Just to Prove I'm Organized

See, I'm organized, really!  Here is my bin of paint chips!  They are separated by vendor (Benjamin Moore, Sherwin Williams, Behr, Martha Stewart...) and are in numerical order.  Ahhh I love organization!

An Embarassing Accomplishment

I feel like such a hypocrite!  My blog has the word "organized" in it...but I feel like I'm not always as organized as I would like to be.  When I do organize something (whether it's my closet with clothes, wrapping paper, Christmas decorations, files, etc...) I get immersed in it and the end result is phenomenal.  The problem - well because I do get so immersed my progress is sloooowww.  The same problem presents itself when I clean - when I clean, I really clean.  But then I don't get to clean everything I want/need to clean.  Ahhh a catch-22! 

I'm a great planner but I'm not always the best at making decorating decisions as they pertain to our house.  For example, I didn't want to put up any photos on walls until the walls were painted...well here we are now...still no photos on the walls (nor art work).  My excuses are a sham.  I have a few frames sitting on counters and other furniture, but I still haven't come up with my big decorating scheme for the house (thus my hesitancy...again, it's a sham I tell you!). 

Now that our dining room is painted a beautiful olive green and the room is *this close* to being 100% finished, I thought (as I was cleaning the room of course)..."hmm what does this room need?  Ah, look at the mantle, I still have berries from last winter...opps.  Oh well, I'm all set for fall!  Wait, I can put a frame up...one with a wedding photo!  I know I ordered a ton of prints from Mpix several months or ahem years ago."

Now let me defend the aforementioned berries...they had been hidden for a while and just made a re-appearance once we put the dining room back together.  So there.  What do we need for the dining room still?  Some more mantle decor, art work above the mantle, some wall scones next to the china cabinet, some lighting, some decoration on the floor in the one corner, and maybe some floating shelves on the one wall.  In all seriousness, the room looks pretty great now and I'll have to post pictures soon.

Baby steps, baby steps!  I found a frame I bought at Pottery Barn ages ago that says, "I do."  Next I found the prints I ordered from mpix.  Here is the result - our FIRST wedding photo displayed in our house (kind of!). 

Now if I could only work on putting up the 6 8x10 frames I bought a while ago too (I also have all the prints). 

This is the actual photo in the frame:

All of the Mpix prints I ordered:

Waffles!

On Sunday morning I woke up...inspired to make waffles.  This was quite laughable since I rarely cook.  But for some reason, I felt motivated to make waffles for the first time in years. 

We had registered for a Cuisinart waffle maker for our wedding three+ years ago.  I remember using it right after we got married.  However, I couldn't quite master the skill of making sure the batter didn't overflow.  Thus, I gave up.  I blamed it on the recipe, not user error.

Credit: Cuisinart

This time around I made an easy Bisquick recipe and the results were good!

I used this recipe from Betty Crocker.  It was very straightforward.  I added a 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract and cooked the waffles at the "3" setting for 2-3 minutes instead of 5 minutes.

2	cups Original Bisquick® mix
1 1/3	cups milk
1	egg
2	tablespoons vegetable oil

The results...

  Mark added bananas, grapes, strawberries, and whipped cream to his! 

 I added chocolate chips and whipped cream to mine.  They were so filling!

The Real Housewives...NJ vs. DC

Who doesn't enjoy the guilty pleasure of watching a "The Real Housewives of..." episode?  If you don't, I think you're lying!

I have been an avid fan of The Real Housewives of New Jersey ("RHONJ") - as well as OC and NYC - since the beginning.  Bravo decided recently to branch out their franchise to Washington, DC ("RHODC") - a place that I have lived!  So imagine my excitement.  Granted, I lived in DC for a few months during school and then Northern VA (Arlington and Alexandria, which used to be part of the city) for longer.

However, the DC show is so LAME!  It is dry and just more forced than the other shows (who thought this was possible?).  The drama is boring. 

At one point I wanted to move back to/work in the DC area again because I missed it.  Watching this show is killing that desire for many reasons (I'm remembering why I left the area...guess I had amnesia). 

Even Mark, who is a good sport about watching my shows, had to stand up during the show and say, "sorry, I can watch RHONJ but not RHODC."  HA  That's when you know it's bad :)

In summary...RHONJ = entertaining!

RHODC = dry and drab!

Congrats Ryan and Lindsay!

Friends of ours (Ryan and Lindsay) recently got married in PA.  It was such a fun weekend!  We stayed at the Nemacolin, a well-known resort that even some celebrities travel to (or at least that's the rumor).  Upon our arrival on Friday afternoon, our townhouse wasn't ready, so we played mini golf with some other friends.  Then it was time for the rehearsal dinner at a country club near Lindsay's parents' house.  It was great to see people we haven't seen in years!  Many of Mark's friends from high school live in different states so we rarely get to see them.

Left to right: Ross, Ryan, Tripp, Greg, and Mark

 Me and Mark

Ryan gifted Mark and other friends with a book called, "Bonds."  At first glance we were all confused about this...I know I thought, "why is Ry giving them a book about fixed income?"  Closer inspection found that this book was written by Ryan about the "bonds" he and the other guys had growing up.  They were all part of a close-knit group - a group that they named "Party Wagon."  The "Party Wagon" term was originally coined to describe the car (minivan) they used to drive around in high school to parties and to each other's houses.


How touching that Ryan would write and publish a book...it's really funny too.  Mark and his other friends spent all weekend reading the book and talking about it...this inevitably led to reminiscing about the good old days.  I have started to read the book only to be threatened by Mark that he would take it away from me if I kept asking him questions about his life back then!

 Note the real-life key that Mark still carries to the Party Wagon!

 Me, Lindsay, Jessica, Shannon...notice how I always do the "elbow/chicken wing" thing?  ugh!

"It doesn't go to his head or modify his behavior, however..."

We are VERY fortunate to have a retired neighbor that walks Tucker.  He is so sweet and truly loves Tuck.  We were e-mailing about Tucker and I asked how he was behaving.  Our dog walker responded:

"He has been well behaved except recently when we saw- in our joint experience- our first rabbit. It was hard to restrain him as he took off with much more vim and vigor than is evident when he sees squirrels. He is getting more used to them, I guess. He gets a fair amount of petting from strangers and a lot of favorable comments about his good looks. It doesn't go to his head or modify his behavior, however. Seconds later he may be rolling on the grass or asphalt, sniffing the ground or trying to dive-bomb food scraps."

HAHA  

Dress FAIL!

Zappos, you have let me down...how embarrassing since I just sung your praises.

I was steaming the pretty coral dress the night before we were to depart for the long weekend when I noticed a hole...but not just any hole.  As a few friends pointed out, it looks like a cigarette burn.  What the...?!?!?!  The dress was *supposed* to be brand new.  I was very disappointed to say the least.  Thank goodness I had my backup dress.

Here is the damaged dress: