No Dreaming Here

We are in the midst of a White Christmas!

I wish I could have gotten a better picture for your viewing pleasure but for now, this will have to suffice.

I share with you my very own special tree, which is outside of my kitchen window, ablaze with wintery goodness.

I assure you the streaks are snowflakes.

How is the weather where you are?

And just because...from Christmas Eve...A boy, a dog, and a yule log video in high def.

Hope you are having a great day!

For Those Who Celebrate

I wish you and yours a Merry Christmas.

My wish is for your heart and homes to be filled with joy, love, and peace.

Travel safe and enjoy the day.

Peace and Love Peeps.

Friends Make It All Better

Were you a foolish person like Hasse and I yesterday?

I guess I should clarify huh? What I mean is did you brave the crowds and get some last minute shopping in?

Yea, that was some good times y'all.

He pretty much needed to do all of his shopping and I, "oh the horror of it all", needed to pick up some personal items for myself and the house.

It is something like a crisis to think of a couple of days without my perfume and eye cream. I readily admit I am a high maintenance girly girl. The thought of running out of Wallflower refills makes my heart skip a little beat in horror.

I love that my friends get this about me. You would think he was giving me crap when he said "oh the horror of it all" but nope, he meant the intention in a loving way. He knows it could turn into a mini crisis for me.

So, there I am. Late Sunday afternoon and I decide I am going to go for it. I am going to brave the elements. The wind. The rain. The traffic. The unseasonably not so happy people and head out.

Off to the local mall I go. Not a parking spot in sight.

I say a few curse words and head north. To the dreaded traffic infested shopping area. Luckily, traffic was not too bad and I was able to find a parking space somewhat nearby.

Basket in hand I enter Ulta. I quickly fight my way through the crowd of people, mostly men picking up last minute items I suppose, gather my goodies and proceed to wait in line. And wait and wait and wait.

I then go down a few storefronts to Bath and Body Works. What a mistake this was. If I thought Ulta was bad, it had nothing on Bath and Body Works.

As I maneuvered my way to the back of the store all I could think was, "Please lord let me get out of here in one piece and without wanting to kill a bitch."

Purchases were made and I decide to head over to Party City, which is also a few storefronts down. No such luck in finding gift bags or a reusable container to give a gift in.

At this point I am starving. I realize I have not eaten since breakfast. The spinach, mushroom, two egg omelet I made was not going to hold me over. I quickly called Hasse, who was in my home city doing his shopping, and agreed to meet up for dinner.

One more stop to go. Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

Here the parking lot was the worst of the experience.

People! I am going to say this once. It is ok to park and walk. Really it is. Circling in hopes of finding a spot up close is a waste of time on a day like yesterday.

I enter the mecca in hopes of finding the latest gadget I want and a reusable way to wrap a present (it's all about being green right?) only to find the gadget is completely sold out. Not one in stock.

I will be back after the holidays in hopes of getting one. And before you go hating Ace, it will make my life easier while I am on the go. Therefore, it is a needed gadget. Just like all the rest of them. So there. *Pfft*

As I maneuver my way from the parking lot, I call T to see how her shopping excursion(s) are going and if she is at the point of wanting to kill a bitch too.

We talk all the way until I meet up with Hasse for dinner at Red Robin. *Waves hi and thanks T for putting me in a better frame of mind*

Hasse and I sit down and wait And wait. And wait some more for someone to take our drink order. It is a darn good thing we have patience. And knew what we wanted to order or we would have been there for ever and a day.

In case you are wondering, he had a fatty bud light and a bruschetta chicken burger. I selected a glass of tea, the queso dip for us to share, and a santa fe burger with garlic fries.

As we chowed, vented, and assessed where else we needed and wanted to go, we decided to give it a go together and take in a movie afterward.

Target was not that bad but dang people, could you lower the temperature? Dripping sweat down my neck from the heat and seeing Hasse red faced is not pretty on any day.

A final stop at Borders, where god bless his soul, he let me browse and browse before making the final selections.

Off to the movie we went. What did we see you might be wondering?

None other than . For the record, are the blue eyed people taking over? Not that I want you to be distracted should you decide to see this flick, but if you do, pretty much everyone in the movie has blue eyes.

I know. I know. Only I would notice something like that in midst of all the action my in real life peeps are saying right about now but it is true.

Are you wondering how the movie was? I would give it a thumbs up. It flowed nicely. It moved along at a nice pace. It wasn't too far fetched and if you like history, it intrigues.

As we were walking out of the mall/theater, I turned to Hasse and expressed how thankful I was he called out of the blue to shop together and spending the back half of the day with him was fun in spite of it all.

