An outfit for my Kindle

If you know me at all, you know my new Kindle must be outfitted in the most perfect cover.  I don't do plain.  

Because my new book is, in fact, 1400 pages long, and I have another book to go right after it, I have plenty of time to find the right cover. 

I've started my research now and come up with a few favorites.  I will say that I have a major problem spending what the Kindle cost on it's outfit...but of course, all the outfits I like cost as much as the damn Kindle.  Typical...well, not really...

I've compiled a few of my favorites and maybe you guys can help me narrow them down and psycho stalk them until they go more on sale....

1.  Great Expectations cover by Kate Spade on sale for $69.99

2.  bookworm cover by Rebecca Minkoff on sale at Nordstrom for $99.90 - down from $125

3.  Juicy Couture - can't find price anywhere...

4.  The Great Gatsby cover by Kate Spade $69.99

5. M Edge-Go Crackled Gold $39.99 (totally do-able and very chic!)

6.  Diane von Furstenberg Kayley Canvas $89.99

7.  Kate Spade canvas cover - price unavailable

8.  Diane von Furstenberg limited edition Kayley Canvas - price unavailable

While doing some research on the prices/names of the above selection, I came across a crapload of options on Ebay...happy me. 

Right now....

This weekend was spent cleaning my disgusting house, spending some much needed QT with my hubbaroo, and trying to figure out how to "descale" my Keurig...

For months, I've said I was going to start some home projects.  As it turns out, my weeks are so exhausting that my weekends are spent taking the breather I need to gear up for the next week.  Maybe I'll eventually get used to going on no sleep, but my gut says probably not.  I'm definitely not complaining, but I guess I'll just have to get creative with how I prioritize my time. 

My girlfriend, Chrissy, is staying at our house Thursday night.  The idea of having guests throws me into tizzy of obsessive cleaning and redecorating.  Chrissy is literally coming here after work on Thursday, spending the night, and waking up at the crack of dawn Friday to leave...she will have no time to notice the small very large imperfections in the guest bathroom paint job or lack of seating in the living room.  Still - everything must be perfect. 

I de-cluttered the guest room and got rid of the bookshelf covered with every single book I've ever read - I threw the books into the middle guest room, and my plan is to keep the door shut until it all magically disappears.  I'd seen these shelves used as bars in dining rooms, so I went that way instead of the way of the trash...the shelf is old old old and needs a new paint job, but I thought until I could make that my next project, I'd put it in the room and test it out....

behold:

Of course, we have no barware, so if this stays, I'll have to go out and actually purchase things to make it more of a "bar" and less of a random shelf in the dining room.  The new table and chairs are really quite big...and I guess the shelf off in the corner maybe throws off the symmetry as seen here...

 

Gah!  I swear the walls do not look like this in person.  Good grief.  Also, pardon the mess on the table... I'm going to have to have you all over to prove it because every photo looks like Disco Dining Room.

Although, I do have to say that the shelf is a great size for the space - the table and chairs AND a buffet really may be way too crowded.  My goal was to get a buffet, add some lamps on each side and have something not so bar-like in the room since neither myself or the hub are big liquor drinkers, but I'm not a huge fan of the buffet that matches the table.  I'm also not a huge fan of matchy-matchy...but if I wait for the perfect one, we could be like this for years... we'll see - I could go back and forth all day.  Not to mention, a new, dimmer capable chandelier is most needed. 

After I moved furniture and painstakingly cleaned every last corner of the house, I made the husband take me out for Mexican where I ate an entire plate of nachos by myself - in addition to the complementary chips and salsa, a margarita and more wine at home.  I guess I really felt the need to reward myself.  This is why I have yet to see the results from the four to five days a week at the gym...I eat that many calories over the weekend.  Gross.

Today I tackled the "de-scaling" of my Keurig.  I've had this thing for three years and I've never cleaned it.  I know...not only terrible but amazingly disgusting.  I noticed that my coffee tastes terrible, so I figured a good clean could help. 

This is what my Keurig looks like now...

uh....how are we not done yet?

I have to let it sit like this for four hours before I can run a fresh water brew cycle and hope that this week's coffee doesn't taste vinegar-y.  This is very complicated.  I'm sure they could make some money employing technicians who come out for a yearly tune up. Not only that, but I'm intrigued by this water filter brick they sell at Bed Bath and Beyond near the Keurigs.  I think this is as apart it will come, and I see no place for a water filter.  Somebody help me.

Until that works itself out, I'm just munching on this..(and blogging)

Cheddar-freakin-cheese popcorn.  Orville Redenbacher is a man after my own heart.  What did I say again about gross weekend calorie consumption??


Yay for tomorrow being my Tuesday!  I took Friday off so that Chrissy and I could ride out early for our weekend trip to Charleston.  Morgan will be joining us (and I think Leslie will also come out since we're invading her hometown), and our plan is to relax, wander around aimlessly, and drink wine.  It's a much needed and spontaneously planned trip for all of us.  More on that later...

