Birthday Wish List 2016

Well it looks like thirty-five is inching ever closer...

I have eighteen days before I officially hit my mid-thirties.  No need to in fretting over anything - I do not feel what I thought you would feel at thirty-five.  I think I'll probably the rock the fool out of it but ya know that's what I do.  Rock on.

Every year I make a birthday wish list.  It is more of a reminder to self type of thing for items I like and may want to splurge on.  This year's list is a little more necessity than anything (a sign of getting older haha.)

1.  ASICS Gel Numbus

Amazon

2.  Cute Fitbit Flex bands.  My pink is really worn out and really boring.  I'm thinking I need my favorite neutral...leopard!  Or maybe a cute floral...

amazon

3.  My husband will just adore this (not)....but I want this and this!

amazon

 

4.  This should technically be number one instead of number four.  My little old lady of a lap top is near death.  It is missing keys, part of the keyboard doesn't work correctly, its slow.  Bless it's heart it keeps on trucking and I'm very appreciative for that.  I really want a new laptop before 2017 rolls in and this one is on my list....

amazon

5.  A get-a-way

This one is just up the road in Boone, NC.  Where's the hot tub?

Just a weekend away from my regular duties.  There isn't any place in particular just away.

So there is my list-o-matic.  I could have went on and on and listed things like Three Thieves Cabernet, Target gift cards, a date night, brown riding boots, Williams & Sonoma Bakeware, ya know but I decided to put the brakes on.  LOL.

Are you a Scorpio or Sagittarius with an upcoming birthday?  If so what are some things you have your eye on?  Maybe you're looking ahead to Christmas?  Share away, I love it!

xoxo

Amanda

What A Weekend!

Hello friends!  It has been a hot minute hasn't it?  I miss you guys and blogging daily and maybe soon I'll be able to get organized and find time to do it regularly again.  Until then let me tell you about our weekend.

Friday!

Every 70+ year old on the store was commenting on my rare buggy of gourdnes.

I spent Friday morning and afternoon shopping.  Yeah, no, not the fun kind!  Shopping for our Eat, Drink, Carve Party.  I was in Sam's a little longer than expected thanks to locking my keys in my car.  Eeeek!  Luckily, the hubby was able to bring my spare key.  Since I had to stretch my time out a little more in there I decided to go ahead and walk through the Christmas section (something I had planned to not do that day, I'm not ready!) and I kind of fell in love with this little (ok, kind of large) decoration!

Saturday night my kiddos spent partying and playing at our YMCA and mama got some down time.  I had planned to do all this stuff for the party but ended up in sweats, on the couch, watching Don't Be Tardy.  I know, I know that is shameful.  You know what else is shameful?  Me watching Catching Kelce.  When I admit this to you I feel the need to apologize profusely.

Saturday!

This was my work look.  Pig tails, don't care, let's rock!

If you follow me on SnapChat then you spent Saturday with me by watching my story.  If you don't follow me on SnapChat then do so right this minute - abullnojoke is my username.

So Saturday was the official party day and I was super busy all day long.  I woke up and put the chili together in the crock pot so it could cook the day away.  I did housework (which was a total joke since the kids were home).  The kids and I made a Dollar Gentral (General) run to pick up a few last minute things for the party.  My mom came by while I was working outside and washed dishes and picked up the kids' messes - that was sweet!  I rounded up my pre party time making corn bread muffins, pigs in blankets, and using a large amount of dry shampoo on my hair because I ran out of time to shower....#honesty.

The party was really fun!  We had such a good group of people here and the kids had a blast together.  Harper enjoyed painting and running around with Luke.  Camryn and Abby were having the best girl time ever.  The littlest ones just enjoyed being on the move in our very big and very mountainous back yard - sorry Candice!

We had so much good food!  Between Brenden's jalapeno poppers and Candice's cookie bars and Kendra's apple dip....oh my goodness!

Pumpkin carving was a hoot!  Some people cheated - stencils hahahaha!  Some people used Pinterest...Heather's Mason jar.  Some people just carved and laughed - myself.

So the verdict is this...I'm going to do this again next year!  Except I'll make some tweaks here and there to make it even better for everyone.  Being a little OCD mixed with ADD I think I will set up a bit differently and with all the kids having another year of age of them I'll be able to do things a little better!  Oh and I will take A LOT more pictures :(

Sunday

My daughter woke up not feeling too great.  I sent her back to bed.  My son woke up happy and ready to go.  I sent him to the play room with paper and stickers LOL.  We skipped church like bad, bad people. <wink>

Sunday was just kind of lazy.  I cleaned up all the party stuff, washed the sheets on all the beds, watched football, just was a semi lazy bum.

