4th of July Weekend: The One Where We Did All the Things

Hello! Did all my American friends have a good 4th of July? And did all my non-American friends have a good 4th of July minus the fireworks and the waving of American flags? ;) 

Both Jordan and I were off work Thursday and Friday, and it was the best 4-day weekend I can remember in recent history. Mostly because I can't remember the last time I had a 4-day weekend. We ate popsicles on the back deck, went to the park multiple times, went to the science museum, went to a 4th of July party, stayed up late to watch fireworks, had a friend come over, got ice cream, and I took an afternoon nap every. single. day. while J napped and R watched Daniel Tiger (she hasn't napped in over a year and a half; we've tried), and I have no regrets about any of it.

I also love that the kids get more time to be together. Since they are at daycare all day during the week in separate classes, sometimes I feel guilty and wonder if it's going to hurt their relationship at all. But they really do love each other, and there are some super sweet moments. Of course, they also can get into it pretty hard, but we always make them apologize and give hugs, and I pray they will grow up knowing they always have each other.

It's crazy hot here in Oklahoma, and I don't even care. Summer can stay forever as far as I'm concerned, minus my most hated of all things: mosquitos. I tried to sit out on my deck last night after the kids were in bed and they destroyed me. They don't care one squat about Jordan, which he claims is from all the garlic he eats constantly (seriously never met anyone who loves garlic as much as that guy does), but they have always loved me, and I do not share their feelings.

Over the weekend we discovered our bird, which we were told was a boy when we bought him a year ago, is actually a girl. Jordan came running in shouting something about Moses having laid an egg. AN EGG. I was like, what? Apparently they can lay unfertilized eggs, and the kids were very confused and excited about the sudden appearance of an egg in the cage. Jordan was like, "I had suspicious... I never could get her to sing like male birds are supposed to." I said, "What do girl birds do?" And he said, "They lay eggs." There are currently three eggs. So that's happening apparently. 

I pretty much don't watch TV these days, but my long afternoon naps the past few days have given me the ability to stay up past my usual bedtime, and I've been watching the Netflix show Dead to Me. I don't know if watching 6 episodes in 2 days is a true "binge watch," but that's certainly more TV than I've watched at one time in a very, very long time. I was a little scared because it's Netflix and rated TV-MA, and I was prepared to turn it off if it was bad, but I was surprised to find that so far, the worst of it is really just a fair amount of the F word. I don't say that lightly, of course. I don't like the F word. However, if I have to choose that over nudity and a lot of crude sexual references, I'll take some cursing. Anyone else watched it? I have a few episodes left still!

Jordan and I also watched the new Netflix movie with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston Murder Mystery. We are really living up our long weekend! We never watch movies! It was ridiculous as expected but mildly entertaining, and I didn't hate it. I wouldn't watch it again, but it was amusing and not as dumb as other Adam Sandler movies I've seen (I've just never been a fan of that type of humor.)

I read Daisy Jones and The Six in about a day over the span of two days. The kids have been loving our splash pad in the backyard, and I got some good reading in on Thursday while they played for an hour or so. Here's my Goodreads review if you're interested. Basically, it is getting a ton of buzz right now, and it's legit. Super creative, unique book. I read it, but I think it would be an excellent book to listen to on audio.

On July 4th, I took engagement photos for a friend of Jordan's. Or, should I say I took photos *of* their engagement. So far in 2019 I've now taken photos of a home water birth and a live engagement. These type of events are stressful! Like, if you miss the moment it's over and done, and you can't be like, oh wait, yeah... my setting was off and the photo is blown out. Can you get down on one knee again, and can she act surprised?  Or, So, the photo of your baby coming out of you was way too dark. Can you please put him back in? I don't think so! But thankfully she said yes, and everything went well, and I think I got some good ones. Really expanding my photography portfolio this year! Not that I'm going to quit my job and be a professional photographer, but it's fun.

I'm not happy our holiday is over and it's back to the daily normal tomorrow BUT, my birthday is on Wednesday, so that's fun! The kids have swim lessons all week, so I think we will probably just wait and go to dinner to celebrate next weekend. We are going to try a new-to-us pizza place! I love doing something new for my birthday. But on the actual day, I'm thinking I'll take a half day in the afternoon, and maybe leave work and go home and take a nap before picking up the kids. Although honestly I'll probably cave and go pick them up immediately because I can't handle it ;)

Hope you had a great weekend and have a great week!

