Sunday, December 8, 2013

The Happiness Report #48


- live football games
- funny text convos
- Chinese food
- love notes
- sleepovers
- cancelled plans
- slow dancing in my living room
- karaoke
- early birthday presents
- Netflix streaming plan


Linky Love:
Making Friends at 30 and Beyond
What's your Birth Number?
Who Doesn't Love Birthday Freebies?

Friday, December 6, 2013

December: Favorite Things

Here are a few of my favorite things this month!


December Favorite Things

1. Victoria's Secret thermal pj's
2. My two favorite Christmas movies, Elf and Love Actually
3. Essie's Wicked
4. hot chocolate/ cozy mugs
5. fuzzy slippers
6. the smell of live Christmas trees
-------------------------------------------------------------------------



"You're such a mystery
I just want to stand and stare
Nibble on your ear
And smell the ocean in your hair (Ocean in your hair, ocean in your hair)
I know you damage me
You leave me tangled in a knot (Oh-oh-oh-oh)
But when you reappear
I see Neptunian blues that eyes forgot (Eyes forgot)
Neptunian blues that eyes forgot (Blues that eyes forgot, eyes forgot)

Still, I only feel alive when the VU is flashing
Alarms going off in my head
I want to grab you and just kiss you
Maybe I should sit down
No sense in cashing us now
Yeah, I only feel all right when the VU is flashing
And bombs going off in my head
I want to grab you, want to scream at you, no icing me down
The party's crashing us now"




Linking up with Lipgloss and Lunges and A. Liz Adventures

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Cheers- The Ivrester Award!

In honor of Thirsty Thursday, and the fact that this has been sitting as a draft for literally six months, I give you...


1. Acknowledge who nominated you. Thanks Jordan (sorry I'm 6 months late!)
2. Answer the 10 questions below 
3. Nominate 10 bloggers you think are excellent drinkers
4. Do not change the questions.
5. Don't nominate the blog that nominated you. That's it.


What is your favorite drinking game and why? 
This is a throwback one, but I will always love King's Cup!

It is your birthday, what is your idea of the perfect evening?

Dinner with friends followed by karaoke or dancing, which is exactly what I plan on doing!

Money is no object, what is your go to drink of choice at a bar?

If it's available, a rose martini. But it's usually not, so beer. Or some gin or whiskey concoction

Take this alcohol screening quiz here, what score did you receive?

You answered 5 items out of 20 Yes.

Your score is 25%. According to the Office of Health Care Programs, Johns Hopkins University Hospital, developers of this screening quiz, if you answered 3 of these questions with a Yes it is a definite sign that your drinking patterns are harmful and possibly considered alcohol dependent or alcoholic. You may want to seek an evaluation by a healthcare professional.
What is your favorite memory with alcohol?
Is this a trick question??! There are a whole lot! My 21st was pretty awesome. As was drinking on the beach in India while smoking hookah... good times! 

What is your favorite song about drinking? Or song to drink to?
Bottoms Up- Trey Songz ft. Nicki Minaj
Cheers (I'll Drink to That)- Rihanna
Beer on the Table- Josh Thompson

What is your favorite activity to do while drinking (i.e. boating, bowling, golf, trivia, etc.)
dancing/singing/live music
game nights
watching football
laying on the beach

In your opinion, which is the number one party school in the country and why?
My alma mater!! We had "The Hill"- where alllll the frats and sororities were. You could literally find a place to drink any time, any day, no matter what. 

When do you know you have had too much to drink? What are your signals?
My under eye area gets a little puffy, my eyes get a little squinty, and I get LOUD! And cuddly. And too honest!

And my nominees are :


Kenya- Life with Giggles
Michael- Crazy Tragic Almost Magic
Jennifer- Crazy Shenanigans
Kelly- Big Apple, Little Bites
Lauren- The Peanut Program
Emma- Bubbly Muppet
Karla- Forever Newly Wedded
Misfit- Adventures of a Misfit Librarian
Amber- Brunch with Amber
Lindsay- Life on the Countryside

Cheers!


Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Thanksgiving Weekend Update and an Introduction

What a freakin week it's been! After the conference one week, then coming back to work for 2 days last week, and then Thanksgiving I am tired!!! Here's a run down of what I've been up to lately...

Wednesday: I was off, and didn't do anything. I mean, I uploaded a few pics, and attempted a blog post, but nothing of real substance. And it was GLORIOUS. And then at night my girl friend made dinner, and then I had my first experience at Hooters for trivia night. Can I just say-- I don't know what all the fuss is over that place. The girls didn't even have big boobs, and the wings weren't that great. I don't get it. But anyway. Afterwards, I headed a few doors down to my old hometown bar. I hadn't been back since sometime in college. It was exactly the same, and I saw a lot of familiar faces... in a good way. Perfect ending to the night!

