What to Do When Your New Favorite Snack Becomes Your Next Obsession

In December, I bought Brookside chocolates as part of a birthday gift for my coworker who loves chocolate. A few months later, after she raved about how much she enjoyed them, I decided to pick up a box for myself. At first, I was pretty excited about this find. The boxes are filled with 100-calorie per serving bags, and I thought it was the perfect-sized treat for an afternoon at work. I even joked about how grateful I was to buy the box (so that I could eat just one bag) versus buying the bigger bag of them (because if I did, I would surely stick my hand in there and snack all day long). 20140305-103615.jpgAnd then the worst thing happened. One bag turned into two bags on a small lunch day. And then another time I ate two bags just because I felt like it. And the rest is history.

I cannot stop eating this chocolate-covered berry goodness! These are so good. I can easily munch through 3 or 4 bags in a sitting. I’ve actually been walking around my office giving away my tiny bags so I don’t have to deal with them anymore.

So I guess the moral of this story is: Feast on the good stuff or parcel it out to other people or stay away if you haven’t tried it yet.

Making It Happen

So it has been about a week since my last check in, and I won’t lie, I am seriously kicking some butt with this wedding-planning stuff.

Since my last note, I have…

  1. Decided on and purchased my wedding dress.
  2. Asked the majority of my bridesmaids to be in the wedding (so far they’ve all said yes!)
  3. Decided on bridesmaid dresses.
  4. Figured out a few more decor ideas for the reception.
  5. We picked a ceremony venue
  6. and a reception venue!

Not too shabby, eh?

Paint Nite Providence

In October, I went with two of my closest girlfriends to PaintNite in Providence, RI. Anytime I’m with my friends, it’s a great time, but painting and drinking with them was especially fun. Here are a few pictures of the process from start to finish. I definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to have a girls night and try something new.

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Checking Two Items Off My Bucket List

I’ve got some exciting news to share with you. I can officially report that I completed two items from my bucket list.

The first is that I graduated from my MFA program. I’ve obviously updated you on this, but I thought I should just report it here to make it bucket list official.

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The second is that I pet an alligator. I love alligators. When I was younger (I think I had just graduated high school), I pet a random alligator in a local mall in a small summer petting zoo they had set up for little kids. I always wanted to do it again, and I had the chance this past weekend at Mr. O’s work picnic (which is really like a huge carnival, not a picnic). Not only did I get to pet the gator, but they let me hold it! I’m pretty excited about this all. Side note: I have no clue who that little kid is in the photos. I wish I could have cropped him out, but since I couldn’t, I just whited out his name badge. I always wanted to hold an alligator

 Did y’all know I have a page on the blog just for my bucket list? If not, check it out and let me know if you can help me make any of these goals happen.

365 Photos: Days 177-185

Day 177: 7/29… Wolverine and Fenway both want each other to stop what they are doing and play with their toys.
Day 178: 7/30… Snacktime at work
Day 179: 7/31… Dying hydrangea.
Day 180: 8/1… Halftime at Wolverine’s first day of football.
Day 181: 8/2… Sunflower.
Day 182: 8/3… The only pic I have from this day. Weird pic where I think my fingers were moving as I grabbed the phone?
Day 183: 8/4…Family date night at Dave and Busters. We won the jackpot.
Day 184: 8/5… Making dumplings with Mr. O.
Day 185: 8/6… Grateful for my AC on a muggy summer night.

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365 Photos: Days 168-176

Day 168: 7/20… Looking for clovers at school.
Day 169: 7/21… I graduated today!
Day 170: 7/22… In case you didn’t notice, these peppers may be hot.
Day 171: 7/23… Making dinner. I was spoiled while at school.
Day 172: 7/24… Flowers from my brokers at work on my first day back.
Day 173: 7/25… Another graduation gift from a coworker- an azalea plant.
Day 174: 7/26…Tank Concert. Not the best pic.
Day 175: 7/27… Trying to get Fen to sleep on the floor, not the bed.
Day 176: 7/28… Outside with Fenway.

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Pinterest Obsession: Birthday Countdown

NOTE: I originally wrote this post at the end of June! I just forgot it in my draft folder I guess!

I’m obsessed with Pinterest. I have been for a long time. Once I thought I had the obsession controlled, but like any addiction, when I signed back in a few months later to “browse” because I was bored, I was instantly hooked again. I just can’t control myself; I’m a pinner.

So this past Saturday Wolverine and I started a countdown until his birthday. We used some colored paper, a hole puncher and a marker to make the tear off dates for the countdown. It was “cute” but certainly not that crafty. I’ll be honest and explain that when I say Wolverine and I made a countdown, what I mean is that I threw together a countdown while he played with his dad… but it was for him. So I promise I’m not insulting a future six-year-old’s creativity. He just agreed that making a countdown would be fun. That was his level of excitement.

So while the original countdown worked, I just wasn’t pleased with it. I knew I had pinned a few countdown photos on Pinterest, but I couldn’t for the life of me find them in my boards. My boards are super disorganized right now and totally need to be decluttered. Anyway, on Sunday morning I decided to search my pins one more time, and I found it!

