humdrum and a product review

Well it's Monday again! Work was work and now I'm home with the hubs eating Shepard's Pie and watching The Naked Gun in memory of the late great Leslie Nielson. It's laundry night, so I've been washing, drying, folding, and will soon be putting away. I also plan to get through more of Dad's slides tonight. I do have something new for you, a review on my new MAC foundation! As I said in a previous post, I finally bought MAC Studio Fix foundation. My shade is NW20. I absolutely love this foundation! It is perfect! It gives a great coverage that evens out my skin tone, but doesn't look like i'm actually wearing makeup! I apply it using my new MAC foundation brush and it applies so smooth! It also make applying my concealer really smooth too! Such a difference! This product is definitely in my holy grail list!

RIP Leslie Nielson

Very black day. One of my all time favorite funny men has died. Rest in peace dear Mr. Nielson. I love you so. You will be sorely missed. We're going to watch The Naked Gun in honor of this comedic great tonight. I think he'd want us to keep on laughing.

The Beauty and Fashion Haul!

Here is the haul from my weekend of shopping! Well this is part of it. I got some stuff for the house, but I haven't gotten to photograph it yet. I'll post that later. Also, I got presents so of course I'm not going to post those! :)

MAC: I got Studio Fix powder foundation (review to come!) and a set of five brushes. My foundation is NW20 (I am pale people!) and my brushes are the 187, 252, 219, 209, and the 168. They came with the cute bag you see below.

Forever 21: I got 2 necklaces, a ring, 2 headbands, and some slippers (not pictured) and socks (not pictured)

All in all, not too shabby!

Thanksgiving!

Thursday Jon and I got up bright and early to head up to my parents. We were actually the first ones there! Family trickled in and the eating got under way! Here are the pic's!

This is actually the night before, but is there any better midnight snack than CocoaWheats and toast?!?!

The bird!
My gorgeous Grandma George

My handsome Grandpa George

The drive up was way foggy! At one point we literally hit a wall of fog! We just watched this vertical wall of fog get closer and closer into we drove right into it. It was like a horror movie!

I just realized that I didn't get very many photos on Thanksgiving! Yeesh I must be losing it! Or I was really busy talking with my family and the camera didn't get much use. Whatev.

Annual After Thanksgiving Shopping Trip

Hello all! I am back from my shopping trip with the ladies of my family! It was so much fun! It has been a really long time since all 5 sisters got to shop together! We had a ball! A little background for those who don't know. When Santa stopped bringing us presents, our parents started giving us our Christmas money on Thanksgiving. Then all the ladies of the family would go shopping that weekend and spend their money. Mom would take the presents home and wrap them and we would open them Christmas morning. Mom no longer takes out purchases to wrap b/c we are no longer at home for Christmas morning, but we still shop the weekend after Thanksgiving!

Yesterday after work, I headed up to Indy and met the fam already shopping at Walmart. Then we hit Kohl's, ToysRUs, and Target. I totally scored at Target and got pretty much everything on my list. We had dinner at Steak 'n' Shake where I found that the batteries in my camera had died! I was so mad! Then went home and got to bed! Today, we got a late start, but headed to Circle Centre Mall. I haven't been to a mall in years, and I forgot how fun they can be at Christmas time. I love the feeling in the air! At the mall, we had lunch at the Alcatraz Brewing Co Restaurant & Brewery. It was really good! Luckly, at this point, we realized that Kelly has an Iphone and can take pictures, so i had her take some and send them to me. I had the Dark Ale Smoke BBQ Pulled Pork sandwich with Parmesan kettle chips. A short review: food was great, service was great, atmosphere was great! I would definitely recommend this place! Here are the pic's. I had already started on my sandwich, but you get the idea.

The kids meals came in these adorable bento boxes! So cute!

In the words of my niece Olivia, "This is the best restaurant ever!"

I hit up Forever 21, Yankee Candle, Claire's, and a few other places that I didn't buy at. We met Santa in Nordstrom's and I went to the MAC counter. That's right people I finally bought a MAC product! Before the wedding, I talked quite a bit about trying MAC foundation, but ultimately decided to wait. Well I decided that since I had Christmas money to spend, I was going to get my MAC foundation! I totally splurged and got a set of brushes too, but it's my Christmas money and I'll spend it how I want it! Look for a haul post next to see what I got!

On the way out of the mall, we ran into Santa himself! OF course we had to get a picture!

