30 Day Challenge--A Place I've Traveled To...

Is anyone else having problems with Blogger today???  I had this post almost completely done and NONE of it was saved.  And I'm not a fan of starting things all over!  Grrrrrrr....

I'll try to cheer up for the sake of Day 8's post about a place I've traveled to.  Hmmm....I've traveled within the continental US, Mexico, Europe and the Caribbean.  They're all great places but I think I'll write about a place I traveled to recently.

Recently, as in just yesterday, recently.  It was our annual Girls'-Day-Out trip to Lawrence.  My sister lives there so it's an easy pick for me, my mom and sister-in-law to travel to!

The day started out on the amazing Mass Street.  I love that place!  It's so fun to people watch and you never know what you might see!

The first store we went to was Sarah's Fabric.  If you've never been and you ever have a need for fabric, YOU HAVE TO GO!  Hobby Lobby and Jo-Ann's don't even come close to competing with this place.  Oh, and did I mention they have an online store so you can shop from home?!  Oh so dangerous but oh so fun!

After we loaded up on fabric, we headed one block east of Massachussets to eat at Pachamama's.  The food was de-lish.  I had smoked porkchops over stoneground cheesy grits with purple (yes, purple!) green beans and a cranberry chutney.  Fabulous!  If you're ever in Lawrence, give it a try--you'll be glad you did.

After lunch, we wandered around Mass Street some more but then ultimately decided to head out west to do some shopping.  I realize one of the draws to Mass Street is the Ma & Pa shops but Lawrence has some great big box stores.  When I say they have an awesome buyer at TJMaxx, I'm not kidding.  It's one of the best I've ever been to!  When in Lawrence, we always make a stop at World Market and Kohl's as well...you never know what they might have!

We also made a stop at The Merc...it's Lawrence's natural food store and we can't go through town without loading up on a bunch of stuff.  It's like the Wal-Mart of the organic/natural food world!  Okay, it may have been wrong to compare a locally-owned store to Wal-Mart but hopefully you understand what I was getting at :-)

Finally, we headed back downtown to swing by Sylas & Maddy's ice cream parlor. I chose "Margarita" sherbert and it was a good pick.  Not super margarita-ish but definately had some lime flavor bursting through!

After our ice cream stop, we called it a day and headed back home.  It was fun to have the four of us girls together and I look forward to doing it again next summer!

30 Day Challenge--Day 7: My Favorite Movie(s)

I have the attention span of a gnat--therefore, movies can be my archnemesis at times.  You take me to the theater on a Friday night, after spending a week at work, and I can guarantee you that I'll be asleep within 15 minutes.  Even if I go to a Saturday afternoon matinee, I constantly find myself wondering "is it over yet?!"

I was never much of a movie person.  My husband loves movies and can watch them all weekend long.  In fact, I'm sure I've seen as many movies with him as I had seen in my 24 years of life before him!

My list of favorite movies is short--there's only two that made the cut.  Honestly, I can't figure out which one I like better as they're both movies that I could watch anytime of day and never tire of them!

The first one is classic.  Goldie Hawns...Kurt Russell...can it get any better?!  I have no clue how many times I've seen Overboard but it's always hilarious!

My other all-time favorite movie is Multiplicity with Michael Keaton and Andie MacDowell.  I used to sit in our basement and belly-laugh everytime Steve demanded pizza.  As an adult, I can appreciate the premise of the movie but knowing my luck, all my clones would turn out like Steve!

Day 6 of the Challenge: What Makes Me Happy

What makes me happy?

There are lots of things that make me happy...but only temporarily.  I love putting on new socks--but after the first washing, the extreme softness has disappeared.  I love pay day but that feeling quickly disappears after paying our bills.  I also love clothes but it doesn't take long before they're stretched out of shape, stained or suddenly out of style.

