The Waiting Game

Wanna know where I've been? Well...this is where:

No no no, I haven't been drawing cartoons.

I've been studying for the CTP.

No, not the CPA...and not the CFP...the CTP.

I promise I'm not making it up. It's the Certification for Treasury.

Have I bored you yet? If so, I feel your pain.

Anyways, I've been studying for MONTHS and finally completed the hardest exam I've ever taken in my entire life exam yesterday! (Yippeee!)

So, I'm sure you would love to know if I passed or failed right???

Well, so would I!

Apparently, they changed the rules for this testing window and I have to wait until late SEPTEMBER to find out my test results. Stick a pencil in my eye, why don't cha!! This "waiting game" is complete torture. Oh, and must I mention that the pass rate is only 55%. More torturous!

So now I sit and wait...for three effin' months.

On the bright side of things, my oh-so-sweet CV brought me a dozen pink roses last night as a "congratulations for finishing the exam". What a sweetie!

Also on the bright side, since I'm done studying..you will be seeing/reading alot more of me!

Go ahead, jump up and down. I know you want to. :)

Grills Gone Wild

I must say, CV and I have been getting alot of use out of our new grill, T-bone! That's right, I named my grill. (I also named my Phillips flat screen TV "Big Phil".) You're not judging me, are you?

Anyways...back to grilling. What do you think about this spread?

We invited two couples over for a little cookout which included hamburgers (made with special ingredients) with alot of fixins' ofcourse: cheddar & colby jack cheeses, tomatos, lettuce, onions, peppers, ketchup, mustard, you name it! We also had grilled corn on the cob, coleslaw, two different flavor pickles, chips, beer, and ofcourse....wine!

Here are two of our happy customers  friends:

On another day, we decided to get all "Food Network" style, so we made corn on the cobb with a special sauce (accompanied with filets). Uhmmm....I give the corn sauce a B+. It could have been alot better, but I didn't want to drench my corn with globs of butter.

Here are some of the ingredients:

And the look of the results: (Missing the cilantro, Oops!)

Oh and here's proof I know how to man the grill. (Okay not really, CV does 99.9% of the grilling!)

(Notice my Tennessee Titans shirt? Go Titans! )

Anyone have any amazing grill recipes they want to share? I'm definitely interested!

TGFP (Thank God For Puppies!)

After a long, dragging, miserable work week, the one thing that can make me smile right now is the thought of cute little puppies.

Ooooh, and this little piglet cheers me up too!

I'm glad I have a little pooch to come home to after work!

Have a great weekend everyone...and if its not great..just google "puppy" pictures! :)

Cheers to Beer Festival

Yes, I know. I've been MIA for over a week, but I'm here today (maybe not tomorrow) but let's live in the moment and enjoy my presence right now! :)

Soooo...let's discuss this weekend. Friday was a pretty eventful evening filled with beer fest, champagne, friends, limo rides, fancy pizza, clubs, dancing, and etc. (Yeah, it's all fun and games until the next day when someone gets a hangover!)

The night started out with a limo ride to Jungle Jims to attend their Annual Beerfest. As you can see, I didn't waste any time and started drinking right away!

Unfortunately, I'm not much of a beer drinker, so after a few beer samples, I ventured to the bar for my standard Captain and Diet beverage instead. Don't judge.

We posed for a few photo ops with friends and then continued the party.

And then popped bottles of champagne, limo style, for the long ride downtown. (It's kinda dark, can you see me???)



We ate a late dinner at A Tavola an amazing pizza joint in Downtown/OTR Cincinnati. My favorite was the Fig Jam/ Proscitto/ Fontina / Arugula pizza. Oh, it was delish!! I'll take one to-go please!

Afterwards, we met up with some friends downtown and partied and danced the night away. Definitely a fun night out with CV & friends, but I must say I was paying for it the next day...so much so...we decided to stay in & order pizza (yes pizza two nights in a row) and watch movies all night on the couch. A fun friday out and a relaxing saturday in...you can't beat that!

What did everyone else do this weekend? I hope it was a good one!

Hot Off the Grill

I finally got a grill this week!!! Yippee.

No, no, no....not one of these:

One of these:

It was definitely an adventure putting all the pieces together. But thankfully, my handyman CV, did 99% of the work! (I was in charge of reading the instructions and finding the missing screw that jumped off my balcony into a pile of trash!)

We already made our first "Grill Meal" together and it was delicious! Grilled chicken marinated with Mae Ploy sauce (if you don't own this sauce, please go to the store immediately to make your purchase, you won't be sorry) with grilled corn on the cobb, a ceasar salad and wine ofcourse! Healthy & Delish!

Oh, I can't wait to spend my summer nights on the patio sipping wine with something cooking on the grill. Maybe something like these:

Mouth. Is. Watering.

Especially over the grilled pizza. Isn't grilled pizza the best!!??

Be prepared for lots of Summer Grill Recipes from me! And if you have any for me, please share! :)

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I'm loving...this camera. I. Want. Need. It. Right. Now. I absolutely love taking photos and this would take my little love to a delightful (healthy) obsession. Now, if only it would go on sale...it would be mine!

