Oh, How Pinteresting and Walkabout Wednesday

If you have no interest my Pinterest, please refer to the post about how I wasted time last night before writing this post by staring at, and trying to be a mind-ninja with an optical illusion here. 

I was a little all over the place when pinning this week.
And if you follow me on Pinterest I'd like to make sure one thing is clear that might not be due to the nature of my recent pins.

 I AM NOT PREGNANT.

Have I been pinning lots of baby things?

Yes. 

I have reasons though.

1. I do want to have babies in a couple of years, and I have a miserable memory. So I don't want them to miss out on what I saw on Pinterest now, but couldn't remember because Mama is a crazy lady.

2. I FEEL LIKE EVERYONE  THAT IS MY AGE IS PREGNANT. 

And because of that, they're looking at a lot of baby stuff, therefore, that's what I'm seeing on my Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Blog feed. It's just there.

3. One of my best friends just found out she's having a boy. Therefore, it is my responsibility as a future "Auntie" to pin away at everything that I love for him. (And I admit, lots of things I would like for my own future babies too.)

So yeah, there are lots of things this week that had to do with babies.

But one more time, just in case and for good measure. 

I AM NOT PREGNANT AND PROBABLY WON'T BE ANYTIME SOON. MY

With that said.

OMG LOOK HOW PERFECT THIS ONSIE IS!!!!!

Source: m.gap.com via Tricia on Pinterest

Am I right?
If it's nautical, I love it.
Like let's just talk about all of these whales on this baby's shirt.

Source: etsy.com via Angela on Pinterest

This anchor says, "Take this onesie, put it on a baby, bring that baby to a beach, and have the cutest photo shoot of your life."

Source: etsy.com via Tricia on Pinterest

And you know what, when it comes to dressing toddlers, when in doubt, dress them like they're going on a fancy yacht and they are the captain.

Source: keytikat.tumblr.com via Tricia on Pinterest

Source: gap.com via Tricia on Pinterest

Now let's talk nursery. My friend is thinking an "Outdoors theme". And because I'm a good friend, I spent an hour on Pinterest looking at nursery themes. Surprise, most of them ended up being nautical. It's fine.

Source: honeyandfitz.blogspot.com via Tricia on Pinterest

Source: piccolielfi.it via Tricia on Pinterest

Source: babylay.s3.amazonaws.com via Tricia on Pinterest

Source: laybabylay.com via Tricia on Pinterest

Ok. Out of my system for now.

After Pinning baby stuff I like to remind myself of one of the reasons we are holding off for a few more years.
We are thinking about taking a "big" vacation before creating little humans that are going to try and run our lives for the rest of our existence.

We're talking different continent type vacation. (Which, I've never done.)

Now, we're holding off for a year or so because money, unfortunately, doesn't magically appear in our bank account when we say "Hey, I want  to travel."

So I've been doing a lot of pinning of cheap ways to make that happen and ideas in general.

Source: headedsomewhere.com via Tricia on Pinterest

Source: nomadicmatt.com via Tricia on Pinterest

These links actually have some pretty great suggestions and ideas. A good start to at least getting the juices flowing. And good to keep baby fever away right?

I mentioned in a post this Sunday Dave and I are taking the, "Sugar-Free Challenge". We are not eating any foods with added sugars for two weeks.

So far, it's going pretty well.
Buuuut it wasn't that great of an idea for me to start the challenge this week when I start working my job at a frozen custard stand this weekend!!!! (READ: MOST DELICIOUS ICE CREAM YOU'VE EVER HAD.)

We'll see how my will power holds up with that one. But I have the link to the website we're using as our guide on Pinterest. This features not only the rules we're following, but a lot of the meals/snacks that we have planned out to eat for the rest of the week.

Source: thegraciouspantry.com via Tricia on Pinterest

I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

And to wrap this super rando Pinterest post up, I shall leave you with some quotes that I liked this week.

