How do you know when your hair dryer is dying?

I think my hair dryer is on its last legs. Whenever I use it (which is daily) it makes this very loud crackling sound. It's such an odd and concerning sound that when Jeff hears it he always remarks "that doesn't sound normal". Agreed. However, it still heats up and still dries my hair, so it's still serving its sole purpose. It does smell a little funky when I use it and I swear it's going to burst into flames one of these days without warning.

I'm not even sure what the shelf-life is for a hair dryer these days. I think this one is about 2-3 years old. It's not a high quality hair dryer but it gets the job done. I hate to break down and buy a new one since this one seems to be working perfectly pretty well. I also don't want to get out of the shower one day with a wet head and find that my hair dryer has decided to quit working. Or worse, start drying my hair only to witness flames coming out of the dryer and towards my head! It would be comical to witness though. :)

Today's sewing project: kitchen apron

Just wanted to share today's sewing project:

(Please ignore the model who was still her in pj's and had been sewing for the last 2 hours)

My mother-in-law had picked up a ton of fabric for me at her local thrift store, and included in that pile of fabric were these two prints. It was really pretty simple. I cut my pattern to fit my body based on where I wanted the top and bottom of the apron to hit. I measured my mid-section so I knew how wide to make it. My mom had picked up a huge bag of bias tape at a garage sale last summer and in it was the perfect shade of green to match this fabric. I sewed the bias tape on the edges, hemmed my top and bottom, sewed on the ties, and then added 3 pockets with buttons (for decoration) and VOILA! it's done.

I have to do a bit of baking this week and I can't wait to try it out. The only thing I'm nervous about is how it will wash. It's cotton fabric so it should be fine. Guess I'll find out soon enough. I hate to say it, but this is only the 3rd thing I've ever made for myself. I need to start doing more sewing for me. All in good time.

No Cupcake Camp for 2011

I am sad to report that I found out today there will not be a Cupcake Camp Columbus in 2011. The amazing organizers for Cupcake Camp have decided to take a hiatus this year but hope to hold it again in 2012. Needless to say, I'm very sad.

I was prepared to actually bake this year with the KitchenAid Stand Mixer that Jeff had given me for Christmas. My sister-in-law even bought me 2 cupcake cookbooks and a cupcake decorating kit. Now that there isn't going to be a Cupcake Camp, what is a girl to do?

A couple friends have suggested that I host my own little Cupcake Camp at my house and invite friends to bake cupcakes, everyone eats them and we vote on our favorites. This suggestion has definitely peaked my interest. I was already plotting how I could do this only 5 minutes after the suggestion was made. I plan to take a look at my calendar, talk with a few friends, and decide if this is something I could really do. It certainly sounds fun!

So while the official Cupcake Camp Columbus will not be happening this year, Cupcake Camp Lombardi may be making it's official debut. More to come...hopefully!

I got an award!

It's my first blogging award and it was given to me by my amazing friend Jill over at Happy Hopefuls. If you're looking for an inspiring story of a woman who has more perseverance and strength than anyone you'll ever meet, check out her blog and her journey of becoming a mother. Thanks, Jill, for giving me my first ever blogging award!

For those that are nominated below, the rules for each of these awards are that you tell us 7 things about yourself and nominate 15 bloggers (and notify them). Since I don't even know 15 other bloggers, I'm going to stick with 8. Call me lazy. Maybe I need to expand my blog-reading horizons :)

First, here are 7 things about me!

1. I'm a Michigan fan with a degree from Ohio State.

2. I'm an only child.

3. I despise brussel sprouts.

4. I may be the only person I know not watching Glee.

5. I can only grow my fingernails out when I'm on a diet (weird, I know).

6. I've had grey hair since I was 16 years old.

7. I consider myself a morning person.

And the nominees are....

Allison at Bouncing Buckeye Baby

Tricia at Crockpot Tuesdays

Rumi at Lucky Frog

Tbonegrl at The Adventures of Taderbaby

Manday at Life Without Dragons

Em at Em and Dave's Excellent Adventure

Lori at Adventures in Grownupness

Alyson at Our Wonderful Life

I hope you ladies feel as special getting this award as I did! Each of you have awesome blogs and each of are most-deserving of this award. I can't wait to read some little-known-facts about each of you.

