Falling head over plaid!

So I love summer..everything about it! The clothes, the weather, the fun things to do buttt I am slowly getting excited for fall. My sister-in-Law gave me a jean jacket for my birthday, as I somehow lost mine in college, and that started me off. I love pumpkin patches, apple cider, caramel corn, Oktoberfest, corn mazes and mostly fun fall clothes. plaid is very in for fall this year and I am obsessed with this dress I hope it looks as good as it does in the picture will tall brown boots YAY. I've found plaid all over the place recently plaid round toe pumps, plaid clutches, plaid headbands. It seems to be the up and coming trend for fall so I guess we'll see but you can bet this comfy looking dress will be part of my wardrobe!

On the Hunt!

So we've been house hunting lately and there's so many things to consider:

- HOA or condo fees
- Is there a garage
- Is there a pool
- How's the commute (Metro, Car, Bus, VRE)
- Hardwood Floors?
- Granite Countertops?
- Size of Bedrooms
- Is there a yard
- If its older what things might break soon
- If its newer how's the area around it
- curb appeal
- what will the mortgage be
- what will the taxes be
- what will the insurance be
- how much will utilities be
- If its less expensive could you upgrade stuff to be really nice for less then a new house

I've been loving looking at houses and it helps you decide on all the above things and what are most important to you. Most of the houses we've looked at so far are new because we haven't decided on a realtor yet so we've just been going to open houses. Its so fun to get to pick your cabinets, floors, carpets and countertops in a new home but then is it worth it? That's just something hubby and I need to decide along with narrowing our area down right now there's about 4 completely different areas we're looking at in the NOVA area. I can't wait to decorate our new house, I'm sure I'll have my mom over to help as hers looks like it popped straight out of a magazine every time I'm there (which is a lot!). I want a few bigger things rather then lots of small ones I'm not the country theme kind of girl with knick knacks I like statement pieces. It's going to be so fun! There will be lots of Blogging about it I'm sure. We may end up renting for a while longer so we'll just have to see.

16 Days!

So in exactly 16 days I will be here

I finally asked for the time off and although I knew I couldn't take a whole week because it's close to one of my big events in Vegas I did get 3 days which makes 5 days at the beach!!!!! I can't wait to relax in the OBX and do absolutely nothing! Just sand in my toes and Doritos on the beach yay!!

Hubby loves his family's beach trip as he gets some quality time with his brothers and sister in a super relaxed environment. He's on the beach by 9am and won't leave until around 5pm haha

Shopping with $0

So this week should be fun I get to shop without spending money WAHOO!!! We got tons of gift cards from all our amazing friends and family members for our wedding and now its time to use them. We are not using any of the checks we received so we can put all that towards a house so I had to make the most efficient use of our gift cards possible based on sales, coupons etc! So for any recent brides this Thursday at Macy's from 7pm - 9pm you get an extra 20% off any leftover registry items (and things don't even have to be on your registry as long as you had one you can add anything to it and get the discount that night). They are also having an awesome sale starting Thursday so you're saving awesome money. We're getting 4 china place settings and our pots and pans set there. With our china they're also having a promotion where you get 2 rimmed soup bowls with every $150 so we're going to get 4 free soup bowls WAHOO! Bed Bath and Beyond we are getting the rest of the bedding for our guest room (when we have one) before its discontinued, 3 place settings of china, a pancake flipper (hee hee), and 2 medium cookie sheets and 2 large cookie sheets! I can't wait to go shopping and spend no money I did all the discounts and added in sales tax just to make sure I wouldn't go over. We also have a target gift card that we are using to get a crock pot and an iron!! I've loved having all our new gifts in our apartment and Hubby's been getting spoiled with super Nice dinners just because I want to use all the new stuff!

Weekend Photo Montage

Not really in the blogging mood today buttt I do have a little photo update of what my weekend entailed!

