It's not the attendant's fault. Stop being a B.

Right this moment. 

I'm that shoeless girl with headphones, bouncing (chair dancing as ma would say) because I'm listening to "drop-a-beat workout" and taking up 3 seats at the airport who's already spent her $18 vouchers on rum and cokes (bc I'm a sweet girl and went to the nice man NOT at my flight gate)(I actually tried to offer him some gum and realized it was in my other purse and I only had Chapstick to offer when he added the other 2, 6$ ones on), when everyone else got $6 and a bag of peanuts. Suckers.

This is a week of learnings. Today:

Sour gummy bears > regular gummy bears

Crying only smears your mascara

Airline people are great, so don't be a bitch

Take the free soda and pretzels when they offer

When you bring chicken and waffles to work, people get real jealous

Is 84 degrees in FL, and I am flying home to 93. Maybe this delay is God's way of saving my hair from humidity, I mean flying carry on only, I can only bring so many liquids, and hair products did not cut it. ( hmm that sounds weird, I try to fly with zero liquids because I hate taking things out of my neatly packed bag)

There are only 20 people waiting for this flight now. I hope I get a whole row to myself.

Well Diane my bartender is looking lonely, so I'm going to go join her. Here's some Captiva beach pictures.

                                               

       

xo A

Possibly the last DIY project

Things I've learned this time around:

1. Red oak is really hard. Never buy again even though its pretty

2. Swearing doesn't help

3. Neither do tears

4. Neither do people on the phone that have no idea what you're doing.

I needed storage in the bathroom and saw this cute wall thing with mason jars. I couldn't find mason jars that worked with my hose clamps, and that was my first mistake.

I started with Elmer's glue and food coloring, I made way to much. I mixed yellow and only one drop of red, attempting to make a gold. It turned out lightish yellow. Using a foam brush I painted the outside and let dry. Streak free! I read online about glue/food coloring recipes and applications and a ton of people had problems, this was literally the easiest part.

                        

Two weeks ago I stained a 2 foot red oak board.

And now the fun begins.

The hose clamps and the nails I bought did not fit into each other so I had to drill new holes into them. And the wood was too hard to hammer into, so I had to drill start holes. And that didn't really work and I started to get angry so some of the nails might be a little bent.

                         

Either way. This is how it ended. I'm not extremely happy with it. But at least I didn't completely screw it up.

      

                                       

I recommend you not trying this at home. Ever. Or anything like this. Buy it in a store.

xo A

  

      

chicken && waffles

Instead of showing you beach photos from the weekend (I'll hold those for another time) it's time for Fort Myers southern food at its finest.

Fancy's. not a chain, family owned (we actually met the owner) and seriously amazing. The menu was so hard to choose from, but we got appetizers, a meal and dessert (and I never get dessert, but this place is worth the dessert).

   

  

We started with Fried Cheese Grits and Fried Green Tomatoes. 

And for the meal, Jenny and I went with chicken and waffles, Alisha got chicken with Mac n cheese and black eyed peas (all delicious)

This picture really does is no justice...4 homemade waffles and 2 chicken breasts with sweet potato haystack on top covered in homemade syrup.

Since I got there before the other two, I stalked the table next to us and eaves dropped on what they were getting. When we were halfway thru our meals, one of the ladies said something about how huge the meal was and how small we were. Then I proceeded to recite back what each of them had and ask how their meals were. Not creepy at all. It is confirmed that shrimp n grits, pot roast, meatloaf, fried okra and the pork special are all dishes they'd get again (yup I'm a creep) and "those waffles have so much syrup they should come with a side of angioplasty" 

I would have liked to tell her I'm taking my side of angioplasty to lunch tomorrow so everyone can ogle my meal. However I just smiled and laughed. She's the one that had the Mac n cheese...hello butter cream and cheese.

Anyhow, I have enough left for two meals, and was really quite full until the waiter told us about dessert. The Aunt's secret family Banana Pudding recipe it is. Literally best banana pudding I've ever had (sorry ma) it was more of a custard it was so thick.

Then it was decided to call the owner back over to coax the recipe out of him. I have no recipe for you but I guarantee its a custard not a pudding. You could hold the spoon upside down and it didn't move.

I will tell you how good this food is. My car smelled so good driving home I contemplated eating the leftovers on the way home. A waffle! Drenched in syrup....come to think of it, I could eat some right now...

