(Virtual) Dress-up for Big Girls

I have a new obsession & I'm blaming it on the Pioneer Woman & Katie at Marriage Confessions. But seriously, ladies (& gents if you're into that kind of thing, but my hubs wasn't so much) you need to check out Polyvore.com. It. is. awesome.

In Ree's words: "Polyvore is a website where you can create your own sets of clothing, accessories, shoes, bags, artwork, furniture, & other adornments. Members of Polyvore then share the sets they create. But here’s the kicker: the items in the sets are all “clickable” & link to a retailer listing where you can buy the items on the set. For this reason, [it] can be a little hazardous to your pocketbook if you tend to like internet shopping. But mostly, Polyvore’s just fun."

In my words: Polyvore = virtual dress-up for big girls.

I had time to kill tonight while I listened intently to the State of the Union Address so I decided to play around with Polyvore for awhile. I swear the President had my undivided attention while I played fashionista. I'm an excellent multi-tasker. Ask Matt. In fact, I heard the Prez mention Facebook in his address; & I'd wager to say that Polyvore is as innovative & awesome for virtual shoppers. Okay. I'll be completely honest -- my ears did perk up when he mentioned tax reform, regulations & deficit reduction. Blame it on the day job.

So without further adieu, here are my Polyvore creations. I chose Tommy & Caroline's wedding as my "occasion" and got to work. Disclaimer: I have most of the items, or similar products, already so I didn't use Polyvore for it's internet-shopping-capabilities (shocker, I know, given my cheaptastic tendencies). Just for my entertainment & to give you a glimpse of what I plan to wear on their big day .... not that I expect anyone except maybe my sister to care.

[Purple dress purchased at half price with a gift card at Nordstrom at an end-of-summer sale. Originally $175 Italian, gold t-strap sandals (similar style to the pair on the left & leather similar to pair on the right) purchased at J.Crew warehouse sale for.....wait for it....$17!!!! Darling Kate Spade dangly earrings (similar color to the top pair & oval shaped like the bottom pair) received as a gift. Still on the hunt for cheap, chic gold bangles to complete the outfit.]

[Bright & cheerful Nanette Lepore silk dress, received as a generous gift from Matt's folks. It's a favorite, as evidenced by this & this. Strappy (with much smaller heel) bright yellow sandals purchased with a gift card from Macy's last spring. Vintage --- a.k.a. from my Mom's collection from the 70s --- turqouise earrings (that look surprisingly similar to the pair I found on Polycrome, just a slightly different shade)].

Have you given Polyvore a try? Happy dress-up, ladies! 

Tuesday Musings: A list from our cozy couch

Our darling Floridian turned snowbunny. Sledding = Gigglefest. Check out that big smile & those rosy cheeks!

It's after 11 on a Tuesday & I should be in bed already! Since I'm due for a Tuesday Musing, I thought I'd share a very short list before I call it a night...

1. I am so very thankful for the many people who prayed for my family & especially my grandpa this last month. Last night, I spent some wonderful time with a special group of girls & was reminded of how blessed I am to have a community (both near & far) who genuinely cares. You know who you are. Thank you.
2. We bought a Christmas tree on Saturday night when I got back from Illinois (had to zip the windows off the Jeep to get it on our car, which made for a chilly ride home) & since then, I've officially camped out in our living room. I spent the better part of the day working from my couch, after dinner I plopped down in the same spot to work on Christmas cards, and last night, I fell asleep reading down here. There's just something about the smell of pine, all of our sentimental ornaments &, of course, the pretty twinkle lights. Love love love our tree. We considered not getting one this year since it's already so close to Christmas, but I couldn't bear an empty reminder in our living room of our difficult December. I think it was a good decision.
3. Speaking of Christmas cards, I'll be lucky if I get them out by New Year's. Our unexpected trip to Moline has me a tad behind on all things Christmas so our mailing list is getting a bit of a trim so that I can at least get cards out to family & out of town friends. Wish me luck!
4. If my niece Hannah was my child (believe me, I pretend sometimes), I might consider scrapping all of the Christmas card photos we took earlier this month & using the beauty at the top of this post instead. It's my laptop background & has been helping me keep my chin up the last few days. Hannah was an absolute godsend this last week. When everyone was tired, sad & cranky, she cheered us up... waddling around her "GaGa's" house, generously giving hugs & kisses to loads of relatives (& a few new friends), stealing cell phones, playing in the snow (a first! she loved sledding!), brushing her/our hair, feeding beenie babies with an ear drop bottle she found, tooting at the dinner table, waving "hi" to shoppers at the grocery store & talking (a lot).  I love that little girl.
5. My presence on the blog may be a little light through the end of the month. In addition to tackling my growing "to-do" list (that includes finishing my Christmas shopping...yikes!), I want to carve out plenty of time to cozy up on my couch with a cup of coffee, a good book or favorite Christmas movie, (and of course, Matt) & relax. After the ups & downs of the last month, I think we deserve it. In case I don't get a chance to wish you a Merry Christmas closer to the big day, I hope that the joy & peace & presence of the Lord fills your heart this Christmas season.

