Monday, July 27, 2009

Tuesday's Truths or Rather, I Confess...

the idea for this post came to me this past weekend on our drive home from Maryland. Hubs said he couldn't wait to get home and mow the lawn. Of course, he was being sarcastic and of course, I laughed. He then proposed that I mow the lawn. And again, I just laughed...

I confess:




1. I've never mowed the lawn. And truth be told, I don't think I ever will. It's a man's job and don't think for a second I wouldn't mow all sorts of crazy, crooked lines into the lawn. Because I would. So it's probably just better that I. Don't. Mow.


2. I hate to cook. I cook out of necessity. I cook because my husband needs to eat.


3. I could eat (and have eaten) cereal for every meal of the day.


4. I've gone shopping before and left the evidence in the car overnight so that Hubs would be unawares. This means that I've even woken up early the next morning to un-bag and put away said evidence. Does this mean I need to join Shopper's Anonymous? Hello, My name is Ashley Paige and I...


5. I happily threw out Hub's favorite button down shirt. He loved this shirt and it was the most gosh-awful shade of blue you could ever imagine. Shame on you, Lands Ends, for ever creating such a hideous oxford. In my defense, Hubs and I talked it over first. I just very forcefully coerced him into letting me throw it away.


6. I let Sully sleep in our bed. I can't help it. If it allows me an extra hour of sleep in the morning, I'll do anything. He doesn't sleep in our bed the entire night, but after waking up at 5am and pawing at my head incessantly, I lean over, hoist him into bed and it's 60 additional minutes of glorious shut-eye.




To be continued..

I Really Should Be...

packing
for the beach.
but i can't bring myself
to climb up
into the scary, creepy-crawly attic
and seek out
my suitcase.
so instead,
i'll just sit around
blog a little,
kindle a little,
and eat a little mint choco-chip ice cream.

oh, how i detest Hubs-less Mondays.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Summer Lovin'... AP's Beachy Must Haves!

As Hubs and I gear up for our next beach getaway (T-minus eight days and counting), I thought I would share some of my packing-for-the-beach must have's. It is imperative that these items accompany me to the beach each year, as I am sure I simply could not survive a week in Ocean City, Maryland without them!


What's a week at the beach without sunscreen?



We in the M household LOVE this sunscreen. Yes, I do admit that I'm a little sun-goddess and will swipe on some Hawaiian Tropic SPF 8 at times, but only after I've generously sprayed myself down with Neutrogena's Fresh Cooling Body Mist. I love me some Helioplexes!


Next up?





St. Ives Apricot Scrub. There's nothing better at scrubbing away grimy sunscreen and sand after a long day on the beach than this stuff. It leaves my skin feeling silky smooth after every shower. Although, I do use it sparingly. Why? I somehow have it in my little head that if I scrub too hard, I will scrub my tan away. I know, I know. Laugh it up. But I'm serious! (Although I'm pretty sure that can't happen).








I love, love, LOVE this stuff right here. Vaseline's Aloe Fresh Hydrating lotion. Mmm, Mmm! After having divulged my fear of scrubbing away my tan in the shower, I just slather on a healthy amount of this stuff and I'm ready to head out the door! Tan included! It's light, it's fresh and doesn't leave behind any filmy, sticky residue. Coming from a girl who's bathroom cabinets look like the aisles of a CVS drugstore, this moisturizer is a must-have!








Despite falling into bed with an almost full face of makeup on each night, one thing I refuse to do is wear make-up to the beach. Although these Neutrogena Make-Up Removing clothes are perfect for a few swipes before hitting the hay, they also do wonders on the beach/after the beach for getting that grimy, icky, gross sunscreen film off of your face. Easy to use, easy to throw into your beach bag, these facial wipes are won-der-ful. They even come in thin travel-sized packages for easy packing.


And last but certainly not least, a girl can't forget a little SPF chapstick!

Along with a couple tubes of my favorite SPF chapstick, hair ties and elastic headbands, you can rest assured these items are the first to go into my suitcase. Clothes are a whole other story.. Speaking of clothes, did I mention that I've already started writing down/pairing outfits in a little notebook.. I didn't?

Good. I didn't want you thinking I'm crazy.. or... anything!




Happy Thursday! What are some of your Summer Must-Have's?

Bookworms Unite!

