"Honeymoon" Cottage

Just to recap, my fiance and I are planning on going to a ski resort for our honeymoon, but since we're getting married in October, we're having to wait a little while until we can go.

It was suggested to us that we should still find a place to stay on our honeymoon night. At our cost of course. :oP So we start off on this search for a cottage/cabin with a max budget of a little over $100/night.

The point of this post: I find it so funny that one's budget can increase at an alarming speed when one sees what nice cabins look like.

Granted, we're still not going to go overboard, but I think at this point we're definitely willing to spend the 30 additional dollars to get an updated/nicer cabin.

Sunless Tanning

Anybody out there use a sunless tanning lotion or spray?

I've used Jergens and Dove recently. I'm pretty sure I like Jergens better.

I went to the store today with the thought that I'd buy another bottle of Jergens, but they only had medium tones left. :oP

So I bought Neutrogena's Build-a-tan. I'm scared to use it though because I just looked up its reviews and it got a lot of good ones, but also a lot of bad ones.

I definitely don't want to look orange in my bridal shower, engagement, and bridal pics that are now officially 2 weeks away. I guess I have enough time between now and then to figure out if it looks horrible.

Ouch.

Am I getting old? Am I that out of shape? Am I pushing too hard?

These are all questions I've been asking myself lately because of the pain I'm in. First I had the aching soreness, then I had the painful soreness, and then I just got plain ol' pain in my right leg, and now it's in the left.

I think it's because this week was my 'advanced' week and my body's screaming because of it. Really, I think it's just the side lunges...they seem kind of unnatural and I have a hard time with them. I thought they'd be cake compared to regular lunges. Apparently not. Then again, I also thought the jumping jacks and jump rope would be cake too.

I almost didn't do the video today because of the pain, but I'm committed. Yeah, that's it. I started to feel better about half way through, but then it started up again toward the end.

I think most people's advice would be to chill for a while and give my body a break, but I'm afraid if I do that, I won't start back up! Haha! :o) I only have 2 more days of the Shred until my allotted break anyway.

Then I start Level 2. EEK!

I'll probably laugh when I re-read my Level 1 complaints.

Twitter is amazing

But not in that 'OH MY GOSH this is the best thing ever' way.

Amazing in the way that you have total insight into celebrities' lives. Kind of. Depending on whether that person is actually who they say they are and depending on whether they're being truthful in their tweets.

Some interesting people I'm following: Lance Armstrong, Michael Ian Black, and Jimmy Fallon.

Lance is a tweeting machine! Update after update! And it's things like, 'back at the hotel now, listening to ipod, tough day today'. Which I would normally find very boring, but because it's Lance, it's cool. I think, "Wow! If I wasn't following him in Twitter, I wouldn't know that!" He's a celebrity and I know he's back at the hotel after riding all day.

Same thing with Michael Ian Black...planting boxwoods, riding train into the city. I just picture that happening. What does his house look like? What would it be like to be famous and do mundane things and then tweet about it and have lame people like me all over the world read it and think it's the best thing ever??

And I just like Jimmy Fallon because he's cute...I mean, courteous.

Question of the day

Would you rather have internet ads that surround what you're viewing (like Facebook) that cater to you in particular, or ads that are totally random...like an ad for cholesterol medication when you don't have a cholesterol problem??

I can't decide which would be more annoying.

Muscle weighs more than fat

The perfect excuse. I use it fairly often. Been working out...seeing weight gain...I must be gaining muscle! Ooooooooooooooor...you're eating twice as much because you're working out and think you can afford a "few" extra calories, and you really are just gaining more fat. Haha...I don't know. It's possible.

So yeah, I used that excuse a lot until that one episode of Biggest Loser when someone under Jillian said something to the effect of 'I think I must've gained muscle'. And Jillian goes, "Whatever. Face it. You just didn't lose any weight."

Eyes open wide, mouth drops open, I then think, "Crap. I'll never be able to use the muscle excuse again."

Ugh.

I normally can't stand to do these things, so this tells you the lengths I'll go to avoid my thesis. And it kills me because I just get further behind and more stressed out. Will I ever learn?? Probably not.

*I'd just like to give credit to Trevina, from whom I stole this questionnaire.*


The Questions:

What is your current obsession? That's a pretty strong word...definitely not my thesis. I'm not sure I have the personality for obsession.

What do you think your name says about you? It says that I should be taken more seriously than a "Nikki".

