The influence of Oz on todays movies,according to John

Sometimes I wonder if John and I are really a perfect match, cinematically speaking of course.  I 

know he's my match in every other way because eharmony told me so, jk, we met on jdate, still jk .  

He's never seen Talladege Nights for instance and I quote that movie like it's the 2nd coming, "Thank

 you sweet baby Jesus." I made reference to Hot Tub Time Machine last week and I got a blank stare. 

 This morning I woke up after being sick and he was gone.  I called out to him, searched the upstairs,

looked in the driveway for his car, yep he was gone.  So I did the logical thing, I got on facebook to

see if he had updated his whereabouts. Obviously, I was not feeling well, because that was the

stupidest idea ever. John rarely updates his status.

Then he came home, he had gone to get a haircut. I hugged him and jokingly said, " I couldn't find

 you, NEVER leave me again...But if you do I'll find yooooooooooouuuuuuuu!!!"  

NameThatMovie!!!!  John smiled at me and said," Oh, that's that ugh, movie, The Wizard of Oz."

Excuse me? Oz? Who am I with?!?! 

I shook my head and explained to him that the correct answer was wedding crashers and then shook

my head again and asked him," The Wizard of Oz?"

"Yea you know Dorothy says it when she wants to go home."  Wow, I had no idea that the writers of

Wedding Crashers were plagiarists. I am shocked and ashamed.

 

Source

 

 

Source

The Friday Five, A new way to make grilled cheese, Salt N Pepa , tents, healthy snack and a quote

 

 

 

It's Friiiiiiiiiiday, and while I can't help but love me some weekend, I feel like this week went entirely

 

 too fast. It's almost the end of summer and I want to soak up every last second of it. Too bad I slept

 

through yesterday...word to the wise, when they say wean yourself off of a medicine, heed their

 

advice. 48 hours cold turkey and I wanted to die. Nightmares about my whole facebook friend list

 

and zaps of dizziness are not fun. Weaning I shall go. 

 

1)I have a new favorite snack. Frozen bananas with Peanut butter, they are so ridiculously good. The

trick is to only freeze them for about 10 minutes. Or pop them in the microwave for a few seconds to

get them a tad softer. I'm using my fav organic pb I blogged about here, mmm so good! Just slice the

bananas add some pb and freeze, easy peasy lemon squeezey!

source

               I know the pic shows choc. chips, but I eliminated those!



2) Sometimes, ok half of the time I burn grilled cheese...but after this little pin I never have to use a

pan again. You just toast on the side! Don't ask me why but every time I see this picture I have

to fight off the urge to sing Kriss Kross "Jump."  Probably the same urge that when E needs to push

something like his helmet clasp at Tball practice (in front of all of the other parents mind you) I told

him he just needed to," Push it, push it real good."  I should be ashamed, but I'm not. Ain't not shame

in my Salt n Pepa game!  Did I mention I'm a Tball helper mom?!

Source

 

 

3)I have a new exfoliating face wash that I AM IN LOVE with.  My friends bought it first, raved

about it, I waited 24 hours and when they seemed ok (jk Kristin and Christa, kind of), I went ahead

and bought it.  It's the Botanics brand from target and it makes my face feel like a baby's butt.



4) I slept in a tent in my house all last weekend.  The boys were supposed to go camping, it rained,

lemonade out of lemons.  The tent went up, my back went out. Although I did finally watch Toy Story

3 in it's entirety and man, what a cute little movie!  Flashlights were used in full force for E's benefit,

despite the presence of light switches.   The only bad thing is E now thinks it's acceptable to always

sleep in a tent in our home.


5)Isn't this the truth?

 

source

 

 

~Lauren

 

Midweek Confessions, road etiquette, first day of school and working out

It's Wednesdays again, ya'll know what that means! Time to link up with some of my fav blogs over

at Elizabeth's site and confess to our hearts desire. This week I'm sharing something that I need to get

off of my chest, road etiquette. Lets start with turn signals, they're there for a reason folks. I hate

that I can't make a turn into traffic when someone has a turn signal on b/c 9 times out of ten they

forgot to turn it off. Or even better they didn't have a turn signal on and I could have already made

my exit when they just blindly made their turn. THANKS. Speed limits, they are set for a reason.

