7 QT {21} - I lost my job

Well, it's been quite a week. One I wasn't expecting at all. For the sake of linking up at Conversion Diary I guess I will give you the 7 Quick Takes version.

1. After months of communicating via our blogs, emails and text messages I finally got to meet a blog friend in real life, on Saturday. Her name's Kala and she blogs over at My Breezy Room. My mom and I met up with her at First Fridays in the West Bottoms in her adorable furniture booth at Bella Patina. I think we managed to make it through without any awkwardness and I think we both hope to go on another blate (blog date) soon. I realize I'm not giving our first blate the attention it deserves but check out Kala's blog and she will give you a great rundown of meeting and discovery that neither of us was a serial killer. It's a good read, I promise!

Check out her booth at First Fridays! It's awesome:)

And on to the more depressing...

2. Monday rolled around and I headed into work feeling well rested because of the time change. I walked in and my boss immediately called me into his office. Obviously that was weird but I just shut the door and sat down. He then proceeded to tell me "where gonna have to let you go, we just don't have enough work to keep you busy". At that point I just sat and stared at him with what I'm sure was a look of shock and disbelief. It honestly was one of those out of body experiences where it's like you're looking down on what's happening but the voices are muffled because I have almost know idea of what he said after the first sentence. Something about healthcare and all that jazz but I didn't really catch it. 

Once he finished talking he asked if I had any questions and so I just asked if it was only because they didn't have enough work that I was being let go and he asked if I would disagree. I guess I was extra surprised because I have been nothing but busy the last month. Our business really picks up before the holidays and I thought we were doing well. I guess I thought wrong. 

3. I never thought I would be 27 years old with a college degree and filing for unemployment.

4. The past couple days I've spent hours at my computer searching and applying for jobs. Some seem okay and some sound dreadful. At this point, I don't know that I even want to go back to work in an office environment. I honestly feel pretty lost and not sure which direction to look. Thankfully I have a husband who has been amazingly supportive and encouraging. 

5. I guess it's times like these I'm thankful I have Faith that God has a plan for me even though I have no idea what that plan is. My Grandma (the one that freezes everything) always says if you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans. I guess he's laughing now. Maybe this is his way of telling me that he has plans for me and he will help me when the time comes. For now, I'm waiting, praying and applying. 

6. I've officially been a desperate housewife all week. 

7. If anyone in the NE Kansas area has a job opening that I might qualify for feel free to let me know :) For now, I guess I'm a full-time blogger and housewife. 

7 Quick Takes {20}

1. I have a new neice! This is my brother-in-laws little girl and she was born on Tuesday. Her name is Journey Rose and as you can see is super adorable. I can't wait to meet her in real life!

Isn't she a doll?!

2. This weekend I have another photo session. The leaves are gorgeous around here right now and I'm so glad people are wanting to do photos with all the fall colors. If you're in the area and needing photos done let me know:) 

3. I'm considering reopening my Etsy shop with different printables but I think I need to do quite a bit of work before it's ready. I'm also not sure if I have the time to get it ready. Priorities I guess. Does anyone that reads this thing have an Etsy shop? Do you like it? Do you have any suggestions for me to make mine successful?

4. Even though this week has been really busy at both work and home, I kinda like it. I feel like I am way more productive on everything in general. Maybe I should add some more to my list. 

5. So, I'm pretty sure I'm going to meet my blog friend in real life this weekend and I'm pretty excited about it. While texting the other day we both wondered how exactly is meeting a blog friend supposed to work...

Like omg.
I have no idea why I said like so many times because I definitely don't talk like that. 

6. Apparently I'm getting old because my Facebook feed is no longer filled with scantily clad college girls (scantily clad?? I really am old) and instead was filled with hundreds (literally) of  photos of small children and babies. Looks like a ninja turtle and super hero were among the favorite outfits for the year. Being the old person that I am I spent my evening at the gym, followed, by two 50 cent Sonic corndogs (good thing I worked out) and then my couch catching up on DVR. And, thank goodness Erin posted a photo of her Halloween outfit to remind me that I still needed to catch up on my next Netflix episode of Breaking Bad. 

7. When do the black friday ads come out?!! I've been stalking all the websites that post the ads early but I haven't found many yet and I'm getting impatient! Black Friday is this month and I can't wait. It's seriously one of my favorite days of the year. 

Sidenote: Is it weird that I got engaged on Black Friday 3 years ago? I remember sitting at lunch with my mom and her BFF Karen (hi Karen!) and we discussed when Seth and might get engaged....I secretly wondered if it might be that night but didn't really know. Surprise! 

