What's in a name?

One day this weekend as Mr and I sat watching yet another basketball game, I posed Mr a question out of the blue, as I'm prone to doing--if I could name myself, what name would I give me?

You know how you look at people and think "Oh, she looks like a Tiffany, or a Mary or a Lulu" (I just threw that last one in for fun). Anyway, I have never thought my name suited me. It's kinda formal, and I'm not a formal person. 3 syllables so it doesn't just roll off your tongue. I just never really cared for it. So this weekend I thought, if I could choose my name, what would it be? Of course I tried to enlist Mr in this quest for a new name. I began with asking him if he ever thought what his name would be if he could choose it. No, he never thought of that so I asked him what name he thought I looked like. His answer: my current name. WTH?! Mr isn't really good at make believe, pretend, creative stuff so I figured I was on my own.

It's funny when you start considering names how every name is associated with someone you've known. Certain names are ruled out because, even though they might be beautiful names, they're the same name as some ass you worked with, someone who treated you like crap in second grade or a royal bitch on your favorite television show so there is a negative association with it.

Here's a list of the top 5 baby girl names from 2008:
1. Ava--love this, although not for me. If I had a little girl, I could definitely see me naming her this.
2. Isabella--way too formal for me or my fake child.
3. Madeline--I like Maddie, but not Madeline. Too formal again.
4. Emma--love this name. Simple, kinda old-fashioned, but still timeless.
5. Abigail--I like Abby, but not Abigail.

Let's take a look at the 5 least popular from 2008:
95. Abby--Hmm, how can this be?
96. Jasmine--yeah, not diggin' it.
97. Megan--not feelin' this one, either. Meg maybe, but then it makes me think of 'nutmeg'.
98. Ashley--a pretty name, but I'm not feelin' it.
99. Amber--nope, not feelin' this one either.
100. Evelyn--yeah, I think this one and its ranking speak for itself.

This is kinda interesting. You can do a search of most popular names by year and by state. Imagine my surprise to see my name ranked 3rd in my state in the year I was born!! I guess my parents were just going with the times when they named me.

So, what name did I think suited me? I'm still on the quest for the perfect name. For those who know me in real life, I'd love to know what name you think I 'look' like.

Daisy has a friend

In case I haven't told you before, Daisy is socially backward. Because of overprotectiveness on the part of her mother, a.k.a. me, she wasn't exposed to other dogs when she was young so she doesn't know how to behave now when she is around them. She has no problem playing with humans, but has no idea how to react to another dog. Usually she will jump up in the nearest human lap to get away from the dog.

However, recently she has taken a huge liking to our neighbor dog, Riley. Last year Daisy would run to the fence to play with Riley, but Riley was a bigger scaredy cat than Daisy was and would run away. Apparently this year Riley has changed her mind. I was hoping to get the big play session they had the other day on tape (because it was absolutely adorable with Daisy running huge circles in the yard and back to the fence to greet Riley, along with lots of playful barking), but the carpet cleaner was here and I couldn't get to the camera to record it. Here is another interaction between the two.

I feel like a mother who watches her child make a new friend on the first day of kindergarten!

One year ago today...

it was 1 month until our wedding day! Can you believe it's almost been a year?! I sure can't. Anyway, I dug back through the archives to re-post whatever I'd written on March 26, 2008, but looks like I didn't do a post that day. Instead, here is the post from March 27, 2008.



The good news is Mr. is better. He went to work yesterday; albeit for a short time, but to work nonetheless. He was doing stuff around the house last night so I think he is feeling much better. The bad news is the male child has it now. He's been locked in his room for 2 days straight, coming out only once last night to feed. He won't let anyone nurse him--just festers in his room. At least he's not complaining and whining around. Some men are such babies when they're sick--thankfully, the two I'm living with aren't. In the meantime, I have felt crappy and then better so I don't know if my system is trying to fight it or what. I'd rather go ahead and get it and get it over with before we get closer to the wedding.

Speaking of the wedding, it was 1 month exactly yesterday! I can't believe it's so close finally. I went for my dress fitting yesterday. The woman is so nice and very reasonable with pricing. The bustle is gorgeous--probably my favorite part of the dress now. I'm not picking it up until the Wed. before the wedding. That makes me nervous, but doesn't bother the seamstress. I didn't have to have major alterations so she's not worried. Waiting that late, I won't have to store the dress out of the bag for very long once I get it back here. I was thrilled that she didn't have to let it out. I was so worried that I'd gained more weight since I picked it up, but if I have, it's not showing in the dress. I so wanted to be back to my normal size for the wedding but I don't think there's any way I can lose 15 lbs. in 4 weeks!! If I did, the dress wouldn't fit then and then I would be really freaking out about new alterations. Guess there's an upside to everything!

