Friday, October 29, 2010

Friday Six

Friday Six

1) Halloween is Sunday and we’ll be passing out candy! If I can find it, I plan to wear my cow costume or my whoopi cushion. The cow is SO much more fun but since the move I’m not sure where either of the costumes ended up:/ Probably should have looked for them already! I looked for Remi a Halloween costume but never found anything in my short search that was “what I was looking for”. So as of right now, Remi will go as himself for Halloween…that is unless I can find something tomorrow for him!
2) The cold weather is returning-yippee! It got really gross here earlier in the week, with the mugginess and rain, so I am so excited that it’ll be chilly on Halloween! I’m talking lows in the 40s…NICE. I just hate fall/winter holidays being warm, it takes away the seasonal feel. So c’mon cold!
3) Our Noles lost last night and David nearly wore a hole in the floor from pacing. Poor guy, he takes it SO hard. It’s like he lost it personally. He made the fumble. He. Didn’t. Win. If only he were so passionate about other things…like his “honey-do list!” Hah!
4) My birthday is in 6 days! I have given my family ideas on what I want, but I have no idea what I’m actually getting. I love surprises but I also try my hardest to figure them out. Sometimes I should just sit back, not worry about it, and actually be surprised! David keeps saying he’s getting me something big and that he shouldn’t be spending that much, so I am uber excited about that! I’m still hoping that my request for the lens I mentioned a while back is fulfilled (Hint, hint, wink, wink, Mom & Dad*). But if not, there’s always Santa! Who knows, I may just be getting rocks! Hey, as long as I can spray paint them, that works for me!
5) TGIF! I don’t know who came up with the idea of working 5 days and then being off for 2, but all I can say is they must have not been a working citizen. I know I’ve only been a part of the real “Working World” for a year or so, but I’m over working. Bleh. I’d rather travel the world and take pictures. Anyone willing to fund this adventure is more than welcome;)
6) We are tentatively planning a trip to the Northeast this winter. As in, February-ish. We have some friends that live in Boston and we are also dying to go to New York, so we’re hoping to take a big ‘ol trip and get to do all of it. If it comes through, I will be BEYOND excited! *Fingers Crossed*

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Un-Frumpify & a Wall O'Frames

Yes I just made up that word. Thank you very much.

When I got my new job almost 7 months ago, I was very excited to find out that there was basically no dress code. SWEET. In my old job in the lab I could wear jeans, tennies & t-shirts, and was glad to find out I could do the same in my new office position. Be jealous. No really though, we don’t have much of a dress code in my office because we don’t interact face to face with any customers so I guess they see that as no need to dress nice. Works for me! But, I usually try to look at least half way decent because I mean, it’s still a professional position and gosh forbid one day I wear my crocs and t-shirt and have a meeting with the big boss- eek. So although I don’t dress up, I still try to look halfway presentable. As in sandals, jeans and shirt vs. jeans, t-shirt and old tennishoes. Okay sorry for that tangent, now back to un-frumpifying!

On a typical day this is what I will look like: I know it's lame and I look like a beggar. Get over it.

BUT last night all of this came in from my jewelry party!


So now I can go from frumpy to fabulous!

Okay really though, I am so excited about all my new jewelry and I have to say it just really makes looking like you put a little effort into your outfit SO much easier! And for a lazy person like me, easier is better!

Moving on.

It’s no secret that I envy the blog young house love. I just love their house and their decorating style. Hence the reason I copy many of the things they do because they have style and are frugal people. Sounds like me! Or at least who I hope I am! (you know, the having style part).

YHL made these shelves:



And I* made them here:

*I = Big Dawg, Dad, David & Myself


Well for as long as I have been reading their blog, I’ve always wanted to have a photo collage like theirs:


So guess what I did? Made one!

This is what our current above-the-couch frame set looked like. Cute but pretty plain. And I just love love love these big white frames from Michaels. Need. More.


So in order to make the set like YHL, I needed more frames. Five to be exact. Eek- 5 frames can get pricey- especially white frames with a mat. So, what’s a frugal/crafty girl to do? Go shopping around the house o’course! I knew I didn’t have a big center frame so that would need to be purchased. I had a few 8 x 10’s but they didn’t have mats so they wouldn’t work. But I did have two black 4x 6 frames with mats that I could definitely use. And seeing as I LOVE spray paint, I could change those in a jiffy! In fact I already painted one white a while ago.

