So you wanna know more about me?

I pride myself on being pretty transparent on my blog. I try to be straightforward and upfront about who I am, and I think that if you read here regularly, you have a pretty good understanding of who I am and what I'm about. You know that I love coffee, fingernail polish, and technicolor anything. You know what my apartment looks like. You know who my friends are and what I do on the weekends.

But there are things that you can't pick up from a blog, no matter how "yourself" you are. There are always little things about people, the quirky parts of their personality, that you don't get through a computer screen. And it's a shame, because the quirks are what make you relatable and real and adorable and amazing.

(the fact that I'm riding a rhinoceros in this picture is mostly irrelevant. Just go with it.)

1) I tend to speak in hyperbole. Example: "I bought sugar-free pumpkin spice creamer instead of regular. This is a nightmare." (That really happened, by the way. It was awful. Sugar free anything is the devil's handiwork and anyone who tells you different is a liar.)

2) I talk with my hands. Always. I wave them around and carry on and generally make a scene. I've broken things (by accident, of course) because of it.

3) My facial expressions are out of control. I don't have to tell you what I'm thinking because you can always read it on my face. Sometimes, Garrett has to remind me that, um, I don't have my sunglasses on and people can see that I'm giving them the stinkface. (Exhibits A-G)

4) I tap on the bridge of my nose with my pointer and middle fingers when I'm thinking about something. I didn't realize I did it until Garrett and I started dating and he pointed it out.

5) I don't like to have the volume on my TV or my radio on a prime number. Not an odd number, just a prime number. I know. I know.

6) I hate washing dishes. I hate hate HATE it. Because of this, I am a PRO at stuffing as many things as possible into the dishwasher. It is nothing short of a talent and I'm darn proud of it.

7) I say dude a lot. Like... a lot. More than any adult woman should.

8) I hate the words "gal" and "beaut." There's no reasoning here, but if you ever say "She's such a great gal" or "that painting is a beaut!" or "that gal is such a beaut!" I promise I'll be cursing you in my head. Sorry.

9) Germs don't freak me out... at all. If I drop a Dorito on the floor, I will pick it up and eat it 100% of the time. I usually don't use toilet covers or squat... I put my bare booty right on the toilet seat. (Sorry, Mom.) I'll drink after pretty much anyone. (It's worth noting that I almost never get sick. #knockonwood)

10) I drive a 2004 Honda Accord. Her name is Holly the Honda, but I don't call her by her name that often. Really, only when something bad happens. Like 2011, when I got rear-ended by an off-duty police officer. Holly the Honda sustained $1800 in damage. Oh man, what a story.

So what do you think? Are you judging me now? Are you questioning why we're blogfriends? Are you nodding along, saying "omg, me too!" Hopefully it's the latter.

My 21st birthday was a bust.

Linking up with all these cute ladies today because you KNOW I can't resist a good one-time link-up.

I guess the title is misleading because my 21st birthday wasn't really THAT bad. But here's the true story (and the part of this post I'll delete soon): most my friends were older than me, so I had been drinking underage at bars for almost two years before I turned 21. In my eyes, the best part about turning 21 was that I could do it legally now. Nothing about my weekends was going to change. You feel me?

Anyway. My 21st birthday was on a Thursday, which was awesome because I (and all my school of education friends) didn't have class on Friday. What could go wrong, right?

I woke up on Thursday morning, and my roommate Jenna had decorated the apartment. (I thought I had a picture of it, but I couldn't find it. Boooooooooo.) Adorable. Amazing. The day was off to a good start.

I went to class like normal on Thursday. We got out of class around 5, and my parents took me, Jenna, and two other friends to PF Changs for dinner because I really wanted a PFX for my birthday. (Have you ever had one? THEY ARE THE BEST.) When I ordered my drink, our waiter didn't even card me, and I was so mad. LOOK AT MY ID, FOOL. I AM LEGIT.

(Contrary to my face in this picture, this was only my first drink of the day.)

