Friday Favorite- Swamp Shark

There can be only one Friday Favorite today...(cue "Jaws" music)...

SWAMP SHARK. For lack of better words-Totally awesome. While explaining the awesomeness of this movie to some co-workers, I realized that many people don't know of the other great campy/fake terror/sci-fi movie "Tremors." I'm stunned. How can you NOT have seen "Tremors"? Kevin Bacon AND Reba McEntire plus underground dinosaur worm thingys. That's just classic movie making. Almost as classic as D.B. Sweeney and Kristy Swanson battling a mutant shark in the swamps of Louisiana. "Swamp Shark" also has the following paraphrased dialogue: "Give him the phone, he's a federal agent. He can call the Fish & Wildlife SWAT team." Also, the director of "Swamp Shark" tweeted me, which pretty much wins for best use of social media!

Tell me, have you seen "Tremors"? What's your favorite campy sci-fi flick?

Swamp Shark is my Friday Favorite.

Out for Business

Oops, so I kind of disappeared. I spent last week preparing for a business/fun trip to Boston and had zero time to post. I arrived in Boston Saturday and spent time hanging with my Bestie and her family. She fed my soul. And, also my stomach-man, Boston has great food. She's the friend who actually watched "Swamp Shark" with me and paused it when I left the room. That's love. (*Side note, BEST worst movie ever. It might actually deserve a post. Awesomely bad.) I'm still in Boston for the business part of my trip. So far it's been crazy busy and packed with learning all sorts of interesting (to me) legal developments. I'll be back in a few days. Until then, I've got some Trader Joe's shopping and apparently more eating to do!

Have a great time.

Lessons Learned- The Painting Edition

This weekend, in the middle of planning a handmade birthday party for M, going out of town for five days on business, then three to four days on a mini vacation, I decided to paint the girls' room. Not one of my best ideas. Thankfully I conned my friend Heidi into helping me; Heidi is a whiz at cutting in-ridiculously fast. Painting the girls' room was one of those paint projects that you think will take 4 hours TOPS. Well...we started painting around 10:30am Saturday, I stopped at 10PM. Actually, I finished touch ups Sunday around 11am, almost exactly 24 hours later. FUN TIMES. In my defense, we are expecting delivery of bunk beds for the girls any day so I wanted the painting completed before the new furniture is assembled.

Lessons Learned:

1) The adorable bird mural I painted years ago WAS cute.

2) It would have been cuter if I could have painted over it without it bleeding through.

3) I don't care if everyone else thinks they are going out of style, wall vinyl decals are my new best friend. I am never, repeat this, never painting a mural again.

4) PRIMER

5) PRIMER, for the love of God, woman buy PRIMER.

6) Four coats is really not any fun. At all.

7) Read the paint can before you paint- Note: Primer recommended for this paint. Noticed that little tid bit when I opened the second can of paint for coat number three.

8) Thank God for my husband who watched four kids so Heidi and I could paint...I might have thought about hurting him later when he said, "Hmm, that looks...kind of...yellow." (It's orange).*Pictures as soon as possible, it took awhile to load these since I'm still figuring out how to use the editing software.

9) Next time, I am saving my money and getting our contractor to paint a bunch of rooms all at once. Seriously-gah-augh-ouch.

Friday Favorite- Samuel L Jackson "Go the F--- to Sleep"

This is NSFW but SO funny. Most every parent I know has reached this point many, many times, especially when the kids are small. My husband has a Samuel L. Jackson app that he likes to play at random, so this is really hilarious to us.

Love Thursday- The Beginning

Last we left our intrepid student, she (me-OK, I'm switching back to first person because 3rd person kills me)...I was heading to the Job Fair for the pediatric patients. Although I really didn't see the point, I decided to take Debbie's advice and look a little more presentable than usual. I was later very glad that I put forth that minimal amount of extra effort. I sat at my station and pretended to know what I was doing (surprisingly very few people had any interest in future lawyers, go figure). Before we got started, Debbie introduced me to her boyfriend's friend (got that?!), Nate. Nate was there representing the Army as he recently finished serving in the Army. And, that was it. He was cute and funny. I thought, "Hmm, this guy has potential." I'll eventually go over and talk to him...wait...there they go rushing off to the Matagorda County Rodeo. Clearly Nate was interested in the finer things in life.

The next week I arrived for my volunteer duties and (possibly mercilessly) questioned Debbie about Nate. All the basic facts; enough to let her know I thought he was cute and could she pass him a note! (Kidding, but I would have) Being such a good friend, Debbie arranged for Nate and I to meet up at the annual volunteer Spring Fling a few weeks later. Debbie managed to get Nate and I to sit at the same table. Shortly thereafter we had our first dance (I have the picture to prove it but alas my stupid computer hates pictures right now). At the end of the night we waited and waited for Debbie's car. I was supposed to ride home with Debbie, but the valets decided they didn't want that to happen and conveniently "lost" Debbie's car for hours. Nate offered to drive me home. After quizzing Debbie about Nate- Do you know him well? Does he have a history? Ever been convicted of a crime? Can you write down his license plate and car model number in case I disappear? You know, the usual, I rode home with my future husband.

