My February Blog Project ~ February 14th ~ Too fabulous to settle

Some time ago, I discovered that I do not have to settle.  What a freeing moment.  What a beautiful gift.  I do not have to settle.  Period.

In the meantime....I have every intention of getting a pedicure with the girls, going out to brunches with Lori, going on roadtrips to see amazing places like Door County and Northern Minnesota and Italy.

Being single means I do not have to sit around fretting about missed opportunities.  I've decided to embrace life...but first COFFEE!  And let's contemplate that pedicure appointment.  :)

Vacation Day #1

Pedicure day with the girlies

Leah, Stephanie, Roxanne, Angie and Uhura

Shoes!

"I like Cinderella, really I do.  She has a good work ethic.  And she likes shoes.  The fairy tale is all about the shoe at the end, and I'm a big shoe girl."  ~ Amy Adams

A note & a pedicure

There's something delightful in opening one's mailbox and finding a little spring green envelope with beautiful cursive penmanship addressed to said mailbox opener.  It happened to me.  It happened yesterday ~ June 2, 2014. 

The note contained a bit of encouragement to remind me to continue being the girl that does not settle.  Oh, how I needed to hear / read that. 

After reading said note twice :)...I quickly changed in to pedicure-appropriate clothing (read: capris and a t-shirt) and skipped out the door to meet Stephanie. 

Leaving with plenty o'time, I still found myself 5 minutes late due to orange cone season (read: construction). 

I am the kind of girl that prefers pink or coral or red on my toe-zees.....however when I saw the summer green, my heart went pitter-patter.  It's not easy being green....and Kermit wasn't kidding...however, I think I can handle it. 

With our toes soaking, Stephanie and I covered every possible topic from her kiddos to my weird work day.  I think pedicures with a great friend can take a ridiculous day and turn it into something remarkable.

As I am typing this blog post, I am waiting for my oatmeal to finish up and pondering what today may potentially be like.  I know the One who is in control and He has something amazing in store for me!!! :) 

Happy Tuesday or if you prefer phonetically....Happy Twooooooo-eeeeeeeeee-es-day!!!!!!

I DID THIS WITHOUT A TUTORIAL!!!!!!!!

Happy May Day!!!

Today I spent the entire day with my bestest friend, Ginger!!!

I picked her up last night at O'Hare.  A couple funny moments to remember....

1. Circling arrivals 8 times.

2. Circling times 2 & 3 ~ I saw a young man wearing green {Think Crayons green} skinny dress pants that bordered on cropped pants.  It wasn't manly nor right...at all.

3. There a beautiful pink tulips near the Hilton signs.  The first sign has pale pink tulips and the second sign had two-toned tulips.  They were soo springy.

4. No matter how loud you laugh and carry on at Jason's Deli at 8 o'clock at night, they will not kick you out.  I feel as though our purpose for being there was to brighten their evening.  We shined!!!

This morning we had pedicure appointments at 9 a.m. which would've been fine and dandy had we not stayed up until the wee hours of the morning covering nearly every topic known to mankind.  { And I am a terrible friend to not take into consideration the time change for poor Ging.  Two hours.  7 a.m. felt like 5... } We kinda treated the sleepover like we were high schoolers at summer camp.  When the alarm went off at 6:30...well, let me just say there were some mathematical adjustments made because 7 a.m. was just fine.

Our nail appointment was at Phoenix Salon {formerly known as Serenity Salon}.  They got two new pedi chairs.  Massaging pedi chairs.  We soaked our feet and grabbed with our wonderful nail techs.

We opted for a matching coral-ish color. 

After pedicures, we decided to go see a movie...perhaps the new Muppets movie or Jonah {to critique it} or whatever else looked good.  The movie idea sounded like a good idea - however the theater isn't open during the weekdays until circa 12 'noon.  We were over an hour early and didn't feel much like waiting around so we ventured back to apartment where we chatted, had a snack-ish lunch, opened my birthday present, and watched Pride & Prejudice {the one with Kierra Knightly and that dreamy Matthew guy who played Mr. Darcy}.  Ginger had never watched Pride & Prejudice.  I, on the other hand, could probably quote it. 