Those are my adorable nieces with me! It was their first shopping trip with the ladies! I think they had fun! After the mall, I headed home. We were going to decorate the Christmas tree tonight, but someone (ME!) forgot to get lights for the tree! obviously we can't decorate it without the lights (they have to go on first!) so we are going to get them tomorrow and decorate it then. Well it was an awesome weekend so far. I love my family!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Ok, so we may have massacred all the indigenous people after we arrived and celebrated that first Thanksgiving, but I'm going to overlook that today b/c of the food. No, but really, that totally sucked. Stupid manifest destiny crap. Chuh. Anywho, today Jon and I went up and saw my family and had Thanksgiving dinner! I seriously look forward to this meal all year! My Grandma George makes the bomb-diggity noodles. Seriously, these things are legendary! Nom, nom nom!!!!!!!!!!!! Anywho, I'll post pics later, but right now I have to get to bed b/c I have to work tomorrow, blech! Then I'll be in Indy shopping on my annual ladies of the family shopping trip, so I should be back Sunday. Hopefully I'll have a photo heavy post consisting of the following:

Thanksgiving

shopping!

decorating the Christmas tree with Jon and Josh

Oh yeah baby b/c now it is ON for Christmas! Squee!!!!!!! I totally made a couple mix cds with Christmas music for this season and I am totally ready to get out my Christmas dvds and decorate the house! Double...no...TRIPLE SQUEEEEE!!!!!!!! I love me some xmas! So anywho, updates to come, but I'll be out for a couple of days. Later turkeys!

fun and a fashion moment

Hello lovely interwebz pepes! Man what a day I've had. It seems that anything that could go wrong at work, in fact did. Still loving the job though! :) After work, Jon's mom and Phil took us to The Brick for dinner. It is a tiny little bar in Jonesville that only serves burgers, soups, and chips. The burgers and chili were really good! David and Kate came too and it was a really good night all around. We got home and Jon started playing Fallout New Vegas (he's smack dab in the thick of it!) and I started blogging. I remembered I wanted to take pitcures on www.laphotocabine.com. Here is ours!I am supposed to be folding laundry, but instead I am blogging! Bad wifey! Anywho, totally random fact, I love the smell of filing at work. When I open the file drawers, I smell the paper and I love that smell! I know, I'm a total weirdness! Oh and speaking of work, I had to order a couple pairs of dressy pants to wear at work b/c some of mine were too casual. I am so loving my new pants! I got a pair of basic blacks

Old Navy Ponte-Knit Pants. They are amazingly comfortable! It's like wearing pajamas to work! I also got a pair of tweed pants

Women's Tweed Trowsers. I love these! I had been wanting a pair of tweed pants for a while now! I haven't worn them yet, but plan to tomorrow. They are a bit long, but that works b/c I have been trying to wear heels more lately. I know! Me in heels! I have so many pairs and hated that they were going to waste, so I decided to just do it and wear them! I work at a desk job, so it's not like I'm on my feet all day. I am planning on taking the stairs a lot at work, so I may start wearing a pair of flats to work, then changing into the heels once I'm at my desk. I should post pictures of my heel collection. I think I have 5 or 6 pairs, so it's not a huge amount. Well, I really should be getting to that laundry, so I'll talk to ye later!

Dexter Time!!!!!!

Heading to David and Kate's to have dinner and watch Dexter! Squeeee!!!!!!!!!

photo from http://www.chanelandchocolatecake.blogspot.com/

a day in the life of the Rhoades'

hey there hi there ho there! This morning I got up early and went to the grocery store. Man has it been beautiful out today! Since it was so nice out, we cleaned out a bit of the garage this morning. It's still full of stuff, but at least we made a dent! This afternoon, we went to David and Kate's and the guys got on the trampoline!

Then David climbed a tree, lol.

We came home and played some Operation and Hungry Hungry Hippos. Tonight is Dexter night! It will be the first one in David and Kate's new house, so I am taking a lasagna and a cake for dinner, plus a little housewarming gift for them. :) Tomorrow it's back to work, but we are going to have a busy week. Tuesday we are going to The Brick with Jon's family. I've never been there, but apparently their burgers are amazing. Either Monday or Wednesday we are going to see the new Harry Potter movie (so flippin' excited!!!!!!!!!) and then of course, Thursday is Thanksgiving! We are going up to my parents Thursday, then back to work on Friday for me. Jon has the day off! Friday nighit, Jon is picking up Josh and I am heading up to Indy for my annual shopping with the girls weekend. You see, every weekend after Thanksgiving, my mom and sisters and I go shopping. I will miss Friday in Lafayette this year, but I'll meet them in Indy Friday night. I'm so excited b/c this will be the first shopping weekend for 2 of my nieces! Whew! I'm tired just thinking of this week, but it will be a lot of fun!

