Engagiversary Getaway

I'm so glad my husband doesn't read my blog. (If you ask him about my blog he'll tell you the name is "A-Lines and B-Lines Or Whatever.") Because he would suffer a mini stroke to see me write a made up word in the title. Anyway, since he loves me regardless of my propensity for abbreviated words, we took off to Seneca Lake to celebrate the three-year anniversary of the night he proposed in the location where it happened. The past four years we've always gone with two other couples to do a two-day winery tour, but plans fell through.

We enjoyed dinner and dessert at the castle -- picture it: insane view of the lake, live band, March Madness basketball on a flatscreen, and roaring fire -- and then we walked up to the hallway where he proposed. It's been our tradition to have a few moments in that spot to re-live the moment I said "yes." The next morning we ate breakfast at the charming and retro Connie's Diner (also a tradition) and finished up our weekend by hitting up the outlets.

I couldn't have asked for a better mini excursion. But now it's time to get back to real life. Orientation tomorrow!!

OOTD + TJ Maxx Finds

Today marks my last day of my four-month laycation. I could probably write paragraphs and paragraphs about what a crazy, weird time it's been. So much has happened -- both good and bad. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. I'm going to miss a lot of things about my SAHW time, but I'm anxious to put on my working girl hat and move forward with the next chapter of my life.

It's been a decently busy (for me) week. Outfit on the left was worn to my clients' tasting appointment. Outfit on the right worn to lunch with my new boss.

Left - Dress: TJ Maxx, Cardi: F21, Leggings: NY & Co., Boots: 2010 Target

Right: Dress: Target (Merona Artist), Cardi: F21, Leggings: JC Penney, Boots: 2010 Target

After yesterday's appointment I made an impromptu trip to TJ Maxx. Of course these spontaneous trips are the ones in which I find tons of stuff to take home! I cannot wait for warmer weather to wear this embellished gray maxi and black tiered dress. Chances are the black tiered dress will debut soon on A&A though. :) 

Color more true to life on right

Hope you all have lovely weekends! The mister and I are getting away for a little overnight stay to the Finger Lakes. A final hurrah before my 9 to 5 life starts on Monday. 

Weekly Gratitude 2

What am I *not* grateful for this week? It's been pretty epic.

1. Getting my job offer was definitely the highlight of the week. It's like all the anxiety, depression, and worries of the past three months were leading to this. And knowing I have my career back on track is making the last few weeks of SAHWness seem more like an awesome vacation, and I plan on making every last minute count.

2. Buying my DSLR. I know I have a giant learning curve ahead of me, but I'm anxious to soak in all the tutorials I can while I figure out my little friend. My dad was a photography hobbyist, so I'm happy we can share this interest together. 

3. Meeting my precious nephew for the first time. As I said to him in the first five minutes of having him in my arms, I can't wait to spoil and love him for the rest of my life. 

4. Even though our annual winery trip with our friends was cancelled this year, the mister and I decided to go up by ourselves and have dinner at the castle where we got engaged. It's not often we have little getaways together, and it means a lot to us that we celebrate our "engage-iversary" at the Finger Lakes. 

5. I was pretty surprised at how many skits I enjoyed from the Miley Cyrus hosted SNL this weekend. This one, "Our Time with Taboo and apl.de.ap", especially cracked me up. 

Decisions, Decisions

I'm really into typography prints. It's probably because I'm a font nerd, but I'd have typography prints all over my house if I didn't run the risk of it looking like a giant book at some point. I'm currently thinking about buying these two prints below.

Fortunately I'll soon have a new space to decorate. 

My office. 

And no, I'm not talking home office here. I'm talking a legit office. Working. At a job. Because today I will sign my official offer letter to enter back into my corporate career at the end of the month.  :) 

Expect the OOTDs to pick back up again ... but with quality. More on that later (fingers crossed!). 

Housewife Fail?

I was talking to a friend yesterday about how bored I am being a SAHW. She told me if she was home all day her house would be spotless. Well, geez, then I must be kind of sucky at this whole housewife thing. I took a quick scan around me. My house, while conventionally clean, is not spotless. I have piles of clean laundry in the corner of my bedroom; my bookcase hasn't seen a thorough dusting in months; and my fridge could probably use a scrub down. Worst of all ... I haven't removed all of the Christmas decor and tree.

The odd thing is I'm normally a tad OCD in cleaning, especially since we moved into our house. Seeing things out of place makes my anxiety level go up, and God forbid my husband leaves bread crumbs on the counter. Apparently it's something I've inherited naturally through my mom. In fact, she recounted this story to me over the holidays: When I was about 5 years old I was playing with the boy next door at my house. When he touched the end table, I smacked his hands away, and exclaimed, "Don't touch that - my mom just cleaned!!"

I then realized it was unrealistic to expect an immaculate house 24/7, because with unlimited time, it's easier to stretch out the cleaning in bits and pieces throughout the week instead of doing a huge Sunday cleansweep. I shouldn't feel like a housewife failure if the bathroom mirror has water streaks or a pile of paper builds up on the dining room table. Now I try not to beat myself up about the little imperfections - whether it be about the tidiness of my house or just ... me in general.

The Life of a Lady of Leisure

An update for my adoring fans...er, blog readers:

I'm in my third week of my "laycation" now, though it's starting to lose its vacation aspect quick. Last week I interviewed for a position I really wanted only to be rejected yesterday. I would be lying if I said I've been taking the bad news well. But as I've been a witness to recently, sometimes things just suck and there's not much you can do other than down a glass of sangria and try to move on.

Now that my laycation is looking a little more long-term than I wanted, finding achievable goals is more important than ever. The job searching happens on a repetitive basis all day long. I've finished all my Christmas tasks in record speed. I bake a lot.

I wear (mostly) clean house pants and slippers.  And I've determined that SNL's parody of the Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb hour of The Today Show was decidedly en pointe.

I recruited the help of some friends to help me figure out how I can fill my days. They have given me some great ideas so that I have a purpose in waking up before Ellen begins; one of these is paying more attention to my blog, so I re-vamped my blog layout (again!) and created another header. I also dabbled in some CSS coding, which I've successfully avoided til now.

Also on the list are re-doing my guest room (completely DIY and budget), trying new recipes, developing some marketing strategies for my 'midnight hustle', POSSIBLY even going back to the gym, and finally organizing my crazy closets. Goals. I haz 'em. I'm open to any and all suggestions, so leave a comment below. I'll obviously read it, because really -- time is not something I'm lacking these days  ; )