Tuesday Musings: A List About Blogging

1. Do you like the new header? I'm excited about it! Hopefully, I'll do a better job at rotating that with the seasons. Given that it's been autumn for, what...2 months?... I wouldn't hold your breath on a winter header anytime soon!
2. I love blogging. Although I'm very very Type A, I do have a creative side (I do! I do!) & blogging has been a great opportunity for me to get those creative juices going & write outside of work. Simply Suz has challenged me to work on my photo skills & has given me a forum to share some of our adventures. Even though I'm not consistent in my blogging, this isn't going to disappear anytime soon.
3. I've dropped the ball on Life for Less. Part of my impetus in starting this blog was sharing some of some personal finance tips for 20-somethings, but Simply Suz has become more of a photo blog! Sorry! Since it's benefits enrollment season, I've started a post on high deductible health insurance, however, I keep getting sidetracked & I haven't had a chance to spend any brain power on that one. It's coming one of these days...
4. I have officially run out of space for my photos so I'm investigating other options (probably going to bite the bullet & buy a Flickr "Pro" account) so I can keep sharing my favorite hobby with you. Plus I just had my first real "gig" taking photos for a sweet friend of mine. More details on that later this week. That is if I can make a decision on where to house my photos in cyberland so that I can share them with you!
5. Lastly, has anyone else noticed the Christmas commercials vamping up? This would usually annoy me, but I'm trying not to be in denial & I've already started my Christmas cards & shopping (what?!?), plus I'm trying to finish a book chronicling our Alaska trip this week, which takes precedence over blogging.
6. Did you care about any of that? Probably not. If you made it to #6, thanks for reading :)

Tuesday Musings: Can guys & girls be friends?

{For the few of you waiting for some fall recipes I promised on facebook... I'll put those up later this week!}

I realize I posted this at 11pm Monday night...but I think it qualifies as a Tuesday Musing!

Blast from the Past. Drew & Suz. Uniontown, PA. Circa Summer 2004.

I was in Atlanta last week for work. Besides a weird run-in with a creepy middle age man who thought it was okay to hit on me, it was a good trip. Especially because I got to see my awesome friend, Drew. We grabbed dinner at this super trendy Atlanta "burger boutique." It was fun & tasty.

Drew & I worked together 6+ years ago. We were on the same crew for Group Workcamps (best summer job ever) & we went all over the U.S. running home-repair mission trips for high school youth groups. We literally traveled all over the country - we made stops in Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, New York, Canada!, Massachusetts, Maine, Illinois, Missouri  & Kansas ... & hit several more states in between). We traveled & worked with 2 other great friends/crew members - Lauren & Jacob - who sadly weren't at our little reunion last week. Missed you guys!

Anyhow, long story short, Drew, Lauren, Jacob & I were best buds that summer. When you spend every waking moment together - as the four of us did - it's pretty hard not to become BFFs.  And when I saw Drew for the first time in ages (he stopped by to see us in Champaign en route to Field of Dreams about 5 years ago...), we picked up right where we left off.

At dinner on Wednesday, I asked myself the age old question: Can women & men be friends?

I'm not the first to raise this question. When Harry Met Sally, one of my all-time favorite chick flicks (really what's not to love about Billy Crystal & Meg Ryan?), made a whole movie centered around it!

Here's a taste...

 

Love love love this movie. If you haven't seen it, or didn't get enough of a taste from the clip above, their conclusion was....women/men/friends...not going to happen. At least not without a lot of complication....  

I, however, would beg to differ. Because my friendship with Drew & a select few other dudes work. Plus, I have several girlfriends who have guyfriends. And they are just that. Friends. Period. End of story.

How can you make it work? One, Matt's not threatened by my guy friends. Nor should I ever give him a reason to be. I think that's critical. If Matt was at all threatened or concerned about my relationship with any guy, it'd probably not be okay for me to be meeting him for dinner in a far-away city. In fact, when Drew & I spent that summer together 6 years ago, we were both in relationships (me with Matt...) so Matt's never had to question...Was there something between Suz & Drew before I came along??? Is there still something there? Cause there wasn't & isn't. We're just buds.