Best of the Olympics (for people who didn't watch them)

It has come to my attention that not everyone is obsessed with the Olympics like I am. If that's you, I don't understand it, and I can only assume you're dead inside.

The closing ceremonies are Sunday, and honestly I think I'll just burn my TV after this because there's no point in life anymore. For all of you heathens who have been missing out, I thought I would compile a list of great Olympic moments from the past week. There are obviously a ton more, but here are a few favorites of mine:

United States Wins First EVER (as in, ever in history) Gold Medal in Cross-Country Skiing

Watch this footage of the final sprint to the finish between Switzerland, the USA, and Norway and TELL ME YOU DON'T GET GOOSEBUMPS. I was literally jumping up and down and screaming at the TV.

Germany & Canada Tie for Gold in the 2-man Bobsled

All the other sleds have gone except Canada. The Germans stand in first place and Freak. Out. when the Canadian sled comes through the finish in a tie. Seeing how excited both teams were for each other is everything I love about the Olympics. Watch it here.

Shaun White (USA) Wins Gold in Snowboarding

He got a gold medal in this event in 2006 and 2010. He didn't medal in 2014 and came back to the Olympics after a serious snowboarding accident. He was behind after 2 runs and had one chance to be perfect for gold. Watch it here.

Photo Finish in the Men's 15km Mass Start

You guys, these cross-country skiing races gave me life this Olympics. So much excitement! The skier from France (the one on the right in this photo) got silver at the last Olympics after a photo finish and ended up with another photo finish this time! Watch it here.

United States Brother/Sister Ice Dancers Win Bronze

I really wasn't a huge fan of ice dancing, but actually it was kind of neat to watch. I got into it. And these two are siblings! They have a YouTube channel and are just super cute, I think. Can you imagine doing this with your sibling? They skated in the 2014 Olympics but didn't medal, and this time they got bronze!

Ester Ledecka from the Czech Republic Wins Gold in Two Different Sports

She first shocked everyone when she won gold in Alpine skiing. She was so shocked herself, in fact, that she stared at the screen blankly for a few seconds and told the reporter afterward that she thought there had been a mistake. Then later in the week she took gold in snowboarding! Watch her reaction to winning gold in skiing here.

Did you watch the Olympics? What was your favorite moment? What's your favorite sport to watch?

Currently June

reading: I'm in the middle of The Selected Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder, which normally I would be all over because I have all the heart eyes for the Little House on the Prairie, but I seriously lie down in my bed to read at night and get about three pages before my eyes start to close. Some day I won't be tired, but that day is not now.

watching: Jordan and I are obsessed with The Flash. The first few episodes are super nerdy and kind of cheesy, but oh man this show is so good. Plus you can barely find good shows these days that aren't full of swearing and sex!

feeling: Anxious for Baby Bum to join the party on the outside. My due date isn't officially until the 23rd, but I keep hoping he will take after his big sister and come early. The week of R having hand, foot, mouth followed directly by a week of me having the strep totally killed it for me, and I am over everything right now. My hips hurt all the time, I basically can't roll over in bed without a colossal effort, and being at work is dumb. Motivation, where are you?

working on: The crib to toddler bed transition. And by that I mean we going to make this happen because Baby Boy will be using the crib in a few months, and we can't be dealing with this bed madness once he comes. I like to think my mom and Jordan's mom have useful and helpful parenting advice seeing as how they each raised four kids, but in this matter they give us a blank stare and respond with: "Hmmm, I'm not quite sure how we did that." Thanks for nothing, moms! It's just confusing because no one seems to have any specific advice about this. Not even the Internet, which is weird because usually the Internet has a lot to say about everything. Needless to say, we don't know what we are doing, but like everything else involving parenting, I suppose we just move forward and hope for the best! Would anyone like a post about this? I fear it might bore everyone to tears, but if there's interest I might write something up, at least for my own reference later on when we are doing this with Baby Bum #2 down the road.

eating: Let's just say if you cut up a watermelon and want to eat any of it yourself, don't tell me there's watermelon because there might not be any left after I'm done with it.

