Typical Saturday Mornings

On some days, I’m a go-go-go type of person who doesn’t like to sit still for too long. On other days, I’m a lets-stay-home-and-watch-netflix type of person and can stay on my couch all day. Regardless of what mood I’m in, I love waking up early and taking advantage of the entire day.

On the weekends, unless I went to bed late the night before, I like to wake up around 7 AM and head to the dog park. Living in an apartment is hard on Zoey and Bear because they don’t have the freedom to run around and exert all their puppy energy, so the dog park (or my parents’ house) is a must!  After swimming and running and sniffing around for an hour, the dogs reluctantly let us bathe them before we head home.

Gym time is around 8:30 AM on Saturday. I like to get it over with on the weekend since we usually don’t know what the day is going to bring.  I’d hate to see something awesome happening, but then realize I can’t go because I haven’t gone to the gym yet. So if you get your workout done in the morning, it frees up your day for other things.

I’m not a big breakfast person, so I usually just eat a bowl of fruit on the patio if the weather is right. Sometimes I have a book. Sometimes I just sit there with the dogs and soak in the morning sun.

After getting ready for the day, Kevin and I usually bicker for 500 hours about what to do with ourselves. We are both pretty indecisive unless there is something going on. Since we started our new challenge, we aren’t allowed to go somewhere that has any cover charge or that requires eating food/drinking out. Fortunately there are a lot of free events around our city.

This Saturday is actually planned pretty well for us. We’re waking up bright & early to either take the dogs to the dog park or take them to a huge park downtown for a few hours (that also has a dog park). Poor Bear has a vet appointment at 10 AM, so we have to work around that. I also have to cook some snacks and desserts for our party.

We are hosting a Beer Tasting Party on Saturday night. I asked each person to bring 1-2 bottles of beer for the group. We’re going to put the beer out on the table and we can just pour ourselves samples of whatever ones we choose.

Other than that, I want to go to the mall to find a Roaring 20’s dress for my company holiday party. It’s difficult for me to find a formal dress that covers my upper arms (hides my tattoo). It’s going to be even more difficult since it has to be formal and the theme is Roaring 20’s.

I may also babysit my nephew on Saturday before the party, so that’ll keep me pretty busy for a few hours.  

Can it be Saturday yet?

No Touching!

I don’t know when, why, or how it started, but for as long as I can remember, I’ve hated when something or someone touches around or inside my belly button. I can barely get myself to touch my belly button to be honest. Simply put: I just hate the feeling.

Sometime last year I noticed a freckle in my belly button. I get new freckles all the time so I didn’t think too much about it, except that I hated it was in my belly button because I thought it made it ugly. (Random fact: I always loved how my belly button looked)

Over the year, though, that freckle started to change colors. It kept getting darker and darker until one day it was black. I knew I had to go to the dermatologist, so I scheduled an appointment the day I got my insurance cards.

I didn’t think anything of the appointment when I went in yesterday. I figured she’d look at my skin and say everything was perfect!

But when I showed her my belly button, she immediately said, “Oh this has to go!”

Ummm.. what?!

She promised it wouldn’t hurt to remove it, and I believed her. But I didn’t want her near my belly button and the thought of getting shots in my belly button is still giving me goosebumps.

She picked up a small ruler to measure it, and I instinctly but lightly pushed her arms away.

Then the nightmare started.

She first cleaned all inside it with alcohol and a cotton pad thing.

Then she gave me two freakin’ shots INSIDE my belly button!

And then she took a razor thing and scraped the mole off to send it to the lab.

The entire time she made me lay with my hands under my butt so I wouldn’t try to push her away.

I’m pretty sure she thought I was the biggest baby in the world because it only lasted 1 minute (if even that long!). 

What a Bust

Source

Prepare to read a debbie downer post…

I was overly excited for the State Fair in Dallas last weekend. Even though I knew it would be the busiest weekend of the fair, I was not prepared for how packed it was. We arrived 30 minutes before the game (UT vs OU) ended, so for a while it was OK. But when the game let out, thousands upon thousands of mostly drunk college kids poured out onto the fair grounds and the walkways were so tight I could barely move. It was hot. I was sweaty. I was surrounded by drunk kids smoking cigars in my face. And I was jammed into the worst human traffic jam I’ve ever been in.

