Weekend Shannies: Crafting Curse

Hola pretties, I hope you're all having a fantastic Sunday. Hot, dry, and humid here. I'm having a relaxing Sunday so before I pop open my wine, I wanted to write about the weekend that has been ensuing.

Friday:

I felt crafty.

That never happens.

I decided in my mind, that Friday night I wanted to get all domestic and wifey like and make a fun craft for the house. I was told to look on Pintrest ideas.

I have never been on Pintrest.

I looked and looked and looked. But could not find anything.

On my lunch hour since WalMart is near, I thought I would just venture there and make up my own damn craft. I'm not very crafty but I AM creative.

WalMart was a bust. Nothing. I remember them having a huge arts and crafts section when I was younger, but the super WalMart I was in had nothing.

I thought "Well since I am here I will at least print pictures of Marq and I. (I knew I wanted my craft to do with pictures)

Well, I couldn't print my pictures. WalMart's photo section does not support the IPhone 5.

Cool.

I called Marq all discouraged like and he just said "Well tonight we will just go to Garden Ridge".

Perfect idea babe.

So, I went back to work and ended up working late. On a Friday. Awesome.

I made myself push through 30 minutes of cardio after, too.

I got home around 6:30 and accidentally fell asleep. I was so tired.

Marquis gets home from the gym at 7 and wakes me up. I was exhausted but I really wanted to get crafty tonight! I changed clothes anyway and went to Garden Ridge.

I love that store. We were in there an hour and half just looking at all of the Halloween decor, pictures, vases, everything. Well, finally I was getting impatient and just wanted to look at the crafts so could go.

However, we couldn't find them.

I finally found a cashier and she informed that "a long time ago" they got rid of their entire craft section.

Really.

Weird, especially because right under their huge "Garden Ridge" sign outside of their store, "crafts" is on the tagline.

Oh well. We picked up Subway, caught up on "The Bridge", and called it a night.

But I did get super cute fake candles.

Boo-yah.

Saturday:

Arose from the dead around 8:30.

I had bunches of errands to run. One of my stops was "Aldi". Does anyone else get groceries there? I love that place! I bought three big ass, plump, ripe, delicious looking zucchini's (seriously, their huge) for only $1.99. And a bottle of Chardonnay for $2.89. AND the cashier said "I'm sorry, I have to card you. I can't believe you're over 21". Then when she saw I was 24 she couldn't believe it.

That totally made my day. Maybe I should go makeup free more often ;-)

Not.

I hit the gym for cardio and weights after my shopping then prepped food and cleaned.

Saturday night, babylove and I went to dinner and the movies.

We had a hot dog at the cutest little dinner called "Hwy 55" and the delicious brownie Sundae pictured below. Topped with my favorite strawberry syrup, of course.

This little place was soo adorable. I am OBSESSED with older "retro" type stuff (See fiance, ha! I kid, I kid) so this diner had me all happy and smiley. I loved the interior, the booths, the floor pattern, oh and they had pictures of Marilyn everywhere.

After that we saw "Elysium". It was a pretty good movie. It was different and action packed, but something I would not see again. But still a good movie.

Sunday:

Today has been relaxing and oh how I have enjoyed it after working so much and so hard lately. Marquis is in full blown show prep too, so he is barely getting by these days. The gym takes 90% of his energy. We are enjoying a day at home.

I at least went upstairs to run on the tredmill, that has to count for something.

We had good intentions. We wanted to go to the dog park, but it is miserable hot today. You know those bug things that make noise when it's really hot? They sound miserable. They are in full effect and LOUD. It's dry, humid, and too freaking hot in NC.

So, I have been watching movies.

1) The Day The Earth Stood Still (LOVE!)

2) 2012. I never watched it before, but I loved this one too. However, I'm glad I watched in 2013. If I had watched that in 2009 when it came out, my ass would have moved to China to get a ticket to get on that big ark. It was SUCH a good movie though!

3) Now I'm watching "Never Been Kissed". I'm trying to get the most out of my HBO subscription before I cancel it, since True Blood ends in like 2-3 weeks :(

*Lots of awesome Monday link-up's going on today! Be sure to check out my party page; link up, view new blogs and your already favorites!*

Read More

Uh-oh My Boy CURLipop!

