Friday Favorites!

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things

I decided to highlight items on Friday that I find I can't live without. Who knows how long this will last, but for now, you can get a sneak peak into my favorite things...which do include ponies, yet not so much apple streudels.

My all time staple item that you can find me in 3-4 days a week--JEANS! I wear them to the office, out with friends, around the house...you name it, I wear them! Right now my favorite brands are Citizens of Humanity and MEK, both of which you can get at Bloomingdales or Nordstrom. I'd like to consider myself a 'jean snob' but that hasn't been the case until recently. I pick my jeans on three things.

1) The color of the denim
2) The pocket design (which correlates directly to the brand)
3) The length/fit and how good it makes my butt look :)

So once a pair of jeans meets all three of these uber strict criteria...they become a winner and well, I purchase more than one pair because I blow through jeans like I do chocolate candy. The only issue ,you see, I have this problem...I have huge tree trunk sized quads, miniature to small size waist and hips and yet midget length legs. That being said, anything I buy, as far as pants go, has to be altered. So finding this perfect jean is critical and very time consuming. Once I find a brand I like, I stick with it. So Citizens of Humanity and MEK numbers and stock just went up...lucky them!

Wanted!

It's almost time for my FAVORITE day of the year...my birthday! This year, the glorious day falls on a Saturday. Saturday the 13th of March to be exact. For the big 26, I plan to throw down at Lucky Fest, a yearly tradition in Atlanta held at Park Tavern. Shamrocks, silly costumes and green beer galore...that's what's is in store for this birthday girl. My friends are the best and every year make this day uber special for me! Prepare yourself for birthday/Patty's day mayhem!

There are only a few items on my wish list for this year. (wink, wink Mike) I try to not 'ask' for things, yet give strong suggestions as to what would be kindly appreciated (on top of hugs, cards and well a few shots).

LongChamp Purse: Le Pliage collection. Been wanting one of these since college!

A day at the spa...any spa! One of my favorite things to do is let someone else pamper me!

Anything from my three favorite stores. OK really, I have more than three, but these are the first three that came to mind.

I hope you find the time to celebrate with me! As always, Courtney, work your Mike magic on the gift...you never let me down. I know they have phones and such in Chile!

**Please note, yes, I realize this post makes me sound spoiled and selfish. But it's about my birthday...and I can be that way if I want to one day a year :)

Why Didn't I Think of This!?!

Painting, Wine and your friends. What a great idea huh? Wendy LoVoy hit it on the head when she created the idea of Sips n Strokes. This novel idea didn't make it's way to Georgia until semi-recently (ok really I don't know when but I've only gone a couple times), but it's been around in Alabama and a few other locations since 2003. They have two locations in Georgia and the owner, Stacy, told me they're looking to open more! YAY!

It's amazing what you can do there. I'm no artist. Honestly, I suck at drawing and well, painting...just ask my coworkers about my Habitat for Humanity paint job...whoa nelly! However after I left this place with two masterpieces (don't laugh) I'd say I'm pretty descent.

My first trip to Sips n Strokes was for an Alabama National Championship painting with a few of my Bama girls who live here in Atlanta. We didn't really know what to expect,but showed up with our bottles of wine and glasses in tow ready for what sounded like an awesome time. The four of us saddled up to our canvas, got our paints and waited to begin. Did I mention you can drink...how awesome is that!?! Classes last about 2-3 hours at most and it really seems like 30 minutes when it's all said and done. By the time we left, we all couldn't wait to get back!

Now tell me that doesn't look good! And yes, I painted this ALL free hand, all by little self! I must say it turned out way better than I expected. It's now hanging beautifully in our house divided condo waiting for it's permanent home in the Alabama section of Mike and I's next home.

Everyone's turned out super cool and a bit different! Awesome job girls! Oh, and these are some of my friends from Alabama (L to R) Lauren, Patsy, Me and Pammy

My next adventure was one that I was even more excited for..a fleur de lis! I've always loved this shape, symbol or whatever you want to call it. It just so happens, my better half, Mike, also has an affinity for it. We already have one hanging in our bedroom and I wanted to add to the stash so Megan, Patsy and I headed on back to Sips n Strokes...this time in Dunwoody.

Here is the start of it! I went for some of my favorite colors: purple, black and green!

The final product!

You're probably asking why I put our names on there and you're probably going to laugh as to why I did. For our "impending" wedding, Mike and I want to use the Fleur de Lis as our inspiration for everything. So, as you can see, this will be the start. The colors, the symbol and of course, Mike and I!

Just planned another trip to Sips n Strokes with a dear friend, Stephanie. Can't wait!

Candy Hearts, Teddy Bears and Chocolate Martini's Oh My!!