making: Gifts for our L&D nurses! I didn't do this for R because I didn't know people did things like this, but I saw a printable on Rachel's blog and thought it was so cute and also easy and cheap (important!), so I made some last weekend. I don't have a hospital bag packed, but I do have M&Ms for the nurses so I'm winning at one thing, at least. Also making padsicles for post-delivery because they were the best ever last time. I'm living a glamorous life right now, friends.

organizing: The nursery closet! I mentioned a few posts back that Jordan was going to put a shelf in the closet. I'm thankful it's a walk-in, although it isn't huge, but he did finally add a shelf to one side, and I feel like it gives me more space to work with. My mom stayed for a few days last week and helped clean my house and organize things, and I do think this is an improvement! I totally forgot to take a picture of the before closet, but I have a during and after for you. P.S. That recliner/rocker is from Babies R Us, and I looooooove it.

I don't know how many more posts I'll get up before the baby comes. My motivation and ability to stay away in the evenings after R finally goes down is dwindling quickly. I do have a couple of sponsored posts coming up that I'm excited about, and I also want to do a roundup of baby stuff I've been loving lately from around the Internet! Until then, I hope you all have a great week!

Currently March

linking up with anne today!

watching

Angi alerted me to the fact that The Great British Baking Show has new episodes on Netflix, so I'm all excited. That show is so great! Although so hard to watch them make delicious pies and cakes when all I can think about is chocolate cake. Look. America can invent the iPhone. I don't understand why we don't have TVs that deposit dessert out of them. It can't be that hard.

eating
This chicken fajita pasta. It really is a one-pot dinner (plus a couple of bowls). Try it using homemade taco seasoning. Yum.

saying
How relieved I am that after almost two weeks I finally feel like a halfway decent non-sick person. I can (mostly) breathe out of both nostrils. You don't even know.

wearing
The same rotation of clothes that fit this baby [boy] bump.

posting
-How to Support Working Moms
-Book Review Roundup
-Valentine's Love Story in 10 Questions
-20-Week Bump Update
-Favorite Baby/Toddler Items 0-18 Months

Gilmore Girls Revival: I Have Thoughts

So I finally finished the Gilmore Girls Revival last week, and I didn't think I was going to be that person who posted an entire blog post about my reaction to it, but I need to talk about this and hopefully some of you are GG fans and will care and respond so we can chat. Oh, and please know that I realize I'm thinking too much about all of this and it's a TV show and not the end of the world, but for some reason I clearly have an emotional attachment to this based on the strong feelings that arose after I finished.

I will also say that I recognize that my preference in both movies and books is an ending that ends and is not a cliffhanger. I know some people would say that that's boring and not letting the audience be creative with imagining things, but I don't care. I like bows, and I'm not ashamed to say so. Real life is messy enough, so I like my fake TV life to have periods. 

Finally, I should let you know that I have always been Team Jess. Sure, he was a punk at first but he turned out to be awesome and he understood Rory the best and I just loved them together. Or, okay really I just loved him, but the point is, Team Jess forever.

Now then.

The first two episodes were amazing, in my opinion. Cameo after cameo of past cast members made it such fun to watch. I kept shouting, "There's ____!" and it was so great. Paris was my favorite part of the whole revival. I know a lot of people loved Emily, and she was great too, but that scene in Episode 2 when Paris and Rory are in the bathroom and Paris is having a meltdown was hi-freaking-larious, and I laughed out loud more than once. I loved every minute. I thought the Jason Stiles appearance was unexpected and nice (I know a lot of people hated his character in the series, but I actually kind of liked him and Lorelai). I wish they had been able to get Max to come back too!

I was a little confused overall about how quickly the timeline was going. Did anyone else get distracted by the jump between Winter and Spring? At the end of Winter, Lorelai and Emily were going to go to counseling the next week and everyone was wearing puffy coats and it was SNOWING and then it's the beginning of the Spring episode and they are sitting in their first counseling session wearing flowery dresses? In a week???? Maybe I missed something.

There are no words for how surprising and awesome it was to see Mr. Kim finally make an appearance. Loved it.

