The One With a Happy Saturday!

Things that are making me happy today:

1.) This book.

2.) The gorgeous trees in my area. It may still feel like 80 degrees, (EW) but atleast the trees are changing colors.

3.) Next week, the boyfriend and I are taking a couple of days to go and visit several State Parks close to us. One of the things on my bucket list is to visit all of the State Parks in MN, so this is a Big Deal.

4.) Honeycrisp apples. YUM.

5.) The Sing Off. One of our absolute favorite shows. We wait all year for it to start up again and this year it's going for 3 whole months instead of just 6 weeks. Yay! If you haven't seen it, you MUST. So much talent, it's ridiculous.

6.) I have been smoke-free for over a year now! SO proud of myself. :)

7.) Knitting this.

8.) Super cute banner class I'm taking on Monday at VIP Scrapbook.

9.) Cooler weather coming next week. Fingers crossed!

10.) My boyfriend.

The One Where I Remember

9/11/2001

I was at North Hennepin College, in history class. I remember walking out the door of class and my friends were there waiting for me. They told me that a plane crashed, and I just brushed past them. I was much more concerned about having a cigarette before my next class. Every tv in every hallway and classroom was on and tuned to the same channel. We watched together, and I realized the enormity of the situation, my cigarette long forgotten. I made phone calls to all of my family, boyfriend and friends. I remember being extremely worried and wondered what it meant, what it would bring, what we would do. I think about that day often. I will never forget.



My thoughts and prayers go out to all of those who lost their loved ones that day.

Where were you when our world stopped turning?

The One Where It's Almost Fall

This blog post was inspired by the Fall post that my friend Cynthia just posted on her blog, making me so very excited for the upcoming season.

Enjoying pumpkin spiced chai on a chilly morning. Long drives on country roads with the windows open, peeping beautiful changing leaves on the trees. Football games where you can see your breath. Pumpkin patches and apple orchards ripe with colors, fruits & children playing. These are some of my most favorite things about Fall.



I know that many people love Spring and Summer a lot and feel sad when they are over. I am one of those people that wait patiently through those two "S" seasons to get to my favorite season of all: Fall. One of my very best friends "hates" Fall (because it brings Winter) and I feel so sad for her. There is so very much to love about the season.



How can you not love these pictures and the feelings they invoke? Fall makes my heart feel full and happy.



I always look forward to September 1st because I bring out my autumn decorations for my home on that day, even if it happens to be 90 degrees. And Halloween is my favorite holiday; it's just so much fun!

All images taken from my pinterest (Need an invite to pinterest? Ask me! :)

What is your favorite season & holiday? Why?

The One With a Giveaway

Well, it's not me giving away the goodies, but another blogger that I've been following for many years. She has a cutie-cute babe named Scarlette & she's a rockin' scrapbooker too. So go here, check out her blog, and sign up for the giveaway! It's as easy as that. And who doesn't love beauty products?!

The One With Ten on Tuesday

The Ten on Tuesday topic for 8/2 is 10 Favorite Romantic Comedies. These are my favorite kinds of movies, so it was really hard to narrow it down to just 10.

1.) 50 First Dates
2.) Sweet Home Alabama
3.) The Holiday
4.) Going the Distance
5.) Wedding Crashers
6.) Couple's Retreat
7.) 10 Things I Hate About You
8.) Forgetting Sarah Marshall
9.) Knocked Up
10.) Love Actually

Want to participate in Ten on Tuesday? Sign up here.

The One With a Meme

A couple of my blog friends did this meme a few days ago and I thought I'd join in.

Age: 30
Bed Size: King
Chore You Hate: Vacuuming
Dogs: Corgis & french bulldogs have my heart :)
Essential start of your day: Music in my car on my way in to the office
Favorite color: Blue
Gold or silver: White gold
Height: 5'3"
Instruments I play (or have played): Clarinet (17 years ago, yikes!)
Job title: Office manager
Kids: Someday
Live: Southeastern MN
Mom’s name: Jean
Nickname: Jess
Overnight hospital stays: None
Pet peeve: Bad drivers, people who don't watch their children
Quote from a movie: Oh I could never pick just one
Right or left handed: Right
Siblings: Two younger sisters & a younger brother
Time you wake up: between 8:07 & 8:37 am
Underwear: Bikini
Vegetables you dislike: Cooked carrots--but I love 'em raw!
What makes you run late: Hitting the snooze
X-rays you’ve had done: Teeth, wrist
Yummy food you make: Meat wrapped in meat, on top of meat. (I should share that recipe here!)
Zoo animal: Penguins, giraffes, hippos

Did you play along? Leave me a comment and I'll check it out! ;)

The One Where It's Back to Life, Back to Reality

Well, we are back from vacation. Let me just tell you, it was 10 much needed days away from work, our disaster of a house and the real world. We had such a blast and really did not want to come home on Friday.

We went to 2 baseball games, one in Milwaukee and one in Chicago. I visited 2 knitting stores & came home with what seems like a metric ton of new yarn (yarn diet starts NOW). We spent a lot of time with family, which was fantastic. We went to Summerfest and the Navy Pier.

All in all, it was a wonderful get away that the two of us greatly needed to recharge after what seemed like two months of working 55+ hour weeks, moving (twice!) and just a general lack of relaxation.

I will be back soon with lots of pictures of everything that we did, but for now it's back to reality. How is summer going for you? I cannot believe it's almost half over already!