Midweek Confessions

I can't remember how I found Elizabeth over at E, Myself, and I, but I do remember she was still pregnant with her little boy Sam.  I love how honest she is about what it's like to have a child and juggle everything life throw's at you!  Anyhow, here are my Midweek Confessions for the week...

• My blog is a definitely a newbie on the block and this is my first 'link up'!
• Currently at my job I work 80% time and next month, July 8 to be exact, I go full time.  Matt is pretty excited about this change, I on the other hand I LOVE having every Friday off and am kind of dreading a typical work week!
• For the last three month's I haven't read the book my book club has selected for our monthly read.  Opps!  Gotta turn that around for July!
• I think I'm going to have read the "Fifty" books... Too many people are talking about them and I don't want to be out of the loop.
• Our dog, Bella, is incredible spoiled... The other morning I woke to warm dog breath in my face and her head on my pillow!
• I've been doing Weight Watcher's online since February and have lost a little over 11 lbs, but I've hit a rut and have just been maintaining.  I'm hoping to give myself a boost in the right direction by busting out the 30-Day Shred DVD by Jillian Michaels.  I'm going to start July 1, I'll keep you informed on how I do.  Wish me luck!

Chilly Pepper

One of these things is not like the others...

This morning I opened the refrigerator to find the pepper cozied up with the leftovers and bottled beer.  Just chillin'... chilly pepper!  If you hadn't guessed, my husband is the culprit of this particular occurrence.  Bless his heart! 

Do you find random things in the 'frige?  Besides the pepper I've come home to the ice cream nestled up next to the butter and sour cream.  I mean they're kind of related so I guess it makes sense.  Kinda... Okay, not really!

Happy Tuesday!

Weekend Recap Via Instagram

This last weekend was a whirlwind!  I was up and at 'em and out the door by 7:45am to get to the DMV.  I recently bought a new horse trailer and needed to get the title and license plates squared away.  From there Bella and I headed to our friends house to spend some time at the pond.  Bella LOVES going over there and gets all spun out about a mile from their house because she knows where we're going!  Jill and I floated while the dogs swam, terrorized the wildlife and generally ran around like goofballs.  It was so nice to relax!  I didn't get any photos at the pond, but we spend a lot of time there in the summer so I'm sure there will be some soon.

From the pond, I headed to see one of my best friends and her new baby!  They'd been out of the hospital for about a week and I hadn't had a chance to get down to see them yet.  My Friday schedule was totally crazy, but I was able to spend about 45 minutes visiting.  He's a cutie pie!  From there I headed back home to shower and change for a birthday party for my secretary at work.

Saturday morning I was up early again, this time it was to go and get my horse ready for our first horse show of the year!  YEA!!  I had to clip, cut, wash, band, and polish him up so he was all purty for the show.  Here we are all dressed to the nines and looking fabulous!

Louie gets very worried when he has to stand by himself at the horse trailer, he really like a buddy... either horse or human, he doesn't care!  And he was driving me crazy before we went into our first class because he was causing such a ruckus, neighing for anyone who would listen... dancing around... pawing with his front feet.  So I told him, in my toughest gruffest voice that he'd better shape up or else....  Our first class of the day was Showmanship at Halter, which if you don't know anything about horse showing is a pattern class and the handler, in this case me... is judged on how well I complete the pattern with my horse.  In classes like this I like to be the first one to go, but the only drawback is you have to stand there and watch the other contestants go.  I stand there and critique their patterns and try to compare my pattern to theirs...  After everyone had gone the announcer clicked his mic on and said "Placings for Adult Showmanship are as follows... 1st Place... entry number 571... Myla Ringler and Thru Thick N Tin."  The judge selected Louie and I as the winner!!!  Woo Hoo!

I was a happy girl! 

Sunday morning I was pretty excited to sleep in past 8 o'clock!  Matt and I were pretty slow moving, but we really had to drop the hammer and get in gear because we were heading to Chicago for the day.  We stopped at my parents house, wished my Dad a "Happy Father's Day", dropped Bella off and headed back out.  Long story short we successfully used our navigational (and marital) skills to get to and from Chicago riding the Metra.  Not to pat myself on the back, but we also dominated riding the CTA to Wrigley Field for a Chicago Cubs game!  

Hanging out in the city was wonderful and the game was fun even though the Cubs lost....*sad face*  We made it home safe and sound around 2am Monday morning and let me tell you getting up for work was tough tough tough!  Play Hard, Work Hard!

Vacation Recap, Days 1-4

It seems like forever since I've last posted something to my blog here.  Sorry about that!  Since most of the people who frequent this site are friends and family I'm sure you knew I was out on the East Coast visiting some family friends.  This was my first trip to New Jersey and hopefully it won't be my last!  My friend Laura invited me out to celebrate her son Luke's HS graduation and I jumped at the chance.  Laura, her daughter Kelsey and I met showing horses a long time ago and we've stayed in touch after all these years!
Side note: Kelsey and Luke are actually both attending my (and Matt's) alma mater, Southern Illinois University Carbondale.  
I flew in to Philly, PA Friday and arrived at Dan and Laura's house in New Jersey around 1pm.  That evening we all went out for a nice supper and then headed back to the house to crash.  The next morning Number #1 on my To-Do List for the day was to create these little wonders....

Have you seen them online or via Pinterest?  They were a cinch to make and everyone at the party loved them!  They are so simple to make you literally unwrap the peanut butter cups, attach the chocolate square with some melted chocolate chips and then attach a 'tassel' using frosting and top it with a chocolate candy.  In addition to the candies, Kelsey and I were in charge of decorating the porch and pool deck with balloons and streamers.  We were also enlisted to go to the ice cream shop down the road and get some 'fun' flavors.  Ice Cream on 9 has over 127 varieties of homemade ice cream, as well as sugar free and Italian ice options!  Kelsey and I decided on Smurfette, Mint Cookies and Cream and Chocolate Covered Pretzel, in addition to good ol' fashion Vanilla.  The Chocolate Covered Pretzel was the freakin' BOMB!!  Salty!  Sweet!  Delicious!  Laura and I actually discussed with 100% seriousness, shipping some back to IL using dry ice.  Instead, I've decided that it is my mission this summer to re-create it back here in IL.  Not just the ice cream was amazing either, I took full advantage of this machine and created some yummy margarita's for myself the party guests!

Isn't she a beauty?  This is by far the best way to make margarita's!  I'm adding it to my wish list for birthday's, Christmas, etc.

To recuperate from the party, Sunday we did a lot of this...

Cotton Kitty used to be a barn cat back in Illinois when Laura owned her own boarding and training barn, but as you can see she is assimilating nicely to the fine living she is enjoying now!

On Monday we headed down to the NJ shore.  Laura's brother-in-law opened up his home to use for an afternoon of swimming, socializing and jet skiing.  This was the first time I'd ever had the opportunity to ride, let alone pilot a jet ski and it was a blast!  The whole afternoon was ahh-mazing, the house, the view, the hospitality all above and beyond!  Although this Illinois girl is a Chicago Cubs fan, who can fault Yankee fans when they let you come hang out at a place like this?

 

From Bill's we went down to the boardwalk at Seaside Heights.  This is the same location the television the Jersey Shore is filmed at.  Although we didn't see any celebs, we did partake in some delicious fried treats and pizza bigger than my head!

Tuesday morning we all headed for New York City, more details to come!