The End of House Spousing :: H54F

So, this week was officially my last as a house spouse!  I will be starting my grown-up job on Monday, and I'm thrilled about it.  Linking with Lauren like usual!

1.  I got an iPhone 5!  As some of you know, last week, right before the move, my 4 took a tumble in the parking garage and I shattered the shit out of that screen.

So now, upgrade + we have buy back with Best Buy = pure joy.  And love my new wallpaper too!

2.  My car got blacklisted from being driven.  So basically, the Lovely on this is incredibly sarcastic.  Did I mention that I downloaded the Beautiful Mess app onto my new phone? Oh, did I ever.  Wait til you see the rest of this week's highlights...

As I self-described this to my bloggy BFF, Adriana at Dog Hair, my car climbed "Brokeass Mountain" this week.  You could see through places in the frame you should definitely. not. see. through.  It was mostly rust damage from years fighting snow, salt and Midwest weather.  I'd only had it for about 2 years though, so pretty sad for me since it was my first "adult" car post-high school.

The mechanic actually was shocked it was driveable. Ok so now we are just happy no one ever has to drive it again and there wasn't an accident.

3.  As a result of #2, NEW CAR!!  Like, brand-spanking new.

We ended up deciding on a 2013 Jetta TDI.  I won't be driving it though, I'm taking Bryan's 2010 Escape that we got a year ago since I prefer an SUV to a car.  This one isn't ours, but is pretty much exactly what it will look like when we pick it up tonight after it gets it's window tint.

4.  Finally went to the dermatologist.  Big deal for me, and if you're curious why, see yesterday's post right here.  I had three moles removed, and hopefully it will all be good news.

It's a high five because it was stressful, but I can cross one more item off of my 30 for 30 list now!  Woo!  Also..again w/ the beautiful mess app.  Uhh yeah, I'm def gonna make magic happen with this app from now on.  Deal w/ it!

And I will not lie about this..I had myself a delightful McDonald's breakfast afterwards as a reward.  Sometimes you gotta get a little Pavlov-ian on your own ass and try to trick your future self! 

5.  Had these delicious chicken, pepper and pineapple packets for dinner...recipe plus another chicken & pepper one coming to you next week!

I have a ton of food photos & recipes ready to share with you guys!  Get excited...that is if you love chicken, various bell peppers, and brown rice :)  

And, a bonus 6.  This is a fun sneak peek of a DIY I've been working on for seemingly forever.

It involved staining newspaper with tea, covering this 36x24'' canvas, and then abandoning it for weeks while we moved, I got a job and shit went down.  Now, we have part of the lettering painted on and it just needs to be refined :) Coming SOON, promise.

K, y'all!  How was your week??  Did you car break down and the mechanic ask you how you even drove it there?  Did you un-abandon a big DIY living room project?  Or did you have an awesome, normal week with coffee and wine drinking, good recipes, pinning cool ideas, and actually reading your favorite blogs?!! I envy all of you, and wish nothing but the usual for your weekends as well :)

I'm also excited to announce that I'll be sponsoring Sarah at Venus Trapped in Mars in July!  Girl is so friggin' popular I have to wait a little, but it's totes worth it because she just sent me this awesomeness on twitter:

So go follow along with her if you aren't already doing so for some crazy reason! 

The Tough One

I have written about four versions of this post and deleted all of them before publishing them.

So I'm going to jump right in.

I finally went to my dermatologist yesterday.  I was scared to do this.  I did not want to do this really.  No, it's not because of my random adult acne that pops up once every six weeks, it was because of my moles.

You see, I've always had moles.  And I've always known that about 20 years ago, my mom had a melanoma removed.  So I went to the derm, and got looked at.  And most of the time it's always fine, but after the last year and a half, I'm more proactive about getting anything removed that bugs me.  So I got three taken off yesterday-one on my chest, one on my left arm, and one on my back.

To most people, melanoma is just that, it's a mole that has irregular borders, is asymmetrical, has off colors, is large, or looks off.  And that's how melanoma starts.  But I want to tell you that melanoma is a beast of a cancer.  

My mom has melanoma.  She had melanoma on her back removed.  And then, years later in November 2011, on a random chance, her cardiologist noticed something on a chest x-ray.  It turned out to be a melanoma, on the lung.  So my mom had half of her lung removed, clean margins, etc.

Then, in early February, my dad called me from Florida where they were snow-birding, and said that my mom had a stroke and was in the hospital.  She had emergency surgery to remove a hemorrhaging melanoma tumor from her brain.  