After the movie wrapped up, we went out for a late lunch at Beef-A-Roo.  Pure yumminess for fast food. 

We made a quick stop at the health food store to try to find something for Ginger's plugged ear.  The health store guy was so nice and I like to think we {two crazy gals who have been separated by many-a-miles} made his day a little brighter and / or scared him.  Not really scared him...I don't think anyway.

We laughed.  We chatted.  We shared.  My cup runneth over...

Accomplished

I am feeling quite accomplished.

1. Worked all day {Technically 8 a.m. - 12 'noon was a defensive driving course - required by work.}  The class was informative.  After said class, I went to the office where I answered the phones and WOW-ed the masses with my typing and/or organizational skills.

2. Went to the gym...even though I felt like not going to the gym.  I am more of a social work-out kind-of girl.  No one was going with me.  However I knew if I skipped, I would feel guilty about skipping. 

3.  Got groceries.  Before I went in to Woodman's, I had a little chat with myself.  "You, Angie Good, will exercise self-control.  You will not buy extra items not on your list. Yes, you are feeling hungry but that does not give you permission to buy extra stuff."  Worked like a charm.

4.  Hauled in 6 paper bags full of groceries and a 20-pound container or litter and a giant bottle of laundry soap.

5.  Moved everything out of the kitchen, laundry area, and bathroom.  I, then, swept and mopped.  Boy - did it need it....and that's not to say I live in filth lest you are concerned.  I just swept and vacuumed for the past two weekends and didn't clean-clean.  No worries...tonight my bathtub/shower listens like the first snowfall.  It's sparkly clean.  {Sigh.}

6.  Painted my toenails.  Which I am still technically paint-ing them.  I just thought I would blog in between coats of "Sugar & Spice."

I am super excited about getting all these things done tonight.  It means I can enjoy the remainder of my looooooooooooong weekend without feeling like I have to hurry home to clean.

If I was any cooler, I would be a superhero...and then I would need to sew a cape.

I ♥ pedicures.

Tonight - after a day with several demands and a department meeting - I decided to treat myself to a much needed pedicure. 

It took me forever to choose a nail color.  I debated between a summery-tomatoish red or a marvelous purple.   Turquoise won!!!  {OPI's Austen-tatious Turquoise}

My toes received extended soaking and whirling bubble time...which is always my favorite part of the whole experience.

As I walked out of the toe pampering, I must admit that I really did feel like a princess. 

A new OPI color.......A-Piers to be Tan

Confession:  I like pretty nails. 

I love getting pedicures and manicures. 

I love painting my own nails.  

If I have any extra birthday/Christmas money, I tend to treat myself to a new bottle of nail polish. 

If you were to come to the cottage tonight and open up my refrigerator door, you would find 1.5 door compartments full of nail polish.  (And on a totally unrelated note:  you would find completely empty crisper drawers.  Here's the deal - if I happen to put veggies and/or fruit in the crisper drawers, I forget about them being in there.  Out of sight, out of mind.  {Sigh.}  For the safety and well-being of my precious produce, the crispers are empty.)

I prefer OPI nail polish.  The color is resilient.  I used to buy really cheap nail polish and have to frequently touch-up the color.  With OPI, I can go several days - depending on if I file or not.  For the beauty of my nails, I prefer to file weekly.  I know, I know, I should file daily because it's less pile-up in my "to be filed" basket.  But for real --- when I have "No, I'm not really a waitress" OPI red on my nails, the last thing I want to do is chip it off.  A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. 

I get OPI color updates in my FB newsfeed.  Here's a new color that will be finding a home in my fridge... :)

Saw this on Pinterest......Peppermint Foot Soak

Ingredients1 1/2 cups Epsom salt
1 Tablespoon peppermint extract
2 Tablespoons olive oil
15-20 drops lavender essential oil
1 cup white vinegar
Warm-hot water

Directions
1. In a container, mix together salt, peppermint, olive oil, and lavender.
2. When you're ready for a foot soak, just get some hot water (hot as you can stand it but don't burn yourself!) and pour the white vinegar in. Add 1/4 cup of the foot soak mix.
3. Soak your feet for 30 minutes to an hour.
4. Scrub your feet with a pumice stone.
5. Apply a thick lotion and then wear socks for a few hours/overnight.