Lust

Yes, it's a very provocative title, but I'm not talking about the lust you think--gutter minds. I'm talking about camera lens lust.


Ever since Mr got me my awesome camera for Christmas, I've been lusting after lenses. So much so that when we talk about winning the lottery and what we'd buy, my first purchases are a computer to put Photoshop on and new camera lenses! It's bad.


I've got my eye on a little beauty that is so unbelievably cheap--under $100--that I don't think I can resist it. It will be the perfect complement to my shooting repertoire, giving me the effect I've been trying to achieve in portraits. Have you ever looked at the prices of camera lenses? They are unbelievable. Take a look at this little gem:


Any guesses as to how much this baby costs? Only a mere $10,600. Yes, that's American dollars. Right now I'm trying to decide if I want 1 or 2. Decisions, decisions.

I guess my doctors aren't quacks

I am feeling a lot better today. Still a little dizzy and a little weak, but I can hear out of my ear and actually feel good!! I'm going to try to get some stuff done today and maybe even try a light workout. Life is good today!

My weekend sucked

We went to a friend's house on Friday night and had a really good time, but after that, my weekend went downhill. I'm soooooo tired of talking about--and being--sick, but that's how I spent my weekend. I laid around all weekend because I felt so crappy. The dr. had taken blood on Thursday and called with the results on Friday--everything was normal even a white blood count, which, according to google, means I don't have an infection in my body. Why am I still sick and can hardly hear out of my ear still then? The ENT dr. pulled some stuff out of my ears on Friday which helped my "good" ear but did nothing for my "bad" ear. Over the weekend I experienced dizziness, nausea, fever, ear pain, throat pain, you name it, it seems. Again, according to google, it sounds like I have an inner ear infection but why then isn't my white blood count out of whack? Right now I'm pretty much at a loss as to my next move. I want to go to someone and insist on an antibiotic, but if I don't have a bacterial infection, that's not going to fix anything. My worry now is since I've been having this hearing problem all week that I might have long-term hearing problems in that ear. That really worries me. Not to mention, it is really wearing on me emotionally to feel so bad and not be able to do anything. This completely sucks.

March Madness ends

for my beloved Hilltoppers. Maybe next year. The good news is I actually watched an entire basketball game and was actually really into it.

Red wine

will not cure what ails you--as I found out after consuming several glasses last night.

First day of spring!

Yes, it's officially spring as of 7 something this morning. How do they know exactly when spring begins? Instead of just saying March 20th, they have to put a time to it. Cracks me up.

I am headed to the ear, nose and throat dr. this afternoon after a wasted trip to the regular dr. yesterday. She thinks I have a virus so no antibiotics. Telling her that this has lasted for 2 weeks already didn't seem to persuade her that it was anything more than viral. However, I still can't hear correctly out of one of my ears. She couldn't see anything but wax (ew, gross) so she suggested the ENT dr. I kinda wish I'd just gone to him first. Anyway, I'm not looking forward to the appt. today if they have to do wax extraction (ew, gross #2). I don't know if you've ever had that done, but sometimes it hurts--bad--and other times it's just a very weird feeling because your ear, nose, throat are all connected so if something comes out of one of them, you feel it in the others (triple gross). A very weird sensation to say the least.

I'm feeling extremely guilty because I have only worked out one day this week because I've felt so bad. I'm making myself workout today before the dr. appt. even if it's just a light workout. The guilt is killing me!

Hope everyone has good weather wherever you are for this first day of spring!

Blog Anniversary

Does a blog have birthday celebrations or anniversary celebrations? That is the big question today because it was 1 year ago today that I started this blog. After looking up the definition of "birthday" and "anniversary" (I sometimes think I have too much time on my hands), I've decided to call it a anniversary. I had planned on some big celebration, namely a good giveaway, but I am feeling so crappy that I don't even want to write this post so the celebration will have to wait. I do want to thank everyone who reads this blog. It means a lot to me. Keep reading and hopefully by next week I will be feeling better (I'm going to the doctor today) and we can celebrate then.

St. Patrick's Day

I've always liked this Irish blessing so here it is for you to enjoy this St. Patty's day! I've never "celebrated" St. Patty's day. That means, I don't think I've ever had a green beer. Can you believe that? I'm certainly not opposed to them, except I hate draft beer, but have just never had one. I doubt if I will be having one this year either.

I will tell you one tradition I hate for St. Patrick's day is the way people pinch you if you're not wearing green. Pinching hurts, people. Also, I have to believe it breaks some kind of social etiquette to pinch someone else. Don't they teach you in kindergarten to not do those kinds of things?

Today is also check in day on the healthy living front. I have lost another pound. Officially I am down 11 lbs and only have 7 more to my goal. I've decided I'm going to quit doing the check ins every week with my weight loss. I may update you from time to time whenever I feel like it and I will certainly let you know when I reach my goal weight, but for now, I'm growing tired of it. I may put a little something on the page that reflects my progress, but right now, I'm not sure about that either. I am still working out 3-4 times a week and trying to eat healthy with moderate portions. Now I'm just trying to decide what outdoor activity I want to start since the weather is getting warmer. Any ideas you all have would be greatly appreciated.

Today is not only St. Patty's day, but it's also the day I'm going to reveal what I did with that blank-ass wall over the couch.

For some reason this picture is blurry, but you get the gist.

What do you think? Did I copout by putting a mirror up? The size of the mirror is perfect for the space so I think I did good there. I'm wondering if I should've chosen a brown frame instead of black since the pillows are brown. I chose black because I have black picture frames sitting around. Who knows. All I know is Mr measured and measured and measured so it's staying there at least for a while. And, it's not blank anymore for which I am super happy.

Weekend in review

For me, I had a busy weekend this past weekend. Actually, it was really only a busy Saturday. I met up for the first time with a photography group I recently joined for a photo shoot. The organizers had arranged 2 beautiful models for us and originally we were going to shoot outside, but because it wasn't quite warm enough to be outside as long as we were going to be, we moved the shoot inside to a local hotel. It was such a great afternoon of shooting, meeting people and learning more about photography. I have a looooong way to go, but getting as much practice as possible is what will get me to my ultimate destination--becoming a better photographer. Here are a few photos from that shoot.

I don't love any of the photos I got. You cannot believe the pressure and to beat all, I was the second one to shoot! We all drew numbers--1 through about 35--and I got number 2. Talk about terrified. Everyone was standing around while I posed them and shot. Nerve-racking, baby. Anyway, I had a fantastic time and learned a lot.

Saturday night Mr and I went out to dinner with my cousins. We never all get together other than for a holiday and I really enjoy hanging out with them. We went to Buca di Beppo whose tagline is "Meatballs bigger than your head." That explains my teaser picture of the spaghetti. Here's a picture of me and Mr.

The lighting was terrible in the restaurant. It was quite a challenge for me to figure out how to take pictures without everyone looking orange. I had to tweak the pictures afterward and turn down the saturation like I had to do with baby P where she was jaundice. Again, a long way to go for this photographer wannabe. For some reason, I had a fascination with the food this particular night. Can you believe this is a small portion? In case you haven't been to a Buca before, they serve everything family style so this is meant to be shared with 2-3 people. Mr and I brought home a ton of food and ate pasta leftovers all day yesterday and still have some left!

That's enough pictures for today. Hope all of you had a great weekend too.

Teasers from the weekend

Friday the 13th...again

I can't believe we have 2 Friday the 13ths back to back. I'm not feeling quite as lucky as I did last month so I'm not sure if we'll go gambling tonight or not! I have a busy weekend that I'm looking forward to sharing with you on Monday. Sorry for the tease but I didn't want to make this post really long since I haven't posted any pictures in a while. I hate reading long posts with no pictures! Here's one just for the fun of it because I'm ready for summer, warm weather, beer and boas.

Some things I'm up to

--Trying to figure out why almost every day this week I've felt crappy at least part of the day. I guess I'm still fighting off whatever I had over the weekend, but every day I try to figure out am I being lazy or do I need to rest to get completely well. Each day seems to bring a new symptom too--sneezing my head off one day, runny nose the next day, earache the next day, sore throat revival another day. The really fun days are when several of these show up on one day.