When we got home, several of my friends were waiting on me so we could go to a few bars. As soon as I walked in the door, shots happened, and then somehow I got wrapped in toilet paper:

I don't even know.

Then, it was time to go out! One of my friends was still under 21, so we had to plan around that a bit, which was fine, because as we know, I was a pro. I was feeling pretty great thanks to those shots and I hate making plans for groups of people, so I was letting other people make the decisions on where we would go. We ended up at this bar in Greensboro called Coopers, which, looking back, was a pretty interesting choice. We walked in, I triumphantly handed the girl at the door my ID, took it back, and started to walk into the bar.

But as I'm walking away, I hear "wait, can I see your ID again?" That's never good, so I said "no." (Real smooth, Alyssa.) One of the other bouncers walked up all intimidating-like and said "show her your ID again, or you have to leave."

Really? You're going to yell at me, this tiny little person on my 21st birthday? You are rude.

I hand her my ID again, and she looks at it and then looks back up at me and says "You know your license is expired, right?"

Um, no. No I didn't. "It expired today because of my birthday, I guess? You can still let me in though... my birthdate is still valid."

Nope. It had expired on my 20th birthday. A year before. For real.

Awesome.

So we left, and drove another 15 minutes downtown so we could go to the bars downtown. Buuuut guess what? The same song and dance happened there. Since when do they care THAT much about your license being valid? I mean really. (I know they care a lot. BUT IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY.)

At this point, I was tired, upset, and I had lost whatever buzz I had when we started. I wanted to go home, but my friends (who were awesome) insisted that we go somewhere... anywhere. So we ended up at this DIVE bar close to campus. You know the place... where no one has showered and the bartenders serve to seventeen year olds. But I didn't care. My friends told the bartender that it was my birthday, and he took really good care of us. The night was salvaged, but man, it was a struggle. Karma is a real thing, people. Do not drink underage!

The next day, one of my friends drove me to the DMV, I got a new license (that doesn't expire until I'm 28) and that night, we had a do-over. It was a lot better.

I mean, when all else fails, just take some margaritas straight to the face, right? Right.

Hangovers and Teenagers and Shopping, Oh my!

As I mentioned yesterday, we actually had a pretty busy weekend. It's a blessing and a curse because obviously, we're fun people who like to have fun, but when your weekends are so busy, they FLY by. And that sucks.

Friday, we headed over to Garrett's cousin's house for a cookout + game night. We had a lot of fun, which means that clearly I didn't take any pictures (#bloggerproblems). Having no pictures is probably which is probably for the best because there was a lot of wine. and a lot of gin. and also a few white russians. sooooo. you know. Garrett and I didn't get to bed until 3:30 on Saturday morning. For two people who are usually in bed by 10:30, it was rough.

Saturday, we slept until almost 2pm. Well.... I woke up around 10, stumbled out to the couch, and then promptly fell back asleep. Garrett's morning looked about the same... we were COMPLETELY useless. Finally, around 4pm, we did something I'm not proud of. I can't believe I'm about to talk about it on the internet.

We went to McDonalds.

WHAT. Don't judge me. There is nothing better for hangovers. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

And then in an act of complete opposite-ness, on Saturday night, we went to my cousin's 13th birthday party. I know, it was quite a transition.

I hadn't seen the girls since the funeral, so it was good to see them. And it was SUPER good to see them having fun and laughing and being teenagers.

They are so grown now and it is SO FREAKIN' CRAZY. Kathryn spent most of her time with her friends, so Garrett and I spent most of the night hanging out with Hope and her boyfriend. The fact that my oldest cousin is 15 now and has a boyfriend and is cool and we hang out together is just too weird for words. But we had a really great time. I spend so much time talking about how I'd like to move away eventually, but nights like that make me really glad that I have family that lives close by.

And because this post is just full of embarrassing stuff, here's a blurry picture me doing the Wobble with three teenagers. Thanks a heap, Garrett.

I cannot even.

