april showers (and flowers)!

One thing that stinks about Missouri is that the saying "April showers bring May flowers" is all too true. I'm not a fan of showers (pressure headaches) or flowers (allergies + chronic sinus infections = horror), although I like to admire flowers from afar. I guess I do like looking at them...just through a window while breathing purified air. I like to give Sam a hard time about not buying me flowers, but the truth is they make me sneeze. Oh well, it's worth it (hint hint, Sammy).

Anyway, we braved those April showers (and hail and tornado) to go to our first Cardinals game of the season. Sam loves the Cards, and I admit I like baseball a lot more now. That could be because I know how passionate Sam is about it, which makes me like it more. Who knows. Anyway, there ended up being a two hour rain delay, and while we were standing right next to the exit gates, a tornado came through St. Louis and hit the airport. Yikes! We survived though, and had a great time!

Enjoying the game before the downpour...you can tell it was humid because of my awful hair.

Hooray!

Pouting because it's raining and we have to stand inside the concourse thing. I get claustrophobic really easily, so not my favorite thing, but there was a lot of stellar people watching going on :)

Sam enjoyed the rain delay!

Game on after only 2 hours!

A little hazy and a lot less people, but still enjoyable!

 There are also some beautiful flowers and trees blooming from all of this rain. It's also helping me practice my photography skills (although I'll admit, none of these were taken with my DSLR).

Tulip trees blooming in DC.

Bradford pear on my street with a mini tulip tree.

Pretty tulips at MEM near work.

 And one random thing to add: It's guilty pleasures night on DWTS, and Hanson is the band playing...um flashback to 1996 anyone? Aren't these guys married with kids now? Why are they still singing mmmbop (ok they haven't actually sang that to be fair, but still...)?

Mexican Tortilla Roll-Ups

There are a couple of things I pride myself on... I'm an awesome cook & baker (this is no lie, and I blame this fact for the 20 pounds or so I have gained since moving out of the dorms in college), and I'm pretty decent at knitting, or at least I'm pretty good at picking up patterns easily.

Here are a couple of things I've done recently:

 Mexican Tortilla Roll Up Recipe:

I'm not sure where my mom got this recipe, but it has been a staple at every party or holiday gathering we've gone to since I can remember. They are super easy to make, and the recipe makes quite a few, so it is really cost effective. I forgot to take a picture of the finished product, but there are some of the process.

8 ounces of softened cream cheese (I use low fat)
8 ounces sour cream
1/4 cup finely chopped green onion
1 can chopped black olives
1 can diced green chiles
8 ounces of  cheddar (or Mexican style) cheese
chopped Jalapenos to taste (I don't add these because I hate spicy foods)

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.

Distribute across half of the tortilla (I also usually add a bit at the top just to get the tortilla to stick to itself).

Roll the tortilla like a wrap, let chill for about an hour, then cut into bite size pieces. Refrigerate until serving.

This is my other obsession as of late: knitted tea towel toppers. My grandmother requested these, and after I finish with them she sews a tea towel along the bottom (curved part), then adds a button and voila! A tea towel that you can attach to the drawer pulls in your kitchen. The only take me about an hour to an hour and a half to make, which is impressive because I'm kind of slow. 

Yarn sale...my absolute downfall.

one of my favorite things.

Bella's Antics V.3

It's apparently rabbit season...it's not a mole that Bella's eating the heads off, they are baby bunnies. She was so proud when she brought me another one to the door last night.

Bella's Antics V.2

Remember this face?

Cute, right?

Not when you come home to find out that not only did she kill a mole in the backyard...she also ate it's head off.

15 Facts

I normally despise things like this, but since my beautiful friend asked so nicely, I'll play along :)

