The Time I was on Downton..

To say I am obsessed with T.V. might be an embarrassingly gross understatement. The trashier the show, the better! I suppose you could say it's my drug. And when I find someone who shares in the same fiend as I do when it comes to T.V., I do a happy dance. I tend to talk about these T.V. characters like they're my friends, and love when someone else shares in this absurd obsession. I sometimes wonder what it would be like if I were on these shows, and it would be a shame not to share with you the acting career that goes on in my head.

I'm going to start with Downton Abbey, because I secretly wish I were born in that era. Clearly I would be the daughter of some wealthy heir, and I would go by the name Lady Claire ( Lady Heather doesn't really seem to fit). My family and I would be traveling across country with our boat load of servants, when poppa would decide to stop in at Downton Abbey to see his dear old chap, Lord Grantham. I would of course win the ladies of Grantham over with my wit and charm, or maybe I will just get them really drunk in order to make them think I'm funny. Yeah that is probably more likely what would happen. At some point in the evening I would sneak off to powder my nose, and over hear Thomas being a creep; I would report his behavior and have him removed the property immediately (because who doesn't want to see him go?). My drunken heroics will land me in the arms of Tom Branson, who will undoubtedly knock me up and marry me to save face. This will obviously land me my permanent roll on the show. This roll would eventually land me my own spin off reality show called The Real House Wives of Big British Homes.

Siiiiike, we all know if I landed a roll on Downton it would be downstairs with the other servants. And if you don't watch Downton Abbey, you should!

Stella is Stealing the Show Today

I'm very busy today, so I decided to let Stella write today's blog post, she has been begging for me to let her write one ever since I published her letter to Taylor while he was deployed (you can read that here). So without further adieu..

Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Y'all! What's shakin bacon? Actually, since were talking about it, does anyone have some bacon? I miss it dearly.  As my mom may have told you, she's on some sort of diet. She really thinks she is "suffering", but y'all know who is really suffering? ME!! It has only been 5 days since she started this crap, and all I know is, every time I come around looking for a little taste of her plate, she just shakes her head no and tells me I won't like it. I of course don't believe her and come back 30 seconds later looking for a little tasty treat. Hello, why would she be eating it if she didn't like it? Maybe that's what a "diet" is? I really don't understand human's lingo and actions sometimes. For instance: Mom does this thing she calls "working out" in the living room, but I know secretly it is her way of getting me to play with her. So when she is jumping, I jump all over her, and when she lays down trying to do something called "crunches" I just know that is my invite to sniff her hair.

Anyways, in case you haven't heard my mom and dad moved us yet again, but this house, well, it's pretty amazing. I officially have, for the first time in my young 7 years of a life, a fenced in backyard I can call my own. I can sunbathe as long as I care to on the patio, and chase squirrels and birds until my heart is content. It is a quite glorious feeling. I have yet to find some kind of cat poo to play in, but the dead winter grass sticks quite nicely to me when properly rolled in. My parents don't approve but #YOLO (unless you're a cat, stupid bitches).

That's all I have time for now, I've got to see if I can get dad to start eating pizza rolls, because that's what I miss eating most with mom.

Love, Peace, and Chicken Grease,

Stella

Hunger Games :: Chapter 24 Day Challenge.

This weekend, I spent more time at work then I did at home. Obviously, this is not my idea of a fun weekend. It actually makes for a rather boring blog post, but it does mean I was well behaved and didn't cheat on my challenge!! Since the challenge was the only new thing that happened to me this weekend... Let's talk about that, shall we? The 24 day Advocare challenge started off pretty great Friday. You start with a Spark energy drink in the morning to replace your coffee. Thirty minutes after the energy drink comes the hard part, chugging the fiber drink, yes, chug! If you try and sip this glass full of nastiness, you WILL regret it (the longer it sits, the thicker it gets)! The first day I chugged the drink the way the ingredients suggested (mixed with cold water), the whole time I was trying to hold back projectile vomiting all over my kitchen.  If you are not doing the challenge, but still are curious about this delicious flavored drink, might I suggest going to the pet store, asking for the shavings from the hamsters' cage, mixing it with water, and downing it. It's THAT good!

After the fiber drink I ate some fruit for breakfast, and started prepping my meals for the rest of the week. Since I am typically serving people lunch and dinner, eating at normal times is really hard for me. Dinner sometimes doesn't happen until 11 p.m. By prepping my meals I can just grab them and eat them on my break at work, or warm something up quickly when I get home.

+ I boiled brown rice
+ Steamed veggies
+ Prepped fruit
+ Boiled eggs
+ Premade salads in Tupperware (everything minus the avocado)
+ I also seasoned chicken with Mrs. Dash Extra Spicy, and had the husband grill them up for me.
.... Side note : I'm drinking water like a champ!


The hot and ready pizza is for my husband to grab and go, not me >:-(.

