The time I became Mrs. Lachey...

When I heard about this linkup, I thought it would be pretty hilarious to read some of the celeb sightings. Those are always interesting. But I was a little bummed because I have never met a celeb....then last night I realized I am really in with the celebs. I guess I was so used to being with the famous people I forgot completely that they were famous and not just normal people. 

First let me let you in on a secret....I'm in the Memphis area and everyone from Memphis is related to JT (hey Lora, now we really are cousins! #redneckproblems). 

Source

But I really am related to him. Like I've met his grandparents at our family reunion. That's big stuff people! Also, when my friend Erin's brother used to work at a fancy restaurant in JT's official small hometown, he would let us know whenever there was a reservation for "Timberlake" party of 5. We would have totally run into him and Jessica last time if we happened to walk to the bathroom at the same time the doors to the party room were opening for a server to go in. So close!

I've met another Memphis celeb at least a handful of times. If you are a wrastlin' fan, I'm sure you know Mr. Jerry the King Lawler. 

Source

When I lived in East Memphis, I used to see "King" (as us close friends call him, obvi) at Perkins for breakfast all the time. Then my real meeting with him happened when we were both shopping for cell phones at SunCom (remember them?) in the mall. We had a small conversation about how far cell phones had come from the brick phone to the smaller brick phone. 

But my favorite celeb sighting has to be the night I became Mrs. Lachey. I know what you are thinking right? I didn't know Nick was married before Jessica. You may or may not be right, I never did my research, but guess what? We aren't talking about Nick. Nope. I looked complete past his Jersey Shore Ronnie-looking-1998 self and fell head over heels in love with his brother Drew....

Source

Be still my heart. We were at a cheerleading camp in Martin, TN and these guys were our entertainment that night. Makes me wonder if all boy bands tour the cheerleading circuit before making it BIG. It was in the middle of Invisible Man when I promised Drew that he would never be invisible to me and then we made out. So what if he thought my name started with a V when he signed our marriage license the picture of him and the rest of the band. I mean, he added a little line at the top of the V to make it look more like a J. Obviously that is true love. Unfortunately, I broke things off with him once I realized he didn't have a big 4x4 truck with a lift and "flows" and the rest is history. 

That's pretty much my celeb BFFs for now. And if you are wondering how I did in the lotto, let me just say...I told you so. I totally won last night! Our work pool won $8. I know, I know, what am I going to do with all that extra money. Well, never fear because there were 20 of us in the pool, so that brings my winnings to a much more manageable 40 cents. Whew! I have an appointment with my financial adviser this afternoon to see what my best plan of investment will be. Wish me luck! 

And go link up with Holly to let me know if your celeb sighting is even half as cool as mine! 

**Edit**
I deserve to have my "World's Biggest Cardinal Fan" title stripped from me for not adding this picture to my celeb post...

This would be the time I met Cardinals ace pitcher Chris Carpenter at Cards spring training in Jupiter, Florida. Strangely enough, this is around the same moment I lost the connection from my brain to my mouth that allows me to speak. I couldn't even ask him for an autograph, I just stood there starring at him. Another fan reminded me I had a ball and marker in my hand and THEN reminded me I should take a picture with him. Thanks random fan that had more Cards swag than I have ever owned in my life. I also met (ie got their autograph) former coach Tony LaRusa, Jason Isringhousen, Anthony Reyes, and Jeff Suppan. And Tyler Johnson handed a baseball to my daughter when he was walking from the practice field over to where the pitchers were warming up. Always take a cute kid along when going to training camp! 

Ok now I feel better. Sorry that I left you out the first time, Chris (XOXO). 

I'm Hiring

Just wanted to let everyone know, I have two new positions open and I will be accepting applications once I get off the party bus. Confused? You see tonight I'm going to win the powerball. 

After I win, me and my coworkers are going to hop on the party bus to head to Nashville and pick up our winnings. After that I will be taking applications for a personal assistant because obviously I will be too busy counting my money to handle day to day things. And I will be hiring a driver....because I want a Tahoe #dreambiglol and I cannot drive park that big ass thing! 

As crazy as it sounds I think I would actually keep my day job if I won. I just think it would be fun to come in everyday with a total I could care less attitude and see how long I last. Could be extremely entertaining for my coworkers. 

Never fear, once all the partying is over and my friends that I haven't seen in 20 years come out of the woodwork and ask for money, I promise to get back to a regular blogging schedule. 

*How great of a blog post would this be if I actually won.