All I really wanted was a corndog and a fried s’more. I left without getting either. The lines were too long, and I just gave up. So basically we wasted $36 to just walk around a fair – that was pretty pointless because it’s pretty much like the Houston Rodeo that I’ve been to hundreds of times. Kevin & I realized we just aren’t fair people. I like to look at the animals and I LOVE concerts, but I don’t care about going on rides or eating all the food.

After the fair, we went to dinner at a pretty cool restaurant called The Social House. The manager and our waiter were really awesome. They recognized that our drinks came out pretty late, so the manager gave us free drinks. Then our waiter gave us free shots to apologize too.  

We also bar hopped and saw some cool bars… until we went to one called the Windmill Lounge that was voted one of the best bars in the country by Esquire. I don’t know how many drinks those voters had, but let me save you a trip – it was boring and they couldn’t make our cocktails right even though they were on the menu.

We of course stopped by Deep Ellum brewery. I tried 4 beers and hated each of them. One of their IPAs tasted like Oregano. #sorryyoucantcompetewithhouston

What else went wrong? Oh! We went to Angry Dog to get the “best hotdog in Dallas!!” and were completely disappointed. It was basically soggy bread covered in mustard and chili with a hot dog thrown in the mix somewhere.

Our AirBnB house smelled like a PetSmart and had flies all over the place.

Kevin’s credit card information was stolen after we pumped gas at Buccees yesterday. Within an hour of leaving, someone charged $150 there.

And that, folks, was my weekend trip to Dallas.

I do have to say, though, the weather was perfect (besides burning up at the fair). 

Phone Habits

Emily Fisher

Instagram. Snapchat. Facebook. Gmail. LinkedIn when I’m incredibly bored.

I’m guilty of over-checking all of my social media accounts – especially when I’m bored or am waiting around (like at a red light or in grocery store line). It makes time move faster, but it also takes my attention off the real world. Instead of checking my phone, I could pick up a news magazine and read what’s going on in the world. Or, even better, I could be social and actually acknowledge the people around me.

Nowadays it seems like everyone is more interested in getting the perfect photo or snapchat that they don’t even live in the moment. They just live through looking at their phone screens.

One of my friends sends so many snapchats that it’s like he sends them nonstop when he’s out. I like watching them, but I’m also thinking: “Why do you have to be on your phone all the time? Why can’t you just enjoy the moment without documenting every second?”

I’ve gotten a lot better at putting my phone down. I don’t even bring it to the gym because I know I’d be tempted to look at my Facebook between sets. I realized yesterday that I don’t even miss having my phone there as a crutch to pass time. I instead look around or just bask in the quietness. I don’t even worry if someone is trying to call or text – I’ll get back to them when I get home.

I’m trying to break the “I need my phone” habit. Do I really care what so-and-so updated on their Facebook? Probably not. So why am I spending tons of my free time looking at my newsfeed?

I’m getting tired of Instagram and am thinking about unfollowing people because I always see the same pictures: some blogger doing the whole blogger thing with the white background and the coffee mug and glitter somewhere. You know what I’m talking about. It’s not boring to look at. They’re really great photos! But, they’re pretty much all.the.same. And it’s boring me.

I’ve realized I’m a bad blogger because I don’t care about getting the perfect photo. I don’t care about editing my photos until they’re perfect. I don’t care about twitter or having a facebook page for my blog.

/end rant

… Now stay tuned. Let’s see how many photos I take this weekend in Dallas :)

Dallas Bucket List

Via

We are heading to Dallas on Saturday, and I cannot be more excited to go to the State Fair for the first time! Even though I read that this weekend is one of the few weekends to “avoid like the plague” because it’s the UT vs OU game, I have high hopes that everything will work out and we won’t be stuck in traffic for ten hours. *keep your fingers crossed*

Instead of eating lunch at the fair, we’re going to stop by a local restaurant called Angry Dog for a quick bite to eat. I love going to local places when traveling. I don’t understand people who go to a different city and then decide to eat at Chili’s or Burger King. Why not eat somewhere that you can’t go to back home?

