Wine and Love.

Created by Nora, hosted by Suki!

Filling my wine glass...

• This week has been killing me. For some reason, all of my monthly tasks seem to be piling up on top of projects which have been assigned to me. I've spent every minute of every day doing work this week, which is rare. Plus, I didn't get my normal "catch up" sleep this past weekend, so I'm dragging ass on top of it all.
• We are delayed in putting up the majority of our Christmas decorations because of my brother's cats. I don't think I ever shared the story here, but basically:  my brother moved out into an unlivable condo and moved back home within two weeks, but not before adopting two cats. So, yeah. They're not kittens, but they're still young and rambunctious, so I'm not allowed to decorate until the 15th when my brother moves back out.
• I have woken up in the middle of the night every day this week. I don't know if it's the cats tumbling around my brother's room (where they're "locked up" every night) or what, but it's annoying.

Filling my heart...

• A really, really, really great weekend with Erik last weekend, which will get it's own separate post (hopefully tomorrow!).
• Christmas music, decorations, lights, shopping, etc. I so love this time of year.
• Making plans with my friends and Erik to do fun, holiday-themed things like see the Rockettes and The Nutcracker (!!!).
• Warm weather, surprisingly. As much as I want to complain that it's interfering with the whole weather-outside-is-frightful feeling of Christmas, it felt pretty great to go out for lunch without a coat for a few days.

What's on your wine and love list this week?

Wine and Love.

created by Nora, hosted by Suki!

Filling my wine glass...

• The mornings are getting colder... and darker. Gross. I adore autumn and the cooler weather in general, but I forgot how terrible it is to be freezing in the morning and not want to get out of bed.
• Another weekend without Erik coming up. I can't complain because one, my plans are the reason we can't hang out; two, this every-other-weekend thing isn't that bad; and three, it's probably good not to be spending every single weekend together. Still: wahhhhhh.
• I'm back to being stuck in the rut of not making a dentist or doctor's appointment. I know I need to go in, but I keep procrastinating.

Filling my heart...

• On Saturday I have a trip to my alma mater with Melissa and Katie! I am beyond excited because I haven't seen either since Melissa's wedding way back in July. Plus, being back on campus always makes me feel so at home. I can't wait.
• Next weekend (on the 20th), we're going to Atlantic City for an October birthday celebration for Erik and two of his friends. My only visits to AC have been during the day and usually included a dance competition so it's a completely new experience for me. I'm not so happy about sharing a room with, potentially, 5-6 other (inebriated) people, but we'll see what happens. Either way, I get to wear a pretty dress and go dancing. Yay!
• Taking Monday off has made this week fly by. My Thursdays are easy and go fast, which means Friday and the weekend will be here before I know it.
• I scored some Christmas gifts already! Judge me if you like, but they were discounted on Rue La La, so I went for it. Even though I'm working and finally have money to spend on people, I'm not going crazy this year. (Well, except for all the treat-making that inevitably happens, but that's relatively cheap.)

What's on your mind this week?

Wine and Love.

 {created by Nora and hosted by Suki!}

Filling my wine glass...

• If you follow me outside of this blog (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook), you may have seen a cryptic update... or seven. My relationship has been really unsettled lately and things came to a turning point on Monday. There were hurt feelings, rushed decisions, and awful things said and then taken back. We stand on unstable ground right now, but we're standing. Things have slowly gone back to semi-normal and I hope that soon, with lots of discussions, honesty, and compromises, we'll get back to normal.

Filling my heart...

• Other than my relationship woes, my weekend with Erik was really fun! Saturday night was a short road trip with his friends to a small lakeside town for pub food (I had the best nachos ever), then Sunday was date night and bowling with his friends.
• I was bummed out recently when I visited Victoria's Secret and couldn't find the perfume I'd finally decided to buy. However, I found it on clearance online, which meant I could get two bottles for roughly the same price as one! Yay!
• My friends are the absolute best. Everyone's been responding to my vague social media updates and I just love everyone to pieces.
• Four-day work week! It's simply flying by. Usually Tuesday is my slow day at work, so having it bumped out of the week and replaced with Monday has been fantastic.
• I am really, really looking forward to having Erik over this weekend so we can finally clear the air and get all of our feelings out. Plus, he's still the person I want to see when I'm feeling sad and unsettled.

