Birthday Present to You

March is my favorite month. Weather starts to get warmer. It’s the anniversary of Mr. A and I dating. Even more so, it’s my birthday!

I love birthdays. Love them. I always joke that I will be 90 years old, in a nursing home, and still excited about my birthday. I love the fun and the cake and the presents. Yes, presents. I KNOW it’s not about that, but it’s fun to get gifts that my loved ones thought about and put effort into.

But, this year, I’m not as excited. I don’t really know why.

It’s not a big deal number. We get to go home, and while I’m excited for that, there isn’t the level of anticipation that usually hits me on March 1st. Also, my actual birthday is a Sunday, so no real fun on the actual day.

So I thought I would do something different.

I’m giving one of YOU a birthday gift.

Yes, you wonderful readers have a chance to enter in for a giveaway from me.

So, what is in this fun little birthday basket?

First, you will get to choose between 3 different cookbooks. All focus on healthy eating, but I know people look for different things, so no point in me forcing one on you!

A. Bethenney Frankel’s The Skinnygirl Dish

(source)

or

B) Hungry Girl 300 under 300

(Source)

or

C) Cooking Light Complete Cookbook

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All of these look great and I’m trying to share my new ways of trying to eat healthier. (Just ignore my tweet about the DQ tonight. I AM a girl after all…)

But a birthday package of just a healthy cookbook is lame. And I don’t want to be lame.

So, to add, I will throw in a $20 gift card to:

WHOLE FOODS!!!

You can use it for food for your new recipes in your new cookbook. Or if you use it on their awesome wine and dessert selection, I won’t blame you. Just tell me what you bought so I can make sure to get it next time.

If you win and aren’t close to one, we will chat and work something else out.

And because not everything should be about food, I shall throw in a…

(source)

$15 iTunes gift card!! Who doesn’t love new music? Or a movie? Or some apps for your fancy schmancy phone?

And knowing me, I might just throw in some other small treats just because…

I think it looks like a pretty awesome birthday basket. I hope you do too!

By now you are wondering how to enter this little deal. And I will make it simple for you.

All you have to do is leave me a comment telling me about your favorite birthday present/event/occasion/tradition.

You can get a bonus entry if you write a second comment with a link to your blog or Twitter account, even if I already follow you and read your blog. And if you’re new, it’s a good way for me to meet you! If you don’t have either, tell me one fun fact about yourself and we will call it even.

So you have TWO chances, but please put them as separate comments and please include an e-mail address in each so I can easily reach you!

I will use the random number generator to pick.

You have until 11:59pm Thursday March 24th to enter. No late entries will be allowed. And then, if all goes to plan, I will mail the package on Friday so the lucky winner will have their “birthday” present early next week!

 

Good luck!!

He’s On My List

You know the joke. Couples have the list of celebrities that their significant other is allowed to cheat on them with. It’s funny and amusing.

Mr. A’s: Natalie Portman (even bald in V for Vendetta), Katy Perry, Ellen Page, and Lea Michele.

**I just realized all of them are dark haired, a little darker skinned, a little exotic looking. And the total opposite of me. Hmm. I’ll try not to focus on that. ha

I have a list. Not always typical. I love Dennis Quaid, Ryan Reynolds, Adam Sandler (more to go grab a beer with), John Krasinski.

And Ben Folds.

I don’t necessarily want to sleep with him, but if he could just sing to me and be his funny, uncensored self? I’d be sold. I really would have loved to have “The Luckiest” as our wedding song, but that wouldn’t really have been in our wedding singer’s repertoire. And it wouldn’t have been as good as him, so no point trying. Now if he sang at our wedding… Can I get a redo and invite him???

I have been a fan of his since he was in Ben Folds Five. There is just something about his voice that I love. I think his songs are great and I could just listen to his music for hours.

 

He is from Nashville, which is about 2 hours away from my undergrad. He did a show at my school my junior year. I was so freaking pumped because 1. Ben Folds would be at my undergrad 2. my school NEVER had good people come unless it was a country person. Or John Mayer and the tickets were so effing expensive and then he only played for 37 minutes. Screw you John Mayer. or 3. Because my dad was AMAZING and got us second row seats.

So, the opening band played, and they were good, but was anxious for Ben. Now, just to remind you, he’s from Nashville. It’s SUPER easy to get from Nashville to my school. Since he had a show in ugrad town, he decided to make a doctor’s appointment for that day since he wouldn’t have far to go for the show. Somehow, he and his wife got lost from Nashville to school. No idea how, but they did.

His concert team was great. They gave out free stuff and all that jazz. They kept us updated on where they were. Mr. A was a little perturbed because he figured Ben would show up late, play for like 30 minutes and leave since he was late.

Well, two and a half hours later… he showed up. And not only did he apologize a BILLION times, he played as long as he would have had he been on time. So it was nearly a 2 hour show. Even better? He improved an entire song about our school.

Part of the song he improved for us. And yes, he does say “there’ll be no beer at the BP station.” Oh going to college in a “moist” county blows. (Sorry it’s not a great video. Best one I could find…)

One of my all time favorite concerts. He’s fun. He doesn’t censor himself, which I’m a fan of. He puts on one hell of a show live. Just wonderful.

And now he’s on the NBC show “The Sing Off”. I’m a new fan of the show and I love that one of my faves, who wasn’t always mainstream, is getting some more popularity.

Maybe I can covert a few of you as well. 😉

Music Fun

Since it’s the weekend, I figured I would do a post of some of my favorite songs and music videos. So here’s some music and maybe it will make you smile remembering an older song or a funny video or it might even show you something new.

Warning: This will be an eclectic collection of songs. I pretty much like a little of everything. Broadway, hip-hop, pop, country, rap, punk, etc.