A Simply Fabulous Friday Night

After some plotting and planning, last night came together fabulously!!!  My best friend's husband treated us to manicures and pedicures for VD.  It was absolutely delightful!!!

First the plotting and planning...
We were supposedly meeting for coffee, thrifting, and plotting to take over the world.  I thought our plots and schemes for a complete world take over were just hypothetical.  Thursday night while chatting about our Saturday plans to meet Gloria, I was standing in Old Navy purchasing two pairs of silver sparkly flip-flops for our top secret Friday night outing. 

Have you ever had to convince someone that you should switch-up how you always do something in order to pull off a surprise???  It was not to be.  In trying to establish a meeting location close to the spa, nourishment (i.e. supper) was not to be had until after thrifting...thus my second approach, let's meet at coffee.  Coffee wins.  Coffee always wins.  :)

On a side note:  Sara and I have determined that after 3 p.m. all coffee establishments should serve decaf...and ONLY decaf.

We ordered our coffee and then I announced, we have one stop to make per Curt's instructions - thus the element of surprise.  Sara, then, said, "Sooo I take it we are not going to Twice as Nice" - too which I replied, "No.  I hope I'm not breaking your thrifty heart."  (I didn't, by the way...)

4:50 p.m. - we left said coffee establishment.  While sitting at the stoplight waiting for our turn, we both said (almost at the same time), "Did we order decaf???"...thus the 3 p.m. decaf law.  At this point, we chalk our coffee ordering error up to fate and determine to finish reading our books upon arriving home and in a highly caffeinated state.  (Sigh.)


5:00 - Enter spa.
5:05 to 5:15 - Select colors...  There were sooo many colors to choose from!!!!  Sweet Chocolate for my toes and a purply-pink for my fingernails.  Sara chose a more neutral color topped with sparkles. 
5:
7:15 - Exit spa with the most beautiful toes and hands
7:20 - Applebee's for supper

If you don't have a best girlfriend who is...

better than a therapist,

commiserates with you,

loves you unconditionally,

orders the wrong coffee with you,

draws you closer to Jesus,

and listens...really listens...

if you don't have this, you are truly missing out on one of the God's greatest treasures.

Teal

On Saturday night, I decided it was high time that my toenails and fingernails had some color.  For some unbeknownst reason, I opted for Piggy Polish's Embracing Adventure.  For you faithful blog-stalkers, you may recall that this is my Seattle nail polish color.  It's teal and absolutely fabulous.

The thing is....I'm not a very trendy person.  When I think of the word trendy, do you know what comes to mind?  Skinny jeans.  (Gag!)  Black nail polish.  (No thanks.)  Brightly colored knit skirts.  (Ummmmm...saw them in 1097, didn't like them then and surely my feelings have not changed.)

Everytime I look at my fingernails, I laugh.  It's a true story.  Ask the sweet lady that sits next to me in choir.

Teal fingernails crack me up.  And the giggles might also be because I know that very same color is on my toes.  :)

Some randomness...

Today feels very much like a Monday.  It's not Monday.  It's Thursday.  It's my friend's birthday.  Hip hip hooray.  Coffee and pedicures.  What a fun afternoon.

I'm working on the last two scarves for a big order - which will be shipped to Ringgold, Georgia - I'm hoping on Saturday.  Here's the trouble -- I started stamping and creating cards and thinking ahead to the 26th.  I've started THE LIST of items that I will need/want to bring...and now my brain is thinking ALL STAMPING ALL THE TIME.  It's not a bad thing.  It's just a "bad" thing for the scarves waiting to shipped off to the sunny South.  Poor little scarves are sitting in a shoebox waiting for their two friends to join them.  :)

Speaking of these scarves, the most ordered scarf is the Red Heart Sashay - Mambo color.  It's navy blue, lime green, raspberry, and a coral with a smidge-bit of silver sparkle along the hem.  It looks great with jeans and just about anything else.  