Source: summersnowart.com via Tricia on Pinterest

Source: poehlerexpedition.tumblr.com via Tricia on Pinterest

Source: madjackie.blogspot.com via Tricia on Pinterest

Source: wholelotoflovely.tumblr.com via Tricia on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Tricia on Pinterest

Make sure to comment and let me know you were here so I can check your Blog or Pinterest out. 
I'd love to hear what you think about pinning baby things when you're not having a baby, traveling and how to do it on a budget, if you've ever done a sugar-free challenge, or what you think of the quotes. 

Comments on how you agree about how nautical themed everything for babies is perfect are also welcome. 

Feel free and follow me on Pinterest. 

Also, if you want to keep up with my blog after GFC goes away you can find me here on Bloglovin'.

Stay Awkward, 
Tricia

It's OK, OK?!

Thanks Neely and Amber for giving me a chance to affirm my life choices no matter how unhealthy and diluted they may be.

It's OK that I did a link-up yesterday and I'm participating in one again today. And guess what, I love Friday letters so I'm probably going to do that one too! And that's OK.

It's OK that if I didn't join this link-up today I was probably going to write about the West Nile Virus and other things on the news that scare me.
So just be happy I decided to do a link-up today.

It's OK that I'm addicted to my iPhone. And it's OK because everyone else is too.

It's OK that I decided to forgo the gym all week and have done Pilates and Yoga videos instead. AND I'm going to do it again today. I just hate having to pack up all of my stuff and get to the gym when I have to rush to work after. We all know what happens when I do that.
And if anyone would like to argue that I'm not getting a work-out, then you can just do Vinyasa yoga with me and we'll see how much you sweat!

It's OK that my school changed websites and I still have not created my new one. Like blogging I have to be in the right mood to get that sort of thing done. Because if I'm not there would be mucho swearing going on up in here.

It's OK that I'm a little sad for my summer job to end. Not only will I miss the paycheck, but I'll also kind of miss hanging out with college and high school kids handing out cones of frozen custard. It's a good time I promise.

It's OK that I pinned one of my own posts. I crafted and I'm not really a crafter so I feel like I'm allowed to be proud and pin that thing. (PS you can follow me on Pinterest here.)

It's OK that recently I have been watching the Youtube Vlog "Daily Grace" on a daily basis. She is ridiculously funny and the type of girl that when you watch her videos you're just like, "Yep, we should be best friends that make awkward jokes at each other." If you've never seen her, click the link above and check her out so you can spend an hour of your life watching a bunch of her videos. (Which is OK because I have.)

It's OK that I'm going to casually drop into school this morning to drop off some books when I really just want to check to see if my room's been vacuumed yet. Because if it hasn't then I'm probably just going to do it myself sometime this weekend.

It's OK that yesterday I took a 3 minute video of my cat meowing at me after my shower so I'd turn on the faucet, which may or may not also featured me talking back.
I have a dog (that I think I love more) so I officially can't be a crazy cat lady.

And finally, It's OK that I might try to squeeze in one more fun read on my Kindle before school starts, because we know that's not going to happen very often once it does!

What's OK with you today?

Pins Awkwardly in Real Life: DIY "I Love You Because" Board

As many of my regular readers know, my sister got married about a week ago.
When it came to giving a gift I found myself at a cross roads. I wanted to get her and her husband something special, that wold stand out in a long list of plates and silverware.
Something that was a little different. And something that had to do with love.

So, to Pinterest I turned.

Now, I'm not much of a crafter, but I found two relatively simple ideas that I really liked, and handmade which feels a little more thoughtful.
They also were pretty romantic, which I thought was appropriate for newlyweds right?

This calls for  a Pins Awkwardly in Real Life Post! Find my first post here.

It is true that I made two gifts. I'm going to do two separate posts so it doesn't get too long.
Today I'm going to share with you the "I Love You Because..." Board.

Now I am going to put this out there right now.
This project was in no way my idea. And I am in no way trying to take credit for it AT ALL.
The tutorial that I followed most closely is from the blog  "A Content Housewife".
(Which is a blog that I now follow because it is adorable.)
Here is the link to the Pin, and here is a link to her tutorial specifically. 
Newsflash: Hers is way cuter. She also decorated the frame. I was not that motivated.
There are also other pins that show examples and link to tutorials. Here, Here, Here, Here.
I could go on. Either way, just wanted to make sure you all knew this was not my idea and I am in NO WAY claiming it is. I just shamelessly copied it, used my own style, and made it awkward.