I was obviously distraught to find out that Rory was basically Logan's mistress. Sleeping with someone while they are engaged to someone else? I don't know a single person who would tell you that's okay. I never liked Logan in the regular series, and it didn't surprise me at all to discover that he's still a sleazy playboy. What did surprise me, however, is how the Palladinos wrote Rory's character. Sleeping with Logan is one thing (I guess), but she apparently has a boyfriend she can't break up with, so she's cheating on him too! I thought the Paul thing was funny at first, but then it just got old and dump him already. 

Maybe I'm just not smart enough to understand the symbolism that was going on there. I felt like it was a random and funny plot for the first episode, but are we really supposed to believe she strung him alone for an entire year and he just went along with it? Who is this guy?

As an editor and someone relatively knowledgable about the publishing world, I found Rory's career path unlikely, if not completely unbelievable. She's a freelance writer who wrote a really successful piece in the New Yorker but now can't find work anywhere? But she has money to fly back and forth to Europe weekly? Are we to assume she got money after Richard's death and that's what she lives on? So many questions.

And okay, the book thing. You can't just say you're going to write a book and then write a book and you are instantly a success and going to be rich and famous. Writing is a very difficult career to break into that most can't actually do full time. And lots of people write books and a lot of them are terrible and don't make any money at all. Arg.

So Winter and Spring were fantastic, and then Summer took a nosedive into lame town. I found the poolside scene odd to open the episode, and then the musical. The musical. The internet seems divided on this, so give me your opinion. Love or hate the musical? For me it was pretty much solid hate. I think they could have showed the first scene so we could get the gist and then moved on but no. We had to watch what felt like 3 hours of ridiculousness that didn't have anything to do with anything. I get that it was supposed to be silly and weird and Stars Hollow-y, but it went on tooooooo loooooooong.

So then we get to Fall. I thought it was pretty cliche that Lorelai was going to do Wild, so I loved and appreciated the fact that they made fun of it. And the Parenthood cameos (!!!!!). Love. Although did it make anyone else mad that she bought all this brand-new hiking gear and then just gave it all away? I know it was supposed to be symbolic, but seriously that pack and all that stuff cost a ton of money! She could have sold it to someone else or tried to return it or something. I'm probably overthinking this.

This post is getting long, so let's cut to the ending. 

WHAT ON EARTH.

Some people probably saw this coming? I don't know. All I can tell you is that I think it's rude. If you're going to go through the trouble of bringing back all the cast and doing this big revival series years later, don't end on a cliffhanger. I felt like I got less resolution than I had at the end of the original series, and if you couldn't tell already, I'm not happy about it.

I get that it all comes full circle. Now Rory will be a single mom, blah blah. Okay. But seriously, people. And let's not forget that this was the ending that was planned years ago that never got written. It has a totally different meaning now that Rory is older, so I don't know if I agree that the writers should have been married to those ending words for this revival. And again, rude.

There were a few bright spots: Lorelai and Luke getting married, obviously. And the scene with Dean and Rory in the market was absolute perfection. That for me was probably the best "closure moment." Paris was a bright spot for me because she's hilarious, and I loved the story Lorelai called to tell Emily about her dad on her birthday buying her a pretzel. I like that they imply that Michel stays at the Dragonfly because Lorelai is expanding, and it seems like Lorelai and Emily are on the path to a better relationship. Emily seems happy, and I totally loved her DAR rant.

But here's what I'm unsettled about. And by unsettled I mean mad.

Christopher is obviously still in love with Lorelai and seems sad and lonely, which for me was depressing. Since he and Lorelai are clearly not going to ever get together, I wish we could have seen him happily dating or even married! And he and Rory seem to have this awkward relationship too, so it was just all kind of sad. (Side note, he hasn't aged a bit!)

Another low point? JESS WASN'T AT THE WEDDING. Michel and Lane were there. I think it was lame of the writers to not have Jess be there too. And speaking of Jess, he is way too good for Rory. Like I already said, I have always been Team Jess and Rory, and I guess I still am, but after watching the revival, I think I'm really just Team I Want Jess to Be Happy, and he still seems a bit lost, obviously pining for Rory, who doesn't deserve him because she is sleazy and a hot mess. 

I guess Jess is Rory's Luke, and we should imagine that at some point way down the road they end up together? But that's too long for Jess to be unhappy in the meantime, in my opinion. Maybe I need to not be so obsessed with Jess? Don't answer that.

