Valentine's Challenge Day 2

It's been a good Tuesday, and I'm laughing just trying to think of a bad date. That's the topic for today's challenge with Casey, Amber, and Neely. Go link up with them and join the good times!

I can't really remember very many dates because I've been going on dates with Bran since I got to college, but I do have one that comes to mind. Bran and I took a break our sophomore year, and in that time I of course wanted to test the waters. Obviously I turned my little tail around and ran back to what I had. But in the meantime, a few weeks before Bran and I got back together, Florida boy asked me on a date. I wearily accepted because I had a funny feeling Bran and I may be on again, but none the less I accepted. He picked me up from my townhouse in a million year old grandma mobile that was terrible on the outside but what he called "comfrotable" on the inside. I disliked it greatly from the beginning.

He then took me to Little CiCis. Yup, we pulled into the parking lot and I wanted to die. I hate pizza and WHO TAKES SOMEONE THERE on a first date?! The kid was loaded, I did a little research before we went out. Don't judge. This part of the night still blows my mind so I won't dwell on it, but Little CiCi's really?!

I kindly pointed out that I disliked pizza and thankfully didn't have to walk in there, and instead we ate at Chillis. His personality was just boring, it was painful eating dinner and coming up with topics to talk about and I couldn't wait for the night to end. Well as I was anxious to get back to campus the "date" portion ended quickly and we went our separate ways. The next morning I realized that I had left a jacket in his car so I went by his apartment to pick it up. He must not have been expecting me because I walked in on him talking to someone on the phone (I'm pretty sure it was his dad) telling him that he had found the girl. He was telling his dad how he was going to fly me home with him for Spring Break (He lived in Florida) and I wanted to die. I snuck back out, and made sure to make alot of noise when I came back in the front door. 

Needless to say I grabbed my jacket. And ran. It was a terrible one alright. Thank heavens for Prince Charming. 

What's your worst date ever?

Valentine's Blog Challenge!

Don't judge me, I'm posting twice. Thank goodness I started poking around and got nosey when I saw a Valentine's Day Challenge. Hosted by Neely and Amber two of my absolute favorites!! So I couldn't pass up the opportunity to link up ;) And you shouldn't either.

Day 1 is about your favorite date; 

I'd have to say that while Bran and I have had some memorable dates, one of my all time favorites is our first date. We not only went to lunch but we went to dinner! It was love at first sight! There are a few close seconds like the Valentine's Day we shared soup at his Mom's house because I was sick as a dog, and he gave me yellow rainboots. Or all the times we've gone to the zoo just to see the giraffees. The time we got to chase each-other around with nerf guns is also at the top of the list, but I'm not sure that counts as a date because it was for pictures.

til tomorrow, xoxo.

Chewy Cup Muffin

Happy Monday, but almost Tuesday!
   Sorry I've been a bit MIA. It was a class weekend so I spent Saturday learning how to be a better researcher and assessmenter (but obviously not a better speller). Be proud because I went out BOTH Friday and Saturday night which is huge for me. And I just asked to have Wine Wednesdays so hopefully that will go well.

Just wanted to share a quick fantastic microwave muffin I just made, in about 2 seconds flat. Although I did happen to have the can of pure pumpkin which I would assume not everyone would have laying around, but all the other ingredients one would have.

*I will say that this is a chewy muffin and tastes all the more better with a dalop of vanilla ice cream on the top =)

And yes I finally broke down and got Instagram. It does make my pictures look better ;) 

Pumpkin Cake in a Mug {makes 1 serving}
What you’ll need: 
1 egg
2 tablespoons skim milk
1/4 teaspoon PURE VANILLA EXTRACT
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
7 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

What to do:
1. Place all ingredients into a medium bowl. Mix together.

2. Pour mixture into a regular sized coffee mug. Microwave on high for 1 minute 30 seconds. If there is any spillage at this point, wipe off side of mug. Continue cooking for an additional 1 minute 30 seconds.

Courtesy of Babble Parents 

Procrastination Pintrest

Mmhmm, how I love Pintrest. And as I sat waiting for my car to be looked at this AM I found some really cute stuff and got super excited because it's link up day with The Vintage Apple!

{I love her new link up picture}

I'm in a bit of a rush so all of these pins can be found here: http://pinterest.com/rkjalernpan/pins/.

I'd love to have new followers =D

 Pretty in Pink!

Have a happy Wednesday full of sparkles and lovely things. Stay tuned to hear how my soup in the crock pot turned out!