Wine and Love

{created by Nora and hosted by Suki!}

Filling my wine glass...

• I'm going through a bit of a rough patch with Erik, mostly because I'm not at my happiest and recent events have left me feeling vulnerable. When I feel vulnerable, the cray-cray comes out and, well, that's never good.
• Every morning I wake up exhausted and yet, I never go to bed early. It's not fun, especially because I have to start waking up and leaving earlier to beat school traffic. (Also, WHERE did summer go? Seriously.)
• Associated with the first bullet point, I'm feeling very 'blah' about life right now. Work itself is not the issue; I'm simply not happy with where I am in every part of my life and I don't know how to fix it. Actually, I do know the steps to fix it, but I can't summon the energy or confidence to take those steps.

Filling my heart...

• I'm covering for our receptionist while she's on vacation and even though it's extra work for me, I'm really enjoying it. Except for answering phones, I love every aspect of being a receptionist - filing paperwork, sorting the mail, putting together packages, ordering things... it's paradise for an organizing freak like me!
• #VEDA! It's been pretty fantastic, even though I've been a bad participant in terms of watching and commenting on everyone else's videos.
• There's a three-day weekend coming up and I have almost NOTHING planned... which has the potential to be a bad thing (too much time to think and be bored), but I'm excited for it. I'm hoping to catch up on sleep, sort out the messier parts of my life, spend some time reading, and plan a little outing or two, depending on who's around.

Wine and Love [Vol. 24].

 hosted by Suki!

Filling my wine glass...

• I'm feeling under the weather again. It's not the same issue I had a few weeks ago - that turned out to be a reaction to Zyrtec - but still annoying. I took a day off yesterday after being really foggy all Tuesday afternoon, but then felt guilty. Since it's not a specific sickness (like a cold or stomach thing) but a general 'blah' feeling, I feel like I can't justify calling out sick.
• Erik's on vacation with his friends this week, which means our conversations are shorter or non-existent. I made a rule for myself that I won't nag/bother him about being in touch because I want him to enjoy his time there. In fact, I explicitly said he should only text or call if he has free time, not because he feels obligated to talk to me. I'm glad that he's having a good time, but it makes me extra lonely.
• I'm still not loving my job. What's worse is that, because it's my nature to feel responsible and think about others, I don't want to quit because I know that would put them in a position for the work to get overloaded again. Silly, I know, because it's not my problem... but that's making it harder. I guess I'll start looking for other jobs and until I find something better (meaning, something within 10 minutes of my house that pays higher than this one), I'll stick around.

Filling my heart...

• I FINALLY GOT MY IPHONE. Yes, that gets all caps. I've been so obsessed with everything about it. It makes my work days go by faster, I can look anything up instantly, and I can finally document my day better by taking tons of Instagram photos. Oh, and playing endless games of Draw Something, of course.

 So glad to finally have Instagram!

• My parents are on a mini vacation this week, which is good for two reasons. One, my brother and I get a freebie take-out dinner (we got pizza). Two, I didn't get a total guilt trip for taking a sick day yesterday.
• My brother introduced me to Arizona Iced Tea and honestly, I don't know why I haven't been drinking it all my life. I'm currently drinking - and loving! - the peach iced tea.
• My best friend, Danielle, is officially a doctor! She graduated from medical school this week and starts her residency in a few weeks. So proud of her!
• I don't think I mentioned it here, but Natalie's maid of honor invited us to her wedding. It was a really nice gesture because it was after she explained how she has so many guests that even some must-haves are on the B-list. But she's so close with Nat and her family that she wanted Erik to be there, so she invited him and me. How sweet! So now I have another wedding to attend this summer. Excited!
• Oh, and did I mention that Erik graduated last week? So proud of him even though he thinks it's not a big deal. I couldn't go to the ceremony - stupid work - but Natalie sent me a few pictures. Here's my fave:

Wine and Love [Vol. 23].

 created by Nora; hosted by Suki!