So now, my very strong, kind, and brave mom is doing chemo.  To me, and my family, this cancer that most people see as a surface problem has become something that can invade your tissues, your brain, and places in your body that never see the sun, and really scare the crap out of you in the process.

With summer beginning, please see your dermatologist, or find one and start going.  I tanned in high school, I've gotten sunburns, but none of that means it's "too late" for anyone, including me.  Her exact words to me were, "Just because you have a family history doesn't mean you're doomed at all."  If you're in your 20s or 30s, now is the time to go and get a skin check.  I was there for one hour-from registering to checking out, including have three scraped off!  Painless and easy.

Here are a couple key points my derm gave me:

• SPF 50-65.  Anything above 65 isn't going to be remarkably better at protecting you from the rays.  The key is to reapply every two hours, no matter the level of protection, from 30 to 100.
• Avoid peak sun hours.  If I'm going to be active outside, running, etc.  it's best to do it early in the morning or in the evening.  That window of 10-3?  Not the ideal time for getting the 3-miler in.
• Cover up in the sun.  Aside from using sunscreen, wear a hat, or find a cute pool cover-up.  Nothing will block 100% of the sun, but a super cute wide-brimmed hat can't hurt.
• See the derm as often as they say to see them.  So, I had three moles removed.  None of them are particularly scary or worrisome, but we agreed that there's no point in keeping anything, and that it's better to err on the side of caution.  If your doc says to follow up in six months, follow up then and don't wait a full year!

I also found this nice infographic on the AAD's website, which is an easy reminder of what to look for in a sunscreen.

And because this is my favorite beauty blog anyways, here is MaskCara's self-tanning tutorial vid so that you can still bask in the glow of summer:

So, my final plea:  Go see a dermatologist!  Melanoma is literally not just skin-deep.  My mom always saw her derm and was cautious, but there are so many things as young people that you can do to stop sun damage!  I'm the first person to admit to having made poor choices, but there's no way a tan is worth your life, guys.  

Wedding Retro-Post #3 :: What We Wore

First, a few of the details on my dress, plus a perfect hanger one of my MOHs got for me at my first bridal shower!

That ginormous bejeweled flower was probably my favorite!

About 6-8 inches of lace all around the bottom

via

Here is my dress in all it's glory on a size 0 model!  Sweet.  It's by Maggie Sottero.

Simple ivory shoes

Pearl bracelet was part of my wedding gift from Bryan.  He got me two sets of pearls-one was a bracelet, necklace, and earrings.  The other was 100 inches of pearls that you can style about a million ways.  I am totally afraid of wearing such legit jewelry still though!  The super sparkly bracelet I put on with my surprise dress at the reception. Dangly, sparkly earrings and a perfect clasp bracelet were great accents to my dress.

Lacing the back in, which btw, my dress was still a little too big the day of the wedding, but I sort of gave up on noticing it at some point!  I had a lot of issues getting my fit right, and had it taken in probably a total of 2 1/2-3 sizes down from where it started...but.....

  I am not exaggerating when I say I lost at least 7 lbs. the WEEK before the wedding just from nerves (I was eating burgers, tacos, chicken fingers, basically all trash for the week before and couldn't gain half a pound), but I promptly gained it all back eating and drinking our way through Vegas for a week!  

 Fluffing, a/k/a the most important part of a big ol' dress

Handsome getting dressed

Our rings, derp! Thanks best man for holding them  and not losing them.

These cuff links were a part of Bryan's wedding gift from me.  They say "B <3 S 9.22.12" and "See you at 1" which is when our ceremony started.  We secretly love that our initials are BS...so I def didn't go the route of S<3B for that reason!  He also got an engraved crystal bourbon decanter. 

Black tux, ivory vest, ivory tie

Really showcasing that cathedral length veil.  Lovvveed it.

The girls wore long black satin dresses that had a v-neck front and the same v in the back.  They gathered a bit at the waist, and looked exactly as classic as I hoped they would! I gave the girls simple dangly earrings and a matching bracelet to wear!

The guys wore black tuxes, and eggplant (although they look pretty purple here) ties and vests.  This was a happy accident the day before.  They were supposed to have black vests and just purple ties, but whatever it looked great! 

Close-up of my tricked-out second dress! I didn't plan on having two, but then my mom loved this one so much we went all out..you knnnowww...this thing only happens once so may as well get two dresses.

In all it's secretive glory.  Bryan knew nothing about this dress.  Total surprise, the DJ had him sit in the center of the dance floor on a chair and then I came out all, "whhhat?! oops!"

Clearly this was a party dress so I could really get down.

Behind Closed Doors :: New Link Up!

What do you and your sig other do that's just crazy? 

