What Am I Not Buying Today? Damn Budget!

I still go online shopping every day, but I resist adding to my cart.  Sometimes I even add it to my cart and then close out the website.  I have a real problem.  But, I thought I'd share the things I found today that I really, really wanted.

Killer Boots - $29.99 at Zulily

Acai and Tagua Bracelet -  $15.99 at Zulily

Instant Iron-ons - $16 at Fred Flare

Profanity Coasters - $32 at Etsy

20. Describe 3 significant memories from your childhood.

1. There was only one time that I got spanked as a kid, and boy did I deserve it.  I was at daycare and my friend invited me to leave with her family and go to the beach.  I asked the daycare lady and she instructed me to call my mom and ask, well mom didn't answer the phone.  So little, menacing Alicia decided to fake a phone conversation and say that mom said it's okay.  Fast forward 4 hours later when I get dropped off at home and pretty much my entire family was at my house freaking out.  My parents didn't know where I was, who I was with or if I was alive. My mom spanked me pretty hard and I deserved it!!!  She came in later to apologize, which I think is so funny.  But, I did learn to not do anything that stupid again.
2. My favorite vacation with my family had to have been when we went to California to stay with my uncle Henry.  On said trip, we visited Sea World, Disney Land, Knots Berry Farms, Tijuana and I'm sure a whole lot more.  The coolest thing is that my uncle's cousin filmed the whole trip, so we can go back and reminisce about the times.  It was a magical trip with the family full of laughs, farts, Michael Jackson impressions, longest chess game ever, my sister torturing me and so much more.
3. Me and my sister used to take the bus everywhere, the mall, the bowling alley, to the thrift store, etc.  One day the bus brought us to Drug Emporium where they were having a grand opening.  It was filled with all kinds of fun and there was a radio station there broadcasting, a big freaking deal for little old Everett.  Seems so weird now, times have changed.  They were having a bubble blowing contest and I entered and won!  I got to talk on the radio, which at middle school age is pretty damn cool.  Also, I won a year supply of Bubblicious.  I was so sick of that gum by the end of a year.  It was a crazy, memorable experience for a kid of my age.

I have so many amazing, funny and significant childhood memories, these are just the first three that came to my head.

About Alicia -- Dancing, forgiving (or not) and living

17. What is the thing you most wish you were great at?
18. What has been the most difficult thing you have had to forgive?
19. If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why?


What do I wish I was good at?  Dancing.  I've gotten better at going out and just grooving without worrying. But, I still wish I was good at it.  It seems like I'm the only one that doesn't really enjoy it and I think it's because I'm terrible.  I literally can't feel the beat, let alone gyrate my body to it.  I'm good at being silly and I'm pretty great at DDR.

Forgiving?  I have one outstanding person I have yet to forgive in my life and it's an ex-friend and roommate. I probably need to move on and just let it go, but I don't know that I can forgive without someone saying or showing that they are sorry.  She took advantage of me by moving in and then stopping paying rent and saying she'd pay me back, blah blah blah.  And then there is no mention of it.  I know I let her stay longer than I should have but despite what some might believe I actually have a good heart.  "WHAAAAAAAAAT?"

Dream location to live?  It's a tie between the Pacific Northwest (exactly where I am) and Mexico.  I love everything about the Seattle area:  the weather, the mountains, the trees, the activities and so much more.  I think it would be pretty amazing to retire in Mexico though.  Experience a different life where there is no hustle and bustle, the main worry of the day is where you're going to go for ceviche and happy hour drinks.  

Dang, I want to go back to Mexico!

Pumpkin/Party Time With Chloe, Day-Day and Al-Bal

This weekend I had house guests.  My sister, my niece and Daylon.  Although we had some drama at times, a toddler will do that, we had a blast.  Probably, too much fun I would say.  We were going to the pumpkin patch to do all the fun things, like corn mazes and such, but Chloe was naughty.  We ended up buying our pumpkins at Safeway.

Chloe has been telling me about this monkey watch she has for me forever.  She finally brought it, and it fits.   The Paul Frank monkey is so adorbs.  All weekend if someone asked what time it was, Chloe would say, "Aunt Aunts should know she has a watch."  Ha ha.

Power hour!  Every once in a while you need to remember college, right?

Goofy girls!

Chloe woke me up and wanted to do a photo shoot, such an attractive picture.

Okay, I was literally just sitting in this chair hanging out with Carly and Daylon and the leg broke off.  I have two very large bruises and my cheeks hurt from laughing so hard.  It was amazingly hilarious.

Professional picture holder.  

Pumpkin time.

My girly pumpkin, she even has a Monroe!

The 4 very unique, yet traditional pumpkins.

The most ridiculous glasses ever invented.  A must have when found at a thrift store for $.49.

Well, Chloe got her way and was made-over.  Don't worry we didn't let her out of the house like this.  She thought she was hot stuff.