"I Love You Because..." Message Board: Awkwardly In Real Life

My journey started off at my local big box store in the craft aisle.
I found a set of scrapbooking paper that had a few different options. The colors were cool and there were plenty of pieces with patterns that weren't super busy.

And then because the printer we have isn't so great I decided to do the lettering with stickers. I chose two sets of stickers so the word love could be in bold.

After finding a two black 8X10 frames it was time to go home and get my craft on.

Yes I got two. Why? Well I wasn't going to just make one for my newlywed sister!
I knew I'd want one too so instead of putting it of to "sometime later" I decided to do both at the same time!

First I picked out the papers that I wanted for my sister, and one for myself.
Then, because I can't cut in a straight line, I took out stock photo from the frame, used a paperclip, and used that to guide my cutting.

Because I'm the type of person that will write diagonally if I don't have lined paper, I decided to paperclip scraps to make sure my letters went on straight.

For both of the boards I decided to go with lowercase letters for everything except the word love. That was in the bolder font and in all caps. I noticed that with most of the boards that I looked at as examples they did something different with the word love to make it pop.

Now one problem that I found at the end was that they did not provide me with any periods.
Not providing enough punctuation? Who did these stickers think they were?
I couldn't go without the ellipses!
For my sister's I used the dots of the leftover lowercase i's and j's/
When I got to mine I had run out.
 So I took matters into my own hands and very carefully, cut parts of the numbers off until they slightly resembled periods.

After staring at them for a little while in awe that I had created something so adorable I slipped them into the black frames and voila! They were done!
Here was my sister's

And the one that I made for myself.

Per advice from the tutorial that I followed, I also gave my sister a vis-a-vis marker as that supposedly erases easier than a white board marker.

Here are both of them side by side.

I made sure to get frames that could also be hung up on the wall, in case we ever run out of shelf space or have a bare wall that needs something in a future home.

But for now I've put mine right next to the TV in plain view for everyone to see why we love each other. As you can see it's already being put into good use!

The project was pretty easy and not a lot of clean up. It's a sweet touch to the house, and we've already exchanged a few notes to each other that have induced "awwwwww"s all around.

What do you think?

Inspiration for "The Speech".

My older sister, and Irish Twin, is getting married this weekend.

 *For those of you not familiar with the phrase, an Irish Twin refers to two siblings born about a year apart. Because  I guess apparently the Irish couldn't keep their hands off of each other? Either way,  my older sister and I fit into this category.*

It felt weird picking out a card to go with her gifts. Hallmark couldn't possibly fit the enormity of what I was feeling for my sister as she gets married onto a card with a photo of dresses.

And again it felt weird as I sat down to a blank screen and tried to type out the perfect Maid of Honor Toast for the reception.
There's just no way I can explain to all of those people in a 2-3 minute toast that is not only witty and humorous but also heartfelt, how unbelievably happy I am for her and new husband. It's just not humanly possible.

I started and stopped. Created, edited and deleted. I knew how I wanted to begin, I knew how I wanted it to end, I just had a hard time figuring out that pesky little thing that is the body of the speech.

I wanted to shut my computer and hire Jennifer Lopez to talk into my ear with one of those little blue tooth things one of the most beautiful speeches of all time.

Buuuuut that's not a solid plan because I hear J.Lo is pretty expensive these days, and probably not all that willing to travel all the way here.
Oh shucks.

So, like most women with something that they're avoiding, I turned to Pinterest to get inspired.

After looking at a few hairstyles and more than a few ecards I turned to quotes on love and marriage.

And voila! Like that I was inspired.
I wrote, and edited, and didn't do that much deleting.
I finally finished my speech and finally feel good about it.
While I won't post it here because my sister does occasionally read my blog, I wanted to share some of the pins that I liked the best. These are the pins that inspired me to go in the direction I wanted to in my speech and also got me thinking about my own marriage a little.

