Touchdown!

A few days ago, I signed up to become an Event Chaser.

What's that, you ask?

Event Chaser members are given free or substantially discounted tickets to concerts and sporting events... in return, members post a review of the event on Event Chaser, making sure to link to the review from their own blog.

I was contacted by Event Chaser today, letting me know they have my first assignment! Shane and I will watch the Tennessee Titans take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Nashville on August 15th!!

I've been to professional baseball games before, but this will be my first time attending a pro football game!!

And if you couldn't tell by my excessive use of exclamation marks, I'm so excited!!!

Have you ever been to a MLB or NFL game? What sporting event or concert would you like to attend?

Take me to the movies? Nah... bring 'em to me!

Any day now, I fully expect Netflix to send me a balloon bouquet. A huge box of Godiva truffles. A singing telegram... something... to show their appreciation for actually saving them money. I think I have to be the only Netflix customer who doesn't use their subscription to the fullest potential.

Case in point:

When "Quantum of Solace" opened in theaters last November, I never got around to seeing it (please don't tell my movie boyfriend). I finally added it and "Casino Royale" to my Netflix queue... thinking I'd watch "Casino" first as a refresher, since "Quantum" picks up right after the first one ends.

Netflix sent "Casino Royale" to me on June 8th. They sent "Quantum of Solace" on June 22nd. And when did I send both of these back to Netflix?

JULY 21st.

On average, I've been keeping the movies I receive for about two weeks. But I had "Quantum of Solace" for a month! And "Casino Royale" for six weeks!

Currently, my queue holds just 21 movies. And seven of those are movies for the girls. Clearly, I need some suggestions... so here is where today's Table Topics question comes into play...

what is your favorite movie?

Back To School Shopping

• 12 plastic pocket folders
• 4 plastic pocket folders with brads
• 1 composition book
• 5 spiral notebooks
• 2 boxes of pencils
• 1 ruler
• 2 pair of scissors
• 2 packs of dry erase markers
• 1 package of erasers
• 1 package of pencil top erasers
• 1 hand sanitizer with pump
• 2 rolls of paper towels
• 1 three-ring binder
• 5 packs of notebook paper
• 4 boxes of crayons
• 2 boxes of markers
• 2 boxes of colored pencils
• 1 package of highlighters
• 1 pack of index cards
• 1 box of staples
• 30 glue sticks (I kid. you. not. And 24 of these are just for Michaela)
• 2 new lunch boxes
• 4 boxes of tissues
• 1 package of baby wipes
• 1 package of disinfecting wipes

I think I've done my part in stimulating the economy, don't you?

Christmas in July

My Christmas in July package has arrived! I just love getting presents (and really, who doesn't?!)

My partner for this swap was Kristy, who is brand-spankin'-new to blogging! Check out the awesome package she sent...

Japanese Cherry Blossom (one of my faves!) scented bath gel, spray and candle from Bath & Body Works... goodies from Starbucks, hot cocoa and a travel mug... stationery, notepad and pens... a mulled cider scented diffuser (smells sooo good!)... the 1st book in the "Sookie Stackhouse" series (I haven't read any of these books, but hear they're good!) and a cute bookmark... earrings and necklace... and a Chicago magnet...

Thank you so much, Kristy... I love everything you sent!

And of course, kudos to Angie for being the hostess with the mostest!

Never in my life...

have I wanted to be Katherine Heigl more than I do right now...

We interrupt this normally scheduled post...

to bring you the following image:

Add that to the fact I also indulged in birthday cake on two separate occasions during the past week... needless to say, there is no "Trim the Fat" post today.

Oops.

Before...

And after...

whatchya think?

Another winner to announce...

The winner of the $25 Build-a-Bear gift card is...

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

1 

Timestamp: 2009-07-22 04:36:33 UTC

Kat!

Congratulations, Kat! And a HUGE thanks to all who entered!

O, Autumn - where art thou?

For the past few days, we've had unseasonably cool(er) weather. Record lows, high temps as much as seven degrees below normal, low humidity...

It's been great!

I have never been fond of hot weather. Well, heat isn't all that bad... it's really the humidity that I don't care for. About this time every year, I am so over summer... I'm done with breaking out into a sweat within seconds of walking outside. Air so heavy with humidity it's hard to breathe... ugh, who wants to be outside in that?!

Fall has always been my favorite time of year, and I'm eager for it's arrival. I love the crisp, cool weather... watching the leaves change color. Fall is the season of my favorite holidays and also my birthday. And I was always one of those nerds kids who could not wait for the first day of school.

But as much as I delight in all things autumnal, I'm not sure I could answer "yes" to this question...

if possible, would you live year round

in your favorite season?

Care to guess what she's doing?

besides the obvious, of course...

Maybe I should ask, "care to guess what she's pretending to do?"

I'll give you a hint...

