Dont want no short short....weekend.

How come three day weekends always go by at the speed of a two day weekend? Seriously, where did the time go. One minute I'm pulling out of the parking lot at work looking forward to a relaxing weekend filled with sun, and the next, I'm pulling into the parking lot at work recovering from it. 

Pshhhhhhh.

Saturday I went to a bridal shower for my cousin's fiance, and won these cute gifts: 

I am going to keep the bride and groom set and try to figure out how to make them myself so that I can use them in the future! Such a cute idea, and a bonus with the bottle of wine!!!!

I won the above prizes because our table won the "dress someone up in a toilet paper wedding gown" contest. It is exactly how it sounds. You get a role of toilet paper (new, of course) and dress someone from your group up in it in a wedding dress. Our dress was awesome. We went for the Grecian/Boho theme. My sister was the lucky one we got to do this to (you can't tell from this picture, but there is a one shoulder strap and even a train. #Boom.

Yesterday the Hubby and I went to two cookouts for which I made these tasty treats (thanks to Pinterst of course) :

Here is a cute shot of us at the second barbeque: 

That about sums it up. I got my beach bag in the mail today and can't wait for this weekend to use it!

I hope you all had a fun and safe Memorial Day! 

Nail polish and Monograms.

Memorial Day Weekend is upon us my friends!!!!

I can't wait for a fun-filled three day weekend of sun, fun, and food! Although I have no official plans for "the day" yet, I do plan to get a pedicure at some point, which always puts me in a good mood. Lately, I've been obsessed with Essie's Turquoise and Caicos:

I think it will look awesome on my toes. Especially when I go to the beach next weekend!!! 

Speaking of the beach, I also ordered this to carry all of my beach essentials:

I even got it monogrammed! 

Monogramming is my new obsession, and this will be the first thing I own with my new initials!

Avengers movie review and thoughts on 3D

Last night the hubby dragged took me to see this movie in 3D:

Honestly, I didn't really want to go see it, since comic books aren't my "thing." I also don't get the hype about 3D movies because every time I go to see one, I spend half the time flipping my glasses up and down trying to see the "difference" between what the screen looks like with them on and what it looks like with them off (geek alert), and subsequently, leave with a headache.

I wish I would have known  the history of the characters before going to see it. The movie itself was pretty good, but out of 5 stars on the Bethany Movie Ratings Scale, this one only gets 3 since I spent half the movie trying to figure out what Thor's back-story was. That being said, the reason it is 3 out of 5 instead of 2 out of 5, is exactly that. Thor. GROWL. I didn't mind staring at him the whole movie.

In addition, I love Scarlett Johansson, and decided that I want to be Black Widow for halloween this year:

Did anyone else see it? What did you think???

DIY Friday

I had off work yesterday. That being said, it was time for DIY FRIDAY!!!!!

For my first edition,  I decided to do something I've wanted to try for a long time: CHALKBOARD PAINT! My initial idea was to use the paint to make a chalkboard at the top of my stairwell that opens up into my condo; however, I wasn't willing to actually live with the consequences if I messed up.

Instead, I decided to use chalkboard spraypaint on a few old pictures that I had laying around, and then hang up on said wall:

                                                                         Old Pictures

                                                                          Wall

The first thing I did, was mark out on the wall where I wanted to hang the pictures. I decided that I wanted to do them diagonally from each other to add a little pizazz to an otherwise boring space (yes, I am aware that the one on the right is lopsided, but this was just to give an idea of how it would look):

Using a leveler app that I found for my iPhone, I made sure the pictures were even (obviously I didn't use them how they looked in the picture) and then drew a line in pencil across the top of each as a placeholder.

Thanks to a trick that I read about on pinterest, I then used toothpaste to mark where I would need to put the nails in on the wall. Yes, TOOTHPASTE! I put a dab of toothpaste on the picture hanger located on the back of the frame, and using the lines that I previously traced on the wall I lined up the pictures again and pressed hard, which left a toothpaste mark on the wall exactly where I would need to put the nail!

 Toothpaste on hanging hook located on the back of the pictures

        Toothpaste and lines on the wall

Then came the fun part. Out on my porch, I laid out an old towel (due to my lack of newspapers) and carefully taped the outside of the pictures so that I would't get paint on the frame. 

The directions on the spray paint can say to first do short, horizontal lines across the surface, and then short vertical lines:

 

After letting them dry for 24 long excruciating hours outside, I then removed the tape from the frames and covered the whole surface with chalk (as per the instructions).

Then, of course, I wiped it clean, and hung them on my wall!

And that, my friends is how you chalkboard (spray)paint! I'm soo happy with how they turned out!!!!

Shout out to my sister, Kayla. for helping me with this project! I couldn't have done it without her!!!

99 Problems?

Sorry friends for the MIA action the last couple of days....I was without internet. Long story short, we decided to switch from one big cable company to another, and ended up having to switch back to the original due to reasons that the second company can't explain to me (What? I know. They can't even tell me what the issue is other than if they put in their service "there will be wires everywhere," their words not mine). I'll spare you the rest of the details.

Anyway......

There has been a survey floating around in the blog world recently that I thought I would try. It is a list of 99 things, and the ones in bold I have done:


1. Started your own blog-obvi
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain-Mt. Nittany, PSU, what what!
9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo-with a band-at my bachelorette party!
11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables-no, but I'm going to start an herb garden!