At the end of the day, I really enjoyed the revival, but to be honest I can't help but feel like the ending might have ruined it for me. Maybe I just need some more time to process. I thought they did some things that were great and other things that were a dud. Seeing all the old cast was probably the most fun, and I'm glad the saga of the Final Four Words has been put to rest. Amy Sherman-Palladino, you are an evil genius, that's for sure.

I know that in life things don't always go according to the plan, and things don't always get wrapped up in a neat red bow, but TV is not real life, and I have to shamelessly admit that I just really wanted my bow. And dang it, I wanted Rory with Jess.

Did you watch the revival? What was your favorite part? What was your least favorite? What did you think of how it ended? Were you/are you Team Jess, Team Dean, or Team Logan?

*For more reading, I liked and agreed with many of the points discussed in this article. There were also a few interesting articles on Slate if you want to Google it.

Confession Session vol 4

1. I got our Christmas cards in the mail a few weeks ago, and they've been sitting on our table addressed, stamped, and ready to send out since before Thanksgiving. But I wait (very impatiently) for December 1, which is what I consider to be the earliest possible time to send out Christmas cards without looking crazy. This happens every year because I love sending out Christmas cards so much.

2. Speaking of Christmas, I don't get why pictures of babies sitting on Santa's lap screaming their heads off are funny. The kid is clearly terrified! Why are we taking pictures and sharing them all over the internet? This seems like cruel and unusual punishment, but maybe that's just me. I probably made some people mad just now.

3. I bought a half gallon of ice cream two days ago and it's half gone, and Jordan's only eaten one bowl, so I can't even blame him for most of it but I'm going to anyway.

4. I've watched two episodes of the Gilmore Girls Revival so far, and it is completely and totally fulfilling all my TV hopes and dreams. It's clear that I have a mildly embarrassingly strong emotional attachment to these characters, because every time a new cast member appears in the scene, I shout, "It's ____!" like I'm meeting an old friend I haven't seen in a while. Oh, and Jordan claims he doesn't care, but he sat down of his own choice and watched the whole second episode with me and told me very specifically to not watch the third episode without him, so that's all I'll say about that.

5. R has regressed somewhat and is back to her old biting habits at daycare. It's actually really stressful because I'm not there to see it and so I really can't do anything about it. I picked her up the other day and they said, "She had a few attempted bitings but not as many as usual." Of course I was horrified and said, "HOW MANY IS USUAL?" And they said it depended on the day and her mood, so apparently she's 15 months old and moody. Yay. Jordan says she got that from me, and I can't even disagree. I'm moody.

6. I really really really want to find more blogs written by full-time working moms. And by more, I mean any. I do follow a few bloggers who work full time (to name a couple off the top of my head: Katie, Leslie, Christina, Rachel, Steph), but for the most part bloggers either don't have kids or stay at home. And a lot of the bloggers who do work don't blog very often, which I understand because hello, who has the time? (Me, apparently. I must be doing something wrong.) And when I do actually find a new blogger who works full time, she doesn't reply to any comments I leave! Apparently replying to blog comments is not what the cool kids are doing these days. I was really excited because a couple of bloggers I read consistently and were pregnant were going to work full time, but then they quit their jobs and now stay at home so that ruined that. I'm so very happy for them, of course, but I just sometimes don't feel like people get me anymore and are tired of me writing about motherhood and working, etc. And I start to get a complex about it and question the point of everything. ANYWAY. I could go on but I'm already tired of myself.

7. I've been taking R to the park with me right after work. We don't even go home; we just drive straight to the park and play for a half hour or so, and we both love it. She is so funny! Last time, we sat on the ground while she sat and poked sticks through a hole in the bench for a full fifteen minutes. I'm not even kidding, and if you know toddlers, you know that fifteen minutes is a long time to focus on one specific activity. I tried to get her to go down the slide or climb the ramp, but she just screamed and ran back toward the sticks. She also dives headfirst down all the slides, or at least she tries to and sometimes I let her because why not. I was talking to a mom I ran into one day who said her two-yr-old daughter just got over her fear of the slide, and I was like, "Yeah, we don't have that problem." Fearless, that one. Hold me.