Who was the last person you hugged? my fiance

What’s your favorite dinner? tacos

What was the last thing you bought? groceries

What are you listening to right now? Piano Sonata (No. 4) in B Major by John Field

What is your favorite weather? snow

What is your least favorite season? football season

What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Baskin Robbins' Love Potion #31

What did you want to become as a child? hair dresser

What do you miss? my childhood

What's your favorite brand of jeans? Old Navy

What designer piece of clothing would you most like to own (new or vintage)? I'll answer with a non answer.

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go? home

Who do you want to meet in person? a relative from long ago

What is your most challenging goal right now? writing my thesis

What’s your 5 year plan? *scoff* Plan?? What plan??

Why is today special? It's exactly 5 months until I marry my fiance.

What is my favorite sport to watch? swimming/diving

To play? disc golf

What is your favorite piece of jewelry that you own? My great-grandmother's Stuart Nye dogwood bracelet

New Twitter Member

I did it. I became a follower. :oP

I just wanted to wait until the hype died down a bit. It was annoying me. And who knows whether I'll actually like it enough to stick with it.

Follow me if you'd like!

Chicken Noodle Soup

Here's another recipe from www.sparkrecipes.com. I've been digging the soups lately...they make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I didn't use any onion in this (I didn't have any) and you could probably, in fact I suggest it, cut the salt in half. Other than that, it was pretty good. Got the seal of approval from Mr. Soup Afficianado aka my fiance, so you know it's good.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Serves: 8

INGREDIENTS

2-1/2 cups wide egg noodles
4 cups water
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
12 cups chicken broth
1-1/2 tablespoons salt
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup water
3 cups diced, cooked chicken meat

DIRECTIONS
1. In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add noodles and oil, and boil 8 minutes. Drain and rinse under cool running water, then drain again.
2. In a large saucepan, bring broth, salt, and poultry seasoning to a boil. Stir in celery and onion. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.
3. In separate bowl, mix cornstarch and water together until cornstarch is completely dissolved, and gradually add to soup, stirring constantly.
4. Add noodles and chicken, and heat through.

NUTRITION INFO (per 1-cup serving)
Calories: 327.1
Fat: 6.5 g
Carbohydrates: 18.4 g
Protein: 45.9 g

Making my own laundry detergent

I haven't run out of my current laundry detergent yet, but when I do, instead going and buying more, I'm going to experiment and make my own.

I wish you could have seen my fiance's face when I told him this. Classic. I'm sure you have the same expression right now too.

I found a tutorial on Team Eco Etsy on how to make your own detergent. I have the soda and borax (my fiance said the name sounds like a disease), but I do not yet have the Kirks Castile Soap. I'm not even sure if there's any place in town that sells it. I'm sure there's an alternative out there anyway.

I'll be sure to let you know how it goes...and whether the clothes come out so fresh and so clean.

Another wrench thrown in the gears

INVITATIONS

So OF COURSE, after we figure out what we're going to do regarding the invitations AND bought all the materials, the print shop guy stopped by my fiance's office and said he hadn't forgotten about us and will give him the mock ups tomorrow via his son. WHAT?! Aagh...it's so aggravating. What's even more aggravating is that I doubt we'll get any kind of pricing information from him tomorrow. So if they're kick-ass and we re-think doing it ourselves, we still can't make a decision until he tells us how much they'll cost. No telling when that will be.

PRE-HONEYMOON

On a lighter note, I think we've picked out where we'll stay on our pre-honeymoon (we'll spend the major bucks at a ski resort later). We'd like a cabin/cottage with a hot tub for a reasonable price for two days. The Cranmore Cottages is the only site I've been able to find that fulfills those requirements. I actually hadn't planned on reserving anything--just planned on going home after the wedding--but was talked into it by some family members.

30 DAY SHRED

I realized something today: this is never going to get easier because when my strength and endurance increases, I'll just work harder.

THESIS

My $3200 imagery that I got for free came in the mail today. Sweet.



Have a wonderful Friday everyone!

I'm a winner!

I frequent a lot of blogs and some of them periodically offer contests to win free items. So just for posting a comment on futuregirl's blog, I won a white Martha Stewart pom-pom kit! I'm so excited about this, it's ridiculous.

I think it'll be perfect for the wedding!

Father - daughter dance

I didn't think this decision would be so difficult--then again, every decision is difficult with me. Maybe I should just go with my dad's original suggestion of the Hokey Pokey.

Wedding invitations

The bane of my existence.

It's just paper Nicole! Yeah, but...no!

Let's contact the campus print shop. Yeah! Great idea! This is what we want, blah blah blah. And several non-responses to emails later, we're back at square one.

