Jenny Garland

We're in Angel Fire, NM for a couple days visiting Brad's parents. It's so beautiful here and I love the cool, crisp air. We are about to take Kate fishing (with her snazzy Dora pole, thank you very much)! We'll see what Sara Paige thinks :)

You guys have to go back and read the comments in the last post; they're great! Thank you so much for leaving them, as it's nice to know who reads this silly blog.

You all are some seriously talented people. Plus, you have super cute blogs and sites:

Claire in OK
Lisa in TX
Lindsey in GA
Katherine in SC
Jennifer in BC, Canada
Nancy in TX
Heather in MI
Heather in Ontario, Canada
Gwen in CA
Rebecca in Iowa
Tracy in TX
Laurel in CO
Jennifer in AL

PS - Kris and Heather, thank you for letting me know I'm not the only one with the toenail issue!

Are Ya'll Trying to Tell Me Sumthin'?

This summer my blogging has definitely dissipated. Well, aside from tonight that is. This is my 3rd post. I'm feeling chatty and my husband has glazed eyes and is now just nodding his head when I say anything.  He says I give him tired head sometimes :) Somehow I don't think that's a compliment? But that's another issue for another time.

Here's my question... over the last month my number of blog subscribers has gone way up but my posts have dwindled. Are you guys encouraging me not to blog? Subscribing to get me to be quiet? Haha. Don't tell me I give you tired head too!

Do me a favor and leave a comment answering these questions so I can get to know you! :) Lurkers, stop lurking and get talking!

1. What's your name (first is fine if you are super secret)
2. Where do you live?
3. What do you like to do in your free time?
4. If you are crafty, what do you like to craft the best?
5. Do you have a blog? Leave a link if you do! I want to come visit you.
6. What do you suck at?
7. What do you rock at?

Here are my answers:
1. Jenny
2. Dallas area
3. Read and sleep. God, I love to sleep.
4. Quilts, even though I don't usually make them because my favorites take forever.
5. Well, you know my blog if you are here.
6. I suck at growing out my toe nails. I can't STAND feeling them when I rub my feet together. Anytime I get a pedicure, they always lecture me about cutting them too short. They're seriously the shortest toe nails on the planet.
7. I totally rock at squeegeeing the shower. Did you know that's a real word? It is; I checked. I have a sparkly shower with no streaks or soap spots because I squeegee every time I get out. Takes 10 seconds but makes a huge difference.

Looking forward to hearing from you :)

Super Target's New Carts

We have a new Super Target in the area and holy, moly... check out their carts:

I don't know if you can really tell because I took the pic with my phone, but the new carts are really heavy duty, bigger, and turn on a dime. After I finished shopping, I headed to the parking lot. Fifteen minutes later I found Brad's car. Erggh!! How do I always forget where I park? Good thing I had that Diet A&W Cream Soda to keep me company in the heat.

This is me happy to be back in the air conditioning:

 

Show Us Where You Live Friday ... Kitchen Edition

I'm joining Kelly for "Show Us Where You Live Friday ... Kitchen Edition" and hope you will too!

Let's get started, shall we? This is our kitchen nook and where we always eat. The table's from Garden Ridge and was a great bang for the buck piece. I channeled my inner preteen by sewing up a scrunchy for the light chain. I made the drapes, The rug is from the Martha Stewart collection at FLOR. Have ya'll heard of FLOR? They sell modular carpet tiles you can piece together any which way. I like the carpet squares because lets just say your toddler spills a full cup of fruit punch Crystal Light, you can pop out the stained square, clean it, and put it right back. Genius. We never really have flowers on the table but they're from last night's McKinney Martha's meetup. Blog post coming soon!

This part of the kitchen open ups to the family room.

Not so much to talk about at this spot. I do keep tupperware in the bottom left cupboards:

This is the other side of the kitchen

Right above the paper towels is the cupboard where we store our cherished, heirloom glasses. See for yourself (bottom shelf):

Mmmhmm, those are our beloved insulated cups. My husband first introduced me to their glory. I tried to fight it for a long time, but we've entirely switched from regular glass to insulated heaven. No coasters, no sweaty glasses, and always a cold drink. Love, love, love these.

I also like my double oven a bunch and use it more than I thought I would.

Here's the fridge. Notice the diet coke. It's on the door too. Yummy! Also delicious is the wine. And coffee.  And smoothies. I like beverages, what can I say?

 
This is our pantry. Normally I never have things boxed up like this (a little obsessive looking, isn't it?) but if you've been following my Tweets, you know we've had a major ant problem. Gross. This past Monday they found the pantry and I had to throw away more than half of the food in there. So, now I'm determined those little buggers aren't going to get into any more food, hence the OCD boxes.

And finally, here's a view of the kitchen from the family room:

Thanks for looking and I hope you'll link up at Kelly's and share your kitchen too.

Ten Reasons I Heart Ikea

I first fell in love with Ikea nine years ago when my freshman roomate at Wake Forest unpacked the cutest duvet cover I had ever seen. My top bunk bed was so sad in comparison. The following year we bought matchy matchy duvet covers for our dorm room. And let me tell you, it looked super cute.

My Iove affair didn't stop there. Oh, no friends. It didn't. Hubby and I have invested in desks, bookshelves, a cubby for the playroom, a rug for the dining room, craft storage boxes, frames, curtain rods, candles, plates, and wine glasses over the last five years. That's a lot of Ikea. We've been impressed with the price:quality relationship. Our desks look new and they have half a decade worth of wear. Especially mine which is used entirely for crafting.