You may have noticed my husband wasn't mentioned very much in this post.  He's working seven days a week now and it is very wearing on us all.  I hope that this week we get to hang out a little more :)

And that was the weekend...pretty fab!

xoxoxo-

Amanda

Monday, May I?

A few years ago when this kid named Royal was my blogging bestie we posted Monday, May I?  Every week.  Actually she did it first and since I was new I just copied her.  Royal no longer blogs because she moved to Raleigh and is living the posh life.  But here I am bringing it back to life because I'm in Winston and living the not-so-posh life.  LOL!  <3 ya Royal!

The point behind Monday, May I?  was basically sharing three goals for the week and making yourself accountable for them.  Every Monday, I check back on what I posted the week before and share if I met the goals or if I epic failed them.

Sometimes my goals are vanilla but sometimes they are rocky road swirled with black olives, deviled eggs, and 80's LL Cool J.

This week...

You may know I have Achilles tendinitis and it sucks.  You may also be aware that last Wednesday I really hurt my knee.  It wasn't a major shock since the knee has been less than stellar for a couple months now but after roundhouse kicking and lunges and probably holding an inappropriate stance in the boxing portion of Wednesday's work out I totally blew my knee.  It was pretty bad.  I couldn't really walk or bare weight on my right leg.  P.S. my right heel is the one that has tendinitis - total score there huh? It turns out I have a very common problem for people who do more running than anything else - Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome.  If you have had it then you know how freaking bad it hurts. I took off three days from working out last week and that left me feeling like crap - my leg felt a little better but as far as my whole self I felt like poop.  So this week my goal is to ease back into my work outs giving caution to my right knee and foot.  This is difficult for me because I do not like to ease into anything at all.  I'm a head first person.  So um yeah this will be hard.

Goal number two is a pretty easy one.  I want to vacuum out my crumb catcher a.k.a. my car. Once upon a time when I had no children my car stayed so nice and tidy.  I vacuumed it out at least twice a week and Armour All-ed it once a week.  Ahh that was a decade ago and my how times have changed.  My backseat is littered with the evidence of children - books, cups, wrappers, crayons (eek), Legos, toys.  The front is littered with the proof a mom drives the car - coffee cups galore, mail, calendars, work out clothes.  Yes, I need to regain autmobile control.

via GIPHY

And...finally my last goal is this:  Both kids have fall break at the end of the week so I want to have some fun stuff for them to do.  My daughter's school is hosting their annual Fall Festival on Thursday night.  Can I be very, blatantly honest with you and tell you I am not a fan of school events?  Really, I'm not.  But because my kid is all about it I guess I will take her the 300 yards from our humble abode and let her run around with her friends.  (Oh man I just remembered I have to bake a cake for this event!) 

OK there are my three goals...

Do you have some goals for this busy week of October?  Do you have anything fun on the calendar this week?  I'm so interested, so share!



xoxoxo
Amanda

Pumpkin Party Prep! #2

Happy Tuesday!!!  I am so loving linking up with Our Pretty Little Girls to keep my upcoming pumpkin carving party organized and planned.  This week I'm coming at you with another post of prep for a good October party that happens to have a pumpkin theme!  We're talking shopping today so grab a PSL (or caramel mach if you're me) and let's get to work.

Pumpkin Purchasing

Via tumbler

I never really thought of pumpkins being an expensive purchase before this year.  In years prior I would head to Harris Teeter and snatch up two pumpkins to carve and two to paint and be out maybe $20.  

This year I am looking to grab up roughly twenty pumpkins...

Being a savvy shopper I have decided to check three locations for good pumpkin prices -

1.  The local farmer's market outside of Greensboro

2.  Sam's Club

3.  Walmart

I am hoping that the farmer's market can blow my socks off with a good deal.  Fingers crossed on that one.  Our truck bed will need to have jack pumpkins and pie pumpkins decorating the bed and hopefully for under $50.

Food

Via Sugar Apron

Last week I shared that I'm making chili for this event.  Luckily, that works out because the temperature around the time of the event will be in the low to mid sixties!  I've also decided to make some mummy dogs and or pigs in a blanket to go with it.

Guess where I am headed to stock up on ingredients?

Yep, Sam's Club.  I have found that all beef hotdogs are way cheaper there and being that it is the holiday season (yes, I said that because retail says it is) I think I can score a massive pack of crescent rolls.  Ground beef prices are also a lot more economical at the larger club stores saving me around 20 cents per pound as compared to the my favorite grocery store.

I'm not supplying alcohol but I am supplying water and juice boxes.  Another score at the club store!

Paper Products & Decor

There is no doubt about it...and I should mention here I am NOT getting paid to continually say club store; but the club store is getting my dollar for these purchases too.