February 14. A beloved day by some, hated by many and for me, just another day in the neighborhood! Mike and I decided not to do too much this year just a nice dinner date on Sunday and some cuddling on the couch.

To start our Valentines weekend, I got an awesome Edible Arrangement from Mike delivered to my office...mind you I was working at home that day :)! It was filled with delicious chocolate covered apples, strawberries and lots of other super tasty fruit and a balloon to boot! Not to mention Atlanta got some pretty white snow on Friday which allowed for a night of staying in. We did however have to walk to Whole Foods which is located just across from our house. On our way, we decided to play a little in the snow!

I also decided to pelt Mike in the back with a snowball :)

And I made a snowman, a pretty pitiful one but hey I'm from the south. I'm not good at snowmen!

All and all, we spent Friday night hanging out with Mike's parents in their condo, a mere 8 floors above us, eating dinner and watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. Which I have to say I was less than impressed with. However, the whale thingy they did was pretty epic and now I demand to go whale watching (write that down on the bucket list). Boot camp Saturday morning I must admit was incredible in the snow. We did a bit of snowplowing, a shockingly not too bad AMRAP of runs and snowangels and then a sweet game of snow dodgeball! Just a sidenote, 20 snowangels...way harder than they look! I also hit up Sips n Strokes Saturday afternoon where I painted a pretty fleur de lis! How do you like the final product? Just got hung up in our bathroom as well...yay!

Actual Valentines Day was less exciting, however still a great day with my favorite man! We went to a fantastic dinner at Parker's on Ponce in Decatur, GA and then hit up The Original Chocolate Bar just down the street. The day couldn't have been more relaxing and enjoyable, probably because of the company I was with (I love you Monkey)!

Overall, a great Valentine's Day weekend....how was yours?

Best Invention Ever!

Thankfully (I think) I live with a triathlete. Now sometimes his crazy training schedule and mass amounts of Gu energy gels and energy bars take up way too much space in our house, not to mention the countless training books he has. Mike does have one item that I purchased for him this past Christmas for his training that has come in uber handy for me since starting boot camp. I give you...(drum roll) the foam roller!! This thing is nothing short of amazing. No matter if your back hurts, quads, IT Band, Hamstrings, Calfs and hell even your toesies...this magically foam roller will roll it on out. I'm not going to lie, it cost me $20 (give or take a few) and it has been well worth my money! Perhaps we'll move on to the Marathon stick. Another tri-friend of Mike and mine, Andy, says it's pretty incredible too! Perhaps we'll go for the double whammy!

Adios Mi Pouncy....Nos Vemos en Seis Meses

This Friday is going to be a rough one. My pea in a pod is leaving. My Mi Pouncy is leaving me to go to Chile...as in the country of, not so much the pepper or the feeling you get when it's cold outside. My friend, Courtney, told me in early December that she was embarking on a journey of a lifetime. She is packing up and heading down south, way south to Chile to teach the little Chilean children English. She'll be living there for about 6 months, give or take some at that depending on how the adventure goes.

Courtney and I have only been friends for about 2 years now, yet it seems like a lot longer than that. We met through a couple of mutual friends and our first adventure was a trip to Sarasota, Florida to stay at our buddy Maria's parents beach place. It was there that we became friends and well, acted a fool for a solid few days. I knew from then on this girl was going to be a friend of mine. Not to mention she knew my now loving boyfriend and could get me some dirt whenever needed. She has also come in handy on the whole gift giving thing as well for Mike (keep that up Court, you can still send him ideas from Chile right!?).

There have been countless late night extravaganzas, day long gchats about anything and everything a friendship can go through, hysterical texts, facebook updates and pictures a plenty. She's one kick ass chick and she's going to have one kick ass time as she ventures off to grow more in her skin and learn a little bit more about life, friendship and being that independent woman she already is. I have a few favorite memories of Courtney and some photos to go along with it.

Our first photo as friends. Please note the copious amounts of wine in her glass and the sneaky little cast on the hand of mine! HA thanks for helping take care of me both times I've been in a cast/surgery.

A spectacular night...kind of! HA we found these things and used them all night! This night landed us at Opera, where we sat on the wall watching other people bump and grind while we bitched about how much we wanted to go home. Ahh, the memories!

Another lovely one. In fact, probably the best! This is one of our favorites. Halloween 2008. Who doesn't love Jane Fonda and an Oompa Loompa. Thanks C for the lovely make up and degrading pictures you took prior to the night being so awesome. If I do remember correctly, I passed out in the bushes!

All in all, ¡Buena Suerte Courtney! I shall miss you til you come home. But can promise there will many hours on Skype and GChat to keep us close! I also promise that when you get back, Patches will be here waiting for you, braided mane and all.

