Chicago Bound

It's Memorial Day Weekend and my bags are packed....

as I'm celebrating the holiday weekend in the Windy City
with two of my favorite (party-animal) friends.

I better go so I don't miss my flight!!!

I'll post about my vacation when I return next week!
Happy Memorial Day Weekend to all! :)

Ring My (Kettle) Bell

I need to change up my workout routine a little bit so I bought ten 60-minute sessions at the Queen City Kettlebell Facility. (Oh geez, what have I gotten myself into???) I have a kettlebell at home, but I rarely use it as I only know a few kettlebell routines. So...why not take a kettlebell class, or ten???

Does anyone use the kettlebell and have you seen any results? I plan on starting the "Intro to Kettlebell" classes next weekend and hopefully I will see some results by my tenth class! And my friend Emily decided to take these classes with me too, so I won't be working out alone! (Workout partners are great, aren't they??)
Wish me luck! :)

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I'm loving...that I'm participating in the "Pour Some Summer on Me" blog swap! I love every item I bought for my swap partner, I hope she loves them too. More details on that after the exchange (next week)!

I'm loving...my little niece who turns THREE today! Here is a picture I took of her last time I was in town. She was too excited about her toys to pose for a picture! :) I mailed her presents this morning...I know she will love them!! (I can't tell you what I got her yet, because I know her mommy will read this!)

I'm loving...that I received 15 FREE energy efficient light bulbs in the mail this week!! I already changed all the lightbulbs in my house...now I'm just ready for my utilities bill to go down as I help save energy! :)

I'm loving...my doggie. Even though when I'm not looking, she does things like this:

I'm loving...that I'm 9 people away from hitting 100 followers!!! I've got a cute little giveaway planned so I hope to reach my goal soon! :)

What are you loving today??? Visit here to play along!

My "Fur"niture

I read this the other day and LOVED IT:

TO NON-PET OWNERS who visit our homes.

Don't complain about our pets.

One. They live here, you don't.

Two. If you don't want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture.

That's why they call it 'Fur'-niture.

Three. Chances are, I love my pets more then I like you.

Four. To you, they are animals.

To me, they are family ...who are hairy, walk on all fours & don't talk back.

Don't you just love it? I must say I am guilty of having "fur"niture. Are you? Some people are really good about keeping their pups off the furniture, but I love cuddling up to my dog on the couch (and in bed!)

But on the bright side, Paisley's tiny hairs are white so it blends in with the couch! But not so much blending in with my black car interior or black clothes though. Ohwell....stay off the "fur"niture if you don't like it! :)

Happy Tuesday Everyone! :)

Those Two Little Words

Oh WHAT a WONDERFUL feeling.

To check your car balance.

And see those two little words.

PAID. OFF.

I bought my car brand new and it took me a never-ending 44 months to pay it off. The typical pay off time is 60 months. But I chose to finance my loan for 48 months for a better rate. BUT, with a few small tips I was able to cut 4 months off my loan, thus, paying off my new car in 44 months!

Want some tips to pay off your car loan faster? I've got some for you:

1. Pay more than the minimum. BUT, pay the extra payment seperately. 
Paying more than the minimum isn't as easy as writing $500 on the check instead of $400. With car loans, you need to make two seperate payments in order for them to apply it to your principal. On the extra payment, (a seperate check from your regular monthly payment) indicate “Principal Only” on the check so that the lender will not include it to your loan statement next month. In doing so, you will be able to repay your car loan early and pay lower interest throughout the loan period.

2. Avoid late payments.
Pay your auto loan one monthly payment in advance. If you do this, you won't need to worry about your loan due date and you will avoid late payments.

3. Cash out your savings account.
Yeah, this doesn't sound very appealing but hear me out. Interest rates on savings accounts are so low right now, you really aren't making any money off your saving balances. AND you are paying high interest rates on your car loan. So, this is a no brainer.