Daylon cooked for us last night and he's vegan, I was really nervous.  But, he made us a pesto pasta that was to die for!  So I guess vegans do eat good food.  I was invited to a friends house for roasted chicken and I was really tempted, but I'm glad I stayed home for Daylon's cooking.

Painting with Jesse, GOURDS

I got a Living Social voucher for painting at Uncorked Canvas in Tacoma.  It was a great deal, and I was pretty excited that it's close to home.  I also was excited to try out a different company than Corks and Canvas.  I adore Corks and Canvas, I just thought it would be fun to see how others do it and perhaps have a different experience.

Jesse actually paints, but he wanted to get out and do a painting to rekindle his passion for it.  We met up at The Mix, which is a super cute gay bar, for a pre-painting beverage.  At Corks and Canvas, you mingle, drink, eat at the beginning of the event; painting doesn't actually start until an hour into it.  So, I assumed it would be the same but when we walked in at 7:05, everyone was quietly waiting on us.  It was uber awk-duck with everybody waiting on us and it was eerily quiet.  When I do these events I like to have a good time which often equates to being a bit loud, giggly, and vibrant.  The teacher asked us what we wanted to drink and poured us a glass of wine.  My wine was terrible, it tasted like it was old.  Which we came to find out, you get one glass of wine for a 3 hour class and you can't buy more.  I feel like calling the company uncorked canvas is actually hilarious, because you will not be drinking much throughout the night.  Maybe it's called uncorked because the wine sits uncorked for long periods of time.  There was no way we were even going to go through an entire bottle because the class was only 6 people and I think Jesse and I were the only ones that opted to have wine.  I could go on for a while on how disappointing this experience was but I'll get on  and leave you with my final complaint.  They drew in the pumpkins for each student!!!  The nerve of them to assume I can't paint a freaking pumpkin.  This just takes all of the creativity out of it for me.  Oh and don't get me wrong, Jesse and I had a blast despite all the crap. We were noisy and got lots of dirty looks, it was amazing.

 I had to take a picture of Stink for Jesse and Daylon, since they are both vegans.

The Mix had skittles at the bar for the customers enjoyment.  This place won me over immediately when I walked in.

They gave us lots of paint, look I can give compliments.  But would you just take a look at the brushes we got?  What am I supposed to do with these monsters?  I'm a detail girl, I need my small round and flat brushes, okay...

My masterpiece.  My mom actually said it's my best painting yet.  I do like it a lot, but I was too busy being miserable about the experience to enjoy the process.

Jesse, much like Bridget always does, went rogue.  Ha ha, he just did his own thing.  This picture doesn't do it justice at all.  It was truly amazing.

So I will not be giving any more of my time or money to this company, however I definitely want to paint with Jesse more.  I think he needs to teach me blending and layering and techniques for painting on my own. Can you learn creative from someone? 

The Energizer Bunny! And Chloe Time.

My mom calls me the Energizer Bunny, because no matter what I keep on going.  I'll come home from work when she's staying over and say, "let's go do something."  She responds with, "don't you want to rest for a bit?"  Heck no.  I just wonder if one day I'll crash...  This whole week, I've been going every single day.  In fact when I am home, my cat is so mad at me that she attacks me.  A consequence of my business is my neglecting of my beautiful blog.  And it really stresses me out, but I can't really cancel plans because of have blogger guilt for not posting.

Let me catch up by answering some more questions from the Thirty Things.  Ooh looks like I get to brag about myself a bit.

14. Describe 5 strengths you have.
15. If you were an animal, what would you be and why?
16. What are your 5 greatest accomplishments?


5 Strengths

1. My "Git-R-Done" mentality.  And by the way, I hate that phrase, but it just describes me so perfectly. Whether it's at work or in life, I just like to get stuff done, and do it well of course.  It has really helped me be competitive and earn great respect in my career.  I think my friends know they can come to me if they need anything as well.
2. My open mind.  My friends call me the "voice of reason".  I'm able to have a non-biased view of their situations so I can tell them who's in the right or wrong.  It's a pretty big job, but I LOVE IT!!!
3. My love I'm able to give.  Just look at my niece.  I'm always the favorite and always will be and it's because she feels my love.  Some would argue it's because I spoil her, but I don't buy it.  Everybody spoils her, and I'm still the favorite.
4. My Ability to Find Fun.  I just always am looking for adventures.  I also think I can turn a pretty boring thing into something fun and exciting.
5. My stability.  I think I'm a rock for my friends and family.  I'm pretty much an amazing friend.  I'm totally not cocky;)

Animal

I would be an Ostrich!!  They're so funny.  In fact just typing the word, makes me laugh.  They seem like they have a lot of fun.  Okay, please watch this commercial; it makes me cry laughing every single time.

