Warning: PG-25

The following post may disturb some of you.  It contains graphic descriptions and unnecessary language.

I've rated it PG-25.  If you are younger than 25... this post is not appropriate for you.

The topic? A-D-U-L-T-H-O-O-D.

Yes, I know it's a dirty word.  And I'm desperately trying to avoid it.  The word, and the concept.

Symptoms include:

-looking forward to unloading my dishwasher

-cleaning the apartment frequently

-getting tired at 9:18pm

-falling into bed, exhausted, at 10:03pm

-scolding my cat

-scolding my co-workers

-scolding everyone

I'm so sorry I just said scolding three times in a row.  I told you this post was not for the young at heart.

Ways I'm trying to rebel:

-eating ice cream

-leaving work early

-eating chips & salsa

-eating milk shakes

I'm going to go ahead and end the list here.  It appears I need to go to the gym immediately.  

Even though gym days make my bed time an hour earlier.

Seeking help,

Where I'm At

Life is funny. Sometimes you feel like you're so behind, and sometimes you feel like you're way ahead.

Either way, you're wishing you were at some other point in your life.

But, lately, I've felt just right.

Not too hot, not too cold, juuuuust right. (Prize if you know where that comes from!)

I have a job I like. Some days I even love it!

I have friends who would do and have done anything for me.

I have a family that is healthy and close. We really love each other. We really do, man.

I am in looove.

I have an apartment I can afford. I drive a nice car. I can buy Starbucks every so many days.

I have a Savior.

And, I feel just right about all of that.

Don't get me wrong- there are a lot of things I'm so looking forward to in the future.

A wedding.

A house.

A baby.

Just to name a few.

But, right now, 26-year-old me is content to sleep in on Saturdays. Drink a little too much every now and then. Plan a vacation with some friends. Throw a couple of wedding and baby showers. Call the apartment maintenance man to fix my pesky blinds. Splurge on a new pair of shoes.

I'm really loving where I'm at.

Introducing Lindsay, The Food Blogger!

Ha, got you with that title, huh?!

Today, I'm bringing you a Sunday miracle. I'm posting a.... recipe.

Watch out, food blogosphere. I'm on my way up.

Warning: if you are a serious foodie and require things like precise measurements or enjoy step by step photos, you will not find that in this post.

Here we go! I call this "Spicy Mediterranean Summer Pasta"

Fancy, eh?

Start by boiling a pot of Barilla medium shell pasta. Let it cool completely- you want to eat this dish cold.Medium shells look like this. So adorable! Shells are my favorite, because they capture so much goodness and are easy to eat.

See how well I describe why I chose shell pasta? Wow, this food blogging thing is a cinch!

Here comes the Mediterranean part. Add a couple of spoonfuls of green Lindsay olives. Also, add a couple of handfuls of shredded cheddar cheese.

Now for the secret ingredient- a couple of spoonfuls of Rotel! This is the "spicy" portion. You wouldn't believe how good this tastes with cold pasta.
And finally, about 3 tablepoons (for those keeping score, the first real measurement in this dish!) of Balsamic Vinagrette.

There you have it, a "Spicy Mediterranean Summer Pasta"!

This is a great dish for people with leftover pasta from a... ahem, real pasta dish... people trying to get rid of that stingy jar of olives in their fridge... and people who aren't scared to pour Rotel into anything and everything.

Enjoy!

A Bit of a Crush

... on this T-shirt. Found at Little Black Dress. I may need to go purchase this immediately tomorrow.

Happy Friday!

Things I Love About Summer

Confession:  I am a fall and winter girl.  I love hot drinks at Starbucks, cozy fires and scarves.

BUT... I am seriously loving this summer.

I love fruity cocktails served up before special "Sex and the City" early screenings.

I love pedicures.  This is my favorite OPI color- "Lincoln Park After Dark."

I love outdoor productions of the musical "Oklahoma."

NEW FAVORITE ALERT: Iced Skinny Vanilla Lattes, Mickey D style.  Cheap & delicious.

And I love, love, love watching my boyfriend play baseball on Sundays.

What do you love about summer?

Crash Landing?

Since I was young, I've had an emergency plan for any situation.

Our house caught on fire?  I would single-handedly rescue each of my siblings by throwing them out the bedroom window into the pool.

A robber?  I would hoist my sister and two brothers into the attic through a trap door in my sister's closet.  I, being the hero of course, wouldn't be able to hoist myself up through the trap door (the ceilings are high, man!) so I would stay and fend off the bad guys myself.

I was always having to save those three knuckle-heads.  I apparently never worried too much about mom & dad.

I also love the "stranded" scenario.  We're snowed in on a mountain.  We're lost in a jungle.  How do we survive?