Two, I don't discuss my relationship with Matt with my/our guy friends. Not only would that be unfair to Matt, but would put my friend in an uncomfortable position. I do believe that it's healthy to have strong relationships with other married ladies / couples who we can encourage & keep me/Matt accountable. Community is healthy, but we should be smart about who we confide in about what. I shouldn't be running to a single, or married guy for that matter, to discuss the struggles & joys of our marriage.

Three, & lastly, Matt & Drew are friends. Sure, I'm the common denominator, but if Matt had been in Atlanta, the three of us would have had an awesome dinner catching up. Drew & his buddy stayed in Matt's dorm room when they came to visit me while I was in Champaign. They're good guys, who genuinely like one another & I'm thankful for that.

I guess what I wanted to say was..."Drew, it was so good to see you. I'm glad we're friends." & "Matt, thanks for being such a cool, trusting hubby. I appreciate you & won't ever give you a reason to worry."

What do you guys (or gals) think? Do you agree? Or am I off my rocker & Harry has it all right???

Tuesday Musings: When the Cat's Away...

Most unflattering photo taken of us EVER. (True confession: I still like it)

I've been home alone a bit the past week & it's given me a window into "The Life of Single Suz." Don't get the wrong idea, I'm still a very-married-lady when Matt flies the coop, but my normal, comfortable schedule gets a little out of whack. Here's what I mean:

• I have to make my own lunch & brew my own coffee. It's true, folks, I transitioned from Mom packing me a lunch to Matt & It. Is. Wonderful. When we first got married, I made the lunches, but when we I realized that it took me a whole lot longer to get ready in the morning, Matt took over. He now leaves for work earlier, but still (willingly) gets up before me to pack my lunch & start my coffee. He is a sweetheart, for sure, and I am so thankful for his little morning sacrifice.
• In lieu of our usual meat-starch-veggie-dinner, I opt for hummus & crackers with a side of applesauce. and icecream. and a glass of wine. What can I say...the dishes are a breeze! (I am most certainly not a closet alcoholic, but quite possibly a closet icecreamaholic).
• I may skip dinner all together & go to the mall to try on 20 pairs of jeans. I know better than to subject Matt to that kind of torture, so I save it for when he's away. Last week, I went to Gap & snagged these jeans with a Groupon from a couple of months ago. For my first pair of jeans purchased in the last 5 years (it's true), I am super pleased. Not only do they have a worn in feel & flattering fading (none of that washed out in the bum look), but they run big which is an instant confidence boost. Nothing like walking out the store with a pair of jeans a size smaller than your norm.
• I stretch it out. I pop in the YogaX DVD instead of our usual P90x 'go-tos' that are heavy on the pushups & pullups. I still love those, but my less-then-flexible-husband is not a huge Yoga fan.
• I sleep in the middle of the bed. On the little ridge on the mattress cover that we've formed after 3 years of sleeping side-by-side. It feels lonely on my side without him next to me. So the middle it is.
• I keep bear spray next to the bed. Just in case. In college when I lived alone for a summer I kept a kitchen knife under my mattress. Knives = probably not a good idea. Now that we have bear spray lying around from one of our many camping adventures, it makes me feel like I can ward off the bad guys. Safety first.

Matt is home safe & sound tonight, but I've flown the coop & part of me wonders what his routine looks like when he's living solo. I have a feeling it involves a lot of icecream, ESPN & most certainly an unmade bed (a big pet peeve of mine)... Nevertheless, I can't wait until we're under the same roof again! Good night!

Tuesday Musings: The Tale of the One Car Family

{Before you dig in - a warning. You may not care about the death of our car, but writing this was therapeutic. So if you're thinking "who cares?!" come back later for your fill of babies, recipes, & money saving tips, but today, I needed to pay my respects to my old friend, Cami the Camry.}

Alternative titles for this post:

• Death of a Good Friend
• Car Troubles...The Ultimate Test of a Marriage
• Tow Truck Drivers Need Hugs, too! 

That's right folks, our trusty Camry bit the dust on Friday. And Cami couldn't have called it quits in Chapel Hill. Oh no. She decided to wait until we got 80 miles from home before she started shaking, clanking, rattling, and well, dying very rapidly. I don't wish a dying engine on anyone.