Mambo is what is on my size 10.5 knitting needles right now.  I have about 30 more stitches and I will be done.  Yeah!!! 

Last night I did remember to return a stamp to Hobby Lobby.  It was the Luke 2:14 stamp - "Glory to God in the highest..."  FUNNY STORY ABOUT YESTERDAY...my favorite co-worker was asking what I did the evening previous.  I told him, "I actually made some more Christmas cards."  Too which he replied, "I do not even want to hear the word Christmas until December."  I smiled and said, "Well...last night I made cards for which to celebrate Jesus' birth!"  It was priceless!!!!

I hope you have a lovely Thursday!!!  

Oh - a coldfront is coming.  You know how I feel about sweaters and cold-weather gear.  (I heart them in case you have forgotten or haven't stalked my blog all that often.)  Today the weather gal on WTVO was saying, "The cold front will be here around 1 p.m."  I am probably the only girl in Rockford that cheered OUTLOUD at the t.v.  I did.  True story.

I love Sweater Weather.  And I think on that HAPPY, BLISSFUL note, I will end.  Have a great day!!!

The girl with curly hair

Scamperable

I'm fairly certain 

that my white eyelet skirt 

is considered scampering attire...

Pink toes

Pedicures are absolutely fabulous.  One my co-workers said to me, "Angela, I don't know why in the world you would ever pay money for a pedicure.  You do such a lovely job painting your own toes."


Too which I replied, "Well, if I had one of those fun massage chairs with a foot bath attached, I probably would do my own pedicures...actually I take that back.  I would need two chairs placed side-by-side so I could have a friend come over too."  


It's not the actual pedicure.  It's the sitting for an hour (or in last night's case, an hour and a half -- blessings to Tara for a wonderful pedicure!!!!) and chit-chatting.  It's therapy.  It's cheaper than therapy and in the end, you walk away with cute toes!!!


After much indecisiveness (there were just sooo many pretty colors...coral, red, lime green, blue, purple, orange-y colors), I opted for a pearly pink color.  


The flip-flops (from Sara) match my toes!  How fun is THAT?!?!  :)

21 hours from now...

...I will be getting a pedicure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!














Not that I am excited or anything.

Goodreads, Pedicure, and Pronounciation

1. I love the website www.goodreads.com.  It keeps track of my reading progression.  In my "Currently Reading" folder, I have seven (7) books.  Those of you who know me and have faithfully stalked my blog, you realize that I'm not a multiple-book-reading kinda gal.  I like to read one book at a time.  This multiple-thing is ok...but when I see the seven titles, I think to myself, Angie Good, finish one of these already!!!  Now granted -- one of them is the Bible which is going to be a year-long pursuit....but the other six...well, I really want to finish Little Women before I go see the show at Starlight on the 20th of July.  I sincerely believe that this is do-able considering I am on page 220-ish out of 600.  


One of the other books is a memoir...another fictional...one is a knitting book...and the list goes on.  Thankfully Goodreads can keep me organized.


2. A fabulous friend text me about her need of a pedicure.  It's amazing that she text me today because I was looking at my toes and thinking, You need a pedicure!!!  Aren't open-toed shoes and/or being barefoot just WONDERFUL?  Show of hands, please!!!!  I love being barefoot in the summer.  My most favorite barefoot involve jeans, t-shirt, and barefoot toes.  It just seems summerish.  The pedicures have been scheduled for Friday evening.  Salt scrub...lotioned feet...pretty toes...talk about a great way to end a hectic week.


Why is my week hectic?  Tomorrow and Friday, I will be the ONLY gal (of the secretarial gals) in the office.  For real.  My crazy co-worker said, "Just forward the calls!"  While another co-worker said, "Do a chain forward.  Start with ______'s phone and forward it around the department and have the last phone of the chain forward the calls to your favorite's personal cell phone!"  What a fun idea!