So my list was down to (2) 8x10s, a large middle frame, and spray paint. We got the large one from Target for $19. Kind of pricey if you ask me but it was already white and had a gorgeous wide mat that would go perfectly. Then I bought two silver $3 frames from Wal-Mart and some white Krylon Bright White in Satin finish.


So now I had everything I needed. My frames aren’t the exact sizes of the ones YHL used but they didn’t have to match exactly. After all it’s my living room and I could use whatever sizes I want.

Next was hanging them. This was the only part that was a little tricky because I wanted everything perfectly symmetrical and hanging 7 frames, 4 of them different sizes, was kind of tedious. But in the end I got it done and then it was time to fill them!

I have been working on a “J” picture to go in the large middle frame and my gosh darn printer was being a pain in the butt last night so I am going to have to send my word created document to Wally World to get them to print it on photo paper. I’m still not sure if I will keep all the current pictures in the frames, but I was anxious last night and so I was putting in whatever I could find! I used a piece of scrapbook paper to fill one frame. Three strips of paint swatches. A Minnie Mouse original drawing that an artist gave to me on our last trip to Disney and my favorite jumping wedding picture. Then of course I’ll add the “J” picture once I’ve got it printed. So here it is as of now, I will post a finished picture when I have everything “just right”. But I couldn’t wait to share!
The “J” picture I’m referring to has a “J” for James (obviously) and I included the definition for Jolly. After all we are the Jolly James’! I'll share once I get it printed.

I just love the way it turned out!

Monday, October 25, 2010

Weekend Wrap-Up

I'm feeling a little under the weather this evening so instead of a lengthy blog I'm gonna fill this post with pictures from the weekend. Had a great one by the way!

Friday night Lindsay & Joseph came over to carve pumpkins. They did the haunted house and we did the Evil Queen from snow white. Had a blast guys!!

Joseph trying to get Bailey to stand in a silhouette pose like Remi's picture on the shelf:).
Saturday we went out and about and did a little misc shopping. Always fun!
Saturday evening was Erin's birthday dinner. I didn't take any pictures but had a yummy calzone and it was so good seeing old friends! After dinner I met Cole & David at the movies and we saw Jackass 3D. It was hilarious but absolutely disgusting! I nearly threw up at one point just from watching-hah!

Sunday morning my Momma took me shopping:o) I got lots of good stuff and had fun doing it. Thanks again mom! Then Sunday afternoon I met some of the girls at the Breast Cancer walk. It's the 3rd year we've done it and I look forward to it every year. Enjoyed it ladies!Lindsay, Erin, Me
Renee & Brody




Oh and last night this is the dinner we had. Thanks Dad & David for the yummy chicken! Guess what we'll be eating for lunch all week?

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Ten.Twenty-One.Ten

Thanks so much to everyone for letting me know who you are! I loved finding out about people who read that I didn't know did. I feel special:o) Love my readers!
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Also, today is a special day because, it's Erin's Birthday! Happy 25th Birthday girl!! Can't wait to celebrate with you this weekend:)
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Not much on my mind today, so instead I'll let the pictures talk:) I took these at my parents last weekend. There's always something there to snap a picture of!











Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Curiosity Killed the Cat

Okay there’s no cat involved, but I am curious. You may have noticed on my nifty little sidebar I can see where my blog visitors are coming from, but I can’t see who it is. Some days I wonder if anyone really cares what I think enough to read my blog. I know I have a few faithful readers but other than that I have no clue who is tuning in yet I see many visitors on my sidebar! So I’m asking you, as a reader of my silly unimportant blog to tell me:) Who are you?!

I whole-heartedly admit that I am a blog stalker. Mostly of people I don’t know. If I ever met these people in real life just out of the blue I could definitely have a conversation like, “Oh that dinner you made last night looked amazing!” or “I hate it too when I run out of spray paint mid-project…”yadda yadda yadda. My point is, I could get lost for hours reading blogs and I am so glad someone sits down to take the time to write something that I enjoy reading. Even if it is about the mundane tasks of everyday life or what they had for lunch that day.

So I may know you, may not, but I really do wonder…when I find out someone new reads my blog it makes my heart swell. That means for at least a small amount of time someone somewhere may be thinking about me and is also curious as to what is going on in my life. Makes me happy and makes me inclined to want to write more:)

You can email me at thejollyjames@gmail.com or leave me a comment on the blog with something as simple as “I read!”. If it’s left with an anonymous ID I still won’t be able to see who it is but if you email me you could include who you are:) I’m looking forward to finding out about YOU! And please, if you have a blog you want to share, I'd love to read it so share that too!

PS- I will be utterly crushed if I get no response. That means I really have no readers and this blog is a complete waste of my time in which I should not waste another minute of my life!