--Am reading "Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Picoult. This is my book club's next selection and to tell you the truth, I didn't want to read it. The subject matter is a school shooting, reminiscent of Columbine. Who would want to spend their time reading something like that? But I will tell you, I've been pleasantly surprised. I got the book from the library on Tuesday and am almost already halfway done. The way she sections the book and also her writing style make the subject matter much more palatable. Her insights into each character's point of view are very poignant and just generally, I'm enjoying the book.

--Next week will be my blog's 1st anniversary!! Can you believe I've been doing this for a year already? I'm trying to decide what the big "blowout" celebration is going to be for the blog. Any ideas?

--My last photography class is tonight. I have the potential opportunity to take another class with one of the premiere wedding photographers in the city and I'm just waiting to see if that's going to come to fruition before sharing all the details. I'm super excited, but am totally putting it out there that if it's meant to be, things will fall into place. Waiting is the hardest part.

--I have found a potential solution to the blank wall in the living room that taunts me every time I walk in there. Sorry, you'll have to wait, like I am, on Mr before I can share. Again, waiting is the hardest part!

You know you're freakishly domesticated when...

getting the carpets cleaned is an exciting day for you. We are getting our carpets cleaned this morning and I am jazzed. You see, our little miss Daisy dog has started a new habit--peeing on the carpet--only steps away from the linoleum floor which would be preferable (if this habit has to happen). She does this during the night and we don't know why. She's never peed in the house before and we can't figure out why she's started now but what we do know is it's wrecking havoc on our carpet. We've started pulling up her water at night to dissuade this nasty habit and it seems to be working. The next step is putting her back in her cage at night so there's no nighttime wandering going on. Hopefully it won't come to that, but after the carpets are clean, the gloves are off!

By the way, I lost another 1 1/2 pounds on weigh in today. I am officially down 10 lbs.!! Now, only 8 more pounds until I'm back to where I was 2 years ago and hopefully, back into all my old summer clothes. Yay!

How I spent my weekend

So this is basically how I spent my weekend. I had a wicked sore throat that started late Friday night. When I woke up on Saturday, it was full-blown. Every time I swallowed it felt like razor blades in my throat. It was also in my neck so I figured I was well on my way to strep throat and had Mr look down my throat for white stuff. Thankfully, none ever came. Yesterday I still felt bad and slept almost all afternoon. When I woke up late afternoon, my sore throat and accompanying neck pain were gone. Today I'm feeling pretty good but still a little weak. Hopefully it's gone, but I'm going to take it kinda easy today just to be sure. It really sucks being sick, especially when Saturday was the prettiest day we've had so far.

In addition, last night we had our first tornado scare. The whole area was under a tornado watch or warning. While we were under the warning, it got a little scary here. Mr and I went outside to watch the sky and for a brief moment, it appeared there was a funnel trying to form. I'm terrified of tornados so thankfully the scare was brief, but I can't believe we're already having to worry about them this early into the season.

My Sister Friend

As an only child, I always wanted a sister--an older sister to be specific. I thought it would be really neat to have someone bestow their wisdom to me about boys, dating, makeup, just the general things an older sister would bestow. Of course, having a bad case of the "grass is always greener" syndrome, I never considered that these bestowments would probably also come in the form of harassment, fights, teasings, just the general stuff that comes from a younger/older sister situation.

As I've grown older, I've been fortunate to have many good friends over my lifetime. Some were only in my life for a short period of time. Some have left and returned to my life. And then there there is the one that started early in my adulthood and has sustained throughout. My sister friend.

To me, a sister friend is someone who has been with me through the ups and the downs of life. She is the one that no matter what happens, I know she is there. No matter what I tell her, she's not shocked. When something great happens or when something horrible happens, she is the first one I want to share it with--she's the first call. She's the one that knows my secrets from way back...the one who knew me when. The one who cheers me on when I doubt myself. The one who celebrates my victories louder than anyone else and consoles me after my failures. The one who loves and accepts me--warts and all. And what's more, I do the same for her. She is a sister in the truest sense of the word but the cool thing is I got to choose her.

This weekend is my sister friend's birthday. It's a big birthday...the exact number shall remain unnamed. Right now she is going through a very dark time in her life and because of that we aren't celebrating it right now with the blowout that she deserves. I hope you'll help me wish my dearest sister friend the happiest of Happy Birthdays!

And here's also hoping that all of you have a sister friend in your life.