8. Every night I go to bed wearing a sweatshirt and sweatpants, and every night I wake up a few hours later covered in sweat and rip off my pants and sweatshirt and swear I will never fall asleep with them on again. But I'm cold when I first get in bed, so what's the solution? Maybe I need to buy an electric blanket or something. Or tell Jordan to get over himself and come to bed when I do so I can snuggle up. That guy is a furnace.

9. When you have a husband who plays video games, you sometimes hear some ridiculous things coming from his room. (For example: this) A few weeks ago I was passing by and heard, "Well dang it. There goes 20k and all of our cocaine." I immediately popped my head in and was like, "Um, excuse me?" And he says, "We're drug dealers, okay? We just got robbed!" So I looked at the screen and his character was literally a skinny dude in a polo shirt and frat boy shorts and loafers hiding in a warehouse. Who is this person I married? I told him I was going to tweet about it, but I never did because without context I didn't want people to get the wrong idea about us. I also told him that once R starts talking and not just babbling, he won't be able to play those types of games because what are we supposed to do if she repeats that kind of thing to the daycare teachers???? They'll send DHS over with sniffer dogs or something. Gracious.

10. Thanksgiving potlucks completely ruined our November food budget, and I don't even care. I refuse to stop the bleeding and went to the new Trader Joe's last week and spent a rather absurd amount of money on an individual serving of microwavable organic frozen mac and cheese. And let me tell you: it was delicious.

Want to confess something? Go right ahead. This is a safe space, friends.

See also: Confession Session vol 1. / vol 2. / vol 3.

Ask Anything Answers: Part 5

1. What's your favorite TV show?

Friends is my all-time favorite. However, I also love Castle, My Boys, Alias, and Parenthood.

The only show I watch semi-regularly that is currently on the air is The Middle. I watch Downtown Abbey, but I'm still on the season from last year.

2. What's your best tip for bloggers?

Have fun. I know that sounds too easy, but seriously. Unless you're making a ton of money off your blog and it's your job, your blog is a hobby! It's like exercising or scrapbooking or cooking or anything else you like to do. If you don't like it, don't do it! So make sure you're having fun with your blog and blogging about things that YOU want to blog about. If you start caring too much about what other people think, that's the best way to stop having fun and the fastest way to kill your blog.

3. What do you and Jordan do for fun?

I'll be honest. This question caused me some anxiety.

Truthfully, Jordan and I aren't very exciting. We don't travel all that much, and we don't work out together or cook together much anymore (we did that while we were dating, and then it kind of died). So I was sitting here having a panic attack like DO WE EVEN HAVE FUN TOGETHER?

We like playing Skip-Bo. If you don't know what that is, you need to rethink some stuff. We go for frozen yogurt dates or out for ice cream occasionally. As I mentioned in my anniversary recap post, lately we've been rewatching Star Wars so we can be ready for the new movie coming out this winter. When Jordan watched the trailer, he had tears in his eyes. I'm not joking.

We always read at night before we go to sleep, and even though technically I guess we're not really interacting, I like doing that with him.

When we're on road trips to Texas, we play 20 questions sometimes. Jordan is very good. He stumps me almost every time, which is saying something about his items and my lack of ability to ask good questions.

So, basically we're not very fun? I guess? I don't know. What do YOU do for fun?

4. What is the absolute best trip you have ever taken?

Okay, I obviously can't choose best trip ever, because I've been on so many great ones. But three trips immediately stood out to me when I thought of this question:

1. Family trip to Hawaii in 2002 (couldn't find any pictures)
2. Trip to Greece during January term, senior year in college 2008

3. Mission trip to Nicaragua in 2014. We went with a group from our church, including Jordan's parents.

Read more about our trip to Nicaragua!

sights from the bus

the vet care and eye clinic 

the medical clinic we set up in a remote village

sightseeing and ziplining

5. What are your greatest pet peeves?

These are the first ones that came to mind:
-People who say they're going to come to something and then don't come
-People who don't use turn signals
-People who say they don't like a food item even though they've never tried it
-People who misuse the word "literally"
-People who slow down to look at an accident that is on the OTHER SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY, thus causing an unnecessary traffic jam and making me late to work.* 

*This is a hypothetical scenario that didn't just happen to me last week.