Yesterday, I posed this very scenario to my co-workers:

We're flying to an auction.  Not sure where, but somewhere that requires us to fly over miles of blue ocean and a smattering of tiny islands.  We crash land, of course.  What do we do for shelter, food, water?  What are our roles?

First, the questions:

-are we injured?  no.

-are we on a beach with trees nearby?  yes.

-is there a waterfall on the island?  possibly.

-are there attractive natives on the island?  um, this isn't Blue Lagoon.

After two hours of discussion, numerous google inquiries and a lot of head scratching, we came upon our most pressing issues:

-how to filter sea water into fresh drinking water

(it requires a combination of leaves, sand and charcoal.  Because, we managed to get off the sinking plane with our mini BBQ, apparently.)

-how to make rum 

(google informed us rum takes a YEAR to ferment.  We were highly discouraged by this news, as none of us could stand each other sober for a year.  I kid!  But, seriously.)

-who we would sacrifice to the natives in a pinch

(guess who was nominated for that job)

-who we would eat in a pinch

(lets just say I hope my boss isn't reading this.)

I must say, I feel much better about traveling with these people after yesterday's discussion. It's always good to have a game plan for crash landing situations.

Girlfriends: Good For Your Health

I follow Self magazine on Twitter, and let me tell you... they produce some great articles for women!  

The articles totally make up for the fact that I will never, ever look like one of their cover girls in a swim suit.

But, I digress.  This article talks about the fact that our girlfriends really are good for our health!  And no, not just because of the high consumption of fruit juice (aka wine) we consume when we're all together.

The article says women with best friends...

*live longer!

The American Journal of Health and Behavior did a study that showed socializing with our gals can help you quit smoking, work out, and eat right.  And we all know that leads to a long and fruitful life!

*are more likely to bust out of health ruts!

Did you know women who work out with a best friend are 45% more like to exercise than those who hit the treadmill alone?  Good to know!

*are happier!

And it's not just because we're tipsy!  (I kid... maybe.)  Dr. Carstensen is the director of the Stanford Center on Longevity in California.  She says this great quote, which I think is so true:

"Pruning superficial friendships is part of the process of figuring out who you are and who you want to be around.  I compare it to putting all of your friends in a centrifuge.  It whirls around, and the most casual friends gets splattered against the wall.  The ones left standing are likely to be there for life."

There are a few other reasons gal pals are good for our health listed in the article, which you can read here.

Personally, I have a very tight knit group of girls I love and depend on.  And, each one of them brings something different to my life.  They keep me well-rounded, grounded, lend their shoulders to cry on and are always on my team.  They pray for me, laugh with me, and yes... occasionally drink with me.  :)

Do you agree?  Do your girlfriends make you a healthier person?

Bachelorette Party Fun

A couple of weekends ago, we celebrated by friend Leah's last weekend as a single lady. We had such a blast!

We started the day off with pedicures, of course. Here is our bride-to-be getting pampered.

Then we took a little drive downtown to our digs for the night, the newly renovated Mayo Hotel.

It was gorgeous! This is just half of our suite. Stay tuned later this week for more Mayo pictures.

After a delicious dinner, we hit the town! We landed at a club where a VIP area- complete with champagne- was waiting for us...

One of my favorite pictures of the night!

A little toast with the ladies... :)

Bride & Maid of Honor! :) Can't wait for the big day... just a few more weeks!

By the way- a big thank you to Cari Rankin at m.press who designed our adorable invitations. (For a refresher, look here.) I got so many compliments on them! Thanks again, Cari!

My Dad

Every little girl deserves a great daddy in her life. One who will watch "The Wizard of Oz" over and over, who will play "funny show" in the backyard, who will take her to daddy/daughter dances and buy her first corsage.

Every teenage girl deserves a great daddy in her life. One who embarasses her by walking with a bum leg through the grocery store and sings in front of her crushes. One who changes light bulbs on the stairway when you happen to be right up the stairs watching a movie with your new boyfriend. One who doesn't murder you when you wreck your new car after a month. :)

Every young woman deserves a great daddy in her life. One who moves her into the dorms, into the sorority house, into her first apartment. One who bails her out of a sticky money situation or two. One who drinks a beer with the man his little girl loves. Who teaches her what it means to be a hardworker, to be independent, to be courageous.

Dad- you are my hero. In every stage of life, you have been there for me. You work so hard and make us all so proud- and make all of us want to work hard, too. But more importantly, you play and you have fun and you love, and you have taught all of us to do the same.

I am so blessed today that God gave me you as a dad. I can't be there to celebrate with you today, but I'm thinking of you- and I love you SO much!

Favorite Blogs

Wow... how is it possible that a week has crept by so slowly, yet I'm surprised it's already Thursday?