That's the question three fab ladies posed to the blog world, and I'm sure they're going to get some great shit on people.

We have lived together since July 2011, and at that time, I wasn't working (shocker, right?  Y'all are just like, does this girl ever work? Has she ever had a job where she received a W-2?) and he was, but then I started commuting about 3x a week to Chicago at night for grad school from Milwaukee, driving back and forth.  So we didn't totally cross paths a lot because he worked 4 am - noon.  We got a couple quality nights a week, but nothing where we were fully exposed to weird habits.

But now, oh now, we are married.  The paper has been signed, rings are exchanged and we're both stuck with each other's filthy-weird habits.

If you read Bryan's post on me the other day, A Q&A with the Mr., you got a pretty good feel for how weird I am.  Seriously I think he better describes me than I could ever describe myself and for now, that post stands as a legit representation of my blog!

My crazy:

• I leave Kleenexes everywhere.  I blow my nose on the couch, and basically forget about it somewhere on the couch.  I've also been known to fall asleep holding a used Kleenex.
• I also fall asleep CLUTCHING my glasses.  This is such an extreme problem that I have sleeping glasses and life glasses.  
• I basically freak out if the dishwasher is full and the sink is full, and everything is dirty.  But then I just hate unloading clean dishes, so I leave it and give up.
• I buy books on my Kindle using our joint checking debit card and then feign disbelief when asked the next day that I just bought the new Dan Brown novel at 1:00 am.
• Sometimes, when Bryan is sleeping, I will put my finger under his nose to make sure he is breathing...and sometimes I will stick a little bit of my hair by his nose to sleep-tickle him and really make sure he's alive.  This is bitchy, but also kinda funny, and then when we're both awake I let him do it back to me so we can be even.

His crazy:

• Socks.  He just takes socks off anywhere and actually throws them.  Says it's a "release" or cleansing routine.  I just find socks everywhere.
• Bryan will leave a dirty dinner plate on the coffee table (b/c that's where we eat, yes) for like, days.  I cannot stannnndddd this.  How can I use my coffee table for holding a glass of water in the morning if there is a dirty plate on it?  I've wizened up and now I just clear our plates to the sink at night when I'm done eating. 
• He takes really, really, really long showers sometimes.  I'm happy to have such a clean husband, but honestly, sometimes I feel like I am not clean enough because why does anyone need a 30 minute shower?  
• Sometimes I have to force-wash his jeans and polos.  Like, he won't just put them in the laundry basket, but tries to re-wear polos for weeks to work that haven't been washed.  Sometimes when he's at work, I will go through everything in the closet, smell it, and wash it if I deem necessary!  And guess what? It's a delightfully received surprise.
• He quizzes me on if I bought books on my Kindle late at night the next day!!! Just incredible. The nerve.  Yes, I did buy a book called, "Tout Sweet", and no, I have not read it yet, and I'm not fully sure what it's about.  I also got a short called, "The Great American Foreclosure Crisis" because I am a huge nerd.

So, what do you and your significant other do that is just weird, funny, or out there?  Link up with Dog Hair is an Accessory, Another Clean Slate, and The Pinot Project to share all of your favorite crazies!

J O B News :)

Well everyone, the day has come, I am thrilled to share with everyone that I will be starting a new job on June 3rd!

I won't be sharing any details about the position, but safe to say I am thrilled about it, great offer and great career path as well.

Alas, this means I am no longer a house spouse, and so I will begin the delicate balance between learning a completely new position and blogging on the regular!

I hope to have exactly as much balance as this penguin, and fully expect it to last exactly as long as he/she does.

In other happy, happy, happy news, we moved successfully over the long weekend! Some stuff is still in shambles (closet) but some areas look great already.  I will be posting a series of before & afters as soon as we have everything on the walls and in place.

Hope everyone had a great long weekend, and took pause to remember the brave men and women who fought to keep us all free!  And if you are a member of the armed forces reading this, thank you, thank you, thank you!

See you guys with more deats from our wedding tomorrow for Wedding Wednesday!

PS :: Don't forget to enter the Wine-Away!  It runs through Wednesday :)

Summer Drinking Games :: Guest Post!

To celebrate the weekend, today we have a guest post from Adriana a/k/a this girl:

She is the best and we are bloggy besties, so enjoy the fun she has in store for you below, and click above to check her out if you haven't already!

