Summertime

And a month and a half later......

I have gotten so bad at blogging and that is NO BUENO! I always think about typing out a post, but, like before, can't think of anything I want to blog about. My life is pretty boring so there's no adventures of flying across the US to meet with friends (although this may happen, keep reading), no blind dates (although if you know a single guy....), no drunken escapades. Seriously, boring.

But since I haven't updated you all on my life since the beginning of July, I figured I should do that since the last month has actually been a lot of fun.

I've had an extended vacation back home, a trip back down to Decorah & Luther College, two outdoor country music concerts, two trips to county fairs, lots of shopping, lots of working.

Trip to Decorah

Shopping

Betsy Johnson handbag.

Nine West heels

American Rag vest (looks SO GOOD over maxi dresses!)

Old Navy shorts

The last four items came from my newest addiction, Poshmark. I have a ton of items liked that I really, really want but I'm trying to exhibit a little self-control and not buy them.

County Fairs/Country Music Concerts

I went to both the Olmsted County Fair and the Freeborn County Fair. Thomas Rhett was playing in Albert Lea, MN at the Freeborn Cty Fair and he was SO GOOD. Highly recommend seeing him in concert if you get the chance.









So basically I ate too much fair food and drank too much beer throughout the month of July....

Also in July, Charlie Worsham played a free concert for Down by the Riverside in Rochester.





Story behind the pictures: we got down to the park and it was sunny. Concert started. 10 minutes later, the sky opened up and it started sprinkling which then turned into a downpour for like 5 minutes. We were soaked, but Charlie continued to play and we stayed in our seats. So much fun!

And, yes, we used our one and only umbrella to cover up our purses. Priorities here, people.

Crafts

I glitterized my empty wine bottles and made an old pair of jeans into a skirt.

Work

Still have those absolutely CRAZY DAYS where you just need to go home, sleep, and not think about anything. Still love my job and my co-workers (who tried to find this blog last night, UNSUCCESSFULLY. Investigative FAIL.)

Randomness

Best part of this summer and going home so much was all the puppy cuddles. I miss my baby!


This was outside my apartment building at the end of July. Seriously, my neighbors are whack and this place is becoming more sketchy.




Went through a box of my elementary school stuff.


Wine + candle + Lifetime Movie Network.

I received a $15 rebate for FishEye Wine from BzzAgent (um, they obviously know me too well), so I ended up paying a whopping $1.50 for this huge box of wine. And, let me tell you, it is YUMMY!


Oh, I almost forgot. That trip across the US to go see friends. Two of my absolute best friends since the 9th grade recently moved out to Colorado. I miss them like crazy and need to plan a trip out to see them sometime in the (hopefully near) future. So maybe I'll have some crazy last minute trip to update you all on!

Finally, I also updated my books page with what I've been reading + I've added a TON of new clothes to my Tradesy page to sell (to make up for all the buying!), so go check out my page here.

So that has been my summer in a quick, to-the-point recap since the beginning of July. What have you all been up to?

Oh hi

Remember me? The blogger who hasn't posted since June 3rd. No?

I'll be the first to admit that I don't blame ya: I am a slacker and just haven't had any motivation or creative thoughts for blogging. Which is not to say that I'm "over it" and no longer enjoy it. Because I still absolutely love it and still identify myself as a "blogger". I just couldn't face a blank white page because I didn't know what to write. I feel like a lot of the bloggers I love are having this sort of crisis recently, which makes me feel a little better. I guess you just have to pop that screen up and write whatever comes to mind AKA TODAY'S POST.

 Literally, right now. Boy Meets World, open windows and doors, iced coffee, and blogging time.

I thought I would update you all on my summer so far because I have been busy. Literally, almost every weekend throughout June and July, I have had something going on: either work or fun activities.

What my summer has included:

Surprise birthday party

My Grandma turned 85 back in the middle of June and we all planned a big surprise party for her.

Rain. Buckets of it.

We have gotten so much rain this summer. The Mississippi River was above flood stage and we were under a Flood Warning for practically a month. Lake Winona (across the street from my apartment) was super high. There was a ton of sitting water in the baseball fields and park across from my place. Oh and did I mention that our work parking lot floods no matter how much it rains? So basically this is what was outside our employee entrance for the longest time:

 Happy Summer! To: Me, From: Me.

