Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Can you ever have enough polos?

Is that a rhetorical question? Of course not.

Ok, so I may be a bit biased given that I pretty much live in polo shirts. It seems like between my husband and myself, we are constantly buying more. They are so comfortable, easy to layer, and look a lot more put-together than just throwing on a t shirt.

Anchored Style has some adorable polos for both men and women. I own one of their regular long-sleeve shirts and it is seriously one of the most comfortable things in my wardrobe. I would bet that the polos are even better!
If you're still looking for a cute holiday card idea, you could always get matching his and hers polos, and do a silly photo card.

It gets even better though because for today only, Anchored Style is having a sale on all polos. While they are normally $68, you can use code BOGOpolo to get two polos for the price of one! At $68 for two, it's a great deal! Stock up on basics for yourself for fall or consider starting your holiday shopping early.

Also, if you have not yet done so, you still have until tomorrow at midnight EST to enter my Anchored Style giveaway here.

Midweek randoms

*Husband surprised me with an iPad last night. It's the white 16GB one. I need to get the pink Smart Cover for it still.
*Have spent the past day playing around with it and setting it up. Do any of you iPad users have any apps that you recommend?
*Am still in a lot of pain. Going up stairs is easier than going down for. For the most part, I still spend most of my days in bed. I need help getting dressed and doing things like that. When we go to the commissary or BX, I use the scooter to get around. Considering I don't even know how to drive, it has been a bit of an adventure. I once crashed into a stockpile of boxes of Crown Royal bottles! Good thing none of them got damaged!
*TLS bought me one of these.



The reacher. When he first got it for me, I thought he was crazy and felt like an old lady. But it has really come in handy and playing with the trigger has been fun!
*For anyone reading this who might be wondering what's going on, I got some nerve damage in my left femoral nerve. Hopefully it's temporary, but that has been the source of a lot of my pain.
*We ordered a lot of different K cups for our Keurig. Despite the fact that I really hate coffee, I really have been looking forward to them finally getting here. I have been craving iced coffee like crazy lately!
*Have spent the past few days watching Royal Pains on DVD. Love that show.
*Our sushi place finally reopened from their summer break. Thank goodness!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Monday, August 29, 2011

10 things

1. When I hear people talking about Buffett, I automatically think Jimmy, not Warren.
2. I am a lip balm fanatic. I have about 5-10 different ones in my purse at any given time. Sometimes more.
3. I cannot wrap gifts for the life of me. It seems that the more effort I put into it, the worse they look. I can wrap a box and it will look like I wrapped a teddy bear because it will come out all lumpy. If I ever give you a beautifully wrapped gift, assume that I paid someone to do it for me.
4. I wish that Gilmore Girls was still on tv.
5. I'm lost without my iphone.
6. I am a chronic listmaker. I make lists for everything- thing to cook, chores to do, cards to write, things to pack, and you know, lists to make.
7. No matter how hard I try, I just cannot get into Sudoku.
8. If I could eat sushi every day, I would. (Secretly hoping TLS gets stationed in Japan for this reason.)
9. I always have a candle or Scentsy bar burning in my house at any given time. But I don't like food-y scents. I love to bake. If I want my house to smell like fresh baked chocolate chip cookies, I'm going to bake chocolate chip cookies, not burn a candle.
10. I never leave the house without pearls. If I'm awake, I'm wearing pearls. That's all there is to it.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Shake Shack Wedding

If you follow me on Twitter or facebook, then you probably know my love obsession of the Shake Shack. The Shake Shack is a Danny Meyer restaurant that was created to mimic the all-American roadside burger stand. When it first opened, people flocked to it because it was a Danny Meyer property. The Shake Shack also has its own meat blend from Pat La Frieda (the same butcher who provides meat to the top restaurants in the city, including the $26 burger). However, unlike either of their other establishments a burger, fries, and a Coke will set you back about $9! This place gained an instant cult following in NYC and has started expanding to Kuwait, Qatar, and DC.

When yours truly had her first Shack Burger, she was hooked. I have eaten many a meal there and love to pop in for the custard flavor of the day. Right before my shower, I went out with my two bridesmaids in NYC. After a night of drinking, we needed some food. So off to the nearest Shake Shack- the original Madison Square Park location- we went. The two girls behind us in the line were talking about the burgers and one of them said "can we split a burger?" When they were out of earshot, GNB, my MOH said in a mocking voice "can we split our dignity?" Yes. Shake Shack is that important. It is one of the things I miss most about NYC and whenever I come back, getting a burger is one of the first things I do! (Usually, it's also my last meal right before I head to the airport.)