It's not that we weren't expecting it. In fact, she started rattling back in April. At that time we learned that our engine had a bit of a sludge issue, that despite our regular maintenance, was not uncommon for '98 Camry engines. Although we'd been faithfully caring for her for 5+ years, having repairs done when the mechanic told us to, keeping up with our oil changes, checking her oil, giving her lots of good highway driving, etc, we were just out of luck. Facing a problem that apparently, other 98 Camry owners have before. I soon discovered that if this little problemo would have manifested 4 years ago, Toyota may have helped us defray some of the cost to repair. I tried my best back in April. Wrote letters, made calls, offered to send in oil change receipts, but no dice. The door had closed on that opportunity.

So like I said. We were expecting it. We knew that a new engine or a new car would be in our future, but we were determined to drive her until she died. So we drove her. Foolishly. To Michigan in July. To Florida 2 weekends ago. On lots of little road trips in between (the mountains, Winston, Charlotte). And we tried to go to Tennessee this past weekend for Rhythm & Roots bluegrass festival, before Cami kicked it in Kernersville, NC.

I won't bore you with all of the details of how it went down - it involved 2 visits with a tow truck, a closed highway on the way home (hint: the highway that goes to our house), about a 100 mosquito bites from standing outside waiting for our tow(s), a big bill, a lot of unpleasant noises, a few tears (but surprising not many), a car being pushed by my hubs & a good Samaritan to safety, and a lot of other annoying details--- but since today is a "musing" day, I figure I'll share some things I learned through the whole ordeal:

• Even though we have a dead car in our parking lot, we are so thankful that we were safe. And that we broke down in Winston-Salem instead of West Virginia in July on our way to/from Michigan, or in South Carolina over Labor Day going to/from Florida, or heck in Tennessee (where we were headed). We truly feel blessed & that God was watching over us. And I don't say that lightly. I mean it.
• A dying engine sounds extremely frightening. What's more frightening is stalling in the middle of an exit ramp while cars zoom by. And watching your husband & a kind stranger push your car in the rearview, while you steer. Not a good sign.
• I am surprised that I  held it together for a solid 3 hours on the side of the road before crying. I didn't say that I didn't cry (come on now, I should get a few tears out of the ordeal), but I was incredibly calm for an incredibly long time. Can't say that for the ensuing days, but I think I felt a peace about it all. Plus, I was with Matt, which gave me calm (I would have been a mess had I been alone).  That hubs, he comes in handy.
• Being nice to strangers pays off.  We were kind to the gas station lady, who knew our tow truck driver, which turned out to work out for us. We were nice to the tow truck driver, which apparently is pretty unusual  (I guess most people who require a tow are usually pretty irritated & take it out on the driver). We hooked him up with a Diet Dr. Pepper we had in our cooler for our roadtrip, got to know him as we chit-chatted about his life on our long ride home, and made a point to be kind even though we were annoyed with our situation. It wasn't his fault! And you know what? He was super sweet to us. I mean really, really kind. I was so thankful for his kindness that I gave him a hug when he dropped us off. We felt like old friends by then. At the end of the night, when his big red truck pulled away, we called AAA to give him a big thumbs up. 
• We're thankful to have family & friends who've been more than willing to help us throughout this ordeal. Our parents were there to make phone calls & look up auto repair shops while we were stranded in Winston. After we made the decision to tow the car back home, they connected us with other family, friends, neighbors, mechanics who could lend us their expertise as we tried to make decisions on next steps. Our friends & neighbors have shared their experiences & advised us of our options. It's such a blessing to have people who've been in our shoes before to talk to. Who can help identify the important questions to ask, who can make recommendations, who can help us think through a stressful situation.
• We're not ready to junk her.  If we junk Cami, we'll get a couple hundred bucks. Ouch. The labor & parts for a used or remanufactured engine will run us anywhere from $3500 to 6 grand.  Is it worth it for a 12 year old, almost 140k mile car? Maybe. Probably. The car has been well maintained. It's safe. Gets amazing gas mileage. We've taken good care of it, after all Cami is our only baby (besides my houseplants. sad). She has lots of shiny new parts that we just put in a few short months ago (cause we wanted to drive that car for the next decade). New brakes. A new steering rack. New tires. And a slew of other odds & ends that this non-gearhead can't remember. Oh. And she had a full tank of gas. That's right. We filled her up just few miles before she ate it. Thanks, friend.
• We have resolved to be a one car family... for the time being.....We're not quite ready to pull the trigger on the repairs nor are we ready to buy a new/used car as don't know where we'll be & what our car needs will be in a year. Matt may be jumping on a bus to get to dental school every day for the next four years & a second car would be frivolous and wasteful. For the next few months, while we're "in-limbo" waiting to hear our fate, we can make do. Right now, we're fortunate enough to have the Jeep & to both work within a couple of miles from home. On days I'm in the office, we can carpool or Matt can ride his bike thanks to a bike path that pretty much connects him door to door. (I work off a pretty busy road, so biking is not in the cards for me.) We barely even used the Camry when she was our only car in Chicago, so I'm sure we can handle 3-9 months of living simply yet again.
• We still love the Camry. She's taken us on all sorts of adventures - to Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, Colorado, Florida, all over North Carolina, Michigan, Ohio, Iowa, Kentucky, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, & lots of other wonderful places. I piled in tons of high school YL girls in her backseat for weekly lunches in my college days. She magically fixed herself after I backed her into a building. For reals. After 6 months, the huge dent on my bumper that I had resigned to live with just popped out one day. She's blessed us with phenomenal gas mileage (trust me: I calculate it on road trips). She's been a stable, good & reliable (until Friday) fixture in our little lives. And we love her. May she her engine rest in auto heaven.