Sunday was pretty lazy, although we did do a little bit of shopping, and Garrett bought me this PHENOMENAL Joseph Joseph cutting board. If you know me at all, you know that I fell in love with the stripes + bright colors almost immediately.

Alyssa and the Technicolor Dream Apartment is going to be a real thing, I'm telling you.  

It was a great weekend, I gotta say. I hope yours was too!

Alyssa and the Tale of Four Boyfriends

So, I know you heard about the launch of iOS 7 yesterday. You may have even downloaded it. I didn't yet. I figured I'd wait till everyone ELSE did it and Apple worked out the kinks before I gave it a go.

With all the hoopla yesterday, I started thinking about how long I've had Apple devices. I've had them since... well... forever. (forever in terms of technology, anyway.) This is the third new operating system I've seen, and as weird as it sounds, I remember downloading each one. I started thinking about where I was in my life - and who I was dating - when I downloaded each one. Then I realized that you can really learn a lot about a person by how they deal with new technologies.

(there's nothing like a phone to make you super reflective and nostalgic, right?)

Boyfriend #1: The Bad Boy (ed. note: he wasn't actually a bad boy. he just wanted to be. but THAT is another post for another day. or another century.) The Bad Boy was a total tech-hater. He was one of those people that was always "too cool" to care about anything technology, and he's who I was dating when the ORIGINAL iPhone came out in 2007. I love keeping up with technology, so I was all over the announcement. It was SUPER exciting to me. I mean, it was unprecedented! I loved reading about it online... sspecially when they introduced apps a few months later. TOO COOL FOR WORDS. But BB didn't care. BB thought that I was too obsessed with technology, and a "slave to to the man." And he made sure I knew it. All the time.
The Red Flags: The major one? He made fun of the things I was interested in. You don't have to like the same things I like, but don't be a self-righteous d-bag about it. I definitely don't have time for that. Haters to the left.
What I learned: anyone who is obsessed with sticking it to "the man" is going to be way too much of a pain in the butt for you. Just quit while you're ahead.

Boyfriend #2: The Artist. The Artist was into technology, but couldn't afford an iPhone. Because he couldn't afford an iPhone, he made ME feel guilty for wanting an iPhone. Also, when iOS 4 came out, a lot of the functionalities didn't work on my super old iPod - namely, the background. When I expressed my disappointment, he told me it was stupid that I cared about something as trivial as backgrounds on a phone. I mean, it's not THAT big of a deal, but that black background is just lame, right? Give me a break.
The Red Flags: Hellooooo, he was consistently trying to bring me down to his level. Not good.
What I learned: Uh, when someone doesn't want you to have nice things because THEY can't have nice things, that's typically a sign they're not a very good person. Bye.

Boyfriend #3: The Businessman. The Businessman was the opposite of the first two guys. He was SUPER into technology. A lot of the time, it was pretty cool. We had a bazillion channels, a 3D tv, surround sound, the whole nine. Obviously, the businessman also LOVED his iPhone. Like.. loved it. The day iOS 6 came out, he took off work early so he could download it. I'm not kidding. I wanted to download it too, and when he found out I was downloading it too, he got SUPER mad because I was taking up all the internet. Seriously? We were paying for the fanciest internet package, I'm pretty sure we'd be okay. THEN, when his wasn't downloading an an acceptable speed, he unplugged the router and started over - while my phone was in the middle of verifying the download with Apple. My phone froze, and I had to do a restore on my phone. As in, I lost everything. It was a cool night. Fun fact: he also insisted on using HIS iPhone charger. Because he thought it worked with his phone better. Seriously.
The Red Flags: Ohhhh, where to start? The obsession with having the best of everything? The selfishness of shutting off the internet without checking to see if I was in the middle of something, and then the lack of apology when I told him he had ruined my phone? And really - taking off work for a phone update? Seriously? That's a bit much, even for me. I should have broken up with him that night, no question.
Ed. note #2: I'm also bitter because I KNOW he still has my iPhone headphones. He says he doesn't BUT I KNOW HE DOES.
What I learned: if he loves his phone more than he loves you, run. RUN FAR.