6. What are your guilty pleasures?

-Hershey's chocolate. I'm not a huge fan of candy bars, but I'm a sucker for the plain chocolate.

-One Tree Hill. This show is so stupid. I hate myself when I watch it, but it's a good fluffy show to watch while I'm scrapbooking.

-Sometimes I feeling like blogging is a guilty pleasure because I probably could be doing something more productive with my time.

-Anything on this list.

That's all for now!

Want to ask a question? Click here.

See also: Ask Anything 1 / 2 / 3 / 4

Things I Like Doing (When I'm Not Blogging)

If you were to ask Jordan what I normally like to do on the week days after I get home from work, he would probably tell you I blog. A lot. And while that is true, blogging is not the only hobby I enjoy, nor is it (if I can toot my own horn) the only hobby I am good at. 

In case you're interested, here are some other things I like doing when I'm not blogging:

1. Crochet

I learned how to crochet in high school, and I've been doing it ever since. Mostly blankets and scarves because, let's be honest, I can't crochet anything not in a straight line. I tried to make a hat once, but it never turned up and I ended up with a giant circle potholder. Not really the same thing.

I've made blankets for almost everyone in my family by now. Here's a picture of my brother and I from this past Christmas with the blanket I made him. 

Crocheting is mostly a winter hobby because it's dang hot to have a huge blanket in your lap in the middle of summer, but it's so fun to snuggle up on the couch with my crochet hook and an episode of Downton Abbey.

Plus, it's awesome to see a $40 scarf in the window of LOFT and say, "I could totally make that myself!" Boom.

2. Scrapbook

I have my grandma to thank for my love of scrapbooking. Back in the day she was a Creative Memories consultant, so she was always buying us tons of paper and books to scrapbook with. My wedding scrapbook took me an entire year to finish and is the one I think I'm the most proud of. I also have books from middle school (that are quite hilariously terrible) and high school.

Sadly, in recent years physical scrapbooking has gone digital, and I haven't worked on a scrapbook in a long time. I do love making photo books in Shutterfly, though. I have one of 2013 and 2014 (if I don't do it immediately, it doesn't get done), and I made ones for our trips to Nicaragua and South Dakota.

This year, 2015, I've started something I'm really excited about: Project Life. I have Christina to thank for the inspiration to start! She is doing one herself and was really helpful in getting me pointed in the right direction. It can seem overwhelming at first.

I made a Project Life Inspiration Pinterest board to get the ideas flowing, and I finally got started last weekend. I'm loving it so far!

Follow Amanda Bumgarner's board Project Life Inspiration on Pinterest.

If you're interested, you can find out more about Project Life here. It's basically a hybrid of a scrapbook and a photo album. It's supposed to be quicker and easier than a traditional scrapbook while allowing you to add creative flair to the pages. I'm still totally a newbie to all of this, but feel free to let me know if you have any questions!

3. Read

Duh. This shouldn't surprise anyone. My parents saw it coming at the ripe old age of 4.

Usually I read a half hour to an hour before bed every time. Of course, that all depends on how tired I am/how long I get sucked into scrolling through my FB feed. Just keeping it real.

Follow me on Goodreads if you aren't already!

4. Watch TV

Yes, I do love watching my shows, although I'm typically doing something else while watching TV like blogging, editing pictures, or crocheting. Rarely do I just sit and watch TV for hours on end.

Jordan and I particularly enjoy the following: Friends (I own all 10 seasons and have seen them so much I can quote them all, but you can never have too much Friends), Parks & Rec (it's an acquired taste, but it's hi-larious), Castle (we're watching them on DVD and are only on Season 4 currently), The Middle, New Girl, and Modern Family. I also love Parenthood and Downton Abbey. One Tree Hill is terrible, but it's my Netflix guilty pleasure. Don't judge me.

5. Cook & Bake

I enjoy cooking and baking. I do not enjoy doing dishes, but that's inevitable I suppose. I love trying out new recipes and also making delicious staples we know and love. And I like baking cookies and pies. Yum!

Pictured: Pioneer Woman's French Silk Pie. Get in my belly.

Feel free to check out my Pinterest board of "Entrees I've Tried and Liked"

Follow Amanda Bumgarner's board Entrees I've Tried & Liked on Pinterest.

