ingredients::

2 cups of crushed graham crackers

16 oz of dark chocolate (roughly 4 of those really big bars)

1 cup whole milk

7 tbsp of butter

2 tbsp of sugar

4 cups of marshmallows (or slightly more)

2 cups of cocoa pebbles (these can be omitted)

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees and then mix the following:

Add the crushed graham crackers, butter and sugar together and mix it in a bowl. Then layer the mixture  onto the bottom of an 11x13 pan. If you want the extra thickness, go with a smaller pan. It will fit.

Add the crust to the oven for 10-12 minutes. Set aside to cool once done. 

Step 2: (While the crust is baking) Melt the 16 oz of dark chocolate and whole milk in a sauce pan until it is smooth. You can use a hand mixer here, but I didnt need to. Set aside this mixture to cool for about 10 minutes

Transferring the mixture to a new bowl will help it to cool faster

Step 3: add the cocoa pebbles and 2 cups of the marshmallows to the cooled chocolate mixture.

 Step 4: Add that mixture to the crust and then top it with the remaining 2 cups of marshmallows

Step 5: Place the whole thing under the broiler in your oven for between 1-3 minutes. Check it at 1 minute because mine started to smoke a bit at that point so I didn't get an entirely covered "burned" dessert but it still did the trick:

Grab some milk and enjoy!! :)