Originally, TLS and I wanted to do our rehearsal dinner at the Shake Shack, but unfortunately, the party room space was a bit too small for us. Instead, we decided to go there after our wedding. At the end of the night, we looked up the times for all of the locations, and raced into a cab to get to the Times Square location before it closed. When we got up to order our burgers, the woman taking our order giggled a bit and gave us her 20% employee discount. While we were looking for seats, everyone in there was looking at us and a lot of people offered us congratulations. We noticed that all of a sudden, everyone else in there started talking about weddings. Imagine that. One of the employees came over and brought us little custard parfait desserts which we immediately devoured. (The custard of the day was Red Velvet. YUM.)
my patented Masha face
Once upon a time, I was young and naive and thought I would actually get to eat the food at my own wedding. Yea, not so much.

While we were talking and eating our yummy burgers, the manager of the store came out. She noticed my wedding dress and immediately got interested. She came over with a mini bottle of Prosecco and two glasses. She then proceeded to make us a goody bag of every single shirt that they sell and a pair of flip flops (which my husband has been using at the gym as shower shoes). She tried to send us home with more burgers and a pint of custard, but we said no thank you. We were on our way to the Ritz.
us with our goody bag
Just so y'all understand how much we love the Shack- the Ritz was about a 3 minute walk from where we got married. We took a cab about 40 blocks up, and then another one 40 blocks down just for some burgers and fries. That's commitment.

The next day, when we got back to my mother's house, we modeled our his and hers Shack shirts for her. We were being silly in her living room and she snapped this picture with my iphone.
notice the post-wedding half updo
Y'all, this is the man I'm spending the rest of my life with.

I'm trying to convince my husband that we need to use one of the two pictures of the two of us as our holiday card picture this year, but he just doesn't want to seem to get on board. Someone please convince him otherwise.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Anchored Style giveaway

I have a slightly freakish love of coozies. I love them and usually have one in just about any purse or tote of mine at any given time. I have a small collection of them and always seem to be acquiring more from gifts, promotions, or just buying some for myself. I used to have darling pink seersucker one with a green monogram on it that got lost in the move that I need to replace. ::sniff:: Let's all take a moment to weep here folks.

When the lovely Lauren of Anchored Style approached me about doing a coozie giveaway, I was of course intrigued. (It sucks that I can't win my own giveaways though!) Anchored Style is a new company that has cute polos and tshirts for men and women. I fell in love with this Whiskey Flag one and ordered it.
It arrived yesterday and I love it. It is so soft and comfortable and will be perfect to throw on over a polo when it finally cools down here. If I had seen these earlier, I would have probably gotten them as well:
how snazzy are these?
This giveaway will have three winners. Each winner will get two pick two coozies of his or her choice.
Personally, I would pick one of the Whiskey Flag ones, and a Magenta signature coozie, but that's just me.

To enter:
1) Please visit the Anchored Style website and leave a comment with your favorite item other than the coozies. (mandatory)
2) Follow my blog through Google Friend Connect for a second entry.
3) Follow both Anchored Style (@anchoredstyle) and myself (@whaleflipflops) on twitter and post a tweet with both of us in it and the link to this giveaway for a third entry.
4) Post about this giveaway on your blog for a fourth entry.

Please leave all comments in one entry.

This giveaway will run until Thursday, September 1st, at midnight EST.


Special thanks to Anchored Style for sponsoring this giveaway.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Lilly Pulitzer Endless Summer Sale

sorry y'all couldn't find a picture of the actual Lilly bunnies, I tried
I have been having some pretty crazy dreams lately and had a great one the night before the Lilly sale. (For anyone new reading this post, I should backtrack a bit here and say that I am completely bunny crazy. I would pretty much give anything to be able to have a pet bunny.) Anyhoo, so in this dream of mine, I was shopping the Lilly sale and the GWP promotion for it was that for every pink and green Slinky you bought, you got a free bunny. And I don't mean one of these types of bunnies:

I mean something that looked more along the lines of this:

Now don't ask me what Lilly Pulitzer was doing 1) selling Slinkies, and 2) giving out live bunnies. All I remember was scratching my head and thinking "ok but what am I going to do with a Slinky? my husband only likes the metal ones." Of course, at that point, it didn't really matter. I had already mentally stuck a Lilly print bow on top of her head in between her ears and nicknamed her Molly.