Carry on:)

Now go on, don’t be shy, show (well technically, TELL) yourself!!
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Scroll down for another post on how my lunch turned dangerous today!

Death by Burrito (almost)

This is what my obituary would have said today if I hadn’t survived my lunch hour. (Which I did thankfully or you would not be reading this).

I love Moe’s. Dearly. I went there for lunch today because I was needing my Moe’s fix…and I nearly choked to death. Okay not really, but I did get a little worried for a minute.

I am literally the only one in the entire place without a lunch partner so I wouldn’t have had anyone to save me if I really needed it. (Don’t feel bad for me, I LOVE eating out by myself, then I can read at lunchtime:) So as I’m enjoying my Joey Bag of Donuts (aka giant burrito) I took way too big of a bite and realized I couldn’t breath/swallow. Uh-oh. I figured I could wash it down with a drink, but when that didn’t work and my eyes started watering uncontrollably I was getting ready to panic. So then I tried to cough and “voila!” black beans flew out onto my table! HAHA!!! Gross I know, and it wasn’t funny at the time but I nearly DIED laughing telling David the story on my way back to work!! Thankfully no one around me cared enough to notice and I went back to my merry way eating the rest of my burrito a little less aggressively. As my Dad always said, “Slow down nobody’s gonna take it from you!” Lesson learned.

Although if I had choked to death at least I would have gone out doing what I love…EATING!!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

There's Something in the Water

And I’m not drinking it!

It must be baby season, because lots of people around me are preggo. I am not nor plan to be anytime in the very near future, but I am SUPER excited for my friends who are!! Two of my close friends Erin and Renee are due within a month of each other. Erin her first, Renee her second and I won’t spill the beans on Renee but her and her hubby found out today that they are having a ________!!! Isn’t that so exciting?! Sorry I know, it’s a tease but once I know she’s made it public I’ll share too:)

Now I love me some babies. One of the perks of having friends with babies is I can play with them to my hearts content and then return them when my arms are tired or they need a poopy diaper changed-hah!

I know life doesn’t always go according to plan, but our plan is to wait another handful of years when we’ve gotten nice and settled into being married as “just us” and becoming a little less selfish. There’s no set date to that plan but we know that right now we are not ready to be parents. Other than to the 4-legged/furry variety. Now that being said, I know we’d make adjustments and do our best if God had a different plan, but for now, and how we “plan” for it to be, we’re just not ready yet:) Sorry Mom, you’re gonna have to wait a little while to become “Weezer”. That is unless Cole beats us to it!

Just thought I'd throw my thoughts out there to anyone who was wondering if "we're next"?!

Happy Tuesday!

Monday, October 18, 2010

Weekend Wrap-Up

I don’t know where you are and what the weather is like there, but here, it’s been gawgeous! It’s been in the 40s at night and mid-eighties during the day- I’m still antsy for those highs in the low 70s, but I am content with this for now.

Friday night was Lindsay’s bday dinner at Carabba’s. Now I love Carabba’s, and the only time I get to go there is Lindsay’s bday…so thank you Linds! I somehow managed to not pull out my camera once:/ Shame on me. But we had a great time and I thoroughly enjoyed my Pasta Weesie…aka shrimp fettuccini alfredo. Yum-O!

Oh and remember when I said I wanted the Father of the Bride movies for my bday? Well guess what the postman brought me? The movies! My favorite Sis-in-Law Kimbo sent them to me:) I did the happy dance at the mailbox I was so excited! Thanks again SIL! Can’t wait to watch them!!

Saturday we went to the FSU vs. Boston College game. They gave us a scare now and then but luckily we pulled out a win. The sky was gorgeous and there was hardly any humidity, but it was still H-O-T. We had the sun glaring on us the whole time and we left with a nice pair of raccoon eyes. Lindsay and Joseph came and sat with us and we had a grand ole time. I wish I had been sitting closer than our 81 row elevation, but I still had fun and managed to take quite a few pictures.







Saturday night we went out and about and did a little festive shopping. I got a few more decorative things for Halloween and even got some Christmas stuff!

After I filled my new bowl with my new glitter pumpkins, it wasn’t quite full enough so Remi and I went shopping around the ‘hood and picked up some pinecones at a whopping zero dollars a pop! Can’t get much cheaper than that.



I had some extra so I sprinkled them around the house to add to that fall-ish feel.