The girls have been doing this every day since we've been home from vacation. Riding their bikes or scooters down the front walk, screaming like banshees in glee.

Every day. Several times a day, in fact.

So.... any guesses as to what my girl is doing?

Look HOO's having a giveaway!

My girls have a love affair with Build-a-Bear Workshop. I'm not even sure how many furry friends they have between the two of them... bears, monkeys, cats, pandas...

Now they can add the new 14 inch owl to their collection!

Recently, the lovely people at Build-a-Bear Workshop sent the new Owl for Hannah and Michaela to enjoy. While they have had fun playing with their new friend, the girls have been unable to agree on a name for her... they can't decide between "Snowy" or "Hoot" (they didn't like my suggestion, which was "Speckle", but whatev...)

Those lovely people at Build-a-Bear Workshop have also generously offered a $25 gift card to one lucky reader of mine!

Mandatory entry:

• Visit Build-a-Bear Workshop... then come back here and tell me what you'd use the gift card on!

For additional entries:

• Follow my blog (or let me know you already do!) - 1 entry

• Tweet about this giveaway (be sure to include @NutHouseShannon in your tweet!) - 1 entry

The rules:

• Additional bonus entries do not count without the mandatory entry.

• Deadline for all entries is 11:59 p.m. EST on Tuesday, July 21st. Entries received after this time will not be counted.

• Please leave one comment for each entry you do.

• Also please be sure to leave your email address (if it's not in your Blogger profile) so I have a way of contacting you if you're the winner!

• One winner will be chosen (via random.org) and will be announced on Wednesday, July 22nd. The winner will have 48 hours to reply to my email notification or another winner will be chosen.

Good luck!

"Trim the Fat" Thursday

I hadn't weighed myself since before we left for vacation... so I was pleasantly surprised this morning to find I've gained just 2 lbs! Any other time I'd be bummed about that, but I'm putting it into perspective since I feasted on pasta, pizza, fried mozzarella (are we sensing a theme here?), spinach dip and Shamu ice cream bars while in Florida! This puts me at a total of 3 lbs lost since I started making an effort to "trim the fat".

My goals for the week I was on vacation were:

• drink 3 to 4 glasses of water each day

• make sure I eat breakfast each morning

I did well with the water drinking (thanks, Florida humidity!) and I did eat breakfast each morning. Unfortunately, that was only during the week I was on vacation. In the 5 days we've been home, I've only had breakfast twice. I've found myself slipping back into my old habit of not eating anything until late afternoon, which means by the time 10 p.m. comes around, I'm in the kitchen, raiding the pantry for a snack. And I haven't been snacking on rice cakes, either...

{Sigh}

My goals for this week:

• drink 3 to 4 glasses of water daily

• get 3 workouts in

• start taking a multi vitamin daily

• eat breakfast every morning!

Think I can do it?

Our Florida Vacation...

by the numbers:

• number of total miles driven: 1,551

• number of times Shannon was driven insane by her husband's indecisiveness and/or her kids' whining: 7

• number of billboards seen that advertised boiled peanuts/peaches/pecans whilst driving through Georgia: too numerous to count

• number of times Michaela complained about being "hot/bored/tired of walking": 2,491

• number of photos taken: 744

• number of photos taken of Shannon showing her in an unflattering way, which have thus been deleted: 29

• number of days spent at Sea World: 2

• number of days spent at Busch Gardens: 2

• number of total miles walked during the four days spent at amusement parks: 1,462,531

• number of Shamu ice cream bars consumed: 3

• number of times Hannah and Michaela rode "Cheetah Chase" (their favorite ride): 4

• number of times Hannah and Michaela would have ridden "Cheetah Chase", if given the chance: 400

• number of smiles, squeals of laughter and memories made: infinite

We have a win-nah!

THANKS to everyone who entered my "one-year-blogiversary/300th post" giveaway! Unfortunately, there can only be one winner, and that person is...

(drum roll, please...)

Justine!

Congrats! I'll be in contact with you soon to see which MadisonReeceDesigns pendant you choose!

Table Topics Tuesdays... the Monday Edition!

I'm back!

Well, sort of...

We're home from vacation... and while we had a great time, it is good to be home.

But now I have 127 emails to read, a winner to pick for my "300th post/blogiversary" giveaway... not to mention the fact that I'm up to my eyeballs in dirty laundry... and desperately need to go grocery shopping.

With that in mind, I found a Table Topics question that is quite apropos:

would you prefer money for

a housekeeper,

a cook,

a gardener,

or a personal secretary?

It's time to par-tay!

'Cause today is my one-year blogiversary!

I can hardly believe it has been one year since I began this little blog o' mine. And through this blog, I've "met" some really amazing people... and have even had the privilege to meet a few in real life. The blogosphere is an incredible place, I tell ya.