Anyhoo, like every other blogger out there, I was anxiously awaiting the Lilly sale. I had my birthday money set aside for it. When it finally started, I had a bit of a home court advantage, because of the 6 hour time difference and I was refreshing my phone every.2.minutes!

My first impression of the sale was that it was much better organized than last year's. I was glad for the free shipping because it meant you could buy each item individually and avoid things selling out from your cart, and I was impressed that the site did not seem to be crashing.

Here is what I got away with:
Glorie Diamond Stitch Sweater
Katia wrap slub
Mandy V-Neck top
Murfee Scarf- It's Getting Hot in Here
Tablecloth- mine is actually in the blue toile print. One of my favorite purchases!
I was so proud of myself. I bought a lot of great items at a great price, did not get anything I didn't need, and did not go overbudget.

Then. I got the dreaded email. Due to overselling, one or more of my items had been cancelled and I was being given a $25 credit to compensate. Of course the email didn't actually say what those items were. Insert panic. Then I woke up to discover that two of my most favorite purchases had gotten the axe.
Penn Fleece Jacket in Navy
Ironically enough, the day before the sale, my husband and I were talking about how I needed a new black or navy fleece for the fall, so when I saw this on sale in my size for $34, I knew it was a good sign and he told me to get it. It wasn't a good sign apparently.

Adalie Wrap Dress- Bright Navy Painter's Palette
One of my favorite dresses and the only one I had purchased this time around. I love wrap dresses and loved the print on this one. Sadly it was not meant to be. :( TLS and I are still angry over that one.

Monday, August 22, 2011

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaack

This post is going to be a mish-mosh of emotions and feelings because  there were things that I wanted to say when I was in the hospital but didn't want to blog while I was still high on pain meds and sedatives.

First of all, I want to thank everyone for all of your prayers, good thoughts, tweets, emails, comments, facebook posts, etc. I was not in a good state in the hospital so I did not respond to most of them, but I did read them and appreciated every single one. Secondly, I want to give a shoutout to two sweet friends and thank Little Miss Can't Be Wrong and Jordan for guest blogging for me while I was in the hospital.

Day 1:
This was a piece of cake for me. I was told to get to the hospital one day before for testing. Since I was going to be spending the night in the hospital, I assumed there would be complex things like stress tests and MRIs and Lord knows what else involved. Nope. They just took my vital signs and blood and urine. And that's it. Not really sure why I had to spend the night in the hospital for just that, but ok. We got really lucky and I was given a private room. It had a little table and two chairs in it and we were able to sit there and play games and stuff at the table. I came too late for lunch but was given dinner. Unlike in America, dinner is a very small meal in Germany. The smallest of the day. I had mentioned to the nurses that I don't eat pork so my meal consisted of a pad of butter, 2 slices of bread, 2 slices of cheese, a hard-boiled egg, and a pickle. I also don't eat eggs because they make me vomit. The cheese was pretty gross actually so I just ate the pickle. It was delicious. (You have to appreciate the irony of me going into a hospital for heart disease and being given a pickle as my dinner.) Obviously, this was not enough food, so TLS was tasked with a food run. He brought back McChicken sandwiches and fries. Completely heart healthy. Hey- the nurse saw nothing wrong with it. She came by with a single-blade razor and some shaving cream and told me I needed to shave my bikini area because that's where the catheter would go into. She then asked if I needed help shaving. (Ummm. No thank you.) This meant that my husband also had to run out and find a pharmacy to buy me a real razor. This was also my first time in the hospital. I had a hard time falling asleep because I was in the Pediatrics ward. My room shared a wall with a room that had three cribs in it. Two out of those three cribs were occupied by screaming infants.


Days 2-5: (writing this up as one entry because I lost all sense of date and time when I was in there and can't tell you which day was which)
I was not allowed to eat or drink anything past midnight the night before. (I had some last-minute peanut M&Ms at 11:59pm.) I woke up hungry and cranky. A nurse came by and said that an ambulance was on its way to take me to the surgery building. Insert panic and lots of hugs with my Teddy and Snoopy. The ambulance came and that was NOT an easy ride. I would have much preferred to walk into the ambulance rather than be wheeled in a stretcher. We got to the surgery building. More panic. Some tears. Got wheeled into the OR and was asked to change out of my pajamas and into a white gown. (I guess in German hospitals, the patients can wear whatever they want and the hospitals don't provide gowns for all the patients. Good thing I had brought my own pajamas!) After I changed, the doctors told me that they were going to give me a local anesthetic, put in the catheter, look around, and then when they were ready to put the stent in, they would put me to sleep. I said no. I want to be sedated right away. I did not want to see or have any recollection of the whole process. The last thing I remember is squeezing my husband's hand.