While we were walking I found two big frame-ish things on the side of the road in somebody’s trash pile…I picked them up and looked at them both coming and going, but 1) the people could see me from their house going through their trash and 2)I would have had to carry them all the way back along with corralling the dog. I finally decided I wanted them though so I went back to the house and grabbed David’s truck and went and loaded them up. I tried not to make eye contact with the house. You know, because someone is outside stealing their trash and they may be watching me. Poor girl, having to take stuff off the side of the road… But anywho, I’ll take a picture of them when I get around to making them “twice lovely”. But for now, just picture me standing out at your dumpster contemplating what I could make out of your old used frames. Funny thought huh?

Okay, now Sunday I did FIVE loads of laundry. Yes, 5. I used to be really really really bad about doing my laundry (before we were married and I only had my clothes to wash). I mean, I would easily have 6-7 loads when I’d finally get around to doing it. It’s not that I wore dirty clothes, it’s just that I had so many, I had no need to wash them right away. I mean I just always could find something else to wear. And not to mention I hate doing laundry so it wasn’t on the top of my to-do list. But now that I have hardly any work clothes, and David goes through clothes like it’s nobody’s business, it’s a weekly chore for sure. Well last week it kind of got skipped so this weekend there was a daunting pile waiting to be done. Anyways, don’t know why I shared that tid bit of information because now you all are thinking I’m a slob, but I had a point. While my mounds of laundry were being washed I took on a project I’ve been wanting to do for a few weeks now. Amanda over at KevinandAmanda.com gave a tutorial on a Camera Strap slipcover. You can see her tutorial HERE.

We went to Joann’s (Fabric Store) after the game Saturday and I had to pick out some fabrics for my slipcover. (with David in tow which was not my original plan) Did I mention it’s hard to decided what fabrics you want while your hubby is standing impatiently waiting/watching and telling me, “you’re number is about to be called”, and “they’re calling you’re number”. Me, “Well, tell them to skip me and grab me another number”. Hubby, “No, you go tell ‘em!”. Ugh. Don’t ever bring a man to the fabric shop when you have a vision. I knew I needed one color for the slip and one for the ruffle. With a completely blank pallet for me to choose from, this is hard even without a man. Too many choices! So much to David’s relief I finally decided on these two:

(Renee you will recognize the brown one;)

I wasn’t sure if they matched too well but Amanda’s were funky and I wanted mine to be too.

I won’t explain the steps because you can read them on Amanda's blog. All of it went pretty smoothly except for the ruffling. I would get it done and then break the thread and have to start over. Twice.


But third time’s a charm and once I got it all done this is my end result.

I absolutely LOVE it! I want to make more, so I can change them out often. It was very inexpensive and adds a lot of personality to my camera:)

The End.

PS- my absolute favorite fall/winter food is on the menu this week. CHILI. I could quite possibly eat chili every day of the year so I am very excited the “accepted” time of the year to eat it is now here. Sweeeet:) Lookout leftovers!!

Happy Monday!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Premier Designs Jewelry Party

Last night was my jewelry party and it was a success! Phew! (wipes brow) A friend of mine Nicole Hagerty from Premier Designs Jewelry was our “jewelry lady”. Let me know if you want her info to book a show for yourself! Thanks to my family and friends I was able to earn $267 in FREE JEWELRY!!!!! Can we say I’m excited?! YES!! THANK YOU GIRLS!! My show officially closes out on Monday, so there still may be a few orders that trickle in which means I may be able to earn even more- suh-weet! Now I have the tough decision of deciding what to get. I have a wish list of about 13 items so now comes the time to pick stuff out. I’m still so stoked!! Plus, if there’s stuff I want that exceeds my free portion of stuff, I can get it at 50% off, aweeessommee:) I had 3 people book future parties with Nicole so I hope they are just as successful if not more so than I was!

I didn’t take many pictures, but here’s Nicole doing her thing and everyone watching intently.

Says Nicole, “Is this going on the blog?!” & “You’re distracting me!” Haha! Sorry girlie, you know I gotta have some pictures:)


Momma picking her jewelry.

Anyways we had a great night and thanks again to Nicole and everyone who came! Ya’ll know who you are and you rock!

PS- When I get all my stuff in, I’ll be sure to take some pics and share:) Maybe by then I’ll have this baby…


…which I’m hoping to get for my birthday and can take some awesome close ups!
Like this!
Looking forward to the weekend, tomorrow night is Lindsay’s 24th Birthday at Carabba’s (Happy Early Birthday my friend!!) which I’m super excited about, and Saturday is game day! We are planning to go to the game so let’s hope our Noles pull out a win over Boston College. >>--- > whoo hoo!

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