I just had to title my post that. Do y'all remember that song? I don't... well kind of. I remember hearing it on "Spice World" back in the day when the Spice Girls (OMG, love, right?) were on that lake in a boat... or something. OK anyways.

I have been debating on buying a curling wand for months. I live for my hot rollers, but I wanted to try something different. I have been thinking about it a lot lately, so I just decided to finally go for it. The next question was; how much am I willing to spend? Well, I said $30. A girl has a budget right now. I am constantly going to the beach and I am hosting an Ulta giftcard giveaway for my fabulous beautiful blog reader's, so a girl has to keep her finances in check. I finally decided on "Bed Head's" CURLIPOP. I love Bed Head and Curlipop was just too cute so I had to get it. So far, so good.

I love big hair. Honey, I should have been a young adult in the 80's because I would have owned that decade. My first "hoorah" with the Curlipop was a success. I washed and conditioned my hair, put on BLOW's heat protector, and "Big Sexy Hair" root lifter on my roots, then dried my hair. For my first experience, I just did 50% of my hair in curls, that way I would just have all over BIG spiral curls, instead of a LOT of tighter curls. I really like it! This weekend for my movie date, I will try all over tighter curls. It's absolutely worth the $30 bucks. And hey if you win my Ulta Giveaway, you can go buy one and still have $10 bucks left over. Heh.

Playing with my new curl wand and taking pictures reminded me of this past weekend. I took some pictures of my Grandmother Mary, my dad's mother, while I was at his house. My grandmother died when my dad was 14 years old. I never got to meet her.

How beautiful is she? Her name was Mary Harrison Taylor. She was stunning, but was conflicted inside. She was carefree woman but slowly digressed into an alcoholic. When she was younger, she sounded like she was so much like me. I truly believe her part of her soul was born into me when I was born. She did make-up at Belk in the 1950's! I also did make up and love it. She was always into fashion, looking her best, and my Grandfather totally spoiled her. She was his little doll. For some reason, unbeknownst to me or my father, she slipped into bad depression as my dad and aunt grew older. When my dad would come home from grade school, she would be passed out on the floor. Finally, when she was 39 years old, her liver gave out and she passed away. It breaks my heart to think about this. What I wouldn't give to meet her, but at least I feel like a part of her is inside of me. 

Fun fact: Her middle name is "Harrison" she was named after my great, great, great Uncle - the 9th President of the US; William Henry Harrison. I am blood related to two prior US Presidents. How cool!

Rocking big fun curls made it easier to get through the work day. Is this week crazy busy and out of control for anyone else? August is the busiest month for me at my job and OMG I am feeling it. Luckily, Marquis has been a little ball of positivity for me. 

Sunday evening we were watching "America's Got Talent", one of our favorites shows, via DVR so we could catch up and we heard that the top 10 acts are going on tour. I immediately jumped for joy and told Marquis we HAD to book tickets. Luckily, he was just as excited, so he immediately went into our home office, hopped on the computer, and booked us front row seats. I love him... SOMETIMES. That was so nice of him! So, Monday October 7th, we are road tripping to Raleigh for the show!

I am finally learning more and more in the Blogging world. One thing I noticed is; I didn't have a Blog button. I want you guys to be able to take me with you ;) so I made one all by myself. My BFF Karly helped a little though! If you want to swap buttons, Tweet or comment me and let me know. Also, if you add my button to your page for at least until my Giveaway is over, you get TEN entries. The code is to your right ----->

 

Lots of fun link up's going on today, so be sure to check out my "Join the Party" page and go make some fabulous new friends!

Read More

Holy Sh!+ What a Day!

Okay y'all... I just need to breathe for a second.

My brain is all over the place right now.

It's all good stuff at least!

I am marrying an entrepreneur. And it's a crazy life.

Marquis, the future worse half of myself, is 44 years old and from a small town in upstate NY. He grew up dirt poor. I'm talking a house built in the 1800's with no air conditioner, and the only way they ate was from their farm. He went into the Army; graduated number 1 in bootcamp for his physical fitness, then after he discharged from the military, he put himself through Ithaca college and graduated with honors. Even with severe ADHD. And honey, he still has that ADHD today.