The one thing that ALWAYS makes me happy is this sweet face:

I will admit that our dog has learned how to "back-talk" over the years.  If you deny her something or jokingly call her a name, she'll look up at you and let out a high-pitched "grrrrrrUUUUUrrrrr!"  Justin likes to tease and say the dog acquired my sassy attitude :-/

Aside from the occassional sassing, Mitzi ROCKS.  She's well behaved, super loyal and just loves being around people. When I walk through the door from being gone all day, Mitz just absolutely spazzes out!  She bounces all around the couch, jumps off the couch just to start running in circles and then she'll try to jump in my lap.  It's quite the "hello," if I say so myself!

Woah, puppy!  An action picture of Mitz trying to put her brakes on!

She's also one of those dogs who knows she's cute!  Whenever we take her for walks or she's sitting on the front porch with us, someone has to comment on what a "cute puppy" she is.  We politely say thanks but I'm sure, based on her behavior, that Mitz knows exactly what they said!  But really, when you see pictures from when she was a puppy, how can you NOT think she's cute?!?!

8 weeks old and weighing in at just 2 pounds!

They say Malteses have an average life span of 15 years, with some living as long as 18 years.  At that rate, there's plenty of time left for Mitzi to keep making us smile :-)

30 Day Challenge: A Song to Match My Mood

Day 5...a song to match my mood!

Well, to be honest....I'm sitting at the house waiting for the exterminator.  I could pick the Ghostbuster's themesong or something along those lines...

But once the exterminator gets here and accomplishes the task of bombing our house, I'm headed to Kansas City.  The thought of Kansas City is much more exciting than killing off early-season parasites!

Can anyone say "Beer-Cano" time?!  E.G. is graciously allowing Left Eye and I to invade her house and swimming pool.  Nothing beats a weekend with two awesome girlfriends, summer beers and pooltime.   

In a few short weeks, Left Eye (her name is really Angie, sometimes I forget that) is relocating to Ft. Worth, Texas.  It's been fun to have her back in Kansas for the past 9 months and it's only appropriate that we send her away on a high note!

There are tons of songs that make me think of Erin and Angie, but this song best describes my mood this afternoon!

30 Day Challenge: Day 4

After yesterday's detour, we're back on track with the 30-Day Challenge.  Today makes Day 4 and I get to write about my parents!

My parents...oh, my poor parents.  After 28 years, they still like me :-)

I wasn't always the easiest kid.  I refused to talk until I was almost 5 years old.  Instead, I would just point and scream at things.  I had the full ability to speak and communicate my wants and needs, but I just chose not to.  For me, it was more fun to point and scream.  My poor parents.

Per my memory, my grade school years were fairly easy.  Mom shuttled me to and from piano lessons, gymnastics, 4-H meetings, sleep overs...you name it and Mom was running me all over the place.

Then puberty rolled around.  I remember one summer in particular I was a holy terror.  I'm pretty sure my level of communication was not much different from when I was 4 years old.  Mom or Dad would tell me to do something and I would just point and scream at them in response.  Dad was almost always away from the house so it left poor Mom dealing with my hormonal rages all by herself.

Things finally calmed down during high school and college but there were times I probably worried my parents to death.  You mean, coming home at 8am on a Sunday morning is not appropriate?  To a 20-year-old, it was no biggie.  After all, I knew where I was at so why did they care???

My parents put up with a lot over the years.  I'm more than thankful that they put their foot down on things and enforced rules/consequences that I absolutely despised.  They always say that when your kid tells you they hate you, it's a sign you're doing something right.  Thanks to their parenting, I turned out to be a productive member of society!

As an adult, parents are fun.  They're more like a friend and you would never consider sassing them or being defiant.  You look forward to seeing them when you can and cherish all the time together.  They're also a wealth of advice and you find you rely on them to help guide you through a tough decision.  And lucky for my parents, there's now a husband in the picture who gets to deal with all my hormone rages :-)

30 Day Challenge: Day 3

Today's post requires that I blog about my first love.

But first--you have to promise you won't laugh!

It was this guy...

That's right.  Danny Wood from New Kids on the Block.  If anything, that tells you what generation I belong to!

I was enamoured by this guy...I had NKOTB clothing, dolls, buttons as big as dish plates, bedding, all their cassettes, EVERYTHING.  But my favorite of them all was Danny...and I remember wishing that some day he'd be "my man."