Actually, one of the quotes featured below I decided to actually use in my speech!
Can you guess which one???

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Have you ever had to write a MOH speech? Did you feel like you could come up with exactly the right words to say? How did it end up going?

Do you have any passages or quotes that you love about marriage or love? Please share the quote or even better a link to a pin below! Even though the speech has been written, I'm still married and always love me some new quotes.

And of course, if you like my pins then feel free and follow me on Pinterest.

I hope you guys have a great Thursday, Friday, and weekend! I  probably won't touch base until after the wedding. But then there will be more photos than you'll all care to see, so get ready!

What I'm Loving Wednesday/Oh, How Pinteresting Wednesday

It's Wednesday...

You can find these link ups here and here.

 Here's What I'm Loving This Wednesday...

I'm loving... that I've officially made it to the beach more times than I did last year...and counting! I'm feeling relaxed and fairly tan!

I'm loving... that I'm working a double today. Okay, not the fact that I'm working a double. But whenever I start to feel bad for myself about working a double I try and remember that I'm doing it to make some extra money. For extra expenses this summer, bills, and all of that shopping I've been doing lately. I do like the extra money. So yeah, let me sugar coat it for myself and say that I'm loving it as a remind that if I wasn't working I would not be ready for the end of the summer!

I'm loving... that the olympics start this weekend. When those start up I am a serious couch potato, cheering on the good old USA in sports that I otherwise probably wouldn't be super interested watching on TV. Can not wait!

I'm loving...how sweet and thoughtful my husband is. Yesterday after he left for work I woke up these.

Nothing special. Just a note and some fresh cut flowers from the back yard. But it's the little things that remind me why I decided to hang out with this guy for a really long time. It's the little things that make our marriage go round.

I'm loving... that I've been finding some awesome deals on clothing. My back to school shopping is almost finished. (Just need to find a nice pair of casual khakis that come in long. Leave a comment if you have a pair you can't live without.) Here are my most recent deals and steals.

At a Van Huesen outlet I got this sweater whose original price was $82. I got it for $25!

And this scarf whose original price was $30. I got it for $8!

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There's no photo, but yesterday I got another cardigan from Maurices.
Now they're having this super awesome sale where if you just try on a pair of jeans you get $5 off.  So, the sweater was already in clearance, and I tried on a pair of jeans because this girl ain't stupid. What did I end up paying?
Original price was: $35. I paid $2.50. 
I walked out feeling like I stole the sweater from them!


I'm also loving the shirts I have arriving in the mail today from American Eagle!

I'm loving... leftovers. Healthy leftovers that is.
When you work at a frozen custard stand all summer it's hard not to snack on junk food and the frozen custard itself ALL THE TIME. Unfortunately, I've gained the 5 pounds  I lost at the end of the school year back. Maybe even plus some. BLERG!
On the other hand,  the hubby and I have been trying to make healthy dinners all summer that are filling and low fat. So how do I solve my insane munching problem at work to match up my goals at home? Yummy leftovers of course! Today for lunch I'm having some delicious Taboulleh that we made last night! Thanks pinterest for the idea!

Speaking of Pinterest...

Oh, How Pinteresting...

Before I share my favorite pins, yesterday I wrote a post that is the first in a series of a few called "Pins Awkwardly In Real Life".  All of the posts are going to be about me trying out pins that I have done in real life, for better or for worse! My first post in the series is on a recipe for Butternut Squash Lasagna. Check out the post here!

Okay onto my recent favorite pins!

Some food:

A recipe for breakfast cookies. I've made them twice, they are both yummy and hearty.

Stuffed pork loin. Have not tried, but just looking at the photo makes my mouth water!

Some teaching pins since the school year is indeed just around the corner

This teacher has classroom decoration tips and organization ideas. I could sift through this for ages because my classroom needs to get itself organized this fall!

Rubric ideas for journaling.

And a few words that inspired me to move on and be positive about what could be ahead at a time last week that I was feeling a little down.

Here.

Here.

Here.

Thanks for stopping by today. If you'd like to follow me on Pinterest you can find me right here.

Happy Wednesday, and stay fabulous!