Sunday Social

Today's Sunday Social is all about Childhood!

Oh, how I miss this time. I was cute (until middle school, but we won't talk about that) and everything was carefree.

1. What do you miss most about being a kid?

Like I said above... being carefree! I miss not needing to know what time it is, worrying about real life issues, and all the stressful stuff that comes with adulthood. 

I remember hanging out with my BFF Liz and her family on the weekends and we would decide we wanted to have a sleepover… each of us would whisper in our moms’ ears if they would ask the other if a sleepover would be okay. The moms would talk and whenever we would get a “thumbs up”, it was the best feeling ever! We always had so much fun prank calling people, talking about boys, and making up stories about how there were murderers in the woods that were coming to get us and what we would do if that happened 
(There might have been something wrong with us. But we had fun) 

2. Did you have a nickname growing up? What was it?

Aly, AlyCat

3. What was your favorite thing to do at recess?

Is it weird that I don’t remember recess?

I guess play and talk with my friends…

4. What did you want to be when you grew up?

A teacher. Up until high school when I decided I wanted to be a social worker.

5. What was your favorite toy?

Barbies, American Girl Doll (Kirsten!), anything to do with crafts (beads, drawing, etc)

6. What is the funniest thing you did as a kid that your parents still remind you about?

My friend and I decided it would be a good idea to put gack in our hair (remember Nickelodeon gack? That sticky, doughy stuff that was so much fun to play with?) Yeah, it got stuck in our hair and my mom must have tried everything to get it out. It was a mess!

I have a more embarrassing story but I don’t want to put that here… you can email me if you want to hear it (and if you aren’t a creeper)

Head on over to the link up to see everyone else's childhood memories!

Friday!

Happy Friday!

Thank goodness for the upcoming weekend (don't I say the same thing every week?)

Here are my highlights from the week!

I'm normally not a huge fan of fall, but I loooove fall clothes.

Layering is a must when it's still a little warm outside during the day, cooler in the mornings/evenings, and FREEZING in the office. It's very confusing!

{1} I love this peplum top {I have to admit, I wasn't sure about the stripes at first. Now, it's love}

{2} New TV. Especially Private Practice and Grey's Anatomy.

Thanks, McDreamy, for not dying. I know I can count on you. Even though you look sad, and might not be able to do surgery for a while. It's going to be okay, I know it.

I went through so many tissues. I can't WAIT until next week. Can.Not.Wait.

{3} Ever have a day you don't feel like doing your hair and just want to put it up in a bun while it's wet? Well, I did the other day (and do a lot). I had some extra time and decided to just take a few minutes to dry/curl a little and ended up with one of the best hair days in a while! When does that ever happen??

Excuse my cheesin.

{4} Trying harder for positivity...

and to believe that things will get better!

source

Lately, things haven't gone exactly as planned in our lives. 

It's a struggle, but I'm trying so hard to just try and take control of the things I can and let go the things I can't change. 

source

{5} Weekend Time! We're going to the Haunted Pub Crawl in Annapolis...I got Chris tickets for his birthday a couple months ago and we're finally going. I'm so excited! Pictures to come, for sure.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! 

Linking up w/ Lauren!

Exciting Giveaways!

Hi everyone! 

I'm taking a little blogging break today, but wanted to stop in and let you know about a couple of amazing giveaways from a couple of my swappers!

Leigh @ Adventures in the Fort is hosting an Alice in Wonderland themed giveaway! She is so creative and this is one of my favorite giveaways in a while. Click here to head on over and enter! {Even though I hope I win} :)

Jen @ Rushing for Bagels is hosting her first group giveaway! I'm so excited to be giving away ad space! Click here to enter and meet some of her other lovely sponsors. 

I hope everyone has a great Thursday!

Weekend Update

Darn, it's Monday again. Why does the weekend always fly by when the weekdays drag on? We didn't have a very exciting weekend, which was totally fine with me. Sometimes I like having no plans.

I got my first Diamond Candle and found this pretty thing inside...

It's not marked, and definitely a CZ. I like it a lot! 

If you haven't heard of Diamond Candles, they're candles with a diamond ring buried inside! Rings are valued from $10-$5000. You have to burn the candle for a little while in order to get down to the ring... that was the hardest part!