The lovely ladies of Eighteen25 shared a free printable on Skip to My Lou and I had saved the pin in my Can I DIY board! So I downloaded and printed it and then Wolverine and I set off to find a frame to put it in. This was a little tricky, because when we all moved in together, I packed up much of my home-accessories (like all my frames). Finally we found a 8×10 frame, and at that point, both Wolverine and I didn’t care what the frame looked like. That’s it folks! Now we have a fancy schmancy wipe-off frame to countdown the days until his birthday.

This is soooo much cooler than what I had originally done.

365 Photos: Days 141-149

Day 141… June 23: Bowling Birthday Party
Day 142… June 24: Setting up the tent in the backyard
Day 143… June 25: Salad
Day 144… June 26: My nephew sat on a wet bench at Wolverine’s Tball game
Day 145… June 27: Pho for dinner
Day 146… June 28: The kids watching the cars drive by
Day 147… June 29: Amazon recommends books from my friends in my MFA program. Go buy them!!!
Day 148… June 30: Beers outside at night
Day 149… July 1: Father’s Day gift for Mr. O circa 2011

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365 Photos: Days 87-95

Day 87: My bureau 4/30
Day 88: Taco Salad for lunch 5/1
Day 89: Inside my nightstand 5/2
Day 90: Wolverine is a white tiger! 5/3
Day 91: The insides of my car at night 5/4
Day 92: Growing “bugs” with Wolverine 5/5
Day 93: Our new plants: zinnias and carrots (we have parsley too, but it didn’t make it into the pic) 5/6
Day 94: HULK SMASH! 5/7
Day 95: It’s true. Eating out is better than doing the dishes sometimes. 5/8

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365 Photos: 78-86

Day 78: 4/21- Humpty Dumpty Chips (Do y’all have these near you? Because we don’t in MA)
Day 79: 4/22- Who do you think will win the race? Wolverine or the snail?
Day 80: 4/23-Ouch!
Day 81: 4/24-AGAIN Dunkin gave me a coffee missing 1/4th of the drink!
Day 82: 4/25-Not sure if I should take a bite out of this candy, because one is already missing!
Day 83: 4/26- Mr. O makes me iced coffee for work. Awww.
Day 84: 4/27-Ha! Well, it is true. I had a lot of voice mails that day.
Day 85: 4/28-Fresh little necks for dinner
Day 86: 4/29-My niece wanted a hamster for her birthday. So I printed a picture of one for her.

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365 Photos: Days 69-77

Day 69: Cereal dinner by myself tonight.
Day 70: Mr. O was chasing me around and trying to put ice down my pants as I made us drinks!
Day 71: Mr. O’s friend had a cookout and invited us over.
Day 72: Wolverine on the zipline at the park.
Day 73: This is not a full cup of coffee. If I wanted a large I would have bought one… not an extra-large.
Day 74: Leftover Easter Candy.
Day 75: Brushing my teeth before bed.
Day 76: I’m cooking dinner on the grill.
Day 77: I asked for no whipped cream, and this is my second cup that wasn’t full this week. What’s up with that?

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365 Photo Challenge Days 51-59

Day 51: Fenway and I aren’t too pleased with Netflix lately (3/25/12)
Day 52: My bed looks so lonely when Mr. O goes to work in the morning (3/26/12)
Day 53: I leave myself such sweet notes (3/27/12)
Day 54: There is usually chocolate in that bear’s lap (3/28/12)
Day 55: My view from work (3/29/12)
Day 56: I want to jump back into bed. I don’t want to go to work (3/30/12)
Day 57: I need to put some air in those tires before heading to NH (3/31/12)
Day 58: Wolverine is about to head down the waterslide in our hotel (4/1/12)
Day 59: Rawr! The dinosaur at the Boston Museum of Science (4/2/12)

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More 365 Photos

Days 42-50 and I’m still going strong…

Day 42: I almost forgot to take a photo! I was so grateful that I had taken a picture of this candy to text to Mr. O and ask if he wanted any when I was at CVS. If it wasn’t for that, I would have missed this day completely. (3/16)
Day 43: Making Green Milk (well, the leprechaun made it… not me!) for St. Patrick’s Day (3/17)
Day 44: The leprechaun somehow stole our gold and made it out of our trap! He left a Lucky Charm trail on his way out the door. (3/18)
Day 45: I had a migraine at work, and everything was just too sunny. I tried (unsuccessfully) to block the light from my window. (3/19)
Day 46: Finally caught up on my Google Reader (3/20)
Day 47: Hmm, what should I snack on? Fiber One cereal or Cookies and Cream chocolates? Tough Choice (3/21)
Day 48: Making Shrimp and Chicken Mozambique (3/22)
Day 49: Strawberries and blackberries- a much healthier snack than day 47! (3/23)
Day 50: My badge from #BBBos (Blog Better Boston). What an awesome day (3/24)

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