Photo an Hour

So my friend April over at So Yeah...So sometimes does this thing where she takes a photo every hour.  And I'm probably a bit of a voyeur, so I like to see what people get up to in their everyday lives.  And because I've been trying to make a habit of using my camera more, I thought it would be a nice exercise for me.

So this is basically how I start every morning...the Mister's bathrobe, my computer & a cup of coffee.

The mister is transitioning off his ship at the end of the month, so he's been bringing everything home.  The other day, that meant a big sack of laundry.  I'm a little loosey-goosey with the sorting.

Then it was back to the computer, but this time I was doing a bit of Christmas shopping.  On my personal Christmas list is a new wallet.  My old wallet is massive and the only things I really ever need on a regular basis are cash, my driver's license, my debit card and my Starbucks Gold card.  In the meantime, I've been using this little pouch I bought in Vegas.  Not ideal, but it makes me smile.

Then it was time for MORE coffee and a perusal of cookbooks to figure out what to make for dinner.  I've acquired three new cookbooks and I haven't done much with any of them.  I settled on the Balsamic and Beer-Braised Short Ribs from the Smitten Kitchen cookbook.

And then I had to fold the laundry.  Here's a funny thing.  I do not bother with folding my underwear.  It all just gets tossed in a drawer and it's not like I worry about it wrinkling.  But both my mother and the Mister will fold my underwear if they do my laundry.  I find that quite endearing.

And then I went for a run.  This is the USS Wisconsin, which is a battleship.  If you ask the Mister, he will tell you battleships are the coolest.  Unfortunately, they aren't really used in the modern Navy, so the Mister won't ever get the chance to serve on one.  But he seriously loves battleships.  At one point, we even tossed around the idea of getting married on one of the many decommissioned battleships that are attached to museums, like the Wisconsin.

And then I was finished with my run and it was time to stretch.  Stretching has become one of my favorite parts of running.

And then it was shower time and getting ready time.

And then I was ready!  I stole the Mister's fedora and I think I look just darling in it.  At some point last night, he sort of laughed to himself and when I asked what was so funny he said, "I was just thinking that if you keep wearing my bathrobe and my hat that someday when I want to wear them, our kids are going to be all 'Daddy, why are you wearing Momma's bathrobe?' or 'Daddy, why are you wearing Momma's hat?'"

At the grocery store!

Cooking dinner!  The recipe called for two beers in the pot, so I opened up a third beer for my hand.  That doesn't explain the bitchface, but that was more a product of trying to balance my camera on a vase, press the self-timer button and then get back over by the stove.

Hooray, the Mister is home!  I'm especially happy he is home this week because he was supposed to be out to sea, but then the underway was postponed due to weather.  And that is just fine by me.  I'll take any bonus time with the Mister any day!

Dinner is the oven, the Mister is joining me for a beer and Eddie Izzard is on the telly.  Not a bad way to pass an evening.

And dinner is on the table!  Let me tell you, those short ribs were phenomenal.  I know it sounds braggy to say that about my own cooking, but the meat was incredibly tender and the sauce was out of this world!  It was my first time making short ribs, but  I will definitely be making this again.

And that's the end of the photos.  After we ate, we cleaned up the kitchen and parked ourselves on the couch for more Netflix watching and then we went to bed.  We are a boring old couple and we are usually in bed by 10:30.  And that is A-OK by us.

Knit Happens

So, basically, all I ever want to do anymore is knit.  The other night I happily spent 5+ hours with my butt on the couch working on a baby sweater and watching episodes of Charmed (all 8 seasons are available to watch instantly!)

As for my novel?  What novel?  Like I said, I've basically been spending all my time knitting.  I was diligent on NaNoWriMo for the first four or five days and then I had a work trip and then I finally saw the Mister again and then we went to New Orleans and then I've been knitting.  Have I mentioned I've been doing a lot of knitting?  According to the handy stats chart on the website, at my current average words-per-day (399), I will finish my novel on March 5th.  Oops.  I'm not throwing in the towel just yet.  I could still get a fire going under my bum and do some serious writing.  That is if I ever actually work out a plot.  Perhaps going into this with zero pre-planning was not my best idea.  What's that adage?  Failing to plan is planning to fail?  Ah well.  My "write a novel" item on my 30-before-30 list did not actually specify completing a NaNoWriMo novel, so I still have 11 1/2 months to do this.

I was convinced this morning that it was Monday b/c the Mister had to go to the ship and I felt like I should do something productive.  But then I realized it is actually Sunday and it is perfectly acceptable on a Sunday to hang around in comfy pants & finish this baby sweater and also my other knitted Christmas items.  But first, it feels like a good day to go for a long run.

