let the sugar be your guide

I grind my teeth at night. My mom says that she used to check on me at night when I was a kid, and I ground them so hard she could hear it from the hallway. I still do it, especially when I'm stressed. Lately I've been waking up with a pounding head, sore jaw, and aching temples. Sometimes it's hard to open my mouth in the morning. I've been battling a headache all day and it's really wearing me down. I can't rub the muscles because they either lock up or send sharp shooting pains down my face and neck.

I'm stompy and grumpy today. I'm lonely and stressed and I'm barely sleeping at night. I'm getting really frustrated about not being able to get a job. I feel like a deadbeat. I'm college educated, I have excellent references, and plenty of experience. The problem is that they make you apply only online anymore. They specifically say "don't call, don't fax, and don't come in". They just want your resume and/or cover letter in an email and that does it. I despise it. I can't look someone in the eye and convince them that I am an intelligent human being and I will do the required job and excel their expectations. I rock at the interview, and now it's virtually impossible to get to that point anymore. UGH!

I'm trying not to pig out. All I do is sit around and job hunt and house hunt on the Internet. Therefore I am hungry all the time. Because I have zero willpower where food is concerned, that means I eat all the time. Krispy Kreme will be my downfall. I'm just not very motivated to cook for one. It's so much easier to hit McDonald's. It happens to be the closest fast food restaurant to my house and I adore the double cheeseburgers. And fries. And apple pies. And Oreo McFlurries. And yes, I order that all in one trip and then eat it. To my credit, I drink water at home. No soda. Although that's like trying to plug the Hoover Dam with your pinky. Pointless.

Now I really want McDonald's. And I'm in such a bad mood I'll probably go get it. Food makes me feel better. It makes me happy. That is a downward spiral. Food that's bad for you just tastes so much better too.

Anyway, I found our house. It's incredible. I am in love. But it's a "For Sale By Owner" place and the lady is way difficult. She doesn't want to deal with agents, but I don't know enough about this to do it myself. I have no clue what to look for or what to ask. I don't want to end up getting screwed because of my ignorance. So my agent is going to try to convince her to deal with him. If she won't...well then I guess there are other houses. It would be a huge let down though. I'm trying not to get my hopes up at all, but that's almost impossible. Let's just say I haven't stopped looking yet.

My Spoonful word for today is lantern. I saw some in the store the other day and had to drag myself out of the store without buying them. I have no idea what my deal with lanterns is, but I am incredibly fascinated.

Paper Lanterns from Foamy Wader, Magical Night from Like Deco, The Lantern from Escape Monotony, and Lantern from Tekstila.

The style of these hoop earrings is awesome. I love how the hoop goes all the way around back into itself. The beads are such beautiful colors. The wire wrapping is flawless; each bead is perfectly spaced. They're decorative and dainty. They have something going one without being too much. I think that's a fine line to walk.

These star shaped lanterns are handmade. HANDMADE! Can you believe that?? I have never seen anything so intricate and gorgeous! I think they're so incredible. How cool would these be in a baby's room? It would be like a mobile. Plenty for mommy and baby to look at and adore. Check out the other items in the shop and I swear you'll be amazed.

The green color on the building in this photograph is so gorgeous. I now have to duplicate that for my house. The amber lanterns really go well with it too. I've found a whole new color scheme! The lighting in the photo is perfect for the subject matter. It enhance the picture and doesn't distract or take away from it.

Pillows, pillows, pilllllllllows! I am in love! I already love pillows in general, but I saw this fabric and almost died. It is so gorgeous! I love the simplicity of the pattern. It's so different from anything I own. It's so trendy looking. There are other colors and sizes, and I must have them all! So, so, so cute!

I'm going to try to not eat McDonald's now. I walked the dog twice today and she's still sitting at the door begging. She is KILLING me!! I don't know what the heck she wants. I walked her, played with her, took her on a car ride, and filled her chewy ball with treats twice. It's never enough. Neeeeeeever enough.

xoxo

sugar and spice

I got my Real Simple magazine in the mail today. Oh wait...I got the COVER of my Real Simple magazine in the mail today. It had a note attached to it from the good ole USPS. It said that the rest of my magazine had been damaged in transit. I was so pissed! First of all, that's my favorite magazine ever and second, it's freaking expensive! Argh. Just so irritating. I ripped the cover up into little pieces. Stupid USPS.

