I'm a Hoarder

I tend to be a bit of a hoarder. Not in the creepy disgusting kind of way that get's you your own episode on the tv show. More in the way that I hate throwing old papers and things from school away. I have tubs upon tubs of school assignments, paperwork, newspaper clippings, ticket stubs, receipts and other such junk organized away in closets and the attic over our garage. 

I think I hang on to it all because it's sort of like my life's history. It tells the story of who I am, what I did and how it turned out. Honestly, I don't think I even keep these things for me. I love looking back at my mom's old stuff like report cards and school papers. It helps me to know who she was and is besides just being my mother. I think in some sort of unconscious, or maybe conscious, way I think my future kids will think that's kinda cool to see my stuff too.

However, I don't think they will think it's so cool when they see how much of it there is. Especially if I die and they are left to go through it all. I should probably try to go through it all again and narrow down what's the most important. I gotta get over the fact that I feel like I'm throwing my history away because I know I'm not.

Plus, I just want to clear the clutter. 

Just one of many closets.

Help! Okay, it doesn't really look like this anymore but there's still a lot of paper!

Anybody else have this problem? Any good ways to clear it all out?! I'm desperate....

Better Than a Thrift Shop Shopping

I realize it's Wednesday already so I'm not going to recap my weekend but I do want to recap some amazing bargains I got! 

First let me say, I'm not trendy, not in the slightest actually. I prefer tennis shoes and my KU hoodie to just about any clothing options out there. It's comfy and it keeps me warm in the antarctic temperatures my work environment so kindly provides me with. Plus I work in a place were you better wear tennies and hoodies because your clothes have a potential to get dirty. 

That being said I found some pretty great deals at JcPenney's on Sunday. I had two "$10 off any $10 purchase" coupons so I decided to go in to see if there was something I could use them on. 

By the time I left I had a pair of denim shorts, hot pink shorts, a blue belt, a plain pink scoop neck tee, a fitted black tank top, a dressy-er black tank top shirt (I'm sure it has a special name but I don't know what) and a light weight black scarf with blue polka dots. 

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When checking out the cashier scanned a 15% off coupon for me and took my two $10 off coupons and I spent a grand total of .25 cents! Um, yes please! That's my kind of shopping right there people. 

7 Quick Takes {15}

1. Well it's Friday and in a small town that means Friday Night Football! We rarely go to the football games because let's face it, it's kinda weird to be in your 20's with no kids and go cheer on the high school football team, but tonight we're going to make an exception. My Aunt is having a party after the game so we figured we should probably go for a little while. Plus, I'm sure they will have some yummy concessions stand food at the game. 

Plastic cheese? Yes, please!

2. Pretty sure I have been an emotional disaster this week, so to my dear husband, I apologize. A few extra hours of sleep tomorrow morning and I should be good to go:)

via

3. It's free lunch day at the bank today! Just another perk of living in a small town. Free dogs and burgers to all!

4. My house is the disaster of all disasters right now and it's seriously wearing my out! I just want everything to be put away and sparkly clean. I don't think we have caught up yet from vacation and it's kinda depressing to know that I'll be cleaning my whole weekend. Bleh. 

5. Earlier this week I found an amazing debt snowball calculator online and it currently has me motivated to spend zero unnecessary dollars. According to the calculator, if we keep paying what we are paying every month (on all debts) and roll it using the snowball method (the hard part), we could be completely debt free, including the house, in 7 years! Holy bananas that would make my life! Unfortunately that doesn't factor in lots of extras, like vacations or kids so we will see how long it really takes. 

6. It's been almost two weeks that my husband has lived in the same house as me and I must say I'm enjoying it. It's nice to have someone there when I get home and that helps with the dishes or cleans the pain in the butt wood floors for me. Or maybe he just knows that the floors would never get dusted if he didn't do it. Either way, I'm glad he's home. Plus he's pretty cute:)

7. Thinking the rest of my day will be spent making lists. Since I'm stuck at work and can't actually accomplish anything on my lists at least I will have a plan of attack for the weekend. 

Happy Weekend Blogiverse!

Linking up over at Conversion Diary.

Something 'bout a truck

Well, it's official. My husband has a new truck. Not just any truck either. A fancy one!

After spending countless (literally) hours of looking online and driving to every dealership within 50 miles and stopping at every dealership, from home to Texas and back, he has finally found one that he loved. And I should think so. 