¡Adiós Mi Amiga, Nos Vemos en Seis Meses!

All About the Etiquette!

I pranced through the door just before 7:30pm last night just in time for The Bachelor. It had been a typical Monday, nothing too exciting or interesting...yet I was still pissy for some reason. No reason to be exact, but I did find one little thing on the counter to set me off a bit...a wedding invitation...addressed to Mr. Mike Morris.


If you know me, you know I LOVE weddings. I love planning them, dreaming about my own, going to them and well, just weddings in general. I've been to my fair share and been in my fair share of weddings over the past 10 years. I've also learned a lot from Emily Post over the years. One thing I've learned and pay up most attention to is invites.

Now yes, I know Mike and I aren't engaged yet and yes, I know some people don't allow dates to be invited to a wedding. But in my pure opinion and for what it's worth...this one pissed me off. Let's be honest. Mike and I have been together for a 1 year and 8 months are are clearly on our way to being Mr. and Mrs. Mike Morris and the invite is sent only to him? To me, that is just a blatant misunderstanding of invitation etiquette! After Mike asked the brother of the groom why, their response...nobody brings a date unless they are married. Yes, because that makes a TON of sense. Like I said, I've learned from Emily Post, so in right fashion, I will not be adding my name to the response card or marking 2 for steak when it'll just be 1.

What this does mean though, is that I'll need to find something to do on April 10th and hell, it wont be sitting at yet another wedding. Perhaps at that point I'll be planning my own.

Week Two in the Books...

I can't believe it's already February. This year is already flying by. I'm sure once my schedule picks up in mid-March that it'll be November before I notice. In other news, week two of boot camp is in the books...only two more to go (for now at least!) I'm up to a solid 3-4 days a week (depending on the weather/classes/schedule) and come week 3 and 4, I'll be shooting for almost 6 days a week. That is 6 days of pure torture, but well worth it I do believe. I wrote out my schedule today, just to see how much I'll really be working out. Between dance and boot camp, dang I'm one busy little gal.

This week has been a little soggy if I must say so myself. The weather in the morning is right dang chilly. If you don't believe me here's the proof to the right. I find myself layering more and more in the mornings. Typically with at least an under armour shirt and tshirt and then a jacket of sorts for the top. Running tights and fleece running pants on the bottom and a cute, ok ugly head gear thing to keep my cute little ears warm. (please note I forgot the ear thing on Tuesday night and it was brutal!)

We sure did a lot of running this week. Tuesday night I roughed it through the sinus infection, snot and all, for AMRAPs of 400m runs mixed with max amount of push ups...sounds delightful huh? That was after the Tabata squats, which were ever so painful on that 10 second 'rest' in which my entire legs would go numb..nice huh? Needless to say, the pain in the following hours wasn't nearly as rough as I had anticipated from this night.

Wednesday was yet another AMRAP lovely day. As our jolly instructors called it, A Tale of Three AMRAPs (http://www.fitnessbattalion.com/fitnessbattalion). This thing was brutal. Three rounds 8 minutes each in my least favorite locations at Piedmont Park (see below).

1. Circle of Death

2. Lunge Death Squat Hill

3. Murky Playground of Torture

Needless to say, the weather is starting to look grim for Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. Think I'll take the early wake up Thursday and skip out on Friday (which will probably leave me with guilt) but ya know, sometimes you just gotta stay dry and get some extra beauty sleep. That wake up call Thursday morning was brutal. I didn't want to go, but knew the guilt would be so bad if I didn't. So onward I went. Today's joy included mountain climbers, a "little jog" (more like a half mile run) and jump squats up the set of stairs with sit ups for me in between reps for 6 minutes straight. Then another "little jog" for some suicides and tabata squats. Believe me when I tell you the Indian Run (or as I like to call it the Reindeer run) was the easiest part of the day! HA!

But good prevails struggles and I'm back down to the pant size I was when I graduated college...WHOO HOO! Let's hope this keeps going. I have two weeks left but seriously am considering keeping up the boot camp. In all honesty, it isn't as bad as I thought and I encourage you to get your butt outta bed and do it too!

Dear Mr. Sinus Infection....

Two weekends in a row I've been down for the count. First food poisoning and now a sinus infection. I mean really!? Let's hope February brings better health. Perhaps its because I run myself ragged working out 6 days a week multiple hours a day...or maybe it's because I hate orange juice and this is vitamin C's way of retaliating, either way...I'd like it to kick back to the way it was- healthy style. I'd also like to ask this guy, Mr. Mucus (pictured to the right) to take a hike and bring on the pretty smells of spring!