can a bra (or a phone) change your life?

Finding the perfect bra, especially for us larger chested girls, is often like finding a needle in a haystack.

For me it has always been a delicate balance of support, appearance, price and most important, comfort.  Over the past few years I have always bought all my bras at Kohl's because I like the selection and their prices.  I know a lot of people swear by Victoria's Secret, and I love their (her?) underwear, but the bras just never work for me.

Yesterday, my mom and I were in Kohl's so I decided to check out the "intimates" section and it was there that I came across this bra (the pictures of the girl with her hair down, not the one with the blue bra, look more realistic to how it looks on I think.)  Now I have never wanted to venture into buying "minimizers" because usually they look like something Xena warrior princess would wear into battle, but I thought this bra looked normal enough so I tried it on...

WOW...seriously this is the most comfortable and supportive bra I have EVER WORN!  Plus it actually looks like an attractive bra, not something a granny would wear.  I don't think it makes my boobs look smaller or anything, but it does make all of my shirts lay much better and there are no visible bra lines.

Another thing that I have noticed, is that I don't have to adjust it at all during the day.  Other bras usually would slip around, which was highly annoying.

Anyways...I got it in three colors.  Maybe it just works for me, but especially if you have bigger boobs...I recommending going somewhere and trying on this bra.



In other news...I GOT AN IPHONE YESTERDAY!  Bras and phones...it was a good day.

I am totally in love already!  Does anyone have any apps I should download?  I'm already a wee bit obsessed with taking pictures with Istagram, the effects/filters are amazing!

This isn't the best quality but you get the idea! I need to play around with it more.

random thoughts and the miami housewives

• I was supposed to sub on Tuesday but we got some snow and ended up having a snow day.  It was in the 60s on Friday so the snow was strange.  Although I didn't get paid I used the day to get my taxes done.  So nice to have that out of the way and I am actually getting a lot back too (sometimes it pays to be a poor student!)
• Speaking of taxes, I sort of am obsessed with Turbo Tax.  I don't know why I think it is so fun to use, but I do.  
• I have really be slacking on running lately, I need to find a 5k and sign up for it so I am motivated to train!
• Fingers crossed, but I may be getting an iPhone this weekend.  Mom and I are going shopping and I think we are also going to hit up the Verizon store (she wants one too.)
• The other night I cooked a Weight Watchers recipe that used spaghetti squash as a pasta substitute, and it was so good!  I had never had spaghetti squash before and now I want to find more recipes that use it!

• Did you all watch The Real Housewives of Miami?  As you may know, I am a HUGE Real Housewives fan and have seen every episode of every season of every franchise, and I must say that I think these ladies by far seem the most...quirky.  Between the psychic mom, the CA-RAZY story about Adrianna's ex husband, the 17 year old drinking in the club and telling his mom about it, and the one who "collects" people it should be an interesting season!

i want it

The iPhone 4

and I think all the signs are telling me to get it...

1) It is now at Verizon and according to Verizon I have been eligible for an upgrade since November.

2) My 2 year old Blackberry Storm is on deaths door.

3) It's pretty.

I should just go get it, right? 

brain dump

It has been almost nine months since I stopped blogging regularly...hard to believe.  In some ways my life has changed so much yet, other things are really the same. So if you care, here is a little rambling update on what has been going on with me.

• School.  I am in my third semester of grad school right now and will be finished with all of the "class" part of my program in July.  This semester I am interning(student teaching) one day each week in a first grade class and will be interning full time next fall.  In addition to my grad school classes I had to take three undergrad classes which I did last summer and fall at a local community college (interesting experience for sure...would have made some good blog posts...very glad to be done to say the least!)  My program is great and I am so happy I made the decision to go back to school.  Although it did take a couple months to sink in that I wasn't ever going back to my old job....it just kept feeling like I was on a long vacation.
• Work. I quit my job in finance to go to school and since I am trying to get everything done as quickly as possible I didn't work during the summer and the fall (with the undergrad and grad school classes I didn't have much time.)  Even now my class schedule and internship would make it hard to have a normal, nine-to-five job but I have started substitute teaching.  It's nice to have a little extra money and not rely completely on student loans.  It's also been great for networking and gaining experience.
• Love. Of course I am still with my boyfriend K, and we still live in our same apartment with our pup, Hanna.  Nothing major has changed then.  K is in his third year of law school and works four day per week at a law firm (so he has one more year of school after this.)  We are busy and sometimes it feels like we are waiting for our "real life" to start, but I am happy we are working towards careers we will both love and that we have each other for support.
• Food and Fitness. My relationship with Weight Watchers has been somewhat sporadic but now I am trying to follow it now...at least during the week.  Still love to cook and have even started baking some...which used to scare me!  K and I started doing Couch to 5k in the fall together but then we slacked off.  I really want to get into a regular running schedule and I am planning to sign up for a 5k soon so I have a definite goal to work towards (more on all that in a later post.)
• Random.  I....turned 25, got asked to be a bridesmaid for the first time, ran a race (it was only 1.5 miles), got a pair of Tory Burch Revas, went to a couple weddings, discovered I like to eat Maryland style crabs, spent many days at home in sweats all day, drank lots of wine, went to the beach, went to Massachusetts several times and did lots of other things I can't think of right now!

