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Linking up with Story of My Life 

:)

Holly had a vet appt this week. Poor baby has an ear and eye infection :( Vet says it is from her big floppy lab ears trapping moisture in her ear canal.

He also commented on her freakishly long body and tiny limbs and head. We love her anyway :)

In other dog news, Sadie has decided to channel her inner puppy and sleep on Holly's bed. 

Sadie is 70 pounds and 5 years old. She has the entire couch and guest bed to use, but this is what she chooses. A little pink bed designed for a new born puppy. I do not understand this dog, but we love her too.

@ The UC game. Go Cats!

We won!

Had to do my make up at work once this week. This is what I grabbed on my way out of the door. Some of my all time favorites.

Pretty much obsessed with all of these products and I think I will use them for the rest of eternity.

Mat Velvet+Matifying Foundation, Sephora

Studio Finish SPF 35 Concealer, MAC

High Def Lashes Brush then Comb Mascara, Clinique

Perfect Point Plus Eyeliner, Cover Girl

Concealer, NARS

Color Surge Eye Shadow Quad, Clinique

Bronzing Blush Victorias Secret

I couldn't find a link for the VS blush. I got it in stores so it may not be available online. VS is always changing their products anyway. Love that place but I do NOT like it when I look for something I've fallen in love with and can't find it. 

Still bitter they no longer sell my favorite body spray. Blushing Romance? Something-ing Romance? IDK, but I loved it.

That is my week in photos.

Happy Sunday :)

Why am I blogging at 1 AM on a Saturday?

Because...

I am getting old and can no longer handle hitting the town on Friday and Saturday.

Will has been asleep since before 11. I guess he's getting old too.

I can't sleep. Seriously, I am wide awake. Contemplated cleaning the floors. Obviously this is a better option. There's always tomorrow right?

Who knows why. But I am.

Moving on.

The day is almost here. In just 2 more days I will be on my way to Key West! I've gotten plenty of ideas of where to go and what to do from friends who have travelled there, so it should be an amazing trip.

I have been to Florida many times, but never Key West, so I am beyond excited.

Beach + warm weather + love of my life = complete jackpot.

Speaking of the love of my life, I realized something last night.

Will, one of my best friends Meg and I were at our usual weekend hangout and I was chatting with a girl that grew up on his street. We run in to her from time to time at bars and she is always hilarious and friendly. She asked how things were going with he and I since she'd been in town last. I told her amazing, as they have been. Then I realized something.

Will and Meg, trying to dance

That is the answer I always give people when they ask about my relationship. "Amazing". As I am realizing this I started to question myself. There has got to be a more detailed, sincere way for me to explain to people the fabulosity of my romance without sounding like I'm A, giving a generic answer or B, a total cheese ball.

But amazing is all I ever have. As I am considering this amazingness I also realized, through living together, getting a dog together, sharing bills and chores and ups and downs and life together, I have not ONCE ever complained, vented or breathed a negative word to anyone about Will. And I haven't wanted to.

I am not from the school of never talking about relationship problems, issues, etc with friends. I complain or vent or whatever you want to call it A LOT. Probably something I should work on.

I am kind of a complainer. But never about this silly guy.

As I am still deciding who in my real life I want to know about this blog, he doesn't read the posts yet, but he will. And when he sees me gushing, and his head swells to 10 times the normal size, hopefully this embarrassing picture will knock it back down to normal ;)

Anyway, I am truly blessed. Finding such an amazing match for myself has made me believe that absolute bliss is possible in so many more areas of life that I previously thought you had to settle in.

He's made me raise my standards for everything. Changed my life for the better in so many ways.

World, the bar for you is now higher. DO NOT let me down.

Sometimes and Always

Linking up with Mackey Madness!

Sometimes: I feel like I have no friends

Always: I remember that I have THE most amazing best friends in the entire world. Though distance separates us, they are still my heart.

Sometimes: I question the decisions I make, the path I am creating for myself.

Always: I have no regrets. I am the happiest I have ever been, so I must be doing something right!

Sometimes: I want to wake up early and run with the dogs.

Always: They enjoy the yard, I enjoy my pillow.

Sometimes: I think flowers are over rated

Always: The more they bloom, the more beauty they gain and I'm glad I have them

Sometime: I take people in my life for granted.

Always: When I take the trips to see them, I kick myself for not doing it more often.

My father can only be described as one of a kind.

He thinks he's the coolest person in the world.

He kind of is.

Dad and Grandpa. SO cute!

My hilarious, care free, invincible father had heart surgery yesterday.

Again.

There weren't ideal results, but he is now fine and should be in better shape than before. Please keep him in your prayers.