This was a good weekend to start a challenge, with the Hunger Games: Catching Fire being released on DVD and all I mean... (Challenge accepted Breanna.. May the odds be ever in your favor ;-)) Of course while I'm busy prepping, my sweet husband came home with pizza and breadsticks.... way to make me strong on the first day, ass sweetie! His punishment was yard work and putting my new kitchen table chairs together! Can't wait for the end chairs to come in, and complete our dinette! I am loving turning this house into a home!



In other news, we received a crap ton of wine, coincidently it arrived on day of the hunger games...

The Challenge Before The Challenge.

Starting tomorrow, my best friend and I have decided to take the 24 day advocare challenge. I'll be posting my progress as I go on. Until then, let's talk about how this challenge was supposed to start on Monday (as in the previous one).


Last month, Breanna and I started talking and decided it was much easier to get motivated when you have someone to encourage you. Breanna has done the challenge before is actually a seller of the product. So we decided to take the challenge together, and since March 4th fell on a Monday, it was a perfect day to start. Being the procrastinator I am, I forgot to order my products and asked Breanna to do it for me, so it would arrive on time for us to start it together. Thankfully she obliged, however the products didn't arrive until Monday. Oh, and they went to her house (in Indiana), instead of my house in (in Tennessee). Whoops. She immediately went to the post office and shipped with a two day delivery.

No big deal, the package would come Wednesday and we would start on Thursday. I checked the mail before going into work Wednesday night, and nothing, no package. Since the husband and I have been doing quite a bit of online shopping lately, I knew the packages sometimes didn't come until after 5, so the husband could grab them. Fast forward to ten o clock that night, I come home and my sleepy husband had been napping on the couch the whole time I was gone at work. This was a fail on two counts. 1.) Being he would never fall asleep that night, and 2.) he missed my package!! There was a note on the door with a "first attempt" marked.

Let's do this!

Thankfully the package arrived today and I am happy to report we will be starting the challenge tomorrow. I will be busy prepping all my meals for the next week tomorrow, and I'm hoping the challenge is easier to do than it actually was to receive ;-).

BBQ and Stuff!

I love that this new boat gives me more time with my husband. Friday we didn't do anything worth talking about (read: we watched t.v. and drank hot tea like old people do).  Saturday morning Taylor woke me up early to see if I was going to Stella's vet appointment. Duh, that's my baby! And boy, am I glad I did. For the most part, we really liked her new vet. She was super friendly and knowledgeable and even gave us a tour of their hospital, which we have never had offered. The usual praise of how precious she is and if we ever wanted to find another home for our sweet girl (ha! yah right!) they would all be happy to have her. Then, as fast as I liked those people, I wanted to rip their tongues right out of their mouths (that may be a touch dramatic). You see, Stella is a rescue, so we're not quite sure of her age. We have had her for 5 years though, and she wasn't a puppy when we got her, but those mean people at the vet's office guesstimate she is around 7. That is not what made me mad, it was when they referred to Stella as a SENIOR dog, a SENIOR!! Clearly those ladies must have been on some type of drugs that morning, and were unaware of the words coming out of their mouths. I refuse to believe my Stella is getting older, I just refuse!!!

Stella ready to go HULK on those vet techs!

Later that day we went shopping for some items to complete our coffee bar. Pictures coming soon. Then that night we got to spend some time with some of our beloved NC family. When Taylor and I lived with our roommates, we also got to know their families as well. And when we found out we were heading to TN, we were thrilled to learn our roommate's brother and family lived here too. We decided to meet up for some Memphis BBQ. It was so nice to see familiar faces and the BBQ made it's way to the top of the list thus far.

I'm not a photographer, clearly, but this was so amazing.

After the game we headed downtown (after the GPS routed us through the GhEtTo!) and grabbed some tickets for the Grizzlies basketball game. Since it was our first time at the fed ex forum and we had two small children with us we decided to buy the cheap nose bleed tickets. Well, secretly I think the boys were scared if we were anywhere close to the floor, and saw Justin Timberlake, we might be arrested, and that may be the real reason for nose bleed seats, but whatevs. And since we saved on tickets, and I could care less about basketball, I didn't mind spending nine dollars on a beer. Well, maybe I cared a little. Either way it was a fantastic night and I can't wait to spend more time with those familiar faces again!

Walking in Memphis.

This past week, my sister and "sister" from another mister, came down to visit and celebrate their dirty 30 birthdays. While they explored the casino one night, I got to hang with my nephew Noah. They didn't hit it big on the slot machines, but they did find a buffet with an open bar. That is totally winning in my book, too bad they don't really drink. They each had one glass of wine, ONE! Baby sister should have went with them to show them how it's done. It's ok though because I was busy letting my nephew do whatever he wanted. We had cake for dinner, I let him invite "bitches" over and we got matching tattoos, it was precious.