Saw this here,
but you can buy it here.
Hubs, I need this.


Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Aw, Sick Sheepie.

Pardon the shoddy clarity of this photo. It was taken with my cell phone at 4:30am.
Sully's been having tummy troubles lately (he's always had a senstive stomach) but it seems to be almost at it's worst now. It could be the diet change (we never even made it past 90% old food and 10% new food!), or it could be the exorbitant amount of sticks that our new dog walker let him eat. You know, call me crazy, but sticks ARE NOT GOOD FOR INTESTINES!
Good thing his best friend is the Bissell Spot Bot (It's my BFF lately, too) and unfortunately, I missed the opportunity last night to snap a photo of him spooning the Spot Bot as it worked it's magic on puppy puke and our neutral carpets in the living room. This morning, however, when I let him crawl into bed with me at 4:30am, he was looking particularly pathetic and I just couldn't pass up the photo-op.
Aw, what a poor sick, sleepy Sheepie. It kind of makes my heart hurt!

Monday, July 20, 2009

I Shouldn't Be This Excited...

about Gmail's new "Tasks" feature. However, my Type-A, must-be-organized, neverending list-making persona is absolutely ecstatic. Logging in last night and seeing that new button, I swear my stomach did little flip-flops of excitement. Gone are the days when I would "compose" a new email, addressed solely to myself and fill it with lists upon lists of things to do, things to buy, things I wanted to accomplish today, tomorrow and yes, even two years from now. And to think of the thrill I am going to get when checking that little box, indicating I've completed said task.. This is just too much for my little slightly OCD self to comprehend! First G-chat and now Tasks? Goody Goody Gumdrops! Thank you, Gmail!


Happy Monday!

Friday, July 17, 2009

Bad Boys. Bad Boys. Whatchya Gonna Do?

The following email was received by yours truly at 9:00am this moring:

"Sullivan has now moved from sunglasses to my eye glasses -
he ate the pieces off the end of BOTH ear parts
and destroyed the lenses...
I might kill and bury before you return."

No signature. No "Honey, I love you, hope you're having a great day at work." Not even a "Hi!"
Sullivan is majorly in the doghouse.

Did I mention that Sullivan has already eaten not one, but TWO pairs of Oakley sunglasses? First, he gnawed through my husband's pair. Feeling very generous at the time, I then gave Hubs my pair (yes, we had matching pairs and yes, mine were men's). Three weeks later, Sullivan managed to sniff out that pair and turn them into a mangled mess of plastic. And now? Hubs' eyegalsses? Shameless.

Maybe next time somebody (::cough, cough, Hubs::) will remember
NOT to leave said pieces of eyewear sitting on the kitchen table.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

THE Book. And Marital Musings.

After reading my previous post, many of you darling bloggers wanted to know what book it is that Hubs has been diligently reading every night before bed.. Well, wonder no more ladies! Here it is:


For Men Only: A Straightforward Guide to the Inner Lives of Women
Written by Shaunti Feldhahn


Just let the men in your life read the first sentence and I promise you, they will be hooked.
"Like some guys I know, you might be tempted to skip this introduction and jump right to the sex chapter."

This book is written exactly how the men in our lives think. And I know I can't speak on behalf of all the Hubs' out there, but I know my Hubs really appreciates and enjoys it. (I know, I'm a little shocked, too!) But in all honesty, why wouldn't the men in our lives who love us so much want to understand us a little more?

If nothing else, this book is a great conversation starter.

As is it's counterpart:
For Women Only: What You Need to Know About the Inner Lives of Men
Which I plan to begin as soon as I finish up the current three reads I have going on my Kindle.

In other news, we're waiting to find out the whereabouts of Hubs' next project. There's a few different options on the table, unfortunately none of which require him to work in the same state as his darling wife. It's okay though. It's nothing we haven't worked through before and I do admit it's been nice the last 18 months while Hubs worked in our state's capital. It seems I've been a little spoiled in that respect.