Filling my wine glass...

• I'm starting to get anxious about my first day at work on Monday. It especially stresses me out because it's right after the wedding - I only have Sunday to recuperate and mentally prepare myself. Although maybe that's a good thing... if I had more time, I would obsess and worry about it constantly.
• There's a chance it'll rain on Saturday, the day of the wedding. At first they were saying it would start at night, but now weather.com is saying scattered thunderstorms (doesn't say what time, though, so hopefully we'll still be alright!).

Filling my heart...

• This will be obvious: the wedding! It's two days away and I'm so excited. I drive up tomorrow afternoon for the rehearsal dinner, then I'm staying over for the big day.
• Having time to relax. I deliberately planned to spend the week before the wedding taking it easy because I tend to stress if I have too much going on. I've been lounging outside, reading, and watching TV - basically being totally lazy. It also works out because it's my last week of "freedom" before starting work next week.
• In addition to relaxing, I've been tying up all the loose ends left for the wedding - testing my makeup, ironing some wrinkles out of the dress, and making a list of everything to pack. So I'm not being completely lazy, but also productive.
• Erik came over on Tuesday because I asked him to, which was really nice. I take him for granted sometimes - we recently got into an argument about contributions to the relationship - and I realized it's wonderful that he'll just drive over whenever I ask, so long as he's not too busy.

Wine and Love [Vol. 22].

hosted by Nora!

Filling my wine glass...

• My cold is still lingering a bit. I don't feel sick, but I'm blowing my nose every ten minutes. Not fun.
• I have to go to the DMV today. The location I go to usually isn't crowded, especially since I can go in the mid-afternoon, but I still don't wanna.

Filling my heart...

• Just found out (as I was writing this) that my little bro just got offered a job! So exciting!
• Prepping for wedding stuff! I ran errands yesterday which meant I: bought bridal shower gifts for Melissa, organized the favors for Natalie's bachelorette party, searched through the billions of shower and wedding cards to pick my favorites, bought some potential earring choices and DIY-ed my shoes for Nat's wedding. Here are the shoes:
  
  
  
• The bathroom is almost done, for now anyway. I just have to paint (once my mom picks a color). Of course, next week we're getting the toilet and sink taken out, which means I have to do the whole process to those small parts of the wall.

Wine and Love [Vol. 21].

hosted by Nora!

Filling my wine glass...

• On Tuesday I woke up to find that I had come down with a cold. I stayed over Erik's house this past weekend and his grandmother had been sick, so I'm assuming that's where I caught it. Erik's sick, too. Luckily Tuesday was the worst day, with a sore throat and sinus headache. As long as I take medicine, I feel pretty good.

Filling my heart...

• More gorgeous weather! It feels like we're smack-dab in the middle of spring already, when it's only just begun.
• With one month left until Natalie's wedding (!!!), all of the little details are coming together, like arranging hair appointments and getting details for the rehearsal dinner. I'm so excited!
• Erik's on spring break this week, and although he still has to work at his internship during the day, there are more opportunities to hang out. He came over for dinner on Tuesday and we're gonna hang out again tonight or tomorrow (in addition to the weekend).
• Hunger Games!!! I haven't made official plans with anyone yet, but I can't wait to go see it.

Wine and Love [Vol. 20].

 hosted by Nora!

Filling my wine glass...