Another recipe for you

I don't want this to turn into a recipe blog, but eating healthy is my focus right now so....

I had some broccoli that I needed to use the other night so I googled some recipes for it. It's amazing that hardly any recipes for broccoli don't contain cheese! I found tons of different recipes for broccoli casserole. It was discouraging because I started to think that's the only way you can fix it. Then, I found this recipe on allrecipes.com.

Broccoli with Garlic Butter and Cashews

1 1/2 pounds fresh broccoli, cut into bite size pieces
1/3 c. butter (I used less than this. I'm thinking you may not have to use at all)
1 T brown sugar
3 T soy sauce (I used low sodium soy sauce)
2 teaspoons white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 c chopped salted cashews (optional. I didn't use because I didn't have any)
corn starch

Place the broccoli into a large pot with about 1 inch fo water in the bottom. Bring to a boil and cook for 7 minutes or until tender but still crips. Drain and arrange on a serving platter.

While the broccoli is cooking, melt the butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Mix in the brown sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, pepper and garlic. Bring to a boil. You may need to use a little corn starch to thicken. Remove from heat. Mix in the cashews and pour the sauce over the broccoli. Serve immediately.

Because of the soy sauce, it tasted very oriental so I'm thinking it might be good with chicken stirred into the sauce mixture next time. Regardless, it's nice to find a recipe for broccoli that doesn't have cheese in it! If you all know of any others--other than boil and put a little butter on it--please let me know.

Spiderman, Spiderman

Just had to share this precious photo of baby J, one of my cousin's little boys. He's growing like a weed--5 months old, but wearing 18 month clothing! So they are dressing him in all the cute outfits that he will be too big to wear when it's season-appropriate. Isn't this adorable?!

Checking in

Miraculously, it seems I've lost 1/2 pound this week. Measurements have changed slightly--lost a little some places, seemed to gained in others. I'm recording it as a 1/2 inch gain for the week. After the weekend of eating I had this past weekend, it's a miracle that I didn't gain 2 or 3 pounds! I'm relieved to know that indeed I can eat what I want, as long as I watch the portions. And, of course, keep working out!

Please check this out

http://thepioneerwoman.com/confessions/ Monday Morning Cow

If this post by PW doesn't make you laugh out loud, you better check yourself for a pulse.

Weekend in review

Sorry it's been a few days since I last posted. We were actually kinda busy this weekend. Every time I sat down to write, though, I just wasn't inspired to say anything so that's the main reason there were no posts over the weekend.


Friday night I went to one of my aunts for girls' night. There were about 8 of us and we had a lot of fun. We ate dinner, talked and acted silly. It's always good to do that from time to time. Baby P was also there. Well, she's not exactly a baby--15 months old--but she is one of my favorite little people. I could sit and play with her all night, which I almost did!


Saturday night we went over to another aunt's and had an awesome dinner for my mom and my uncle's birthdays. My uncle's birthday is Valentine's day and my mom's birthday is this Wednesday. I made an awesome cake that took every bit of self-control I had not to consume the whole thing. It was just a box yellow cake, but I used the Pioneer Woman's icing recipe for her cinnamon rolls. I think I shared with you all how supremely awesome this icing is. Literally, I could eat it with a spoon out of the bowl without anything accompanying it! Surprisingly, it worked really well as an icing on a cake. It is a do-over for sure. Here's a couple of pictures from the night. Here's my aunt working hard to whip up the amazing dinner.



My mom and my uncle blowing our their birthday candles.

Mr posing with my cousin's rotten dog, Tyson. Of course, have you ever met a dog that wasn't rotten?


Proof of heretoforementioned rottenness!

My cousin M with his boy. (Picture needs cropped so overlook that)

Yesterday, after a few weeks of living with a file cabinet in the living room and an additional desk sitting on its end in the middle of the office, Mr painted the office and we moved the furniture into place. Painting sucks. Granted, I didn't paint. Mr is very particular about painting and he won't let me do it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not fighting to join in. I hate it and I'm a very messy painter, mainly because I get very impatient. The first wall usually looks good, but any walls after that--and bordering baseboards--look kinda like hell. Anyway, there was a lot of moving of crap, re-shuffling of furniture, taping of baseboards. Just a general sucking. Mr's trait of being very precise is a good thing, but it's also an annoying thing. I think my not helping with the painting probably saves us from countless arguments so it's all good.