Doug Bug

My husband and I have a 1974 VW Beetle.

We bought it before we got married.
We drove away from our wedding in it.
We've driven 7 hours in it to go camping.
Bill re-built the engine among other things.
I've tried to learn how to drive it for about 12 years. Yes, 12. (Not sure what's wrong with me?!)
We also have had a 1969 VW Bus and a 1984 VW Vanagon (we sold this summer).
This last weekend was our local VW show.
Here's Doug.

At the VW show this last weekend

Camping - yes, we fit all of our gear in the car

We don't have kids so we took a pic of Doug with this "guy." We're a little weird like that.

So many fun memories.

But, we're not done with Doug yet! 

We have lots more memories to make!

Friday Five

{1}

Hello adorable metal sign from Wal-Mart for $.97!! Regular price.

{2}

My pretty fabrics organized in my favorite teal baskets.

{3}

One of my favorite reality shows - Kell on Earth - It aired in 2009 and I love rewatching it.

She's a tough bitch and I admire how she gets things done. A happy Thursday night at home!

{4}

This week has been crazy!

*Working on enrollment for September (lots of paperwork)

*Took over as the chair of the North Dakota Early Childhood Conference -

thank goodness that my co-chair was really organized before she stepped down.

*Meetings, meetings, and more meetings - so many meetings that I hope I can keep everything straight.

{5}

Fabulous Wednesday night with some great gals!

My BFF Jess had a Tastefully Simple party so it was great food and fun chats.

So nice to relax outside after the party ended. Jess and her husband Olivier have a perfect backyard. A great big tree that creates a ton of shade and the perfect temperature!

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Linking up with Lauren

Three Looks I'm Loving :: WHITE

one. 

 here

two.

here

three.

here

What I Wore Wednesday

Welcome to What I Wore Wednesday - a link up with The Pleated Poppy.
I'm using WIWW to watch the transformation of my body back to it's "normal" self. When I turned 30 and got a job where I sat all day long my body began to change. At first it was just a bit of weight. Since that time 5 years ago I've managed to put on 20 pounds! I want to look good in clothes again!

99 degree day.

tank: Old Navy (about 3 years ago)

jeans - Gap

Same day with a simple cardi added for work

cardi: Express

Same top different color - different week

cardi - Old Navy

top: Old Navy (old)

jeans: Lucky

Miscellany Monday

Write Random with Carissa from lowercase letters.

1.
This heat.
It's ridiculous that you breakout into a sweat just by walking outside. There's no point in getting ready because you immediately start to sweat when entering your car that's hotter than the the hottest heat in hell. I've started using my auto-start in the summer. I'm ready for some temps in the mid-80's. Anything cooler and I'd probably freeze because my body is becoming accustomed to 95 degree days!

2.
The toilet.
Bill removed the toilet this weekend to replace the wax ring. Upon doing this we discovered that the current wax ring had all but disintegrated and on top of that our sub-floor (poured cement type board) is also disintegrating (just around the toilet). Such fun. So as he's pulling back the vinyl flooring there's not just one layer or two layers, but THREE layers of vinyl flooring. This is kind of a relief because our floor was becoming discolored and we thought we'd have damaged sub-floor throughout the bathroom. Well, lucky for us the old owners were lazy and left the previous flooring when they replaced it with new. The discoloration is probably moisture in-between the layers. Whew! The flooring guy is coming today...I think.

3.
The garbage disposal.
When it rains is pours! But Bill to the rescue. He fixed it! I love that he's handy and has an iPad for research!

4.
New Fabric.
One of my favorite thing's to do is shop for fabric. That's just what I did yesterday. Joann's was the excitement of my weekend. Yahoo!

5.
Quality time.
Even though we didn't go to the lake or out to eat or even to a movie - Bill and I spent some great quality time together. It's the small things that matter... Like catching up on TV together and fixing a toilet (I completely and totally observed but I was there for moral support.) This weekend flew by... is it Friday yet?

HIgh Five for Friday

Hello Friday! I'm so happy to see you. Here are five random things from this last week. I'm linking up with Lauren at From My Grey Desk for High Five for Friday.

one.

I splurged ($19.50) on this necklace. I can't wait to get it. So simple and pretty.

via

two.
 Ashley H. from Embracing the Everyday won the giveaway of *25 HAIR TIES* from Poppy and Pippa.

three.
I self diagnosed myself as having NNS - Non-Nutritional Sedentarism (100% made up). You can read about it here.

via

four.