1. I hate drinking anything (besides milk) without ice in it.
2. If I have fingernail polish on, I will chip it off within one week.
3. My biggest fear in the world is a deer. I can't stand them.
4. I don't like people who see the world in black and white. There are so many shades of gray, people!
5. Speaking of the word gray, I alternate the spelling every time I use it (gray/grey).
6. I'm currently 4 months in on Project Life (by Becky Higgins), where you take a picture a day and then journal about it. I truly believe it's making me a better photographer.
7. The two most expensive things I've ever bought for myself are my computer and my camera, and they are what I would grab first in case of a fire.
8. I get a headache at least 3 times a week, usually every day in the spring and fall.
9. I can't wait to be a nurse, because I think I'll actually be really good at it.
10. I'm secretly glad I didn't have a sister. I love my brothers and they never got into any of my stuff.
11. I think #10 has fostered my dislike of most other females.
12. I set my alarm for 30 minutes before I actually have to get up so I can hit snooze 5 times.
13. I have never reached a weight loss goal that I've set for myself. That changes now.
14. I think cherry coke zero is almost better than regular coke. Almost.
15. I  find an inordinate amount of pleasure at running out of things.. like ink in pens, using the last of a stack of post-it notes, throwing away a shampoo bottle...if I do run out of something, no matter how bad the day has been, it will always end on a good note :).

moving woes

I hate moving. I thought that I would get better at it during college with my multiple moves from dorm to home to dorm to apartment to apartment to home to here and finally, a return home. One thing I pride myself on is that I'm pretty good at taking a little at a time so that I don't need a huge moving van or something, but regardless, it's not pleasant.

Unfortunately what I'm NOT good at is deciding which things are important to me. After a couple of trips, this is what is left in my room:

*Roughly 75 DVDs/blu rays, the last two seasons of Friends, and the first season of Glee.
*4 winter coats... umm, it's 75 degrees, Molly. Probably time to let go of the pea coats for the year..
*about 40 skeins of yarn... probably time to let go of some of those too...
*5 vera bradley bags.
*8 dresses
*4 pairs of running shows
*7 zip up hoodies
*and the essentials: my bedspread, 6 pillows (yes I sleep with all of them), my TV, and blu ray player.


Like I said, terrible at picking the necessities. Who needs winter coats in April? Who needs 8 dresses when I wear about 3 of them? Who can watch 75 DVDs in 2 weeks? Sigh.

love & other drugs

I'm a huge fan of redbox. HUGE fan. The only issue I have is though I like to say that I'm really on top of things, sometimes I forget to return the movies for a night..or two.. or six (like I did last week with the Fighter, and I never even watched it).

Anyway, almost every time I go to Schnucks, I rent a movie from redbox.

On the agenda for tonight: Love & Other Drugs starring Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal. Anne Hathaway is arguably my favorite actress (I also have a soft spot for Jennifer Aniston). I've never been a huge fan of either of the Gyllenhaal sibs, but after this movie, Jake is on my good side. He and Anne have amazing chemistry together, and I would definitely watch this one again. Another upside: Beck's song Strange Invitation plays during the climax, and I love that song, and it is quickly followed by Regina Spektor's Fidelity, which is equally as fantastic.

I'm not good at describing movies without giving away the major plot, so I'm going to forgo that. Instead, I'll leave you with my favorite line:

Sometimes the things you want the most don't happen and what you least expect happens. I don't know - you meet thousands of people and none of them really touch you. And then you meet one person and your life is changed forever.



Okay I couldn't pick just one.. because after I typed that, Jake's character says this little gem:

I've never known anyone who actually believed that I was enough until I met you. And then you made me believe it too.

Bella's Antics

I have the cutest dog in the world. I know you might be thinking, "No way, my dog is cuter." Sorry, Charlie. I think it might just come with the territory...sort of how people think their kids are always cuter than other kids, and stuff like that. Anyway, I mean just look at this face:

She doesn't particularly like her picture to be taken.

Bella got off to a bit of a rough start with my family. I asked my parents for one of two things for graduation from college: an iPhone or a dog (in particular, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, which is the type of dog both Bella and Charlie are). I asked for the iPhone because I seriously have everything else a girl could want, except a new car, and let's face it...when your parents pay for your school, they're not going to buy you a new car. At least not if they are my parents. 

Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked. I asked for a dog because I already knew Sam would be going to law school 4 hours from where I would be living, so I guess I convinced my mom that I would need a dog for comfort. My parents gave Bella to me on the morning of my graduation. It was a complete surprise and I was totally shocked and SO excited. I definitely started crying. One thing was apparent from the beginning though...Bella was TERRIFIED. The breeder we got her from said she was "a little skittish." That is the understatement of the century. We still refer to the first month she was living with us as Bella's "pancake dog" phase. If you walked within 5 feet of her, she flattened completely out on the ground. In this picture, she is shaking because she's scared of all the people:

My mom had to go into the hospital to start some treatments two days after I moved home from college (graduated on a Saturday, hospital on Monday). They left me with this dog that was a) not house trained, b) terrified of me, c) not fixed. I had to be outside with her at all times, which for the first few months was about 4 times a night. She eventually warmed up to me, and she LOVES our other dog Charlie...who coincidentally ate a bag full of chocolate chip cookies the day my mom went into the hospital. So on top of A, B, and C up there, I also had d) a dog who was violently ill. I am pretty sure I called my parents crying multiple times that week (my dad was at work the whole week) saying various things like "Yeah this is such a GREAT graduation gift!"

In the early days.

 One thing I learned about Bella pretty quickly is she likes to lay in super odd places...

Like between two couch pillows,

Or in the most uncomfortable looking position.

She also really enjoys "burrowing" on your laundry.. clean...dirty...makes no difference to her. I walked away for two seconds one night to come back to this sight. Luckily it was dirty this time.

Another of her favorite pastimes is to annoy the heck out of Charlie. Now Bella will be 2 in July, but Charlie is 10. He misses the life of leisure he had before Bella. No dog trying to steal his treats from his mouth, eating out of his food bowl, taking up the spots on everyone's lap...you get the picture. This is a common occurrence:

Ignore the demon eyes. Enjoying a little Christmas cheer!

Most of the time though, he tolerates they get along her pretty well, so they will sit and take naps together.

Now that you have a lot of background on Bella...let me just tell you how ornery she is. At least three times a week, I get a phone call at work from my mom saying, "Do you know what your dog did?" My parents have been nice enough to take care of her while I finish up working in a town two hours from home, but I'm so excited to be home with her permanently in a couple of weeks!

Usually when my mom calls, it's to tell me about her nesting in a pile of nice, clean, warm, white towels, which no one gets THAT upset about. The other night, however, it was storming. I'm talking shake your walls thunder and lots of lightening. Bella won't go outside when it's like that, which is usually okay...not last Sunday. Instead of ever going outside to go #2, she decided that it would be a good idea to go all over my mom's nice, clean, brand new, WHITE bedspread. Oh the fury. Luckily it all came out!

A couple of days later, my mom took Bella and Charlie for a walk. Our neighborhood has an empty lot right next to the pool, so she lets them off their leash to run around. Bella kept running to this one place in the lot and sniffing around, and eventually she started rolling around on the ground. That in and of itself isn't THAT strange, but my mom decided she should go look at what Bella was rolling around on. When she got over there, she found the worst: Bella had discovered a dead opossum to make friends with. She said that the smell was horrendous. Bath #2 for the week.

And finally, last night. It rained again, so during a break in the storm, my mom let Bella out to go to the bathroom. She's really good about coming back whenever she's done, so when she scratched at the door, my mom just let her back in and didn't pay much attention to her. A few minutes later, Nick came upstairs and said, "Uh...what happened in here?" Bella had apparently decided to dig around in our vegetable garden (which is just mud right now) and then tracked the mud ALL around the living room. My mom said there was barely an inch of carpet untouched. Bath #3 for the week. The only silver lining? We're tearing up our carpet in a few weeks and putting in hardwood floors.

I mean, you wouldn't think a dog THAT cute would be so ornery, right?

Who, me?

getting to knooow you.

Whoever gets the "The King and I" reference above is my new best friend.

Anyway...I'm new at this, obviously. I am really terrible at sticking with things, so if months go by and you don't hear from me, chances are I wasn't in a horrible car crash, I am just off doing whatever my new obsession of the moment might be. Second, I like to think of myself as a grammar freak, but sometimes I make mistakes. I also know that you're not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition, but Winston Churchill said it was okay, so I'm going by his rules ("This is a rule up with which we should not put.")


So since I've obviously illustrated that I like to ramble, let me show you a few other things that I like love.

My partner in crime.

My wonderful family (my brothers Zach (in white) and Nick (in blue), and my parents who aren't pictured here.

My adorable dogs, Bella and Charlie. You'll probably see more pictures of Bella than you'd care to.

Michigan sunsets.

gLee, of course

and most of all...organizing.