Love This Junk

How is it that I named this blog Love This Junk after my many Love This Junk posts on Kindredly, but don't have any Love This Junk posts here?  Weird...well, here is a list of some junk that's made it's way into my good graces...

My good friend and fellow blogger, LK, introduced me to OPI's axxium gel polish.  In 2010, I became a manicure junkie.  Each week, you'd find me at my local Beauty Nails gabbing it up with one of the technicians.  I suffer from not enough time and little patience, so I was always messing up my nails soon after leaving the salon.  First of all, it's just not possible for three layers of wet polish to completely dry within one hour.  What is dry to the touch is definitely not dry to the impact of slamming your nails into something, which is what will no doubt happen right after a mani.  So, I tried axxium at Lily Nails in Atlanta.  None of the salons in the burbs were on the gel nail bandwagon...unless you were talking about the pink and white claws, which I was not.  After a successful two week stint with axxium's bubble bath, I took it to my local salon to be soaked off. 

They had no clue what walked through their doors.  They were filing, trying to get all scary with that electric file thing...the whole time I'm trying to get "there's an easy way to get this off" translated into Vietnamese because I was certain they were going to file my nails down to nothing.  They made a few phone calls, and began the process of getting the polish off.  The soak off process is a bit tedious.  Especially if you don't have much time on your hands.  Also, if you're like me and have super sensitive hands and feet, this can be kind of painful if they get to digging all in your cuticle.  After getting a few weeks of normal manicures, I asked Beauty Nails if they'd begin carrying the gel polish...and now they do!

 

I've had Bubble Bath, You Don't Know Jacques, Lincoln Park After Dark, and Dulche de Leche from OPI.  Bubble Bath and Dulche de Leche were a bit "naked" looking.  Especially DdL - super naked, don't get it unless you want to look like you have super shiny naked nails.

 My local salon also purchased this line which I am currently wearing in a pretty pinkish-glittery color.  It's not love, but it's not hate.  I will say the application process is much easier with this line.  My salon hasn't found their comfort level with just using brushes from their current inventory, so she has to painstakingly clean the OPI brush from base coat to color coat, which again, takes time and makes me fidgety. This particular brand of polish is more in line with what they are used to, which results in a much better manicure for me.

I ran into two displays in one weekend holding Sally Hansen's nail polish strips.  I figured for $8, I'd give it a try.  It claims to be super easy to apply and last for two weeks...I purchased the below pattern, Misbehaved.

 image via

Application is actually super easy, and for my first time, I thought it looked pretty professionally done.  I wore it to work the next day, and my co-workers were all pretty impressed.  Fishnet fingernails are not exactly the most professional of things, so because of that, I only wore them for one day before getting my Lincoln Park After Dark axxium mani.  I recommend...there are several different colors and prints to choose from.  I think next time, I'll just try one of the metallic ones...

So, springtime tanning efforts went into effect in January.  My co-worker told me about L'Oreal's Sublime Bronze lotion, so I got it.  I picked up my trusty Neutrogena spray, but I'm not getting anywhere with that, so I tried this.  I love it.  One problem, it wears off like a spray tan...splotchy looking skin.  So, my suggestion is to keep building the tan. Use this as often as you can get away with.  Of course, it's a bit hard for me because I usually hit the gym before work...sleeping in tanning lotion, then going to the gym and sweating...I just envision streaks and a brown sports bra - gross. 

 

And finally....I love my Kindle.  I got it for my birthday, and I'm in love.  I'm kind of annoyed that I have two books on my nightstand that I must get through before I start using my it, but it's all ok.  I can use this time to find the perfect case because you know it can't be plain.  

So, what are some of your recent favorite finds?  Please share....

Let's see....

Well, happy Monday!  Welcome to what I hope will be a week of normal for me. 

Last week was craziness.  For starters, I went on my very first business trip with my new company.  We flew to DC and back to Atlanta in less than two full days while conducting a training, doing a little high end shopping and eating more meals than one should in such a time frame.  I had Wednesday to get work done, have lunch with a long lost friend and get more work done.  Thursday we did the same training for a group in Atlanta, and finally on Friday I took the day off because I did not want to work on the first day of the last year of my 20's...make sense? 

My sweet mom took me out for a day of fun.  We went to see Just Go With It at AMC Fork & Screen for lunch, then after that, we did a little shopping and got pedicures.  My pedicure goes great with this 70 degree weather we're enjoying. 

The next few weeks are going to be a little more low key.  I have a dinner with my girlfriends Thursday night, but every other night me and the hub will spend some time together.  Our springtime weekend activities are gearing up, and due to less than thoughtful planning, we'll be apart two weekends in a row.  Boo....

Other than that, I have to say that everything is good.  My goal is to blog normally.  So many of you on my blogroll  do it, so why can't I?

spring feels like it's officially here!

image via

the 29th

Guess who makes time to post on her birthday?  ME!  That's right.  I'm 29 today, and I'm out celebrating with my mom.  My sweet husband is coming back to town tonight just in time to take me to dinner...can't wait! 

can we say awesome?

image via

I guess I can't promise normal blogging any time soon.  This week was on crack.  I hope to put down some thoughts soon, but who knows...