I never thought I would sell 1500 items in Poppy and Pippa. When I started the shop it was just a hobby. Now it's one of my passions and gives me so much joy. I love to work on making pretty things!

five.
Whidbey.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Incurable

*This post is in no way meant to make fun of or light of an actual incurable disease.


It's true. I've been diagnosed (self-diagnosed) as having "non-nutritional sedentarism (NNS)." It's said a person with this disease craves foods high in fat and deliciousness. A person with NNS also struggles daily with thoughts of exercising but not actually following through.

This describes me. I have NNS and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I've heard there are cures but, I question if they really work.

Some of the symptoms I experience:
I see flat stomachs and feel a jealousy deep inside...I remember when I had a flat stomach oh so long ago. I look at skinny people now and want to hurt or maim them - I mean hug them. :)

I wonder why I let this happen. I don't enjoy having a belly. There you go, I said it, I have a belly. I often squish it and think if I had extra money and could tolerate pain I'd get a tummy tuck... I also have boobs. I hate them. Shirts don't fit right. I miss being a 34B. My sister says I'll hate it when I lose weight and my boobs disappear. I don't think so. I'll be able to wear button up tops again!

Have you ever tried Spanx? I have. They are like torture chambers squeezing your belly into your other internal organs. When I wear them (rarely because I don't tolerate pain or discomfort well) I look good but struggle to carry on a conversation because the only thing going through my mind is the fact that I'm being squeezed to death. How do people wear those everyday?

I feel like I'll always have NNS. I feel like it is incurable. Why can't I have motivation to workout and eat well?

Sharing this with you is hard. I may not be able to cure my NNS but, I hope to find a way to live with it. I hope to find the motivation I need to get fit so I can eliminate the muffin from the top of my pants. I hope that by my being open and honest that you too can find the sympathy for others struggling with NNS. If you think you might have this disease. You are not alone.

What I Wore Wednesday

Believe it or not - I got dressed again this week so I decided to link up once again to the Pleated Poppy.

Brooch - Poppy and Pippa 

Cardi - Target (old)

Tank and Dress - Old Navy (old)

(Before Hair Cut)

Top - JCPenny

Jeans - Gap

Cardi - Old Navy (old)

Top - Old Navy (old)

Jeans - Lucky (old)

(After Hair Cut)

Top - TJ Maxx

Skirt - Gap

Shoes - Target

*Don't forget to register for my giveaway!

100 Followers...Woot Woot!

I can't believe this little old blog of mine as 101 followers. I feel the love. As promised I present to you -a giveaway!

Enter for your chance to win 25 Hair Ties from Poppy and Pippa! The giveaway ends on Friday - winner will be contacted by email. If you don't have your account hooked up to email I will choose a different winner. Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Miscellany Monday

Write Random.

I have to go to work today.

I've had the last two weeks off. It's been true bliss to stay up late and sleep in. To have my own schedule. I've enjoyed laying by the beach, reading 50 Shades of Grey, and laying on the couch watching TV.

My alarm went off this morning at 5 am.

During vacation I got to go out to eat with my sister and her kids, go shopping at the drop of a hat, and spend actual quality time with my husband.

I actually took at shower, put on make-up and blow dried my hair.

I haven't blow dried my hair in TWO WEEKS. It's been so easy.

But, life isn't easy is it? Nope. I'm lucky though because I get to go back to work with people I truly enjoy spending time with and a job I love.

So I guess, today isn't going to be so bad after all.

Linking up with Carissa

High Five for Friday

Five things.

one.
Sophie and her nail polish at lunch. (Love her cute little silly face!)

two.
We bought Whidbey a new toy and I highly recommend that all of you cat mom and dads order one ASAP! It's called Da' Bird and it only costs around $8. Whidbey loves it like crack.

Ready for an overdose of cuteness? Watch this!

three.
I made a brooch for myself! I never make things for myself.

four.
What a difference 2 inches makes!

five.
Organized.

*Remember - when I reach 100 followers I'm going to have a giveaway!! 25 Hair ties just like the ones above. :)

So I Tried to Make a Maxi Dress...

Have you seen all of the great maxi dresses on Pinterest? You know the ones that are soooo easy to make. "It only took me 10 minutes!" Umm, yeah right! Maybe if you are an avid sewer and have an awesome sewing machine. Wait! I'm getting ahead of myself a bit. My journey into making a maxi dress started here. I pinned this lovely 'simple' dress tutorial. Then I pinned this one! And finally I found this one!