While I use them merely for suggestive purposes, you , nice person in front of me do not need to go

15- 20 miles under the speed limit. I would like to make my destination sometime before my next

birthday. Honking, must we honk at everything? I realize we are all in a hurry but one honk from the

car in front of you will suffice. All 20 of us do not need to honk. The passing Lane, while on the

interstate I have a bad habit of staying in the left lane. However, I speed. If you are going to hog the

left lane, do not drive at 30mph. Either stay ahead of traffic or LET ME PASS!!!! Oh and that finger

you just gave me, I don't care...you're 5th in line buddy, I've got a whole hand now.

source

Moving on.

This was E's first week of Kindergarten. He looked like such a big boy in his polo, dress pants, shoes

and belt. I took the mandatory 1st day of school photo with a chalkboard and he was sent on his

merry way. His mom has decided to send him BACK to daycare for before and aftercare much to our

 chagrin and it took everything in me not to pick him up at noon on his first day so that he wouldn't

sit for 5 hours in an afterschool program.  Being that I have no say in the matter leaves me feeling

pretty helpless and heartbroken for the kid. We've offered to take him and our offer has been denied.


Shockingly, I've used my frustration for good! My yoga pants have finally seen some exercise! I've

 done the unthinkable, I worked out. Monday I walked 1.5 miles. Tuesday my friend said lets skip

and I DRAGGED her out of the house to walk 2.5 miles and this morning I went to the gym and used

 the elliptical for 30 minutes. New leaf. I may just need new yoga pants soon for a whole different

reason than ever before, mine may be too big!

~ Lauren

Estate Sale Finds

Yesterday, a friend and I went to an estate sale.  The sale itself was a blog post in itself, but I'll save

that for another day.  I can't wait to start painting and chalking! Here's a quick look at some of my

 treasures.

 

Love this long mirror.  There is so much detail and it is HEAVY, solid wood.  I can't decide if I want

 

 to keep it as a mirror or chalk it.

 

 

This wooden oval piece is so cute.  It's calling for some paint and a chalkboard in my opinion.

 

 

Chalking this one for sure.  For some reason I want to make this coral, what do you think?

 

A little seaside escape.  The print has a thumb print size push through it so I may re-do the frame and

 

 put in another print.

A little vintage charm

I have a gallery wall in the works that will be featuring boats, how cute would this be on it?

 

 

 

And last but not least, let me introduce you to Polly, our newest

 

 addition.  How cute is this little statue?  I couldn't pass her by.  I think she'll look like great with a  

 

coat of silver or gold spray paint!  What do you think?!

 

Lauren

 

 

 

 

Linking up with

 

 

 

 

Bob Dylan Somehow Predicted my diet

"The times they are a changing" Bob Dylan

No joke Dylan speaks the truth.  My breakfast is proof of this.  I ordered oatmeal over my beloved

blueberry pancakes this morning.   Ok, well if you want to be technical, I also ordered a Belgian

 waffle, but It was burnt.  Like crispy, dark brown, tastes like burnt toast burnt.  So I sent it back, and

 got the same waffle back.  Somehow they managed to glue in that missing bite, but it was the same

waffle, I'm sure of it.  So I took one more bite and put my napkin on top of it.  I declined a 3rd

attempt.

Now if you read yesterday's post I spoke of my love of PB oreos.   However, those lil guys have left

me high and dry for almost a year now, while double stuf have stood by and held down the fort all by

their lonesome.   And if there's one thing you should know about me it's that I'm loyal.   I'm not one to

 forget my tried and true friend just because some new kid comes into school with  some neon bangle

 bracelets.  So in my haste to buy those PB oreos, I made sure to grab a pack of double stuf to prove a

 point.  No, not that I'm a fat ass, but that you've done well double stuf.  Keep up the good work my

trusty friend.  Getting to my point...As I'm sitting here, still hungry from my oatmeal.  I started

craving some sweets.  I grabbed a cold glass of milk and some cookies and that's when it hit.  It

literally knocked the wind out of me.  Here I am eating double stuf oreos dipped in milk and all I

want is cottage cheese with fresh peaches.  Who is this person?!  Next I'll be wearing workout clothes

to workout out in.  Speaking of which, seriously If one more person asks me if I just came from the

gym this week......