**Party pooper at work just informed me I'm more likely to become President than to win the lottery. Come on powerball, let's show her how to dream big!

Rando Wednesday

Am I the only person out there at work today? Lie to me and at least say you are sitting at work, mkay? What a perfect day for a Random Wednesday post. 

First bit of randomness....

I can't decide if someone with the clearance sticker machine thought this would be funny or they have themselves a little penny scheme (think Office Space) going on. 

Next on the list, Netflix. I love you and I hate you. Ya see, short story long, B was spending the night with a friend last night. So you know what that means, bow chica wow wow......grown up tv! Oh yes! And since I missed last season of Sons of Anarchy because of some reason or another, we have been catching up. I missed like the first 6 episodes of the show in the first place so we started from the.very.beginning and are now on last season. I am pretty sure we watched 5 episodes just last night. That put me going to bed way past my fall asleep at 8pm on the couch bedtime. Also I hate how the last episode we watched ended and I am dying to see how the rest of last season goes. Unfortunately, I need to cook tonight instead of staying glued to my tv. Bummer. 

Girls always go for the bad boys...

In other random news, one of B's friends explained to her what French kissing was the other day on the way to her birthday fun at Paint a Piece. I got to hear that conversation and my favorite part was one of the twins telling her "French kissing is gross. I mean, you don't even know where his mouth has been and what if you both have smelly mouths?!?" Then they all made a pact to never get in an argument about a boy because friends come first (i.e. girl version of Bros before Hoes)

Also...pattern mixing? Nailed it. 

Being from the south though I'm a little sad that Alabama just claimed houndstooth as their state pattern. It doesn't just belong to you, Alabama! Today it's mine! (Real dalmatians were not harmed in the making of those $4 shoes #clearance)

I've been getting into running in prep for a 5k in 2.5 weeks and hopefully a 10k and half marathon next year. But I don't care who you are, this is just funny...

Have a great Turkey Day everyone!!

Go over to Shanna's blog and read more random Wednesdays!

It's a Partay

So this is happening...

It's a one stop shop for blogger birthdays. How cool is that?! Kudos to Alyssa for putting this together. If only this were around about a month ago! Just kidding. 
Now everyone go add your special day, snag the button and spread the news!

Tuesday: Turkey Trot

Today I'm linking up with Holly for the Turkey Trot linkup. I'm ready to talk about Thanksgiving and even more ready to check out of this work week and get to the food! Get in my belly! 

1. What do you look forward to more: the food, football or parades?
Probably the food, just being honest. Dressing is pretty much one of my favorite foods ever so I will have that and be in heaven says the fat girl. I will still enjoy the football and parades though.

2. What is your favorite non-traditional Thanksgiving Day dish?
Hands down, lumpia! Lumpia is like a Filipino egg roll I guess. It's longer and skinnier than regular egg rolls though. My aunt is Filipino and she used to make this every year for our family Thanksgiving gathering. Since our families have grown and all my cousins are married with children pretty much now, we don't always get everyone together at the same time now. So lumpia isn't always on the menu. 

3. After dinner, is it football or a nap?
Both. There's always good intentions to watch football and then I end up waking up two hours later. I blame it on the dressing. 

4. Do you watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade? Which is your favorite float?
Yes, we always watch the parade or at least part of it on Thanksgiving. I don't really have a favorite float though. I guess Santa's float is pretty important though. To me when Santa floats by that means it's go time on the Christmas decorations. 

5. Where do you go to celebrate and eat your big meal? Who is there (family, friends)?
Normally, we go to my grandfather's house for Thanksgiving lunch and my parents or grandmother's house for Thanksgiving evening. This year things may be a little different because my grandfather is not feeling 100%. He recently had a pacemaker put in and has been dealing with an on and off infection. Also, my daughter has to go to her dad's for Thanksgiving at some point so we will be shuffling this year. And since Jeremy's family lives about 2 hours away, we are waiting to celebrate with them on the weekend. 

6. What is your favorite turkey day dessert?
Honestly, I don't really eat dessert on Thanksgiving. Sounds like a good thing, but I replace the dessert with more dressing. Imagine that. My great aunt used to make the best chocolate pie ever and that was a former favorite. 

Ok, now it's your turn! Go linkup over at Holly or Erin's blog {just click the button above} and tell everyone what you think about this holiday. And Happy Turkey day everyone! Go be thankful for all kinds of shtuff! 

I had gas...