Friends can and do make it all better...

Weekly Challenge #12

This week's challenge is for you to say those words to the ones you love.

For some of us this is easy. For others, not so much.

I challenge you to let the ones you love hear "I love you" spoken from your lips to their ears.

Let them know you care for them.

Let them know you want and need them to be a part of your life.

Don't forget to tell yourself this too. After all, if you don't love you, how can you truly love others?

Such simple words.

Don't let the opportunity pass you by...

What Are You Doing?

A phrase uttered many times a week to me or words spoken by me.

Last night the exact phrase exclaimed, no less than four times, by some of those closest to me, was "What are you doing home on a Friday night?!?"

I didn't know it was that unusual for me to stay in on a Friday night, alone with the kitties, curled up as snug as a bug but apparently it is.

Who knew?

It didn't last long though.

Ace was coming through and was hungry so as I got dressed, he blew out the candles and we headed out to one of the only places open after midnight to grab some grub and a drink.

Ace had his very first beer since he arrived back from Vegas. A nice tall Bud Light for the gentleman please.



















He took a fabulous picture there, It would have been outstanding if the setting wasn't on digital macro. This is why it looks a bit blurry.

I shook things up a little bit and chose Sprite instead of lemonade with da' goose.



















He ordered a bacon cheese chicken grill without the cheese.














I opted for a grilled chicken cheese BLT.














As the lights went up (ya' know, the universal sign for get the heck out) the bill was paid and we headed out.

With full bellies, we walked toward the car. In an empty parking lot. And I proceeded to hit my head twice before we even pulled out of the parking spot.

If I had stayed home, that would not have happened. But hey, I am not complaining. I am just saying...

Happiness Is . . .

A holiday color inspired pedicure simply because...

By 67%

The heathens have spoken! And this heathen? She heard ya'. Naughty house holiday party it is.

I fear this may disappoint you. It could have been really naughty but in actuality it ended up being more nice than naughty this year.

See, my adopted family (T's aunt and uncle) host the shin ding yearly. The gift exchange is where the naughty part comes in. In the past raunchy has ruled supreme.

This year, just to put it in perspective, gifts we left with include
Ace: A princess/fairy lamp (which is perfect for a friend's newly redecorated child's room)
Snookums: A bar of soap from Turkey
T: A set of serving plates
Mo: A reindeer tea light candle holder

That's some naughty stuff right there folks. Down and dirty raunchy right?

Didn't stop us from bringing naughty gag gifts though. This is how the evening started.

I drove over, picked Ace up, and we took a trip to .
Yep, we went to the local adult store. It isn't a mattress store like a certain someone thought for the longest time. Not only is it a store y'all, it is considered a megastore, a superstore according to the website. We like to do it big. No pun intended.

It took us a bit of walking around to find the gag gift section. Once we did, we grabbed and ran. As we were about to head over to Tarjay for the gift wrapping, as is the norm, I decided we needed to take the above picture.

I promise I wasn't trying to catch the dude coming out of the store on "film". He just happened to walk out as the flash went off. Ace and I thought we were about to get beat down. The looks coming off of this guy were deadly. Stink eye style.

After a quick trip to Tarjay we headed over to meet T and Snookums at their place.

In case you ever wondered where my nickname Mo came from or how it started, this pit stop is evidence of the origin. T was watching a friend's daughter for the day. She was unable to say my name so I was mommy for the duration of our time together.

Sweet but uh, no. I'm not your mommy. My name is *drumroll* Monica.

Little ones seem to struggle with saying it so back in the day, my brothers decided I would be Aunt Mo to simplify the situation. It stuck.

Much better than being called BeeBlee. Don't ask. I don't know how or why, and neither do my siblings, know why or when it started but this was what I was called when I was a little tyke.

Ok, enough digression. You want pictures and the rest of the naughty party update don't you?

We headed over to the party. And promptly took up residence at the table nearest to the food and drinks.

It's not that we are greedy like that. Ok, maybe a little bit. It was more out of self preservation.


This is Ace's newest friend, Max. How cute is he? He does tricks too and gives out the best big dog kisses.

After the drinks were flowing (we only drank water and soft drinks...shocking I know but the absolute truth), this lovely arrived.

I know it is not right, under any circumstances, to judge others. But this? This was too good not to share.


Mullet? Check. Old school jean overalls? Check. Matching jean purse? Check. Poufy shiny jacket? Check. Good look for 2007? Not so much. 1987? Rockin'.


A little bit after this, the gift exchange began. Poor Ace. Every gift he had was stolen from him. It happened to T and me too but Ace, out of all the guests, had the most taken from him.