Fried Cabbage

I tried a new side dish today and Jon and I really liked it! I served it with turkey burgers, but I think it would be good i you added some smoked sausage into this dish and had it as a one pot meal.

Fried Cabbage

1/2 head cabbage, chopped

1 1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp season salt

1/2 onion, chopped

1/2 tbsp sugar

Fill bottom of pan with veggie oil (about 3 tbsp). Heat on medium until nice and hot. Add all ingredients to pan and heat until cabbage is tender.

So Tired

I am exhausted. This morning, we drove up to Indy to get the rest of my stuff and paint the room I was staying in at my sisters. I still have to get some of my stuff, but we got most of it. As for painting. Well, we had to put 2 coats of primer and then paint one coat of paint. Not too bad considering we had to paint over deep red paint. I am telling you right now, if you ever paint with primer, wear long sleeves and gloves! Jon and I have primer specks all over out hand and arms! We tried washing and loofa-ing and this stuff is not coming off! We googled how to remove it and tried a remedy we found of rubbing butter all over it. It kinda worked. We still have speckles, but not as many. I also saw that people said to try baby oil or shortening, but we don't have any of those on hand. Well at least I got some of it off! We went to Five Guys Burgers and Fries for lunch and man was it good! We had never been so we decided to try something new. I think Josh was in cheeseburger heaven! We painted ALL day and then came home this evening. We did stop to see my niece and nephews before heading home. They are so cute! I miss them so much. :( That is a downside of living in Seymour. I really miss my family. Also the nearest Target is 30 minutes away. I know 30 minutes isn't really that much, but I'm used to living 5 minutes away! From both my niece and nephews and a Target! Lol, man I'm pathetic! So anywho, now are home and I am extremely tired. It has been a long day!

I made it!

I made it to Friday! This week has flown by! I am really liking my new job! The people are all super nice and it doesn't feel so completely corporate like my other job did. This morning was a complete fiasco though! I was a complete fool at work and couldn't remember anything. I think that means my brain needs a break. Good thing it's Friday!

Is anyone else getting excited about Christmas?!?! I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but I'm so ready for the holidays!!! I found a radio station that plays Christmas music down here in Seymour and I am in heaven! I can't wait to wrap presents and decorate the house!
Oh and watch Christmas movies! Squee!!! But first, Thanksgiving! Jon and I are going up to my parents house on Thursday for Thanksgiving. I cannot wait to eat my Grandma's noodles. They are epic! Nom!

I have started meal planning! Since I'm home every night now, I had to start planning meals and that means planning grocery shopping! I decided to start planning weekly menus and then using that to assemble my weekly grocery lists! Technically I'm not starting until after Thanksgiving b/c we won't be home on Thursday and then I'll be gone all weekend. I decided to cook some bigger meals so that Jon has leftovers for next weekend. I'm silly excited over meal planning. I'm such a geek!

Tomorrow Jon, Josh, and I are heading up to Indy to get the rest of my stuff and to paint! Hopefully I'll get to post tomorrow night, but we'll see. I really need to get back to blogging regularly again! I've been majorly slacking (enter sheepish ashamed face here). Have no fear, the Sarah you love and know will be back!

A quick run by

Well tomorrow is Friday and I will have gotten through one week at my new job! It has been an exhausting week! Sorry I haven't had much to post. Last night, we went to dinner with Jon's Grandma and Grandpa at the legion, and tonight we helped David and Kate move into their new house! We rented Amadeus from the library and watched part of it. It's a really good movie so far!! I do wonder if Mozart was quite as weird as they made him out to be.

This weekend, we have to go to Indy to move the rest of my stuff and paint the room I was in at my sister's house. I can't believe next week is Thanksgiving!! Where has this month gone?!?! Anyway, sorry to post and run but I really am quite exhausted! I hope my brain catches on quickly at work and I stop being so tired!

A Day in Photographs

Ah Sunday. I no longer dread you coming. Sure, you mean a week of work, but you no longer mean that I have to leave my husband for the week and drive in city traffic. Yes Sunday, you and I are no longer in a love hate relationship. How does it feel Sunday? How does it feel?

Well now that my crazy rant is over, today I will blog this post throughout the day, with a picture to document every hour I'm awake. I saw this idea somewhere a long time ago, but don't remember where. I figure, the first Sunday I don't have to leave is a great day to do this project!

8:34am

Jersey has become a problem at night. If we let him in the bedroom, he keeps us awake by jumping on us. If we lock him out, he paws at the door until someone comes and yells at him. Sigh. Advice is welcome.

