Angry

I've found my self angry this week. This isn't a new state for me, I seem to feel pain and injustices deeply. But I've been dwelling on them more lately. Here, in no particular order, are things that make me so very angry:

1. Congress voting to take away funding to Planned Parenthood. Seriously?! This NYT article give the facts: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/18/us/politics/18parenthood.html?ref=politics and the fact of the matter is that Federal Funds are NOT paying for abortions, they are paying for health care, screenings, counseling, and birth control to low income women.Go do something useful Congress. I hear unemployment is a problem.
2. Along the lines of #1 - why are we trying to take funding from public broadcasting? Its much much better than the crap we are fed on FOX and MSNBC.
3. And why are peaceful protesters (and mourners) being shot at by police?! We need to do more than urge the leaders of Bahrain to show restraint. Are we for democracy or not?
4. The ever popular "blame the rape victim", guaranteed to raise my blood pressure. Let examine our own shortcomings before we point at others: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/18/us/politics/18parenthood.html?ref=politics


This is a short list of things that have been keeping me up at night. I think I need to focus on relaxing next week, or I'll go insane!

Good bye winter - and good riddance!

This year, winter dragged on for far too long. It's probably that my non-existent immune system kept me sick for all of January and most of February that made it seem so long. But, there is hope! Today its 75 degrees out. Come on Spring! I need an excuse to paint my toes. And buy new sandals.  

I LOVE Sephora

I LOVE Sephora. Its a wonderful store filled with pretty makeup, good smells, and friendly people. I love makeup so much, so naturally, Sephora is one of my favorite stores. I have a lot of good memories with this place, including trips with dear friends. The first week I lived in Syracuse, I had Josh take me to the mall and we walked the entire length of the mall - I was convinced a mall that size had to have a Sephora - I was sadly mistaken :( But they have one now!

Today, I thought I would share 2 things I love about Sephora.

1. A trip to Sephora with lots of goodies. Check out this picture:

In just 20 minutes at Sephora, I can come home with peppermint body wash that will last me months, a new moisturizing mint lip treatment to help my dry lips (there is a definite mint theme going on :), 2 new Stila palettes, a hot pink Urban Decay Eyeshadow, and a touch-up makeup eraser for morning rush jobs. Plus some samples for my mom and a 20% off sale items after Christmas 12/26 - 1/1 (online only, code is EXTRA). AMAZING!!

2. I am lucky to have a Sephora at the Mall across the street from my apartment. Sometimes, a trip to the mall is more than I can manage (parking gets CRAZY on the weekends and around the holidays), so I order online. I love online shopping, but I hate waiting for my packages to arrive - which leads to my second Sephora love - their UPS delivery schedule. I live in a UPS 1 day transit zone. LOVE this.

I can buy the new eyeshadow I've been dying to have, and have it in my hands in 2 days.

Now if only I had endless funds....

*Slightly* obsessed

I'll admit it, I have an addictive personality. I'm addicted to pink, peppermint, glitter, makeup, sleep, among other things, and I'm a recovering Diet Pepsi addict. I'm also slightly obsessive if I find something I want - it usually becomes a need, and I obsess until I get my hands on it. I'm a little nutty.

This week, I obsessed about these cookies. For weeks, I've been seeing  candy cane Hershey kisses at Wegmans, but had no use for them. Yesterday at lunch, I went to Wegmans, hoping to grab at least 2 bags, but maybe more. I couldn't find a single bag!!  I went back to work, extremely disappointed, and plotted a trip to Target on my way home.

Last time I went to Target (about a week ago) I remembered seeing bags and bags of the Candy Cane Hershey Kisses by checkout. When I got there yesterday, NOTHING! I wondered to the back of the store where they had Christmas decorations and a candy aisle, but at first didn't see them either. I started to panic a little. I then saw a display with the Hershey milk chocolate kisses, and thought, what the heck, maybe I'll find a random bag of candy canes mixed it. And I did! This then resulted in me digging through piles of other candy in hopes of finding another bag. I'm sure I looked like a crazy person. But, as a result of my efforts I accumulated this:

This is what a bag of chopped kisses looks like:

And the finished product! They turned out really yummy.

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!

For the past few years, I've been slightly bah-humbug about Christmas. I would give gifts, send Christmas cards, and bake cookies, but I wouldn't really decorated. It might be because I haven't really felt all that "permanent" with where I was living, and would usually spend the holidays someplace else. But this year is different. This year, Josh and I will be spending the holidays in our apartment in VA, and for the first time, I did some serious decorating. Well, maybe not serious for most people, but for my first real attempt, I think its pretty serious :)

I found a pink tree that I ABSOLUTELY love. I don't think I'll ever want another tree. Its perfect!

I made some holiday blocks:

And spent many many nights making this Christmas tree:

I put up some decorations I got from my mom:

And bought some cute snowmen!! 

Merry Christmas!!

Blessed

About a month ago, we moved into a new apartment. The move went really well. We hired 2 movers, and they did a great (and a quick!) job. What would have taken Josh and I days took them a less than 4 hours. Its surprising how much stuff you can fit in a 500 square foot apartment. But its nice to now have almost 700 square feet to live in. Below are some pictures of our beloved new apartment. Being in Virginia is great, being in this apartment is even better!!

Our bedroom. Looking a little bare at the moment, but a trip to Homegood would fix that :)

My favorite room! I love my pink bathroom.... and how big it is!! My honey is sweet to buy me pink towels and tolerate all the beauty products that are EVERYWHERE. See the wall mirror in the picture above? Josh did a surprise install of that while I was at work one day. I LOVE it. 

Dining room!! For the last year, we didn't have a dining room - or a table for that matter. The night before we moved, we went to Target and bought one. 

Here is the living room. When we moved in, Josh decided our TV was a little small for the new, larger living room so we decided to upgrade it a little. At first I was skeptical, but he was right, this one fits the room, and now, when we have friends over to play Mario Cart, everyone's race is clearly visible. :)

I also love our new kitchen. Lots more cupboard space, and a pantry!! Time to get cracking on some food storage :) 

We feel very blessed and lucky to be able to live in this apartment in Virginia. Even though we climb three flights of stairs to get to it. 

I don't cook...

But in the past 2 weeks, I've cooked 3 WHOLE meals (while being gone for 4 whole days). Does it count if I cooked the same meal two times (but for 2 different groups of people)? I hope so. Meal one (also repeated for meal 2) consisted of mashed red potatoes with green onions and sour cream, honey mustard chicken, broccoli and peas and dirt cake for dessert (thanks to Danielle for teaching me how to make this fabulous dessert!). Meal #3 was gourmet grilled cheese (the special bread from wegmans is what makes this grilled cheese gourmet) with tomato soup and salad and grapes. While I'm proud of the fact that I fed 4 or 5 people a total of 3 times in 2 weeks, I'm done. Sorry honey, I know you've gotten used to being fed, but I don't think it will happen again any time soon, unless you invite people over for dinner... then I guess I'll fed you. Or we could go to Chipotle for dinner tonight. I'm just saying.