Boyfriend #4: The Teacher. Well.. we can just call him Garrett. You guys know him already. He's had an iPhone the whole time we've been together, and FaceTime is totally the reason our long-distance relationship was successful. We also had a conversation about iOS 7 that lasted less than five minutes today. Neither one of us have updated yet.
The Red Flags: Hmmmmm, none from where I'm sitting. A healthy, non-consuming appreciation for technology? Perfect.
What I learned: It's possible to enjoy each other AND enjoy things. How novel! I should marry him or something.

And that is the tale of Alyssa and the Four Boyfriends. They all lived happily ever after, or whatever. Well, I did, anyway. Me, Garrett, and our iPhones. 

Blogtember - When Your Life Took a Turn

I'm not participating in that many days of Blogtember, but when I saw the prompt for today, I knew I wanted to do it.

You know how you have some moments in your life that seem super inconsequential at the time, but then when you think about them when you're older, you realize how significant they are? I had one of those my freshman year of college. It was the night I found out I had been hired to be an RA.

I was sitting in the floor of my dorm room talking to Kelsey when my friend Kyle came by. We had done our RA interviews on the same day, and he came up to tell me that he had gotten his hire letter that afternoon. He wanted to walk with me to get mine, but if I didn't get hired anywhere, I didn't want to be around a ton of people. I walked over to the mail center, got my letter, and walked back to my dorm to open it.

Let me tell you, the dorm I lived in freshman year was kind of a dump. It was fine for me, because it's where all my friends lived that year, but I was excited to (hopefully) live in a different dorm the next year. So I opened the letter. I saw the "congratulations!" first, and quit reading. I excitedly told Kelsey that I got the job, and of course, the first thing she said was "which building?" I hadn't even looked. I picked the letter back up and finished reading. I had been hired for the same building I was living in that year.

I was pretty disappointed. I was happy to get the job, but seriously? There are twenty residence halls on campus. I get hired back to go to the SAME ONE? Ugh.

I had no idea that I would go on to work for that supervisor in three different positions over the next five years, including one professional position where I'd figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Or that I'd meet my friend Jenna. Or that I'd start babysitting his kids.

And I also had no idea that when I'd go over to his house for his son's first birthday party in December 2009, I'd meet his cousin, Garrett.

All because of one job, and one offer letter that I read one random Tuesday night after a walk to Tate Street Coffee.

I love that quote from The Alchemist because it encapsulates our relationship so well. If one tiny little thing had been different, our paths never would have crossed. If I had turned down the job, or gotten an offer for a different building, or if i had gone to a different university, or if he had to work and didn't make it down, none of this would have happened. None of it.

Craziness.

The Post I Didn't Think I'd Have to Write

I've been going back and forth on how I would approach this on my blog, or if I would at all. Despite having a (mildly) successful blog and a really big mouth, I consider myself somewhat of a private person. I don't like talking about things that are sad, or things that are traumatic. I'm not one of those people that posts tributes on all the social networks when something bad happens. I usually lay low. But everyone on here has been so wonderful and supportive and kind the last few months, I knew I had to say something on here. My grandpa passed away on Wednesday.

Typing it feels very weird and foreign and surreal. I'm sad, obviously. Incredibly sad. But I don't feel like "sad" really encapsulates how I feel.

I'm not a stranger to grief. Three years ago, my grandmother died from endometrial cancer. Her battle was quick - she was fine at my college graduation in May and in August, she died. When she died, I was absolutely devastated - I had never considered the fact that I could live in a world where she wasn't always around, where would never meet my husband or my children. It's naive when I think about it now, because even if she was still alive, she wouldn't have the role in my kids lives that she had in mine. But it was the first time I had ever dealt with a real tragedy in my life, so I was shocked, and heartbroken. In a way, I still am.

