A Little Something to Make You Laugh This Morning...

I don’t know if I told you, but J bought me houseshoes for Christmas. When I opened them, they were two left feet. He had had the store wrap them, and they didn't check them to see if they matched.

About a year ago, I bought new ski boots because mine were starting to pack out and bug me. I tried one on in the store and the other was on display, so they brought them to the register for me. I finally opened them last night because my old boots were finally "done"… and they were two left feet.

Is someone trying to tell me something? Because, apparently everyone seems to think I have two left feet!

Wedding Wednesday: Rehearsal Dinner

I am elated to say that we have officially booked our rehearsal dinner. I can not express how excited I am to have this huge task ticked off my to-do list. YAY!

So... now on to the details. As you might know by now from this and this, I have worked at the rodeo for the past 5 summers. I plan to bartend there again this summer because the money is just too good to give up-- not to mention any extra moolah in this economy is worth scooping up! When J and I first started throwing around rehearsal dinner ideas, I briefly mentioned that I thought it would be fun to have everyone go to the rodeo Friday night. He jumped on the rodeo bandwagon, too. I didn't really give the RD another thought because I had so many other to-do items that I needed to tackle first. Then, J's mother emailed me to tell me how excited she was that we were going to do our RD at the rodeo. I hadn't told her a thing and later J admitted that he had put the bug in his mom's ear. So, I finally needed to get off my rear and call my bosses. They actually live in Florida most of the year, so I left them a voicemail briefly mentioning why I was calling. They called me the next day at work asking for more details. After I gave them an idea of what I was looking for and how many people would be there, they told me they'd call me back with a quote. I was desperately hoping for a discount, as the brisket meal usually runs about $16! Yowza! They called back literally two minutes later. What came out of the other end of the phone just about made me fall out of my chair. They offered to give us our rehearsal dinner and drinks as our wedding gift! I am not even kidding. I almost started crying straight away. We still have to pay for the admission for each person, but that's a drop in the bucket compared to what we would have spent.

What's most exciting about our rehearsal dinner is how unique it is and that it gives our guests a little *glimpse* into my summer life. I can not even wait!

Etsy Spotlight

So, yesterday, my post was all about pillows on Etsy. I have to be honest-- I only purchased two during my browsing excursion. I did pick up a few other things, though...

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I think the bedspread will be too perfect for the pull out chair in my home office.

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A custom dress for my shower-- in green, natch!
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I also ordered custom invites for our rehearsal, but more on that later!

Etsy Spotlight: Pillows

I was browsing Etsy over the past weekend in search of a great designer for our rehearsal dinner invites. I couldn't help but pick a few favorite home goodies, as well.

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I've been wanting this next one for quite some time, but I'm a little cheap right now.
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And... a few non-lettered finds:
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This last one is too cute. I have a thing for owls. (I used to think my aunt was calling me owl, but she was calling me AL for my first two initials!)
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I could shop on there for hours!

Fabulous Shoe Friday

I am so ready for summer.

All images from the ever-lovely Anthro

Rural Living in the Eyes of Shipping

I really, really can not stand the exorbitant amount of shipping I have to pay for living nowhere near a metropolis. If only I could zip on over to a store to pick up what I need. I would be oh so happy.

I finally got up the nerve to purchase the white cabinets from Ikea for my home office (from this post). I put two in my cart and clicked "Checkout". After filling out my info, I was transferred to the checkout screen... which showed shipping as $243.96. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? The total for the two cabinets was only $238, and they want an additional $244 in shipping!? I am devastated. I was in lurve with those cabinets... and now, I can't get them. The nearest Ikea is in Salt Lake, and there is no way I have time to drive 6 hours one way to get them. Ugh.

Weight Watchers Wednesday

I reached my lifetime goal this week!! YAY! I am overjoyed. Now, I just have to stay within two pounds up or down for six weeks, and then I will no longer have to pay to attend the meetings. Woo-freakin'-hoo!