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train

21. Had a pillow fight-who hasn't?!
22. Hitch hiked-
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill-sshhhh!
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a Marathon-no, but I've run a 5K!

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person-best family vaca of all time! 
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language-I didn't teach myself, but I do speak Spanish!
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing 

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke-If you know me, you know this is a given
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight-honeymoon in Punta Cana...Awwww....
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted-The Bethany Portrait
48. Gone deep sea fishing 

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie 

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies-My mom was always cookie mom!

62. Gone whale watching

63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial 

71. Eaten Caviar

72. Pieced a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone-I broke my nose once in cheerleading in high school. Close enough.

78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car-2012 Hyundai Accent! Holla!

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper 
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous-I got to high-five Dane Cook!

92. Joined a book club

93. Got a tattoo

94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee





I've done 36, which kind of disappoints me. I expected myself to have done more :(


How many have you done???

Happy Mother's Day to the lady I love the most! 

                                                  (D's favorite dance: Y-M-C-A)
                                 

Mother's Day...

"A time for warm thoughts and fond memories,for expressing the feelings and words that often go unspoken,for letting those special people in our lives know that they are loved and appreciated always."

Happy Mother's Day, Mom! Thank you for all that you do! I love you!

Dont hate me because I'm good at bowling

Last night was the first night of my bowling league. And as nerdy as it may sound, it was actually pretty fun. Surprisingly enough, bowling is something that I am actually pretty good at (if I do say so myself). 

A couple years ago I was on a work league, and have been wanting to get back into it for a while. It just so happens that my brother in law was starting up a league and needed a girl on the team in order to meet the league's regulations. Hubby may have told him that I can bowl a 200 (erroneous. erroneous on all accounts), but whatever, it got me on the team! 

Well, we won our first match (is that what they are called in bowling?)! I'd like to think it was because of my awesome first round score of 156 :

Although in reality, the other team we were supposed to go against was a no show. Whatever suckas, one no show team equals four individual wins for ours! Don't hate.

In other news, its finally sunny today after about a week of rain! It's amazing what a little sunshine can do for your day...

Things that make me say YEAH.

So Saturday, I decided to branch out from my  usual trend of dark purple/coral orange/hot pint/repeat pattern of getting my nails done this weekend and went with Turquoise. As you can tell, I have no complaints:

Thank you, Essie Turquoise and Caicos! Sooo glad I bought this one for future use!!!

I also like to think that with my new Turquoise Nails, I can do anything. Like finally find a pair of jeans that fit. Which I did. After like a year of searching. I have finally found a pair of casual-but-can-still-be-worn-with-cute-wedges-for-a-night-out jeans. BOOM! (Please note that although I got a sweet pair of jeans, my new magical turquoise nails did NOT help me to find a new bathing suit for my beach trip in June. But beggers can’t be choosers I guess….

Unrelated to turquoise nails, but still related to Awesome, I got to chapter 18 in this book:

All I can say is oh my gahhh (insert Jessica simpson voice here). Do yourselves a favor and read it. I wish I could read it faster so that I can get to the next book, but my job and grad school work are getting in the way. Damn you, productivity!

The last thing that makes me go YEAH, is well, YEAHLAMB: 

DIY Friday?

For the first time in a while, I woke up this morning ready to go to the gym. I don’t know if its just because it’s Friday, or the fact that today starts my schedule of having off EVERY OTHER FRIDAY until September(!), but it.is.glorious.

Anywayyyyy, I’ve been trying to think of a Friday theme for the blog, and am considering “Do it Yourself” Fridays, where each Friday that I have off I would attempt to do something “crafty” around our condo and post about it. I have to admit, when I requested to have every other Friday off from work, part of my intention was to do crafty things on those days anyway (and go to the pool, obvi).

I really want  (read: need) to do the following things around the house:

-Paint the living room/hallway areas

-Put up some (homemade) wall art

-Organize my closet

-Decorate my patio area

-Put together our wedding album/decide what pictures to hang up and give out

-Get a head start on homemade wreathes and decorations for all holidays

Hopefully DIY Fridays will motivate me to get some of these things done!

In other news, the weekend is here and tomorrow is Drinko Cinco de Mayo. Does anyone have any fun plans? Me and the Hubby are still deciding what to do.  One year we went to a bar that had a totally legit Mariachi Band and may go back again this year. I'll keep you updated....

Hope you all have a great weekend!!!!!!!

Shout out to my iPod

I. Love. My iPod (am I still allowed to call it that if it is part of my iPhone?). Seriously. Every time I decide to listen to it is a good decision, as I am constantly amazed by my awesome music selections. Sometimes, I even think that it has the ability to read my mind and automatically play songs that will cheer me up. Like this morning. I was in a good mood, but it was rainy and dreary and I was dreading the drive to work (seriously, why do people drive soooooooo slowwwwww when it rains?!). Thats when this came on:

I don't know if its because I used to love this song in high school, or the fact that I got to sing it on stage with the cover band during my bachelorette party at my FAVORITE PENN STATE BAR EVER, but it always has the ability to put me in a good mood. For this reason, I decided to listen to it on repeat the entire way to work. Weird looks from drivers at red lights aside, it really brightened my day.

As a bonus, NSYNC came on during my ride home. Doesn't get any better...

Does anyone else have a "pick me up" song that they could listen to on repeat for hours every single day of the week?!?!