Okay, that's all for today but it got me thinking that maybe I'll post the next part of our story soon. 

Happy Fall Friday!

Linking up over at Conversion Diary.

The Best Gift I Ever Got

I know most of you are probably thinking that my engagement/wedding ring was my favorite gift, right?! Wrong. Though, that would be a close second. 

Love this ring!

The best gift I ever got, was from my husband, and it was lasik eye surgery. Those of you cursed with bad eyes can probably relate to this, while I'm sure those of you blessed with perfect vision would disagree and think I'm a dum-dum. 

I was gonna post a photo of my eye but that just seemed a little creepy...it is Halloween though....

Just think about it though, imagine waking up every morning and having to put on glasses so that you can see the alarm clock that is a foot away from your head. Or when you don't have your contacts in while showering and you're wondering if that's a fake mouse or a real mouse, but you're practically blind, so you jump out of the shower to put your glasses on to check (it was fake by the way, my family is HILL-ARIOUS). How about when you rub your sleepy eyes a little too much and that damn contact rips or falls straight out of your head. Maybe you enjoy getting up in the morning and having your eyes feel like they're on fire when you shove that little piece of contact plastic onto them. Or when you're crying like a baby and your tears form a barrier between your eyes and the contact and you are convinced that you might actually be going blind. How about all those times you want to jump into a pool or the ocean but can't because you didn't bring extra contacts if you happen to lose one? So instead you float around with your head above water, screeching at anyone that tries to splash you. 

Get the picture? 

Anyways, last year (2012), Seth surprised me by emailing me an appointment confirmation for lasik eye surgery on my birthday and I got the surgery done last October. That's right, one year ago, I went under the laser for about 10 minutes or so. Before I left the doctors my vision was already better and only a couple hours later we sat at home and watched a movie and I could actually see! Amazing! Every morning I would wake up and reach for my glasses, and get excited when I realized they were no longer setting there, because I didn't need them. 

Today I go for my one year checkup to make sure everything is going well (which I can already tell it is) and I celebrate a little more my gift of sight. 

So, thank you to my sweet husband, who gave me the gift I have wanted since 6th grade, when I donned my first pair of nerd glasses. And thank you for my gorgeous rings which I also love dearly but would have been willing to trade for new eyes as long as it meant I got to keep you too:) (P.S. Don't be jealous that my vision is better than yours now:)

Enjoy your vision people, it's amazing!

I little late to the party

It's Wednesday already?! Can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Bad, because I've been so busy I haven't had a chance to notice, but good because it's hump day again!

Here's a few quick notes to catch you up since last friday....

Friday we bought a new washer dryer. So far I love it:)

Saturday I helped my mom unpack more while Seth hunted and then we finally got to go out for our anniversary (better late than never right?). We celebrated at The Melting Pot which I thought was pretty good, but if you follow my Instagram you might have noticed Seth wasn't a fan. AND if you follow Seth's IG you may have seen the hashtag "shitty". I believe the words "never again" may have been uttered more than once. Let's just say he's more of a steak and potatoes kinda guy. 

Guess I should have known when he said "what's fondue?!"

Sunday was your average Sunday. A little cleaning and a lot of lazy. Followed by a Senior photo shoot while Seth went hunting again. 

Monday evening after work I traveled all over the little town of Lawrence with my mom looking for lamps, mirrors, clocks and rugs for her new house. After approximately 8 stops in two hours we managed to leave Hobby Lobby with two lamps. Not sure that I would call that a "win" but I think we are going towards KC on Saturday so hopefully we will have better luck there. 

Tuesday, after spending all day at work and wanting to jump out the window, which would be hard to do since I work in a windowless room (torture), I decided to skip my workout and head home. I feel like I'm way behind on everything around the house and needed to finish editing photos anyway. It was a crappy day so I splurged and had a Pepsi. I'm obviously rationalizing my cheat with the fact that some people have a beer or a glass of wine to unwind after a #shitty day. I just have a Pepsi:)

Here's hoping things go a little better today and I can cross more off my mile long to-do list!

Happy Hump Day!

7 Quick Takes {19}

1. I can't stop reading anything and everything associated with the JonBenet Ramsey case and the documents they released today. Reading all the comments is like a game of Clue with all the cards lost so nobody knows the real truth. Everybody's got an opinion about whodunnit and for some reason I'm fascinated by it. 

2. Seth's going deer hunting Saturday morning so he was practicing with his bow last night when he "Robin Hooded" an arrow. I'd say he shouldn't have much trouble hitting the dear if he can hit an arrow. 