Thursday/Thanksgiving: Soooo I decided to host Thanksgiving this year. And cook everything. And by host, I mean my mom came over and we hung out and cooked. I wanted to make everything, but when I woke up Thursday morning, I realized the inside of my turkey was still frozen... oops. So the turkey wasn't really done until 9pm. And by that time, we didn't feel like eating it! But I learned how to cook a turkey for the first time!, and we ate all the sides and watched a bunch of romcoms like all day... until fighting happened as it usually does, and then she went home. But overall it was ok. And ya know, there was wine, so that helped!

My turkey!
Friday: I was NOT doing the whole leaveThanksgivingearlyandstartshopping madness. Instead, I met with two friends in the city and FINALLY saw Catching Fire! I was a little worried because everyone had said it was really good and it was hyped up, but I was pleasantly surprised that is was freakin awesome. It was also cool because it has been so long since I read the book, and yet everything came rushing back- I love how true it stayed to the book (minus the necklace bit). I had totally forgotten all the twists! However, and I know most of you will disagree, and I do really like Peeta, but I'm still #TeamGale!


The movie ended at like 3, and we were off, so what did we do? An impromptu bar crawl towards home. We started at like 63rd Street and worked our way down to 34th Street. The only rule was that the happy hour specials had to be really good (think $2 drafts) and it had to be places none of us had been to before. 
OMG. What a freakin hot mess.
I have no words. But I did make it home, so that was a major plus!





Saturday: Um. I actually don't remember what I did during the day, but I met up with some friends in the evening for some beers and good conversation- it was a chill night, which was perfect after the shitshow that was Friday!

Sunday: Mom came by for a little while, and then I met up with a few friends  to see Thor 2. I'm not that much into action movies, and hadn't seen the first one, but it was pretty good! And ya know, staring at Chris Hemsworth for 2 hours ain't so bad either! I didn't know Natalie Portman was in it, which was a nice surprise- I think she's a great actress. And Kat Denning added some great comic relief!


And now introducing..... ::drum roll:: ....
RJ, my new beau!!



RJ and I met 3 weeks ago at my friend's birthday party. He is actually my bff from high school's younger brother, but I never knew him back then. I knew who he was when I walked into the party only because my bff had posted pics of him on FB. I actually approached him, and we hit it off instantly! He walked me home after the party, and we've been pretty much inseparable since then!

More about him: he teaches Autistic kids, volunteers at a homeless shelter, loves music, zombies, movies, sports (duh), cold beers, and his friends (like loves his friends a lot- he sees his best friends almost weekly, which I think is good). He can cook really well (thank G*d), he's super sweet, and he makes me laugh all the time... I'm sure there's more, but that's all you get for now!

Soooo that's what I've been up to! What have I missed in these parts?

Monday, December 2, 2013

December Goals

- Stick to budget!: FAIL. Big fat fail. Thanks in part to San Diego....meh. 
- Save $300: Almost! $250!
- Do at least half of Christmas/gift shopping: DONE! I think I only have one or two left to purchase before I'm done!
- Complete at least one craft: Fail. 
- Finish unpacking FO REALZ: DONE! 
- Buy a scale...and use it: Fail. Instead I got a knife set... I think it was a fair trade off.
- Try 3 new recipes... and blog them: Haha.... fail.
- Finish at least two books: DONE!
- Work on crossing some things off of my Fall Bucket List: Check!
- Host Thanksgiving and/or Friendsgiving: Success!
- Make plans for my birthday!: Success!



-Stick. To. Budget. 
(maybe if I keep writing it, I'll actually do it?)
-Complete a craft
- Finish the Goodreads Challenge
- Create a Winter Bucket List
- Try 2 new recipes and blog them
- Buy a couch (Merry Christmas to meeee!)
- Save $300
- Have an awesome birthday!
- ...and a very Merry Christmas!
- and a Happy New Years Eve/Day! 

Do you have any goals for December?


Erica Ashley


Sunday, December 1, 2013

The Happiness Report #47


- Thanksgiving food! Serious my favorite meal. Love it!
- A super short work week... 2 days?! I'll take it!
- Dress down days at work
- when friends visit you at work!
- surprises
- payday
- winning a week in fantasy football! Especially after losing like, 10!
- wine
- cuddles
- Netflix streaming

Linky Love:
Thirty Lessons You Learned After Twenty - soooo true!

Friday, November 29, 2013

Friday Confessions and Back That Azz Up!


I confess...

I love Thanksgiving food, but not really a fan of the whole "holiday" aspect.

Same with Christmas... something always goes terrible and I spend the next day/week trying to forget it happened.

I still haven't bought milk... or gone to the grocery store for that matter.

I ran into 2 exes on Wednesday night and for one of the first times it wasn't weird at all.

This is one reason I don't go to "hometown" bars.

I'm going to see Catching Fire today and I'm TOO EXCITED!

I've been off since Wednesday and really haven't done jack shit. And it's been awesome.