When I woke up, I was in excrutiating pain and babbling incoherently. Something about Hummers and asking who was in the canoe. (Apparently, the very first thing I said to my husband when I woke up was "where is my Teddy bear?" That can't possibly surprise anyone.) While I was in surgery, an infectious patient came in who needed a private room, so I was switched into a room with three beds in it. I woke up in a strange room completely disoriented. Less than 10 minutes after I was brought back into my new room, my husband's CO stopped by with three of his five children. I was still writhing in pain and screaming at this point, so he did not even make it past the door.

(At this point, I should mention that for catheters, they usually go through your right femoral artery. When the doctors made the incision, they noticed that my right femoral artery had started closing up and was too closed to put the catheter in. So the doctors had to stitch that up and go in through my left side. I got double the hematomas and double the pain.)

All I wanted to do was go to the bathroom, but the nurses told me that I was not allowed to move for 25 hours to avoid tearing my stitches. On the one hand, I was in too much pain to move at all. On the other, I am one of those people who cannot sit still for very long, so having to lay down in an uncomfortable bed (with a rubber sheet no less- Pediatrics ward and all!) for that long was pure torture for me. I was finally given some food and attacked my lunch. I swear, those boiled noodles (no salt, no sauce) were pretty much the greatest thing that I have ever eaten in my entire life! Also, after complaining about how cold it was all summer long, the German weather finally decided to "cooperate" and warmed up. Lovely except the hospital (much like the rest of Germany) did not have air conditioning and I was covered in layers of gauze and bandages. I was sweaty and itchy and feeling all around gross. I begged the nurse for some ice chips and found out that there was not a single cube of ice anywhere in the hospital. Seriously. Apparently frozen water is an American specialty???

The next few days were kind of a blur for me. I was so hot and in so much pain that I spent most of the time sleeping hoping that it would make me feel better. I did not eat much because I was just so uncomfortable and in so much pain. After the first day, the pain in my chest went away. The pain in my legs, not so much. When I was finally allowed to stand up, it took two or three nurses to help me and it hurt so bad, I nearly started to cry! Another thing I was not prepared for- how big my bruises would be. It looks like I'm wearing green, blue, purple, and yellow tie-dye boyshorts. Gross. I was freaked out and called the nurse over who told me that that is perfectly normal and I'm going to look like that for the next 3 weeks. Lovely. I ended up having to stay an extra day in the hospital because we live in a three story walk-up and the doctors didn't want me to walk much or do anything physical. (When we told the doctor that we live on the 3rd floor, he said "oh that's ok, just use the lift." We had to explain to him that we don't have one.) Most people post-cath use their good leg to lean on and help them get around. Since I had stitches in both legs, I didn't have that option. I was finally discharged yesterday and the drive home and walk up the stairs was horrible. It hurts to put any kind of my pressure pretty much anywhere below my hips so even sitting up hurts. Since then, I have spent most of my time in bed catching up on blogs and reading my Kindle. And napping. I have to go get my stitches taken out on the 30th and I am already dreading that like the plague. I can't get my stitches wet so I can't shower for 2 more days which again does not make me very happy. (Have I mentioned it's 90 degrees outside and we don't have air conditioning?!) I just want my life to return to normal. A sweet friend brought us over dinner last night which I devoured. Thankfully, I am eating again. Unfortunately, I won't be cooking for a while. TLS went to the commissary and bought me a lot of non-perishable snacks (granola bars, trail mix, nuts, etc.) to keep in our room so I don't have to leave it to get food. Our kitchen is downstairs and there is no way I'm going back down those stairs! Also, as a post-op side effect, I have developed a love of juice boxes. (That was what I was given every day I was in there with my meals.) I have consumed probably 4 or 5 packets of Capri-Sonne within the past few days.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Dedicated to my Pen Pal!

Hi yall! I’m Jordan from Queen of LA. I was so excited and so flattered when MRM asked me to guest post for her!


