Tucker Blair Headband Giveaway!

For Christmas this year, Alson bought me the cutest needlepoint headband from Tucker Blair. I couldn't believe Alson picked it out all by himself (no offense, honey). It is so preppy and perfect!

I love it so much that I have since become a Tucker Blair enthusiast. I bought Alson the golf belt for his birthday and I plan to buy some flip flops as soon as they are available!

I can truly attest to the quality of the products and am sure you all would love them too. With that said, I am so excited to be able to offer a headband (courtesy of Tucker Blair) to one lucky reader!

All you have to do is visit the Tucker Blair website and browse the needlepoint headbands.

To be entered once leave a comment telling me what headband you would choice if you win.

Leave a comment and become a follower/subscribe through a feed reader to be entered twice. If you become a follower or if you're already a follower just let me know in your comment.

Leave a comment, become a follower/subscribe, and tweet/post on your blog about my giveaway to be entered three times.

*Make sure you tell me how many times you have entered!

You must enter by Sunday, April 5th at midnight (EST).

P.S. You can stay up to date on Tucker Blair products (like when those flip flops are available) by following their blog and tweets.

City or Suburb?

We just extended our lease for another 3 months. Our current lease is up the weekend of my graduation, but we don't really know what is going to happen in the coming months (I still don't have a job lined up), so we didn't want to say for sure whether we were staying in our apartment for another year or not. If I do get a job around here, I would like to live relatively close to my schools to help cut down my commute time. That is definitely priority #1. The other major thing we are considering....whether we want to stay in the city or not.

This weekend we attended a get together at a coworker's house. She lives in a suburb of Baltimore with her fiance in a brand new townhouse. Another one of my coworkers also lives in one of these new townhouses, but in southern Maryland. We attended a get together at coworker #2's place back in November. Spending time in their 3 bedroom, 2 and a half bath homes made me incredibly jealous. They have enormous closets, gourmet kitchens, huge bathrooms, and more closet square footage than our current apartment has in total square footage.

On the pro-city side, they both live pretty removed from everything, especially the girl in Charles County. My coworker that lives in Howard County is about 20 minutes away from downtown Baltimore, but still, kind of a hike. They both must drive to the city (or to a park and ride), so that is a big downside. Actually, they have to drive everywhere they want to go, even if it is just to the store or to dinner.

Yesterday Alson and I had dinner at one of the best restaurants in DC, a 4 minute walk from our apartment. We also spent the afternoon "people watching" in Dupont Circle. The nice weather brought out droves of people that have been stuck inside the entire winter. We saw a juggler, the famous chess players, a group of people dancing to music they were projecting through some serious speakers, as well as the city folk and tourists mingling near the fountain. I'm pretty sure there is nothing like that in 'burbs.

We love being able to walk to the farmer's market, amazing restaurants, bars, shopping, Alson's school, etc. But we also want more space. Such a dilemma!

City or suburb? What are other pros and cons of each?

Dress Lust

Boy, do I love Target! They have a bunch of pink, navy, and green clothes hidden in a back part of the women's section (at least they did at the store near my office). I spotted this dress yesterday and may need to go back and snag it before it is gone.



Luckily I have a $25 gift card, making this dress super affordable. I don't love the fabric, but for $40, it's not too bad.

Time Spent Wisely

I could waste hours a day watching YouTube. I'm sure many of you could as well. I usually get caught up in YouTube after someone posts a link to a video because, without hesitation, I subsequently click on any related videos that look interesting.

Last night I watched, among other things, Strange Kid Singing. A friend had posted it on Facebook, so of course, I clicked. It wasn't that funny, but it was so weird and bizarre that I wasted 3 mins and 29 secs of my life on it. And 3 and a half more this morning. Why, why, why!! I guess seeing people be weirder than me is comforting.

I have probably watched the Snuggie Rap, Kittens, David, and every SNL Digital Short song ever made....about 100 times. Okay, maybe not that many times, but I can definitely feel my brain rotting a little.