WHEW!  See what I mean about brain dump?  

Anyways...it has been a good nine months and I am sure I will think of more things worth sharing but now you know the basics.

And how about some random pictures?

Us at the beach this summer, eating crabs and drinking what we call

"alcoholic arnold palmers" (sweat tea vodka and chick-fil-a lemonade.)  Hanna is

so spoiled!

On Christmas Eve (my family went for a pre-church cocktail)

*I swear we don't drink constantly...that just seems to be when I take pics*

In Salem, MA

K's cousin's wedding in NJ

K's 25th Birthday...I baked that German Chocolate cake!

Of course...the princess...Hanna.

(this was the picture on our Christmas card)

caffeine induced blog frenzy

This morning I went a little crazy and completely revamped my blog...several times.  I toyed with changing the name, changing the background, and changing my email...many times.

I think I finally have it how I want it.  Decided to stick with curiosity but am now posting under my real name (courtney...so if you see that name commenting places it's me.)  Changing the email address was waaaay too big of a pain in the ass.

Basically I wanted to simplify and streamline.  I'm sure I will tweak some more but now I really need to go read for my class tonight...and make some lunch...blog decorating makes me hungry.

take 2

Hey there...remember the time I said I was going to start blogging again? Epic fail.

Over the last couple of months I have really struggled with the whole blogging thing. When I worked in corporate America it was such a big part of my everyday life and really was what made the workday bearable. So when I left and didn't put as much time into reading and commenting on other blogs, I felt like my own blog wasn't worth it. If I couldn't put in the time to keep up with comments it just seemed...rude....I don't know if that makes sense to anyone. I guess I just didn't want to do it if I couldn't blog and comment everyday like I used to.

Through all this I genuinely missed writing the blog and well as interacting with all the bloggy friends I had made, so I stalked in silence and began mental posts that I never finished.

Then it hit me...I was putting all this pressure on myself for no reason. Blogging has always been something I have done for myself so it shouldn't matter if I can't post everyday or (as much as I would like to) leave a thoughtful comment on every blog I read. I just want to have fun with this.

I also hope by taking away the daily pressure I will be able to be myself more on this blog. Not saying I was fake in the past but I do think sometimes I got caught up in trying to write in a certain style or on certain topics that I thought would appeal to my "readers."

So I realize that this is kind of rambling, but I felt like I should put it out there before I start up again. I am just going to do "me" here. For those of you who used to read I hope you stick around, I can't wait to "catch up" with you all. To any new people...welcome and enjoy!

P.S. I am sort of feeling a blog name change and makeover...does anyone have any ideas? How did you come up with your blog's name?

testing, testing...anyone out there?

Hello Blogland! Anyone out there remember me? The girl that used to hang around these parts?

When I said I was taking a break I certainly didn't anticipate being gone this long, but my life has changed a lot in the past 5 months, and I really just didn't have the urge to blog. I think the main reason was because I had spent so much time and energy on blogging when I was sitting in front of a computer at a job I hated that I decided if I couldn't spend the same amount of time on it, it wasn't worth doing. (did that make any sense?) I did still pop in from time to time and see how all my blog buddies were doing, and even if I didn't comment I was celebrating your weddings, babies, engagements or just laughing at silly stories.

I didn't really miss posting myself until the past couple weeks...so after some thought...I'm back.

I can't promise that I'll post as often or comment as much. But I'll be here.