It's different now. Not because I was closer to my grandmother than I was to my grandpa. It's different, sure, but we were still close. I don't really know how to describe it.

I'm definitely sad. I'm sad that he won't be at my wedding. I'm sad he won't get to meet my kids. I'm sad we won't have Christmas the way we used to. I'm sad for my mom, who's lost both of her parents just three years apart. I'm sad for my cousins, who are 12 and 15, because I know that they're struggling even more than me.

I feel guilty. I feel like I've been living two separate lives - one where I'm dealing with the sickness (and subsequent death) of a family member, and one where I'm finally living with Garrett and everything is amazing. It's a weird dichotomy.

I'm angry. And bitter. I'm angry that cancer is still a thing that exists. I'm angry that two of the kindest, most amazing people I've ever met had to deal with such an ugly, horrible disease. I'm angry that the burden of cancer was placed onto my family, not once, but twice.

I'm anxious. I don't know what's going to happen to my family. I don't know what the future will hold or how things will play out. The road that we've traveled together so far has been extremely difficult, and I have a feeling that things aren't going to get easier any time soon.

I know all of these things are natural and normal and all part of the grief process. I'm dealing. We all are. But damn, it is rough around here. Thanks to all of you for being so amazing and wonderful and supportive. I love you all, and I'm incredibly thankful for you.

Fall, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

It's not really Fall yet, but I don't care. Once Labor Day passes, it's all fall, all the time. Not sorry. And I know I talked a while ago about how I should just be able to live at the beach all the time, but really, fall is totally where it's at. Let's talk about it.

First of all, it's so cozy. North Carolina fall is the BEST because the average temperature is low 70s, no humidity. You could wear shorts OR jeans. You could wear a tank OR long sleeves. And you can ALWAYS wear a scarf. You guys haven't known me that long, so you don't know about my total scarf fetish. It's pretty serious.  

Sources 1 // 2 // 3 // 4

And then there's the fall beers. While my devotion to Son of a Peach will never, ever waver, all the fall beers are just TOPS. My current favorites are Pumpkick by New Belgium and Autumnfest Vienna by Natty Greene's, which is a bar here in Greensboro.

What fall beers do you think I should try? (Meg this question is for you.)

And of course, I have to talk about my main love, the Pumpkin Spice Latte. I start counting down to PSL day far, far in advance. No, really. This year's countdown started on June 6th. 

It's seriously one of my favorite days of the year. Because of this, I take a picture of myself with every First PSL. I'm serious.

Lemme tell ya, it was a big deal that I shared my First PSL of the Season with Garrett the last two years. It's something I take very seriously. 

Are you laughing at me yet? I don't blame you. I LOVE FALL, OKAY? 

"You're putting WHAT on my bookshelf?" and other update-y things.

First of all, if you'll allow me to humblebrag a little bit, I was featured in the Bloggers We Love section of ShopAtHome.com, which is a fabulous website that provides unlimited access to printable and downloadable coupons, coupon codes and promotions. Since I talk about saving money allthetime, obviously, this website is one of my new faves. Go check me out, and then scoop up some coupons for yourself!

Anyway, there's not a whole lot to recap, since my entire weekend was filled with moving activities, and even though it rained ALL WEEKEND LONG, it went pretty well. My parents met Garrett's parents for the first time (after 1.5 years of dating), so that's something. It was brief, and it went pretty well too.

As I mentioned yesterday, we're still couchless, cableless and tableless, but we're making it. We have our meals planned for the week (I KNOW!), a cable installation date, stain for the coffee table we're getting, and *hopefully* a washer/dryer and maybe a new bed coming to us over the weekend. Keep your fingers crossed for us, okay?

Tomorrow will resume regularly scheduled blogging, where the SUPER adorable Brittany from Wine, Cheese and Workout Capris will be here with some healthy snack ideas! I can't wait to see what she comes up with, because I'm beyond ready to get back into a (mostly healthy) routine.

Happy Monday!!! I hope yours isn't rainy and disgusting like mine is.