Dear Ikea, here is a list of things I love about you:

1. Your divinely engineered carts that turn on a dime. Why can't my grocery store drink your magic shopping cart juice?

2. $6.99 sleek black curtain rods with finials. I just hung them in my family room and they look great.

3. Cute and cheap $2.99 fabric by the yard.

4. Easiest assembly ever. No words, just pictures. Glorious.

5. Your website. Clean and easy to read.

6. $1 ice cream cones. Mmmm...

7. You live so close to me. I can get to you in 15 minutes.

8. Gargantuan elevators that easily fit strollers, carts, kids, and barrels of Swedish meatballs.

9. The "scan items yourself" checkout aisle. I like to pretend I'm a cashier. Plus the beeping sound is fun.

10. I enjoy how you charge customers for a bag to carry stuff home. Way to encourage people to go green!

Thank you, Ikea. I will love you forever.

So, what do you think? What are some of your favorite things about Ikea?

25 Random Facts, Habits, or Goals About Me

It's late at night and I can't sleep, so I decided to write 25 random facts, habits, or goals about me. If you are bored and actually get to the end, I'll be impressed! :)

1. I met my husband Brad, on the first day of summer school after my freshman year. I was home from Wake Forest University and we both were taking a calculus class at the University of North Texas. I fell for him right away. I went back to Wake for the fall semester and then transferred to UNT. It was the best decision I ever made :) I learned where you are is not nearly as important as who you're with.

2. I am super goal-oriented and when I get a "to-do" list in my head, I obsess. I graduated college in three years and had my masters degree in counseling psychology by the time I was 23.

3. I always double knot my shoe laces.

4. I think the invention of Diet Coke was pure genius.

5. In the sixth grade I wanted to be shorter. For a whole week I walked around school in a lunge-like stance thinking no one would notice and feeling certain I wouldn't stick out. Apparently, I was wrong. My teacher sent me to the nurse to make sure nothing was physically wrong with me. Oops. Although I have learned to embrace my height (5'11"),  you still won't see me in heels!

6. Which leads me to #6. Flip flops are my best friend. Thankfully I get to wear them a ton here in Texas :)

7. I started to sew after Kate was born (2006). A major reason I love it is relatively morbid. I have a fear of death. I can't think of anything worse than not being with Brad or my daughters. If something were to happen to me, I find comfort in knowing the girls will be able to wrap themselves in a quilt or cuddle with a soft toy I lovingly made, just for them. Sounds silly, I know. But it makes sense to me.

8. On a lighter note, I could live on watermelon, salmon sashimi, miso soup, and seaweed salad. Well, if only the budget would allow :) I can't wait to eat salmon sashimi once Baby Garlando gets here!

9. Speaking of... Baby Garlando will be evicted in two days if she doesn't make her move first. I can't wait to see Kate as a big sister.

10. I like to-do lists. No, no. I love to-do lists. Sometimes I write silly, measly things on my to-do lists such as "brush teeth" or "take shower" (like I'd forget?) just in order to cross them off.

11. I have a sick obsession with a Tetris-like game on my iphone. I have wasted an immeasurable amount of time on the darn thing.

12. I would rather do your taxes than dance in public. It may have something to do with the fact that I cannot hear or feel a beat to save my life.

13. When I turned 18, I decided to be rebellious and get a tattoo. Except my parents really didn't care or make a big deal out of it, so it was not nearly as "rebellious" as I had planned. Also, I didn't like the tattoo very much (a janky-looking black cross on my left shoulder). So, I went to a different tattoo artist to have him make it into something new. Unfortunately, the new design looked a bit too much like a swastika for my taste and I freaked. Which leads us to tattoo artist #3 who assured me that adding color to the swastika-esque design would eliminate any confusion. It ended up looking like a big circular, pink and green watermelon. Lovely. My dear parents paid for me to have it lasered off and after about 10 treatments, you can barely see it. Stupid, stupid decision to get a tattoo. I don't mind them on others (love the show Miami Ink), but I just got it to get it. I am still self-conscious about wearing spaghetti strap shirts because you can kind of see it.

14. I have dyed my hair every color and have had pretty much every haircut conceivable. As of today (emphasis on "today"), I'm attempting a more natural look and am trying to grow it out.

15. I like sudoku. A lot.

16. I have had meningitis, shingles, and a seizure (not at the same time).

17. I am clumsy. I often run into things and have inexplicable bruises.

18. Every night I put a glass of ice water on my bedside table even though it's usually full in the morning.

19. I have DES. That's "dry eye syndrome," people. Brad makes fun of me and my lubricating eye drops.

20. I love flowers and gardening but I'm terrible at it. I guess you really do have to water things to keep them alive or something. The only thing I've been able to keep living for an extended period of time is an ivy plant my in-laws gave me four years ago.

21. I broke my wrist snowboarding. Well, not so much "snowboarding" as exiting the ski lift at the top of the mountain. Whoops! Please refer to #17.

22. I can't stand the smell of bananas that are too ripe.

23. I have worn a size 10 shoe since 7th grade I think?

24. I have never been able to do a cartwheel.

25. I love to crank up the hot water in the shower as far as it will go. If my skin isn't red when I get out, it was too chilly for me!