What videos are you loving right now?

An Annual Ugh

I have my annual exam this afternoon. Needless to say, I am dreading it! And to make matters worse, we don't have insurance (thank you internship & law school) so I have to go to Planned Parenthood. I hope there aren't any protesters around!

Ugh.

Epiphany

I had an interesting epiphany just now.

But first, the back story....

Tonight at midnight, Alson has an appellate brief due (whatever that is), so most of the weekend he has been working on that. On Friday night we had dinner with my mom and brother (they were driving back to NY after spending the week in NC for my brother's spring break), Saturday morning we had brunch before my mom and brother headed out, last night (and this morning) we watched Twilight, and today we went to the grocery store and the dog park. Other than that, the weekend was pretty uneventful, especially for me.

Alson is again working on his brief (final edits, yay!) so I, of course, was browsing Facebook in an attempt to entertain myself. While on Facebook, I was looking at a friend's pictures from the weekend. She was a year ahead of me in grad school, and we both worked in the same office for our assistantship, so we were friends and still keep in touch. She is a little bit older than me (she was a teacher for a bunch of years before going back to school), so I guess a little (or a lot) wiser. Her husband is in the army and is currently in Afghanistan or Iraq (I can't remember), but she by no means is sitting around at home all the time while her husband is away.

And this is when it hit me. Umm hello, why are you not out doing stuff!!! Just because Alson is stuck at home doing work doesn't mean I have to be stuck at home doing nothing. Granted, our situations are a little different, but essentially it boils down to a similar issue.

I guess part of the problem is rooted in our apartment being small, and doing work is kind of muddled with hanging out (even though I don't really distract him or anything) because he does his work in the living room, the only place we can be, unless we're in bed or the bathroom. It's like we are "hanging out" even when we aren't really. I think it would be different if he had an office to do work in, but alas, we don't. I dunno, does that make sense? Also, we are on a tight budget, so a lot of the things my friend goes out and does, we just don't have the money for right now.

Actually, these are just excuses. There are plenty of things that are cheap and/or free to do in DC, and we aren't hanging out when he is doing work because, well, he is doing work!

Moral of the story.....I am really going to try and make an effort to get out of the house and hang out with friends and do things I want to when Alson is busy with school.

Awards!

I am so late in formally thanking all these people, but better late than never right!

Sweet Bea gave me the Lemonade Award!


Wearing Mascara gave me the Sexy Blogger Award!


Pink Pearls & Muddy Sneakers gave me the Life is Grand Award!


Thank you so much to the girls that gave me the awards! It really means a lot, especially after becoming real life friends :)

Dress Lust

Tomorrow is the first day of Spring! I am ready to pack away my sweaters and cords and bust out my dresses and capris. It has been a long winter...or so it seems after spending the last two in North Carolina. We've had a few teases the past couple weeks, but hopefully the warm temperatures will stick around for good real soon.

And not only is flip flop weather around the corner, but wedding season is fast approaching! We have four weddings to attend in the coming months, so I have a bunch of dresses to buy. I am on a strict budget until I secure a job, so for now I will just window shop and share some finds.

I was browsing White House | Black Market earlier, when I saw this dress:


I have GOT to have it! I am not sure about wearing it to a wedding, maybe a little too much white?

Oh, and I also need her tan, pronto!

Bearcats!!

Go Bearcats! Beat Duke!

Bring On New Housewives

I secretly love the Real Housewives on Bravo. And I know a bunch of you do too. Guilty pleasure, right?

This season has been everything I've come to expect from the RH. Ridiculous, trashy, dramatic, etc., etc., etc.

And we won't have to worry when the NYC season ends.....a new group of over the top, not so real at all women will be "gracing" our TV's. The Real Housewives of New Jersey premieres right after the NYC finale on May 12th. The new series will showcase a bunch of strangely related women from Bergen County, a suburb of NYC. It has GOT to have some serious drama.

Who's excited?!?

Irish?