After lunch, we’re dropping our stuff off at our AirBnB house and then taking a cab or bus to the fairgrounds, where the real exploring begins. I’m not big on fair rides, but I’ll probably ride the Ferris Wheel (and freak out the entire time).

The State Fair is known to have fried everything. Besides having maybe a funnel cake and corn dog, I’m going to hunt down the fried s’more. I’m hoping that it’ll be as good as I’m imagining. And I’m hoping it doesn’t cost $15 because then I’ll probably change my mind.

After the fair, Kevin wants to check out at least one Dallas brewery. I’ve heard great things about Deep Ellum, so we’re going to their brewery for a drink or two before picking a dinner spot. Any dinner recommendations in Dallas?

On Sunday I hope to go to White Rock Lake park before brunch and our trip back home. 

I’m already counting down the hours to that fried s’more!

Get the Hint?

How many times do you text, snapchat, instagram, email, or call someone who rarely responds to you? How many unanswered texts do you send to that person? When do you get the hint?

It brings me back to the good old days of dating when guys would “ghost” (disappear without explanation). I’d text or call them to see if they’d want to hang out, and instead of telling me no, they’d just ignore my text or call. It was really irritating because I never knew if they just 1) did not receive my text or 2) received my text, read it, but then forgot to respond or 3) received my text but didn’t care enough to text back.  I never worried if I texted too much. I usually texted or called maybe once or twice again before I got the hint and didn’t reach out to them again.

When it comes to losing friends, though, it has always been more complicated. When I left my first job and all the friends I had at that company, we promised to stay in touch. Well, I’d text/call some of them to see if they wanted to hang out. No response. Weeks later, I’d text again to invite them to a festival or something. No response. Surely my “friends” couldn’t be ignoring me because they don’t want to talk me anymore, right? Surely they just weren’t responding because they were really busy.

I learned quickly that I shouldn’t waste my time on people who do not want me in their lives. If people really wanted to be your friend, they’d respond to you – even if it’s a day or week late. If people really wanted you to be around, they’d reach out to you every once and a while.

That’s how relationships work. They’re a two way street.

The minute you find yourself on a one-sided relationship where you are doing all the work, leave. Surround yourself with people who appreciate your company.

I used to get upset that my “friends” didn’t respond or ask me to do things anymore (I’d see pictures of them on Facebook having a great time and wonder, “Thanks for the invite. I guess no one thought about me.”). But then I realized that these people, as sad as it was to realize this, were no longer my friends. & I had to move on because I deserve better than to waste my time thinking about people who no longer thought about me.

Money, Money, Money… Mon-ayy

Kevin & I just became even more serious about our finances. As of October 1, we decided to no longer go out to eat/drink.

The rule: we get 1 free pass per month (it can be one dinner, lunch, breakfast, donuts, a night at a bar, a brewery trip, whatever).  Basically, we can spend money out once a month (excluding the grocery store, gas stations, etc.).

We’re allowing ourselves to go to friends’ houses and have get togethers at our houses. Purchasing alcohol at the grocery store is OK. Purchasing snacks/desserts/alcohol to bring to a friends’ house is OK.

Going out to eat and going to a bar and then going to 10 breweries a month = not OK.

This month is special, though, because we are going on a roadtrip to Dallas for the State Fair. Obviously, our 1 free pass is going to expand for that entire weekend, but we are going to avoid spending too much money by being smart about what we purchase.

We’re trying to save as much money as possible because we’re applying for a house loan in January. We really, really want a house with a yard for the dogs. 

A Little Bit About Love

Caleb Ralston

About a month ago my Great Uncle Jerry passed away from Kidney Failure. He was surrounded by his loved ones, including his wife – they were actually holding hands when he passed.

My Great Aunt, Martha, has been sick for quite a while. She basically lost her personality. When Jerry died, my cousin said that was the first time she saw her mom show any emotion in over 15 years. She understood that she lost her husband that day.

Jerry & Martha’s love story begins quickly. On their second date, Jerry asked for her hand in marriage. She said yes, and they’ve been unstoppable ever since.

Martha passed away last weekend (about a month after Jerry).

I don’t know what comes after life, but whatever it is, I hope they are filled with more love than they felt while they were alive.