Also, I haven't ruled out creating my own cute plates for the event!

via bhg

I don't have a lot of decorations for Halloween so I'm thinking I may go pick up a few strands of lights and maybe just maybe a few ceramic pumpkins.  

Goody Bags

What can I say I share a common bond with Mili Wife - I love to make treat bags.  I have decided to whip some up for the kids coming out to the party.  And while I am at it I am going to make some for my son's preschool and my daughter's class and my clients.  Another club store save there...

I will be snapping my shopping trip so check it out later in the week!  Where do you like to purchase your pumpkin party/fall party goods?  Have you seen any awesome ideas for a fall/pumpkin party lately?  I'm so excited to see if you can share!

xoxoxoxo

Amanda

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What A Weekend!

Look whose back...back again...Brownie's back...back again.

Last week was physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausting.  I missed my blog buddies and am so thankful for those of you who Snapped me, emailed, and texted.  Part of this big party called life is leaving the party and though it is a joyful thing if you're ninety and have been battling dementia/Alzhemier's for just short of a decade it is also very wearing and tearing and draining as a mofo.

How poetic was that?

But in all the sadness and gloom there is happy to be found and I call that - The Weekend.

Friday

These came on Thursday from my mother-in-law in South Carolina.

Well guys we woke up to rain, rain, rain.  It also happened to be the day we did the whole bury the ashes, stand in a meet and greet line (it is awkward to be hit on while you're standing there in the honor of a dead person) for an hour, and listen to the minister from RHONJ pray my grandma into heaven over and over (seriously, she didn't need that.)

Post funeral, birthday midday, cold and rainy porch selfie.

Oh yeah...it was my husband's birthday too!  What a way to celebrate!  At least he had pound cake for his breakfast.  And all was not lost because he was serenaded after the funeral by my aunts, cousins, and their friends to the tune of Happy Birthday.

I took in five million too many carbs.

Really, that is all I remember about Friday.  Oh wait, wait, wait - we traded the copious amounts of Bojangles Chicken for a trip to La Carretta for dinner!

Yo quiero comida de mexicana

My sweet girl's first experience with death in our family.  She's pretty resilient and did a great job.  She also loved the attention from so many people...diva.

Saturday

So this kid (storm) named Matthew came on up from Florida to visit.  Those sweet texts checking on us - you guys are so awesome!  However, I don't live near the coast or sand hills for that matter so we were all good!  We had loads of rain and wind but we were golden.  Unfortunately, our state-mates along the coast did not fare very well.  Keep them in your prayers and if you can donate through the Red Cross please do!

My kids went off with their step grandpa for the morning and you know where I went....the gym.  Ahhh I just smile when I think of it.  I did a good and hard five miles climbing and running and also taught one little bad ass that if you get on an eliptical and leave your resistance and incline at 1-1 you really aren't a bad ass at all.

After the gym I hit up Walmart. No words.

I spent the afternoon doing housework and being lazy.  Why?  Because I had to rest up for a night out for the husband's birthday!  

Goobers.

Selfie bowling...pretty sweet.

Guys, we had such a fabulous time with Heather and Josh!  We ate at Logan's Road House and then took it to the bowling alley for three hours.  While we were there they shifted into cosmic bowling and that's the closest I've been to being a in a club in about five years so I was eating it up. 

This is crack.  This crack is not wack.  This crack will have you running the track.  

 I was also eating up funnel cake fries like it was my j-o-b.  Then Josh got nachos and it was all downhill. 

Heather and I.  Not saying we're like pro bowlers but we're like mediocre bowlers LOL!

Heather and I decided it was time to plan a trip to the beach and go dancing because there are few things in life that are necessary - getting away and going dancing being two of them.

Sunday

Why do I love helping out with Power Hour?  Because Ms. Cristy is amazeballs at setting everything up.  It is so much fun working with the little folks and not having to worry about prep because that woman has done it all!  She's fabulous!

So I'm old.  We got home Sunday morning about 1AM and I had to be up and at 'em by 8AM because it was my Sunday to lead Preschool Power Hour.  No worries, I felt good!  The little man and I left the hubs and daughter in the bed and took it on over to the church.  I had to sweetest group of babies!  They were all just precious.  We learned "God Loves Us" and shared it with each other over and over and ate Cheeze-Its like they were going out of style.  (OK I didn't but they rocked them out.)

When we were driving home I started feeling really crappy.  God loves us but God was saying, "You're too old to stay out to 1AM.  Sorry, I love you.  Go to bed."  After a trip to get Mexican cuisine for lunch I took it to the bed and cat napped for the brunt of an hour.  I'm not a napper so that was incredibly hard.

Cat napped - I need a cat.  Like just for about a week.  Here's the deal Sunday showed me it really is fall and summer is so far away and winter cannot wait to punch me in the face.  I know it is fall when...

