My Distractions...

Well let's see... what has been going on in my world?  You see, I always get really behind on blogging, and then I get a chance to catch up on things and I will do several posts at 1 time & back date them so it kinda makes it look like I posted on the correct date but really I didn't post about that weekend until 2 or 3 weeks later (so scroll down after this post b/c I posted 3 more new ones today when I was on a blogging roll!).  I just surprisingly don't put my own blog 1st & instead spend my time reading everyone else's blogs every night.  I also usually only blog about my weekend "events" but here is a random post of things that are going on in my world right now...

 -TWILIGHT: I won't go crazy obsessed for my non-Twi-Hard blog readers sanity, but yep... I am only like 5 years late to this whole phenomenon, but several months back (I think I mentioned this on my blog at the time) Ben & I rented the 1st Twilight movie & really enjoyed it (I had never read the books & up until that point thought all the hype was silly).  After seeing the 1st movie I was hooked.  Then my sisters & I went and saw New Moon as soon as it came out in the theatres & I saw it a 2nd time with Ben!  After watching both of these movies I was so curious what would happen next but don't have ANY time to read actual books, so I asked for the Audiobooks for Christmas.  Ben gave me the Twilight Audiobook for Christmas & I listened to it in a matter of days while working, I quickly ran to Barnes & Noble and bought the New Moon Audiobook, & then my sisters gave me the Eclipse & Breaking Dawn Audiobooks for my birthday (a week early b/c I was already done w/ New Moon & didn't want to wait!).  I finally finished "reading" them all on Feb. 12th & I have to say I am SO glad I joined the following!  They were SO good!  (but I warn against these audiobooks in that they are so addictive that I didn't ever talk on my phone when I was in my car b/c I was constantly distracted & wanting to listen to my books!) 

-HOUSE: As you may have read in the questionnaire I did on Natalie's blog for my birthday, my goal for the year is for Ben & I to sell our house & move back to Mobile.  Our house has been For Sale by Owner for probably almost a year now (I can't remember exactly when we put the sign in the yard last year).  We know that the economy and housing market is really horrible right now so that is the main problem we are having.  The fact that we don't NEED to move but just really WANT to is the reason why we initially weren't really "in any hurry" and so still haven't gotten a realtor who will take a big chunk out of our profit/breakeven.  I personally want to move like...yesterday... no matter what it takes, while Ben is being more practical (stubborn) and is only thinking about the money aspect & isn't willing to lose money on the house (well, duh, isn't everyone losing money on houses these days?).  It's just one of those things I wish we could be done with and moved but I can't MAKE it happen... { sigh }

-WORK: It's so crazy to think that this time last year I was still unemployed!  I have been with my new company for over 8 months now & I am so lucky to have a job after the long job search I went through and with the industry I'm in still laying people off all the time.  Things have been shaken up lately; I got a new manager & when that's my only real contact with my company (& talking to coworkers over the phone) since we are all hundreds of miles away from each other, it's a BIG deal to get used to... but I am still going strong, working hard, and trying to remain positive about the future.  My new manager came down & rode w/ me this week & was very complimentary about what he observed so I feel confident in how I am doing, things have just been extremely crazy lately.  I have been really busy b/c even though I am only in the field 3 days a week, I have a lot of at home reports and computer work... 

-SICK: Yeah, It was bound to happen some time with me in and out of pediatrician's offices all day long & sitting in chairs that snotty nose babies and kids with the flu and all kinds of yucky bugs floating around... I was off on Mardi Gras day but woke up for work Wednesday morning not feeling very well. I didn't think much of it so I headed out but was miserable all day long, feeling nauseous, rumbly stomach, & then my last call of the day almost passed out in front of a Doctor.  By the time I got home & took my temperature it was 102.7!  Long story of sparing you the details short, I caught some fort of virus & had a non-vomiting form of the stomach bug for 3 FULL DAYS!  Since I never threw up & never lost my appetite I was still able to eat some chicken noodle soup, macaroni & cheese, & other bland foods, so I didn't lose any weight like most people do with the stomach bug (darn)!  Saturday morning I woke up feeling back to myself.... until I woke up w/ stuffy nose/sinus issues this morning.... (Ben decided to have some sort of sinus infection this whole week).... 'tis that time of year huh?  

so, lovely blog readers, who I hope are still around & reading here even though I'm not always around... how are YOU doing? 

Mardi Gras Ballin'

Mardi Gras is something we are quite used to here in Mobile & actually tried to avoid when we were younger.  When we would get a week off of school, our family would usually take that time to head out and go skiing or take some other kind of family vacation.  This year I realized that it had been about 8 years since I had truly been to a Mardi Gras parade!  I just grew up with it and it's novelty wore off a little bit.  But now at this age, the events have changed and participation in Mardi Gras is fun in a different way. 

Austin & Stephanie invited us to attend the MOT (Mystics of Time) Ball with them &several other friends of theirs this year and Ben & I were excited because we had never been to MOT.  The day started out early by getting all dressed up and going downtown around 5pm to catch the parade!  

Then we headed to a restaurant/bar nearby downtown called THE ROYAL SCAM to have some dinner & drinks until the ball started. 

Stephanie & I

Andrea, Stephanie, me, & Paige

Ben & I

around 11 PM it was time to walk to the civic center for the ball!  We had a blast dancing to the band front row almost all night long.  The band was quite eclectic & hilarious...

Thanks for the tickets guys! We had a blast!