That's how I'm dealing with my problems lately. Ripping them up into little pieces; figuratively and literally. I'm so bored and I feel like a deadbeat cause I don't have a job, but I go, go, go all day everyday job and house hunting and running other various errands. But I feel like stomping and yelling a lot lately. I'm stomping in my head right now just thinking about it.

I got my hair done today. I needed it bad. It was getting long in the back, so my super cool asymmetrical haircut was just starting to look uneven like a drunk person had cut it. So that was nice. I found someone I like here, but it's not the same as Laura. I miss her!! The lady that cut my hair today was asking who did my highlights because they were perfect and looked awesome. I almost cried :(

Tomorrow I'm getting my toes done. I need to do something besides looking at jobs and houses online and driving by houses. Otherwise, I will lose my mind. I might have lost it already. Hard to tell.

The apartment was smelling musty today, so I lit a candle. TJ and our roommate LB are surprisingly obsessed with candles. They burn them nonstop. Probably because it always smells like boy in here. Ugh. But anyway, I like the candle LB picked out and it inspired my Spoonful. The candle is cinnamon stick, and I really don't like it. It's a bit too heavy for me. I'm not a fan of the spicy smells. I like clean cotton and fruity stuff.

Anywho, it got me thinking about spices and then I was thinking about sugar and spice and then I realized that would be a cute title because I'm having trouble coming up with new ones. So, in case you haven't guessed, the word is spice.

Pumpkin Spice Pillow Cover from Nestables, Sugar and Spice Trinket Box from Fun Wall Art, Pumpkin Spice Cappuccino Solid Shampoo from In a Lather, and Spice Market Earrings from Wrist Candy Creations.

I'm really digging the orange thing lately. I think when we get our house, I'm going to do the office area in browns and oranges. Yum! This pillow cover is absolutely beautiful. The shade of orange is perfect and it's so simple. The pattern is awesome. I just love it!

I'm going to have to acquire some trinkets to put in this darling trinket box. Or one of the gazillion other ones in the shop! There is SUCH cool stuff in the store, you have to check it all out. There's something for every taste, and they're all adorable.

Ok, I know I said that I'm not into the spicy scents, but this shampoo bar sounds glorious! Maybe it's the cappuccino scent that grabs me. I think it would be an awesome combo. The rich smell of the cappuccino would balance out the pungent spicy scent. Plus it looks so smooth and soft. I want to touch it.

I loooooove me some earrings! These chandelier style earrings are so gorgeous! I love the detail on the actual hoops and the colors of the beads are a perfect match. I also really like how the actual earring part that attaches to the hoops has a little character with the ball on the tips.

Well, I have to get some pictures together to send to my personal jewelry designer. I'm feeling the urge for some more earrings and bracelets, and she always does such a fantastic job on my custom orders! Love you Dian!

xoxo

sweet lovelies

I learned something incredibly horrifying today. The dirtiest place in your bedroom is your pillow. *gag* I'm something of a pillow freak. I wash my pillowcases obsessively. I always buy like 4 sets so I always have a clean one on hand. I will not, WILL NOT, sleep on a dirty pillowcase.

The only things allowed to touch my pillow are my clean face and my clean hair. Period, the end. I do not lay on it with make-up on. If I happened to sweat that day, I wash my hair before I go to bed. Even when I'm falling-over, puking-my-guts-up drunk I wash my face before bed. My husband is not allowed to lay on my pillow. If the dog gets within a foot of it, forget it. Heaven forbid it should touch the floor.

So just now I was reading my Glamour magazine and it has a little article in it about how nasty pillows get. The actual pillow. This is what it says, "It hosts a miniature ecosystem of human skin cells and dust mites (microscopic bugs that eat those dead skin cells - yuck!), plus up to 47 different types of fungi." Oh. My. GAWD! Bugs that eat my skin cells. I'm on the verge of dry heaving. I went directly upstairs, grabbed our pillows, and put them in the washing machine. Hot wash, hot rinse. Extra soap. Lot's of bleach. Some baking soda for good measure. Probably 2 or 3 drying cycles, just to make sure those bugs have been sufficiently nuked. I'm washing TJ's too because I don't want any of his shit-nasty bugs jumping onto my pillow. *shudder*

The article also suggests that you get a zippered pillow cover to put under your pillowcase as an added layer of protection. Wal-Mart will be getting a visit from me later this evening. I'm actually wondering how many of those thingies I can put on my pillow and still have the pillowcase fit...

Ok, I have to stop talking about it now. Blah, blah, blah. Change the subject. I used the word mammals in my post yesterday. Anytime I hear that word, I get that song (you and me baby ain't nothing but mammals...) stuck in my head for like 3 days.