I was such a naive little girl, thinking that every teen heart throb is waiting for his 8-year old fan to come sweep him off his feet...I look back at this and can't help but laugh.  Of all things, Danny had a RAT TAIL!  Yes, one of those things.  But maybe I didn't have the worst taste in the world.  After all, this is what he looks like now:

Kinda looks like he belongs in a hair gel ad.  Not anyone that I'd be attracted to but some people might find him good looking!

If I was a smart 8-year old girl who wanted to be swooned, I should have picked one of the other band members, Donnie Wahlberg:

Donnie's brother is the musician-turned-actor Mark Wahlberg...Mark has been 10x more successful over the years and that's the gravy train I should have tried hopping on!  lol.  Don't you see the resemblance?  Personally, I find Marky Mark to be much cuter!

I realize this post most likely wanted me to write about a "real" first love.  But come one--how many people really want to claim their former boyfriends???  I sure don't!  I'd much rather write about a man that I've never met :-)  If anything, the experience of my first love allows me to better stomach all my tween girls who swoon over Justin Bieber and fight over who's marrying him.  Some day they'll realize the joke is on them!

That said, my parents spent many years putting up with my New Kids On The Block Obsession and thank gawd I outgrew it...Speaking of the two devils, tomorrow's challenge post will feature my parents so stay tuned!

30 Day Challenge: Day 2

Day 2 requires that I explain my blog's name...

Well, my blog originally started out as "The Adventures of Taddy-Long-Legs" and then morphed into "The Adventures of Taddy-Long-Legs and J-Money."

The original name comes from a nickname I gave myself...Yes, I gave it to myself.  I could lie and make up a great, super appropropriate, grown-up story.  Or I could just tell you the embarassing truth.  I'm always a pretty open person so I'll go with the latter.

It might have something to do with truly enjoying some Vodka-7s at Five Points in Columbia, South Carolina about 5 years ago.  As people tell me, we were leaving a dance club (and no, I did not do any dancing!) and I randombly struck a cheerleader pose in the sidewalk--I hope it was relevant to the conversation--and declared myself "Taddy Long Legs."

Sure enough...there's a picture to prove it!  Haha, I was definately clinging to that wall for dear life :-/

And where did my declaration come from?!  Obviously it was the vodka talking but I do have long legs...And Granddaddy Long Legs have long appendiges...And the abbrevation for my last name, Taddy, kinda rhymes with Granddaddy...Or at least it does at 3am.

Needless to say, my girlfriends won't let me live that moment down.  Or maybe they're ornery enough just to make the story up!  Anyhow.  When chosing my blog name, it was important that the name be something that no one else had...but be easy enough to remember.  Not that I really remember giving myself a nickname, but that's beside the point!

So now you have the history to "The Adventures of Taddy Long Legs."

But wait!  Once we got married, I tagged "and J-Money" to the end of my blog name.

As many of my posts include stories about the hubby, it was only appropriate that he be acknowledged in the title.

When we first met, I never ever imagined I would seriously date the guy...let alone marry him (just ask Angie!).  Rather than call him by his first name as that was too nice of me, I decided to give him a nickname. Apparently, I have a thing for nicknames.  Just ask E.G., Left Eye, Shrek, Poop Thumb, Ursher, Tingly A#$ and they'll all attest to this.

Anyhow, back to the story.  Once upon a time, there was a rap duo named Cadillac Don and J-Money.  When I met Justin, he had no vehicle and always talked about getting a Caddy someday.  The fact that Justin was always listening to gangsta rap, wanted a Caddy and had a name that started with a "J," it was only appropriate that I dub him J-Money...and unfortunately for him, that's what all my friends call him to this day!

So there you have it folks!  The complete history of "The Adventures of Taddy-Long-Legs and J-Money."  Stay tuned for tomorrow's post about my first love.  Oh, wowwwwwww...

30 Day Challenge: Day 1

I have a friend who is the funniest person EVER.  You never know what she's going to say and half the time, I can't even figure out where she comes up with the stuff!  Erin was the person responsible for my inspiration to start blogging.  She started one herself, over at http://myunfilterednonsense.blogspot.com/.  Much to my dismay and consequent boredom, she doesn't post quite as much as I think she should...yeah, that's right Erin.  Get on it!