 

YUM  

 

Friday 5, 5 Things I discovered this week

1)After much hoping and praying they finally returned to me, my beloved PB Oreo's. I almost cried a

single tear of joy while grocery shopping last night. These bad boys came out last year and I could

 only find them at 1 single, solitary Target before they left me. If you're old young enough you may

 remember when E.L. Fudge cookies had a chocolate cookie with pb inside, these remind me of them

and of being a kid. John timidly asked if he could try one last night and said between bites that, "Oh

my GOD these are like crack" (disclaimer, we do not now, nor have we ever done crack.) " These

should be illegal, they're so good." I nodded in agreement, then hid them when he wasn't looking.

                                                                             Source


2)Obsessed with this amazing quote and print that I found on pinterest.  I can't wait to either frame it

or write it on one of my chalkboards! Isn't it adorable!?

                                                                                 Source


3)We all have a blender, we've all used it a time or two. Mine is currently dusty after surviving my

smoothie phase. No judgment. How cool is this though, Let's say you break your blender, first

instinct is to throw it away, right?! Nope...you break out the trusty mason jar and voila back in

business baby. A standard mason jar fits any blender. Also perfect for when you want to blend a tiny

amount of something and are too lazy to clean the whole blender!

source

 

 

4)If your mind isn't currently blown by the above, how bout this one...in an emergency a crayon will

 

burn for 30 minutes? How cool is that? We all have crayons lying around, or at least I do. But

 

seriously, who figures this stuff out?  I saw this one on Pinterest, but the original source was

 

unknown.

 

5) If you are a fan of the Kardashians or can't stand them, then I saved the best for last. I definitely

 

wasted /enjoyed 2 hours of my life after discovering this lady on youtube last week. She has a show

 

on VH1 called "Stevie TV" where she parodies everyone and she is GOOD. here's my fav. clip,

 

enjoy!

 

 

 

Brutus

A week before I spied Brutus; I locked eyes with a poodle.  He was quite cute, but had a chip on his

 

 ear and I had to pass him by.  I thought about him for the entire week and vowed that if he was still

 

there when I went back, he would be mine.  Alas the poodle had found a home with someone else,

 

but Brutus was in his place.

 

The minute my eyes fell upon his I knew it was love.  I walked by him once. I started to sweat,

 

knowing that I had just committed the golden rule of thrifting and ran back to him as slowly as I

 

could trying not to cause a panic amongst the other shoppers.  I didn't want to let on that there was a

 

 treasure among us.  I finally let out the breath that I was holding as my hands clasped upon him. He

 

 was mine.

 

I gently placed his handcrafted and hand painted self onto the checkout and wondered how anyone in

 

 their right mind could give him up.  He was a little pricey for my Salvation Army standards but I

 

could not risk losing him.  I raced home and found him a permanent residence on the bookshelf.

 

 

 

 

 

When John came home I instructed him to "find" our new treasure.  He pointed out a few items and

proceeded to compliment them. I informed him that we had owned these pieces for quite some time.

And then he got quiet and asked the million dollar question, "what are we going to do with him?"

 

"HIM?!?! That's Brutus, We're going to either give him to my sister or keep him. Isn't he fabulous?"

They say silence is golden. When I texted my sister his picture her response of "WTF" sealed the

 deal. Brutus had found his home among the books and my heart.

 

Go visit some friends over at

 

 

 

The Friday 5, Five things You Don't know

 

Five Things You May Not Know About Me

 

1) When I was younger I was terrified of the Loch Ness monster. When it came out that it was fake, I

wanted to personally assault the man who came up with the idea of Nessie for the years of torment

that he caused me.

Nessie

2) The show hoarders is one of the only things keeping me from letting my hoarding tendencies take

 over our home. The show scares me to pieces, as does our garage.




3) I have lived in 3 different states; and I think that they are hands down 3 of the best states in the

USA. Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia have brought us the Steelers, The

WVU Mountaineers, Primanti sandwiches, fries on salads, gorgeous scenery & beaches and my

fiancé.