Today my Spoonful word is lovely. I was watching House Hunters (doing my research, Ang!), and this British couple was looking for a house. They said lovely like every 3.5 seconds. Lovely this and lovely that. So it got stuck in my head. Here are my lovelies:

Josephine from Jasper Hilburn, Recycle Me Lovely from PixiSette Jewelry, Lovely Heart from The Wheel And I, and Lovely from Spa Goddess.

I am loving this necklace! The colors are awesome and the eclectic design gives it so much character. It would look awesome with a solid colored shirt. It's made to be a focal point in your outfit.

I adore the simplicity of this bracelet. It would go with anything. The glass beads are recycled, so they have a rough worn look that really give it a unique look. Read the description the seller wrote. It makes the bracelet feel very adventurous.

I can see this bowl on my kitchen counter filled with fresh fruit. Ok, ok I don't really buy fresh fruit so it would most likely hold candy or something equally as unhealthy. But it's a beautiful piece. I love the color. It looks like metal to me, but it's clay so I thought that was pretty neat.

Spa Goddess is one of my favorite bath product makers. I have purchase numerous products from the shop (bath salts, body scrubs, shower steamers - DIVINE!!!), and I have absolutely loved every single one. They always smell awesome and are the highest quality. The seller has answered a great many questions (many stupid) with patience and incredible knowledge. I guarantee you will love anything you get. I'm going to get this milk bath. It sounds just like the name - lovely. Creamy and soft and sweet. Yum!

I'm feeling random lately, so here you go:

Did you know that they have this new thing called Le Whif? It allows you to inhale chocolate mist. That way you get the taste of chocolate minus all the calories. You puff on this thing and it has like super concentrated chocolate junk in it. Weird. Talk about addicted to chocolate. I wonder if they can make a puffy thing that tastes like ravioli or cheeseburgers.

I hope everyone has a lovely night :)

xoxo

p.s. What do we know about short sales in real estate? I know what they are, but I'm not sure how open the bank is to negotiations, etc. Is anyone familiar???

crazy makes me crave sugar

I am crazy. Insane. Certifiable. Seriously. I'm buying a house while my husband is gone. For 3 months. Like gone gone. Incommunicado. No talkie. I know people buy houses everyday, but not Michelle. Michelle has never bought a house before. The pressure of picking a house that both of us will like is beginning to wear on me. We've never disagreed on anything in that area. We have the same taste and the same ideas and stuff. But I start second guessing and thinking about things too hard. I actually wondered today if the granite in this one kitchen would be too shiny for him. Like he would care. It's supposed to be shiny. Who worries about shiny granite? Me. I do. Because I'm losing my ever-loving mind.

This is what happens when I'm all alone. I have lots of time to think and research and look and get a whole bunch of details that do not matter. TJ is my sounding board. I bounce things off him and think out loud. He grounds me and calms me down. I'm what you might call high-strung. I get really worked up about things and then I get all obsessive.

But find a house I will because we're trying to take advantage of the tax breaks for first time home buyers. Seeing as how he won't be back until mid-December, that job falls to me. Not to mention the packing and moving and all that junk. It's all me. Luckily his being in the military gives me a wide range of boys to choose from to do my bidding. Rally the troops, if you will. And rally I will. I have no shame. And no way to lift the couches by myself.

I'm also looking for a job. I think that contributes a big chunk of crazy to my crazy.

So my days have been filled with job hunting and house hunting. I'm trying to do a drive-by on all the houses. That sounded really bad. I'm not shooting anyone. I'm just trying to make sure I like the area before I drag our agent out to look at a house. I'm trying to get familiar with a new area and decide where we want to live. I found the PERFECT house the other day. Then we went to look at it. I would be scared to walk the dog. Who puts brand new houses in places like that??? Someone does, cause there it was. Its perfectness mocking me. Do I want the perfect house or do I want to live through my first night in my perfect house? It's a toss up...

I've done my house recon for the day, so I'm taking a break. I'm not allowing myself to look at jobs or houses online for the rest of the night. I need a reprieve.

TJ left Sunday for Ranger school. Yippee. It's going to be 3 fantastic months with zero communication (minus 2 weekends when he can use the phone between phases). Well, you can write letters, but I doubt he'll have a chance to actually write me. He'll be too busy being in the suck. Must be a boy thing because you couldn't pay me enough money to do something like that. He's been gone before. Once for 8 months (which is nothing compared to the 15 months that some people have to deal with), but talking on the phone makes a huge difference. The silence is deafening over here. On the bright side, I have a General Power of Attorney, which means I can do just about anything I want to in his name. This kind of power gives me a little bit of comfort. I like being the boss.

