Decorating...

I should be packing to shove out to Florida, but instead I'm looking up more decorations for the fall.

Apparently I need a ridiculous step by step tutorial on making wreaths, because frankly, I thought I was quite crafty- and I have totally bombed at the wreath making. But the ones on Etsy that I love so much are more than Im really willing to spend on a wreath, especially considering I haven't seen it in person. (And yes, I know they are time consuming, hence the higher prices, but again, I want to see this in person before I pay that for a freaking wreath!)

First up is this one. It's not terribly priced, $45

This one is $85, so I'm not paying that for a wreath I cant see. Surely I can figure out how to freaking make these!

$75... I super love this one!

So, crafty folks, email me if you have any wreath tips -- I suppose I need to get on this after we get back from FL! I keep thinking I'd love to have more than one -- so I could swap them out football and basketball season, the same one might get boring.  

And because I have the most RIDICULOUS addiction to my Wildcat stuff, and I literally dont seem to go a day without searching Etsy and Ebay for my Cats.....I found this today and fell in looooove:

I mean, seriously, that's the cutest thing I've ever seen. The Starbucks junkie in me is this close to just buying it already.

Monday Ramblings....

5 days to go until our family Vaca in Florida! I can do this!  I bought my mom an iPod and put all her music on it, so this past weekend I spent some time at her place giving her an iPod lesson (which was actually super duper easy! She got the hang of it, and was loving all this music at her fingers!), and when I left, I made the comment "make sure you bring your car charger with you next weekend!" and I thought holy hell - we really ARE leaving next weekend! 

That makes this week super super busy! Laundry is done, I've started packing (half my bag is completely blue. I'm totally going to be repping my Wildcats while I'm in FL!)- and I've got so much to do. This will be the only week I ever lay out my clothes for work for the entire week in advance. Come on week, fly by. I wanna go home!

Ready to frolic on the beach with this cutie pie!

And see my Uncle Dennis act like a kid with the kids!

Do some drinking at Capt Hirams!

Road trip with my babies! 

In other exciting news, today is my last day on my meds, and I am so freaking thrilled I could do a happy dance -- oh wait, no I can't, I'm still a week away from being allowed to do that : ( My toe IS healing nicely though, and I should be beach ready when we get to FL thank goodness! Anyway these meds are so gross, even just the smell of opening the bottle makes me want to gag. 

Happy Monday….

Heart Walk!

It's almost time for the American Heart Association Walk, which happens RIGHT after we get home from Florida! For those who didn't know my amazing Granny, we lost her to a Heart Attack in 2010, and since then we've been pretty active with the Heart Association! 

It really is a lot of fun -- we always go early to enjoy some of the festivities, and the kids play some of the games. There's one booth that's always set up with stickers for you to write out and wear who you are walking in tribute for -- the number one reason I didn't put any text on the back of our shirts :) We love being able to write these out! (And how cute does Kadin look? I mean, seriously, one of the best parts of this is the kids being involved. Not once have these kids complained during the walk. They know what we're walking for and we're doing it for Granny.)

LAST YEAR they had a new thing set up of these massive wooden hearts where you could write in memory of someone, or just write any message for other walkers, etc. Seriously my new favorite thing - I really really hope it's there this year! I did read this year there's a tent where all walkers and groups can get photos, etc. Love it - even though I take my camera of course, I want a great group shot of everyone, so sounds like we're going to be able to get that this year at the new tent! 

So, if you're in Nashville and want to walk with the group, shoot me an email :) If you just want to donate to our cause, please feel free to visit my page- right here - and donate to the American Heart Association! It's a great cause - if you aren't in Nashville and want to walk, be sure to check out what areas the other walks are in and start a team!

Ouch....

I blog this while on pain medication - is that a good idea?! :P I had the toe done today -- more on that shortly!

So this past Friday, we went to Will Stans in Lavergne because Chad is now DJ-ing there. And if you know my sister and I, we're all for some good karaoke! Anyway, this place is locally owned and  kind of like a Steakhouse on one side and a bar on the other.  Apparently we picked the slowest day ever to go -- there were literally four other people there when we got there. When Samantha & I kicked off karaoke, Chad just handed us the mics saying we didn't even have to get up, we could just sit at the table. (I kind of liked this, and played lazy the rest of the night every time I sang!)

love my sissy! 