Dearest Target

I've found myself in the middle of an education building, blogging to pass the time until class in 20 minutes. I'm not sure what language is being spoken down the hall and this one guy continuously runs up and down the hall. Um, maybe I missed the memo that at lunch time this place turns into an indoor track? Oh and a girl just walked by talking to her friend and said "well I'm legit pursuing that guy" lol! I'm glad she is not illegitimately going after a man. 

Oh my, go link up with Tara for her 72 Target Tuesday link up. It's a total favie of mine. 

Amazing Yellow Coat! I tried it on already and everything! One day you will be mine =) 

Some sort of lighting that would make it not seem so classroom like in the living room. 

This welcome mat matches so well! 

So I'm not very knowledgeable (at all!) about vacuums but this is yellow and fun!

This to hang by my door is amazing! I'm sure it's way more expensive than necessary but it looks awesome! 

*This was suppose to post earlier, I'm not sure why it didn't! 

50 NIFTY!

Actually it's 51!! I'm sooo excited to see that I have 51 followers. I am so thankful for the blog community that is here and blogging has become one of the best parts of this adventure I'm on. Thank you to all of you who have followed, and a special thanks to those of you who send sweet thoughts my way. They make my day. I thought I would take this opportunity to give all of you a few fun facts about me =)

• I squeeze the toothpaste from the middle. So not efficient, but hey it's what I've always done. Why stop now?!
• I don't fill glasses all the way up. Or bottles, or water filters. Perhaps because I"m so clumsy, I don't give myself the opportunity for a bit to slosh over. Bran would insert here that I don't finish anything either. I always leave a little bit, just in case I want it later. (But I usually don't)
• I'm scared of the garbage disposal. Doesn't it just sound scary?! I don't know why on earth but I think there was a boy meets world episode...Wasn't Angela scared of it? I'm not sure why but even when the thing is off and I'm the only here (i.e. the only one that could turn it on) I still think it's going to spontaneously turn on and eat my washcloth, spoons, and pinkie fingers.

• According to Freud, I'm stuck in the oral stage. I chew on pens and probably would put anything in my mouth if I wasn't such a germ phob. Why you ask then do I put pens in my mouth? Again it's a terrible habit and I should break it, but while I was being honest I thought I would put it out there.
• Wedding planning has not been a fairy tale. Or even living a dream because I wasn't one of those girls who had it dreamed out. It's real and it's expensive and most days I'm not very motivated because everyone who really cares about the kinds of flowers or if the corals are all the same shade are not within a 25 mile radius. I'm making what I've got work but don't let people tell you it's all hearts, clovers, and horse shoes. If we had a bigger budget I'd have paid someone who I don't know to do most of it. 

Hope these five facts are new and intriguing. Hooray again for 50 followers!! <3

xoxo

It's okay: Early Weekend

Today's been a crazy day but all is not lost. I get to leave for Chapel Hill tonight (yes I'll be driving through the night but it'll be worth it!), and I enjoyed my class that I had earlier and hopefully will enjoy the one I'm about to go to. Go link up with Amber and for It's Okay Thursdays

It's okay, that I'm starting my weekend early. I'm bringing some work with me so I'll make tomorrow fairly productive. It's almost like a satellite office right? ;)

It's okay that I get really frustrated when I get taken advantage of. Theres nothing worse than feeling like someone else made you look bad. Woosaaa, I'll be over it in a minute

It's okay that I had half a kit-kat. I'm trying to eat better but since I didn't put myself on a strict diet or anything a treat her and there are totally allowed.

It's okay that I dont' know if you can open a joint account if you don't have the same last name...yet. Any thoughts?

It's okay that I don't really have time to put cutesy pictures with each of my blurbs, and that I hope you all will forgive me. It's an acomplishment I got this up at all!

This was the first thing I saw when I logged onto pintrest. It was meant to be.

Pintrest is the Best Part of my Day

I love lunch break because I get to use all my social media! I haven't decided if I'm going to get into Twitter or not, but man oh man I love Pintrest. Here's what I've been pinning the last week. Go link up with Michelle at The Vintage Apple for her hugely successful Pintrest link up!

Peep Topariary

This journal looks fantastic! It would be simple but yet fun to go back and look at what you wrote five years ago.

We've been playing around with Mason Jars all week to see what we like the most for centerpieces.

Happy Hump Day!

Target Tuesdays!