After much research, it will cost the same to make our invitations as it would to buy something from a store. SOOOOOOO...we've decided to make our own.

They won't be as involved as some of the invitations I've seen online, but they'll definitely be from the heart and include all the elements we're looking for.

Related to that, I bought a bunch of crafty things yesterday to make the invites. Let me ask you, have you seen the prices of the Martha Stewart Crafts products?!?! Oh. My. Gosh. I had a conversation with the cashier about how expensive they are. She told me she was wondering who would buy a $9 stamp set (me). I then explained my predicament and she feigned understanding. I spent $75 on that stuff. Can you believe it?? I should add a disclaimer: I didn't know what all we would like or what would work, so I just bought it all. I'm returning about $41 of it.

And then I get home and find out that all of her craft products are on sale at Michael's this week in honor of the MSCrafts anniversary. Oh well. I'd have to drive into Asheville to buy them anyway--I'd probably just make it up in gas to get out there.

Happy crafting!

Bean and macaroni soup

I made this recipe from Sparkpeople for dinner tonight. Pretty good for being relatively healthy, so I thought I'd pass it along. I didn't use mushrooms or the bay leaf, I used canned petite tomatoes, and I used marjoram instead of sage (didn't have any sage--but yet I had marjoram...weird). I didn't realize it would make so much, so I decided to freeze a bunch. I love freezing leftovers--dinner suddenly becomes so easy!

Bean and Macaroni Soup

Serves: 16

This cholesterol-free tasty dish is virtually fat free and is prepared with only 1 tablespoon of oil for 16 servings.

INGREDIENTS

2 cans (16 oz. each) great northern beans
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 cup onion, coarsely chopped
2 cup carrots, sliced
1 cup celery, coarsely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 cups peeled fresh tomatoes, diced, or 1-1/2 lbs. canned diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
Black pepper to taste
1 bay leaf, crumbled
4 cups cooked elbow macaroni

DIRECTIONS
1. Drain beans and reserve liquid. Rinse beans.
2. Heat oil in a 6-quart kettle; add mushrooms, onion, carrots, celery, and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes.
3. Add tomatoes, sage, thyme, oregano, pepper, and bay leaf.
4. Cover and cook over medium heat 20 minutes. Cook macaroni according to directions on package using unsalted water. Drain when cooked. Do not overcook.
5. Combine reserved bean liquid with water to make 4 cups.
6. Add liquid, beans, and cooked macaroni to vegetable mixture.
7. Bring to a boil; cover and simmer until soup is thoroughly heated. Stir occasionally.

NUTRITION INFO (per 1-cup serving)
Calories: 148.4
Fat: 2.1 g
Carbohydrates: 26.6 g
Protein: 7.0 g

The look of the ceremony

I'm not sure if I already blogged about this, but we met with the UU pastor a couple of weeks ago and decided to hire him to perform our wedding ceremony.

When we met, he asked how we wanted our ceremony to "look". I took this literally and started describing how it would be outside, blah blah blah. I soon came to realize he meant the format of the ceremony. DOH!

At any rate, we just went through a bunch of stuff and preliminarily, we have our readings and wording (vows etc) picked out.

Other than the little tiff we got into because Mr. P doesn't see the point of readings (I kind of agree, but I'm not spending all this time and energy on a 5 minute ceremony by golly!), it was a lot of fun and I'm super excited about it.

Anyway, my sister just reminded me I'm not working on my thesis, so I shall go.

All about registries

Several months ago I wanted nothing to do with wedding registries. I've been on my own for a while now and there's nothing I don't have that I absolutely need. I had no interest in registering anywhere.

Then with talking to Mr. P, we decided to register at one "real" store and then create an alternative gift registry online where people sign up to give us gifts of recipes, a donation to the organization of our choosing, reused items, etc.

We chose Bed Bath & Beyond as the "real" store and surprisingly, I had a pretty good time finding things to put on the registry.

Then came the family input. :oP Apparently, one store and the alternative registry are not enough. It irks me that they don't seem to understand why we only registered at one store--not only because we don't need anything really, but also because it's so wasteful! I'd be perfectly content getting a cake stand from someone who already has several--plus, it means so much more. The thought seems to be that we need to give our guests multiple options to buy gifts. My thought is if they can't find a B3, guests can send money, a gift from a different store of their choosing, something from their home, or nothing at all and we'd be perfectly content.

But, instead of standing up for myself, I decided to appease the fam and now we're registered at Target as well. I have a sinking feeling our alternative gift registry will be lost amidst the large chain stores and that makes me very sad.