My semi-professional advice is to keep a "cushion" in your savings accounts (for emergencies), but all the extra money should be used to pay down debt. For instance, the rate on my savings account was 1%, but my car debt interest was at 4.9%. So obviously I would make more money paying off my debt faster than I would keeping it in savings and earning little to no return. (Keep this in mind for credit cards with really high APR's, too!) Basically, the higher the interest rate on your debt, the more attractive repayment versus investment becomes.

Okay, I'm off my financial-soapbox now. Hope everyone has a great (and debt-free) weekend! :)

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Happy Wednesday everyone! Here are some things I'm loving this week:

I'm loving...that tomorrow I will be making my LAST car payment!!!! (What a wonderful feeling!) And I'm loving...that I get to cross another item off my 101 list!

I'm loving...that I finally got to see Something Borrowed last night. I thought the movie was great (minus the fact that when I see cheating in movies, it makes me sick to my stomach) but it was a good movie nonetheless. And I loved the dance scenes!

I'm loving...baking! I've done a lot of baking lately. Cobblers, cookies, brownies, etc. etc. I even baked 5 dozen cookies a few weekends ago in one day. (All homemade cookies, might I add). I think the chocolate chip M&M ones were the biggest hit.

I'm loving...that I'll be in Chicago next weekend!! I can't wait to see my friends, attend a Cubs game, and drink heavily. Oops, did I say that? :) Here's a picture from last time I was in Chicago two years ago:

And this one....oops again. :)

Hope everyone is having a lovely week.

Visit Jamie's blog to play along.

Cheesecake and Tornados

The weekend included: homemade pizza, a grill-out party, drinking with friends, playing wiffle ball in the street, and celebrating an anniversary.

Yup, me & CV celebrated our big ONE YEAR of dating yesterday. We celebrated by going to Cheesecake Factory (where we had our first official date) for brunch....and ofcourse, for cheesecake.  Don't these make your mouth water???

Can you guess which one is mine and which one is CV's?

Lemon Raspberry Cream Cheesecake

Reese's Chocolate Cheesecake

Afterwards, we shopped around for one of these:

(One will hopefully be purchased before this summer so we can start grilling.)

Then, we headed went to the Omnimax to see Tornado Alley. Note to self: never go back to the Omnimax unless I want to feel nauseous the rest of the day. It doesn't agree well to my motion sickness...or a stomach full of cheesecake factory food.

Unfortunately it was raining so the day was mostly spent indoors...watching the Grizzlies Game (#gogrizz, even though we lost) and hanging out. But it was the perfect little day/weekend.
Hope everyone's weekend was equally delightful.

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I'm loving...I won on the Kentucky Derby. I picked Animal Kingdom to win on no other reason than one, I liked the name of the horse and two, the odds were good enough that if I won, I would win big. Turning my tiny little two TWO dollars into FORTY TWO dollars! Yippee!

I'm loving...that the shirts I discussed earlier this week got enough "likes" on facebook and made it into production. (Thanks to everyone that helped out!) 100% of the profits are going toward Red Cross, Save the Children and Convoy of Hope. All which are helping the region with disaster recovery from the Mississippi River flood. Buy yours now!

I'm loving...fun summer socks! I know its weird, but fun socks cheer me up! These are currently in my shopping cart at Forever 21. They are kites, bananas, and watermelon. Anyone love cute socks as much as I do???

I'm loving...my newest fruit obsessions with clementines. I've bought two big bags of "Cuties" in the past couple weeks and eat about 3 to 4 each day. I can't get enough! :)

Speaking of food...I'm loving...frozen yogurt shops! I think we only have one in Cincinnati called Yagoot (unfortunately its not one of those serve-yourself places) but its still frozen yogurt nonetheless. And it's my favorite late-night snack destination. Ofcourse, I top mine with fruit..and sometimes Oreo crumbs.