9:34am

Doing research for my 25 days of Christmas scrap project. http://aliedwards.com/ is where I originally saw this project. I have also seen it on http://elizabethkartchner.blogspot.com. Both of these sites are awesome for scrap inspiration also!!! I'm really excited about this scrap project!

10:34am

Jon's up! Doing dishes and puttering around this hour!

11:34am

Making lunch! It turned out rather nasty. No recipe on here!

12:34pm

Scrapping the Halloween party.

1:34pm

Converting Dad's slides to digital.

2:34pm

Watching the Goonies, still converting slides.

3:34pm

napping

4:34pm

Phil's promotion party at Bubba's

5:34pm

Still at Bubba's (no picture here as I didn't take my camera into the bar, sorry!)

6:34pm

Run to Walmart and snack run at McDonald's

7:34pm

putting photos away in my album

8:34pm

chilling at David's

9:34pm

Dexter!

10:34pm

Sleepy time!

A week in revue

Hello All! I have had such a good week! My last day at my old job was Tuesday, so the cats and I came home that night. The cats have been adjusting fairly well to the new house. It's only been a couple days and they are rotating hiding under the bed and coming out and wanting lots of attention. Jersey thinks he is Jon's cat now. :) I have been puttering around the house. Lot's of laundry has been done and I've been cooking too! I made my first 2 layer cake. Man was it ugly. I just made a box cake mix and used canned frosting. I was really just trying to get the technique of a two layer cake down. The cake tasted great but it wasn't too pretty. I learned my lesson that you need a LOT of icing to do a two layer cake.

I had been kicking around the idea of a collage wall for our bedroom but wasn't sure how to pull it off. I wasn't sure how to group the items I wanted on the wall, plus I really didn't want a bunch of holes in my wall! In the end, I decided to use cork board as a base and hang stuff on it.

I love the way it turned out! Jon really likes it too. I just bought two sets of 4 square cork board panels that came with their own adhesive squares to attach them to the wall. We had rec'd the love art for our wedding and decided it was the perfect thing to fill the center of our "wall." Now I just have to fill it up with stuff! We've got a decent start though!

News Alert! David and Kate bought a house! It is super cute and has wood floors in some of the rooms and a wood burning fireplace! Color me jealous! We went to see it this week and I couldn't be more happy for them! So exciting! This week, we also ran to Home Depot and got the supplies to hang a shelf in our entry way. Now we just have to do it!

Today, we raked leaves! We had a TON of leaves in our yard and I now have a nasty blister! It was a good workout though! After the leaf extravaganza, Zach came over and we had beef tips for lunch (see below for recipe). Jon and Zach played Risk Factions on the XBOX 360 and they really loved it. I'm not a huge fan of Risk in general, but this version is pretty entertaining. Then we called Dustin and Amber and went to see their new house! (I know, who doesn't have a new house this week!) So cute! All these new houses make me want a new one, lol! Not really, but maybe I need to redecorate?! No? Tonight, we came home and watched Back to the Future III. I love those movies! Well I'll see you later interwebz pepes!

Beef Tips

I have been a bad blogger! I moved home for good on Tuesday night and I've been puttering around the house and settling my cats in. I have completed a decor project (pictures to come) and tonight I tried a new recipe. I have no idea where I got this recipe, so I can't give accurate credit. I've had this recipe written down for ever and finally tried it today. It's really good and so super easy!

Beef Tips

2 lbs beef tenderloin tips or stew meat

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 packet brown gravy mix

1 pkg Lipton dry onion soup mix

1 cup fresh mushrooms

1 cup water

Mix all ingredients and put in 9x13 pan. Cover with foil and bake at 300 degrees for 3 hours. Do not remove foil until done. Serve with mashed potatoes.

Home Sweet Home

Well I made it! Yesterday was my last day at the old job! It was an emotional day. I am really going to miss those people! I made the trip with the cats, which was torture! Poor Jersey was beside himself and Topeka threw up! Sigh. They are starting to settle in....I think. They've definitely decided that under Josh's bed is where they want to be! I've been spending my morning watching Golden Girls and getting some things set up around the house. Oh....cat spotted! They are finally starting to venture out to see the house! I've set up their litter box and food and water bowls and they have already located them and used them! Lol

Anywho, I've got to run to Walmart at some point today to get some groceries. This week, I'm going to try to get our bedroom together (decor projects coming soon) and start on cleaning out the garage. We need to make some Goodwill runs to clean out all the crap we don't want anymore. Plus, I want to park in there when it snows! Well, Topeka apparently needs some attention, so I'm off!