I have no idea how I stumbled upon Preppy Girl Meets World out of all the blogs in the whole wide internet, but I’m so glad I did - I think MRM and I are long long sisters! We have so much in common and every day, through the wonders of Facebook, Twitter, blog posts, and Gchat, we keep finding out more ways that we are alike :)


One of those things we have in common? Our love of stationery! So it should come as no surprise that as soon as we discovered this shared bond, we decided to become PEN PALS! That’s right, every couple of weeks we send letters back and forth from Germany to Los Angeles and back again... and trust me, they’re always written on the cutest stationery ever!


I thought I’d post some of my favorites for yall to see here. Maybe you could send one to a pen pal of your own!


I’m a girly girl through and through, so I was immediately drawn to this design with multicolored hearts. These would be perfect for writing thank-you notes!




When I saw these cards on the Furbish website, I knew immediately I had to have them! I guarantee anyone you send them too would laugh out loud upon opening (just as I did when I bought them and they arrived in the mail!)



Continuing on in the leopard theme, these cards are chic and sassy while still simple and elegant. Let’s face it - who doesn’t love leopard print?



The cards above and these below are both from Stationery Studio - one of my favorite places to buy cards, stamps, stickers, etc. Their stuff is adorable - how cute are these navy clover cards?



When Jonathan Adler started making stationery, I was all over it - his designs are always modern and fun. I think these cards are a new addition to the website - love the funky font!



Have I mentioned my INSANE love for the color pink? It’s nearly matched by my love for anything striped, so obviously these are high on my list!



I’ll save the best for last... I have a feeling our very own MRM would absolutely LOVE these whale-printed cards! (I know these babies look like they're for a little boy, but so what? Make it work!) :)



That’s all for me for now. Hope you come visit me at Queen of LA! And MRM, we all miss you and are sending positive thoughts your way!


XOXO,

Jordan

@queenjord

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Happiness Is...

Hello, friends! Little Miss Can't Be Wrong - of "how i met your father" here, to fill in for our lovely Preppy Girl While she is away.  Let's all take a minute to lift her up, keep her in our positive thoughts.  While she is away I wanted to do a little post about one of the things that make us smile... one of them being the Peanuts gang!

Who doesn't love Charlie Brown?  When I was younger I was in the show, "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown." While it was not theatrical greatness by any means it was definitely a laugh.  A favorite moment from the show is singing the song, "Happiness."  

The song is sung after Charlie Brown finds out the love of his little life - The Little Redheaded Girl - is a pencil chewer... and therefore not necessarily perfect.  What are some things that bring great happiness into your life?


I'm so happy. That little red-headed gril dropped her pencil.
It has teeth marks all over it. She nibbles her pencil.
She's human! It hasn't been such a bad day after all.
Happiness is finding a pencil

via
 Pizza with sausage
 Telling the time.
 Happiness is learning to whistle
 Tying your shoe for the very first time

via
 
Happiness is playing the drum in your own school band.
 And happiness is walking hand in hand. 

via

Happiness is two kinds of ice cream…
 Knowing a secret…
 Climbing a tree.
 Happiness is five different crayons…

via
Catching a firefly… Setting him free.

Happiness is being alone every now and then.
And happiness is coming home again.

Happiness is morning and evening,
Daytime and nighttime too.

via

For happiness is anyone and anything at all
That's loved by you.

Happiness is having a sister
 Sharing a sandwich…
 Getting along!

Happiness is singing together when day is through.
And happiness is those who sing with you.

Happiness is morning and evening,
Daytime and nighttime, too,
For happiness is anyone and anything at all
That's loved by you.

--------------------------------

And just because I absolutely love Lucy, I had to share this little comic strip with you:





Tuesday, August 16, 2011

my bags aren't packed, I'm not ready to go

Last night in my bed for four nights. Dreading this trip like the plague. I am by nature a very stressy person and tend to overstress about things and get worked up over them, which is not exactly my finest trait. I'm sitting here trying to pack up my bag for the hospital and know that I forgot something, but can't remember what. At least I have a cute new bag for the trip, courtesy of Sloane Ranger. (Review to follow once I am out of the hospital.)
I will try to blog from the hospital, but that will all depend on if there is a wifi connection there and how I'm feeling. (Generally, lots of sedatives and painkillers don't mix too well with a keyboard.) My husband will have my phone while I'm in surgery and will post updates as he can from my account. If you want to know more, your best bet is to follow me on twitter.