As Daniela says, you have to pick your battles, and that's what I did. :o(

Day 10 complete!

I have officially completed 10 days of the 30 Day Shred. I'm now out of the achy soreness and into the painful soreness where it feels like the muscles in my legs are going to pop. That's the only way I know how to describe it. I have also discovered that my left arm is a major weakling. My right arm harbors intense feelings of disgust towards it for holding it back from reaching its goals. I should start training like that guy in that horrible movie Lady in the Water.

There are three levels on this dvd and the idea is that you do each level for 10 days...hence, the 30 day shred. I've decided to not workout on the weekends (thanks Mere) and do each level for 20 days, working up to the "advanced version" of each level after the first 10 days. Make sense? In effect, it will take me a full month to do each level. Wow...I've managed to take a 1 month shred and stretch it to 3.

Even 10 days into the first level, it's still causing me trouble. To start, the first circuit kills me. 3 minutes of strength = pushups, squats with arm presses, pushups, squats with arm presses. Way too much for my arms...I'm still doing the puny girly pushups but I have advanced to actually doing the arm presses (with squats) for the entire time and with 5 pound weights. When I first started, I couldn't do the presses with the weights. I'm hoping to do regular pushups in the next two weeks. From there you do 2 minutes cardio = jumping jacks, pretend jump rope, jumping jacks, pretend jump rope. Easy, right? WRONG! After doing the pushups and squats, I can barely get through the cardio. :oP It annoys me to no end.

Circuit two is fine and I can now kick my butt when doing the butt kicks. *haha* But then in circuit three, part of the strength is side lunges with shoulder raises. AAGH! Again with the arms. I still can't do this one. The way you're supposed to do it raise both arms in front of you while lunging to the side. I can only do one arm at this point. I start off doing both, but then resort to just one. :oP

I shouldn't be so hard on myself...I do see improvements, I just thought I would see a bigger difference in my upper body strength than what I'm currently seeing.

I'm dreading the next two weeks and the advanced version. :o/

Party pooper

I feel like I haven't posted anything in a while and I need to come up with something to write about. But everything I come up with is a complaint about something and I've decided to spare my readers from my grumpiness.

See you when I can come up with something a little more cheery! :oD

The Wedding (not mine)

Two of my friends got married yesterday and I need to watch out for the following things:

--Make sure the preacher speaks up or is miked.
--Don't disappear from the wedding festivities for long periods of time.
--Make a timeline and stick to that timeline.
--Make sure people don't get belligerent.
--Make sure inappropriate public displays of affection are kept to a minimum. No, kept to zero. None. Nada. I'm not having it.

I think that was about it.

I'll need to designate someone to keep on top of the last two items.

Graduation

These pictures aren't that great, but here they are for your viewing pleasure anyway.

Wedding planning?

This weekend was fairly eventful with my parents coming down from Wisconsin, my brother and his girlfriend from Maryland, my aunt from the beach, graduation, Mother's Day, and a wedding.

I got to my grandmother's house Saturday morning at about 10:00. My brother, dad, and grandfather were leaving at about noon to head to the Nascar race in SC. All that I had planned was to sit down and rip all of the bluegrass cds my dad brought to my laptop. Little did I know that my other aunt was soon to show up and this was to become a wedding planning party. I had no idea and was actually quite taken aback since I figured nothing wedding related would be thought about let alone planned because of the tight schedule everyone had. I didn't even bring my wedding binder so when my aunt asked for the florist contract, I didn't have it to show her. :oP Some brides carry it with them everywhere they go.

At any rate, everything worked out, we got a bridal shower list finalized and the invitations made and filled out. They are so cute; I was really impressed!

At about 1:15 we left to go to the wedding venue to show to those who hadn't seen it and there was to be a wedding around 5:00 that day. I felt bad for not calling the owner first (he looked kind of upset), but we looked around anyway. It was actually really beneficial because I got to see what it would look like if we had to bring it inside because of rain (it was raining while we were there) and also what the barn looks like all decorated for a reception.

I'm glad we got going on the invitation stuff...I honestly think that's going to be the hardest part. Figuring out whom to invite to what and what everyone's addresses are. My brother's girlfriend was so sweet and helpful. She helped put the invitations together and had some really great additions and ideas for different things. If she lived here I'd hire her in a heartbeat to be my wedding planner.