Tuesday Musings

I am a list-maker, as is my dear friend, Jenny.so on this Tuesday night, I'm going to borrow her typical Tuesday post (Ten on Tuesday) & share some musings of my own.... in list format, of course. I may not get to ten, we'll see.

1. I'm starting to wonder when fall will arrive in North Carolina. Today it was 90 degrees and muggy. Really, NC? Matt & I are pretending it's fall. We had a cool evening on Friday so we shut down the A/C and opened up the windows. It felt wonderful to get some fresh air in our cooped up house, but the cooler temps didn't hang around. For some reason, we're still living windows down in protest of the heat....
2. Our friends Jenny & Luke just welcomed a new addition to their little fam yesterday. Rory Kate joins big sister, Leah Madison. I wish Jen & Luke didn't live so darn far away (Seattle!) so that we could love on their little ones. Congratulations, friends! We miss you!
3. I made enough of this turkey meatloaf (or is it turkeyloaf?) on Sunday to feed our entire neighborhood. Matt & I have hearty appetites, & last time I made meatloaf, Matt complained that we had to refrain from eating the whole loaf so that we had leftovers, so I decided to double this (new) recipe. Word to the wise: don't double it. It was delicious & that's saying something after eating 3 nights straight. I don't think that any meatloaf looks particularly appetizing, so I passed on taking a picture. Just trust me. Take a look at a few of the ingredients: turkey, carrots, onions, celery, apples, bacon. If you threw in some corn I think it'd cover my favorite foods of all time! Yum.
4. While we're on food, I'm really excited about tomorrow night's dinner. After our small group tonight, I went home did all of the prep & in the a.m. I'll throw it the crockpot. Turkey breast (I know, we're on a turkey kick this week), wild rice, apples, craisins, almonds, onions, yummmmmmm....I'll probably throw in some cinnamon & nutmeg for good measure. Sounds & smells like fall. Can't wait to come home after work to our yummy smelling kitchen!
5. I was also supposed to do laundry when I got home tonight, but at 10:30, I made the executive decision that throwing in a load that late in the evening would mean I'd be up way past my bedtime! Instead, I finished watching Parenthood & started on this blog post. Although I wouldn't call Parenthood a "family show" (nor would I really categorize any show that comes on at 10pm family-show-material), I am a sucker for shows about families. This one is an all-time fave. So glad it's back on the air.
6. I'm sorry I haven't done a Life for Less post in ages. In my defense, we have had a uber-crazy summer & those posts take more than just my mindless 10pm 11pm ramblings. This is what the last 9 weeks have looked like for us....

• Week 1: Jenny & Mike come to visit!
• Week 2: Detroit for Gillogly wedding & to see Cbiz!
• Week 3: Alaska!
• Week 4: Alaska!
• Week 5: Alaska! (okay, we were only gone for 2 weeks, but 3 weekends!)
• Week 6: Tommy & Caroline come to visit!
• Week 7: Boston for work
• Week 8: Florida for surprise Labor Day visit!
• Week 9: Nicole, Liam & Wrigley come to visit!

.....Our fall isn't really going to slow down  from here so I'll do my best to keep up the blog!

7. When I grow up, I want to have lots of waterbabies. That's right folks, little fish. This weekend Nicole & I took Liam swimming in our freezing pool & the kid had an absolute blast. He splashed & kicked like his life depended on it, all the time giggling & laughing despite the chilly temps. Hannah loves the water, too. While we were in Vero over Labor Day, we went to the beach as a whole family & went swimming at Mom & Dad's pool. That little girl loved it. So did I.

Waterbaby

Bathing beauty.

....Thanks for following my random thoughts this evening.... & thanks for the inspiration, J!