Monday, August 15, 2011

iPhone Covergate

I remember when I first got my iphone 4, the news that Lifeguard Press for Lilly Pulitzer was coming out with iphone 4 cases was like the most exciting thing ever. I pre-ordered the most me-tastic case of them all, the hotty pink bloomers.
It took forever and a day to actually ship out to the retailers, and then I had to wait for the USPS to take its sweet time getting it over here. When it finally came, I was so excited that I ripped the package open with my bare hands wanting to put a new pink cover on my iphone (as opposed to the old one, which was, you know- pink). Of course, I also broke a freshly manicured nail in the process. Go figure.

My excitement did not last long after that. I noticed the edges of my cover fading and turning white. I remembered reading on facebook that there were issues with the covers for the 3GS model peeling that were supposedly fixed with the 4 one, so I just shrugged it off and assumed it was one of the flowers. Then there was more peeling. My case got to be more white than pink. If I had wanted a white silicone case, I would have just bought one for $3 in Chinatown and not gotten a Lilly one. I emailed Lifeguard Press, sent them pictures of my case, and the woman I spoke with was very gracious and offered to replace my cover. One small caveat- they were out of my pink one so I got sent the Do the Wave instead.
I would have preferred my original pink one, but what can you do? This one is still quite cute. It didn't last long before that one, too, started peeling. I got it in June and it is completely white in some parts. Needless to say, I am done buying iphone cases from Lifeguard Press- as cute as they are, needing 3 cases in 5 months is a bit much.

I have been wanting one of the monogrammed iphone cases that have been popping up everywhere but was not sure I could justify the price tag. Then today, I saw a tweet from the Monogram Merchant saying that they're having a sale for 20% off everything on their site (use code HBMM at checkout) and I decided to bite the bullet. However, it's not as simple as that. I cannot make up my mind for the life of me. I was the girl who spent a solid 10 minutes debating between chocolate and vanilla, would decide to get a scoop of both, and would then spend another 5 minutes worrying if I had made the right choice. Needless to say, this life-altering decision of which iphone case to get has not been an easy one.

Lately, I have become very into Chevron patterned stuff, so at this exact moment, this one is my favorite:
Wait 5 minutes and that will probably change. As much as I love that one, I also really love these:
one of these things is not like the other- one of these things just doesn't belong
This is not like ice cream and I cannot just get one of each. I don't have an extra $200 lying around, and if I did, I would spend it on something more exciting than iphone cases so I really have to pick just one. What's a girl to do?

Which do you think I should get?

Sunday, August 14, 2011

randoms

*Have been a combination of highs and lows lately. I've been really stressed out and anxious lately and the hives I keep getting have not made things any easier. Got an increased dose of my blood pressure meds since the lower dose wasn't working. It's completely screwed up my sleeping cycle. I'm scared of what's to come this week but I'll be glad to be able to put it behind me.
*I have started to feel a bit better and on Friday night I even made 6 challahs for our chapel. (Only 5 made it there.) I made all plain and decided to experiment and made on chocolate chip stuffed one that I nicknamed Chippy. There was a clear favorite and I will be making more of those in the future. (To all those who asked, I will be posting my challah recipe later on.)
*My mother made her first Lilly Pulitzer purchase- 2 dresses from the Rue La La sale on Friday. I'm not sure why. She did say that if they don't work for her and she's in a good mood, then they will go to me. Really hoping that they don't work for her!
*Finally read The Help. I'm a fast reader so it only took me a day. I loved the book and am very excited for the movie. The Germany release date for it is November 17, 2011 so I'm really hoping that it comes out at the base theater before then!
*I needed new glasses so a month or so ago, I bought a cute pair from the optical here on base. Then, a few weeks later, Coastal Contacts had a free glasses promotion so I decided to order a pair thinking that it never hurts to have an extra pair for emergencies or in case you misplace one. I decided to get these purple ones because they were a little more bold than what I normally go for and I figured, hey they're free. If I don't like them, not a huge loss.
They came a little while ago and I love them! I've been wearing them all the time lately. Is it bad that I like the glasses I got for free more than the ones I actually paid for?
*My cousin is getting married in Philadelphia next month and I have been spending a lot of time lately looking for the perfect dress to wear. I am picky with dresses- I don't wear black and I want something with straps. I really want this dress from Lilly Pulitzer, but it's in pre-orders right now and looks like it won't be ready to ship until after the wedding, which does nothing to help me.
I think I may end up going with this dress instead. I love the shape and colors of it, but I can't decide which of the two shades I would want to get.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

you've got questions, I've got answers


Have a pounding migraine so I'm taking a break from blogging for the night. Going to take a cue from several others bloggers and do another questions post. If you have anything you'd like to ask me, post your questions here. I will answer them in a future post.