Check out one of the sweetest (literally! get it?) bloggers I know, Leslie!

Goals: I have them.

So, if you've been reading this blog for a while, you know that I laid out a bunch of goals for myself and for the blog. And let's be real here: I have SUCKED at keeping up with them.

So I'm here to tell you right now that all that is about to change. It's about to get way awesome and goal-oriented up in here. And instead of just saying "I'm going to focus more on my goals," I decided to choose a few to focus on, and make a plan on how I'm SPECIFICALLY going to meet those goals. Obviously, I'm telling you guys all this for accountability's sake.

So here's the plan, man:

I have lots of plans for things I want to create for the apartment. Unfortunately, I don't have an unlimited budget, so I'll have to spread them out a little bit. Here's the tentative plan:
August - Hooks and decor for apartment entryway. (sort-of inspiration here. I'm actually really excited about this one, and I can't wait to do it and show it to you!)
September - Jewelry Nook (inspiration here)
October - Gallery Wall in dining room (inspiration here and here)
November - Paint furniture and create centerpiece for dining room table (paint inspiration here and centerpiece inspiration here and here)
December - Curtains (inspiration here. I'll probably be using this tutorial.) and MAYBE painting the apartment? We found out we're allowed to paint, but I'm not sure if we will or not.

Now that Garrett and I are going to actually be together, and have a semi-normal schedule, we're really going to get into the intentional meal planning thing.  I'm going to do a more in-depth post on this sometime soon, but what I plan on doing is sitting down with Garrett at the beginning of each month and choosing recipes we'd like to make throughout the month. Then, at the beginning of each week, we'll choose what we're going to make that week. Planning meals for the whole month seems fine in theory, but we're so busy and plans change so frequently that we'd never stick with it. I'd like to avoid mid-week, unplanned, 'lets just make this' trips as much as possible. That's where we typically end up spending the most money, so being intentional is key here. I feel like there are going to be some growing pains with this one, but I'm excited about it nonetheless!
We also really, really need to start eating healthier again. I've gained ten-ish pounds in the last year. The number on the scale doesn't bother me (that much), but the fact is: I've gained weight because I'm being unhealthy. And I need to change that.

Our apartment complex has a nice little gym in it, so there's really no excuse anymore. I used to be able to run a 5k, and now I don't think I can run five minutes. I think I'm going to do the Couch-to-5K treadmill program, but we'll see. What do you guys do to get yourself motivated???

I'd like to read one book a month from now until the end of the year. To a lot of you, that probably doesn't seem like a lot, but it's busy around here, yo. So that's the goal for now. The plan is:
August: Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman
September: The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
October: MWF Seeks BFF by Rachel Bertsche (per Lauren's recommendation!)
November: Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter (I'm also going to reread Catching Fire in preparation for the movie, but that'll be easy.)
December: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
I'm also going to try to start using Goodreads again. Who else uses that? Want to add me, or whatever?

So there you have it. I have a plan, with measurable goals and everything. My dad would be so proud. Keep me accountable, okay you guys?!?



Check out one of the sweetest (literally! get it?) bloggers I know, Leslie!

"We could invite all our friends over!!! Oh, wait."

When Meredith and I went to see Avenue Q a few weeks ago, we were talking about how my parents should get a pool at their house. "We could have pool parties and invite all our friends over!" she said. And then we realized - our friends? uhhhh. What other friends?

Maybe it's because everything in my life is all shifty-changy lately, but I've been thinking about adult friendships a lot lately. What do they entail?

I never had that "we've been friends since we were six" BFF situation. I've always been intrigued with people who have. I have close friends, several of them. I talk about "my best friend" a lot, even though I have four or five of them. I'll say "my best friend teaches sixth grade" and then five minutes later say "oh yeah, last summer when I visited my best friend in Baltimore..." when those are two separate people. My friends all fill separate roles.. Jenna is my sit in coffee shops for hours friend. Kelsey is my lives far away so we text about nail polish all day friend. Meredith is my lets go shopping and get drinks friend.