...on Friday. I did. Then I used it all. Being a stay at home mom for the day is expensive. Poor Gladys {my car} used an entire tank of gas on Friday. Ok, that's a lie, but in like 48 hours I had to fill up again. 

Since B is out of school all week for Thanksgiving, they had their Thanksgiving Feast on Friday. I was that mom that brought Subway instead. I think it worked out better anyways. But they had at least eleventy tables with desserts on them. I have no idea who made that Oreo, whip cream, marshmallowy goodness but if you are reading, I need the recipe stat! 

This one had a great time! As you can see. And since she goes to school with my BFF's twins, I got some BFF chat time in as well. 

Back to home for a while, then back to school to pick B and 3 friends up to head to Paint a Piece for a mini birthday party. Off we went with the new One Direction CD blaring and my little American Idol contestants practicing their vocal stylings in the back. 

Each girl painted a cute ornament and then we were on our way back to school for basketball practice. Their first practice. And since they were all with me, they were late. Imagine that. It really was not my fault this time. I am not mean enough and when I said "let's go" at 4:45 and they gave me the sad eyes and begged to finish "just one last thing"....I gave them a few more minutes. Then we got stuck in rush hour/private school street hell. A two lane road with 3 huge private schools that all apparently had something going on Friday night. How dare they!

I know I have mentioned this before but I really love B's new school and all the special things she is doing this year, like the basketball team. She is growing new friendships and learning so many things. I couldn't be happier with our decision.

Let me tell you 'bout my best frands

Have you ever noticed that things are much better with friends? Did you just say "duh" to me?? I mean, not only outings and stuff, but they actually make blah things better. 

Last night I was going through the DVR (sidenote: anyone still call their DVR their TiVo? Just me? k, carry on), and I see where I recorded Dear John. I had just watched Magic Mike....

you're welcome

...and I thought "why not more Channing Tatum?" I went to see Dear John probably the weekend it came out with 3 of my best friends. These are the best people to go to a movie with {unless you have a problem busting out laughing while everyone else in the theater is crying}. They even bring their big purses and one makes "healthy" popcorn for us. 

Last night I was watching Dear John with Jeremy and about 30 minutes in, I was playing solitaire on my phone. Obviously I had already exhausted all social outlets as well. He called me out on it so I started watching the movie again. Then in the middle of an "awww" scene, I burst out laughing. J thought I was crazy. And I had to explain something funny that my friend Natalie said during that scene the first time I saw it. I don't know how I remembered that but I did. Then for the rest of the movie I could only hear the BFF commentary in my head. And by the end of the movie, I realized that movie sorta sucked...If I was doing thankful posts, this would be my "I'm thankful for my friends" one.

So I guess that's how I celebrated the unveiling of People's Sexiest Man Alive. And here's how J celebrated it...

That's why I love him...

Random Wednesday

I was so happy to read that Shanna was going to do a "random" link up this week. I am always jotting down little blog notes in my planner or on my phone, but a lot of times those little notes aren't enough for an actual post. It's usually just something random that I saw and thought was funny. So today I went to see what I had in my notes and half of it didn't make sense. Anyone know what "funny ER site message" meant? Yep, I have no clue. Oh well, here are some random things this week:

• Not so random fact, today is my baby girl's birthday. She is a whopping 10 years old today. How is that possible?! She opened her closet this morning to an avalanche of balloons then opened two tiny presents in her room before going downstairs to see her fun presents. Her birthday festivities are going to happen Friday so I will have pictures and details to post then. 

Black Bean Brownies for Brooklyn's class today (say that 5 times fast!)

• This is the most behind I have ever been on Christmas present shopping. On another note, I think I'm going to really participate in the Black Friday madness this year. Usually I will get out and buy a few things but mostly drive around Target with my baby sister (Lil J) and laugh at everyone in line. Yes, we are cruel. 
• Yesterday I saw a man that looked exactly like a pug. Seriously. He was in the car beside me at a red light and I could.not.stop staring at him. I was dying to take a picture, send it to everyone in my contact list my friends, and see if I was not the only person who thought this. What is wrong with me?
• I hate going to work unsure about an outfit. Like today...I am wearing boots with a maxi dress. I am not sure how I feel about this. Someone tell me that is perfectly acceptable. Because otherwise, what do I wear with my maxi dresses?
• I just started training for a 10K this past week and today I signed up for a 5k...in 3 weeks. But it sounds like so much fun! It's the Ugly Sweater Run. How fun does that sound?! And I registered on Living Social so it was half the regular cost. If you are in the Memphis area, you should go register too!
• I really want a Bloody Mary today. Not sure why. Random.
• We pass two crossing guards/traffic director people on the way to school each day and we lovely call one of them Handsy thanks to the show The League (so freaking hilarious, but lots of "manly" humor). I recently noticed Handsy's gloves have neon on the back of the gloves and a stop sign on the palm....and for some reason that was hilarious to me at 7am. 