Anyway, my Spoonful word for today is crazy. I was having a hard time finding anything I just loved until I came upon these cards. So today my Spoonful is 5 things from the same shop. It's the "Crazy Love Card" series from Up Up Creative.

These cards crack me up. The two big ones are my favorite. I'm going to be such an angry pregnant lady. I will be the lady in the delivery room cursing a blue streak and screaming, "Look what you did to me!" at my husband. Forget my ice cream and it would be over for you. And have you ever tried natural peanut butter? Cause that shit is nasty. Like really, really nasty. I have yet to figure out how peanuts can be so delicious and natural peanut butter can be so utterly disgusting.

I love them because that's how I talk. I'm not all sappy and weird like some cards. If you ask me, this gets the sentiment across a lot better. And anyone who really knows me (i.e. my husband) would be fighting back tears if I gave them one of these. They made me smile and laugh a little and I couldn't pick just one, so I thought I'd just use them all. Cause I'm the boss and I can do that.

And as an added bonus, the products are all eco-friendly!

A few random things before I go:

I saw a sign on base yesterday that said "Tank Crossing" and it had a picture of a tank. It was incredibly awesome. Next time I'm on that road I'll remember to slow down and take a picture.

Did you know that the human eye has more visible sclera (white part of your eye) than any other mammal? I had never really thought about it, but we so do. Most other mammals only have the colored part of their eye showing. Craziness. Really random, but I thought it was interesting.

Everyone must try Planters NUT-rition Energy Mix. It's got almonds, honey roasted sesame sticks, peanuts, dark chocolate covered soy nuts, walnuts, and pecans. The soy nuts are superb, but the whole mix is way yummy. I don't feel so bad when I eat the whole container of something healthy while I sit in front of the TV.

Ok, that's all. I promise to be around more. Thanks to those of you who noticed I was gone and even more thanks to those who actually missed me :)

xoxo

here i am!

Oh how I love my Angela! She missed me :) I missed you too!! I'm back now. We were in Ohio for a few weeks. Now I'm back in Georgia and TJ leaves on Sunday for 3 months. So never fear, I will once again have no life and do nothing but shop online, play on Facebook, and post to my blog. I'm going to get a job, but this is a minor detail.

In other news, I'm sick. Ohio always makes me sick. I have no clue why, but I have yet to visit when I haven't gotten sick. It's unbelievable. I thought I was going to make it out ok, but yesterday (driving home day) I woke up feeling like butt. I had felt it coming on because I had a stuffy nose, cough, etc. for a few days before. I was just hoping I would get out of actually feeling sick. Not so much though. I'm propped up in my bed with my puppy and we're being lazy and mopey.

TJ has to work till like 11pm tonight. No really, it's cool. He's just leaving Sunday for 3 months. Oh and he's not allowed phone or Internet access, so the only way I can talk to him is by letter. If they decide to give him my letters and/or time to write me. But go ahead and have him come in to work until all hours of the night this week. I really didn't want to see him anyway. Stupid military. They make me real mad sometimes. Ugh.

But now I have to shower and deliver some stuff to base since he needs more junk for tonight. Yay.

xoxo

crabs are creepy and have weird beady eyes

I really, really don't need any more TV shows to be addicted to, and yet I have another. Oh Deadliest Catch, how I adore thee. There's something about men screaming curse words and getting injured that draws me in. TJ keeps saying he wants to be a skipper. Lord. I told him he only got one make-me-lose-sleep-at-night career per lifetime.

We're headed to Nashville tomorrow. I have yet to decide what we're going to do. We'll probably just end up wandering around and finding somewhere cool to eat. We have to drive to Ohio on Friday and get there in time to pick Kylie up from school, so that means that we have to get up at a decent time. That means I can't stay up too late. Well, actually I could since TJ is my chauffer. That's gonna be so nice. I had to drive myself freaking everywhere for the past 6 months. No thanks. So in theory I could sleep the whole time. That could be pretty awesome.

I'm bored out of my ever-loving mind. I need a job. Or at least a distraction. Tonight TJ was telling his mom about how crappy it was sharing a closet with me. She was saying that of course my wardrobe is bigger than his because he wears a uniform to work everyday (thanks Leta!!), and he was saying that I don't have a job right now. She said I did and I will, and I needed outfits for work. Any my smart-ass husband says, "Those aren't work clothes. Unless she's working a corner." TO HIS MOTHER! Thanks, hon. I'm feeling the love and respect. Ok, so I was actually laughing pretty hard, but the story is better when I make myself sound all scandalized and mad. Right now I'm watching him wash and fold my hooker clothes. That's what I'm talking about.