I am definitely Irish.

I've got the Irish eyes to prove it.



But, I hate corned beef and cabbage. What am I supposed to eat today? I guess potatoes?

Actually, I'm craving a Shamrock Shake. Naughty Irish girl!

No Talking, Please

Sometimes I like not talking.

It's kind of like a mood. A no-talking mood I guess.

This should not be confused with a no-communicating mood, however. When I am in a no-talking mood, I will still text (or g-chat, or BB messenger) others (usually Alson) to discuss what I don't feel like saying. Most times we are discussing things that aren't very important. For example, last night Alson and I were BB messenging about an episode of NCIS we were watching.

Me: Who is that guy?
Him: He works at the Pentagon.
Me: Oh yeah, now I remember.

Yes, it would probaby be quicker to just talk, but I don't want to. And Alson understands this. Back in college my roommates and I used to IM each other from across the room or hall instead of talking, so I guess I have a history of this behavior.

Does anyone else do this?

Tweet Tweet

Okay, I promise not to post any more today...after this.

I have finally joined Twitter! You can follow me at TheNortherner. I have already started following a few people, but if you're on it let me know so I can follow you!

One Time Grace

In an effort to reinstate some optimism in my life, I have decided to do a Grace in Small Things post that I have seen some bloggers (Heidi and Katie) do.

Here are a few things that I find grace in:

• A loving husband who knows how to make me smile and laugh
• The snuggliest puppy in the world
• Fresh flowers on the dining room table
• Homemade spaghetti that can be shipped to me
  
• Graduating in less than two months
• CSI marathons
• Sweatpants (particularly at 2 pm)
  
• Bearcat basketball
• Enigma
• Yankee Candles

Now I remember.... My life is good!

One More...Then I'm Dropping the Topic

Well I didn't get my ticket dropped. This whole situation has been a horrible experience and it makes me want to move away from DC and NEVER give them any money again. Maybe I'm overreacting, but I don't care. I'm allowing myself the rest of the afternoon to be angry and upset, and then I'm refusing to talk about the topic ever again. I will not let this ruin my weekend.

Virtual Vent

Remember that STUPID seat belt ticket I got forever ago? Well my day in court has finally arrived. Tomorrow morning I will argue that I did, in fact, have my seat belt on and thus, the ticket should be dropped. I will do this right after I interview at my current place of work.

Yes, that's right. Tomorrow I have an interview at 8:30 in the morning at the place where I already work (this seems asinine to me) and then must race to court (by 11 am) to fight the stupidest ticket on the face of the planet.

I tried to fanangle the dates, but work is only interviewing tomorrow and I could not get in touch with a real person to change the court date despite calling EVERY number on the DMV website when I found out these two events conflicted. I did get to change my interview time though. My slot was originally at 11:15 am, so I rescheduled for 3:30 pm (plenty of time to get back to work!), but then yesterday my secretary called to tell me that my supervisor needed to reschedule to 8:30 am because she had an afternoon meeting and wouldn't be able to interview me at that time. Ugh.

Did you know that tomorrow is Friday the 13th? Shoot me now.

I plan to be back to my cheery self tomorrow night (job or no job, ticket or no ticket).

We Clean up Nicely!

We've cleaned our apartment from top to bottom, folded the laundry, washed the dishes, bathed Kona, and tidied up everything that usually sits in the middle of the floor. I'm all ready for a girl's night!

And in the process, I really like our apartment again! I was feeling so cramped and crowded lately, and this really helped to open up our space. I should clean more often!

Now if only I could get rid of some clothes and make my closet feel big again...

Hair Clarification

I had a mixed emotions weekend. I won't go into great detail because I am trying not to dwell on the negative stuff, but my Friday involved a flat tire in NC, a massive traffic jam on 95N, and a burglar in our neighborhood (don't worry he didn't get us, but still very unsettling). Needless to say, Friday sucked! I was worried that I would be grump city for the rest of the weekend, but thank goodness I was not. The weather, in combination with a visit from a grad school friend and her fiance, a visit to the dog park, and some QT with my husband, made for fun times on Saturday and Sunday! Shortest weekend recap to date.