A primanti's sandwich, yummy

4)I am obsessed with my cats. Especially Minnie the, "cat only a mother could love." If it wasn't for

John enacting  our "no more pet" rule I would be the cat lady.

           "How to store and organize your cats"


5)I was the last person in the world to stop believing in Santa Claus, last year.

midweek confessions...My confession, Bethenny Frankel, and why I need friends

 

Each week I tend to get a little more personal on here. This week I'm sharing something that only

those who call me know. I haven't checked my voicemail in years, on purpose. My voicemail should

read, " hang up and text me." I hate listening to messages. So I stopped.  Don't tell me I should delete

 them, it's just annoying and I won't. It's so pointless, as soon as I delete them, they fill up

immediately anyways. I hate hearing, "hi, it's me." I'm sorry but unless you're my cat, I probably

won't recognize your voice and i'll be pondering who you are the entire message instead of listening

to the content of your message. Oh, and the long drawn out messages with the date, time, where you

 are, what you are buying, wearing, drinking, seeing.....I'm not listening, you may as well stop now. I

don't miss those messages. Trust me. My philosophy is that if it's that important, you'll call me back.

If you're stuck on the side of the road, dying or there is free candy available somewhere, you'll text

me ASAP. So far this method is working for me. Those who know and love me accept me as is.

 Anyone who tries to send me to Voicemailers Anonymous should be on the do not call list in my

opinion.

 

                              call me maybe

Speaking of talking...is it sad that I'm really excited for Bethenny Frankel's new talk show.  I'm not a

 big talk show person, but this one actually looks pretty good. Or at least the two promo's I've seen for

 it have been edited fabulously! I liked her on the real housewives of NYC and went back and forth

 on how I felt about her during her feud with her castmate and her relationship drama with her

husband. But overall, girls got spunk and I admire that. What's your take on her?


Everyone does stupid things once in awhile, mine happened this week.  I lost my phone, in the car. I

could not find it for 15 + hours. I looked and looked. I was using it and placed it on top of my purse

in the passenger seat. Then I went around a bend and my purse fell over and there went my phone.

Thank goodness I had out of town guests and made them help. My friend C found the phone in the

backseat lodged between the mat and the console. God bless her. Did you do anything stupid this

week?

~Lauren

"Boot Scootin Boogie", Cute Boots for Fall

 

It's getting to be that time again. The weather is getting colder, the leaves are starting to fall from the

 

 trees and my tears are starting to form. Don't get me wrong, I adore fall for 5 reason; Halloween,

 

Halloween decorating, Halloween candy, football and boots.  But it is with much sadness that I come

 

 to terms with the fact that in a mere few weeks I will have to put away my beach towels and

 

sunscreen for the year. I wait for summer like a child anticipating Santa Claus. I dream about it, I

 

count down the days and when it's over I get that glazed over look in the eyes that says, "really,

 

there's no more? Are you sure? Did you check underneath the couch?" So, it is in hopes of cheering

 

 myself up that I present to you.......

 

 

 

Lauren's top picks for Fall Boots

  

 

Banana Republic

 

Madly crushing on these. Simple, yet will go with everything.

 

 

                                                                                            Enzo Angiolini

  Love this shade of blue! Will look amazing with black or brown tights and dresses/skirts.

                                                                                        Seychelles

  Gotta love the mixed texture on these little guys.

                                                                                            Aerin

I love a nice pop of animal print every now and then! No I'm not from Jersey, but they do make for
some fab.tv!

                                                                                        Enzo Angiolioni

     This is the mullet of shoes. boring in the front, party in the back.

  Ella Moss

 

Leave it to Ella to make a moss colored shoe look A-Okay.

 

                                                                         Frye 

Love the company, love this boot. How cute would these be with jeans or a skirt, they're a little bit

 

 country!

 

 

 

 

Jessica Simpson

or in this color.....I couldn't decide which color and fabric I liked more.

 

                                                                                         Loeffler Randall

                                                                                              Everything.

                                                                                              Frye

Last but certainly not least, how cute are these Navajo inspired boots?! Love them, need them, want

them. Which pair are your favorite?

~Lauren