I bought myself.....wait for it......an iPad Mini! They were like $100 off or something crazy like that at the beginning of June at Target and I knew I needed to get one. Since, ya know, I have a steady income now. Unfortunately, the Target in Winona and both Targets in Rochester were all sold out because everyone and their mother had the same idea as me. This is where the wonderful world of ad match at Walmart comes in.

I absolutely LOVE my iPad. I find myself turning on my computer maybe once a week (which also is contributing to no blogging) because I can do everything on the iPad and it's more portable and easier to use (and faster!).

Sipping that pimp juice

...or iced coffee. Whatevs. Everytime I go back to Rochester, I need to get my favorite coffee: Moka! They have some in La Crosse (like a half hour drive from Winona), but no car = no Moka for Breanna. They also just opened a Dunkin' Donuts in Rochester last week, which is the first one in Minnesota since 2005. I had to see what everyone is talking about when they say the coffee drinks are delicious and they did NOT disappoint. Super cheap for the amount you get and super tasty. And I treated my family to donuts cause I'm just that sweet.

I've become addicted to coffee-house drinks and walked 20 minutes each way to go down to Mugby Junction for some yumminess. Let's just say....I think I'll stick to going to Target for Starbucks.

 I think Moka's pretty cool too.

Here's comparison drinking for ya: Mugby Junction's large iced mocha with carmel is 20 oz for $5.13 with tax. Dunkin' Donuts medium iced carmel swirl latte is 24 oz for $3.29 with tax. AKA MUGBY IS A RIP OFF and letsbehonest not that good. #coffeesnob

Work it

I've also been working a lot. I've had some crazy long stretches lately so having a day off today is awesome. I've been working as a registered nurse now for a little over 3 months and I can still say that I love my job, I love my co-workers (most of the time!), and I love what I do (even though some people are crazy). I finally feel in the swing of things and, even though I sometimes still have questions, I know what I'm doing more often than not. Of course, I still have those days where I am over it and do not feel like dealing with people and putting a smile on my face and working. Everyone has those days though and I just push through and make it by venting with my co-workers. 

One of our providers had Dairy Queen decorate this ice cream cake and brought it for us a few weeks ago.

 HOME

I've been going home every single weekend that I don't work because I've had stuff going on! Surprise party, Fourth of July last weekend, vacation this weekend, Charlie Worsham concert the last weekend in July, Thomas Rhett concert the last Thursday of July. After work this Friday afternoon, I am home free for vacation until next Thursday afternoon. That's 5 1/2 glorious days of no work, shopping in a town with actual places to shop (sorry Winona, but it's true), and spending time with family. On Monday we're making a trip down to Decorah (my college town). I haven't been back there since May 2013 for the pinning ceremony, so it will be nice to spend time around town and on campus. Living in a college town like Winona makes me miss Luther so much sometimes!

New & much needed hair

View at dusk from my apartment balcony.

So that was a long-winded update on my life over the last month. Any questions?

Hopefully I keep up a more routine blog posting schedule?

Christmas Recap

I thought I would do a quick recap of my Christmas. Not many pictures were taken. We were all too busy enjoying ourselves.

Christmas Eve
I told you all how it's my favorite day of the year here. This year definitely didn't disappoint, even though the house felt kind of empty with two families gone.

Much of the night was spent eating pizza and drinking (lots of) wine.

We also all sat down to watch the DVDs my sister made for my Grandma, which included videos from Christmas & New Years 1992, Christmas 1994, & countless birthday parties. HOOT AND A HALF, let me tell you. We were all sitting around crying laughing at our outfits and funny behavior. We then just had to put in wedding videos from 1996 and 2003 to embarrass the young cousins who weren't around for those earlier videos.

Christmas Day

We spent the morning opening presents from Santa. My aunt came over for dinner and we all ate too much.

He wanted a megaphone. I got him a megaphone. I think it will become a fun drunk toy.

You know you're an adult when...this is the gift you're most excited for.

Santa was very good this year!

1. Super cute jewelery stand // 2. Rochester art print from Etsy c/o my sister //3. Reconstructing Amelia & Country Music Hall of Fame calendar //4. Scarf & Woodwick candle set c/o my cousin from our gift exchange //5. Keurig coffee holder //6. New headphones c/o my brother //7. New blowdryer c/o my Grandma (the one I currently use is from...oh...the 1970's or 80's? //8. Socks & a Starbucks mug c/o my Grandma //9. Eucalyptus Mint candle that smells delightful! 