Movies & Picnics

So I have always loved Screen on the Green in DC. It's a chance to do something fun on a weeknight, have a little picnic and watch some fun movies all while on the national mall. I am highly disappointed in their line-up this year:



July 20 - Close Encounters of the Third Kind

July 27 - Dog Day Afternoon

August 3 - On the Waterfront

August 10 - Rebel Without A Cause


Hubby and I will only be going to the July 20th show and not even because we realllly want to see it but because it will be fun and my 502 roomie from college gave me an awesome picnic basket set for my bridal shower that I've been dying to use. The rest I can totally do without. Although outdoor movies are becoming more popular so here are a few other areas you can have some fun this summer:

Rosslyn Outdoor Film Festival - Mostly great 19080's and 1990's movies

National Harbor - Oldies and Newbies

Crystal City - Comic Movies

Bootcamp

So Bally's has a 7 day free guest pass on their website. Kristen in Haiti and I are going to check out their bootcamp class next week and possibly a pilates one as well. I think haveing a class to go to and a friend may help motivate me and their membership is only $29.99 a month right now which is not bad at all if I decide I want to keep going! So if you need some motivation yourself get the 7 day pass and at leats try it out!! Updates to come after the classes!

ALERT - Aeresol Cooking Sprays No Good!

So I know this may be the most boring post ever but it could also save your pots and pans! So as you know I like everything to be neat and tidy and I also am a big fan of instructions. So last night I sat down and read the instructions for each of our new gadgets and items that we brought home this weekend and I found out something I thought was really interesting! Calphalon states not to use aerosol cooking sprays to grease pans such as the ever so popular ***, not to be mentioned. There is something in these sprays that sticks to pans and even when you think it's clean it's not. So especially for those non-stick pans that stop working and everything is sticking to them, it's probably because there is a ton of build-up from your cooking spray that is causing them not to work. They suggest putting your vegetable oil into a spray bottle and using that instead. As always you still need to give your pots and pans a good washing but at least there won't be build up that you don't know about!! I found this really interesting because I feel like that has happened to me with other pans and I've had to toss them, so I have thrown my *** out in exchange for a nice little spray bottle!! YAY

Excuse Me Mr. Biker....

So I am all for people getting out there and being active, I think it's awesome. But there's one thing that really annoys me...bikers on the roads (and by biker on mean those on a bicycle), more than annoy me I'm scared to death when I go around them that I could hit them if a car comes out of no where and I have to get back in my lane. Now I get it...you want to bike to work and get your exercise in on the way that's awesome but unless you can bike the speed limit why are you allowed on the road?!?!?!?!! I mean for example you're driving down the street and there's a biker no the right side of the road, now they're small but not small enough that you can stay in your lane and go around them, so you have to wait until there's no oncoming traffic and veer across the line and around the biker...SERIOUSLY? Or you end up stuck behind them going so slow. There's a reason I don't ride my bike to work...because I don't want it to take me an hour, that's fine that you do Mr.. Biker but I don't!! I just don't get it...I feel like if there's a bike path GO FOR IT (notice the girl in the picture is nicely placed on a bike path) or ride on sidewalk AWESOME but on the road in front of the cars trying to go the speed limit of 50 mph NO THANK YOU. Anyways that's my rant for today if you didn't guess there was a biker on the highway today in front of me ;)

OCD and LOVIN IT!

Wedding gifts are so fun to get and maybe if you had a nice big house you could put them right away but that's not the way it is for most people I don't think. All my shower gifts and wedding gifts have been storing in my parents basement until we had a chance to go through them! So finally on Sunday Hubby and I bit the bullet and went into the basement of registry items we divided into what we were taking to our tiny 1 bedroom apt and what could afford to stay at my parents until we figure out what we're doing when our lease ends on October 13th. The options are A. Stay in our current, B. Move into a different apt in our neighborhood for cheaper rent, C. Move into a house or D. Move somewhere temp and then into a House. So you see we figured we'd leave the china and breakable glassware at my parents until that decision is finalized! Soooo I spent all night after work yesterday rearranging our kitchen to fit all the gifts. Of course since I am slightly OCD I took everything out of all the cabinets and rearranged neatly. These photos are just a few of my nice and neat kitchen now.

