to buy or not to buy...that is the question

Jack Rogers Navajo Sandals. What are your thoughts?

I don't consider myself to be very preppy or anything but I feel like I like the "dress them up or down, wear with anything quality" that they have. Specifically the platinum colored ones (seen above.)

I have a $50 amazon gift card left over from Christmas so I could buy them there for essentially half off. But, I'm not sure if even at half off they are worth it. I have been really not shopping recently and I think they last a long time, right? But would it be better to just use my gift card for something practical? And put my $45 towards my new computer? It's a dilemma.

Are they worth spending $45 bucks on? Are they too preppy?

(all this is also hinging on me trying them on somewhere and seeing how they look/fit too)

and the winner is...

It's not an Oscar but it is a super cute summer-y crab tote!

Congrats to...

Ashley from Kiwis and Cocktails!

Ashley, if you haven't already please get me your information so I can have CSN send you the tote!

Thanks everyone who entered!

(I used random.org to select a number (18) to choose the winner)

wake up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy

Is that not a really weird thing to say? What does it even mean? How does P. Diddy feel in the morning...rich? Sleepy? Does he push snooze? Or maybe someone wakes him up becuase...well...he is P. Diddy? The world may never know.

Anyways, this morning I am feeling pretty good and that line is just stuck in my head. As of today I have lost over 5 pounds on Weight Watchers, I have Real Housewives of NY dvr-ed and waiting for me, it's Friday, and I allowed myself to eat a yummy asiago cheese bagel from Panera for breakfast. (Friday and Saturday are the days I use most of my WW flex points for the week.)

Still no new grad school news. Waiting on School #1 but that's ok...I'm still in a good mood.

And here is something else that is exciting: One of you will be winning this tote very soon!

Today is the last day to enter my first giveaway, I'll be picking the winner over the weekend.

Click HERE to enter!

gotta love those sweeping generalizations

There is this guy I work with, we'll call him Bob. Now I would definitely consider Bob one of my "work friends" which may be why these comments really bothered me. If they came from someone I hated I probably wouldn't give them a second thought. I also have no problem with someone being blunt or honest with me...but the context just seemed strange.

The first incident happened over a year ago. We were at a happy hour and another guy I worked with implied that I should be getting engaged soon. I know a lot of people with boyfriends who are my age have to deal with "when are you getting married" question but I really don't. None of my close friends are engaged or married and I don't feel any pressure from my family to get married. So this was really the first time I got asked about it.

I sort of just laughed it off and said something like "not any time soon." Bob however, decided to grill me. He asked how long K and I had been together, how long we had lived together, how old we were etc... Then he said: "well you are not getting married. If he hasn't proposed yet, he isn't going to." Naturally, I got defensive but I didn't want to get into a fight or anything. He is entitled to his opinion. What bothered me is the fact that he needed to say it to me when he knew it would make me feel bad. What's the point in doing that? He doesn't know K or even me all that well so why lump us into his little "theory?"

And it wasn't just that once. He has said the same thing multiple times to me even though every time I just brush it off and say "agree to disagree." But he doesn't stop, it's like he wants me to doubt my relationship or something.

Bob is one of the few people I work with who knows about my plan to quit and go back to school. Yesterday me, him and another guy were talking about it quietly. Out of nowhere Bob asks me if I have ever even taught anything before because I probably won't like it once I get into the classroom. His source was this chick he is dating who was getting her masters in secondary ed. and quit when she had 3 credits left. Apparently she realized she hated teaching. Then he implied that the same thing would happen to me. Once again I had to defend myself and essentially site my entire "experiences with children" resume to him. Why?

Maybe he is just trying to be a friend and warn me of the potential downsides in life. But, I don't understand how you can generalize someone you don't really know. If I want a "tough love" analysis of my life I'll go to someone who can see the whole picture.

Is it weird that Bob's comments bother me?

how do you like me now?

What do you think of my new look? Kelsey from Kreated by Kelsey totally hooked me up! If you are looking for an affordable, fast, and excellent blog makeover you should check her out.

I had no idea what I wanted and she really helped me narrow things down. I am thrilled with how cute it looks!

army brat

A week or so ago (or maybe even longer) Kiera, from Imperfect Daisies, asked me to blog about my experience growing up in a military family. Honestly, I didn't mean to put off talking about it this long, I have been trying to gather up all my thoughts on the subject and figuring out how I could format it in the most clear way. Kiera I hope this answers your question! Sorry if it is a little long winded.

To give you a little background, my parents were both in the Army, in fact they met at the Officer's Club bar while stationed in San Francisco. My mom was only in for 6 years after college but my dad was in for over 20 year and retired when I was in high school (he now works for a non-profit organization.) Naturally we moved around a lot, the school I went to for 6th grade was also my 6th school since kindergarten, but when we moved to Maryland we ended up staying. So I was able to go to middle and high school in the same area. Also, fortunately for our family, because of the time frame and the role that he had during Desert Storm my dad was never went "off to war." What I am trying to point out with all this is that I think my experience was pretty different than army brats today. And I was also very fortunate that I didn't have to change schools during high school or middle school which from what I heard (and can imagine) is a lot more traumatic.

So what was hard about being an army brat?

• Moving around of course. It sucks having to leave friends no matter how old or young you are. Also my sister and I would get involved with an activity like gymnastics or a ballet and have to leave and start over somewhere else.


• Missing out on the experience of having a "hometown." I can't help but feeling a little jealous of people that have friends from elementary school that they still hang out with. Or those people that lived in the same house from the time they came home from the hospital until they went off to college.
  

And what were the good things?

• Getting to see (and live in) lots of different parts of the country. My family never was stationed overseas...unless you want to count Hawaii!


• Forming a close bond with your family, especially siblings. There was a lot of times when I moved to a new area in the summer and only had my sister to play with. It made us very close. In fact when we settled in Maryland and got involved with different things it actually was a little sad. I also feel like my family is close because we spent a lot of time together and had some different adventures. Of course we still do spend a lot of time together so I'm not sure the Army had a lot to do with that!


• Growing up on Army bases also is a really good environment because everyone is in the same situation. To me it didn't seem as competitive about money and people seem to care more about each other/their neighbors.


• The fact that my dad was in the Army also meant we had the means for my mom to stay at home with us which I feel is very important!

So there is my little...or not so little...summery! If anyone has any questions on this subject please let me know!

random thoughts on Monday morning

• Today is the day that School #1 was supposed to have made their admission descions. Not sure how quickly that means I will know something but the waiting is absolutly killing me. I have also been stressing out a lot about student loans...I used to always say if I got into School #1 I would definitly go there and now I have been thinking more about School #3 (which I already got accepted to.) Going to School #3 would mean I could keep up some kind of job while there and thus not have to borrow as much. Blah. It's overwhelming.


• Speaking of going back to school...I am planning on getting a laptop soon. I actually don't have a computer right now I use K's laptop a lot and we also have his desktop set up in our "office" room. My computer from college broke right when we moved in together. I am leaning towards a Mac but I'm not sure. Any advice?


• Has anyone read the Sookie Stackhouse books? I am in desperate need of reading material and since I love True Blood I was thinking about trying them out.


• Finally I am getting my blog makeover! It's being worked on right now so watch out for that soon.


• Don't forget to enter my first ever giveaway by clicking here. You have until Friday at 8:00 pm EST!