Help & A Winner

I don't claim to be a computer guru. In fact, I'm probably the least capable computer person I know. Seriously. No exaggeration. My brother recently raved about a photo editing app, Aperture, so I downloaded it. It is pretty awesome. However, I can not figure out how to download/upload (whatever) photos from my Aperture library to my blog. I have good photos too- crafting failures-epic failures and a success. And, snakes! All sorts of exciting things. Does anybody know how to load photos from Aperture to Blogger? Kind and patient Megan tried to help me to no avail. Maybe I just have bad computer mojo. Anyhow, I'd be eternally grateful. Thanks!

While I'm working on my computer issues, the winner of the Novica contest is...Emily! Yay, Emily is my early morning Define partner, so the girl ought to get something special for that! Her win was entirely random; I'd show you pictures of the drawing but I have no way to load them!! Thank you all for your support. Even if you didn't win, Novica has great prices, go and find something pretty today!

Love Thursday-The Beginning

Love Thursdays are back!

In less than a month, my husband and I will celebrate our 10^th wedding anniversary. And people said it wouldn’t last- phshaw. I thought it would be fun (for me) to chronicle some of our story here each week. I love learning about how people met, fell in love, etc. I hope our story will remind you of your special love stories.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far away… called Houston, a young law student (me) was busy volunteering at a local cancer hospital. Every week she would go to the pediatric department of that large hospital to play bingo with the patients, make arts & crafts, read stories, or play games. Every week she also got to see people who later became good friends (Hi Alex (sometimes), Hi Debbie). Her friend Debbie was part of the volunteer program and asked our young student to represent lawyers at the job fair for the patients. Sure. Not that she knew anything about being an actual lawyer, but sure. Debbie reminded our young student, “Oh and be sure to look nice that evening.” “Right, like I’m going to meet some hot guy in the Pedi Dome” she said as she flew out the door. Fast forward a week and that is exactly what happened... (To be Continued)

*Don't forget to enter the Novica Giveaway, you have one more day!

My Newest Obsession- Copper Lights

I have a new obsession-bad. Copper lighting.

This chandelier version from one of my favorites, Barn Light Electric.

Photo Barn Light Electric

This one also from Barn Light Electric (it comes in copper, just scroll down

Photo Barn Light Electric

Oh, this one from Williams Sonoma

Photo Williams Sonoma

Even the restaurant where I ate dinner with my family this weekend had tremendously awesome copper reproduction pendants. Terrible service, but awesome lights! (No pictures because I was busy chewing my arm off...)

It's like the universe (God?) WANTS me, no is MAKING me replace my ugly kitchen fixtures with copper. Now if the universe could make about $1,000 appear because I don't think spray painting something copper is quite the same. Unless you've seen spray paint copper look good, then I'm all ears!

Friday Favorite- Novica Giveaway!

You may recall that my husband and I love to travel to Mexico. Our last travel to Mexico was spent at the wonderful Capella Ixtapa, which served their drinks in local artisan glass. We loved their colored rimmed glasses. Upon our return to the States, I found some similar glasses, but they weren't dishwasher safe. Do you know what that is? A real PAIN. I found other options, but I worried about the possibility that they had lead or would crack or chip....

All photos- Novica

Then, I found these. Cue the angels singing. Handmade from Mexico. Dishwasher safe. Can I get an "Amen"?! I found them at Novica, with about a million other items I wanted. In fact, the hardest part of my Novica order was deciding what to get. When Novica approached me to participate in a blogger marketing outreach, I jumped at the chance. I respect the bloggers they have worked with in the past and know that they sell quality products that support artisans around the world. Plus, I really wanted some machine washable glasses!

I found Hammocks, I know the girls would love taking a weekend nap in this one. Heck, I want to take a nap in that hammock!

I also perused Novica's Corporate gifts, including the glasses for entertaining and this great leather portfolio (which would also make an awesome gift for a college grad going on interviews!)

It's been a few weeks since I received the glasses. I waited to make sure I was happy with everything, and that you would be too. I am. I really like the mission of Novica and have been very pleased with my order. The ordering process is easy, my glasses arrived in a lovely package with background note. Most importantly, the glasses have held up beautifully. No chips, breaks, staining, etc. Exactly what I wanted.

Now the great news, Novica wants to share their goodies with one of you. I have a Fifty Dollar ($50) gift certificate to Novica for one of you. The contest is open to anyone in the world (as long as Novica ships to your neighborhood!). I'll leave comments open until June 10th at 10pm CT. So, how do you enter?

1) Pick your favorite item from Novica (you don't have to buy it if you win) and leave it in a comment. I also need you to leave an email address so I can notify you if you win!

2) If you are a follower of the blog, leave me another comment for an extra entry.

Good luck!
Novica (and their awesome Mexican glasses) are my Friday Favorites.

*I was provided with a $50 gift certificate at Novica for my participation. However, all words, and thoughts contained in this post are mine.*

Comments are now closed, thanks again Novica!