IKEA

This weekend Jacs, Justin and I went to IKEA in Tampa. It was Jaclyn's first time and we were all pretty excited. It was still very overwhelming, I always forget how much stuff there is and how many people are there.

                                             

I've never eaten at IKEA, but the food was amazing! And pretty cheap. Had to get the Swedish meatballs (obviously) with mashed potatoes and *gasp* cranberries! Amazing. Very filling though, I couldn't eat it all or wouldn't have been able to continue shopping.

        

I immediately put most of my stuff together when I got home. It amazes me how everything comes so flat and is packed so neat that it fits in such a small box. Now I have some nice storage and extra DVD shelves.

                           

So now I sit on the floor with cardboard and plastic bags everywhere...more decorations to come!

xo A

The pros & cons of home hair dye

If you know me, you know I love pros/cons lists and make them for many decisions in my life. Some small on post it's, others on large pieces of "weekly rip-off calendar" pages.

I recently dyed my hair (and previously cut it) and showing up at work is always fun and usually lasts for a week until the last people see your head. I always get antsy and nervous whenever I dye it and tend to go a shade lighter than I want because one time, had to be junior year of high school, I picked out dark dark brown and I turned into Morticia Addams from the Addams family because it was so black, almost purple. Horrifying.

Pros.

Lots of compliments, even if your clothes look subpar, your hair is still glowing from just being dyed. Actually even if it sucks people will lie and say it looks normal.

People literally come out of the woodwork to talk to you therefore minimizing actual work time. The office is very open so when someone exclaims "you colored your hair?!" Most people assume hot pink streaks and flock over.

You hear things like "that color really brings out your eyes" (great just what I need).

Someone in the office was actually startled. "Ohmygosh you dyed your hair?! I thought you were a whole new person! I love it!"

Cons.

I ruin on average one towel, t shirt, and washcloth every time (I used to keep them to use every time I colored my hair, but I always dye brown, and no one wants to go into the linen closet and see a streaky brown towel. Just sayin')

This time I also ruined two hair ties. I mean they weren't really a big loss, they're those new "bracelet" ones, and they don't hold my hair very well

I always manage to cover my entire forehead in dye, and my ears, and my neck, so that's always really fun to scrub off.

Also. If you touch anything it doesn't show at first, but guaranteed 10 minutes later, fingerprints.

Anyhow, I feel like I can do it just as good for $7 at home than sit for 3 hours and spend well over $60. Pros will always win for home hair dye when it's a normal color. 

Plus I hear guys at Home Depot really like a good brunette ;)

xo A

Sugar rush

I've begun to realize sugar makes me more productive than coffee. That being said, today I had a coffee with sugar, a half hot chocolate/half coffee (only because there was no more coffee left, but I'd already poured the sugar) a large sweet tea THEN on Thursdays in the summer the ice cream truck comes around campus and we get treats. For free!

Since I was so productive, after work I figured I'd finally finish my jewelry wall hanger thing. 

What I learned:

A. Take the drill off reverse if you do not want to reverse

B. screws get real hot. Real hot.

C. Do not unscrew a screw if something is attached to the other end. It will break and you will never be able to get the screw out

D. Screws for drawer pulls suck. The top will turn from an X to an O and you will have to hand, unscrew it.

E. always buy extra. Of everything.

F. The picture hanging kit states you can push in with your thumbs. This is not true for red oak

Maybe I should stick to buying things...

At least I had on cute pants while I was attempting it.

                                        

xo A

Hump daaaay

I watch this video every Wednesday.

I made everyone watch it on the way to Key West. I send it to random people on Wednesdays. I sent it around the office so everyone would know why I was giggling so much. I snap chat it.

(It also took me forever to figure out how to actually post a link via iPad so I watched it approximately 5 more times today)(and even then I had to flip over to my laptop). Lame I know, but it brings joy to my day.

What I'm super psyched to share is the contents of the box from yesterday.....

                                 

Guest! Bed!

                                   

It is memory foam, and pretty amazing. When I have no guests it may be used as my nap bed

                                   

          

The picture looks crooked. I swear its not. I think it's the angle. 

Oh did I mention I have a loft? It's big enough for a twin air mattress and really close to the kitchen for midnight snacks. $5 to whomever comes up with an idea of what I can actually put up there.

                                     

       

xo A