*It is sixty-eight degrees out and I'm freezing

*We end up turning on the heat because the idea of a low of 43 is too much to take

*There are mice visiting

Like clockwork we have two mice shacking up in our home.  One in the kitchen/living room and the other in my closet.  Those little shits.  I can admit to the fact my fear of mice is real.  OK I'm not afraid of them in that way you are afraid of being mauled by a tiger but the fact they are quiet and have no problem running over your foot when you're brushing your teeth (or peeing, ask my husband) is a big issue for me.

We baited traps - yes we believe in the murder of mice, go ahead hate me haters - with chocolate, peanut butter, and sunflower seeds.  Then you learn they prefer cotton goods.  Yeah, like towels, clothes, stuffing from toys.

I'm over it.

While I was at my mom's I went out to see these girls.  It is crazy how if you feel tired or stressed just hanging out with them can ease off any anxiety.  

The old one who normally stands back came right up to me for a muzzle rub.  She's a sweet girl.

Sunday night my mom's husband made dinner for my husband's birthday - NY Strip!  Then we came home to wrestle our kids into going to bed.  Our night concluded with a bonfire and an adult beverage.

Monday brought the death of the mouse.  YAY!!!!

I hope your weekend rocked!  Let's keep in touch add me on SnapChat - abullnojoke; Instagram - abrownieworld; Check the Facebook Page facebook.com/abrownieworld; and on Twitter @abrownieworld

xoxoxo

Amanda

This post is on Tuesday Talk.

Let Me Have The Honor - My Shitty Kitchen!

It is that time again!  Time for me to introduce you to a blogger who I simply adore.  This month I'm bringing you over to My Shitty Kitchen.  OK, not my own shitty kitchen but Missy's blog My Shitty Kitchen.  Missy is based out of The Big Easy - New Orleans.  She is a lawyer who like me keeps the carbs to a bare minimum and loves to have a good time.  This past summer I was eating up all of Missy's travels in her posts *she was a true jet setter* and also trying to mimic all of her fabulous recipes. I don't think her kitchen is too shitty anymore! So guys, please meet my girl Missy!

How long have you been blogging?

As of October 10th when you publish this it will be 1 year 10 months and 13 days.

Why do you blog?

I started it to get over a nasty breakup that caused me to seriously downgrade my living situation and fabulous lifestyle.  That's all over now, so now I do it to keep me eating healthy, trying new recipes, sharing my love of cooking and to keep up with all my new blogger pals, like you!

How did you decide on the name of your blog?  Which, P.S. ROCKS!

The "divorce" apartment had a really crappy kitchen (so does my beautiful historic home now, but for different, less crappy reasons).  My hilarious friend kept putting the hashtag #myshittykitchen on all of my instagram posts and calling it that so I decided to try it out and it stuck, despite the profanity.  Not that I don't have a potty mouth because I do ;)

What is your most prized possession and why?

My cast iron skillet.  I pretty much use it every day and I have had it for so long it is seasoned to perfection.  I cook anything and everything in it.  I have lived in 6 different houses in the past 6 years so I have purged down to the good stuff; this question was surprisingly easy to answer!

 If I were to visit you for a weekend this fall what would we get into?

Hello, it's New Orleans, what wouldn't we get into?!  Friday night we would head to Bacchanal and have wine, cheese, small plates and jazz music on bad patio furniture.  Saturday we would walk around and bar/architecture hop in the Garden District, then head to Hollygrove Market and grab a box of produce and some yummy local meat and cook dinner at my house and eat it al fresco on the porch with some of my friends.  Sunday we would head to Bayou Beer Garden for the Saints game and then head over to Bayou Wine Garden next door to drown our sorrows after they lose.  Then we would head to Parkway Bakery for a po boy.

Knowing you are a food connossieur what is your favorite dish to make?

I love the process of making Gumbo.  The chopping, the roux, the stockmaking.  It is a labor of love.  But my favorite staple to make is a clean out the fridge tortilla pizza.  Just throw it all on there and it is so quick, healthy and delicious!

Are you going to celebrate Halloween this year?  If so, how?

I am usually at Voodoo Fest for Halloween. But this year it is a weekday so I will probably be handing out candy from my porch and having some Halloween inspired food and drink!

 I win the lotto and send you $25K what are you going to do with it?

If you would have asked me 6 months ago I would have said buy a house.  But now that I have been bit by the travel bug I would plan a badass culinary and architecture trek through Europe.  Well, go on, I kind of already have it planned just in case I (or a nice benefactor) win ;) 

Now that you have met Missy it is time to connect with her!

Social media:  Facebook Pinterest  Instagram Twitter 

Snapchat name: missyquiggs 

xoxoxox

Amanda