• We're remodeling our downstairs half-bathroom and since my parents are having professionals come in to do the plumbing and flooring, I'm their "hired" help for refinishing the walls. It wouldn't be so bad except that the last time we remodeled the bathroom (when I was little), somebody took the tiles off and left the walls messy and uneven, covering it up with wallpaper. We opted not to use wallpaper again because we thought that would be harder... but it definitely would've been easier. I've spent the past week stripping the wallpaper and its heavier backing, sanding and priming the walls, and now filling it with wall compound. Then I have to sand that and finally - hopefully! - I'll get to paint it. And it will be relatively even. And I won't be a perfectionist about it, or else I'll go crazy.

Filling my heart...

• Gorgeous weather! We've had temperatures in the 60s and even up to 70, which means open windows and lots of sunshine.
• I spent another two nights with Lyndsay crafting for her sorority over the weekend. I'm really excited for her to finally be introduced to her Little, which happens tomorrow! Since I'm paranoid - even though I'm nearly positive there's no way the girl will see this blog - I won't be sharing pictures of our creations until next week.
• Erik came over on Friday night and he and my family wanted to play a card game. I wasn't up for it, but since I was the only one, they played anyway while I went out a ran errands. It made me happy that Erik felt comfortable enough to hang out with my family without me being here.

This isn't really a wine or love, but tomorrow my friend Danielle - the one who got married in September and who is in medical school - finds out where she was placed for her residency. The tricky part is that her husband's in the navy and had to pick a base to be stationed, so we're crossing our fingers and toes that she was matched at the location nearest him, or at the very least in the tri-state area. If you send good vibes her way or send up a quick prayer, it would be greatly appreciated!

Wine and Love [Vol. 19].

hosted by Nora!

Filling my wine glass...

• Apparently I'm still fluttering in and out of my not-so-great mood. I feel like I am constantly talking about it, too, which is why I cut text conversations with Erik short and shy away from blogging when I'm feeling down.
• My brother gets on my nerves every now and again because our family is one that shares opinions on each others' lives with bluntness to the point of cruelty. He's been commenting lately on my poor eating habits and laziness, and I want so badly to be out of this house sometimes just to get away from his criticism.

Filling my heart...

• Last weekend, some plans I had with Erik and his friends got cancelled and I was a bit miffed about it. To make up for it, he's taking me out to dinner this weekend, wherever I want. I love "real" date nights.
• More job applications! One is one of my dream jobs - a residence director - and I took the step of applying to Target in hopes that retail can be my fall-back if nothing else turns up.
• Warm weather. It's going to hit 60 today, at least, and I am beyond excited.
• E-mails and texts from my friends that make me smile, laugh, and remember how awesome they all are.
• Making a budget for all the upcoming wedding stuff and feeling a little less panicky about my money situation.

Wine and Love [Vol. 18].

 hosted by Nora!





Filling my wine glass...

• I'm still waking up every morning when my dad gets up for work and now I get anxiety about it before falling asleep. My stomach is never particularly happy when I wake up and I don't want to get in my dad's way as he gets ready, so I worry about it as I go to bed. And it's generally really annoying to wake up in the middle of the night every (week)night!
• My bad mood resurfaced for a little bit yesterday after a conversation with Erik. Luckily it didn't stick around this time.
• I have been failing at all my goals this week: I keep eating sugar (cookies, candy), I haven't exercised, and I haven't looked for or applied to any jobs recently. I really need to get my butt in gear.

Filling my heart...

• Wedding stuff! I'm looking forward to showers, bachelorette parties, and of course, the weddings themselves. It's stressful at times (like how I might have a shower and bachelorette party for two separate weddings in April), but tons of fun as well.
• I get to see Erik tonight and we're hanging out, by ourselves, not doing anything. Just what I need after the past few weeks.
• Melissa's Oscars party on Sunday was so much fun! The theme was Red Carpet, so we all dressed up in fancy outfits and sipped cocktails. I loved having an excuse to dig my old prom dresses out of my closet.
• Lyndsay's on spring break next week so I finally get to see her and catch up. We're going to make a ton of crafts because she's in a sorority and gets a little sister soon. I can't wait for that as well as lots of bonding.
• On Monday, I got my Blog Valentine package in the mail from Heather! It was fabulous - I got some really cute things including a little notebook, a package of gummy bears, and some post-its.