And that's probably enough random for one day. Next week I hope to be able to read my random notes!

Jump On It

That's exactly what I did this weekend. I jumped on the running bandwagon. I've been trying to get myself motivated for a while now. I haven't done much in the way of exercise since we returned from vacation. It's been nearly a month now. But this weekend I decided to use my 10k training app and get my butt outside. 

And how could you not?! I mean, check out the temp! In November! Crazy right? Those not so little feet beside me belong to my running buddy. 

I just hope we can stick with the plan and B can keep me running when the booty flap is just too much. And maybe she can teach me how to rock the runner's poof a little better. 

The 3 days of week one all look alike. I think we are going to try for day 2 on Thursday and day 3 on Saturday. It is tough to get an outdoor run in now with the time change. And don't even tell me to get up earlier because I will laugh at you, hard. But with holidays and vacation time, I think from now through December I can make this work. Then the running may have to go indoors. 

Other than a light run, we got all the birthday shopping {well, almost all of it} done for a certain special birthday girl. I still need to buy balloons to fill her room and brownie and cupcake mixes for this week then we are set. 

Also, Happy Veterans Day to all those men and women who dedicate their lives to keeping us safe and free. We can never thank you enough for your service to this country.

Flags lining the streets on the way home from our run

Cheesy Goodness

Last night I had full intentions of going home and making a new pinterest recipe for Stephanie's awesome link up {Saw it. Pinned it. Did it.}. In fact, I decided on which one I was doing when I found one of the ingredients on sale at Target yesterday. It was like it all fell into place. Then I picked up B from after school care and she nearly knocked me down bringing me her report card. She has always been a straight A kinda girl {chip off the ole block} but this year she changed schools. I had prepared myself her for this year to be harder and much more challenging and possibly not a straight A kinda year. I am so very proud of her for pulling it off though. And what says celebrate more than Mexican food, am I right?!

So this happened...

fake smile...

fake diet but SOO good!

I am totally blaming my child for making me order this. This is actually what was left over after TWO tortillas full of ricey, chickeny, veggie, cheesy goodness. This is what we took home! 

When deciding where to go eat we asked B and she said "Margaritas" (the name of the restaurant) and I answered with my tired old response "No, you cannot have a margarita yet". This time she got me...."Duh mom, it's a school night" hah!

Moving On

If you are looking for a political rant, you aren't going to find it here. Just sayin'

Moving on...and speaking of moving...I need to get my butt moving. I've slacked quite a bit on my workouts since I got back from the beach vacay. I came back terrified of what the scale would say only to find I only brought back an extra half a pound of me. Score! Then it's like all heck broke loose and I thought it was ok to go out to lunch everyday at some fatty place and not work out one bit. 

Time for a change! So with my pants getting tight and my BFF trying to talk me into doing a half marathon with her {she's half cray y'all...jk kinda}, I've decided I need to add running to my workout routine. Now here's the question for you. Do you use any running apps or just go with a set plan for time/distance each running day? What works best for you? 

I downloaded some new running apps last night and I plan to go through and try them out to see what works best for me. I always do better in exercises classes because I have someone there telling me what to do and others to compete with. And yes, the gym is always a competition. That's why I think I will need an app that shows progress and also tells me when to do the next thing or kick it into high gear. 

Here goes nothing...

Hashtag Vote

So I know this is probably like the thirty-hundredeth time you have heard this....but seriously, go vote today! And if you have already voted today (or early voted), I'm proud of you! Today I hope everyone steps into the voting booth with a well informed decision. I hope each and every person votes for who they genuinely believe is the best candidate for the job, not just someone that your parents or significant other or friends are voting for. Make sure you really look at all the issues and choose what you think is best for the country. 

Ok, off my soapbox. 

Now, is anyone actually really excited about the election? Just me? The first time I remember watching the election news coverage, I asked my parent, "Why are we picking a new President? Did ours die?" That was when I was around 6. Then at 10, we got to vote in mock elections at school. Again, I didn't really understand the importance. At 14, things started making more sense. I knew there were issues that were being argued, people taking sides. By 18, I had formed my own opinions, but was still unable to vote due to my birth date. From that point on, I've been all about seeing if my candidate won and hoping my voice was the loudest at the polls. Tonight I will be watching as usual. 