::

Hey guyssss! I’m Adriana from Dog Hair Is An Accessory and I’m SO PUMPED to be here. If you don’t already know I have a HUGE crush on Sara aka SaSa and since we text basically always I know it’s mutual. Unfortunately I live about a bajillion miles away from her lovely (NEW) apartment in Texas because I’m up here in CT freezing my balls off. (I’m aware that it’s summer but whatever I basically live in the arctic)

Trying to decide what my guest post should be about was really hard! I thought about going the “get to know me” route but then I was like mmmnahhhh. Then I was gonna go the “If SaSa came to visit..” route but I kinda got depressed that it wasn’t actually a planned event yet so no on that. But then I got frustrated and was like "UGH I'll just have a glass of wine" and it hit me! BOOZE! So I came up with..

Some of these you may have heard of, or played under a different name or different rules but they are ALL hilarious and such great games for summer BBQs and parties!!

SLAP-A-HOE
(This basically has to be played outside. It's messsssy)

Number of players: However many fit at the table

What you need:

   1.      a large number of solo cups (I suggest 20-40 depending on how 
         many play, plus 2 extra)

   2.      enough beer to fill all the cups in the center to your desired 
         amount (I suggest to the first indent aka flip cup amount)

   3.      ping pong balls (1 for every 5 people, minimum 2)

   4.      table

How you set it up:

1.      place all but 2 cups in the center of the table in a cluster

2.      fill up cups with beer to your desired amount

3.      have people stand in a circle around the table

4.      give two people at opposite ends of the table a pong ball and empty cup

How to play:

1.      people with the ball begin by bouncing the ball on the table to get it in their own cup

2.      once they get it in they pass the cup and ball

•         if made on their first attempt, pass to anyone in the circle

•         if made after multiple attempts, pass to the left

3.      when the cups catch up to each other and the person on the right gets the ball in their cup before the person on the left can get rid of theirs, the person on the right SLAPS the cup of the person on the left off the table and passes their cup and ball to the next person to the left

4.      the person who got SLAPPED grabs a cup from the center, drinks it, retrieves the ball and begins trying to bounce the ball into the new cup

How to win:

If you're sober, you win.. or lose depending on the intention!

SPEED BUMP

Number of players: 2

What you need:

   1.      drink of your choice

   2.      deck of cards

   3.      table

How you set it up:

place 5 cards in a line between you and the other player with the middle one face down

How to play:

1.      the person guessing says if the first card to be drawn will be higher or lower than the first card in the line (ace high)

2.      the dealer places the first card in his deck on top of the first card in the line

•         If the guesser is incorrect at this point or at any other guess they drink and start over

3.      continue with the next card in the line (higher or lower)

4.      when the face down card is reached, the guesser says whether the card is black or red

5.      the dealer flips the card and continues

•         if the guesser is wrong at this step, place a new card face down on top of the middle card and start over

**if the deck runs out, leave the top cards and collect all cards underneath, shuffle and begin again**

How to win:

Guesser gets through the entire line of 5 cards, then switch roles!

CIVIL WAR

**very similar to beruit**

Number of players: 6

What you need:

    1.      18 cups

    2.      enough beer to fill all cups halfway-ish (about 5 beers total)

    3.      table

    4.      3 ping pong balls

How you set it up:

1.      set up 9 cups along the edge of each end of the table

2.      make 3 “mini racks” from those 9 on each side

•         each player will have their own “mini rack”

3.      fill up cups to desired amount

4.      one team starts with 1 ball, other team starts with 2

How to play:

1.      on 3..2..1..GO play begins

2.      players shoot for any cup n the opposing players racks

3.      when a cup is sunk, the player behind that mini rack has to drink and CAN NOT throw the ball until the drink is finished

•         the player drinking can hand off the ball to a teammate

4.      once a players mini rack is all hit, they can no longer shoot the ball

•         the player can play “offense” by trying to collect balls that have fallen on the floor/lying in the middle of the table and give them to teammates

**balls on the floor or table are free game but players must stay on their sides while trying to collect the loose balls**

How to win:

Whichever team has cups standing at the end is the winner!

7, 11, Doubles

Number of players: as many as can fit at the table

What you need:

   1.      1 tall/large glass or cup

   2.      drink of your choice (preferably beer)

   3.      a set of dice

   4.      table

How you set it up:

   1.      place cup in the middle of the table

   2.      players get in a circle around the table

How to play:

1.      first person rolls both die

2.      if something other than 7,11 or doubles is rolled, they pass the dice to the next person to the left

3.      if 7, 11 or doubles is rolled, they choose who drinks

4.      all players other than the “drinker” and “roller” pour as much of their drinks into the center cup as they want

5.      whenever there is a lull in pouring, the “drinker” can grab the cup and start chugging

6.      the “roller” starts rolling the dice as soon as the “drinker” grabs the cup