Wine and Love [Vol. 17].

 hosted by Nora!

Filling my wine glass...

• A little bit of drama related to the wedding. It's nothing earth-shattering and it's not my place to talk about it, but I was bummed to hear about it.
• Being in a funk hasn't been fun. Luckily I'm feeling back to 'normal' as of Tuesday, but it was a real drag feeling down.
• My dad wakes up between 4 and 5am to go to work in the morning and almost always wakes me up. He doesn't mean to, but it's frustrating because I haven't found a way around it yet (I've tried sleeping with my iPod playing, with my fan on for white noise, trying to go to bed earlier/later... I wake up every. single. time).
• I gave up sugar for Lent and I already miss it.
• I didn't have enough time with Erik this week when I really needed it. I can't complain because we did hang out Friday night and I slept over, but I left for the shower just as he was getting up on Saturday and by the time we all got home, he'd gone out with friends for the night. 
• Since I work as a contractor, when I filed my taxes, I owed around $200. No fun.

Filling my heart...

• Hosting the shower is definitely at the top of my list. It was just so awesome! The party planner in me had a blast.
• After a few weeks of not working many hours, my boss e-mailed me and said a bunch of work came in for me. I worked two days last week and will work three this week. Yay, money!
• I decided to DIY my shoes for Natalie's wedding. I have unsuccessfully been looking for a pair of flat, dressy, silver sandals, though I bought this pair from Target as a back-up because they were cheap and they would work if I didn't find anything else. Yesterday I was looking at the box and realized I could add a brooch/hair clip or something else from the craft store to add the bling I'm looking for (I got the idea from these shoe clips at ban.do). I can't wait to start looking!
• A fun-filled weekend ahead - time with Erik, dinner out for my mom's birthday, hanging out with Ashley (and hopefully Cortney!), and going to see Melissa and Katie on Sunday! Woo!

Wine and Love [Vol. 16].

 hosted by Nora!

Filling my wine glass...

• Disorganization.
• This is gonna sound gross, but I have this bad habit where I pick at my face (like at blackheads, not just randomly all over). I have a bunch of marks all over my chin that won't heal because I feel compelled to pick at them. Apparently this is where all the energy that I used to waste on biting my nails has gone.
• Thanks to a letter from the DMV, I realized I need to renew my license soon. There's actually a nice-ish location near me that usually isn't swamped, but I hate tedious errands like this one.

Filling my heart...

• Only three more major dental appointments left! I've already been in three times and decided to ask how many were left. Only one more for regular fillings and then two for crowns (and I guess two mini-appointments to get the actual crowns put on). I'm so excited to be done.
• I applied for more jobs! Not amazing ones, but jobs nonetheless.
• Successful shopping trips.
• It's almost the weekend, which means celebrating Valentine's Day with Erik. I can't wait.
• I made Erik the cheesiest gift for Valentine's Day. Every time I look at it I get really giddy. Thank goodness I'm past the phase in our relationship where I care whether or not he thinks it's lame.

Wine and Love [Vol. 15].

 hosted by Nora!

Filling my wine glass...

• Erik started his semester on Monday and it's proving to be just as challenging as he expected. He doesn't make it sound too bad, but I know it is and I can tell it's going to wear on him for the first few weeks. It bums me out even though I know he'll be fine once he gets used to it.
• I went in for my dental appointment yesterday and it turns out they scheduled me for the wrong dentist. It didn't occur to me to just have the other dentist do my fillings until I left, but I figured I'm more comfortable with my dentist anyway. I'm rescheduled for tomorrow.
• I keep trying to get to bed earlier, but it never happens. Then I'm always angry when I wake up super late the follow day. I really need to get my act together.

Filling my heart...

