Tomorrow, I will be spending Thanksgiving at my aunt & uncle’s house. And while I’m very grateful that they are hosting, I also dream of hosting myself one day. So that I can try my hand at creating a beautiful tablescape Thanksgiving or Christmas.
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I recently went on an online Ulta spending spree!! They were having a sale & I caved. Some of the items are for Christmas presents though unless I crack and open them for myself.
Do you want to see what I bought? No, well then good day to you, sir.
And if yes, then we’re two peas in a pod! Come on over & we can experiment with make-up and paint our nails.
1. Philosophy body wash in Honey Buns & Spiced Gingerbread Cookie.
2. Butter London Glam Rock nail polish set
A lot of my nail polish is old…like I seriously needed to throw away a few bottles years ago old. I’m going to force myself to purge old bottles to make room for the new. Too bad I just bit off my nails recently. I’ll have to wait for them to grow out before I can try out these colors.
3. Urban Decay’s Naked Shimmering Powder
Eh, I probably needed this powder like I need a hole in the head. I usually use a tinted mineral veil, but that’s not shimmering!!
4. Stila’s Waterproof Smudge Stick Eye Liner Set
I’ve been using Lancome’s liquid eye liner for years. And while I really like it, it’s hard to apply it in a thin line. I wanted to try out a color other than black for a change, but if you’re going to do green eye liner, it needs to be a thin line. Also, I’m sure that 34 year olds shouldn’t wear green eye liner, but that’s a discussion to debate with myself internally another time.
This set is meant to be a gift. But oh, I really want to try that pecan sugar scrub!
6. Urban Decay’s Naked Eye Shadow Palette
So this is actually the only thing I intended to buy from Ulta. I’ve had my eye on it (no pun intended) for a long time. But $52?! I’ve heard wonderful things about the colors though. I’d previously went the cheaper route and gotten the Naked Basic instead. And while I do like it, I wanted more options.
Thank you for humoring me in my make-up post! If you see any of these items way way cheaper at Ulta on Black Friday, don’t tell me about it! 
When you’ve been out of town, one of the best things about returning home is sleeping in your own bed.
Although I’ll sleep like a rock tonight, my bedroom is dull. I’ve always put more effort into decorating my living room and kitchen.
I’d like to take on the bedroom next year though. And I’m thinking a combination of white, gray, and red with the clock I bought yesterday being my inspiration. I’ll still want my white owl lamp too that I got as a gift last year. But everything else decor-wise can go.
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1. I’m loving all of the gift guides on How Sweet It Is.
I already bought a new planner from Erin Condren that was recommended on one of the lists.
2. Too cute!!!
3. 15 Signs You Are Obsessed With Your Dog
Yep
4. If you love Pitch Perfect like I do, you’ll love this video.
5. This red clock that I bought today from Josephine & Co.
When I go back to Kansas, I drive home instead of flying. It’s a 9 hour drive versus a 4-5 hour flight. But I figure that after you factor in time checking in at the airport, going through security, waiting at the gate, etc etc, plus the risk of flight delays & cancellations…I’ll drive. Plus it’s easier to drive with Haley than fly with her. Double plus, I can pack a ton of stuff and just throw it in my car. Triple plus, I have lots of time to catch up on my favorite podcasts.
Although, I obviously love listening to music, podcasts help the time go faster on a long car ride. I use the Stitcher app on my phone and here are some of my favorite podcasts.
8 of My Favorite Podcasts to Listen to
I probably listen to WTF more than any other podcast. I do generally skip the musical guest episodes, but all others I listen to regularly. A few of the more recent episodes I enjoyed: Illeana Douglas, Johnny Knoxville, Jim Breuer, Elijah Wood, and Laura Dern
It’s no surprise that I listen to Joy the Baker as Joy & Tracy are two of my favorite bloggers. They talk about totally important unimportant things. It’s basically like catching up with my two girlfriends, although they can’t hear me shouting my input at them. I only wish that they podcasted more.
3. Freakanomics
Freakanomics is great! Anytime I can learn something, while still being entertained, that’s a good thing. I recommend their recent episode about pet cremation. Okay that’s a bummer, but it was interesting.
They did an episode called The Upside of Quitting too. That episode was one of the factors that led me to quit my blog. Quitting my blog didn’t stick, of course, but the podcast helped me during a time of uncertainty.
There’s really no explanation needed on this podcast. Everyone knows This American Life and if you don’t, shame on you! You can catch episodes on NPR (as you can with several of the podcasts on my list), but the podcast is great as you can listen whenever is convenient for you. There are SO many excellent episodes. But if you’re new to the podcast, I suggest starting with the Harper High School episodes.
Alec Baldwin has a good radio voice, not surprisingly. And he has interesting friends, again not surprisingly. He does at times interject his own story into his interview, but not so much that I’m overly annoyed by it.
Ohhh I see that he interviewed David Simon, creator of The Wire, this summer. I’m sure I skipped the episode back then, but will listen now as I’m currently watching the show!
But my favorite Here’s the Thing episode to date had nothing to do with entertainment. It was his interview with Martin Horn, former NYC Dept of Corrections Commissioner.
6. Uh Yeah Dude
America through the eyes of two Americans! It’s a comedy podcast about things in the news, but nothing serious. It’s like Joy the Baker but with dudes. It’s a fun time. Listen while you’re cleaning & time with fly.
Seatbelts!