Bad photo, I realize, but I only see it when it's dark
so those photos would be worse. 

I'm pretty sure there is nothing that this fancy schmancy piece of metal on wheels doesn't have. Including but not limited to a sunroof, mini coolers in the back seat, usb  plugins, sd card plugins, an actual plugin (now I can straighten my hair on the road???), navigation, two glove boxes and five million and one other random things you never knew you HAD TO HAVE in a vehicle. 

With over 230k miles on his old truck it was time for a new one but holy smokes I'm not looking forward to paying for that darn thing. 

Update: As I write this post for tomorrow (Wednesday) we have owned the truck for less than 24 hours. I just received this text from Seth. 

not a joke btw

Fortunately it was a flat tire due to his job, so his work will pay for it. But, seriously? Let's recap some of Seth's past vehicles and their adventures.

The red Saturn he drove in high school - the driver seat would constantly recline if you leaned back at all. The door leaked and you would get rained on whether you were inside or outside the car. Hit a deer. 

The silver Saturn he bought brand spankin' new in college. If I remember correctly he owned it for approximately 7 days before he was in a multi-car accident and the whole front end was crushed. 

The silver Ford he bought after the saturn. Something really huge and expensive broke not long after buying it. (don't remember what it's called....)

The white Ford F150 that has been his truck for the past couple years. 3 new windshields and multiple other issues that are probably actually pretty minor considering the 230k miles. 

Now, let's knock on wood, and go over my driving record. 

1990 Honda Accord I drove from high school, all through college until September of last year. It was old, ugly, paid for and I loved it. It may have killed a bunny every now and then but other than that it was a champ.

I now drive a 2009 Honda Accord and so far so good:)

The End.

Maybe I should have got the brand new vehicle, huh?!

100th Post AND 30 Before 30!

I've been trying to write this dang post for the last 3 days now but in order to prevent myself from further annoyance I have decided to post incomplete. 

This is my 100th post! While that's nothing to many bloggers, it's a lot to me because I assumed I would have gotten bored or distracted with blogging by now and quit. Instead, I actually still enjoy it:) 

Since it's my 100th post, and it happened to fall pretty close to my birthday, I decided to create a list of 30 things I want to do before turning 30. (In 3 short years, yikes.) 

How about if I just pretend I'm 3 again instead? (maybe 2)

It turns out that when you try to create a list with a certain amount of numbered items it's impossible to think of that exact number of things. So, for now I give you 21 things I want to do before turning 30 and I will add on to the list as I think of things that I have always wanted to do, but have never done. Feel free to suggest things below but don't be offended if I don't use them. I'm trying to put stuff that is important to me or that I have wanted to do and that are realistic. There's plenty of other things I could add to the list if it was a "before I die list" but I don't think will be realistic in the next 3 years. Also, I don't want to add stuff to the list just for the sake of adding things. Know what I mean?

Mkay. Without further ado, I give you...

 30 (*ahem* 21) things to do before turning 30!

1. Have a baby

2. Throw someone a surprise party

3. Meet a blog friend in real life

4. Be debt free besides the mortgage

5. Toss 365 "things"

6. Organize all my photos

7. Do photography as an LLC

8. Create a way to not forget birthdays/anniversaries etc.

9. Read one book a month (36 total)

10. Travel somewhere I've never been.

11. Do at least one random act of kindness each month (36 total)

12. Learn to play golf

13. Learn to bake bread like Grandma

14. Build some type of furniture using real tools

15. Be able to sew, knit, crochet, or quilt (at least) something easy.

16. Volunteer at a soup kitchen

17. Write a cookbook

18. Send a handwritten letter at least once a month

19. Go hunting with my husband at least once

20. Sell design work on Etsy

21. Start a tradition for our family

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

7 Quick Takes {14} Vacation Edition

Going to do this a little differently this week and recap our vacation. Might be boring (and LOOONG) for others to read but I want to write it down before I forget. Feel free to skip the wordiness and just look at the photos:) 

(don't say I didn't warn ya!)

1. The day before and day 1 of the cruise. We arrived in Fort Lauderdale and were checked into our hotel by 11:30 am. Conveniently enough there was a Chipotle right across the parking lot were we managed to scarf down our burrito (bowl) quickly before heading back to our room for a nap. Since we left our house at 3:15 am (!) that morning a nap was definitely needed. Once our nap was over we walked down the street and boarded a water taxi that gave us a nice little tour of some of the rich and famous' homes that sit right on the water. We stopped by the mall to pick up a new pair of shorts for Seth and then headed down to an area that had lots of restaurants. Yum!