Rules, they are made to be broken...

I didn't necessarily make it a rule to write more...Lord knows, I don't need to put one more thing on my plate right now.  Life is just so busy right now. Work especially.  It's 8:30, and I'm just now shutting down the computer for the day.  At least I'm still enjoying it! 

I have a couple of ideas for posts coming up.  Maybe I'll get it all down soon.  Bear with! 

hello? Helllllllo???

Woo!  A new post - for those readers still out there...

Let's see...what's been going on since January 25th in the life of me?...

• I had my first emotional breakdown over work - yeah, that was fun.  Lucky for me, I was working from home that day - and truthfully, I think the all day crying fest was really due to the lack of sleep from the night before.  
• The night before I attended my very first legit country music concert - Jason Aldean and Eric Church.  Yes, I know - I'm country.  My new co-workers unfortunately think I'm a deep-down redneck, which if my old co-workers knew this, I think they may be appalled (or at least they better be).  I'm the farthest thing from a redneck, but it just so happens I live in the country, and my first PTO was taken for a country music concert where we tailgated and did it up hillbilly style.  What can I say - I'm learning to embrace situations, so I embraced the country-ness of Jason Aldean's return to his hometown.  The husband really embraced it.  He embraced it so much that he threw up the next morning.  What a champ.
• The guy I hit with my car (I hit his car, btw) last May decided to come back and sue for damages...he and his passenger.  Nothing is more embarrassing than being served papers on your front porch when you have nosy neighbors - nothing is scarier than a cop banging on your door when you're home alone and don't know it's a cop.  Does the movie Strangers ring a bell...because that's all I could think about.  
• The husband gets mad at me when I say "I'm being sued"...so just in case he's reading, my insurance company is being sued...(whatever)
• My insurance company appointed attorney called me today and scared the bejesus out of me..."when this goes to trial"...."during your deposition..."  I thought these things settled out of court.  Then she mentioned something about a "six month discovery period" and I just stopped listening.  If this is going to take six months, just wake me up in August.
  
• I'm traveling to DC this month for work.  I feel so happy and important.  I get to meet the people behind my emotional breakdown my counterparts in Greater Washington, and I'm really excited to finally put a face on my dartboard a face with the name. 
  
• The husband and I finally bit the bullet and got new furniture.  See photos...

Our iridescent dining room.  For the record, the walls do not look like that in person - it's just a nice shimmer.  We did this paint job with Ralph Lauren Candlelight.  Annnywaaay - this is the new table and chairs.  The husband picked it out.  I picked out a more contemporary set - he didn't seem sold, and truthfully, the tables available just didn't look right.  We purchased this loot from our local JC Penney Outlet. They were doing 10% off everything and 20% off upholstered furniture - um..can we say awesome?  Some may hate on JC Penney, but I'm sitting here at this table now, and it's a sturdy little piece.  We're very happy with it.  The pink in the chair is my laptop bag, by the way...So, the deal is this - they have the same stuff that's in the catalog or in the stores, but this is supposedly "irregular".  You know how much I love TJ Maxx and Marshall's - irregular merchandise doesn't scare this sister.  I stumbled upon this table and it was perfect.  After fishing through every chair they had, we plucked six perfect ones.  The husband pulled the trigger and said we should definitely get this set, so we did...and here it is!  Of course, we still need an area rug, a new chandelier, and an updated centerpiece (that's right, Sandyn), but at least the biggest part is taken care of.

Next up is the living room.  We wanted a darker colored couch - with a chaise.  Despite the tall ceilings in our living room, the room is sort of small.  It would look super cluttered if we had a love seat and a couch, so we've been happy with our couch/chair combo. Until Sunday afternoons.  On those days, the husband and I are fighting for our nap spot on the couch, and we end up in a tangled mess, covered with beagles.  With this new gem, one of us can curl up on the chaise and the other on the couch...it's perfect.  I felt like the couch was going to be too big for the room, but as it turns out, we'll easily be able to add an armless chair in one corner (for company and decor) and a recliner (that doesn't look like a recliner - I've scoped several out) for the husband.  We got the couch for a cool $430.  Can you believe it?  It sits way better than our other one, and I'm super impressed with the quality.  This way, we don't feel bad splurging for the custom recliner from Haverty's. 

 nevermind the random sock in the middle of the floor

So, this is what's been going on.  So far, I'm in love with 2011.  Everything is so great - except the all day crying fest, but we won't make those a habit.  I hope you dear readers continue to bear with me while things are slow.  I'll try to make more of an effort to keep this updated, but you're going to have to comment.  I mean, seriously, the last three posts were duds and do nothing for positive reinforcement. 

I am very active on Twitter, so if you're missing me, just come over to @ashgillespie and say hello.

That is all.