I was going to do a Spoonful, but now he's stomping around telling me it's bedtime and we need to go upstairs. Such a crybaby. It's probably a good thing he doesn't read this.

Anyway, I really do need to get in bed since we're being slackers and not packing till tomorrow morning. Sleep tight!

xoxo

sugar with a flourish

I finally got my closet organized today. I'm not used to sharing a closet with the hubs. I booted him into the guest room in our last house. But for the moment we only have one bedroom, which means one closet. I have a ton of clothing. Seriously. I had to purchase 150 hangers. I started out with 40, thinking that would surely be enough. HAHAHA. I am such an idiot. Then I had to buy extra shelves to put on the floor so I could fold the rest of my clothes on them. In my defense, I currently only have one drawer in the dresser and it's underwear and socks. But today I got my shelves put together (took me forever to find the right ones!!) and I got the rest of my clothes settled in. I'm rather proud of my closet organization skills. I done good.

TJ is laying next to me in bed reading. He's got a lot of tattoos. I was looking at them and he goes, "You can lick them. They're flavored." I rolled my eyes and punched him instead. He actually used to tell girls that his tattoos were flavored. Some of them believed him. I can just picture the ones who did...*shudder*. I told him I was writing that in my blog. He said he'd deny everything. Like that's gonna do him any good.

I'm on a bracelet kick. I just got the most gorgeous one EVER from my good friend Keirsten over at Lune Designs. Check this baby out...

How awesome is that?? The picture barely does it justice. It's incredible. I get so many compliments. And because she is so very wonderful and knows how much I love earrings, she included a matching set for me! LOVE HER! Plus it makes this awesome clinky sound when I move. I walk around twisting my wrist back and forth to make it clink. Anyway, just excited about that and wanted to send some love Keirsten's way. She has some gorgeous stuff over in her shop (Etsy and Artfire) so go check her out!

Anyway, tonight's Spoonful word is flourish. I'm excited about this word because I've been having trouble thinking of good words. Probably because my brain is fried with packing, moving, unpacking, and organizing thoughts. We're leaving for Nashville and Ohio on Thursday, so there's going to be more packing. Oh boy, oh boy. Just what I want to do. Again. Here are the picks:

Flourish from Ara 133 Photography, Green Flourish Magnetic Display Board from Sentimental Stones, Flourish Medallion Throw Pillow from Asmus Home Interiors, and Ginger Spice Sugarcude Body Scrub from Flourish Bath & Body.

Again with the tree prints. I can't help it. They call to me. This is just beautiful. The little pink flowers are awesome. This shop is a must-see! There are some incredible photographs. So much variety and color. I adore almost all of them. That's rare because usually I find one or two prints in a shop that I like, but this one is awesome. Such an eye for pictures.

I love this little magnet board. Green is one of my favorite colors and the design on the board is so classy and elegant. It would be awesome set up on a plate stand in your kitchen. A cute little place to keep reminders and photos.

I love pillows. I think that's been established. I probably need to branch out, but this is the kind of stuff that catches my eye. That blue is the color of my living room. I can't wait to have all my furniture back so I can decorate! The colors are awesome together and the pattern is noticeable, but not too busy.

Bath products. I'm so predictable. But how yummy do these little bath scrub cubes look?? I could eat them. I had so much trouble deciding which one to use for my Spoonful. The colors are so awesome. There are some unique scents too, so be sure to check it out.

Okey dokey...I need to go to sleep so I can start getting up at a decent hour. TJ is twitching violently in bed beside me. It's hysterical. I don't know how he gets any sleep. I'd wake up every time. I'm going to turn on our new 32" LCD HD TV :) It was our present to ourselves since our other bedroom TV passed on not too long ago. I don't do a TV-less bedroom. I adore it.

Oh and real quick, I learned how to drive a stick shift tonight!! I knew how logically, but I've never been good at the execution part. So tonight we were on our way home from dinner with friends and I said, "Pull over, I want to learn to drive your car." So he did. TJ is a very patient teacher and it didn't take me too long to get the hang of it. I even drove the rest of the way home! I was very proud of myself. I only killed it once :)

Ok, off to bed! Sleep tight!

xoxo