Let me set the stage for the following bit of Marital Musings. Hubs and I are on G-Chat (or G-Mail's version of Instant Messenger) while winding down our respective workdays:

Mike: i am going to leave and start walking over there now. I got another offer to join in CLT.
Me: Ok! I'll be getting off soon. Wait, what? CLT?
Mike: Charlotte.
Me: Oh, I'm sorry. I'm not all up on my consultant-lingo. I'm not "in the biz."
Mike: That is the airport code, silly.
Mike: "CLT" as in Char International
Me: Dork.
Me: As in you are a huge dork.
Me: Dork. Dork. Dork.
Mike: Ok im leaving 'STAT' nurse
Mike: STAT STAT STAT
Mike: As in give me an IV STAT


He's so silly sometimes..

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Vehicular Pigeon Slaughter with a Side of Emotional WellBeing.

i hit a pigeon on the way to work today.


Not any pigeon, mind you.
A pigeon who happened to be just hangin' out with two of his pigeon homies.
In the middle of a major road.
i can't help the fact the your homies were smart enough to FLY AWAY as my vehicle approached.

I rolled right over that poor Mr. Pigeon.
Flattened him into a pigeon pancake.

I've never run over a poor little defenseless creature before.

So, what do I do? I call Hubs.
Who's been spending the last few nights in bed
reading a book to help him better understand the female psyche (read: his crazy wife).
Last night's chapter was all about listening.

Me: Hubs, I ran over a pigeon! In my pretty new car!
Hubs: WHAT?!
Me: I thought he was going to fly away like his two pigeon friends!
Hubs: How do you feel about the pigeon?
Me: [laughing]
Hubs: [silence].. I'm listening.
Me: I squished him! I bet I have feathers sticking out of the grill!
Hubs: So, you're saying you squished the pigeon. How do you feel about squishing the pigeon?

if only you could hear the Psychiatrist tone to Hubs' voice. It was absolutely hysterical.
Way to put your new-found listening skills to good use, Hubs!
and yes, I did have feathers sticking out between the treatds of my front tire ...

Monday, July 13, 2009

Morning Crankster.

I can't go ahead and say that I am officially a morning person. I do not loathe mornings, but I do not love them either. But I manage. As a nurse, I don't have a choice. Both my job and Sullivan demand early morning wake-up calls. How early? We're talking in the realm of 5am every single day. But I'm not complaining! It's how I live. I wake up, let Sully out to piddle, let him back in, serve him his breakfast and hop in the shower. I get dressed, I primp and preen and I'm back out the door with Sullivan for his morning walk up and down the street. I grab a granola bar, settle Sully into his room with a handful of kibble and I'm out the door by 6:15am. This is our routine. For the most part it's seamless. It's efficient. It ingrained into our two brains and really requires little to no thinking on our parts. It's like waking up on Automatic.

[Enter Hubs into our seamless, efficient little morning routine]

Hubs is home for the week, working remotely from the Philadelphia office. Needless to say I am stoked that we'll be spending all week together, you know, like a normal married couple. Commuting home together from the city, cooking dinner together, etc. It's something I've been looking forward to for years. It's the perks of those days inbetween projects. Home from Harrisburg and gearing up for... well, we don't know yet. But that's okay. I'll take what I can get and relish in the few days of having him home.

Except maybe in the mornings. Our seamless, efficient, quiet routine? Greeted by Hubs and his darling smiling face at 5:30am, in the kitchen, half dressed for work, lights on, brewing coffee, packing lunches and tidying up the kitchen. Woah.

Talk about sensory overload. Hubs, I know you mean well and I'm so excited to dive into my lunch later today, packed with lots of love (and nutritous snacks and possibly one food item from every block on the food pyramid), but holy cow.. It's all a little too much for me and my simple little morning routine! I know I grumbled a lot, and huffed and puffed and maybe even sighed once or twice and I'm sorry. I promise not to be such a crankster tomorrow morning. And maybe one day this week, I'll even pack a little lunch for you.

I just need a little time to.. adjust.
To rub the sleep out of my eyes.
To... wake up and smell the coffee. Which was delicious, by the way.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Turks Teaser...

Sounds like a delish island drink, does it not?

Mmm, tasty..
We have lots of catching up to do!

Although Hubs and I celebrated the 4th of July sans fireworks, we did happen to catch a recap of Macy's fireworks over the Hudson on the nightly island news.. That way, we didn't feel too far from home!
We had a blast on vacation..
We relaxed.
We reminisced.
We planned a little for the future.
We planned future return trips to "the Caicos."
We walked up and down the uninterrupted twenty-one mile coastline,
developed a penchant for fruity island umbrella drinks,
and went on a 7 hour snorkel/dive adventure which culminated in my darling husband
jumping into the water whilst the rest of us relaxed on the boat gnoshing away on our turkey sammiches,
swam around for a bit and then covertly jumped back onto the boat,
nonchalantly filling us all in on the ten foot shark he saw swim by..