That's all for now. Time to clean my wreck of a house and stock the fridge with something besides leftover pizza and pickles :)

-B

It's Ok and a Thankful Thursday

It's OK...

Linking up with A Complete Waste of Makeup

I've been meaning to choose a designer for my blog for weeks. I am the most indecisive person on the planet.

That I've spent an embarassing amount of hours this week playing computer games. I think I'll always be a nerd at heart.

My dinning room has a foosball table, not a dining table. It makes a great coat rack...or place to throw junk...

That I am constantly pointing to things and expecting my dogs to know what I'm talking about... Then get frustrated when they look at me like WTF?!

To spend your entire week counting down the hours until the 3 day weekend!

That I still listen to Dashboard Confessional... the same CD's they had out that I also obsessed over listened to almost 10 years ago! Getting old over here!

To plan your boyfriends birthday suprise around something you want to do. He can still enjoy it, right?!

Moving on :)

I have recently decided to stop giving into the demands of my puppy and going home for lunch every day.

I love her, but I also love going to lunch with my co workers, reading, relaxing on my lunch, rather than rushing.

It seems like no matter what I do, I'm always rushing, and I need a break from that.

Anyway, today's lunch was spent calmly eating last night's dinner leftovers in our break area and reading Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin.

I have read almost all of her books over the past few years. She is an amazing author. All of her characters remind me of people I wish I was friends with.

I'm not that far into this particulart book but so far it is amazing. One of the characters, Tessa, talks a lot about being thankful. Enjoying little things.

That is such an important thing to remember, something I forget all to much.

I am going to take an active stand to appreciate all that I have and thank everyone that contributes to it.

PS - It feels good to read something possitive for once rather than gossip. I love celeb mags and reality tv just as much as the next girl, but I think it's slowly rotting my brain.

On another note, I have decided to buy a new dining room table this weekend and I am PUMPED.

That's all for now,

B

Weekly questions with one of my favorite blogs!

I had the perfect Valentine's Day with my love.

Beautiful flowers at work

View of the city from our table at dinner

Waiting for food

Linking up this week with Shasta Anne. If you don't read her blog, start!

1.      What was the best day of your life?

This is a tough one.

I will have to go with the day I met W.

Runners up would be the days I graduated high school and college, competing at the Track and Field

Nationals my freshman year of college, stuff like that.

I pick meeting W over those things because I knew if I worked hard enough, they would happen.

You can search and try all your life and never find true love, so that is my best day.

2.      What was the worst day of your life?

I easily know the answer to this and I don't care to divulge the details.

Lets just say it involved me being young and dumb and making a string of very poor choices.

Again, easily the worst day of my life, but you live and you learn.

3.      Do you know how to swim?

Sure do! I'm no pro but swimming was one of my favorite things to do in the summer as a kid.

I still remember my mom teaching me in the pool of the apartment complex we lived in at the time.

4.      Cup ½ empty or ½ full?

Full.

Just like everyone else, I have my days. Generally though I'm a pretty optimistic girl.

5.      Where were you born?

Dayton, OH. 

Both my parents grew up there.

If you've never been, you aren't missing out.

The changing economy has unfortunately done a number on that city in the past few decades.

I now live just an hour away in Cincinnati but I like it about 700 times better.

6.      Are you a morning person?

Absolutely.

I love getting up and having the morning to relax, plan the day, get things done.

Thats why it's always so hard for me to ruin that amazon time with work.

Jobs are always getting in the way of life aren't they?

7.      Are you a spontaneous person?

Usually. I am that girl who ALWAYS breaks plans. I like to do what I want when I want it.

On the flip side, if I want to really do something, I need it to be planned.

I need to know the when, where, why, how and when ahead of time.

It drives my friends and family insane, but I am what I am.

8.      How many tattoos do you have?

Two.

Exhibit A

Yes, I am too lazy to figure out how to turn this around. And it's hard to take a picture of your own wrist upside down.

It's on my left wrist. I don't remember the exact date I got it, but I think it was just after my 19th birthday.

I won't bore anyone with Exhibit B. I got some stars on my right foot on my 18th birthday. Has to be the worst tattoo of all time. At this point, it's so faded people rarely even notice.

I've been meaning to get it covered up for years. Just one of those things I'll eventually get around to,

9.      Have you ever milked a cow?

No. If I die without doing so, I will not be upset.