Yesterday, however, she posted about a 30-Day Challenge for blogging.  Granted it may take her 5-6 weeks to conquer it (hey, she admitted so herself!) but I thought it was a great idea and worth taking a shot at.  So here we go...

Day 1: Introduction, Recent Photograph of Myself and 15 Interesting Facts About Me

I'm a twenty-something farm-raised girl who stuck around my Alma Mater after graduation, met a Southern Boy, fell in love and got married!  Last year we purchased a downtown bungalow that we enjoy tinkering with and life is grand :-)

15 Facts About Me...

1. Ever since I was a little girl, I had short hair... short as in it never-went-past-my-ears short, most often in a pixie cut.  As a personal challenge to myself, I decided to let it grow and it's almost shoulder length now.  Having long hair is a whole new world to me...

2. I love sitting in my pjs on our front porch on Saturday mornings, drinking coffee while watching all the people walk down to the Farmer's Market.  To me, it's the most relaxing part of my weekend.

3.  As mentioned above, I grew up on a farm.  I showed all sorts of livestock growing up...many people have a hard time believing I'm a farm girl and that's just fine :-)

4.  I'm not much of a tv or movie person.  I'll have HGTV on for background noise but I have a hard time watching an entire 30-minute episode of anything.  And sitting through an entire movie???  That takes a lot of conscious effort!

5. I rowed my freshman year of college at Creighton University (go Jays!!!)...when I later transferred to K-State, I was approached about joining their Women's Crew program. I wasn't falling for the joke of being a Division-1 Athlete and not getting any scholarship money again!


6.  During my Junior year of high school, I got a bright blue Ford Mustang.  It had chrome dual exhaust and white racing stripes...to say that I loved that car is an understatement.  When the time came to replace it, I literally bawled my eyes out.  My long-term goal is to someday have another blue 'Stang parked in our garage!
 
7.  My degree is in Political Science.  With having a background in the child welfare system, this comes as a surprise to many people.  But hey, it was the degree that got me out of college in 5 years!

8. Ever since I was a little girl, I have enjoyed reading the newspaper.  My Grandpa Boob used to read the evening paper at the supper table and I'm the exact same way.  I currently receive 2 different newspapers and I would love to be like my parents who get 20 different papers a week!  (Should I clarify they're not newspaper junkies but rather it's because of my dad's job?!)

9. I'm a huge fan of bubble baths.  I try to take one every night :-)

10.  I actually like working out.  I have had no routine whatsoever this summer so I haven't been to the gym since May and it's driving me BONKERS.  I'm actually looking forward to school starting so I can get back to the gym.

11.  Our cat is bigger than our dog.  If I ever need to break the ice with a little kid, I tell them this and their eyes get HUGE and then they start giggling like crazy!

12.  I have a huge passion for civil rights history.  Anyone see the movie "Bad Teacher" yet?  "I just HATE slavery!!!"  lol. 

13.  I have a 37" inseam.   Needless to say, it's nearly impossible for me to buy pants off the rack.  Oh, and should I mention my 6'10" husband also has a 37" inseam???  Our future kids better hope they make XXLong onesies!

14.  I'm grossed out by milk.  And yes, I will cry over spilled milk.  If possible, I'll leave it until Justin gets home and then I make him clean it up.  I even have nightmares on occassion where people are holding me on the ground, pouring milk over me while I cry my eyes out.  People always ask, how do you eat your cereal?  My solution, I just don't eat cereal.  Just the thought of milky cereal makes me want to hurl!

15.  I just had to save the best for last.  My name is not Monica Lewinsky and his name isn't Bill Clinton...but...my Sophomore year of college I had an opportunity to meet old man George Bush.  During our photo, he totally dropped his hand from my shoulder to my buttocks and went in for a firm grip.  Well, hello to you, too!!!!!  And everyone wonders why I have an odd look on my face in the picture?!

And thaaaaaaaat's a wrap.  Stay tuned for Day 2:  The Meaning Behind My Blog Name...

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