I know I committed to "blogging my little heart out" earlier this week, with promises of pictures, videos and more. And unfortunately (as you can tell) that didn't happen!

Every spare moment I had this week, I was either loading up on coffee, making vanilla coke runs to Sonic (ooooooh, that sounds so good right now!) or taking naps on the office couch after hours. (Awkward story for another day.)

So, it was no surprise when the doctor told me this morning that the small virus I've been fighting is due to being a bit stressed and rundown the past couple of months. All of those naps started to make sense!

I guess all of the weddings, showers, parties and out-of-town trips caught up with me a bit. So, I plan on doing a lot of sleeping this weekend!

In honor of being a bit... boring, you can say- I thought I'd share some of my favorite blogs with you all!

I find myself gravitating towards blogs that have to do with party planning and design... friends & family... love... pets... politics... fashion... food... travel... and just for good laughs!

So here are a few of my faves...

Decorations & Parties:

Eat, Drink, Pretty

Food:

Joy The Baker

Fashion:

Cupcakes and Cashmere

Travel:

Camels and Chocolate

Daily Crack-Up:

Cake Wrecks

Happy reading!

Monday Musings

Happy Monday!  I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.  Mine was full and wonderful, indeed!  Bachelorette parties, baseball games & afternoon naps... what more can you ask for!

Today is my sweet mom's birthday!  Here she is with her girlfriends in college....

... and here she is with her girls on a cruise!  :  Love you mom... happy birthday!

We had a BLAST at my friend Leah's bachelorette party this weekend.  Pedicures, Italian food for dinner, champagne, and a stay at a gorgeous hotel.  More pictures to follow!

A very sweet man who I worked with at KTUL passed away last night.  I feel so sad for his family today- but it was a gentle reminder that life on this Earth is fleeting.  It's comforting to know we have a Lord & savior who is waiting for us when our time on Earth is finished.  I am so thankful today for that knowledge, and I'm hugging my loved ones a little tighter today.  What joy to know there is light in the darkness!

This week, I'll be blogging my little heart out.  I have lots of pictures and videos to share!  :)  

Happy Monday!

One Step Closer

Today I want to write about... being a writer.  

I've written in one form or another since I was little.  

Many moons ago, as a young, ambitious, pale red-headed little girl, I wrote stories and songs and lesson plans.  Yes, I subjected my siblings to "school" in my bedroom.

In fact, when I think about it- I always liked to document things.  Whether it was in a diary, a journal, a scrapbook, a flow chart of ex-boyfriends (yes, we have one of those)... I just like things to be written down, documented and recorded.

So, it felt natural for me to pursue a degree in journalism.  I tried out several different forms of writing.

I wrote during the summer for my hometown's newspaper, The Plano Star Courier.  By the end of the summer, I was writing the lead story every day.  And, I was discovering that newspaper wasn't for me.

During college, I wrote for Pulse, the college of journalism's magazine.  I was the managing editor.  I wrote the inside "fold" story- the BIG one- on diversity and I was so proud.  And found that my heart wasn't really in the magazine industry.

Towards the end of college, I decided on TV.  Through my attempts to become a reporter, I ended up being a producer- and I loved it.  I bossed and wrote and organized and wrote some more and made important phone calls and wrote until my 2 hour morning show was minutes from air.  And, I realized I didn't want to be a TV producer anymore.

At this point in the post, if you're still reading, you're probably thinking that I'm an extremely fickle and dissatisfied person.  I'm not.

I just felt like I was always moving one step closer to "the goal."

Without really knowing what "the goal" is.

I launched this blog in January of 2010.  (It sounds more important to have the 2010 tacked on there!)

And, once again, I feel one step closer to "the goal."

Still not knowing what that goal is.

Maybe to write a book?  Maybe to just write a really great blog?  Maybe do both?

I'm not sure.  But, I know I'm on the right track.  And the time might be drawing near to take one more step.

The Red Beast: A Documentary

While we were at the lake over Memorial Day weekend, we discovered a new species while we were water skiing.

It's known as "The Red Beast."

Here is what we know about "The Red Beast":

-it is very cranky when not fed
-it is very cranky when woken up
-it loves beer
-it loves food
-it can be found on water and on land

Here is our documentary of this discovery:

Giving Thanks

I just finished reading a great book by Sheila Walsh called Get Off Your Knees And Pray. It was such a great read! I've read it slowly over the past few months, and I've just loved letting each chapter sink in.

The message of the book is to not limit your prayer time. You don't have to be at church, or on your knees- you can be anywhere. Whether you're crying out to God or giving thanks, He welcomes our thoughts, praise & love anywhere and everywhere.

Isn't that such a freeing thought?

Today, I am so thankful I have a Lord & Savior I can pray to, worship & glorify.