All of these girls are people I call my best friends. But what does that mean? We easily go two weeks without talking to each other. Not on purpose, but we're all busy, and before you know it, it's been two weeks or three weeks or a month and boom! we have A LOT to discuss at coffee.

Friendships take work, you know? I mean, duh. Of course you knew that. I always knew they would. But I guess I didn't anticipate the kind of work. Kyle and I will plan a phone date three weeks in advance. A phone date! We have to PLAN a phone date. It's so weird, right? But it's really not. I mean, I know you guys are reading this and nodding along with me, because you totally have to do it too. 

And then there's the whole other weirdness of how some friends are 'talk on the phone friends' and some friends are 'gchat friends' and some friends are 'make plans via text and we'll just catch up in person' friends. I mean, Meredith and I have been friends for over ten years now, and we've never gchatted one single time, but I gchat with my blog friends nearly every day. Kelsey lives in Baltimore and we rarely talk on the phone, but Kyle (who lives in San Diego) and I talk on the phone once a month-ish. It's weird and illogical, right? Right. 

But all these people are my friends - my best friends. And at the risk of sounding TOTALLY cliche, our sporadic texting and once-a-month meetups and three hour phone dates are what has made our friendship that much stronger. And that's something I'll be forever grateful for. 

And PS - you're all invited for a pool party if my parents ever get a pool.

Check out one of the sweetest (literally! get it?) bloggers I know, Leslie!

Happiness.

Well, I missed another Monday post, which is mostly fine because I didn't do anything worth recapping all weekend, unless you consider "packing, eating mac & cheese, and binge watching The Hills" a productive weekend. I mean, I think it was a GREAT weekend, but I might be the only one. And here is this post, going up at 2pm. Priorities, I have them.

Anyway, I could tell you all about how everything is up-in-the-air and stressful and worrisome in my life and all that, but I'm not. In an effort to stop wallowing, I'm going to tell you about all the things that have happened in the last 48 hours that make me pretty freakin' happy.

1) Um, Garrett is here. With me. In North Carolina. For good. We don't move for another week and a half, but this is a Very Big Deal.

2) I have sparkly shoes on today. It's kind of hard to be in a bad mood when you have sparkly shoes on, right?

3) I found my emergency gummy worms in my desk drawer today. I thought they were all gone, BUT THEY WEREN'T!!!!!! (They're gone NOW, but that's not the point.)

4) When I fixed a salad for lunch today, I got the lettuce/cheese/dressing/veggies ratios JUST RIGHT. You know how sometimes when you make a salad, you run out of toppings, but you still have a few bites of lettuce left? That's the worst, right?

5) #4 and #5 right beside each other. Are you laughing? I'm laughing.

6) I think we're going to go with this cover for the couch we got. I TOLD you guys it was going to be crazy, right? It's not what I was originally picturing, but I think it'll be cool in our apartment where all the walls and all the carpet are boring and plain, don't you?

7) Speaking of our apartment, we finally have all the furniture we need! The couch was the last big thing on our list, so now that we have that, we're good to go! It'll be a while before it's decorated (to my standards, anyway), but we have a place to sleep, a place to eat and a place to watch TV, so I can't really complain, right?

8) Pixie pants from J. Crew. Do any of you guys wear them? They will change your life.

9) When I was at Target the other day, I discovered that French Bull partnered with several companies and there are APPLIANCES to match the tray that I have. Amazing, right? Amazing.

10) Bright orange nail polish. I love it.... no, I'm OBSESSED with it. #nofilter, and stuff.

That's a pretty good roundup, right? Things are stressful, but things are still pretty great. Hope you guys are doing GREAT too!!! I miss you.

Thanks to everyone who's checked in about my grandfather.. Things are improving slowly but steadily. Thanks for all your good thoughts!!!



Check out one of the sweetest (literally! get it?) bloggers I know, Leslie!