Random Thursday - First Random Post

I need to find rhythm in the blog world.  To help build consistency, I hereby declare Thursdays to be "Random Thursdays." 

Here goes:

1.  I have purposely been trying to remember to take a big ugly multi-vitamin everyday so that I can justify buying new chewable Flintstone child vitamins.  Just because.

2.  Last night while surfing the internet, I came across "The Haters Guide to the Williams Sonoma Catalog" I am not opinionated about the company or the catalog, but found it funny nonetheless.

3.  On Tuesday hubs and I spent significant time and effort rearranging furniture in our living room to find a new home for our Christmas tree.  After we moved everything, we realized that the TV and our gas heater were on the same circuit and there wasn't enough electricity to go around.  We tripped the breaker 4 or 5 times before declaring it was dinner time.  Eventually we pulled ourselves together and moved everything back where it was in the first place.

4. Over Thanksgiving break lil' sis toyed around with my cell phone and I realized that I was that old lady that doesn't know how to use her phone.  Thanks to her I now have apps for Instagram, Pandora, and Netflix and I finally figured out how to turn T9 texting on.  Wow.

5.  Somehow I am not able to properly "fluff" an artificial Christmas tree.  Hubs demonstrates the technique to me every year, but I just. don't. get. it.

Things are getting crafty around here

Things are getting crafty around here! I've officially started working on my wedding scrapbook.  You'll notice that its completion is listed on my 30/30 list.  I anticipate it will take me awhile since I have SO. MANY. PICTURES of the happy day. 

It's been a slow start for the wedding scrapbook.  I have one page officially completed, and 3 more in progress.  I'd say that my usual process for working on scrapbooks is to get pages and layouts in the works before adding journaling and final embellishments.

So far it's been hard for me to choose the main color/design background page for the 12x12 layout and to get going with a color scheme.  A lot of my papers are bright and bold.  I love the bright bold papers, but they aren't formal enough for many of my wedding pictures.

Hubs and I visited 2 craft stores over the weekend so that I could restock my scrapping selection.  I ended up selecting lots of blue papers.  In reality, I think I may need lots of neutral/formal papers for many of the layouts.  Time will tell!

Hubs has got craft fever too.  He spent his time in the craft stores searching for hobby sets and things for his model railroad.  He's got a great Z scale layout going and he's currently working on a mountain scene.

Our office area is cluttered with scrapbooking papers and model railroad equipment.

I love it.

Work Out Music

I bought another Zumba punch card which means I'll be dancing at 10 more classes these next few weeks.  The class is ideal because it is literally 1 mile away from where I work and it begins at 5:30.  The class is offered 4 times a week and I am able to select what days I want to go.  To top it off, my punch card doesn't expire.

What I really love about Zumba is the music.  It's loud, upbeat, and the combination of the music and the sweating makes me feel really good at the end of the workout. 

I thought I'd share some of my favorite Zumba jams in case you are looking for some good workout music.

will.i.am  "T.H.E (The Hardest Ever)"

I finally feel like I've mastered the zumba moves to T.H.E. and I love the mix of J.Lo and will.i.am.

Shakira "Waka Waka "

I'm always ready for some Shakira.  I love the lyrics...

“The pressure is on,

You feel it.

But you’ve got it all,

Believe it.

When you fall,

get up, oh oh.”

Pitbull "Pause" and Pitbull "Krazy"

"Mr. Worldwide" is pretty popular in my Zumba class.  Love the repetition in these songs!

What are some of your favorite workout songs?

Giving Thanks

"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others." - Cicero

It's officially November and Thanksgiving Day will soon be here.  Gratitude and giving thanks has been on my mind.  For me, November is always a reminder of the importance of gratitude and giving thanks. 

Now that Hubs and I are officially a unit, I'm ready to start creating some traditions of our own.  This year I created a "Give Thanks" jar that we will use to record one thing that we are thankful for each day in November. 

Interested in doing something similar?  Here's how:

Step 1:  Locate jar to collect thankful notes

Step 2:  Decorate jar
I used acrylic stamps to write "Give Thanks" on scrap-booking paper.  I used a hot glue gun to secure a navy bow around the top of the jar.

Step 3:  Cut paper strips to write thankful notes on

Step 4:  Explain to husband the project you just completed and get him on-board with the new tradition. 

I'm looking forward to reviewing our thankful notes together at the end of the month.

Do you have any November traditions?

Goo..Goo...GOULASH

Back in the day I use to truly believe that my mother invented the meal goulash.  I thought she invented it by throwing random tomato items in with hamburger meat and pasta.  I use to HATE goulash.  Notice the bold-faced type...I really didn't like that stuff.

Somewhere along the way I realized that goulash was not invented by my mother and that it in fact could be a very good meal.

On Facebook today I saw someone pinned a goulash recipe, and lightbulbs went off in my head.  The lightbulbs were:
1. You have all of the ingredients you need to make goulash
2. You should really start your ambition of learning 2 new recipes every month for your 30/30 list.

Drumroll please....

I give you....

GOULASH.

 It was actually quite delicious!  Here is a link to the recipe I used:  Goulash