Here's a picture of the candle after burning on Friday and Saturday... the gold foil circle tells you where the ring is hidden!

If you want to order your own Diamond Candle, you can get $5 off. Click here for that!

I really like the candle {Gingerbread Latte} and there are tons of different scents to pick from. You can really smell the scent throughout the house, and it smells great even after it's been put out. It's so fun to unveil the surprise!

The weekend was spent eating good food, shopping, and catching up on housework. Does anyone feel like they can never keep up with housework? I feel like the laundry is overflowing out of the hamper right after I wash all of it. The floor is dirty again 2 seconds after it's mopped. There are only two of us, and we aren't messy people. At all. I can't even imagine what it's going to be like when we have children someday.

I have to tell you, though, I had an interesting first experience this weekend.

We went to a junkyard.

Yeah... words I never thought I'd say.

Chris needed this small part for the interior of his car which broke the other day. So, off we went to a junkyard nearby {which I had no clue existed}. 
Apparently that was the place to be on Saturday morning because it was packed. 
It's pretty simple... cars are sitting there that have been crashed, and people come to "harvest" parts off of them. We saw people with power tools literally tearing these cars apart for parts. Pretty crazy and kind of cool in a way. There were so many cars. 

Then, this happened...

There are no words. I have the coolest boyfriend ever.

And to him, I'm the coolest girlfriend because I went to a junkyard with him.

So now, I can check that one off the bucket list. I just added it, because it was never there in the first place. 
I don't think I'll ever do that again. It was dirty.

Sunday night was spent relaxing with homemade pizza, pumpkin beer, and the Emmys.

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!

Head over to Kayla's blog for a giveaway... I'm giving away a Starbucks gift card!! & There are many other lovely prizes!

Linking up with Leeann, Dana, and Sami :)

Sunday Social

Happy Football Day... I mean, Sunday!

Yeah, Sundays are all about football in our house.

What can I say, the girl who never liked sports has a sports fanatic boyfriend... and I don't hate it.

 1. What is something you have wanted to do but are afraid of? 

Change careers. To say I've been having a quarter-life crisis is an understatement.

I love what I do, but I'm a little burnt out. Social work is a hard and taxing career which I'm sure has taken years off my life. I'm afraid because this is what I've been focusing on for the past several years and it's hard to make such a major change. I don't know if I want this yet, but it's definitely something that I think about for the future.

2. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 

I see myself married, owning a house, and (hopefully) with a couple of babies

I'm so ready to start this part of my life!

3. What are you looking forward to before the end of 2012?

I'm looking forward to making some changes in my life that I need to make.

I'm looking forward to enjoying fall and the holidays with Chris and our families <3

I'm also looking forward to taking a trip to California if we're able to with our jobs.

4. What are your hopes for your blog?

 My blog is also having a quarter-life crisis. Haha.

Some days, I want to keep growing...join more giveaways, sponsor more blogs, etc...

I don't want to lose focus of why I started blogging, and I certainly don't want it to be a chore. I'm still trying to find that balance.

5. Do you always see yourself living in your current town/city?

I can see myself living in the same area, but not necessarily the same city. We'll live in Maryland for a while because Chris is barred here and I'm licensed to practice in MD. It would be possible to move somewhere else, but we don't really want to. I want my future children to live near their grandparents, and all of our parents live in the area.

6. What is your morning routine?

It depends on the day. I have a different schedule every single day which drives me crazy.

On a normal work day, I wake up around 7:30, shower, eat cereal/drink coffee, and get ready. I try to be out the door by 8:45 but realistically it's closer to 9. I'm a slow mover in the morning. Luckily, work is only about 20 minutes away and I work late so many evenings, it just evens out if I'm late in the morning.

On work-from-home days, I get up around 8, enjoy breakfast/coffee, watch the Today Show, and read blogs until 9 when I start working. I love those days.

Some days I go into work late if I know I'm going to be working super late that evening and my routine's totally different (sometimes I work until 8... This is why I feel burnt out. I don't like running around the city at 8pm, especially this time of year when it's getting dark earlier)

I'm a very routine-oriented person and it totally drives me crazy to have different morning routines! Can you tell? :)

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone else's answers!!