Random Friday

     So we leave for vacation this morning to Florida to visit our friends David and Katie. I am so excited about finally getting to take a week-long vacation this year and I'm hoping we will get to have a lot of fun. We are driving part way down today and staying with Tim's mom and dad overnight and then finishing our drive tomorrow. I have packed tons of snacks and entertainment and all sorts of stuff to try to make the trip as painless as possible. While we're there, I'm hoping we will get to swim in the pool, maybe go to the beach, and hopefully visit a theme park or two. I'm really hoping we can let Owen meet Mickey Mouse. He's already a big fan. And of course, while we're there, we'll have to do some baby shopping with the parents-to-be!

We're going to visit these crazy folks!

Here's what's been going on this week:

1. Tim's birthday

       Tim's birthday went really well this week. We didn't do anything super special because his birthday was on a Tuesday and he tends to work late that night, but we did have a nice dinner. I made Pioneer Woman's Surf and Turf Cajun Pasta because it seemed man friendly and really indulgent and birthday dinner-ish. It was majorly delicious and because we were having the shrimp and pasta too, I was able to save us money by just buying one steak and spitting it. 

    I also surprised Tim with a gift that he really wanted, but didn't expect to get: the Google Nexus 7 tablet. I actually went through a really elaborate deception to surprise him because he is impossible to surprise normally. So I bought it with our credit card instead of our debit account because our shared account sends him an e-mail every time I buy something online and it always gives stuff away. I had the tablet shipped to my mom and dad's house so I could pick it up while I was there for my cousin's shower so it wouldn't be delivered to our house where he might see it and notice the box and see where it was from. Then I pretended to go shopping for his birthday one day while he was home and then came home and faked like I was hiding his presents away. After that, I wrapped three different presents for him because I typically buy him multiple presents for each holiday and then have him unwrap them in order of least expensive or exciting present to most expensive and exciting present. So I wrapped him a box of coffees for his new Keurig as his first present, then wrapped the tablet as his second, and sneakily wrapped one of his old video games as the "third present." Because the video game is such a distinctive shape, he was convinced that he was getting one of the new football video games that just came out and had no idea that I'd bought him the tablet. This might seem crazy to you, but I promise that he typically knows exactly what I'm going to buy him for each holiday because his wish list is always so short and I generally get him what he wants. And I really wanted to surprise him for once. And even though I had to be sneaky and lie to my husband, the end result was worth it for his surprise face. (See below). 

2. New favorite CD

      So to get ready for our trip, I have been making sure we have plenty of music to listen to. I downloaded a couple songs by the band Imagine Dragons earlier this year and decided to complete their debut CD by buying the rest of the songs that I didn't have. And I am so glad that I did.  In case you're wondering who this band is, chances are you have heard their music before without even realizing it. They have been featured in several commercials including one for the Olympics, the movie preview for "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," and one of their songs was just covered by the cast of Glee in the premiere episode this season. After listening to the CD for a bit just to test it out, I have several favorite songs: "It's Time," "Radioactive," "Tiptoe," "Demons," and "On Top of the World." Give them a listen.

3. Julep Reveal

      Julep revealed their October boxes yesterday and this month they are putting out new "crackle" nail polishes with witch names for Halloween. (There's Ursula, Hermione, Sabrina, and Glenda) I have yet to decide which option I'd like for this month, but there are some interesting colors and combinations. The company also offered an additional combination box with just creme colors after there were a lot of complaints on their Facebook page about the crackle nail polishes. Check out the colors for this month. Still haven't signed up for the Julep Maven program? What are you waiting for? Click my button on the right side of this page and use the code COLOR2012 to get your intro box for just a penny!

American Beauty features Sabrina (a zesty orange shimmer crackle) and Eloise (a smokey indigo blue creme).

Boho Glam features Lisa (a warm pebble gray creme) and Hermione (a bright white creme crackle).

Bombshell features Keira (a deep merlot red creme) and Ursula (a black creme crackle).

Classic with a Twist features Boris and Nicole (an autumn red-brown frost) and Gwyneth (a sheer pink clear).

It Girl features Caroline (a dark burgundy shimmer), Leslie (a black and silver speckled shimmer) and Glenda (a radiant silver metallic crackle).

Maven's Choice features Eloise, Lisa, and Keira.

And as a special offer this month, you can add on Sofia, a sparkly green polish that glows in the dark. Spooky!

     
     So what do you think? Which box would you choose? I love the color combo in the American Beauty box and I really love the burgundy colors. I'm also tempted by the glow-in-the-dark color. Hmm...decisions, decisions.

4. Parenting class

     Tim and I have started attending a Bible study with some couples from the church we've been attending. We are studying the book "Shepherding a Child's Heart" by Tedd Tripp. We are really excited about it because we think we can learn a lot from both the book and the other couples in the class who are all older than us by five years or more and I think the five couples there, including us, have 14 children altogether with one on the way. I have read the first chapter of the book and like it so far. It explains how basically all behavior stems from the heart "the wellspring of life" and that you must tend to a child's heart and not just their behavior. We were given this book by our college pastor from our home church in Georgia when we were pregnant and moving to Washington. 

5. Clean rings

       So I was on Pinterest the other day and found the recipe for a mixture to clean jewelry at home and decided to try it out right away. My wedding and engagement rings were super dirty and dull because it's been a while since I had them cleaned. I used to take them in to the jeweler they were from and have them clean them, but since we no longer live there, I haven't done it in forever. The recipe consists of a tablespoon each of salt, baking soda, and dish detergent in a cup of hot water poured into a bowl lined with aluminum foil. Then you just soak you jewelry in it and they come out pretty clean. I used a travel toothbrush to clean my ring a little better and it really came out sparkling. I was very impressed with how easy this was to do at home and I'm so glad that I don't have to buy anything special. Here's the link to the recipe in case you want to try it. 

6. It's a pinstrosity!

     And speaking of Pinterest, have you ever tried an idea you found on the site and had it turn out horribly wrong? I haven't ever had anything go tragically awry, but I did make a really disgusting homemade version of Starbuck's Pumpkin Spice Latte once. I recently discovered the website Pinstrosity, where people submit their Pinterest mishaps and mistakes. It's a great way to also check and see which popular pins might not work out so great. Each entry features the picture from the original pin and a picture of the project that failed. Some of them are laugh-out-loud funny. If you have a spare moment, check it out.