This afternoon I ventured downtown for haircut. My hair was getting pretty gross on the ends (I straighten it almost every day), so I figured I should get a nice cut before an interview I have this coming Friday. I just asked for a trim, so it isn't drastically different, but it's still a change.

When I came home I asked Alson what he thought and he replied "I like it, it's an adult haircut." As soon as he saw the look on my face he knew I didn't like that response, so since then he has been buttering me up.

But of course, the original comment is the only one I remember. An adult haircut? What exactly does that mean?

Can't Think...Too Tired

I was up at 5 this morning. Alson is on spring break and instead of sleeping in (my activity of choice when on vaca) he got up super early to go play pick-up hockey at the crack of dawn. I couldn't fall back asleep once he was gone (does anyone else have trouble sleeping when they are home alone?), so I layed in bed and read blogs on my phone. I love you all, but now I wish I got my sleep!

Super tired. Can't maintain coherent thoughts. My executive functioning = poor. Must go to bed. Earlier than my already geriatric bedtime. Okay, lights out.

P.S. I am headed to NC tomorrow for my third to last internship meeting. Two months until I graduate!! Wooooohooooooo!

Cable Woahs

This past week we finally subscribed to digital cable. No more stone age for us!

We were previously paying $18 a month for basic cable, but back when we moved in, the cable guy apparently didn't put a trap on our cord so we were actually getting a whole lot of cable for the cheaper price. I always thought our cable was super cheap, but didn't question it.

Anyway, Alson has been asking for HDTV since we first got our TV, so for his birthday my parents decided to indulge him with a year's subscription. When the cable guy came the other day, he realized the previous glitch and took all our good cable away. We didn't have TBS, TNT, USA, or Bravo, which are the four channels I watch on a regular basis. I wanted to die! Luckily my mom felt my pain (we love the same shows and channels) so my parents have agreed to pay for digital cable while we are both still in school and until I find a job. Thanks mom and dad, we love you! (Speaking of my parents, happy 25th anniversary!!)

I love being able to see what we are watching, all the On Demand options (including the 30 Day Shred! and a bunch of other awesome workouts), and the super clear picture.

The only problem with this lovely scenario....the GINORMOUS cable box that is misplaced in our small apartment. Our TV is hanging on the wall and we have a small shelf that holds our DVD player, Wii, and another electronic thing that switches between inputs (I don't know what it is called?), but the box didn't fit on that shelf. There is literally no other place for the box than on a side table in front of one of our bookcases, but it just looks so out of place! It is kind of stressing me out and makes me want to cancel the digital cable and go back to dark ages. Okay, not really, but it is annoying that it has to be so huge! Doesn't Comcast know this is DC and space is limited?? What gives!

Sick Puppy

I was hoping this weekend would be relaxing and lazy, but things did not go as planned. We spent Friday night at the vet emergency room because Kona was still sick and we were worried she was dehydrated and that her organs might fail. Taking her to an unfamiliar place and waiting for hours while she was in ICU was TERRIBLE, but I am glad we did because she had a bacterial infection and was, in fact, dehydrated. She is now on a bunch of meds and is getting special food (boiled chicken, rice, & cottage cheese), which she loves. Here she is after we got home early Saturday morning:


The rest of the weekend she was pretty lethargic and spent most of the time napping. She was still having some "leakage" (gross I know) so we decided to put a makeshift diaper on her. We cut up an old t-shirt (we cut a hole for her tail too) and it actually worked really well!


Hopefully she is on the way to full recovery. It only took a shot, some fluids, a few tests, and $400 dollars! We were SO worried about her, so really, we would have paid whatever to get her healthy again. I'm just glad she's okay :)

BTW, for those of you coming over next week, don't worry, we have washed our cushion covers and plan to deep clean before anyone steps foot in our home!