I also got a purple cardigan and a new pair of skinny jeans, which will be featured in a fashion post in the new year!

We always get a board game from Santa every year. This year it was Heads Up!, which is basically similar to Headbandz. You know we had to play after Christmas dinner...

For my Grandma's Christmas present, I made a calendar on Snapfish with pictures of our family, including a picture of that person on their birthday. It turned out pretty cool.

I also got my "coffee nook" all set up on my desk in my room (until I get a kitchen of my own). I love it!

Finally, the last giveaway on Hello Frances is up and running. You could win a super cool beauty pack + 3 months of ad space on Hello Frances + 3 months of Front & Center (banner in each blog post!) ad space on this here blog!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You're Always a Kid on Christmas

Okay, so I talked about this a little last year, but Christmas Eve is my all-time, hands-down, no contest FAVORITE day of the year, even as a kid.

No, not because I got presents. Although, that was pretty awesome.

No, not because Santa came that night. But he always knows exactly what I want, so yipee!

 Christmas 1999

Because I love my whole entire kooky extended family and being crowded into a small house with them.

 I definitely need to mention that, when I was a kid, a man that lived up the street from my Grandma dressed up as Santa and visited our house to hand out candy canes.

Christmas 2007

Some people may file this under an overwhelming nightmare. I, however, file it under my best memories.

 Christmas 2008

Every single year on Christmas Eve since I was born, we all gathered at my Grandma's house for Christmas Eve. Well, there was 2009 when we had to delay the party until the 26th because of a blizzard. That sucked.

 "Christmas" 2009

This tradition is all I know of Christmas Eve. In fact, I have an unfounded (because it's not happening anytime soon!) worry about getting engaged/married because I DON'T WANT TO SPEND MY CHRISTMAS EVE WITH A DIFFERENT FAMILY! Selfish? Maybe.

Christmas 2010

One funny "tradition": When my cousin Emily got married in October 2003, they used a bunch of tulle at their reception and had it leftover and didn't know what to do with it. Well, her husband, Lance, is a jokester and in Christmas 2004, when we had another engaged cousin, he proceeded to shove all the tulle in a box and disguise it as a present and regift it to my cousin, Marissa & her then-fiance Rob. Well, we thought after that it was gone. There were threats of "Be careful; we'll give ya the tulle". Turns out, it was still around and was regifted during Christmas 2008 to Stephanie and her then-fiance Pat. Let's just put it out there that this tulle may or may not still be floating around the family somewhere....

Christmas 2008

Okay, wait a minute, back it up, this link-up is about Christmas as a child. Back to that.

Christmas 1990

Christmas 1994

Like I said, we gather at my Grandma's. We pig out on food. We drink lotsa wine, lotsa beer (okay, and pop for the youngins). We laugh. We sit practically (and sometimes literally) on top of one another. We open presents from youngest to oldest and the more people reproduce the longer you have to wait for it to be your turn.

 Christmas 2010

When my brother and I were the youngest in the family (think 4 and 2), we helped every. single. person open their presents. It was the best.

 Christmas 1989

 Christmas 1995

This year for Christmas, my sister is surprising our Grandma by converting some of her old camcorder tapes into a DVD, including clips from Christmas. Here's a sneak peek of how my Christmas Eve looked as a child. Keep in mind, most of the grandchildren are married and have their own families now, so the family is like double in size.

Christmas Eve 1992 (age 4): http://share.yesvideo.com/i/XFq2eHhP6yD69Ba8

Christmas Eve 1995 (age 7): http://share.yesvideo.com/i/XFq8liD8UqLr7a3N

This year will be a little bit different. Stephanie, Pat, and their new baby, Brynn, will be spending Christmas Eve in Wisconsin with his family, as they don't get to see them very often. Emily, Lance, and their kids will be spending Christmas Eve in northern Minnesota with his family to avoid a 4 hour drive home on Christmas Eve night.

They will be missed. The house won't be as full of people. But it will be just as full of love. (AW CHEESE...)

What are your favorite memories of Christmas as a kid?