Link Love- Brought to you by Google+

I had a post on here but then I was like, “You know, I really don’t want to get into this right now.” So I deleted it. And then it’s like every single thought I’ve had in my brain the past few days I wanted to blog about (and there were like a gazillion) got deleted too. So I’ve had the Add New Post window open all day and it’s been sitting there blank and I was determined to not leave without posting. So then I figured I’d just do a link love based on all the crap I’ve been posting on Google+ because it seems I never have a shortage of things to say on there.

Paperman by Disney is pretty much the cutest, most sweetest romantic little animation since the opening scene in Up.

I am reading Nell Gwynn: Mistress to a King What are you reading?? Also, this book makes me think maybe I should’ve been an historian.

If you can spare a birthday card and a stamp, you still have time to participate in this special needs man’s 75th birthday festivities.

“The study concluded that the perception of sex as a fat-burning athletic activity was based around sexcapades lasting an hour or more, but that’s not the reality of most American sex lives. Brace yourselves for the truth, people: Americans have sex for “an average time span of six minutes per sexual encounter.” That’s pretty depressing, and it only gets worse. Those six minutes only burn 21 calories.” According to this article which claims because of this, knitting in fact burns more calories on average than sex.

I approve this message

I loved these photos of skaters. I heart skaters. Stallion is a skater. I heart Stallion.

Goodbye Iron, Hello KITTY! (see what I did there?)

Fast and the Furious 6 is my huge guilty pleasure. I love these movies. And honestly what gets me gushy is the cars. I have a thing for sexy cars.

I really love tacos. There’s no a link to that, it’s just an observation.

There were a lot of shenanigans revolving a hashtag called #beforehashtags which resulted in me posting a picture of me as a very pouty baby ballerina and also gushing over Squeezits

This article on hair archaeology is super interesting and further reinforces my belief that maybe really I should have been an historian. Watch the video!!

Always

Maybe I do want to live somewhere cold…

Best mug ever?? I’d say yes for LEGO peoples.

Oh yeah, this happened. Thank God it’s better now.

Jimmy Fallon Spoofs Downton Abbey & It’s Awesome

My friend is an amazing face painter. I was her model at a full moon party.

Cracks me up every time

Harlem Shake All The Things!!!! These are highly addictive, you can’t watch just one!!

Tissue please!

It was Judy Blume’s birthday yesterday. I loves her.

The thing with the cruise ship is gross but I still love cruising. It’s easy breezy.

The Miami Heat and the Miami City Ballet posed together for a series of photos celebrating 25 years of basketball and ballet in Miami. I absolutely LOVE the photos. They are playful and yet graceful too.

Print this and keep close to your desk.

My co-workers gave out donuts

My thoughts on the Pope’s resignation

I am making this pinafore for a baby shower Stallion is invited to

Google’s not so subtle way of reminding me I’m too damn poor for this city.

I like this nail art tutorial for Valentine’s Day. I don’t have masking tape though.

Best Valentine’s Day Card Ever
nomnomnomnom

Print this out and post it on your refrigerator

OK that’s it! You’re all caught up on my Google+ activity in the past week. What nonsense have you found online you want to share with me? Don’t hold back the nonsense guys!

Brain Dump: Bachelorettes, 4ths, Compliments, Books, and Thrones Edition

I’ve been pretty sporadic lately hmmm? I think I was just really overwhelmed with the wedding and having the kids so many days without a break and just stuffs. But I think I’ll be back to normal soon, recharging this weekend should be nice.

Bachelorette party last Friday? Worst. Bachelorette. Ever. I was so hesitant about this one but that’s it– no more bachelorette parties that involve going out and partying. I freaking hate alcohol and I hate drunks and I hate sober people who take advantage of drunks. SO that’s it. Next time I’m invited to a bachelorette party that involves bars or clubs or whatever, it’s a no thank you. And if I’m ever asked to be maid of honor again, I’ll accept on the condition they do not expect me to host that sort of bachelorette party and that if that’s the type of bachelorette party they want, they can find another Maid of Honor or delegate the bachelorette party to a bridesmaid and not be insulted if I don’t go. Just, no.