He was a good sport about everything. And I mean everything. Some I won't speak of here out of respect and a desire not to re-live the asinine.


Post gift exchange, we busted out the camera, set the self timer, and started goofing. Approval was granted for this one . I seriously need to lay off the sweets, carbs, and get my ass back into the gym and off of the couch.

Gifts in hand, tummies full of holiday goodness, hugs were exchanged and on our way we went.

You Choose

I thought I would do something new today.

We're going interactive.

I can't decide what to update next so I am turning the choice over to you.

Leave me a comment to let me know what you want to hear about.

Options include

• Thursday, Dec. 6 and the morning after
• Saturday, Dec. 8 (Holiday and BDay Party in Seattle)
• Sunday, Dec. 9 (Day of RAKs and goofing)
• Thursday, Dec. 13
• Saturday, Dec 15 ("Naughty" Holiday House Party)

Vote by 8:00 PM PST. Which ever option receives the most votes will be first up.

Peace and Love Peeps. See ya' later today...

I Will Take Lots of Cheese

With my whine this morning.

I want to get this out of my system so I can put it out of my world and focus on the rest of the day being much better than this morning has been.

I wake up this morning to discover

1. I am out of toilet paper
2. I am out of fresh kitty litter
3. It took me twenty minutes to clean out my email inbox before I could send one little reminder to some of my work peeps
4. One of my pimples (that I picked at prior to my facial) has completely scabbed over
5. My hair will be flat and in a ponytail because hey, we have a new system moving in (more rain, wind, snow) but y'all, the CEO is in town
6. The black cardigan I am wearing over my black sweater dress does not match
7. The tights I was going to wear today are the wrong size so I am bare legged in 40 degree temps
8. I have glitter here, there, and everywhere from the holiday cards

On the flip side, I did get a good night's sleep and I will be mailing my holiday cards this morning.

Hope your day is starting off better than mine has.

Here is to the rest of the day being a good one...Peace and Love Peeps.

Weekly Challenge #11

This week's challenge is to mail holiday cards, packages, etc. you want and need to arrive in time for the holidays.

I hear tomorrow is the post office's busiest day.

Will you be in the thick of things?

Big Pimpin'

Y'all, I am big pimpin'.

Seriously.

For real. My aesthetician Veronika told me so this evening. She said I was one big zit after she finished my facial.

That's me...one big pimp(le).

Don't hate. I am deserving of such love.

I say love because I want the people in my life to keep it real. Tell me how it is. Don't mince words. I appreciate and welcome the honesty when I know it comes from a good place.

My face was tore up. That is what stress, putting your hands all over your chin, failing to exfoliate, and going to bed with your make up on a few nights too many will do.

I'm back on the mend though. She works wonders! But for now, I am big pimpin'. That is my story and I am stickin' to it.

Peace and Love Peeps.

Lesson Re-Learned

Sometimes no matter how much you love someone...or want to help them become the best they can be...or be there for them...You have to let them find their own way, in their own time...travel their life's journey without you by their side...

I have been reminded of this recently. With faith and love, I send a certain someone on their way. Go in peace my friend. May God protect you each step of the way.

Travel well.

Delicious

You already know I'm a lover of candles. Have I ever shared I am a huge scent oriented person?

I've been told by many, "I can smell you/your house from downstairs."

I like my space to be inviting. Cozy. To smell good.

JP introduced me to Yankee candle tarts years ago. I've never looked back.

I adore the Wallflowers you can purchase from Bath and Body Works.

Room spray from Pier 1? Check.

Then I moved onward to include essential oils in a burner and most recently, reed diffusers, to the mix.

I've tried the home fragrance oils from Bath and Body Works. Others from The Body Shop. Some from Yankee Candle. I have even broken into my soap and candle essential oil supplies.

Last weekend, while stocking up on tarts from my local Hallmark brick and mortar store, I stumbled across the above home fragrance oil.

Very fragrant. Extremely clean burning.

In a word, D*E*L*I*C*I*O*U*S.

I'm in love and felt I had to share this news with you. For my other fellow scent oriented peeps, for a base price of $8.00 you can have happiness, comfort, and scent joy in your home too.

I'd love to share a website with you but I was unable to find them on the website printed on the label; said website is here.

Happy home fragrance shopping. Make your space smell of you...

NOTE: Favorites/Signature Scents are Home Sweet Home Yankee candle tarts, Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin White Barn Wallflowers, and Island Orchard room spray from Pier 1

It's Beginning to Feel A Lot Like . . .

The holidays around here.

I spent the last hour or so finalizing the color combo for my holiday cards. Then I got busy. Punching. Stamping.
I'm not done yet.