I hope you have a Sunday full of thanks & praise!

Summer Reading

I read all year round.  Whether it's while laying out on the dock by the lake, or snuggled up on the couch during a snowstorm... I just love a good page-turner.

I'm especially excited to see so many fantastic books being made into movies.  It's a great way to encourage people to read more.

Some of my favorite books-turned-movies include the Twilight series (duh) and the Time Travelers Wife.

Here are a few books I want to read before the movies come out....

I've heard "Something Borrowed" is a great little series, and I think I'll buy it for some light-hearted reading by the pool.

I don't know much about this book, but I've picked it up twice at Target before putting it back.  I keep getting drawn back to it!  It's about a journalist who looks into the disappearance of a young girl.  Sounds intense- a good lake read.

This is another book I've picked up multiple times, but have never bought.  Now that Rob Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon are tied to the movie (which, obviously I will see!) I figure I should go ahead and read the book.

And finally, this little odd book: "Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry."

Yes, that is actually the title of the book!

Every now and then, I like a really weird, interesting book.  (See: The Alchemist, The Thirteenth Tale.)  The book is in the form of an auction catalog full of items of a couple who is divorcing.  As we're introduced to the items, we learn more about the beginning... and the end... of the couple.

This caught my eye since I work at an auction company and at any time have a stack of catalogs at my fingertips.

What books are on your summer reading list?

My To-Do List

May was a month of absolute insanity.  Fun insanity, but.... crazy all the same.  I attended three weddings.  I hosted two showers.  I traveled to Plano, TX... Houston, TX... and Mt. Vernon, TX.

What I did a lot of:  eating, playing, drinking, laughing, catching up, celebrating, working

What I didn't do a lot of:  sleeping 

This weekend, I get a glorious whole 2 days of... nothing!

But, I do have a few things I want to tackle.

One big thing on my to-do list is get organized.

My friend Heather introduced me to Papaya Art- a website full of creative journals, notecards, paper... basically, a writer's dream.  I am filling up this address book immediately!

I went ahead and added this dateless calendar to my shopping cart while I was at it.  I've been needing a small planner to carry around in my purse for a while to help keep my head on straight.

I don't know about you- but I love writing things down.  I have a laptop & an iphone... but I like to write out checklists and important dates by hand and have them nearby.  Pen & paper never fail you!  :)

Next up:  a little decorating.  My big focus lately has been my desk area... and I am ordering this adorable print found at Made By Girl as soon as I finish this post.

Also over at Made By Girl, this map print.  One of my favorite cities is New York City- and I just love this vintage yet modern map of the city.  I think I'm going to hang it in my bedroom.  She also makes a pink Paris map!

Finally, I plan on planting a few flowers in the giant pot on my patio, and possibly stringing a few Christmas lights around the rails.  I'm feeling festive.

If it rains, will the lights catch my apartment on fire?

These are the things I lay in bed and worry about at night.  (Thanks, mom.)

What are your weekend plans?

Weekend Wrap-Up: Part 2

Happy Wednesday!  

That's right, it's Wednesday!  You thought it was Tuesday, huh?

After Leah & Heath's shower Friday night (see yesterday's post) Bryan & I woke up VERY early- and by early, I mean 5:30am- and hit the road for East Texas.

When we arrived, we immediately jumped onto this lovely blue jet ski, and stayed there until Monday.

Kidding!  But, we did spend a lot of time jet skiing.

We also had a rousing game of family beer pong.  Ali & I teamed up against Dad & Bryan, while Timmy & his friend Kevin waited their turn.

Me & my honey!  

Me & my pookie!

On Monday, it rained. Fitting for the last day of a wonderful 3-day vacation.  It was dreary & sad.

(If any environmental activists are reading this, please excuse the number of cars in the driveway.  4 of the 5 came from the same home.  There's just no excuse.)

Tomorrow, the videos begin.  

-------> Insert evil laugh here. <-------------

Weekend Wrap-Up: Part 1

Hope you all had a fantastic Memorial Day weekend!

We kicked the weekend off with a Couples Shower/BBQ for my friends Leah & Heath.

If you'll remember, Leah's wedding is July 17th... check out her wedding updates here!

Leah & several of the hostesses!

Leah & her sweet friend, Hayley.

The yard "set-up." 

A few of Leah & Heath's friends enjoying our (lethally strong) sangria!

Bryan & Josh playing ping pong.

The bride & a bottle of absenthe.  (Don't worry, she didn't drink it all herself.) 

A good time was had by all!  

Next up:  Leah's bachelorette party next weekend.  Can't wait!

Tomorrow, I'll post pictures and some... interesting, shall we say?... videos from Memorial Day weekend spent at the lake.

Lets just say... I can blackmail my siblings for life.

Happy Short Week!