           10.   What was the most adventurous thing you have ever done?
My entire life is an adventure.
There have been countless moments in my life I've thought to myself
"Is this actually happening?"
If I had to pick on thing I'd go with college as a whole.
I started out my freshman year at Tiffin. A tiny private university in northern Ohio, with a smaller student population than my high school.
I loved it, but somehow a week into summer break between my freshman and sophomore years, I decided I didn't love it enough.
In a matter of days I decided to give up my track scholarship, transfer to a university in Dayton and get an apartment with my best friend.
We borrowed her mom's van, drove to the closest IKEA (which was in Chicago, 5 hours away) and bought an apartment's worth of furniture.
That was one of the most amazing years of my life. Again, apparently not amazing enough, because I decided to transfer again.
Back to Tiffin.
I missed my sorority sisters, so back I went. For a semester.
Tiffin was not as great as I remembered. And I met a guy.
That guy lived in Cincinnati, and I was madly in love with him, so to Cincinnati I went.
The University of Cincinnati became my 3rd college, 3rd transfer and 4th big move in my 3 years of schooling.
Luckily, I loved it. I loved the school, the job I worked while in college, all the great people I met and the city itself.
That guy and I ended up breaking up about a year after I moved here, but I have no regrets.
I DO NOT recommend transferring schools three times or moving across the state for a guy, but again...
You live and you learn :)

Coldest. Weekend. Ever.

I don't know if its because this winter has been unseasonably warm or because I was out of the house more than usual this weekend, but I FROZE my butt off.

Luckily there were lots of fun events to make up for it.

I shopped like a crazy person all weekend long. I hadn't been in a while and there were great sales, so who am I to argue?

Purchase highlights include

Moving on.

I am a creature of habit.

We go to the same bar, every single time we go out. Never mind we live legit less than 5 minutes from downtown, we stick to our neighborhood.

In an attempt to be adventurous we caught a cab downtown Saturday night to attend Beer Fest.

We missed online ticket pre sales by TWELVE MINUTES and were forced to wait in line with hundreds of other people, only to be told after 30 minutes of waiting, that they were SOLD OUT.

Convention center at capacity? I guess Cincinnati likes beer.

We braved the freezing temperatures, like the idiots that we are, and walked to Toby Keith's I Love This Bar. It just opened, so we figured it'd be a nice substitute.

TWO HOUR wait.

Keep in mind it is now 8pm and we hadn't eaten since breakfast.

After walking to ANOTHER bar and being told there was a multiple hour wait, we regained our sanity, caught a cab to dinner and ended up right back home, at our neighborhood bar, as usual.

That will teach me to try new things.

Sunday was spent having Bloody Mary's with lunch, errands, Love Love Movie Marathon on Lifetime and now... Grammys.

On a final note, HOW TRUE IS THIS?

Happy Sunday!

Easiest Vegetable Soup Ever

Yesterday morning at work I got the bright idea to throw something in the Crockpot on my lunch break so I wouldn't have to worry about dinner.

My initial thought was Olive Garden's zuppa tuscana, but since I made that the other week (and there has been a container of V8 in my fridge for over a month) I decided to go with beef vegetable soup.

My new cooking technique is to look up a bunch of different recipes for what I want to make, combine them, add my own twist and BAM dinner.

So far, it's worked. I know it will eventually blow up in my face. Luckily, it wasn't last night!

My ingredients were:

2 cans of corn, drained

2 cans of green beans, drained

two potatoes, cubed

an unidentified amount of V8, maybe 4 cups?

about 1 cup of chopped carrots

1 packet Lipton Beef Onion Soup Mix

1 lb cubed stew meat

salt and pepper

Steps

cut up the meat into the size pieces you desire, brown

add meat, veggies, V8 and Lipton Soup Mix to Crockpot

I went a little easy on the V8, then added more after stirring to create the consistency I like

Cook on low for about 6 hours

BAM, dinner.

Quick, easy and delicious. I got most of these ideas via Pinterest.

This will for sure be one of my go to recipes.

I wish I was as good at making V-Day plans as I am making up recipes.

I have NO idea what I am going to get W.

Guess I will be scouring the mall this weekend.

What do you get someone that buys everything they want for themselves?

Wish me luck.

Happy Thursday!

Where are you Friday???

Is it the weekend yet? 

I didn't even have time to post about last weekend and I'm already looking forward to this one.

Having one of those weeks where I'm EXHAUSTED.

The BF was sick on Monday, I have a huge meeting at work Friday to prepare for and it seems no matter how much I clean/pick up/organize, the house is an explosion of dog hair, dog toys and just clutter.

Seriously, I have a hard enough time trying to take care of our home and 2 dogs with a lot of help from W. I can't imagine how hard it is for people with kids, not to mention single parents. I solute you!

