Want to trade high end designer clothing for Hunting items?

I have become completly infactuated with the "barter" funtion of craigslist. The other night I sat at the kitchen table with my laptop for hours reading over all of the ridiculous things people wanted to trade for, or to trade. Which makes me wonder- what do I have that someone might want enough that they would trade me for it?

Here's what I've come up with:
"Willing to trade my cooking/baking skills for someone to fold my laundry"
"Want to trade all of the clothing I have gotten too "curvy" to wear for sweatpants and flannel nightgowns"
"Willing to wash your feet for a pair of jimmy choos"

Any takers?

P.S. I may take this one up on their offer: "Want to Trade Brand New High End Designer Clothing for Hunting Items (Lee's Summit, MO)." Why not? This may be where I do all my Christmas shopping next year!

It feels nice to be right

This time last year I said to myself "self, this is going to be the best year yet." And, I was right. I realized that I've spent the first month of 2010 making resolutions and looking ahead but I haven't taken time to relish in how wonderful 2009 really was.

Top 10 events of 2009 (in no particular order):


1. I graduated from college














2. I said "YES!"













3. I started working at a "real person" job













4. My capstone team won a National PR competition












5. I gained about 15 pounds! haha
















6. I took lots of trips with my wonderful friends












7. I added a member to my family












8. I decided to become Julia Childs

















9. Despite two surgeries, I am healthy!


10. I tried (and hated) living alone





It feels pretty nice to have been right about 2009- Even for someone who is usually right.

I'm a new woman in 2010

I am trying to be a new, better me in 2010. A healthier, more productive, positive attitude ME.

Statistics show that somewhere in the vicinity of 97% of New Year's resolutions won't be kept. I'm not fooling myself to believe that I will actually be in the 3% of goal-oriented people who keep their resolutions- I just want to do better than JJ.

I bought Jillian Michael's workout DVD- and if she can help the 400 pound contestants on the biggest loser get in shape, surely she can help me out a little too. If I I have even the smallest sliver of motivation at night when I set my alarm for the morning, I have no choice but to workout. Once Watson hears the alarm go off he is wide awake and he is very ready for me to start my day as well. A few jumping jacks and push-ups (the modified kind, of course!) are completed before I crawl back under the covers for 7 minutes before Kaci's alarm wakes me back up. I feel like if I keep this up I will undoubtedly be in the 97% I'm aiming for.

I'm also trying to eat better- which mostly means cutting down on the amount of peanut M&Ms I consume a day and not eating more than one dinner. I have a cookbook called "The Two of Us" that I had been making dinners out of. My goal would always be to divide it in half and save the "second portion" for the following day's dinner but I would always end up eating both portions by the time the night was over. This is a behavior that started when I lived in London and we would eat like 6 courses of dinner because everything was so yummy and we had zero self-control.

If only I could convince Jillian Michaels to come live with me. She scares me through the tv so I can only imagine how terrifying she is in real person.

Hey baby, wanna Tweet?

I wish I was cool enough to understand the Twitter craze. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since it took me until the end of college to really "appreciate" the glory of Facebook. I am having trouble getting past how dirty it sounds to TWEET someone. Surely I'm not the only one running into this problem?

Other things I've recently realized I am not cool enough to participate in include: above the knee boots, the Atkins diet, teacup pigs as pets, and understanding "Jersey Shore" lingo.

I do however feel really COOL because I organized my desk drawer today but separating each office supply into its own compartment. Take that Twitter!

My nerves are marrying your nerves

I lay in bed last night, wearing every piece of clothing I own that is made of "sweat" material because it was so unbearably cold, and couldn't stop thinking about that annoying husband blog I was reading yesterday. I have a few things of my own I would like to contribute about my husband-to-be. I mean no offense by these things, honey, I truly find them endearing.

1. Whenever strange sounds/smells come from my adorable husband-to-be they always get blamed on the dog. Conversations usually go something like this:
E: "ew, do you smell that? oh man!"
J: (Looks around for the dog) "Watson!"

2. At some point in our relationship we made a deal that if I cooked, he would do the dishes and vise verse. This would be a fair agreement if husband-to-be didn't make a point of using just about every dish we own when he cooks. During the 35 minutes it takes me to clean up the simplest of meals I am usually contemplating whether take-out would have been a better idea.

But since he is so cute, I think I'll forgive him. I guess my nerves are going to marry his nerves anyway.

Prepared for Mr. Annoying

Last night it snowed 6" and I am one of few people who made the trek to work this morning. Since there was no one here to unlock the copy room or to approve my press releases, I stumbled upon a blog called myhusbandisannoying.com. I have been in bliss drinking my coffee and reading about all the wonderfully annoying things I have to look forward to after JJ and I get married.

I am already seeing glimpses of this as we spent less than an hour at Macy's trying to pick out a china pattern for our wedding registry. You would think I was asking him to agree to carry this plate around with him every single day for the rest of his life. "This one has too much detail." "This one is too boring." "This one is kind of small." AH! Next time we go to Macy's for more of this "picking" I am going to arrive armed with chocolate and coffee to help me keep my patience!

JJ has officially moved to Kansas City for his accounting internship. He is living with the parents of a good friend of mine and being spoiled rotten. He informed me the other night on the phone that he is enjoying his dry-cleaning being picked up for him, and waking up to coffee and eggs. My friend's mama is making me look like a bad pre-wife!