We had a taxi "scheduled" to come get us at the end of the night & take us home, but of course that went awry & the taxi company hung up on us (AKA Stephanie, poor thing) & never came to get us.  Eventually we found an 8 passenger van/taxi service to take us home but we were worried we were going to be stranded for a little while there!

The next morning came very early because Ben & I had ANOTHER Mardi Gras daytime ball to attend on Sunday (Valentine's Day)!  OOM (Order of Mystics) is such a fun daytime party that we attended for the 1st time last year (as you can see from this blog post) & were so glad to get invited to go with his boss again.  Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures all day, but the weather was gorgeous & we had a great time seeing people & were exhausted by the time the festivities were over!  Since we didn't get to celebrate Valentine's together with a real date that day, we had date night Monday night, where we went to STIX & had sushi for dinner and then went to see Valentine's Day the movie (which was a cute date movie, for the occasion of course, FULL of big stars!).  We liked it low key & decided not to exchange gifts this year. 

HAPPY MARDI GRAS!

Just the 6 of Us

We are so lucky to have a great group of friends in Mobile that you all probably notice reoccurring on my blog a lot!  We spend as much time together as possible on the weekends whether we're headed out of town or staying in.  I think we're really lucky as couples that all of the girls and guys get along with each other & it's not just, the girls are friends & we force our husbands to hang out with each other.  Katie & I have been friends since childhood, Austin & Ben met through work, Ben & Jody will go play golf together, Katie became the Bradford's realtor, the Bradfords & us go to church together... we are just all intertwined & have such a good time together. 

Saturday night before the SUPERBOWL, Katie & Jody, Austin & Stephanie, and Ben & I all went out to eat Los Rancheros Mexican for dinner.  Afterwards we went to Austin & Steph's to sit around the fire pit which Ben & I had brought over from our house!  The boys had a great time chopping down trees in the backyard so that we could have some firewood! 

The girls

The boys taking a break from using the AX

Harper was there too!  After all, he is still our baby & goes everywhere with us! haha

Our friends are great & allow us to spend the night in their guest bedrooms all the time so we don't have to go back over the bay.  That night we stayed at Katie & Jody's house & then Sunday we all gathered back at the Bradfords to watch the SuperBowl!  I made 2 appetizers & Stephanie cooked Red Beans & Rice for dinner so that we felt a little bit Cajun (GO SAINTS!)!  We had a great time cheering the New Orleans Saints to victory & had fun weekend with our friends! 

Lovin' the LOFT

Ann Taylor LOFT has been my favorite store for quite some time now.  One weekend Ben & I were going to a wedding out of town when I realized that pretty much every article of clothing I had packed for the weekend (from casual shirts to dressy fun outfits to go out in... including the dress to wear to the wedding), were ALL from the LOFT.  Alot of my work clothes these days are from there too!  Somehow I got on their magical mailing list & get a continuous flow of 20% OFF coupons in the mail too, so I make sure to only purchase when I have one!  

So, I was very excited when I noticed right before Christmas that one of the blogs I read was doing a LOFT gift certificate giveaway (sponsored by BlogHer of course)!  All you had to do was leave a comment saying which outfit you liked best and you were entered to win a FREE $200 gift card!  At the end of the "rules" I noticed that there were 15 more blogs doing the same giveaway & you were welcome to enter on all of the blogs, so I did just that... I went to every single one and told them which outfit was my favorite and that I would love to win.  Really it was easy, because almost every blog included an option with a LOFT dress or shirt that I already owned.  So I would make a comment like "outfit #2 is my favorite! I actually own that dress!  I would love to win the gift card, thanks!" 

Yes, you guessed right... why else would I be blogging about this, unless I actually WON!!!! YES, I got an email a few days after the contest ended and my comment was randomly selected on one of the blogs I entered in!  What are the odds?  I never win stuff (well I guess I can't ever claim that again)!!!  The girl was so sweet & complimentary & after some paperwork & release forms (yeah I nearly had to sign my life away, but I truly did get it for FREE) I received my $200 Gift Card in the mail last week!  

Now, who's coming shopping with me????

The wrong side of my 20's

Well, that's where I have been told I officially am now... on the wrong side of the 20's.  I turned 26 years old on January 29th, and to be honest it didn't bother me one bit!  (The only part that bothers me is that for the next 7 months I will be a "year" older than Ben!)

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Luckily I don't work on  Fridays, so I had the day off, but everyone else was working or already up at the hunting camp starting their weekend early, so that meant the beginning of my day was pretty routine & spent on the computer at home!That afternoon we all loaded up and Austin, Stephanie, Ben, Harper, & I headed up to the hunting camp to meet up w/ my family for the last weekend of hunting season (and our last weekend at our hunting camp since we aren't going to be at this place next year). 

Ben got tons of yummy birthday desserts from Pollman's Bakery in Mobile...

well, except for the fact that the cake kinda looked like a week old grandmother's Easter cake (no, he didn't preorder)... we all got a good laugh out of that :)  at least it tasted good! 

the more candles the better, right? 

I had an awesome birthday & everyone was so generous... a few gift highlights:

my wedding invitation gorgeously framed (from my parents)

an ipod touch (from Ben)

Twilight series audiobooks (from my sisters)... more on that later...

We missed the Roe fam being there, but Natalie wrote the sweetest birthday post to me on her blog, which was so fun to read.  Go HERE if you want to learn a little more about me & see some fun pictures too. :) Thank you for all the birthday wishes!