Green Day- “Basket Case”

 

Jay-Z and Alicia Keys- “Empire State of Mind”

 

Taylor Swift- “Love Story”

 

Spring Awakening Hodgepodge- Performance at the 2007 Tony Awards (And yes, that IS Lea Michele and

 

Spring Awakening– Bitch of Living (Profanity)

 

Spring Awakening– Totally F***ed (Profanity. Also, not the best quality, but shows the performance)

(Showed the real versions of the songs as well. Probably my favorite musical and I love that they make no apologies for the honest nature of the play. It’s amazing!)

Michael Jackson- “Thriller”

 

Katy Perry- “Firework” (Love the video. Love Katy Perry and think she looks amazing in this video. Also looks pretty good in “Teenage Dream”)

 

Ludacris- “How Low” (I’m strangely in love with just about anything Ludacris does.)

Eminem and Rhianna- “Love the Way You Lie”

 

Michael Buble- “Everything” (LOVE this song. Wanted it to be first dance, but because we had a singer, she didn’t know it, so went with an awesome Aretha song that she blew away.)

 

Far East Movement- “Like a G6”

 

Lil Wayne- “Knockout”

 

The Band Perry- “If I Die Young”

 

 

Okay, I’ll end here. I hope you all have an amazing weekend filled with the people you love. Any new music video or amazing video I need to see? Let me know!

A Little of This…

…a little of that…

I’ve felt a little lost for blog content, but I want to take The Pioneer Woman’s advice and make sure to blog at least everyday.

So, here I am.

• I’ve been reading this book. Several of you told me it was one of your favorites. Reading the summary, it looked like a story I would love. Are you sensing my hesitation?? The book…it’s dragging. I have about 40 pages left and I will finish it, but it’s been tedious. The story as a whole: yes. It’s intriguing. But I thought this was more about a woman who entered the White House as the President’s wife, but didn’t really want to. Didn’t fit in. As someone who answered that I would love to be Michelle Obama for a day to see what it’s really like to live in the White House, I was so excited about this. But, (and if you are planning to read this, maybe skip to my next bullet) only the last section is about her time in the White House. Also, the first 3 sections are fairly sequential. They will mention past events or give a little anecdote to supplement what is happening, but mostly it’s in order. The last section? Bounces all over. You never see what it was like during the campaign. The time is 2008, but most of the last section spends its time in the previous years. Throwing in tidbits that are important to the story, but apparently not important enough to actually be in the story. It just frustrates me. I feel she knew she wanted this story to include time in the White House, but she let the rest of the story go on too long, so it got shoved into the end of the book. Maybe the last 40 pages will save it? Maybe?

 

• I made these sloppy joes tonight. AhMahZing. I mean, you think sloppy joes and think, eh. No no. Not these bad boys. They are a little spicy, but not too much. The spice adds flavor and isn’t hot just to be hot. We didn’t dice our onions or red peppers to small, so they were chunky and so absolutely wonderful. Put on a whole wheat bun-yummm. I had extras even though I was already stuffed. I was planning on doing a recipe recap next week after I make all the meals listed in my food post, but these were so good, they deserve two mention.

 

• I’ve been pretty good about going to the gym everyday and doing 30-45 minutes on the elliptical. I’ve realized I can go longer and do more on the elliptical than the treadmill. While this is great, especially for this lazy couch potato, I know it’s not enough to lose the weight I want to. However, the workout machines and weights aren’t my cup of tea. There’s the “meat house”- the older machines, bench presses, huge free weights. And I have yet to see a girl in there. When I walked in to find Mr. A the other day, everyone stared and looked at me like I wasn’t supposed to be there. The other area is set up awkwardly, they have machines I’ve never seen before, but always too many people around for me to feel comfortable to try and test them out. Also, the only set of freeweights that I could use, meaning the pretty colored less heavy ones, are in a room that I haven’t figured out if I’m allowed in. It’s where you can sign up for personal training, get metabolic and fitness tests run, and those types of things. I just want to use their weights.  So, after hearing about Sarah in the Big City using Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred, I decided to try it out. However, I have learned to do my cardio AFTER the video. I tried it the other way around today and I couldn’t get through the first 5 minutes because I was so tired already from the gym. I’ll let you know if I decide I hate Jillian Michaels or not.

 

• Mr. A’s best friend’s surprise birthday party is this weekend. Kind of excited to see them again since we haven’t seen them since we moved. Not sure if or what to get him as a birthday present. This is the kid that has more money than anyone I’ve ever heard of. Also, they’re boys, so they don’t usually exchange gifts, but because there’s a party, do we get something anyways?

 

• The lack of cable in our sweet little apartment meant that I couldn’t watch the VMAs. I was rather sad about this, especially after the fun I had watching and tweeting about the Emmy’s. MTV should have it on their website soon so I can catch up and understand what happened with the Kanye/Taylor drama and to see the amazing opener I heard about with Eminem. (I actually really do like him. Why? No clue. But I do.)

 

• I’ve also found this song I like. Now, before I let you guys watch it, I will give a warning that since the name of it “F**K You” there are curse words fairly frequently. you’re all adults, but thought I’d give a warning before you jump into thinking it’s a fun Miley Cyrus song.

I found this song when a girl from home did a cover of it. I actually like her version better, but this video is more entertaining.

 

• Also a HUGE congratulations to Melissa over at Duoly Noted. They have found a house after all their renting drama. I know she was very worried about this situation, so I thought a congratulations was in order. And wine. I’m celebrating for her with my own glass right now!

 

Everyone have a wonderful week. Enjoy your football, if you’re into that sort of thing.