3.  Is it "Snow-Ho-Mish"?  I'm still in a quandary.  


And there you have it...a list as opposed to my normal rambling paragraph-ish tendencies.


Have a lovely Thursday!!!  

Plan B

Plan A:
 - pedicure at Serenity with Liz


Unfortunately, the pedicure epiphany did not hit me until 3:35 this afternoon and when I phoned Serenity, they were booked full.  DRAT!


Plan B:
 - pedicure at my 2nd nail choice


Before driving away from my place of employment, I did a scan of the backseat and discovered that I was Emergency Flip-Flopless.  Normally I keep a pair of flip-flops in my car...  


A) I own several (SEVERAL) pairs of flip-flops so an Emergency Pair is chosen out of the abundance of my stash.  Many thanks to my friends for the flip-flop themed birthday extravaganza a couple years ago!  I believe I shall be supplied for quite some time.  Oh - and honorable mention should go out to Old Navy for their $1 Flip-Flop sale.  I believe two pairs came from O.N.


B) I like keeping a pair of flips in my car for Emergency Pedicures.  They don't happen frequently, but when they are needed in a crisis-type situation, well, they are NEEDED!


Due to the lack of flip-flops, I made a quick stop at Kohl's -- I vaguely remembered seeing flip-flops for under $3.  Actually with tax, they were $2.81.

The cashier at Kohl's asked, "Would you like a bag for these?"


I replied, "No thanks.  They are for an emergency pedicure."


Cashier:  "That is fabulous!  Men don't understand.  Enjoy your pedicure!"


Nice cashier.  I will be filling out the online survey giving her rave reviews!  


While putting my flip-flops in my purse, I remembered that I had a "FREE DRINK" postcard from Starbucks...and since I was needing nourishment, I visited my beloved.  Venti (ummmmm...WHY NOT?  IT WAS FREE!!!!!) decaf soy latte with cinnamon powder steamed in and an Apple Cinnamon KIND bar.  


Flip-flops, free coffee, KIND bar, and I was all set for a wonderful pedicure...


My nail tech, Sarah, was delightful.  We chatted about books and our weekend plans.  She painted my toes a lovely purple-ish color.  


After my toes were purply, I was passed off to her mom for my manicure.


While cutting away my cuticles, Sarah's mom asked when was the last time I had a manicure.  I quietly replied, "January."  She then semi-reprimanded me.  Not a full-blown reprimand, because ummmmm I had not yet paid for the pedi-mani combo and let's be honest, they were still in the we-had-better-be-nice-because-we-get-tips-that-way mode.  After the quasi-reprimand, I explained that my bestie (another mani-pedi fiend) moved away to Seattle and I had been putting off the inevitable.  Apparently the tears and my quivering voice were enough to cause Sarah's mom to back-off.  I mean REALLY...give the girl with curly hair a break.


It's not that I don't want a manicure & pedicure every month.  HELLLLL-O, who wouldn't???  But that would be quite costly...and secondly, I do a great job painting my own nails (if I may be conceited for a moment).  


While I sat waiting for my nails to dry, I considered this past week.  It wasn't a bad...it was a great week.  I was able to connect with a friend & enjoy supper out on Wednesday evening.  I, even, spent some extra time at the gym.  I wrote a couple letters to people near and dear to me.  I perused the GoodReads website...more than I probably should have.  I drank coffee every morning.  So there you have it -- I, Angie Good, embraced my vices...coffee, spending time with my friends (I hardly can count this "time spent with friends" as a vice -- as it really isn't a vice, right?), reading, and knitting.  


And lastly tonight to end my All-about-Angie Evening...I indulged and ate peanut butter & apple slices for supper.  Only peanut butter and apple slices.  Oh, how I love peanut butter...

Tomorrow I am off with Gloria to hear Lysa TerKeurst speak.  She is an amazing author and involved with the Proverbs 31 Ministries.  Read her books -- they honestly have the power to change your life!  :)

A Bo-Bunny Creation

I am posting this for my friend, Leah!!!!  

This looks like something fabulous 

that we would attempt!!!