AND if today being my blogiversary wasn't awesome enough... this also happens to be my 300th post! Woot! Woot!

I think this momentous occasion calls for a giveaway, don't you?

I thought so.

I have been enchanted with all things Etsy for awhile now... one of my most recent finds is MadisonReeceDesigns. This shop specializes in quality handcrafted resin pendants...

like the "Into the Forest" pendant I purchased for myself...

And this adorable necklace for Michaela...

But, sssshhhh! Don't tell her... it's for Christmas!

MadisonReeceDesigns has generously offered one of their custom pendants as the prize for my giveaway!

To enter, visit MadisonReeceDesigns, then come back here and tell me which pendant you would choose! Deadline for entries is 11:59 p.m. (EST) Sunday, July 12th. I'll randomly choose one lucky person who will win the pendant of their choice!

Good luck!

Table Topics Tuesdays

Since I'm currently miserably sweating in the Florida humidity on vacation, I thought I'd ask for today's question:

what is your ideal vacation spot?

Monday Morning Eye Candy

Hi everyone! My name is Angie and I'm very excited to be guest blogging this week for Shannon while she's enjoying some well-deserved time at the beach! Shannon & I are friends IRL and we have a LOT in common. One of those things is admiring some of our hotter, er I mean, talented actors. Every Monday I do a feature post called "Monday Morning Eye Candy" where I feature some of my favorite hotties. This week, it's all about Shannon's faves! And since she's at the beach, all of our guys have come dressed for the occasion. Enjoy!

Rodrigo Santoro - This hottie first caught my attention in the movie "Love Actually" but he was also on LOST, which is a favorite of Shannon's.

Ryan Reynolds - Oh.my.6 pack. Scarlett Johansson is one lucky lady.

Hugh Jackman - This guy just gets better with age.

Gerard Butler - One of Shannon's top 5 favorites. It's the accent. Gets us every time.

And finally, the ultimate hottie...Daniel Craig. Shannon is a HUGE fan. We love our Brits!

Have a great week everyone! And come visit me at my spot anytime, especially if you need some Monday Morning Eye Candy!

On the road again...

Bright and early tomorrow morning, Shane, the girls, and I will be on our way to Florida for seven days full of sun, sand and Shamu.

I've got a few things lined up for the coming week:

A hot and steamy guest post from Angie on Monday...

Tuesday will bring another Table Topics question...

And something special on Wednesday you won't want to miss!

Have a happy 4th of July weekend! See y'all in a week!

"Trim the Fat" Thursday

It's time to see how my efforts to "trim the fat" have fared since last Thursday...

My goals for the past week were to:

• exercise at least 3 times

• drink 3 to 4 glasses of water daily

• write down everything I eat

Unfortunately, I was only able to get 2 workouts in. I've been insanely busy this week (I know, I know... that's the most-used excuse given for not exercising)... we're leaving for vacation on Saturday and I've just had eleventy billion things to get done before we migrate to Florida for a week! Laundry, packing, yet another trip to the post office, bathing suit shopping (nothing like waiting to the last minute!), laundry, cleaning, taking Izzie to the groomer's, picking up tickets for Angie and I to see Paula Deen (squee!), laundry, packing... whew! I am so ready to actually BE on vacation!

I think I managed to average about 2 to 3 glasses of water each day. I think more impressive is the fact that I have cut my Coke consumption in half.

I did fairly well in writing down everything I ate. With doing so, I've noticed it's not really what I'm eating... it's when. I tend to skip breakfast, sometimes it's as late as 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon before I've had anything to eat that day! Then by the time 10 p.m. rolls around, I'm ravenous and want to stuff my face with ice cream or cookies (or both)

I am ecstatic to announce that I have lost 5 lbs in the past week! Yay me! I'm attributing this entirely to the fact that I'm not taking in as much sugar as I used to, with all the Coke I'm not drinking!

Since I'll be on vacation the next week, I'm going to keep my goals pretty simple:

• drink 3 to 4 glasses of water each day

• make sure I eat breakfast each morning!

I'm just hoping I don't come back from vacation to find I've gained back the 5 lbs I've lost.

Did I mention I've lost 5 lbs this week?!

Coolin' Off at Coolidge Park

I don't get outside too often... but one of my favorite places in Downtown Chattanooga is Coolidge Park. From just taking a stroll by the river, letting the girls ride their bikes... to events like "Movies in the Park", there's always some sort of merriment going on. We've been to Coolidge Park countless times, but have never let the girls play in the water fountain. Recently, Hannah and Michaela got to experience this for the first time... and now seeing how much the girls enjoyed themselves, we'll definitely go back for more fun in the fountain!

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Angel has begun featuring her favorite bloggers... and I'm honored that she has chosen little ol' me as one of them! Today's interview is from yours truly, so do me a solid... head over to Angel's and check it out!