Confession...

I am loving this book so much that I went to Starbucks on my lunch break yesterday strictly to find out what would happen next! If you have not read “A Thousand Splendid Suns” I HIGHLY recommend it. The author, Khaled Hosseini, also wrote “The Kite Runner”. We read his first novel, “The Kite Runner”, for book club about a year ago. Book club is usually really code for ‘girls night at someone’s house with wine and appetizers’ without much talk about the book but “The Kite Runner” really sparked a lot of discussion and I have a feeling “A Thousand Splendid Suns” will do the same.

Our meeting is this Thursday and will be at my friend Heather’s house. She has a really cute blog, Tiny’s Treats, and is always cooking up something yummy in her kitchen. I’m excited to see what she has planned for our meeting on Thursday!

Taking an hour to read at lunch really was a nice break in the day, especially with the pretty weather. I usually take my lunch to work so coming up with something to do besides eat on my lunch break can be difficult at times. Of course I do have errands to run from time to time and its always easy to go shopping or breeze through Target. But that usually leads to me buying things I don’t really need and just spending money because I’m bored. I was so glad I had remembered to stick my book in the car yesterday morning. I may have to make this ‘reading lunch’ a regular thing!

I’m loving...

Kelly Clarkson’s new cd!!! I’ll admit I have seen her in concert and I did download the new album on iTunes the night before it was released so chances were pretty high that I was going to like this album. But I truly like it more than I was expecting! I have read some reviews that say this is much like her debut album “Breakaway” and they are right. I even liked “My December” despite the harsh reviews, but this new album “All I Ever Wanted” has more radio friendly tunes. After listening to the whole album I think “My Life Would Suck Without You” may even be one of the weaker songs. I find myself skipping over it now and playing the following A LOT:

I Do Not Hook Up
All I Ever Wanted
If I Can’t Have You
Whyyawannabringmedown ***especially this one – very fun!***
Impossible
Ready

I need to check and see if her concert schedule is out so that maybe I can catch her again. Luckily I have a friend who also likes teeny bopper music as much as I do so hopefully she will want to go again this time around. We had a great time at the last one! We’ve also attended a Ryan Cabrera concert, NKOTB, and will be going to Britney in a few weeks so we are pretty familiar with this teeny bopper circuit– fun times! NKOTB was fantastic! I hope Britney lives up to the hype – those tickets were $$$!

NKOTB was definitely one of the best concerts I’ve ever attended. And I go to a lot of concerts. I went with 2 of my best friends and we had the best time singing along with all the songs and remembering the days when we used to watch the concert videos at home and sing and dance along. (come on, you know you used to do that too...) I hope some of you were lucky enough to go. It was so much fun being there with people who were really just there to have a good time. No one was worried about being ‘too cool’ – we were at New Kids after all – it was as though we were all already friends and had this common interest. Everyone was so friendly to each other all night, all you saw were smiling people everywhere, it was almost like being a kid again I guess! Of course it was about 95% women; I think the only guys we saw were accompanying pregnant wives. The guys put on a great show and I would totally go again if I had the chance.

I love that not many people are in my office today so I can listen to Kelly while I work - and enjoy it a little louder than normal. Now we just need to work on getting that clock closer to 5 pm!

For some reason I keep thinking tomorrow should be Friday….if only it were true!

"A True Ab-Original"

I'm not really sure where they come up with the names of these colors but I've got "A True Ab-Original" on my fingers AND toes as we speak! Its a bright coral color with a bit of a metallic sheen. Its great for the summer months and looks even better once you get a tan.

I had a major do-it-yourself mani/pedi session on Sunday night and was only planning on painting my toes but then went out on a limb and painted my fingernails as well. I am so glad I did too. I don't usually take the time because I feel like they are messed up before they even have time to dry but I've really enjoyed looking down at my bright nails this week! (even as I type this!)

So far I only have a teeny tiny smudge on the tip of one nail. I cut them pretty short before painting them, which I think helps a lot with a color this bright - we don't want them looking scary! I went ahead and took the extra steps of a base coat and chip resistant top coat so that probably has something to do with the way they are holding up too. Usually I reserve the brights for toes only but I may have to keep it up with the fun colors on my nails too! Let me know if you have any favorite color suggestions!

And - Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The long dresses are back!

Happy Monday! I am The weather was pretty yucky here this weekend – cold, rainy, dark – not your typical March day in Texas, but the bad weather did give me some time to rearrange my closet for the upcoming months. I don’t know about you but whenever the seasons change, so does the organization of my closet. I don’t want to look in there and see a bunch of turtlenecks and coats when its pretty and warm outside! I want to see bright tops, white jeans, sandals and cute dresses! So this was the weekend. Luckily I found a lot of great things I had forgotten about so hopefully I won’t be tempted to shop quite as much!

One thing I am really excited about though is the return of the long dress, otherwise known as the ‘maxi dress.’ I am a huge fan of this style and have been sporting it for a few seasons now. This seems to be THE season for it though as I feel like they are truly everywhere this year. These dresses are super comfortable, flattering and can be effortlessly elegant.

Here are a few of my favorites from Old Navy:

I actually ordered both of these dresses about 2 weeks ago and was so excited when they arrived but they seem to be a bit long. Looking at this picture now, the pink one even seems long on the model. I need to try them on again with shoes and see what I think. I know they'd be okay if I wore heels with them but I'd like to have the option of wearing flats with them too. Other than the length though, they are super soft and have lots of nice detail.

And here are a few more from Target:

I love the little extra ruffle at the bottom of this one and I think the color is great.

I am a sucker for a black dress - always. I have a similar dress from Target from last year that I wear all the time. I think this brown one is a great style. I love the skirt on it. I guess everyone else thinks so too though because right now its sold out on Target.com!


And here's a few more from Nordstrom:

Have a great day!

It IS a Genius!

So I will admit I was a little slow to jump on the iPod/iTunes train. I know some people have been in LOVE with their iPod and the whole iTunes thing since they came out in full force about 5 or 6 years ago. They quit buying cds, immediately started buying everything on iTunes and never looked back. I was intrigued by a few friends having them and caved and got a mini in the summer of 2004- I think it was an 8GB. My mini served me well as a workout buddy and I even went so far as to have one of those iPod connector things installed in my car so it would play through normal speakers and charge while I was driving. Of course some of that was the result of having a brother with a serious car audio hobby, but all in all its very handy indeed!

Of course in time I filled up the 8GB on the mini and it became pretty much strictly used for working out. This was at about the same time that they started making iPod compatible everything and so I got a bigger iPod for Christmas. I think it was 2006 and at this time the smallest video one you could get was 80GB - big upgrade from the 8GB I was dealing with before! Now I was determined to upload more music and really use the thing. I even started buying more things on iTunes instead of on cds. I still feel kind of bad about this from time to time and do purchase some cds but for the most part I'm an iTunes girl now.

And now my very favorite part of iTunes is this new Genius feature! As I said before, I was slow to get into all this and therefore I never really paid attention whenever my software had an available update. One day though I decided to go for it and here was this handy little Genius feature. I didn't pay much attention to it at the time and just went about my way. Then my brother got an iPhone and he was just raving about this Genius thing so I tried it out the other night. Its A-mazing!

If you're not familiar with this feature I highly recommend it. All you do is pick one song in your library, push the Genius icon and it automatically generates a playlist of songs in your library that will go well with that song. The first song I happened to pick was "Be Here Now" by Ray LaMontagne and the Genius created a fantastic playlist in moments!

The folks at Apple think one of the best things about the feature is that it "helps you discover songs in your library you never knew you had — and rediscover forgotten favorites". I really got to listen to the playlist based off of "Be Here Now" while working on a project at work today and I found myself checking my iPod several times to see just what song was playing. I had so many good things on there that I had forgotten about or just did not realize I had downloaded!