• The very beginning stages of top secret plans for a certain bride-to-be (which I cannot discuss further, seeing as the aforementioned bride-to-be reads this blog!)
• Making plans for Valentine's Day with Erik. We decided we should copy what we did last year - cook and eat dinner together - and make it a 'tradition,' at least until we have disposable income to go on fancier dates. Or, maybe we'll stick with it after that! Anyway, I'm figuring out the menu and a few little gifts, and it makes me really giddy.
• It's that time again where being in a wedding gives me an excuse to buy new shoes! We're allowed to get whatever we want, and since I'm already taller than Erik than I'd like to be, flat sandals it is.
• Since I want a blog redesign so badly but don't want to spend the money for it at this time, I started messing around with ideas I can do by myself. I can't wait to spruce up this place just a bit!

Wine and Love [Vol. 14].

hosted by Nora!

Filling my wine glass...

• My boss's schedule didn't jive with mine this week, so I ended up not working at all. This isn't good because I could really use the money!
• Everyone is buzzing about Bloggers in Sin City and I'm totes jealous. A perfect storm of not having enough money, still struggling with health issues, and my fear of flying is keeping me away this year. Maybe next year?
• I finally went to the dentist last week only to find out I have about a billion cavities. No, seriously. They counted off more than ten. Luckily I only need two crowns and no root canals; the rest are just fillings.

Filling my heart...

• Last week I spent three days at Erik's house, totally unplanned. We had joked about me driving up to see him after work on Wednesday, but thought it probably wouldn't work out. Once I was at work, though, I really wanted to go... so I did! I planned to spend one night and leave Thursday evening, but then his friends came over and I ended up hanging out with them and staying again. The greatest part? All I had was my small-ish satchel purse. Usually I bring a whole bag of stuff, but I "survived" without any of it.
• I finally found my job-applying mojo last night and applied to three jobs! They're all on college campuses, because I feel most comfortable starting there, but I have a few more regular office jobs to apply to next.
• By a stroke of luck, I was texting with Lyndsay on Saturday night and we decided to hang out on a whim. It was great - we really reconnected and shared some deep, dark secrets - and the timing was perfect since she went back to school on Sunday.
• Erik moves back into school today! He's going to be super busy this semester, but having him twenty minutes away always makes me feel a lot better.

Wine and Love [Vol. 13].

hosted by Nora!

Filling my wine glass...

• Thanksgiving drama. Okay, so it wasn't all bad, but my cousin who moved home from California showed up at our house at 10am and I was his main source of entertainment. I missed out on watching the parade and barely got fifteen minutes to myself, which wasn't good for my anxiety. I was a stress case the rest of the day, which culminated in a small breakdown when my mother (who had overindulged on wine) got on my last nerve while we were trying to play Apples to Apples. It was a fun day, but the stress was overwhelming.
  
• For the first time in about twelve years, I came down with a stomach virus on Tuesday. I'm thankful it was short-lived (I only felt truly terrible from 7am to noon-ish), but I was not a happy camper.
  
• The gift I'm looking most forward to getting for Erik didn't go on sale for Black Friday or Cyber Monday. I was hoping to get a small percentage off at least, but it doesn't seem like it'll drop in price any time soon. I'll be keeping an eye out for random coupons or free shipping offers.

Filling my heart...

• My relatively fun-filled weekend. Seeing my family is always a ton of fun and we had two days of celebrations on Thursday and Friday. On Friday night, I made a last-minute decision to drive up to see Erik and hang out with his friends, then I saw him again on Sunday when he came home for school.
  
• Shopping! I didn't physically go to too many stores, but I snagged a bunch of stuff online. I did stop at the mall on Saturday night and it was surprisingly not too crowded. Walking around the mall at this time of year always puts me in the Christmas spirit.
  
• Fun stuff on TV. Tuesday night was the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, which I love so much. Something about all the pretty lingerie, sparkly costumes, and the beautiful wings makes me so happy. Last night was the tree lighting at Rockefeller Center and it was gorgeous. I really have to get into the city this year to see the tree in person.
  