I was so excited to try this "easy" tutorial. My friend Stacy pinned the exact same first dress and so we made a plan to make our dresses together. So she brought her sewing machine to my house and we set everything up on the kitchen table. We both purchased jersey knit fabric because we thought it would be more comfortable...big mistake...Huge! Some people swear sewing knits is easy as pie. Not so much! I think our first problem was this....

Just kidding! Whidbey didn't read us the directions. Although, maybe things would've turned out better if he had.

Here's what happened.

We followed the tutorial by wrapping our fabric around us 1 1/2 times then cutting the excess.

The next step was to sew it together so you have a huge tube. No problem there! Smooth sailing so far.

The next step was to wind elastic thread onto a bobbin and to keep the regular thread on the spool and sew around what will be the top of the skirt. This is where we ran into problems. The elastic thread wasn't being so elastic and this is what happened to Stacy's skirt. Like she said, it looks like the "before" skirt in a weight loss photo ;)

It didn't work - so I decided to sew it using regular thread and along the way stop to pull the bobbin thread to create a gather while Stacy used the seam ripper. 

Funny thing happened. I created a lovely bag! Yup. Rather than sewing around the waistline I sewed it together. "Hey Stacy, throw me the seam ripper!" After ripping the seam that I created out I sewed around the waistline the correct way gathering it along the way. After doing that it was time to try it on for size.

This is why they say to use elastic thread! I got stuck. Stacy saved me - after she had to take a pic. I ripped that seam out too. By this time three hours have passed and I said F#$@ it and grabbed some elastic from my stash. I created a pocket to thread the elastic through to create a SIMPLE elastic waisted skirt.

Stacy did too.

This is where the pictures stop because you can't imagine what else went wrong. Seriously, you can't. It makes me giggle just thinking about it. Stacy's dress turned out really cute (and I forgot to get a pic - we were starving) and my skirt turned out good - I gave up after I got the skirt completed. I also created a simple sash to wear with mine to disguise the fact that it's a skirt and not a dress. I'm glad I did because look at all of the ways I can wear it!

*tank and jean jacket: old navy - belt (old) - necklace: kohl's - fabric: Joann's

Have you made a Maxi Dress/Skirt Yet? 

What I Wore Wednesday

Just returned from a week at the lake so my outfits aren't that "fancy." In fact, one of the outfits I'm going to share today Is HATED by my husband... I think I'll share that one first.

This dress is so comfortable - perfect to put on after spending a time in the sun. Bill hates it. Not sure if it's the loud colors or the way it reminds him of a housecoat that his grandma used to wear - he just doesn't like it.

tank: Gap

dress: ?? very old

I finally have a striped shirt! I've been looking for the perfect one. You know, the kind of striped top that doesn't make you look ten feet wide. I think this one only makes me look four feet wide. Oh well, It's comfy and flowy - my favorite kind of top. It's best for hiding my not-so-fit parts.

both tanks: Old Navy

jeans: Gap (old)

Get ready for another flowy top (did you know that flowy isn't a word?!). I HEART flowy tops! Someday I'll do a post about my body shape and maybe even continue the series I started called Diary of a Former Skinny Girl.

white tank: Old Navy

grey tank: Target (old)

jean shorts: Gap (old)

Linking up with Lindsay

and transatlantic blonde

Micellany Monday

Write random for Miscellany Monday with Carissa at Lowercase Letters.

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Bill and I (and Whidbey) have been at the lake since last Tuesday and it's been fantastic. We've had great weather - lots of sunshine and heat! We're finally heading home today. I think Whidbey has been ready to leave since the day we arrived. Let's just say he's not to fond of vertical blinds...or maybe he is and we aren't. I spent every single night on the couch in the living room with him because he decided not to sleep at night. It was joyful and I was so happy I could do this for him. Yeah, not so much! That was the only hiccup during the entire week. Here are a few photos from yesterday.

This isn't my in-laws lake house - I just love all of the different colored chairs. 

This is the view from the chair that I relaxed in all vacation...when I wasn't outside. I love this view!!

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Hair tie giveaway when I reach 100 followers. I have a feeling it's going to be this week!!

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Have a great Monday! I know I will - I don't go back to work until the 16th!!