"But Ash, I didn't just want to yell SHARK!!"

Needless to say, none of us did much snorkeling at the final drop-off.

::hums JAWS theme song::

It's too pretty of a Saturday to spend uploading pictures all day,

but I wanted to share just a few of our favorites!

Stay tuned for more pictures and

"Traveling Tips A La My Consultant Husband.."

no, seriously.. it's hilarious..








Happy Weekend!

Friday, July 10, 2009

Back, Relaxed and Better Than Ever...

We're back!


Much to our dismay, there were no chemotherapy clinics in need of a registered nurse or any large financial firms in need of financial advising. Therefore, we settled on our regularly scheduled return flight to Philadelphia.


If you ever have the opportunity to visit the islands of Turks and Caicos, do not, I repeat DO NOT hesitate for a single second.. Hop right on that plane!! Having been to a few other islands in the Caribbean, the islands of Turks and Caicos are among the most breathtaking I have ever seen!


This weekend Hubs and I will be basking in the memories of our romantical and adventure-filled vacation, tackling the insurmountable loads of laundry that seemed to have accrued effortlessly in our house and driving to Hometown, New Jersey to pick Sully up from Camp Grammaw and Grampaw's.


I can't wait to catch up on my blog-reading and promise to share some pictures later this weekend! Happy Weekend!

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Real Life (ok, Blog, too) Vacation...

these two fools...


are island bound...



toes in the sand,
drinks in hand...




wishing you all
a safe and
Happy 4th!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Capital Pillow Talk.

For those of you who are ILYMTC regulars, you know that Hubs travels for work and typically arrives home Thurs or Friday evenings, stays through Sunday, and leaves again Monday morning. It's been this way for five stinkin' years and over these years, I've learned to enjoy my time alone. No, I didn't say it's been easy, but I've learned to make do with my Hubs-less days and nights. Which, by the way, have gotten much brighter and much more bearable since the addition of our Sheepie, Sullivan, last November. I'm so very proud of Hubs, as he is an amazing, passionate, driven and successful businessman, but of course, I would give up the manicures, the pedicures, the wifely stipend, the monthly spa visits and the JCREW addiction, to keep him home a little more. Anyhoodle... As I was saying, Hubs is home Thursday through Sunday. That means we fall into bed together roughly 3 to 4 nights a week.

Well, well, well! Last night was an exception to the rule! Hubs and I were both home from work yesterday and ever since then I've been all sorts of turned around. Our Tuesday felt like a nice little Sunday! We made breakfast together, lounged around the house together, folded a little laundry together, packed for our upcoming trip to the islands together and even caught an evening showing of Transformers, Revenge of the Fallen, yes, TOGETHER! Throughout the day, we kept saying to each other how it felt like the weekend! It was glorious!

How did we spend our unexpected night in bed together? Shh, no! Not doing that! Naming state capitals, of course! Go ahead, laugh it off. But it all started when Hubs randomly asked me the capital city of Minnesota. It took me a second or two, but I quickly spouted it off! I counter-questioned him, asking for the state capital of Florida, a question I surely thought would stump him! Ah, the smart alec that he is, he guessed it almost immediately! And so it began.. the battle of wits. We were doing so well! Until, that is, we got to Montana.. and then Nevada.. Oh, and did I mention we couldn't think of the state capital of Alabama, either? I know, I know, I'm ashamed!!




Try it.. it's tougher than you think! But makes for some pretty sweet pillow talk..

Can I Be An Autobot? Pretty Please?

I secretly want to be Optimus Prime
and kick some major Decepticon hiney.

After stocking up a serious candy stash of MilkDuds, Mike & Ike's, Sour Patch Kids and Peanut M&M's, Hubs and I went to the movies last night- it was the perfect little Tuesday date night! Revenge of the Fallen was most awesome and a definite recommendation if for no other reason than to watch some serious ass-kicking robots and the equally gorgeous Josh Duhamel and Megan Fox.


Stay tuned for a Kenny concert recap- where Sugarland stole the show!

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