Heading out for the evening in Ft. Lauderdale 

Water taxi - a great way to travel

Delish burger and fries at 11pm. Yes, please!

We made it to the port by 11:00am the next morning and we were on the ship and headed to our first meal by 11:45. The ship was gorgeous and the food was yummy as usual. While exploring the ship we stumbled upon a tour of the spa. The tour ended by having a  lady give you a neck and shoulder massage for about 5 minutes. That's all it took to sell us on a couples massage. And it was AMAZING! Keep in mind they do automatically add in a huge gratuity and we probably wouldn't do this again because it was super pricey but I definitely enjoyed. 

Just watching a little titanic before heading to the port. A bad sign??

The boardwalk. Complete with a carousel and donut shop:)
Happy happy happy!

Baller!

At dinner that night we met two of our table mates for the first time. A super sweet couple named Russ and Julie (name twins) who are about our parents age and from Utah. After gorging on food we went to the the middle of the ship to watch an ice skating show that was pretty impressive considering how small the rink was. We swung through the ships casino for a bit of gambling before heading to bed at a decent hour since we had our first island stop the next day.

We may or may not have contributed a lot of quarters to this machine.

2. Day 2 of the trip. Sunday we woke up and got dressed for touring the island of Nassau, Bahamas. We walked around the island for a bit before taking a taxi over to the huge Atlantis resort. The casino stole a bit of our money before we headed out to the beach where we swam in the crystal clear blue water before heading back to the ship for another meal. Since we were only at the island until 1:30 we wanted to be sure that we made it safely back to the ship before it left. Being on time has never been my strong suit and those ships don't wait!

Hey, awkward!

I wish Kansas had a beach.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool where we met a super fun couple from Indiana, Jack and Deb. They had purchased the all you can drink package and were super nice to keep ordering us extra drinks. Let's just say it turned into a pretty fun afternoon and a nap was needed before dinner:) 

Another couple, old enough to be our grandparents, joined us for dinner that night, George and Ida. They had moved to the U.S., from Hungary, 56 years ago but still had an accent like they got off the boat yesterday. They were a nice enough couple but always seemed to find something to complain about. Our show after dinner that night was a comedy show that was probably the funniest thing I have ever seen. All 3 comedians were spectacular and didn't seem to care one bit about being politically correct. The highlight had to be when the very round comedian danced just like the snowman on the old school version of Rudolph. Pretty sure people peed their pants laughing so hard. 

Hey mr. crocodile....

....and eskimo??

3. Day 3 was a sea day so we slept in, ate tons and spent more time at the pool. I went to go see the show Hairspray at 2:30 which was absolutely incredible. I told Seth he would probably hate it since he's not much into musicals so he took a nap. Once the show was over I decided to go on a run. Probably because all I had done up to that point was eat. I managed to run the 2.4 laps around the ship that equaled a mile and then speed-walked a few more for good measure. 

The motivating signs as you ran. 

Our show that night was before dinner and it was a dive show at the aqua theatre. Basically a cast of super talented and past olympian divers did a show where they dove into a tiny pool from heights up to 57 feet! They also included some synchronized swimming and pretty cool trampoline skills. This show was pretty awesome. Then we ate dinner:)

Seth LOVES taking photos and I told him if he didn't
take another one I was using this. You're welcome Love:)

4. Day 4 we stopped at the beautiful island of St. Thomas. We took a taxi over to Megan's Bay which is supposedly one of the Top 10 beaches in the world. I have been there several times before but it is still gorgeous even if it crowded with tons of people. We ran into Jack and Deb again so we hung with them a bit. There's a nice little bar right on the beach that makes the strongest drinks in the world. My long island iced tea was basically straight alcohol so I enjoyed laying on my towel soaking up the sun for awhile:) On our way back to the ship we stopped at an overlook to snap a photo with the beach in the background. 

Apparently people take photos with donkey's?

Megan's Bay

Paradise!

Once we made it back to the ship we made a giant plate of nachos and then jumped in the pool for awhile. More dinner and another show with different comedians that night. 

