It's Raining...

...and I'm ok with that. This weekend has been rainy, stormy, and windy down here in Arizona. It reminds me of home and I like it. It's nice when it rains down here because it feels like everything finally gets clean from all the dirt and dry air. But at the same time, it also means that everything floods, and that gets kind of gross. Exhibit A:

Sometimes days like these are my favorite because I can just lounge around and relax and not feel like I have to be outside enjoying the sunshine. I love curling up with a good book with the rain coming down outside. It's kind of soothing to me. Maybe because I grew up with it, that it's my comfort weather now.

Meanwhile, back home it was a beautiful sunny and clear weekend in Seattle. It probably looked a little something like this:

I found out recently that there's actually a song about how Seattle has the bluest skies... Apparently, it was the theme song sung by Perry Como for a TV series from 1968 called Here Comes the Bride, which was based off of the musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (one of my favorite musicals!). Of course, I googled the song, so here are the full lyrics I found here.

The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle

And the hills the greenest green, in Seattle

Like a beautiful child, growing up, free an' wild

Full of hopes an' full of fears, full of laughter, full of tears

Full of dreams to last the years, in Seattle... in Seattle

When it's time to leave your home and your loved ones

It's the hardest thing a boy can ever do

An' you pray that you will find someone warm an' sweet an' kind

But you're not sure what's waiting there for you

The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle

And the hills the greenest green, in Seattle

Like a beautiful child, growing up, free an' wild

Full of hopes an' full of fears, full of laughter, full of tears

Full of dreams to last the years, in Seattle... in Seattle

(Instrumental break)

When you find your own true love, you will know it

By her smile, by the look in her eye

Scent of pine trees in the air, never knew a day so fair

It makes you feel so proud that you could cry

The bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle

And the hills the greenest green, in Seattle

Like a beautiful child, growing up, free an' wild

Full of hopes an' full of fears, full of laughter, full of tears

Full of dreams to last the years, in Seattle... in Seattle

In Seattle... in Seattle... in Seattle!

Oh, Seattle, how I miss you. You do have the bluest skies and the greenest hills. I cannot wait to move back home!

It's That Time Again

"The hardest thing in the world to understand is income tax." 

~ Albert Einstein

This quote is up on the wall at work. I have to admit, it does make me feel slightly better about my job. If Albert Einstein thinks income tax is hard, then I don't feel so bad when I can't figure something out. But it is that time again... time to file your taxes! It's also the time when I'm working 55-60 hours a week, six days a week. Only seven more Saturdays to go!

On the up side, we got our tax refund last week. Woot! And I am pleased to announce that with our refund we were able to pay off all of our consumer debt. Booyah.

Obviously this helps us out a lot with our spending diet. Now whatever is left over at the end of this month we can put directly into savings for our Germany trip (see more about that here). Otherwise, our spending diet is going pretty well. We are over half way though February and I have about $20 left of my $100 monthly allowance. I've only had Starbucks a few times (thank you, Mom, for the gift card), I haven't bought any clothes, shoes, or bags, and I haven't even had the urge to go shopping.

Ok, I lied about that last one. Today I actually went to the mall since I got a Macy's gift card for Christmas. But, I am happy to report that I didn't buy anything and wasn't even that tempted. Only nine more days to go and I'm feeling good about finishing out the month strong!

Yes, Please.

For a long while now I've wanted a sweet wingback chair. There's just something about a bold print combined with the shape and form of a wingback chair that make such a statement in a room. It makes me want to curl up with a good book, kick back and relax. I can't wait until we can buy our own home and I can start truly decorating for the long term. Oh, to be able to just use paint! And I will definitely be having a wingback chair in my future house. Perhaps one like this...

This one only costs a measly $1,698 (anthropologie, why do you do this to me?). Someday, somehow I will find my wingback chair. I might need to do a little digging/scavenging/ thrifting/antiquing to find it, but I will find my wingback chair. And maybe I'll find a little something for the mister too. Then we can be like Ellie and Carl from Up. 