One of my all time favorites. And with Beckuary around the corner ;) Happy Rainy Tuesday. Go link up with Tara and tell me whatcha love at Target!

RAIN BOOTS!

I don't have light blue...

                             THEY ARE PURPLE AND HAVE PENGUINES.. I'm just sayin

Um, I'm jealous of the people I see with these because they appear to keep more water off them than your average umbrella.

Just yesterday I was telling Bran I haven't gotten new sports bras since last December! I think I'd like some fun colors but I also don't have a standard black or white.

These are on sale right now!

Have a good Tuesday. 

Think Good Thoughts

Happy MLK day. I've been struggling a good bit the last week with adjusting back to the life I've created in Knoxville. I've felt very resentful of all the great things that are happening to others around me, and I've been jealous of the girls I know who are living with/close to their significant others and those that are much closer to their happily ever after.

But then I wake up and realize that I've got it great, I've got it good. So I'll leave you with these two videos that are really getting me in the right mind set.

" won't let the negativity turn me into my enemy,

Promise to myself that I won't let it get the best of me."

"I Love My WHOLE life!"

My first crock pot

If I remember correctly I asked for a crock pot approximately a million times in the fall and Santa was good to me and brought me not one, but two =) (that's what happens when you have two families)

So the first thing I made in it was a dessert (are we surprised?!), and that was a bread puddin' with rasins. It was okay but as I threw out almost all of it this morning, I knew it was time to try again. Pintrest to the rescue...

That is the pintrest photo. Here is the recipie and some photos I took from this morning. I'm hoping that these little things will be delcious for my lunch tomorrow in the middle of my EIGHT hour long class.

*Note: I cut everything in half because I didn't think I'd want 4 of these things.

2 pounds ground pork (or a combination of pork and beef)

4 large green peppers

1 large onion

2 carrots

4 cloves of garlic

1/2 head of cauliflower (didnt' use because it's not my favorite)

6 ounce can of tomato paste (erm' let's hope I measured 1/4 of the can correctly...)

1 tablespoon dry oregano

1 tablespoon dry or fresh tarragon (I have NO idea what this is and didn't see it in my spice rack, and my hands were already nasty and tomatoey from mixing...needless to say this didn't get put it.

Salt and pepper to taste

Read more: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/crock-pot-pork-stuffed-peppers/#ixzz1jMKFsedz

Bascially I just shreadded the carrots, garlic, and chopped up the onion. Then I added the pound of meat and tomato paste.

 Once it was mixed up I plopped it into the seedfree and topfree green peppers.

You add a cup of water to the bottom of the crock pot and stick the little green guys in there.

Then they just cook for 8-10 hours on low. My apartment smells heavenly at the moment, fingers crossed they taste just as good!

What a Blustery Day

In the hundred acre wood... I don't have much to say other than I'm about to go to my first class of the semester so that should say it all. I know it's one step closer to being done but my life has gone from 5 miles an hour to 500 miles an hour, in a blink of an eye.

Between the whirlwinds of work, I've been making some pretty good progress in the wedding arena so that is great. So stick around I'll come up with something clever to chat about, until then...

;) 

What I'm Loving Wednesdays

Hey there! I'm linking up on this dreary rainy Knoxville morning with This Kind of Love as a reminder to myself that there is plenty out there that I am loving!

I'm loving my yellow boots and yellow scarf! It makes me feel like I'm walking around holding my very own piece of sunshine!

I'm loving that one of my besties is coming to visit this Saturday night, and that she gets to stay through Monday since it's a holiday.

I'm loving that the Denver Broncos looked spectacular on Sunday night AND we will be playing the fiances team this coming Saturday night. Yup I'll have the bestie and the Broncos all in one night! PS for all you haters, let Tebow be Tebow. He's got a lotta good things going for him, can't we jsut let him be? Besides I love all the coverage all my boys are getting, and heck it doesn't hur t that the stores here in the South don't just laugh at me when I ask for Denver paraphinalia.  I was a Denver fan before he came along, and I'll be one if he moves on.

I'm loving that Dunkin Doughnuts opened on campus this morning at 7am! I haven't been yet because I'm trying really hard to wait for Jess to get in the office so we can skip down there together. DD opening doesn't bode well for my recent cut down on carbs.


I'm loving that the countdown is back in the single digits til I see Bran again. We're a little under a year and five months until I become Mrs. Brandon Santiago. I can't wait!

Go link up and tell me what you're loving today!