After punching 46 squares, 46 scallop squares, starting the stamping, which began as a warm fuzzy but mid way through reminded me of an eye chart, I decided the assembly line would end for the night.
There are times I wish I could go back to the ease of store bought cards but making cards has become one of the things I am known for. It is a hobby and passion I enjoy but times like these...Hallmark feels right and would be a welcome change.

I hope you appreciate the cards received this year, whether they are homemade or store bought. Either way, someone took the time to think of you and send you a bit of love. I'll be remembering this with each card I am blessed to receive.

Tuesday Tales

Last Tuesday, after I got my winter hair done and T had hers cut too, we headed over to Azteca for dinner with some of the peeps you have come to know and love.

Kyla

Melissa

Melissa' s friend Ladawn (hope I spelled that right. I forgot to check).

We're working on getting T comfortable with taking pictures let alone posting them here.

She is making progress y'all. Lots and lots of progress. That was her with me on the goofy Happy Monday picture and she lets me take her picture most all of the time these days.

We started with a round of drinks. I bet you knew that though didn't you? So predictable...

Melissa had a Smith and Wesson, Ladawn a pina colada, Kyla and T had regular margaritas, and I ordered a cadillac margarita. I'm willing to pay the extra bank for top shelf. It just tastes smoother to me.

As we snarfed on chips, salsa, and bean dip we did what girls do. Gabbed. Caught up on the latest news.

Food was ordered and the stories continued...

Gee, can you guess what the main selection for our table was? Did I hear you think or say enchiladas? If so, you are correct and very observant.

Kyla ordered a shredded beef I believe. Melissa had two cheese. T and I opted for one cheese. Ladawn was the independent one with the beef taco salad.

Ever notice how unattractive the picture of all that cheesy, mexican, oh sooo bad yet so good food is? It takes a lot to get me to turn down a mexican/tex mex dinner. Don't hate. I'm from Texas remember?

Post dinner, Kyla, Melissa, and Ladawn headed out to local Tuesday night hot spot. T and I, being the old boring farts we believe we have become, did a Tarjay run.

The younguns go for more drinks, dancing, and a late night of kicking it.

The oldies go pick up lounging pants, a long sleeve shirt, and a few dog toys before heading to bed.

Boy howdy, times have certainly changed in this girl's life.

Happy Monday

Happy Monday to you and yours.

It's gonna' be a crazy one around these parts. A good Monday but a tad out of control I believe.

I hope the above image brought a smile to your day. It brought one to ours.

Here is to wishing you a fabulous day!

Peace and Love Peeps.

Oh and yes y'all, I did receive permission to post this picture in case you were wondering...

Weekly Challenge #10

A random act of kindness for a total stranger.

Doing one, or many, is this week's challenge.

During the hustle and bustle this time of the year brings, most of the population is grouchy. In a hurry. Irritated. Fussy. In summary... Bah, Humbug prevails.

The days can be stressful.

Depressing for many of our fellow human beings.

So this week we challenge you to do something

1. Unexpected
2. Totally Random
3. A Small Act of Kindness

• At the drive through of Starbucks, pay for the people behind you
• Say something to make the cashier smile and wish him/her a good day and happy holidays
• Do something crazy funny to get other shoppers around you laughing
• Give the less fortunate a few bucks and share a kind word or two
  

These are some of the ones T and I did while we were out and about today.

The paying for the car behind you is what inspired the challenge. Hasse was treated to a free coffee earlier this week and he paid it forward. When he shared this with Maricel and me at lunch Friday, I was inspired to inspire you.

Go on now. Spread the love and cheer through a RAK. I plan to do more as the week progresses.

Peace and Love Peeps.

Stocking Stuffer Idea

See that little gadget?

Cost me all of $5.99 and $1.00 for dollar spot batteries plus tax.

I was skeptical. I thought for such a low price I might be throwing the greenbacks away.

But you know what?

It works! So far it gets my stamp of approval.

I don't have enough time today to get all of my sweaters fuzz and pill free but trust sometime this week I will be sitting on the couch with a stack of sweaters and this puppy, going to town in an effort to make my sweaters look like new.

And allow me to keep it real. I will spend a few hours doing this so I can stop embarrassing myself with fuzzy, pilled wool sweaters this winter.

Peace and Love Peeps. I need to vacuum, take the trash out, pick McChocolately up from the airport, and get ready for the first holiday party of the season tonight.

Hope you have a great day!

God Bless the Techies

Sending a great big shout out and thank to you Peter for saving my data.

Remember when I said my dinosaur kicked the bucket?

That it was stuck in a boot loop and as a result I was living in fear of losing my pictures and iTunes library?