And...I'm loving all my blogger friends and followers! So much so, I plan on having a GIVEAWAY when I reach 100 blog followers. Only 13 more to go! :)

Link up here and Happy Hump day everyone! :)

Tail Wagging Tuesday - Treats

I've decided to take part in Tail Wagging Tuesday!
This week's topic: My Pets Favorite Treats

Paisley doesn't eat treats to live...she LIVES to EAT TREATS. I believe the phrase "do you want a treat?" is music to her ears. Speaking of ears...here is her chewing on a pig ear. (The only hard treat she enjoys.)


*I do not crate my dog (as the crate doesnt even have a door on it) but she likes to go in there to eat/hide her treats. Just had to get that out there.

Due to her gum disease and missing 4 teeth, I try to stick to chewy treats and treats that will improve her chompers. These are her favorites:

What are your pup's favorite treats? Does anyone make their own???

My Shirt Helps ~ Memphis

For all my Memphis friends (and Memphis supporters) who want to help with the Memphis floods:

Go to Facebook and "like" My Shirt Helps. Then "like" these Memphis Flood shirts so they will go into production.

My Shirt Helps will be giving 100% of net proceeds to the chosen charity for each shirt design. They have given over $200,000 to date for flood relief in the middle tennessee area (Nashville Flood 2010). Props to My Shirt Helps for helping out.

Visit their website to purchase tees already in production and help my hometown.

A Snapshot of May

It's MAY! (Yes, I know I'm a little late, but give me a break, I've been busy!)

Some things I'm excited for this month:

• Cinco de Mayo (TODAY!): I'm really excited to share some mexican food, margaritas and laughs tonight at my favorite Mexican joint. Perhaps Tequila Shots are in my future??? (If you are staying in tonight...check out my recipes for a Mexican Fiesta Dinner!)

• Stomp (SATURDAY!): Remember my Valentines Day post when I bought CV Stomp Tickets??? Well, the day has finally come where he can cash in his VDay present, as Saturday is the day we will finally get to see the show! Has anyone been???

• Anniversary (The 15th): That's right, our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY is this month (of dating...not marriage. Sorry for the confusion, Jami!). Props to CV for putting up with me for an entire year. (and vice versa) xoxo!

• Memorial Day Weekend (The 27th-30th): I"M HEADED TO CHICAGO to party with a few special friends! I'm pretty excited about the mini-vacation, I'm sure it will include plenty of shenanigans...and a Cubs game. (Don't worry Reds, I'll only be a Cubs fan for a few hours!)

It should be a fantastic month! Now if only it would stop raining and stop being cold outside! (I had my heat on last night and FROST on my car this morning. UHM....May???!! Where are you???)

Home Flooded Home

It's always devastating to hear about the effects from tornados/floods/earthquakes and I must say, we've had our share of natural disasters this year...from all around the world. My hometown included.

Obviously, the damage in Memphis is not as tragic as the flood damage in Nashville last year, or the earthquakes in Japan, or the tornados in Alabama...but I still wanted to share a few pictures of my flooded little hometown city.

These pictures were taken on Sunday.

Shooting Range @ Shelby Farms

Putt Putt Golf

Germantown Pkwy

1-55 into AR

I hope it stops raining so the damage can be fixed (especially since my mom is out of work for the next several weeks due to flooding at her work! sad face.) I hope everyone is staying safe out there, wherever you are. This weather sure has a mind of it's own.

Clam Bake Party!

Have you ever been to a clam-bake???

Clam Shells

Last weekend, I went to my first clam-bake party and it was definitely a day-o-fun. We played wiffle ball, boche ball, cornhole, beer-pong, and ofcourse ate clams, chicken, corn, leeks, potatoes, etc, and drank until the sun went down. It was the perfect little saturday with the mister and some friends.

Me & CV

Soaking in the juices..

My plate of food: clams, chicken, potatos, corn...

The clam crew

You get the gist of it from the pictures, right???

Hope everyone is having a happy hump day!