6. Run

Duh x 100. You guys, I literally cannot imagine my life without running. I say literally because I've tried, and I can't do it. All I see when I think back to those days before running is a giant black hole of sadness. I'm not exaggerating.*

*I might be exaggerating.

I know people say they hate it and blah blah blah, but you will not be able to convince me that you would not (double negative!) love running if you gave it a legitimate try and were patient enough to keep going even when you feel like you're dying. I might have to force myself out for a run because it's cold or I'm tired, but I never feel better than when I come back from a run. It's just the best.

// Want to know what it's like to run with me? Click here.

So those are just a few things I enjoy doing in my spare time or when I'm not blogging! Honorable mention goes to: organizing random crap, wandering the aisles of Target (click here for more on how I feel about Target), perfecting my selfie pose, Googling funny questions, and clipping my fingernails, which seem to grow at an abnormally fast rate.

Do we have any of these in common? Any Project Life fans out there? 
What hobbies do you enjoy?

Why the Bachelor Contestants are Crazy

I got a comment on my last post that someone thought something terrible had happened to me, due mostly to the emo picture and dramatic lighting and also partly because of the Bible verse. When someone quotes a Bible verse, you know it's getting serious. 

So let me just say that no, nothing terrible has happened to me other than two nights ago, when I made a terrible awesome fashion decision and put on my nightgown from LLBean (my Christmas present to myself, thankyouverymuch) and then I added sweatpants AND...wait for it...a hoodie ON TOP OF my nightgown.

Holy moly, right? 
My husband is a lucky, lucky man.

ANYWAY, moving on to more important things like The Bachelor.

Right now, everyone I know is crazy about this show. The only season I actually did watch straight through was the one with Jason (above) and Melissa. That was the season with the awkward on-screen breakup during the "after the final rose"--the breakup that ABC tried to pretend was real but was completely staged. 

I don't watch it on my own because I now watch The Biggest Loser, which is also on Monday nights, but I have a group of girlfriends who watch The Bachelor every week, and every so often I go watch it with them because everyone knows it's funner to make fun of stupid people with a group of friends. 

I think we can all agree that the people on this show are ridiculous. What I have always wondered is why? Where do these loonies come from? Well, today I looked up the casting application, and let me tell you--it is awesome. No wonder the producers are able to find such nut jobs. Following are a few of my favorite questions from the application. You can tell they're really trying to weed out the quality people.

Have you ever been arrested, charged or convicted of a crime of any type?
If so, please give details and dates. 

They start off with a relatively normal question. This is something basic you put on a job application. But then here's the followup question...

Have you ever had a temporary restraining order issued against someone or had one issued against you?

Who wants to bet the ABC producers actually LIKE it when someone says yes. 
Bring on the psychos. Like this chick:

Do you drink alcoholic beverages? What’s your favorite drink?

Why do they want to know this? They want you to get drunk so you do weird things like this:

If you have been previously married, why are you no longer together?

Please refer to question two. That restraining order speaks for itself. 

List the date when such marriage(s) were legally dissolved.
This can only mean they've had people apply who are still legally married. Now that would be a twist.


Do you have any tattoos? If yes, what are they? And where are they located on your body?

I just don't understand this question. At all. Knowing this type of information is only relevant if you're planning on doing this: 

And it's really not even relevant then.

The application ends by asking contestants to submit anywhere from 5 to 15 pictures.
Fifteen pictures? That seems excessive. Hopefully no one is submitting any like this:

Although I do feel like we should know in advance how a person looks while crying. The uglier the better, I say. 

ABC is kind enough to also offer the option to submit a casting video. Apparently they've got some real dummies applying via video. Check out the taping instructions I found. Here are my favorite requirements:

#6: Do not chew gum.

#7: Make sure you are framed properly. A medium close-up shot is from just below the waist to just above the head, like this: 

This is serious. That picture is actually in the directions. Because the sentence isn't clear enough, I guess. And the stick man is WINKING. Winking! 


So there you have it. Obviously those casting questions are perfectly staged to find the wackos. I bet any girl who has a restraining order out against her is automatically in. But, after all, that's why it's so much fun to watch. Not for the love stuff but for the pure insanity. 

(P.S. For some fun Bachelor recaps from the current season, check out Helen's blog.)