He is a pretty driven man.

He just sold his two main businesses that have been operation since the year 2000. They were tanning salons; he sold them to a major franchise in the US. 

Over the past 6 weeks we have been working hard and now he is ready to open a new one.

Since marketing and advertising are my things, we have completely redone the tanning salon and what makes ours different and unique. I can't wait to share everything on here with you guys in the next month or two.

But we have some questions. The main one being: Where the hell are we going to put it?

There is one location in Charlotte (where we live and are established now) but if we open that location, it takes virtually every dime he made off of the sale of the old salons. That's a big pretty big risk. Especially because I don't trust the shopping center it would be in. It's in one of the most upscale places in Charlotte, but I am telling you guys, something just doesn't feel right. Just ask all the little restaurants that have opened and closed.

We have been talking for over a year now about buying a condo and Myrtle, opening a business there and kind of going back and fourth. I would be in Myrtle full time but he would still keep the house in Charlotte (for the time being) and go back and fourth.

Today he spoke with a man in Myrtle who is selling a really awesome tanning salon. Great location, great beds and Mystic HD, PLUS it would cost freaking 75% less than Charlotte to open it. We could pay cash today and still have a H U G E cushion. We are touring it Saturday.

We are also touring a bar/grille (my top choice to buy), an ice-cream shoppe, and a house to buy and rent out to people.

He then told me he spoke with a realtor and we are touring 6 condo's on Saturday to potentially live in.

Home sweet...home?

HOLY CRAP.

We could buy a condo and the tanning salon in Myrtle BOTH and still be spending 30% less than what it would take to open the one in Charlotte.

This picture has nothing to do with anything, but it makes me happy.

We are also considering selling or renting out our house in Charlotte because though it looks small(ish) on the outside it is HUGE in the inside. The only reason we bought it because it was such a good business investment. See, there is that business again.

Either way, I think Myrtle is clearly a better and cheaper choice. Plus, like I have said before, I was a fish in my past life and I was meant to be on the water.

Our anniversary trip is turning into a business development trip... why am I not surprised!!! LOL... just another day in the life! 

Read More

Happy, Happy, Happy

Just like the amazing Phil Robertson says; "We are happy, happy, happy". Yesterday evening ended up being a great evening, especially for a Monday.

I went to the gym after work for my "cardio blast" workout. I have written about it before. I ended up doing 20 miles of cardio total. And I shaved a lot of time off of my spin class. I started off with 20 minutes on the lateral cardio machine and did 5 miles. Then spin class started 7 minutes late. I started on the bike at 5:30 just doing an easy stroll, but did not start my spin work out until the instructor started us at 5:37 PM. In 47 minutes, I did 15 miles again like I did Thursday. However, the 15 miles I did on Thursday was how long the class had been, the 47 minutes last night was really only 40 minutes of class time.

I am really, really thinking of hard of buying a bike and training to one day ride competitively. Over the past 3 months since I have regularly started spin cycling, it has quickly become a huge passion of mine.

While I was work yesterday, my fiance, Marquis, told me he had worked up a little something for us! I was excited, he is an awesome cook and comes up with the weirdest, but most delicious recipes!

Pardon his spelling, hahaha.

After my work out, I come home to find Marquis has bought "Life Code" for us to take to the beach. I am a HUGE Dr. Phil fan, I mean I love that guy and I have been wanting this book. I can't wait to have my toes in the sand, Skinnytini in one hand, and this book in the other!

Around 8 we FINALLY sat down for dinner AND dessert and it was delicious!

Dinner: Veggie noodles, diced grilled chicken and turkey sausage, black beans, veggies, and crushed tomatoes. It was absolutely delicious.

Cute desserts he made: crushed Chocolate Fiber One cereal with sugar/fat free vanilla pudding, bananas, and walnuts! 

After dinner we caught up on "America's Got Talent". I can't believe we missed it last week! AGT, X Factor, and American Idol are our shows we religiously watch together. We commentate during the whole thing and it's so funny. It's our third season of AGT so it is now a tradition with us! I also love how when we are watching these shows, he lies at one end of the couch and myself and we give each other foot massages. LOL... does anyone else do that? Crazy, I know, but it's so relaxing!

Read More