Wedding? Exhausting but nice. I got a lot of compliments on my toast which honestly took me by surprise. I didn’t cry and that was the important part to me but apparently I did jerk some tears out of other people including the bride so WIN! It was absolutely gorgeous by the lighthouse on the beach and dealing with the swarm of mosquitoes was tolerable once the park rangers covered us in Off. The reception was a very silly good time.I’d show you pictures but all of mine sucked and I left the camera in the car during the ceremony.

I had a really nice 4th of July. Stallion and I were childless as Teenager went to the Keys with her grandparents. We went to the iconic Biltmore Hotel who brought back their fireworks after five years of not having them thanks to all kinds of financial crap and fighting between the City and the previous owners. We had a picnic and some friends joined us. I got us amazing seats right in front of the launch area. We even got rained on with ashes and firework debris.My 4th of July manicure is seriously cute and I’ve been getting compliments on it all day.

Know what else I’ve been getting compliments on? This gorgeous necklace Sandy from First Gen American sent me a while back as a little De-Frumpiness gift. It’s a crazy gorgeous loop of metal you can twist and coil and wear however you want. I will take pictures and share soon, promise. I tried taking some today but I’m just not looking my best.

Which reminds me of the De-Frumpiness Project. Wow I left everyone hanging! SKIN CARE! That’s July. For me it means getting into a morning and even routine as far as my skin is concerned. I’ve noticed as I’ve gotten older that although my complexion is pretty nice I get weird dry skin issues like my elbows and hands. And I’d love to keep my skin looking all pretty. My daughter the other day was asking me what all the beauty products in a beauty box were and one of them was an anti-wrinkle thing and Daughter says to me, “But Mommy you don’t have wrinkles” and I said, “Oh my god come here I love you so much!”

Question: I was asked to do a book review for a publisher and I took them up on it because I love to read. What do you guys like to see in a book review? What makes you decide to read or not read a book in general? I was actually thinking of playing with book reviews in general so that I can have a healthy mix of reviews that are books I read on my own and books I was given to review because I’d like to remain impartial and consistent but I’m not sure how you all feel about reviews in general. So let me know.

The crochet project I was making for the wedding totally did not work out and I ran out of time to do the backup plan and I just got really frustrated so I put down crochet and have been reading. Right now I’m reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I’m having a blast with it because it’s just too OUT there to not enjoy. I like weird stuff. After that, I’ve got The Marriage Plot ready too which is actually a perfect line-up now that i think about it. I had actually started the Marriage Plot but then realized Pride and Prejudice and Zombies wouldn’t renew at the Library because another patron requested it.

I started watching Game of Thrones. I’m such a wuss, I run away during the violent scenes. I’m gonna read the books too but Stallion is having a blast watching it with me and it’s kind of nice to cuddle on the couch (and then jump up and run away with my fingers in my ears) and get all sucked into a crazy good story. I was thinking of crocheting while watching it but I just can’t. When it’s not violent, it’s so good I can’t tear my eyes away from it for a second. And all that jumping and running away would make it hard to stay on track with my place in the crochet pattern.

I’m off now so ta-ta darlings! Have a nice restful weekend and I’ll see you on the flipside!

Back to business

Well that was rude of me wasn’t it? Write a depressed and morbid post and then sort of vanish.

But of course that’s not what actually happened. Life doesn’t usually allow for vanishing and when it does, it’s like a scary bad thing.

I’ve just been rolling through. I’m a little better and a little the same.

Stallion picked up his daughter on Friday. And as much as I’d love to name her Colt on here I think I’ll just stick to the general theme and call her Teenager. The kids were at their dad’s house this weekend. And now I’m past the flurry of the kids’ birthdays and the end of school and the start of summer camp so things should start to smooth out a bit.

Not only that but recently the kids’ grandparents on their dad side have reached out to me a bit more than before which is to say never. I could sit and theorize on why but I won’t. I’ll just accept it’s one of those things that comes with time. Time heals ALL wounds. Anyhow, their grandma and I just talked. She and her husband are taking the kids at the end of this week to New York and Chicago to visit family and friends. They’ll be gone a week.