Wild Child!

When the girls came back the next day, we decided to be tourist in our new city. We found a BBQ joint that could only be accessed through an ally and also happened to be in a basement. Of course we didn't just stumble across this place, it is one of Memphis' most famous BBQ places. Our server had his own room (he has worked there for over 35 years, which is nothing since his dad still works there as well!!), that was plastered with frames filled with pictures of him and other BBQ patrons (including important people like President Bush and Justin Timberlake!). Soon he will have a copy of his picture with us ladies, I'm sure it will be his most talked about prized possession.

The brisket was for sure my favorite!

 

After dinner we made our way to the Peabody hotel, where a family of ducks live. They are paraded from their home on the roof down to the hotel lobby every day, so that they may partake in a little swimmercize in the fountain. We didn't really stick around long enough to see anything though, Beal street was calling our names. We made our way to the famous Beal street, and Taylor and I immediately got a beer, because you could walk down the street with it! We force fed the girls some frozen beverages and then let Noah cut a rug with Taylor on Beal street.

A Love Story

Since Valentines day has just come and gone, I'm going to write the "lovey dovey" story of how we met. It is not a romantic story, by any means. I wrote it out once before, on my old blog, but I'm going to try and give it another go, hopefully it will be a little better this time around.

My best friend, at the time, and I were taking classes together to car pool. It worked out well, until we decided going and doing shots was way more exciting, but that's a whole other story. It was the first day of our math class, and like any other typical day of class, we were running late. We ran in and promptly took the furthest seats away, in the back of the classroom. As I sat there trying to be studious and take notes (okay, that's a lie, I was probably doodling my name on a notebook) my friend said "Heather, I found you're next boyfriend.". Being that we were best friends and she knew me so well at the time, I immediately focused my attention to guy she was directing her statement at. Oh yes, he was my type! He was so handsome, but not too pretty boyish. He was wearing a brown Bob Marley tee, khaki cargo shorts, and the ever so popular hemp necklace (can we all just take a moment to be thankful that fashion statement is over?).


One of the first pictures I took of him. He clearly had retired the hemp necklace by this point!

 I was pretty outgoing at this age in life, but for some reason could never muster up the courage to talk to him. It might have also had something to do with the fact that we were never on time, and he left immediately after class was over. Also, he sat more towards the front of class (ya know, actually learning), while we sat in the back (Taylor later told me we were "those girls" who giggled obnoxiously in the back of the room, Rude!!). So while I was too much of a chicken to talk to him at school, I did put my excellent stalking detective skills to use. I found out he worked in the mall at a shoe store, and I just happened to have a friend that worked there as well. I told her how cute I thought Taylor was and to hook a sista up; but much to my dismay, she informed me had a girlfriend.

After that, I never felt bad for not having the guts to talk to him. Fast forward to a year later, best friend and I were still taking classes together and it was the beginning of a new semester. When we walked into our computer class, there sat the shoe-store-working, hemp-necklace-wearing hottie! This class was much smaller than our previous one, so we took the seats behind him. We actually spoke in this class a little, and since it was a computer class, I stalked investigated his myspace page (am I showing my age here?), little shit still had a girlfriend. Whatever... he wasn't that cute! But for some reason whenever my friend would refer to him as my boyfriend, I would turn red and tell her to shut up before he heard her.

Another semester came and went, with very little communication between Taylor and I. About 3 months later, my boss' husband came into work for lunch, and brought his very handsome co-worker. Yep, the girlfriend-having Bob Marley tee- wearing cutie from class! Except this time, I was informed he and his girlfriend had (finally) broken up. I immediately informed my friend of the crush I had had on Taylor and to give him my number if he was interested. I was beyond thrilled when she told me he was interested, and that her husband did give him my phone number!!

You may think this is when our love story finally began, but nope, not even close. Fast forward another 3 months (a total of a year and half later!!!!), and it was a random Tuesday night. Best friend and I were enjoying our typical hobby, drinking beer at the bar, when that jerk faced boy, who never called me, walked in. He strutted over to where we were sitting and invited us to play pool with him and his friends. I promptly told him we would grab another round and be right over. When jerk face boy walked away, I looked at best friend and told her there was no way in haaail we would be joining him, he never called me. We both agreed it was for the best, and 2 more beers later, we forgot about that pact and joined in over at the pool tables. To make an already long story short, the rest of the night was spent singing karaoke, playing pool, and bar hopping to some places I'm not proud of. However, the night did end in our first kiss, after some awkward (and I mean awkward) pick up line. Turns out the intimidating hottie from math class wasn't as smooth as I thought. I think that's why I fell in love with him.

** Turns out, he did actually call me when my boss' husband gave him my number. I was drunk and had forgot. Good thing, it was 330 am, and we all know what kind of phone call that was....