Grocery Shopping (018/365)

Day 18 Happy: Grocery shopping!

I remember going grocery shopping when I was a kid. I freaking hated it! Every once and a while, my Mom would load all us kids into the car and truck us down to the Commissary on base to do MAJOR grocery shopping. My sister and I, being awesome as we are, would make up games to play during the marathon trip. Our favorite was pretending that one of us was deaf, and we would do ridiculous (fake, and terrible) sign language to each other. We thought we were totally convincing, and that anybody walking by would think that one of us was really deaf, and that we were talking to each other via sign language.

Looking back, I realized that we probably just looked like idiots.

Now, grocery shopping is fun. Far less entertaining and politically incorrect, but fun. I enjoy shopping. Period.

And grocery shopping is technically shopping. Fun. Also, being that Marc and I are on a pretty strict budget (the wedding is eating my bank account, along with my soul), we have to keep track of what we are spending. It is like a game! I carry around my little notebook, making hash marks for every dollar we spend. Besides, we get to pick out ONLY the food we want to eat. Fluffernutters for dinner? Why not?!

Sometimes, being a grown up is awesome.

Friends! (017/365)

Day 17 Happy: Visiting friends

Our friend (one of Marc's groomsmen, and all around good guy), John, got a promotion and is moving to South Carolina. While we are very, very happy for him, we are also going to miss him terribly! Luckily, he had time today to meet us at the mall, where Marc and I made Bride and Groom Build-A-Bears:

Then he went to dinner with us, and came back to the house for dessert. I made my Gran's Chocolate Sheet Cake earlier in the day, and we ate some of that. My mom used to make the cake for me all the time on my birthday and it was my favorite growing up, but I haven't had it in years. It was delicious (see recipe below). Now we are going to watch Sherlock Holmes, which none of us have seen.

Good luck with your new job, John! We're going to miss you!

My Sherlock Holmes rating: 4 stars

Gran's Chocolate Sheet Cake: 
This recipe was written down for me by my Mom, and she got it from my grandmother on my Dad's side.

In a large bowl mix: 
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp cinnamon 
2 cups sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda 
(I also added a dash of 
cloves, which I think makes
any baked dish yummier.)

In sauce pan mix: 
2 sticks butter
4 tbls cocoa 
1 cup water
Bring to a boil and pour over
dry ingredients in bowl. 

Add:
 2 beaten eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla 

Blend well, pour in greased 
cookie sheet. Bake at 350 
about 20 minutes. 

Icing: 
In saucepan: 
Melt 1 stick butter
Add 4 tbls cocoa

Let cool 

Add 6 tbls buttermilk   
Add one (1 lb) box 
powdered sugar 
Beat well, pour over 
warm cake 
 

Zero Power! (016/365)

Day 16 Happy: Power outages

Today at work, the power inexplicably went out (twice, but only once while I was there) for almost an hour. It reminded me of being a little kid, when the power would go out during a thunderstorm, and we would sit around with candles.

Since it was work, we didn't have candles, or scary stories. But we did have almost an hour of confusion and chaos that made the workday go by just a little bit faster. Good thing we have a backup generator, so we had some lights in the bathroom and the air would kick on for a minute every once in a while. It was like a little work party in the dark.

Fun!

Fun Homework (015/365)

Day 15 Happy: Watching movies for homework

This summer, I have three online classes, an internship and my full-time job. All I do is do homework, and go to work. One of my classes ends in two weeks, but that is the same week my internship starts, so I am not likely to see a decrease in work.

My Shakespeare class is extremely daunting. I have been reading a play a week, and reading about the life of Shakespeare. It is a TON of reading, and I have started to think in Elizabethan Shakespeare-type talk (which is pretty good, considering the first time I tried to read Shakespeare, I had no earthly idea what they were talking about).

This week we are studying Hamlet. We are supposed to be watching the Kenneth Branagh version of the play on DVD and reading the play. But... the movie almost EXACTLY follows the play line for line, so I am killing two birds with one stone and reading along as I watch the movie. It's actually a pretty good movie, aside from the fact that it is over four hours long. I only made it about halfway through for today, but I look forward to the supposed appearance by Robin Williams (as a court jester or clown, I presume). When you get to watch a movie, homework isn't as bad.

I am also talking to my little brother (who just said to me "yay spongebob, boo shakespeare") on facebook, which always makes me happy. I miss my brothers and wish I could see and talk to them more often. I can't wait to see them when I go up to Georgia next month when Lyndsey gets home from Italy. He just introduced me to the Banana Song, which I will have stuck in my head for at least the next week. Thanks Jake!

Laser Beam! (014/365)

Day 14 Happy: Free laser hair removal treatments!

It has been two weeks of happy, and today is a good one! My friend (and lovely bridesmaid), Taylor, won a Tria Laser Hair Removal System earlier this year when we went to Nordstrom's Escape to Beauty fashion show. They have recently lowered the price, but it was worth $595 at the time.

When they called her name, Taylor, her sisters, her niece and I all screamed like she had just been chosen to play on The Price Is Right. Being the wonderful friend that she is, Taylor offered to zap me with her new laser so that I wouldn't be all hairy for my wedding.

Tonight she came over and gave me my first "treatment". I have been lasered all over my body. She started with my mustache (which I am most concerned about. I hate having a mustache, and plucking your upper lip feels like death), and moved on to the tiny little hairs that grow on my neck (thanks for the genes, Mama). After that, she did my legs below the knee and handed me that foul little gun so that I could do my own armpits.

Thank goodness she didn't lead with the armpits. I didn't feel ANYTHING at all anywhere else on my body except for a little heat until I got to the armpits. It felt, well, like lasers were shooting into my armpit.

I have to get treatments every two weeks for the next three month, and then three or four months more at one treatment a month. With five months until the wedding, I should be (nearly) hair free for pictures. And that's good, because I'm pretty sure no bride wants to pluck her mustache and underchin hair the morning of her wedding.

Hope the last two weeks have been as happy for you as they have been for me. :)