Smile!

If you have a spare 8 minutes, you should watch this video.  It made me smile.

N'awlins

Last weekend the Mister & I had the absolute PLEASURE of travelling to New Orleans for a wedding!  The bride is one of the Mister's best friends from his last deployment and since I've met her, she's become one of my favorite ladies too.  She & her now-husband have been one of our favorite double date partners and I am so sad to be moving away from them next month.  But enough with the sentimentality, on to the photos!

First of all, how handsome is the Mister?  Second of all, no trip to New Orleans is complete without a visit to Cafe du Mond in the French Quarter.  What in the world could be better than a cafe au lait and a pile of fried dough smothered in powdered sugar?

Seriously.  Look at that and tell me you don't want to be like the Mister and just DIG IN.  This was probably the third or fourth photo I snapped of our beignets and I guess the Mister was getting impatient.

And this was the aftermath.

For what it is worth, the Mister did this to me first.  This was retribution.  Also, I was the one wielding the camera, muah-ha-ha.

On the morning of the wedding, the bride's dad had organized a Bridal 5K.  We all met up around 7:30am and hit the streets for a friendly group run.  The best part, undoubtedly, was running up Bourbon Street at 8 o'clock in the morning, with the city workers hosing down the street.  It was super fun and we even had shirts!

This is the only photo I have of my full outfit at the wedding.  I made the Mister take me shopping last Thursday because I wasn't in love with anything in my closet.  And let me tell you.  He's a trooper.  It took us probably four hours and involved buying a dress and then returning it half an hour later because I realized how difficult it would be to find shoes for it (it was very cute and very sparkley and full of lovely Fall-ish coppers, bronzes and browns).  But then we found this dress.  And those shoes.  Let me tell you a little about those shoes.  You can't really see it here, but they are actually wedges.  And they are INSANELY comfortable.  I wore them for 11 hours and walked probably at least twenty blocks total over the course of the day.  I love these shoes.  And I fully intend to wear the hell out of them, which should be relatively easy because even though they look shiny metallic in this photo, they are actually a duller silver and should work with both dressy AND casual outfits.

Again.  Seriously.  How sexy is the Mister?  Can you believe I'm marrying him?  I kind of wish he wore a suit & tie to work every day though, because he makes it look good.  But that's all right.  He looks pretty damn hot in aquaflauge too.

The next few photos are from Sunday morning when we took a walk around the neighborhood where our hotel was.

Not pictured is all the AMAZING food we ate at the rehearsal dinner, held at a place called Mother's.  I was a little intimidated because I'm not terribly familiar with Louisiana cuisine, but between the Mister & I we ate a little bit of everything on offer and it was all damn tasty!  We cannot WAIT to go back to New Orleans and have a little more free time to do some exploring and more eating.

Halloween Baby!

So Halloween has come & gone!  I did all the things I intended to do on my birthday.  I did my push-ups, I went to Starbucks.  One of my neighbors had a candy pail in the hallway with a sign "Please help yourself!" So I even indulged in a couple fun-size candies, which was awesome.  And then I went to dinner with my three favorite Norfolk ladies!

I figured, hey, it's Halloween!  So, I wore my faux-leather leggings.  Here's some advice for you, if you ever feel like wearing faux-leather leggings.  It is probably best to wait some time between putting on lotion and putting on the leggings.  That was an exercise in frustration if I've ever experienced one.  But I wore the leggings with my black leather boots & a black top.  Then I threw a leopard-print trench over the whole thing and called myself a cat!

I posted the photo on Facebook and one of my friends demanded to know where my ears were.  So, to appease her (and because, you know, Halloween), I made sure to put my cat ears from the race on before dinner.  so I guess on Saturday I was a Crazy Cat Lady and on Wednesday I was a Sexy Cat Lady.  Or something.  I haven't a clue!

Dinner was yummy & they gave me a free birthday creme brulee, and it was amazing!  I'm glad I was able to spend some time with friends and do something nice on my birthday.  I was bummed that the Mister wasn't home, but I also know that this is something that will happen many, many times in the future.  It's all a part of choosing to marry someone in the military.  But he knew I was going to be sad, so he sent me some beautiful flowers, because he is awesome like that!

I'm headed back up to Minneapolis tomorrow evening, but he will be here to pick me up as soon as I get back!  I cannot WAIT to see him.  And then next weekend we have a wedding to go to in New Orleans, so I'm pretty excited about that too!  It's been ages since I've been to New Orleans.  Now just to figure out what I'm going to wear for the rehearsal dinner and the wedding!  Nothing like waiting til the last minute, right?