A big theme on Saturday was delegating. My uncle's job now is to help figure out the hotel situation for the out of town wedding guests. I've done some research, but apparently it wasn't on par with my family's ideas on hotels, so he's going to look around and see if he can find a relatively inexpensive hotel closer to Weaverville. Which is fine with me because I'm done looking into any more hotels. It was driving me to insanity. Gotta get something cheap, but not too cheap, and nice not crappy, blah blah blah.

I wasn't stressed until Saturday. My family's stress rubbed off on me. Chris had to tell me several times the next day to chill out. I think I'm recovered now.

P.S. Our 2 year anniversary is on Wednesday. I think we'll go out (to Taco Bell probably--haha!) and then watch the season finale of Lost together. We're so romantic. It's actually quite a big deal considering Wednesday is a day he usually plays WoW. Haha ;oD

Random pictures

This is a worm snake I dug up while planting my boxwoods.

A picture of Callie asleep in between the coffee table and couch.

It's getting to the end

I love the Biggest Loser, but it's around this time when I start to wonder. My fiance and I actually argued about this and had to break out the iphone to access a BMI calculator.

The argument was regarding Tara. I don't know if it's because they show them standing next to their old heavier self or what, but she started to look too skinny to me. And I just don't know how she could lose any more weight and still be healthy!

But apparently, based on her height (5'9"), she could get down to 140 (she's currently 159) and still be considered healthy.

So I lose that argument. But I always wonder about the contestants when they get to the finale stage. Yikes.

Day One

Behold the power of definitive statements! From now on I'm going to say, "I'm going to work out today." Rather than, "I might work out today."

After work today I popped in Jillian's 30 Day Shred and proceeded to the Level 1 workout.

Oh. My. Gosh.

Her workouts amaze me because there's nothing fancy about them...no complicated moves or steps...but yet, I'm drenched in sweat after them. Who would have thought some jumping jacks and pretend jump rope could bust my butt so bad??

Don't underestimate those jumping jacks! Have you done any recently? Give it a whirl! I dare ya!

Also, I only have 5 pound weights, so for some of the exercises I had to put them down because my upper body strength is non-existent apparently. That's a bummer.

I've pretty much decided I'm stretching this to a 2 month shred. ;o) I'm just not sure 10 days per level is enough for me...I'd rather be really proficient at one level than move on and stumble through the next.

Those are my thoughts after day 1. I'll check in after 10 and let you know what I really think!

Just passing the time

Had to work breakfast this morning. :-P The temperature gauge for the food got broken so I bought my own to use. Is it weird to think this thing is frickin' awesome??

We got tons of rain this weekend. Good for my freshly planted veggies and fruits, but bad for mowing the lawn. Found a ladybug on my strawberry plant. Good news! They eat the bad bugs.

Speaking of mowing, I bought a new mower. Hopefully this one lasts longer than the last. It probably will considering I now know you're supposed to put oil in them.

My grandfather's still in the hospital. He's 88, has Alzheimer's, and has had a rough time of it lately. He had a stroke a week and a day ago. His speech is still off, has difficulty moving around, and he's still battling some congestion, but hopefully he'll get through that and be discharged soon.

I bought the 30 day shred DVD. I was feeling left out! I'm hoping to start it today. I mean, I AM going to start it today.

My fiancé graciously shuttled me to a whole bunch of stores yesterday to find a dress for my friend's wedding on Sunday. No dice. I can't believe I couldn't find anything. Maybe I was in a mood and nothing was going to satisfy me.

I walk in the commencement this Friday. My parents are driving down on Wednesday (yay!) and my older bro and his gf (whom I haven't met yet) are flying down Thursday I think. My mom bought me a comforter set a while ago, so she's bringing that down-I'm super excited about it. I'm tired of my crappy faux quilt comforter.

That's the current news in Nicoleland. Have a good week everyone!

Settling in

As many of you know, my dad was in the Air Force for about F-O-R-E-V-E-R. So it's like I've lived in a perpetual state of get ready to move. Even now that I've moved out and he's retired, I still get this feeling of been here too long, need to move on. And I don't get too comfortable where I live, because in my head, heck, in three years, I'll be moving!

Except today...I bought 4 boxwoods to plant alongside my house. That's pretty permanent in my book. Why spend money to beautify my yard if I'm just going to move in a year??

My fiance and I have talked about it, and we're okay with staying here. No, we don't live in a big city (sometimes a bummer), but we're just 45 minutes from Asheville, there's hardly any crime to speak of, the people are nice, the schools are good...what more could you ask for?? (Besides nice restaurants and places to shop.)

It's good that we're okay with staying here because it might be a necessity. Consequences of the recession.

So yeah, it's just a weird feeling to "settle down". Here's to hoping I like it!!