We got some amazing stuff and like I said probably half of it is still in my parents basement. Now its time to return all the duplicates and go spend our gift cards and store credits this weekend Yipee I LOVE shopping!! Especially when I'm not spending any of my money!!

Butts Up!!

Bathing Suit Check, Cooler Check, Starfish shaped tube check?! This weekend we went tubing at Butts Tubes with a group of friends and it was so much fun! I wanted to fill everyone in because this place is awesome and less expensive then the ever popular River Riders. We made reservations which is definitely the way to go (there were huge lines that we didn't have to wait in). It was $28 (you can also bring your own tube and pay $15 for a lifejacket and the shuttle) and we could go on the river as many times as we wanted (It's about 1.5 hours a trip). They say you can't have alcohol on the river but if its in a cooler they don't check so be sure to take some cocktails. One of the girls with us bought the PERFECT beer tube it was a baby's tube so it only had two little whole for legs in the center so it held the cooler in and even had a canopy to keep or drinks nice and frosty, it was also starfish shaped...we named it Carlos (after the baby in hangover) it was so perfect.you can also rent coolers and tubes there but they are not as fun) haha. My suggestion for the best way to enjoy and make it a fun-filled day is arrive around 11am (leave the Arlington area 10ish & make sure to pack food for lunch and rinks in your cooler)) check-in and get your lifejackets then you'll wait for a bus and get your tubes. The bus takes you over the state line into West Virginia and you go tubing down the Shenandoah. They drop you off you tube down the river and then there's a get out point and some picnic tables, stop eat some lunch then take the shuttle back up to the start point and do it again!!! If you see some small paids make sure your butts up or you might hit a rock! We had a great day but only got to go once due to the incoming thunderstorms! Hubby and I want to find a Carlos of our own because he went back to New Jersey with his mom ;)

Officially Mrs. Hubby!

So I LOVE the social security office, I know what a random thing to love right? But after an entire day of before work, lunchtime and after work trying to get through lines at the DMV and stillllll not getting my new license, walking into the social security office at 1:45pm and out at 1:55pm was AMAZING. It was a simple process you take your ticket, fill out your form go up to the desk and Bing Bam Boom you've got a new name. But then.....it was actually kind of...sad. I mean don't get me wrong I loveeeee being married and my hubby and his family and their name is just fine, it was just actually signing away that "Official" document stating that I am now and will always be Mrs. Hubby was a little sad. I mean I've had my name for 25 years its a major part of my life and now BOOM its gone. But on the bright side I am halfway through the process of changing my name on alllll those avenues I talked about earlier. I am waiting until next week to tackle the DMV again and I have a game plan so hopefully it won't be as bad! I've been practicing signing my new name and I feel like I'm in middle school writing in my binder, but eventually I will get my signature down pat and all will be right with the world.....or at least with my name!

Hanky Panky

Excuse the scandalous title haha but if you haven't heard of Hanky Panky's yet you must! I admit they are the most comfortable underwear ever and they're not boring either! They come in all sorts of fun colors and designs, with embellishment and without and also with a RIDICULOUS price tag of $16 to $20 EACH. I mean seriously that is way to much to be spending on an everyday undergarment that doesn't get to see the outside world!!! I splurged for my wedding and bought a cute little white pair that said "I DO" in rhinestones but that's it and they are amazing and I love them but I will not continue to purchase these lovelies. I have however found some wonderful alternatives at Target (where you can get one for about $3) and Victoria's Secret (where they are 3 for $25), still not the cheapest around but much more reasonably priced! I know there's a Hanky Panky craze going on but I don't get how people can afford the habit haha!

Happy Belated 4th of July! I had so much fun this weekend that I abandoned my blog! I'm sorry but I think most of you were probably out doing the same and had no idea ;) I had a relaxing weekend of going to the movies, the pool, catching up on netflix, grilling, picnics, fireworks and BBQ's it doesn't really get much better then that for the 4th! I made a Red, White and Blue Banana Spit Brownie for one of our outings and thought I'd share the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 box Brownie Mix
8 oz Cream Cheese
1/3 cup sugar
8 oz Crushed Pineapple (drained)
Sliced Strawberries and Bananas
Blueberries
Chocolate Syrup
Chopped Nuts

1. Make brownie mix and bake in pizza pan, let cool
2. Blend cream cheese and sugar until smooth then add in pineapple, Spread onto brownie
3. Place sliced fruit in circles on top to make red white and blue pattern
4. Drizzle chocolate syrup and sprinkle nuts on top
5. Serve or Refrigerate

SO FAST and SOOOO GOOD! I hope everyone had an amazing 4th of July weekend!