Some of the things Genius picked for me were:

"23" by Jimmy Eat World

"See the World" by Gomez

"On The Radio" by Regina Spektor

"So Here We Are" by Bloc Party

"Breathe In" by Frou Frou

"Somewhere a Clock is Ticking" by Snow Patrol

"I Feel It All" by Feist

"Heartbeats" by Jose Gonzalez

I can't wait to see what it gives me when I put in some Britney or NKOTB for a fun road trip or girls weekend or maybe some Kanye West and Fergie for a great workout mix. I realize I am probably really behind on the times with this and that most of you have been enjoying this great feature for months but if you're like me and haven't checked it out yet - please do, it will not disappoint!

Maybe you could make a great playlist for this weekend??? Hope its a good one!

Welcome to Miami…Buenvenidos a Miami

Yep…I’m heading to Miami for 4th of July weekend! I've had Will Smith's "Miami" in my head all weekend and it hasn't been annoying at all. (side note: I just checked online and that song is from 1998 - yikes!) I cannot believe how quickly my girlfriends and I were able to get this together. Julie’s family recently acquired a condo there and July 3rd is her birthday. This past Friday, she sent an email about the idea of going to celebrate her bday and the holiday weekend and I think by 11 am there were six of us on board! I am so excited about another girls trip with great friends – most of us also traveled to Costa Rica together last summer – and so excited about going to Miami for the first time!

I know the months to come will be spent looking for fun beachy clothes, the perfect swimsuit (which also means a new diet/workout routine – Jillian and I need to become better friends asap!), cute cover up dresses and flip flops, and planning where to go eat, go out, and shop. I have a few friends who have been so hopefully they will have some great recommendations and Julie and another good friend, Molly, are going in a couple of weeks so they can get the lay of the land for our return in July!

I just love having something like this out there to look forward too. I think having this goal/threat of a beach vacation will also make the workouts easier – we’ll see! My goal this week is to get on track with that.

I am not excited about it being Monday but the extra hour of daylight will be nice!

Have a great day!

Things I love....

I love this time of year. Days of warm (or in Texas, hot) weather are just around the corner, daylight savings time is about to kick in (why we can't use this timetable year round completely baffles me - it is SO much better to have more daylight!), bright clothes are hitting the stores, its time to get some pretty new polish on those toes and slip your feet into cute sandals instead of boring closed toed shoes - spring has sprung!!!

And Easter is also right around the corner which means: Easter candy. I love pretty much all things fruity and all things sour so I love it when one of my favorite things hits the shelves for a few short weeks a year. I have been eyeing the Easter candy displays for about a week now, waiting for their arrival and then last night I finally spied them at the grocery store....

Yea!!! Starburst Sour Jelly Beans! I LOVE these and may or may not have bought three bags and may or may not also buy a few more 'extras' before they're off the shelves to keep stashed throughout the year. They only come along ONCE a year - what's a girl to do???

Dinner and a Chick Flick!

Last night I got together with a group of lovely ladies at a local restaurant for their version of "Dinner and a Chick Flick"! We had so much fun! This restaurant reserves its party room each Tuesday night during 'low party season' for the event. Some of the movies they have had on the list are "Sex and The City", "Serendipity", "Beaches", "Steel Magnolias", "My Best Friend's Wedding", "Fried Green Tomatoes" and "Mona Lisa Smile". Luckily my group had the most interest in seeing "My Best Friend's Wedding" - some of those other ones are real tear jerkers!

There were cards on each table with a menu for the evening as well as trivia and fun facts about the movie. One of the fun facts was that Julia Roberts had hand picked both Cameron Diaz and Dermot Mulroney for their parts - who knew?? The menu was set in advance and was seafood ravioli for the entree and "PBJ" for dessert. As it turns out, they had a few other options available for dinner as not everyone likes seafood. One of the girls we were with ordered a mushroom risotto that she said was fabulous. Dinner orders were taken before the movie started and our entrees were delivered shortly after the movie began. They were also great about getting our checks taken care of before the movie ended so that we could leave once the movie was over. After all, we did have to be at work the next day! They had definitely done this before!

It had been awhile since I had seen the movie and really enjoyed watching it in this setting. The table behind us was REALLY enjoying the movie - they sang along with nealy every song!

Including this all time fave...

It was tons of fun - I had a great time and I am sure we will do it again soon!