This makes me think of my own sweet mother. She has a full time, high pressure job, is single and takes care of my sisters while still finding time to support me through whatever I'm going through from 4 states away. She's honestly an angel.

Not to mention gorgeous!

On the plus side, 90 minute episode of Teen Mom 2 tonight (If Kailyn hooks up with Joe, I will die), I made a yummy dinner and am currently enjoying a glass of wine. Can't beat that.

Also positive, the past few days have kind of flown. Hopefully the next 3 do too!

Feels good to vent. This leads me to my next point...

Valentine's challenge link up with Neely at A Complete Waste of Makeup.

Today's topic is "Love Blogging"

I love to blog because it gives me an excuse to write.

I have always loved to write but the older you get, the harder it is to find time for the things you love.

When I was juggling a life, a job, school and internships through college I though to myself 

"Having a 9-5 will leave me with so much free time"

HA!

Jokes on me. Anyhow, wanting to maintain my blog gives me reason and motivation to sit down and process my thoughts.

It's also a great outlet. I can be a complainer. My actions will always come through in any circumstance if it is at all within my control, but you will absolutely hear about how hard it was along the way.

Guess I need to work on that.

This blog saves my mom or W or friends from hearing all my Negative Nancy talk. Sure, I may be polluting the universe instead, but I'm sure someone can relate.

I also love to meet new people. I have been following some blogs for years and since starting this little number I've found many more I love. I read so many stories about women  forging great relationships that started via blogging and I hope eventually I'll make some new friends myself!

I think that's all for now. 

69 hours until the weekend, but who's counting?

XOXO

-Brit

PS

Everyone should get a Mac Book just for Photo Booth!

Us on Super Bowl Sunday. Pardon my raccoon eyes and lack of make up.

Confessional and Fill in the Blank Friday

This has not been my week.

Nothing overly tragic has happened, no. But every day it seems like its been something.

Oversleeping. Things not going right at work. Having to work THROUGH the weekend. Today takes the cake, woke up to a non functioning furnace. In 30 degree weather. Fail. 

Guess it's hard to follow such a killer weekend.

I think maybe I'm just in a funk. I have plenty of things to be happy about, to look forward to and to cheer me up on a daily basis...

...but I feel like something just isn't quite right. 

It just seems like there just aren't enough hours in the day to work, relax, spend time with the pups or the bf, cook, clean. Don't even think about fitting in working out or spending time with my friends and family (who mostly live out of town). 

I will definitely be spending some time this weekend trying figure out how to better organize me life. 

On that note, I have a LOT to confess this week, linking up with A Blonde Ambition

1. I am spending Super Bowl Sunday with W and his parents. We will be watching the game, eating yummy food, relaxing and receiving the gifts they got us in Hawaii.

I am way more excited about this than I was at the thought at drinking too much for a Sunday at a bar.

#TurningIntoAGrandma

2. I am an over feeder. My puppy is fat. The vet says to feed her less but I am a sucker for the cute home made treats available at the abundance of pet stores in the area.

3. I haven't cleaned out my car in weeks. Maybe months. And as a person who is used to  keeping a lifetimes supply of clothes/shoes/junk in their vehicle (ironic since I am rarely in it), this is still borderline Hoarders.

Add it to the to do list.

4. I am ready for summer. I know a lot of you are holding out for snow but who are you kidding. Everyone knows sunny days, windows down and summer fun is MUCH better than salting driveways and keeping track of gloves.

Not happy with the groundhog right now.

Rant over. On a lighter note...

Fun fill in the blank with The Little Things We Do

1.   If money wasn't an issue, the first thing I'd cross of my life list is traveling the world with my friends and family. I'd do it a few times with different people. I have never been out of the country and most of my friends and family haven't either, I'd love to give them that gift. 

My grandmother was a German immigrant. My mother hasn't been there since she was a small child and I'd love for us to all go back together.

2.  Weird smells like gas and nail polish remover is something I like that other people think is weird.

3.  If my life were a movie right now, the title would be Changes. Though I have never been more happy with my life I feel like in the past 6 months literally everything about it has changed. All For the Better. I am SO clever :)

4.  Three things I am looking forward to this month are   Valentine's Day, my Dad trying a new treatment for his heart and it hopefully fairing better than the last and KEY WEST!

5.  My favorite song to sing in the shower is Wicked show tunes. If you haven't seen it, you're depriving yourself.

6.  If I found out that the production of   flavored coffee creamer  was ending this month, I'd go out and buy as much as I could tomorrow. Kind of a weird one but I COULD NOT live without the stuff.

7.  One thing I'll never grow tired of is my little sisters. There are MANY more things I could mention, but they never cease to amaze me with their antics and I love them more than life.