5. Day 5 was spent at St. Maarten. One of our favorite islands. You leave the ship and walk to the pier where you take a water taxi over to the beach and shopping area. Somehow while weaving our way through the throng of people trying to rent us jeeps and braid my hair we got suckered into a timeshare presentation. The lady promised it would only be an hour, we could tour a beautiful resort, and then we could hang out on the private resorts beaches for the afternoon. Plus you would get a $150 credit to a jewelry store were Seth was going to get a watch. Lies. We went on the tour which took 2 hours and 15 minutes! Then when we went to the jewelry store you couldn't use the credit on a watch and they basically just gave us a necklace I will never wear. To drown our sorrows we hit up the beach where Seth had a few beers, we were offered drugs and we negotiated a better deal on riding a jet-ski for an hour. They let us ride for a little over an hour before motioning us back in to the beach where we soaked up some more sun and dug for shells in the ocean. 

Gorgeous infinity pool I wanted while touring the resort.

This is where we jet-skied. Pure amazingness! 

Approximately 12 photos later and this is the best photo. 

After returning to the ship we again gorged ourselves on nachos and hotdogs before taking a nap before dinner. #fatkids. We had no show that night so we explored the ship more and played the "Deal or No Deal" slot machine in the casino. 

Before dinner. Sad it's fuzzy since it's a normal smile from Seth. 

We can just pretend I ate salads for every meal. 

6. Day 6 was another sea day where we literally spent hours at the pool soaking up the glorious sunshine and planning our next couple of meals. Not much else to report besides going to see a show where people went flying through the air everywhere you look. We also went to a fun game show called The Quest where we enjoyed watching a drunk lady be one of the contestants.   

Dancing with balloon man.

The diving pool.

7. Day 7 and our last day floating out on the ocean. We spent our last day much like day 6 soaking up the sun and dreading leaving our floating paradise. At dinner our waiter, along with a few others came over with a (3rd) dessert to sing me Happy Birthday since my Birthday was in less than 2 hours. I have no idea what the dessert was and it honestly didn't taste that great but it sure was pretty:)

We left the ship at 8:30 the next morning and headed to the airport where we got delayed in Chicago for awhile before returning home. Since it was my birthday (and we had no food at home that didn't require cooking) we stopped to pick up some good ole' Kansas BBQ and a redbox movie. Hello 27!

Linking up with Jen at Conversion Diary.

I Gained 5 Pounds

I'm BAAACK!! 

In case you didn't notice I've been MIA the past week, I would like to point it out now (P.S. thanks to Kala for providing the one and only post while I was gone). Seth and I got home from our cruise Saturday, which also happened to be my 27th Birthday. Dang, I'm old. 

I'm pretty sure I'm still recovering from a fantastic trip and a long fun-filled 3 day weekend though, so I don't have a whole lot to ramble about right now. 

Here's a few highlights from the vacay.

• I gained 5 pounds because I ate approximately 7 meals a day (minimum). 
  
  
  
• I was a terrible blogger and only managed to take photos of a couple meals. I was too busy eating them. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The long island ice teas they serve on the Beach in St. Thomas are straight alcohol. Nothing else. This girl was duuunnnne.
  
  
  
• The free donut shop on the ship could have caused a lot more damage if they had been Krispy Kremes.
  
  
  
• Our ship made other ships look like toys when we were parked next to them at port.

  

  This photo doesn't even do it justice.

• We were offered illegal drugs no less than 3 times while visiting St. Maarten.
• I ran 2.4 laps around the running track on the ship exactly one time which equals 1 mile. Then I ate more food.
  
• I somehow managed to spend $0 on souvenirs but dropped way to much change on a couples massage. 
• No matter where we were going we managed to end up on the wrong side of the ship 9 times out of 10. It was huge. That's what she said.
• I thought about work 0 total times until we got back to KS and I realized no tornadoes had passed through the area to destroy it. 
• We saw lots of itsy-bitsey-teeny-weeny-bikinis on not so itsy-bitsey-teeny-weeny people. And WAY too many Speedos. Unless your an Olympic swimmer, the answer is NO to the Speedo.

And finally...

• Two different people asked Seth and I if we were brother and sister. No, and WTF?

I hope to write more about the trip later in the week. I'm sure it will be all the extra stuff you find incredibly boring, but I want to remember it when I'm old. So, feel free to read and roll your eyes or skip it and come back later:)

One very important final note:

MY HUSBAND FINALLY LIVES IN THE SAME HOUSE AS ME!!!!