I've always loved this idea - having his and hers chairs. I think the hubs would like it too, except I know deep down in his heart he's always wanted his very own recliner but I'm just not sure that will fly in my future dream home. We'll just have to wait and see! Here's a few more I like for your viewing pleasure...

Source: Pottery Barn

Source: Crate & Barrel

Source: Anthropologie

Stuff Buster Chews

Yup, that's right. This is a post about some of the stuff my adorable little BBoy chews. When we got Buster about 6 months ago, neither of us really had any idea about how to raise a dog, and we're still learning as we go. Especially in the chewing department. So, here's a few gems of what Buster's been chewing on lately.

Blinds...

Power cords...

and the grand finale....

The carpet in our bathroom!

Who puts carpet in the bathroom anyways? This might turn into a weekly post, because there are plenty more where these came from. If anyone has any ideas for getting pups to stop chewing on things, please! I beg you! Share! We've been using Grannick's Bitter Apple Spray that we got here. It works for about a day or so but then wears off. It is nice for getting Buster to stop chewing in the short term, though. Other than that, we basically just keep our heads on a swivel. That, or keep shoving bones in his face. Despite it all, we do love our little Buster Boo!

Stay tuned for more of stuff Buster chews, but for now I'll leave you with one of my favorite Buster pics (don't worry, the car was parked). 

Road rage much?

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

Well, we are two weeks into the spending diet (or savings splurge as i like to call it) and we just turned in our cable box as we had originally planned here. That means bye bye DVR, bye bye HD, bye bye On Demand, and bye bye nice menu that tells us when all our shows are on. This will be good for us though! It will not only force us to watch less TV, but we will also save about $30/month. Go us.

Plus, we have this amazing little thing called Instant Watch from Netflix, which is pretty awesome. We have already been catching up on some of our favorite shows. Right now we're on a Parks & Recreation binge, as well as this show called The IT Crowd. It's a British comedy and it's hi-larious. Here's a little clip... Enjoy!

Be Mine, Will You?

Being Valentine's Day, I whipped up a little something for the hubby. Zach had gotten these sweet Star Wars cookie cutters for Christmas from his pops. (Find them here) I finally got a chance to break them out this weekend for a special Valentine's treat.

I also made some classic Valentine's hearts too!

Here's my recipe for Homemade Sugar Cookies:

Ingredients

2 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups softened butter

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

5 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 16 ounce container of vanilla frosting

(still working on the homemade frosting)

Combine butter and sugar until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla.

Stir in flour, baking powder, salt. Cover and chill for an hour or so (or overnight).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

On clean surface, sprinkle flour to prevent sticking. 

Use rolling pin to flatten dough to about 1/4 inch.

Get cookie cutting!

Bake 6-8 minutes.

And voila!

Let cool completely.

Apply frosting (I added red food coloring to the frosting to make pretty pink)

Have fun decorating!

Hubby is happy!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love Notes

Even though I'm not a big fan of Valentine's Day, I do like showing people that I love them. And not just on one of the most commercialized holidays of the year. Making homemade gifts or notes is a great way to keep in touch with friends and a little more personal than a facebook post. Plus, it's easy on the old checkbook.

I love to scrapbook so I had a lot of the supplies on hand, but you can easily just grab a couple pieces of patterned paper at Michael's, a package of blank note cards, some double sided tape, and a pair of scissors or a paper cutter, and there you go! Also, Michael's has a $1 section at the front of the store with some pretty decent stamps and other goodies. When stamps usually cost anywhere from a couple bucks up to $12 or so a piece, it's a pretty good deal! I think the cost up front is a little more overall, but when you think of the cost of buying greeting cards at the store, it will save a lot of money in the long run. Here's a few little dooseys I whipped up to send to my friends back home.

Happy Valentine's Day!