Okay... on to this week's recipe: Chocolate Mint Brownies

POINTS® Value: 3 Servings: 24 Preparation Time: 15 min Cooking Time: 35 min Level of Difficulty: Easy

Replacing regular butter with apple butter makes these brownies much lower in fat, as well as moist and rich.

Ingredients

	1 cup(s) cake flour, sifted
	1 cup(s) unsweetened cocoa
	1/4 tsp table salt
	1 cup(s) fat-free egg substitute
	1 cup(s) packed brown sugar, dark-variety
	3/4 cup(s) dark corn syrup
	3/4 cup(s) apple butter
	2 tbsp vegetable oil
	1 oz unsweetened baking chocolate square(s), melted
	36 piece(s) Cambridge Brands Junior Mints, candies, chopped (about 6 small boxes)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350ºF. Coat a 9- x 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray.
  
  
• In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa and salt. In another large bowl, whisk together egg substitute, sugar, corn syrup, apple butter, oil and melted chocolate. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients until just blended.
  
  
• Pour batter into prepared baking pan and sprinkle with candies. Bake until firm, about 30 to 35 minutes. Allow to cool completely before cutting into 24 squares. Yields 1 square per serving.

Enjoy!

Wedding Wednesday: Bands

Now that I have a front-runner for my wedding band (J is not too content with the cost of said band), I've put a bug in J's ear about finding his wedding band. He would like to try some on before he decides. We have a total of two jewelers within two hours. One of which is contained in a shop about the size of a closet and has very little selection. The other asks for your first born. Lovely. We did browse Etsy tonight and found a couple contenders.

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Did you go the traditional route for bands or venture out?

I'm Like a Bird...

I'm in a nesting period. I do not know what my deal is, but I just want to make my home more of a home. We've got more than I could ever imagine, but... I feel like things could be better. I want to rummage through all of our closets and just purge like crazy. I want to move things around and throw things out. It's crazy. I almost feel the need to start this time in our lives completely fresh. I'm trying very hard to resist the urge to go crazy buying new things. I did buy two things this weekend that were not from places where we registered.

I bought this 65-piece flatware set that was on super sale at Horchow (and used Ebates, of course!) I really, really wanted to order the matching steak knives and the gold set, as well. But, I was a good girl. They have some amazing deals right now. You can get huge sets of flatware for extremely reasonable prices.
I also ordered a new duvet cover. We have been looking for a new one for what seems like ages. When I found this one at West Elm, I realized it was a real steal at $129. Even if we don't have it long-term, it's a great low cost option. (Again, I used Ebates... did I tell you I'm addicted?!)

Have you made any home purchases recently?

How I Started My Sunday...

Recently, my face lotion ran out, so I've been on the hunt for the perfect new face lotion. After spending $20 on a new Neutrogena product, my face had a bad reaction. I ended up giving it to J because I couldn't use it. The next product I tried was a (much) cheaper Olay product with SPF in it (because you must have SPF at this altitude!) But, it made my face really oily. So, I was still on the lookout for something new.

J had left for work already, and I was still lazing around. I watched the morning news. When I hopped out of the shower, an infomercial for Meaningful Beauty was on. I have to admit this: I get sucked into infomercials. Meaningful Beauty is sponsored by Cindy Crawford-- who looks nearly the same at 43 as she did at 28! With the big 3-0 coming up this summer, I've been a bit more in tune to the wrinkles that have been showing themselves on my face. Growing up, I should I have worn glasses, but I didn't... so I was always squinting. As a result, I have deepset wrinkles on my forehead. Ugh. I've recently noticed wrinkles around my mouth, as well. Obviously, this new product peaked my interest. I figured it was worth a shot, and I can always cancel if I don't like it. They have a 60-day money back guarantee, which is nice. Here's what I ordered:
Cleanser
Day Moisturizer
Night Fluid (which is supposed to really firm up your face while you sleep)
Eye Cream
Face Mask
Cleavage Cream (that's what I prefer to call it)
Glowing Serum

All of that for only $29.95! I'll do a review once I've had a chance to try it all.

Have any of you started a new beauty regimen lately? It's so expensive to change things up because you never really know whether you'll love the product!