For the record, I’m all for that. I know that their grandparents love them very much. I know that when they are with them, they get lots of attention and affection and are cared for lovingly. I even hear from the kids more often when they are with their grandparents than when they are with their dad. They actually prefer staying with the grandparents than with their dad because they have more to do and they get way more attention apparently. And I’m all about them developing relationships with the family that extends beyond what is here.

As much as I slightly cringe at the thought of them being away for a week, I do think it’s a worthwhile experience. They had an amazing time when we went to Virgina with family in the winter and this is very similar. Plus they get the added excitement of flying on airplanes since the grandmother works for an airline. And honestly the timing is helpful. My cousin’s wedding is the first of July, I’m the Maid of Honor, and there is a lot to get done. Overwhelming really. So it’ll be good to have the down time and work on things and rest. I woke up today feeling highly congested and that chilly little feeling that I get right when I start fighting a cold. That tingle in the throat and that weird, loopy head feeling. So yeah, the timing works.

I’ve been doing pretty well with the De-Frumpiness challenge this month. I’ve added flossing to my routine and I’ve added at least one extra brushing session a day. Mostly. I haven’t worked up the guts for the appointment yet but I will. I know I will. Maybe not this month though.

I did something technically stupid yesterday but I don’t feel very bad about it.

I used my Express credit card and went on a mini work clothes shopping spree for me and a mini Father’s Day shopping spree for Stallion. I went in because they were advertising their big sale and I wanted to find a couple shirts for Stallion. I had stopped going to Express because frankly their clothes felt way too young for me and I felt their style was changing and targeting the younger crazier stuff and the materials were cheaper. This time, that was simply not the case. Express makes these pants that fit me insanely well. I mean they hug all of my curves in the perfect way, they drape nicely, and I love the material because it’s not cheap feeling. These things stand up to major wear. And they were on sale and they had a great selection. Not to mention they had a lot of work appropriate tops on sale too and a lot of the ones I tried on fit so nicely.

Needless to say, the pressure for work clothes is off. And I feel so relieved. Yesterday, I did a quick rummage through the closet and drawers to get rid of some clothes (out with the old, in with the new!) and I felt some major mixed feelings– happiness that at least I was able to get new stuff and shame that things were in such bad shape. I had things that were completely faded, I had clothes that had seams coming apart, I found a couple tiny holes, pilling, etc. My wardrobe is still in pretty bad shape but at least now it’s mostly the casual clothes that needs help. Jeans are suddenly an issue for instance– not one of my five pairs fits correctly. Every pair of shorts I owned doesn’t fit me anymore either and I have major problems finding t-shirts that fit in a nice way. They’re either too tight, too short, or too big and billowy. But I don’t feel as much pressure to get the casual clothes right than the work clothes. And I feel pretty confident that I’ll have much better luck with the casual clothes in places like Goodwill and Ross.

Honestly I feel more pressure to get a handle on my work shoes but even that’s not too bad.

But I do have a bit of a spending hangover. I think in the end I’ll be fine. Some child support payments have come through that I wasn’t expecting and I had saved more money than I thought I would need for summer camp. So I can swing some of that money at the Express card and I actually think I’ll be able to pay off the whole thing in one swoop while still have money in savings. Camp is paid for and actually the trip to Orlando for my kids’ birthdays? Well that’s almost saved up for completely as well, can you believe it?

For fun do you want to play a guessing game? I can tell you everything I bought and you can tell me how much you think I spent. I’m just curious what the thoughts are on good values for clothes. Ready?

At Express, I bought:

3 Mens Polo Shirts

1 Mens Tee

1 Mens Swim Trunks

4 Womens blouses

2 Womens trousers

1 Womens layering tank

12 items total

TOTAL $: ????????

Did I tell you we are officially TV-less? Last week we got some message from Comcast informing us we could no longer get even the local channels without a box. I called and they said I’d have to pay about $60 a month just to get the first 28 channels and internet. So I said no thank you, asked for a deal on just internet, and kept that going. It’s so weird not having TV. But it works out well. Stallion and Teenager are major TV people and now they’re forced to do other stuff which is nice. I haven’t suggested they play one of the board games yet but I’m sure that’ll come up soon. I have a cabinet full of them and they don’t get much use yet.

Anyhow, that’s all I’ve got. I’m still in a strange mood– not really wanting to do anything but lay around in bed and eat junk food. See you soon.