• This past weekend (the 27th, to be exact) was the anniversary of when Erik and I first started talking (or should I say, when he cornered me and sneakily asked for my number in a way I couldn't turn down?). I have a knack for remembering little things like this, but luckily for Erik, I don't hold him accountable to remember the random dates. Still, it makes me all swoony to know that a whole year has gone by.

Wine and Love [Vol. 12].

 hosted by Nora!

Filling my wine glass...

• The anxiety that accompanied this weekend's snowstorm. I was up in northwest New Jersey visiting Erik and his family because we were scheduled to go to a party Saturday night. Instead, we got snowed in with no power, no heat, no water, not much in the way of food, and no way to leave. It wasn't horrible, but I panic easily, especially when I feel trapped. I thankfully have emergency-use-only anxiety medication that I took to calm me down. Still, when we went to bed and it was pitch black, I legitimately got scared/upset... and again when I woke up randomly at 3am and recalled where I was and what the situation was.
  
• Traffic. I got stuck in traffic on the way to and from work yesterday. What a pain.
  
• While killing time on Saturday with Erik and his family, I semi-tipsily (we were drinking to stay warm) laid out my ideal engagement/marriage/having kids timeline. The problem is that the way I presented and explained it sounded very definitive - and also very soon - and Erik and I haven't discussed this at all. I just hope I didn't make him feel uncomfortable or pressured (or completely freaked out, considering we've been dating for less than a year).

Filling my heart...

• As much as I stressed about being "stranded" at Erik's house, I had a really nice time with him, Natalie, and their mom. (Their dad was in Florida visiting family.) After we came in from an attempt to clear the driveway, we bundled up together and played 500 Rummy. It lasted most of the evening - with plenty of interruptions for more blankets, more candles, and when we heard tree branches crashing - and was a great bonding experience.
  
• #twookclub! After chatting about Harry Potter all summer, Stephany decided we needed a year-round Twitter-based book club. All it took was a bit of organization and #twookclub was born! This month we're reading The Scent of Rain and Lightning - if you'd like to join us, we have a group on Goodreads that explains all of the details.
  
• Christmas commercials. I'm sorry, I have no shame - I am a huge, huge fan of the holiday season. The snowstorm triggered all of my sparkly Christmas-y urges, so I'm gladly welcoming everything a little bit earlier this year.
  
• Erik was super awesome about calming me down on Saturday, particularly when we went to bed and it was way too dark for my liking. He massaged and scratched my back (my favorite) so that I would relax and fall asleep. It totally worked.

Wine and Love [Vol. 11].

hosted by Nora!

Filling my wine glass...

• My allergic reaction at the end of last week. It was so terrible, to the point that I wondered if I'd ever feel better again because it was going away so slowly. Plus, it completely ruined all of my weekend plans, which included a Devils game on Saturday with E and dress shopping with all of the bridesmaids for BFF Wedding #2 on Sunday. Such a bummer.
• Chipped nail polish. It's a stupid little thing, but this pretty purple nail polish I used is chipping like crazy!
• Feeling unmotivated. The allergic reaction sapped all of my energy, so the job hunt I was supposed to resume, the journaling I was supposed to do, and the general reorganization of my life never happened. I've been busy so far this week so nothing productive is getting done and I just feel incredibly lazy.

Filling my heart...