Well, I took it in to the local repair shop last Saturday.

Let us all take a moment of silence to honor the dinosaur.

*****MOMENT*****

It is indeed dead.

I have good news though.

Peter, the "I look like I am about sixteen techie", was able to back up the hard drive and move the files over to the new desktop tower/operating system I purchased.

Anyone else notice how most of the techies look like they are about 20 at tops? Peter was no exception to this. He knows his stuff though. Or could I just be getting older so the peeps coming up behind me look that much younger?

You might be a bit confused as I have spoken of a laptop before. I have a defunct personal one and a work one. Most all of the time I am on my work laptop.

This may sound weird, or you may completely understand, but there is something about switching gears to a home life frame of mind in using the desktop after a long day at work.

It is very similar to changing clothes after I get home. It is one of the very first things I do. It helps me transition from work Mo to home Mo. Using my desktop switches the gears in my head from work Mo to home Mo.

One of these days I will purchase another personal laptop but for the time being, my desktop and trusty work issued laptop make my life a living joy.

So after forking over a little bit of bank, lugging the box up the stairs, hooking everything back up, I found my picture files tonight.

I can see some iTunes stuff but I am not able to locate the actual library from before. *Please baby Jesus, let it be there.*

Other important files are there.

I am saying many thanks tonight. He did say he had a bit of trouble with moving the files but I am hopeful the library made the transition.

Y'all say some iTunes prayers for me ok? Especially since I was dumb enough to erase the entire library in a mad attempt to access my music a few weeks ago.

Now if I could just get my internet connection and speakers to work as well as finding the iTunes library, I would be in technology heaven.

Fortunately, I am blessed to have wonderful people in my life who know how to make this stuff work. They will be receiving phone calls soon.

One more time, GOD BLESS THE TECHIES!

Peace and Love Peeps. I have programs to go install and laundry to do. Exciting for a Friday night I know. Don't hate.

My Winter Hair

Tuesday evening I went to have my hair did. So did T. More on the rest of the evening to come but for now I wanted to share my winter hair with you.

It is the same cut. Kyla only took an inch off. Thank you girlfriend. But we went dark. All one color dark. No more gray for the time being dark.

Whatcha' think?

Most of the women really like it. The boys? Not so much.

Speak to me. Your opinion matters. I can handle the truth so don't hold back.

It is Thursday night. My pressing deadline is behind me. I feel like having a drink with the Happy Hour crew at our Cheers.

Peace and Love Peeps.

Kyla's Engaged!

Last Thursday, some of the girls and I met to celebrate Kyla's news. She is engaged. Yes, y'all. Marriage is in her future. Congratulations to the happy couple!

Stephanie unfortunately was working. We wanted her to be with us as much as she possibly would be able to do so we met at our local Outback (she's the manager).

Stephanie

Melissa aka Samantha

Kyla aka Carrie

Maricel aka Charlotte and Mo aka Miranda

As is usually the case, a round of drinks started the evening.

Now I know you may find this hard to believe but I only drank water this evening. What was it Tom Cruise called it in Top Gun? That was my drink of choice for the evening.

Kyla's choice is not pictured. She was partaking in pink greyhounds.

Melissa chose lemon drop martinis.

Maricel ordered a long island ice tea.

Drinks were followed by an order of wings.

Salads were ordered before the main selections. I didn't take any pictures of those as I was busy scarfing on my house salad with ranch on the side.

Maricel and I shared an Outback Special. Cooked medium. Just let me say, those green beans were perfection.

She ordered a loaded baked tater on the side. The beans? Mine. All mine. The tater? Hers. All hers.

Kyla and Melissa shared an order of coconut shrimp and loaded cheese fries.I took a very poor picture of the cheese fries. I won't make you suffer through the blurry, dark quality.

I really need to work on taking shots without a flash. This is becoming more and more obvious to me.

During dinner, as is also usually the case, inappropriate conversation ensued. This particular evening we were treated to a drunk patron sitting at the bar who took it upon himself to insert his two cents. I asked/told him "Don't listen. Please don't listen." Kyla church fingered him and told him "This is not your business."

He kinda' got the hint but not really.

After the game (Thank you Cowboys for another great one!) finished and said drunk patron paid his bill, he approached our table. He mumbled something about we should be in a movie or have a movie made about us.

He then proceeded to unzip his vest and show us the Paramount logo on his tshirt. Um, ok was about all we could summon. As if a tshirt with a logo indicates you are in the movie making business. And if he truly was, does he think we would be interested in entrusting our lives, our stories with him?

Freaks seem to find us. Wherever we go.