I'm loving...these adorable flats I bought from Forever 21. They are so comfy (after I broke them in a little) and are cute and girly. (I'm actually wearing them today!) Love the sparkles!

I'm loving...this dress Leighton Meester wore at the MTV awards. Ahhhhh, wouldn't this make an amazing New Years Eve outfit. (I'm not loving her hair though.)

I'm loving...the beautiful flowers that CV gets me. He actually bought me these "just-because" roses a week or two ago, but I just now had the pleasure of posting them.

Speaking of roses, I'm loving...this rose that CV got me on Friday Night. You know those guys who walk around (usually downtown areas) carrying a huge supply of roses and asking every guy in the bar if he wants to buy their "special lady" one? Well, CV was one of his happy customers. He walked away for a minute to get a drink...and then came back with a rose. What a sweetie.

And as always, I'm loving my little Paisley. She's the sweetest of them all.

 What are you loving today???

Pour Some Summer On Me - Blog Swap

I recently participated in my first blog swap and it was soooo much fun. The Pour Some Summer On Me blog swap paired me up with Rachel from Champagne and Mud. What a perfect match we were! She definitely sent me amazing little gifts that I adore! (And she sent me an email saying the gifts I sent her were "sooooo me", so I know she enjoyed my gifts too!) Success!

Here's what I recieved: A blog lover's beach towel (isn't it perfect for this occasion?), Victoria Secret's water bottle, OPI Nail Polish, A Manicure Set, Lip Gloss, Mini candle, lotion, hand sanitizer, headbands, summer scarf, seashell earrings and a recipe for her favorite summer drink (which I do plan on making soon)!

Amazing, right? And I've actually already painted my nails with the amazing color "cover me with petals" she gave me.

I got pretty lucky getting Rachel as my partner! She is such a sweetheart and I'm glad I gained another blogger friend too! If you want to read what I got her...click here!

Did anyone else participate? What did you get???

Chicago (Part 3): The Day of Big John

On our last day of our vacation, we only had a few hours before we both had to leave to catch our flights. So we had a quick bite for lunch and then headed to the "top" of the city to see the gorgeous views.

We ate lunch at this place:

Luckily, it had an italian place next door, so I actually veto'd the hot dog and went for a salad and 1/2 sandwich! (After everything I ate the past couple days...a salad was in need!)

Then, we walked around downtown Chicago a little bit (sweating my butt off!) to see some sights.

This is the river they dye green on St. Patricks Day.

Our plan was to go into Sears/Willis Tower...but due to the fact it was Memorial Day weekend, the line was out the door. I took some pictures from the outside..but we eventually made our way to the SECOND tallest tower in Chicago...the Hancock Tower.

Here are some views from inside Hancock (also known as BIG JOHN)

Aren't these views of the city incredible?



I zoomed in on the beach. See all the little people???

 And here we are being goofy.

Washing windows 94 floors up! Ha.

It was definitely a fun-filled Memorial Day Weekend and I can't wait to go back to Chicago (this fall hopefully) and do more eating-drinking-partying-sight seeing.

Happy Friday Everyone! Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend! :)

Chicago (Part 2): The Day of The Bean

Sunday arrived...and brought a lot of rain with it, but that didn't stop us from getting out and about!

Our first stop was lunch at Del Seoul which has the most amazing Korean BBQ tacos I've ever had! (Actually, I've never had Korean BBQ tacos, but trust me, they were delicious.)

Then, we did a little shopping. There is an Urban Outfitters Factory Outlet there and I picked up a pair of jeans, summer scarf, tshirt, sweater and some adorable olive colored heels....all for $50. DEAL!!!

Then, we took the train downtown to do some sight seeing and more eating.

(Disregard my rainy/windy weather hair look)

Have you even eaten Garrett's Popcorn?

I'm obsessed with caramel popcorn...ya know, like the cracker jack kind? It's just so delicious and the perfect combination of sweet and salty. I would definitely eat it every day if it didn't hurt my waistline! :)

So you could imagine my excitement when we stood in line to get some gourmet popcorn!

Yummmmm. It was so delicious.

Although I must say, it is only good for a couple hours, as I tried to have a little popcorn snack the next morning (for breakfast) and it was soggy and stale.

Then, after our popcorn break, we headed to the BEAN!

I've been to Chicago twice before but never got to see the bean, so I was pretty excited about it!

Me & Charlie in front of the bean

Can you see me in the reflection???

We did a little more sight seeing before heading to a yummy Mexican dinner! (Yes, more tacos!)

Then we stopped by Paciugo to pick up Gelatto for dessert. Yumm.

I got the Non-Dairy Soy Mint Gelatto.

It was amazing. (I think my vegan friend Bethany would enjoy it too! Hi Bethany!)

Then, we picked up a movie, jumped back on the train and called it a night.

Here are my gracious hosts...with a large bag of popcorn in hand!

Chicago (Part 3)...Coming Soon...