Happy Election Day, everyone!

Oh hey, girl, heeeey

Oh hey, Monday! We made a truce so as long as she isn't too rough on me, I'm not going to hate on her. It's that time again. Time for me to tell you about my weekend even if you don't really care. 

Friday: Date night! We had the evening to ourselves so we stayed in and watched a movie. It was really nice and relaxing. Sounds boring but I'm ok with that. 

Saturday: Oh so busy considering I didn't really have any plans. The guys went hunting so I went to lunch with a friend and then ended up shopping FOR.EV.ER! And didn't really walk away with that much. I could not pick the right size for my body all day. Then after I tried everything on and realized it didn't fit, I was over it. I also passed on a pair of minty teal jeans, and it's been eating at me. Reverse buyers remorse. 

Oh well, next time. Then it was time to throw on a new top and head to dinner for my friend Emily's bachelorette party. I had a great time with some funny girls and a yummy blue lagoon. I also got some time to just chit chat with my good friend Natalie. 

Sunday: I found out I won the lottery...

Peace out! I'm off to my new island for the winter! Ah....I wish. Sunday was spent doing normal boring housework stuff. Good times, right? Oh course in the midst of that I found this on tv. I seriously can never pass this movie up...

I'm not the only one right?

Shut the....

Front door! It's Friday?? This was definitely one of those mornings when my beloved Friday seemed to be disguised as a Monday. Gasp! But do you know what the cure is for that? Find Pop & Hip Hop Power on Pandora, or 90s Greatest Hits, or basically anything that makes you feel 16 again and turn it up as loud as you can. Results: Pulling into our stuffy corporate parking lot at 8am (and by 8am I totally mean 8:15) blaring "I Like Big Butts" with my windows down a little. Yes ma'am! All morning I felt like I was a senior in high school again and we just had our homecoming title stripped from us because of a rather awesome raucous dance for our class dance. Good times....good times....

*one of my fav ecards

Now it's a Fab Friday! And here's why:

• We get an extra hour of sleep {or date night, however you see it} this weekend. This is especially awesome for me since I've been staying up late every night this week catching up on Sons!
• Our very first link up was not a bust! YAY! And I had a fun time reading the responses. So thank you SO much for telling me about your blog name and if you haven't linked up yet, go do it! Inquiring minds want to know!
• This week I realized I accidentally paid two car notes last month. Sucked at the time because I was really confused, but now it's nice because I am ahead going into 2013.
• I found hot chocolate packets in my pantry...score! Yes, it's the little things in life that make me happy.
• It's November and I still have 8 days of vacation left for the year. What! I almost have enough to take off everyday that B is out of school for the holidays.
• I found the most comfy skinny jeans ever! Ok, that could be a lie...I have on super duper comfy skinny jeans today. I am just not sure if they are super comfy or if I just bought a size too big. Oh well. Works for now.
• And in the famous words of Steve Azar {country, anyone?} "I don't have to be me 'til Monday!"

Say My Name Link Up Time

<div align="center"><a href="http://thepinkhouseadventures.blogspot.com" title="Running on Empty"><img src="http://i1247.photobucket.com/albums/gg622/janessa1020/SayMyNameButton.jpg" alt="Running on Empty" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

When I started blogging, I had no idea what to name my blog. Originally I was "The Real Southern Belle" until someone told me they were in fact the real Southern Belle. My bad. Then the blog became "The Pink House Adventures" because my daughter always wanted to paint our house pink. Since it was just us, she didn't see why we couldn't just do that. Now that there is a boy in the mix, our adventures weren't just pink house adventures anymore. We also can't really paint the house pink, because of the man in the house and a little thing called a landlord...oh darn #sarcasm. 

Now, I'm just Running on Empty. Sometimes literally. I was just getting into doing 5Ks again when I started really blogging, so I was actually doing some running then. But we always seem to be on the go and even when we are exhausted and have zero energy, we are still going. Plus, I am known for driving my car until I am absolutely using gas fumes to roll into the gas station. The way I see it, I'm saving time by not stopping as often. {Please don't tell me how it's bad for my car to run out of gas and blah blah blah. I hear that a lot. And #crossmyfingers I've never run out of gas before}

So that's how I ended  up Running on Empty. Now, it's your turn. Tell me where your blog name comes from! Don't forget to follow your hosts {that would be me and the BFF} and add your link. I can't wait to read them!