Resolutions...only 6 months late!

I feel like I've been being a slacker lately.... So I know I've been planning a wedding but I feel like I've just been letting myself go on a number of aspects:

1. Sweats - I get home and immediately through on something comfy which usually does not mean cute or even presentable to the outside world. I think I need to stay in real clothes for more of the day and then throw on some cute comfy clothes for the evening (I'm sure hubby will appreciate as well)!

2. Work Dress - I've always prided myself on my wardrobe but I don't think I've been putting it to good use I've been going drab and easy which is just NOT ME. Today was the first start of that as I paired an adorable crinkle grey top with white pants and silver sandals I also washed and straightened my hair! (Not that I ever not wash my hair but sometimes I let it air dry and that's just not as cute haha)

3. Cooking - I got all these amazing recipes and cookbooks from my friends and family for my shower and am determined to put them to use. I am going to try to pick new recipes out each time and make a grocery list before I go to the store so I can start learning to cook more interesting meals! I've got some pretty good ones that I do now but I feel like we've been eating the same thing over and over because it's easy which is just slackerish haha. I also got some adorable aprons for my shower so I can wear those to help keep my clothes (non-sweats) nice and clean! Tonight Cornflake chicken, Corn on the Cob & homemade Mac n' Cheese YUM. I didn't say healthy I said different =)

4. Ebay- It's once again time to go through my closet and disperse of the clothes I no longer wear I've been good about this in the past but haven't done it in a while. None of that oh well if we go trekking through the rainforest I can wear this, nope if it hasn't been worn in the past year up it goes onto eBay or to goodwill! I tend to buy nicer clothes so eBay is a great way to have my clothes be more of an investment then just giving away a $100 top.

5. Saving - I've been passing off excuses for why I couldn't save like I was already putting away a lot for the honeymoon and I need to buy stuff for the wedding but now all that's behind us and hubby and I are going to try and save half our salary a month I know it's a lot but I really want a new house and if that's what its going to take to get it I think I can squeak my way through plus I love sales and coupons and SHOPITTOME.com haha Speaking of coupons did you know that Giant and Harris Teeter automatically double any coupon up to $1 when you check out? AWESOME!

I think that's it from now but they are my married life resolutions!

Ms. Va to Mrs. Hubby

So lots of people asked me how complicated it is to change your name and I have to say VERY COMPLICATED. I mean think about all the different avenues your name appears it's ridiculous! I tried to go through and change my name on anything digital (aka e-mails websites etc) before the wedding but then came money issues. So I don't want to change it with my bank until i change it with my work (for direct deposit) and I can't change it with work till I have a new Social Security Card and I can't get that until our official marriage license comes to us in the mail and that hasn't happened it. I'm a person who likes to get things done, I rarely procrastinate, I like everything neat and tidy so this is driving me nuts depending on where you look my name is different! I came up with a comprehensive list of all the avenues I have to change to help anyone who might be going through the same problems:

These can be done at any time:

- e-mail

- websites (like shopittome, airlines miles, Victoria's secret, jcrew, cityshopgirl, giltgroupe, etc)

- eBay & pay pal

- facebook & linkedin

- apartment complex (Mortgage if that's the case)

- Magazine Subscriptions

These you have to wait till you get to the social security office which is only open M-F, 9am - 4pm btw, I mean who has time to take off work! at least open in the early AM:

- post office

- License

- Bank/checks

- car insurance

- renters insurance

- car registration

- work

- 401K

- Doctor, Dentist, Med plans

- passport

- voting

- Bills in your name

I mean really what's a girl to do this is going to take forever!!!