The Moth is a true story podcast. Taken from live shows across the country, it highlights great storytellers. I went to see a live broadcast of it in Austin last year. Here’s two of the stories that I listened to live:
http://themoth.org/posts/stories/from-the-archives-of-the-heartbroken-and-spiritually-bereft
http://themoth.org/posts/stories/good-guys-good-ol-boys
8. Radiolab
Sometimes Radiolab can be just…weird. But many times, Radiolab is thought provoking and that’s what keeps me coming back. The Blame episode had me thinking for days…especially the Fault Line story within that episode.
What are your favorite podcasts?
1. Finally having a good wine bottle opener. No more breaking corks in half & having to pry out the broken cork from the bottle. I got mine from Crate & Barrel.
2. Happy to have renewed my subscription to Entertainment Weekly. How else was I to stay informed about new movies & TV shows? I also find out about some great books here too. And who doesn’t love the Bullseye??
I usually only get an EW subscription when I have enough Coke Rewards points to cash in for it. My subscription runs out before I ever have enough points though. That’s when I drink more Diet Coke. Or I steal my Mom’s Diet Coke codes when I’m back in Kansas. Shhhh, don’t tell.
3. I’m still on a big tea kick. I just bought this sampler and oh yes…the honey vanilla camomile is the best!
4. One of my guilty pleasures is back….The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. It’s the only series of the franchise that I still watch. I stopped watching NY after Bethenny left. I only watched one season of Miami. Both Atlanta & NJ were too violent for me. And now that Gretchen won’t be back on the OC one anymore, I doubt I’ll watch that again. I’m still hanging in for Beverly Hills though!!
Hope that you’re all having a great weekend!!
It’s Formula 1 race weekend here in Austin at the Circuit of the Americas. Although I’ll probably only venture out to COTA for concerts, I did go downtown with Suzanna for Fan Fest.
My goal at Fan Fest was to see some wealthy international people in town for the race. I was thinking rich Middle Eastern man walking around with his harem of women and body guards. No such luck. We did see F1 driver Felipe Massa though. But that means nothing to me…is he good? You tell me.
I’m not a race fan, but I do certainly have a lead foot. On the way home this evening, it reminded me of a little story.
Once when I was younger (driving age though), I was driving from my friend Amy’s house to my friend Matt’s house. I was driving down Hoover Road which is a two lane road on the outskirts of town. It’s not a busy street and I always always sped on that street. It was the type of road that was fairly deserted and just begged to be sped on.
I quickly caught up to a car in front of me that was going much too slow for my taste. I decided to pass the car. Once I was in the other lane, I realized that there was a car in front of them too. Oh well, I’ll just gun it even more, I decided! So I passed both cars and was probably going about 20 miles over the speed limit.
Woooooo!
I continued on my merry way and pulled into Matt’s driveway. Another car pulled up behind me. It was my Mom & brother. What are they doing in Matt’s neighborhood?
JULIE LYNN!! GET OVER HERE NOW!!!
Ummmm oops…that second car I passed on Hoover was my Mom unbeknowndst to me.
JUST WAIT UNTIL I TELL YOUR FATHER ABOUT THIS!!
Uh oh! I was mortified due to the embarrassment of being yelled at in front of my friends. And I was scared to go home and talk to my Dad. Those Dad looks of disappointment are just killer.
I don’t really remember my punishment that day. Most likely I had to give my Dad back his Phillips 66 gas card for a while.
I still have a lead foot….not a 20 miles over one though! And I hardly ever pass anyone on a 2 lane road anymore.
The End.
Do you speed? Are you going to the F1 race this weekend? If so, tell Felipe hi for me!
Concert last week at Stubb’s to see Ben Rector & Tyrone Wells.
I read a blog post recently about New Year’s Resolutions. The post talked about how you should already be thinking about your New Year’s Resolutions.
What? No! I should live fancy free from Halloween until New Year’s Day. Well, maybe not.
The post suggested thinking about your New Year’s Resolution (or just one of them if you have multiple). Now think of several action items that can help you attain that goal. Decide on just one of those actions items and start focusing on it now. Theory being that it will slowly help you ease into the resolution instead of just having New Year’s Day be your D-Day.
So my New Year’s resolution is to lose weight. SHOCKING!! This is my goal (and so many people’s goal) every damn year. But maybe just maybe this will be the year!!
My one action item to start on now is to eat a salad every day. I know that eating more veggies is good for me, healthy, and will help me with my soon-to-be New Year’s Resolution.
Enter the hodge podge salad. A hodge podge salad is basically just throwing anything on a bed of lettuce. You can jazz it up or keep it super simple if you’re pressed for time. You can pretty much turn any previous night’s dinner into a salad the next day.
Here’s a few of my recent salads.
Arugula topped with sliced apple, walnuts, feta cheese & vinaigrette
Cobb salad that I grabbed while working from the office
I made Sloppy Joes for dinner recently. The leftovers became a fantastic Sloppy Joe salad!! Just throw the meat on top of lettuce and used mustard as the dressing.
My 2 ingredient slow cooker salsa chicken became a delicious salad. Versatile food like this is the best, especially for a single lady. I need to keep things interesting with so many leftovers.
Lettuce topped with carrots, celery, peas, tuna, and jalapeno ranch.
How often do you eat a salad? Have you decided on a New Year’s Resolution yet?
1. This tomato soup
Side note: I tried the low-sodium of this soup from TJ’s and it’s just gross. Blech. Bring on the salt bloat!
2. Shea Cashmere Shower Cream
3. More cuteness from Jane.com!
4. Simply Balanced Pomegranate Fruit Strips
I’m off to finish reading Allegiant. I’m about 75% done and still not sure I like the book. I definitely don’t love it, sadly.
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