Monday, August 8, 2011

England on my Mind

TLS and I have been talking a lot about England lately. He was stationed there for 2 years before Germany, and after spending a year in Germany, there really is no comparison to England, both military-wise and life-wise. We are itching to go back and are hoping to get stationed there in 2014! (A girl can dream, right?)

One of the advantages to being at a huge base in Europe is that we have a large NATO population here as well. The major players here are given a building for their  support/administrative uses and can have a store/bar/cafe here. (Don't ask me why the Germans have a restaurant on base. From what I hear, it's quite good, but it's not like there's a shortage of places to get bratwurst outside of the base gates.) I think that this is intended to make the NATO folks stationed here feel at home. Because nothing to a Brit says "welcome home" quite like being surrounded by about 50,000 Americans and our SUVs.

Anyhoo, in case you thought I had rambled off on a tangent again, I'm getting to the point of my story. The British have a fabulous cafe here that serves todiefor coronation chicken. Yes, it's that good that it had to be condensed into one word. They also have a tiny one room shop roughly the size of the office in our house that sells alcohol and a few packaged and frozen British products. Today, on our way to cardiologist appointment roughly # 2,0843,0303,034 we stopped by the BritShop to pick up some treats for the long and tedious 10 minute drive to Landstuhl. (Dear tech, you're welcome for eating a bag of Worcester Sauce flavored Crisps roughly 8 minutes before you took my blood pressure.) TLS and I have been talking about England a lot lately and how much we miss it, so our little sodium-fueled drive ended up being devoted to things we miss about England and why we have to go back there.

tapping our Oyster Cards on the Underground
1 Quid cheese sandwiches from the Coop
Those were delicious and the perfect lunch.

Tesco

We went to one in the Czech Republic. It was cool, but nowhere as glorious as the British ones.
Harrods
 Where else can you buy a rare fossil, a bottle of beer for your dog, a gold nugget, and then eat a $24 hot dog for lunch? Also, their 4th floor which houses the live animals is the absolute best. (Yes, I have not been there in over a year and could still lead you to the animals blindfolded from any given entrance to the store.) I could literally spend all day oggling the bunnies behind the glass windows there. Sadly, that is about as close as I will ever come to actually owning a bunny.
Sitting on the Left Side of the Car
Really only exciting if you don't drive. Which I don't do. 
The fact that no matter where you are, you somehow are never more than 5-10 minutes away from a really cool pub.

The lack of a language barrier. For the most part.
There was that one time when I walked up and down every single aisle of the Coop looking for brown sugar and could not find it anywhere and finally had to ask someone for help, only to discover that it's called Demerara in England and was about 2.5 centimeters away from my nose. Awesome.
The cute mailboxes
A lot prettier than the Deutsche Post ones

The magazines
Whenever I went to England, I would always load up on Cosmo, Glamour, and Marie Claire. Right after we got engaged, I had a carryon bag filled with pretty much every single wedding magazine published in the UK. It made for a very fun plane ride.
Cath Kidston
Got this bag when I discovered the Cath Kidston store in Heathrow after my flight got delayed by 24 hours.

Her fun prints never fail to put a smile on my face. Love.
Roundabouts
They are all over the place in England as a way of controlling speeders. Your GPS directions will actually say things like "at roundabout take 2nd exit to roundabout." Roundabouts became a sort of inside joke with us after that and now I smile whenever the GPS says we have to go through a roundabout. Which happens considerably less than 20 times a day. Disappointing.
Yo! Sushi

The place that introduced us to conveyor belt sushi. Our favorite location was by far the St. Pancras one.

There were about 200 other things on the list but I'm going to do y'all a favor and end it right here before y'all die of boredom. I will proceed to look through our old England pictures and look up plane ticket prices for a weekend in October. Because really, what else would I be doing at 2:46am? (Have I mentioned that insomnia is a side effect of my blood pressure meds? An increased dose apparently means increased insomnia?)