So this place is not like Dolphie's -- which means it really wasn't a place I could bust out some Kitty Wells-- really not the crowd. So you can imagine my surprise when I'm sitting there and see this elderly man go up to Chad and say "Do you have Goodbye Time by Conway Twitty?" My big mouth immediately opened up "Did you say CONWAY TWITTY?! I LOVE YOU!!!" I felt empowered to do some Loretta after that! (PS for the locals, I guess I ordered the wrong thing, but I thought the food kind of stunk. Everyone else told me their food was great, so I guess I'll give it a second chance and order something different. So, don't order the deli grill, it wasn't that great and I ended up just taking it back to my sisters so Barry could have it. On a plus, the drinks are cheap! I just had a Raspberry Margarita, and it was only $3 bucks)

The bestie and I headed to Kentucky Saturday to hit up our beloved Dolphie's. I love this place. I love these people. And it was game day, so as soon as we walked in, the UK was on the big screen! (Even though they lost :( I still love my Cats!)

I love this place....

cheering on our beloved Wildcats!

Dolphie's was pretty busy --- but we always stay until close, and for the first time ever, Scott had no one signed up for the last 20 minutes! He looked over and said "You and Rita sign up for some more!", so we didn't hesitate to belt out a couple Barbara Mandrell & Loretta tunes before closing. Oh, how it does my heart good to sing "Sleeping Single in a Double Bed" and seeing every person in the bar singing along.

We went shopping in Bowling Green before we came back to Nashville, which might not have been the smartest thing in the planet (although I bought ridiculous amounts of new UK gear!) with my toe. It was throbbing by the time I got home and finally started soaking it again!

This morning I woke up and went to the podiatrist (if you're squeamish at any needle talk or pic at all, you should probably stop reading right now). I sat in the parking lot and kept thinking "Do I really need to go in? Maybe I could...." before stopping myself and going in. Fortunately my doc is beyond fabulous, so as soon as he said "The needle is really the only bad part of this, if you want to get your phone and play games or something, it might help distract you from the pain." So while he injected my toe with needles to numb it, I took a quick pic and then text my sister & twin cousin to complain about the ridiculous pain. If you've ever wondered, needles in the toe %*$&@(! suck! I'm pretty sure I thought he was trying to kill me when he put one in the side of my toe. He kept saying "You have a tattoo on this toe! This won't take as long as that did, you should be good!" Yeah, but they weren't sloooowly sticking needles in the SIDE OF MY TOE when I got my tattoo. (And for the record, my toe tattoo did hurt like hell!)

ouch, ouch, OUCH. 

Fortunately, three shots later, my toe was numb and he started the procedure and I played on my phone.    Since I said I really didn't want to see anything, he was super nice when he put the rubber band around my toe and put gauze and sat it up so he could work around it but so it would cover my view.  The procedure itself was so quick!

all done!  

He told me it would heal pretty quickly, but when he gave me the antibiotic prescription, he gave me a codeine prescription too just in case I needed it after the numbness wore off. (Thank goodness, I popped one of those puppies when I got home -- there would be no waiting until it wore off to "see" if I could feel the pain!!) I've been keeping it propped for the day like I'm supposed to....I have an excuse to be lazy for once! 

Not So Thinspiration Thursday

You know what I haven't done all week? Work out. You know what I probably won't be able to do all next week? Work out.

I see the doctor tomorrow about my knee, and then another specialist Monday about my toe. This girl is going to be flip flopping it next week after they cut off part of my nail.  Yes, in the 'gross' category, I have an ingrown toenail caused by jamming my toe into the end of the bed (sigh), had no idea therefore did not catch it quickly --annnd of course it got really bad, and you do not even want to know what my toe looks like. Which means I can't take care of it myself (which ACTUALLY means "Nicole doesn't know what she's doing, and was going to make her mom do it) and it needs to be done by the podiatrist, and then I'm good to go :) (I put a smiley there, but I won't lie, I'm totally tripping out over the needles to numb my toe Monday. I've got a tattoo there -- I know what hell needles in the toe are!)

Which all translates to Nicole has to take a short break from work out. So it's not much of a Thinspiration Thursday, huh?!

Now fingers crossed this knee doesn't need surgery.....I've used a brace on it ever since it start popping again. What was the original cause of injury to it last year, you ask?  Why, I was hanging a canvas on the wall and instead of getting out a hand step stool, I thought "Why use that when I can use my chair!?" You know....the one with WHEELS, and swivels? I mean, I'm only insanely accident prone, what could possibly go wrong!?  Yeah.....

On a much happier note, it's Thursday which means it's almost Friday! Who doesn't live for Friday!? The sis, bro in law and I are heading out tomorrow night to Will Stans, and Saturday I'll be off to Dolphie's with the bestie. I'm sure glad I work from home Mondays - that extra two hours of sleep is much needed after a full weekend!

Monday already??