• On Monday, E and I were texting each other and realized we both didn't have anything to do, so I suggested he come over and he did! We usually plan things in advance and rarely decide on a whim to hang out, so it was nice - plus, I'm glad he's so close by that we can have impromptu date nights.
• Going to the So You Think You Can Dance tour on Tuesday night with Ashley and Cortney! The show was fantastic and, as usual, we waited outside to meet the dancers afterwords. So much fun.
• Dress shopping with Danielle. For Natalie's wedding (which is in April), we got to pick between three different styles for our bridesmaid dresses. Since I missed Sunday's outing and Danielle was still undecided, we met up at the David's Bridal near us yesterday afternoon and picked our styles.
• This weekend, my parents are going away, so I'm throwing a (small) house party for E's birthday. It's going to be your typical house party, but since I wasn't an avid party-goer in high school and my parents rarely go away, I've never done this before. I feel very rebellious. But, I'm mostly excited because I think it's going to be a lot of fun.
• Finally being able to take hot showers again! For the few days when my hives were really bad (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday), I had to take cool-to-lukewarm showers or baths because I didn't want to the hives to get worse. I typically take really hot showers, so when I finally got to turn the temperature back to my 'normal' level on Sunday, I was so happy.
• Getting Melissa's save-the-date in the mail yesterday!

Wine and Love [Vol. 10].

hosted by Nora!

Filling my wine glass...

• One of the things on my chore list this week was to go through my box of college textbooks. I expected to feel empowered because I was planning on throwing most of it out... but I ended up feeling hard pangs of nostalgia while I read through essays and all of my accounting notes. On top of that, the "just in case" hoarder in me refused to throw away nearly half of the books/notes, because there's still a 1% chance I'll go into accounting.
  
• As I already mentioned, I wasn't feeling so hot on Tuesday. You would think feeling that miserable would prompt me to make changes in my diet and lifestyle, and yet, I'm still eating junk food daily and not really exercising. Blah.
  
• When E was here this weekend, I got really cranky when I lost horrifically to him and my brother in Mario Party, and again when we played Boggle (I absolutely suck at that game). Being a sore loser is not an endearing quality.

Filling my heart...

•  While looking around for some gift ideas for E (either for his birthday next month or the Christmas/anniversary combo coming up at the end of the year), I found something on Amazon at a ridiculously low price. Seriously. The shipping cost more than the item. I figured that although I have to be tight with money, it was worth buying it now in case the price jumped later.
  
• Seeing Neon Trees in concert was really great. They were actually pretty good -- last year I went to see OK Go at the music festival and they weren't good, so I wasn't expecting much. But I really enjoyed the performance!
  
• When E was here on Sunday, I wasn't feeling well after eating Taco Bell for lunch and had become a total crankerpot after attempting to play Boggle. So while I sulked and drank my tea, he was really quiet and I heard him shuffling around the Boggle cubes, and after a few minutes he showed me this:
  
  
  

  
  Super cute, right? He's a keeper.
  
• I put the picture of me and E (that I posted on Tuesday) on my phone as the background image and I get all smiley every time I check my phone and see it.
  
• There is a lot of fun stuff coming up for me in the next month or so:  bridesmaid dress shopping for BFF Wedding #2, a party at my house while my parents are away, E's birthday, dinner with my aunt, a shopping trip with Lynds, and hopefully I few others things I have yet to plan, like a recital-watching marathon with Ash and dinner with my Lady Lumps.

Wine and Love [Vol. 9].

 hosted by Nora!

Filling my wine glass...

• A couple rough days health-wise after the wedding. Like I mentioned, I had underlying anxiety and once everything was over, my body was done. I'd hoped to get my health in line for that exact reason because I'm tired of having to have "recovery days" after big events, but I didn't get it under control in time.
  
• It was really hot yesterday. No hotter than it's been all summer, but since we'd started to settle into autumn temperatures, yesterday's hot and humid weather wasn't fun.

Filling my heart...

• Playing Mario Party with E, even though I lost big time.
  
• Fall television! E and I watched Up All Night (we loved it) and I can't wait for the rest of the premieres, especially Glee, The New Girl, Modern Family, Castle, and maybe even some Dancing with the Stars, if I can put up with it.
  
• I got a pumpkin spice frappuccino on Saturday and it was glorious.
  
• Making cheesecake for the first time and having it be a big success! I was worried the consistency and/or flavor would be off, but it tastes just like we bought it from a bakery. (Recipe here, from Bakerella!)