3. My mom informed me this morning that Dillons (Kroger), one of my favorite grocery stores, is no longer doubling coupons. To say I'm devastated is an understatement. To all the important Dillons people that are reading my blog right now I say THIS IS NOT A GOOD IDEA. I mostly only shop two places, Dillons and Wal-Mart. I buy all my Dillons sale items at Dillons so that my coupons are doubled and everything else I buy at Wal-Mart and price match. Now I might as well just go to Wal-Mart and price match my Dillons sale items as well. Not Cool!

4. Does anyone out there watch the show Nashville? I'm sorta obsessed with it at the moment and hoping that their's someone out there that loves it too. 

5. Our washer decided to die Wednesday night and I've been scouring the interwebs looking for a new one. So far I'm not impressed. Any recommendations for something that is simple and reliable would be much appreciated. I think I would prefer a top loader and something not terribly expensive. I could care less about all the fancy steamers and automatic ironing settings. 

6. I'm ready to decorate for Christmas and I'm considering ordering some Christmas presents this week. I just love the holidays! Bring on the Christmas music:)

7. Here's hoping that Seth has something in mind for dinner because I'm hungry. Shocker. 

Happy Weekend!

Linking up with Conversion Diary. 

When your husband decides he's a blogger

As I mentioned briefly on Monday, Seth suggested he should write a blog while we were out to dinner on Saturday night. 

Before telling you his blogging angle, I will give you a bit of background. We were eating at Fuzzy's Tacos (for anyone in the Lawrence, KS area, go here!) and sharing an order of nachos. I also ordered one taco and Seth ordered two tacos. Not unreasonable, I don't think. 

And action!

Seth: (in a serious tone) I think I should write a blog.

Julie: (completely surprised tone) Really?! What would your blog be about?

S: (while J is diving for another nacho) I'm gonna write a blog about how eating with you is a competition.

J: (looks up from nacho) What?

S: I am a man.

J: Just cause you're the man doesn't mean I can't eat as much as you? I like to eat. 

S: I feel like eating with you is a competition, whenever we share. If I don't hurry I won't get enough food. 

J: (blank stare)

S: I bet you're gonna blog about this now? 

J: Yep.

S: I'm the reason you have a blog.

Three minutes later

J: You can have the last chip.

S: No, it's ALLLL yours.

J: Seriously, I can't eat anymore.

S: Just cause you didn't eat the last bite doesn't mean you didn't eat a shit ton.

J: (blank stare)

One minute later

S: You don't even act like you're full.

J: (blank stare)

S: I suppose you want ice cream now?

J: (blank stare)

J: I'm writing this stuff down before I forget. I need to blog about it later. 

J: Oh, and I guess I'll take a photo of the "after" nachos. 

Done

and Dunner

Guess I'll just finish my drink since my wife ate all the food. 

And, like I said before, I have a disease. 

How to make Cinnamon Apple Chips

I've been promising a lot of things around this space lately so I'm trying to deliver. Last week I promised a post on how to make cinnamon apple chips and so guess what I'm delivering today?!!

If you guessed "How to make cinnamon apples" you are a smartypants, so give yourself a gold star!

This is actual super duper simple to do, so no worries if you're no Rachel Ray or Betty Crocker. 

Gather your ingredients:

3 apples (I used gala)

Ball Fruit Fresh (can also use lemon juice)

Cinnamon

And supplies:

Apple corer

Mandolin Slicer (or a good knife)

Dehydrator (or oven)

Put some fruit fresh in a bowl of water. 

Slice your apples as thin or as thick as you like. 

Keeping in mind they will shrink when we dehydrate them. 

Then toss them in the bowl of fruit fresh (or lemon juice) to prevent browning.

Lay your apples out on parchment paper.

Sprinkle with cinnamon. A lot or a little depending on your preference.

Lay apples into single layers on your dehydrator trays. 

(See oven instructions below.)

Turn the dehydrator on.

After about 4 hours (give or take) your apples will look all crinkly and be ready to eat.

If you like the apples crunchy (like chips) leave them in the dehydrator longer. If you like them softer (so you can roll them up like me) take them out earlier.

And that my friends is all there is to it. 

Store in a container or a pretty little mason jar that we all love so dearly. 

**Oven instructions - Turn on your oven to 200º and put sliced apples on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Place in oven for 2-4 hours depending on the crispiness you like. Flip apples periodically (every hour or so) so they dry evenly.  

Let me know if you try them:)

P.S. They're pretty good for breakfast!