For last week being a holiday - it sure was a long one! :/ And where did my weekend go?? I swear, I feel like my weekends are getting shorter and shorter. And considering I work at home every Monday, I totally shouldn't feel that way :P

For my birthday this year, my mom got our Opry tickets to see Keith Urban this past Tuesday. Um, hello hotness.  And, as usual, he was amazing.

The week was a whirlwind --- although I did have a few chances this weekend to catch up with old friends....Larry & I grabbed dinner Saturday night at Opry Mills (Johnny Rockets is open now-- and how we got a table with ZERO wait on a Saturday night at dinner is beyond me.) and then went to see Sparkle. It was so fabulous! Seriously go see it, and not just because it's Whitney Houston's last film. The entire cast was amazing. Has anyone else seen it? I seriously though Carmen Ejogo stole the show - Jordin Sparks was great, but for being so "unknown", we were blown away by Carmen.

Now if I could fly past this week, that would be fabulous. Friday is my night out with my sister, and Saturday my bestie will be here again. Oh how I live for girls weekends - especially since we're headed to Kentucky Saturday! This month is so crazy (I should probably say year-- every single weekend I have plans or I have sessions booked!) - but in less than 3 weeks, it's back to my hometown in Florida! Family vacay this year -- which actually includes my Bro-in-Law that is usually working and unable to go - and we couldn't be more excited!  I think my sister & I have planned out every single minute that we're there....it will be a crazy busy but fabulous trip!

Of course, the best news of the entire week was....Kentucky 47, Kent State 14.  Go BIG BLUE!

Speaking of which....we have been working on game schedules for us to attend, and I am so stoked. I've also started decorating my place for the season - I'm just missing a UK wreath! Everyone I found is so flipping expensive for a WREATH,  but thanks to the awesome guidance of Pinterest and my sister, Im making my own! So excited for this too -- I'm about to embark on multiple D-I-Y projects I found on pinterest. I'm becoming so crafty, what the hell!?

I ordered the cutest garden gnome, a new flag, and a new birdhouse. Hello football decorations! (And let's not lie, it stays up for our kick ass BASKETBALL SEASON!!!)

I think we MIGHT try to make my wreath like the one above, but we'll see :)

Oh how I love Kentucky. If I could stand the thought of being away from my Sister & the kids again, I would so move there in a heartbeat. But for now, I'll settle for being 40 miles away.

Love this boy....

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day!!!

So, my nephew is the funniest kid I know. And he’s funny because he’s so honest  -- he cannot lie. Literally, when he lies, he gets this massive grin on his face and starts giggling. He just can’t do it. Anyway, he is so honest and says so much. I love when I have him in the car, just me and him, because he tells me so much stuff and it is so cute and funny.

Yesterday I spent the day at my sisters for Labor Day – and Kadin and I ran out to get drinks for everyone at Sonic. On the way he giggles and goes, “GET THIS. My sister, a 14 year old girl from the United States of America kissed a 13 year old Latino Boy from Mexico!” Trying not to giggle, I say is that “this boy, etc, I don’t know much about him yet, I didn’t know he was Mexican”. Kadin looks at me and goes “Latino, Aunt Nicole, Latino. And yes, from Mexico. Paige is from the United States of America”.

Sigh, I love this boy. He is so funny without even trying  : )  Everytime he gets something blue, he immediately tells me “I got it because it’s Kentucky Blue! Your favorite color!”  He also finagled $$ out of my sisters dad this weekend and he said “You know why he gave it to me  Aunt Nicole? Because we’re best buddies. Me, Grandpa and Dad!” Haha – I mean, really, is there anything cute than this kid? Nope, I didn’t think so. I repeat, I love this boy!!!

I took zero pictures yesterday. It was a little break. We had a great cookout at my sisters like always, bro in law cooked some great stuff on the grill, my sister and I discussed our shows (because of course, it’s super important to discuss what we thought of the Kardashians the night before! And now Married to Jonas has us both hooked. E!’s reality shows are killing me, I cannot get enough of them)….and then I came home, immediately made myself as publicly un-presentable as possible, and curled up on the couch to watch “Switched at Birth” season premiere. Did anyone else watch this?? Am I the only one disappointed with the season premiere? The twin cousin & I watch this religiously…..although it’s been hard to keep up with it together while she’s on Pacific time. When she’s back on Eastern time, our “Switched at Birth” watching sessions are SO back on. (Yes, this is our life. Don’t judge. We are incredible awesome.)

Tonight it’s the Opry with my Mom to see Keith Urban – my birthday present! So excited, love going to see him. Obviously, there will be plenty of THOSE pics coming.  (Side note: you know what would make me  happy? If he would start flexing that arm that has MY NAME tattooed on it. That’s all I want. )