•         if 7, 11 or doubles is rolled before the “drinker” finishes, time is up, the cup goes back on the table and other players can add beer again and the “drinker” can grab the drink and try again

•         if 7,11 or doubles is NOT rolled before the “drinker” finishes, the empty cup goes back in the middle and the “drinker” becomes the “roller”

How to win:

Be able to get thru the game without vomming or giving up

DALSH

Number of players: as many as can fit in the circle

What you need:

   1.      large number of solo cups

   2.      enough beer to fill cups to the first indent (aka flip cup amount)

   3.      enough of your choice of liquor for “bomb cups” (1 bomb for every 
         10ish cups)

   4.      table

   5.      ping pong ball

How you set it up:

1.      mark “bomb cups” with a mark at the bottom of the cup

2.      fill up the cups with beer and liquor

3.      place all cups at one end of the table forming a pyramid with the base at the edge (bomb cups scattered)

4.      players get in a circle around the table

How to play:

1.      person standing opposite the cups starts by shooting the ball

•         if a cup is made, the cup goes off to the side

•         if no cup is made, the person takes the cup closest to them in the pyramid and drinks it

2.      next person shoots

•         if a cup is made, the cup goes off to the side

•         if no cup is made, the person drinks all cups on the side

**if there are no cups on the side and a person misses, they take the closest cup from the pyramid and drink it**

How to win:

Avoid having to drink the bomb cups!

MUSTACHIO BASHIO

Number of players: as many as you want!

What you need:

   1.      drink of choice

   2.      party stick on mustaches (you can buy them here or they are at 
         party supply stores)

   3.      TV

   4.      movie or TV show of your choice

How you set it up:

1.      place 2 or 3 mustaches on the screen at varying heights and positions

2.      queue up what you will be watching

How to play:

when a mustache lines up..

•         as a unibrow drink 1

•         almost perfect on a guy, drink 2

•         almost perfect on a girl, drink 3

•         almost perfect on a guy, with a mustache drink 4

•         perfect on a guy, drink 5

•         perfect on a girl, drink 8

•         perfect on a guy with a mustache, drink half

•         perfect on a person in a dramatic/emotional scene for a whole line/monologue, finish your drink!

•         Almost perfect or perfect on multiple people at once, finish your drink!

How to win:

Stay awake and drinking throughout the game

KINGS (Now I know basically everyone has played some version of this one but here are the rules we play by)

Number of players:  as many as you want!

What you need:

   1.      drink of your choice

   2.      full, unopened beer can

   3.      deck of cards

   4.      table

How you set it up:

1.      place the beer can in the middle of the table

2.      make a ring of cards, face down around the beer can

How to play:

1.      One at a time, each player takes a card and follows the directions based on the following rules:

2- you: pick someone to take a drink

3- me: you drink

4- whore: most recent person who pulled a king tells you to drink whenever they like. *this 
            lasts the whole game

5- jive: start singing a song and whoever joins in last drinks

6- thumb: put your thumb on the table. whoever is the last to notice and put their thumb on 
            the table

7- categories: pick a category. whoever can’t come up with an example of that category, drinks (ex. Amazing Blogs- Sara In Texas, Dog Hair Is An Accessory etc)

8- social: everyone drinks

9- bust a rhyme: say a sentence and the next person has to say a sentence that rhymes with yours (ex. “Sara’s awesome” “I used to watch Blossom”) whoever can’t think of one or says a rhyming word that’s already been used, drinks
10- point and hold: pick someone to drink for as long as you point at them

Jack- never have I ever: hold up three fingers. name something you’ve never done. if players have done that thing, they put down a finger. next person names a thing. continue until someone has put down all three fingers. that person (or people) drink

Queen- questions: hold this card and ask a question at a random point in the game. if the persons answers your question they drink. they can follow up with another question until someone gives an answer or draws a blank then that person drinks

King- pimp: tell the “whores” when you want them to drink

Ace- waterfall: ask a question to the people on your immediate right and left, whoever is correct starts after you. start chugging until you feel like stopping. everyone else has to keep drinking until the person before them stops

2.      when the card is finished, the person who pulled the card slides it under the tab of the unopened 
      beer

3.      play continues until the can pops open

4.      the person who’s card popped the can drinks the beer

How to win:

don’t be the one who pops the can!

SO there's that. There are obviously more fun games to play but these are oretty much the essentials. My favorite is probably Slap-A-Hoe (by the way I think my friend made up that name) and I love it because I'm dirtyyyy at it. (In a good way).

So if you haven't already come by and said hi, DO IT. I love friends. And a friend of Sara's is a friend of mine!

Really tho, if you're friends with her I already consider us friends so you should prob introduce yourself!