The Last Monday

Today my team at work threw me a pitch in (everybody brought food) to celebrate my next to last day at work. It's still very surreal that I'm leaving. I'm going to miss these people so much!
By the way, today you can smell the sunshine. Seriously, go outside and take a whiff. Sunshine!

Flu and Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti

Well today is a bust. Why you ask? Because I have two guys at home who are running fevers, have coughs and stuffy noses, and feel like poo. Yep, we've got sickness here at happiness house. So the guys are laying down for a nap while I try to clean/organize a little bit around the house. My poor guys! I hate it when they are sick! I'm going to make them some chicken noodle soup tonight. Oh and just so I don't leave you with nothing, here is a recipe I made today!

Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti

1 box spaghetti

4 chicken breasts, boiled

3 cups Velveeta

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can chicken broth

3 ribs celery, chopped

1/2 onion, chopped

1 stick butter

1 tsp garlic salt

2 tsp pepper

1 tbsp Italian seasoning mix

boil chicken and chop. Boil spaghetti and set aside. Chop celery and onion and cook in butter. Once tender, add chicken, spaghetti, Velveeta, soup, and broth. Heat until Velveeta is melted. Serve!

I made this all in one pot and just kept switching things to boil. I love one pot meals! Josh recommended I add broccoli next time. Broccoli! Who is this kid?!?!? Anywho that's the recipe. Hope you like it!

remember remember the 5th of november

Hello interwebz!!! Ah it's good to be home! I'm making a lasagna for dinner and it smells so good! I heart garlic. I plan to attempt a new recipe and a 2 layer cake this weekend! Yikes! (ok, so I'm using a box cake mix, but I've never done 2 layers before, so that's gonna be a trial in itself!) Sunday I'm going to Beef and Boards with my parents and lovely sister Rachel! I'm so loving this weekend!

I finally figured out how to work my self timer on my camera and I think we are going to try to get a family picture tomorrow to use on our Christmas cards. I'm so excited to do Christmas cards this year! It's supposed to be cold, but sunny so hopefully we can get a cute outdoors picture.

Announcement! When I move here full time, I have a new plan for fitness! See, Jon gets up at 6 every morning to be to work at 7. So if I get up with him at 6, that gives me 2 hours to work out, shower, and get to work by 8. Perfect amount of time! I'm really going to try to stick to this plan! I need to start working out on a regular basis and this is the perfect opportunity to work it into my schedule! The only problem is that I am so not a morning person! Hopefully I can overcome this and stick to my new workout plan!

Well, I'm off to spend time with my family! Toodles!

bits and bobs

Hello internet! Mum's in town this week, so I may not be around much (such a bad blogger I am). I was thinking tonight about favorite fast foods. Jon and I are trying not to eat out too much, but tonight, I ate out with the fam and it got me to thinking. What are your favorite fast food basics?

favorite chicken nuggets - Wendy's hands down!

favorite cheeseburger - Sonic's

favorite french fries - a tie between McDonald's and Wendy's depending on my mood

favorite chicken sandwich - Burger Kings old school chicken sandwich

favorite salad - McDonald's southwest salad

drink - McDonald's diet coke. It just tastes better!

Anywho, I am getting more and more excited about living at home! I can't wait! Jon and I know there are going to be adjustments...and probably some issues.... now that we're finally going to be living together full time, but I can't wait, even for the problems! We've just been sitting in stasis waiting for something to happen. It's felt like we haven't been able to move forward with me living away during the week, but now we can! It's exciting, and a little scary, but in a good way!

I met the fam at Target after work and hit up the after Halloween sales. I got a lot of great deals today! I got a Halloween pillow that I wanted and a skull candle that bleeds from the eyes, both 50% off! I also got a magazine holder and a binder for $2 each on clearance! I have been wanting a magazine holder to store some magazines in our bedroom, and at $2, I couldn't pass it up! I have been wanting the binder I got for several months now, but it was originally $20 and I just couldn't stomach paying that for a binder! I was so happy to see it today on clearance! I'm going to use it for our favorite recipes! I have so many recipes and when we like one I try, I end up not being able to find it again! I wanted a separate binder to keep the tried and true recipes in!

I have begun packing up the things that I have at my sisters to take home. I have a LOT of scrapbook stuff and I really need to find a way to organize it all. Sigh. Does anyone have any space effective/cost effective ways to store scrapbook supplies? Well ladies and gents, I'm off to relax through what's left of my night! Later tators!

The Big News

Well it's Monday and if you recall I stated a couple days ago that I had some exciting news to share!!! I am pleased to announce that I have found a job in my home town! Which means that I officially get to live at home full time! I am so excited! I will miss my old job but it's about time that I live with my husband in my home! Woop!