5 Accomplishments

1. Graduating with a degree in Chemical Engineering.  I look back and am just shocked that I did it.  It was so freaking hard.
2. Lived in Texas on my own.  I used to freak out when I'd go to soccer and horse camp because I missed my family so much.  Even in college, I would go home every weekend.  I'm super close to my family and often depended on their company.  I'm very proud that I made a life for myself in Texas and actually came away with amazing friends that I still see several times a year.  And it's been 5 years; those are good friends.
3. Being a systems integrator.  My last job, I worked as a systems integrator, doing controls work for multiple customers.  It was something I've always wanted to do but wasn't really sure if I could do it.  I proved that I could, granted I quit after a year.  But, it wasn't because I was bad at it.  I just didn't like working for so many different customers, traveling all of the time.  I like being a part of a plant, where I encounter issues and have a hand in solving them.  It's nice to know I could go back there at any time and do that work again; it was exciting.  
4. Being artistic.  Blogging and painting have made me feel a lot more artistic, letting me tap into the other side of my brain.
5. That's it...  I mean, I could say just my career in general, but I don't know.  I'm sick of talking about myself.

I'd rather talk about Chloe!  She's coming to stay with me this weekend, along with my sis and Daylon!  Oh there goes my over use of exclamation points again.  Chloe time:

AAAH!  So excited to cuddle this little thing.  It's good being back my lovely blog.

Cleaned Out My Knife Drawer...

12. Describe a typical day in your current life.
13. Describe 5 weaknesses you have.


First of all, I must speak about the powers of the Internets!  Tonight, Tyler and I watched the first episode of season 3, Walking Dead, via the Internets tonight.  And although I hated the commercials, it gave a chance to Skype chat about it.  It felt like we were on Mystery Science Theater  ha ha.  All of a sudden the kid's grown up, hunting walkers, but I still had the urge to say, "Who's watching the kid?"  And the prego, cheater wife is still being a Beeeyotch!  It was amazing though.

My Blog Angel:  I was dying to find out who my angel was.  And I finally found out.  It's Alejandra @ Army Wife, Mommy Life.  She has been commenting on my posts and being so sweet as my angel.  Can't wait to get to know her more, now that it's all out in the open.

A Day in My Current Life:  

7am (or earlier if I feel motivate) -- wake up and drag my butt to the shower, after resetting the alarm several times.  Each ten minutes makes me feel more and more guilty but more and more like I'm ready to face the world.

8am -- Get to work.  Each of my days is different.  Right now I'm overseeing roofers, mechanical contractors, electricians, and various other engineers and vendors.  I'm installing a boiler and converting a garage into a boiler room.  So I'm project managing that project, in addition to several other small ones.  I also keep up on day to day things that are going on in the plant.  Help maintenance and operations out where I can.  I sometimes eat lunch and sometimes don't.  My favorite is when I get to meet up with my old coworkers from Continental Mills and go have a good lunch.  

5pm -- Head home.

6pm -- In an ideal world, I'd be working out:)  I've been slacking lately.  So I pretty much blog, do some chores, cuddle the cat, and get sucked into Vampire Diaries.  It's my latest obsession.  I don't have cable, so I've been choosing series that I can get on Netflix.

9pm-11pm --  Whoops forgot to eat in that time period.  To be honest since my ex-boyfriend moved out, I forget to eat until late.  And then I cook something quick.  I sometimes read before bed, but that is only if I can pull myself away from Vampire Diaries.  I get so into the shows I'm watching and how can you resist just one more episode.  Then I go to bed whenever I have the willpower to do so.  I have a real problem, I'm not a morning person and at 9pm I become awake.  It's bad news, a viscous cycle.

5 Weaknesses:

1. Going out and being social, if I get invited, I'll go. Doesn't matter what my budget is, what I have to do at home or when I need to go home, I still will go.
2. I have a weakness for my niece.  She can pretty much get me to do anything.
3. Speaking in front of a large group, but I'm always getting better.  Not stupid enough to sign up for toastmasters, that is for sure.  I'll practice in real life scenarios.
4. Helping good friends and family.  I will put my own needs aside to help my friends and family. 
5. Good food and drinks!  Spare no expense or calories when it comes to delectable food and drinks.

Oh almost forgot what my title was about, bwahaha.  That would've been mean of me.  So, I can manage to cut myself doing dishes even if three is not knife, cheese grater, tongs, fork.  It's a curse.  Almost 75% of the time when I cut onions or limes, I cut myself.  So tonight, I was putting away dishes and realized I have too many knives and ones that I despise even touching.  So I was cleaning out the crappy ones and within minutes grabbed in the drawer and one of my newer ones sliced into me.  I was bleeding through two band aids.  It was ridiculous, but totally expected.  The moral is, I'm clumsy and shouldn't be trusted around knives.  But, what am I supposed to do when I live alone?  

Love you all long time!  I just really appreciate my readers.

What are one of your weaknesses that you're willing to admit?

Any advice on how I should stop myself from getting cut, besides not using knives?