Just some ramblings

No real "title" for this post. Just some things I wanted to get off my chest, both good and bad.

I went home this past weekend to see my dad, who had back surgery. Not major surgery, but major enough. He's doing fine. A little too well. He's already trying to do too much. When I asked him if he read the instructions on post-surgery activities he, of course, did not. The other part of this situation is that my parents do NOT get along. They've been married for almost 30 years and honesty, I'm surprised they've been married this long. My Saturday morning started with me waking up to screaming and yelling in my house. That lasted for well over an hour and ended with my mom storming out of the house, me in tears and thinking about driving back to Columbus, and my dad sitting silently in the living room. I didn't leave because I would have felt guilty leaving him after having surgery just 2 days earlier. I stuck it out, my mom came home that afternoon, and everything seemed to work itself out. I'm pretty sick of this whole routine though. How bad is it that I think things would be so much better if they were divorced? Ugh.

On the upside, Jeff and I had a nice Valentine's Day. We went to dinner at a great Indian place near downtown called Indian Oven and then had dessert at my favorite place in Columbus, Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams (their new Bakeshop flavors are amazing). Jeff gave me a box of 6 truffles from our favorite chocolatier/bakery called Ganache and I got him a bottle of Scotch. It's safe to say we know each other's tastes very well. :)

I stepped on the scale this morning to find that my weight has finally dropped back into the 130's! Woohoo! I've been dying to see those numbers again. It actually makes me feel like I can reach my goal weight again. I'd like to get a little below my goal weight, just to give myself some wiggle room, but I'll be happy just to hit my goal weight again. Now to just keep it there...

I'm taking the next 2 days off work and we have Monday off as well due to President's Day. Essentially I have a 5-day weekend! Jeff and I plan to go to Jeffersonville Outlets on Friday and I want to dye my hair on Thursday. I plan to do a little sewing as well. But mostly I plan to relax and not think about work for 5 days.

Whenever NaBloPoMo comes up again, I plan to participate. I'd like to challenge myself to post every single day for a month. I think I could do it but I may have to write myself notes to remind myself to post. There would definitely be some one-sentence posts in the month, but I'm always up for a challenge!

Don't you just love it!

And by that I mean, don't you just love when you've been trying to lose weight and you're able to fit back into a pair of pants that have been sitting in your drawer, lonely, just waiting for you to put them back on (if only you didn't feel like a bloated cow when you wore them).

Well pants, I hope you feel like a day out on the town, because I can fit into you again!

:)

Figlio: My review

It was so much more than I expected! First of all, the atmosphere is so intimate and low-key. The lights are dim, there's just enough noise to keep things interesting but not so much that you feel like you have to yell just to have a conversation. The wait staff were all very nice and the service was prompt.

We went for Restaurant Week because we could try the restaurant and the food for a bit less money than if you just eat off the standard menu. For $20 per person, this is what we had:

Jeff

Crab and Corn Chowder

Pesto Chicken with Feta Pizza

Warm Apple Walnut Cake

Amy

Chop Chop Salad - a little too drenched in dressing for my liking

Teriyaki Chicken Pizza - great crust! Love the fresh pineapple. Could have had more teriyaki flavoring

Chocolate Silk Pie - I've never dissed chocolate in my life and I'm not about to start now. :)

They had a decent wine list, but with a wine place right next door that is owned by the same people, I would have expected a bigger "by the glass" selection.

I would definitely go back again when it isn't Restaurant Week. They have a Goat Cheese Pizza that I would love to get my hands on! It's a restaurant worth trying, at least once.

A Year of Dining Out in Columbus

For 2011, Jeff and I had the idea that we would try one new restaurant each month that we have never been to before. Better yet, why not do it with another great couple we are friends with. Jeff and I picked 6 restaurants and our friends are picking the other 6 restaurants. Tonight we are going to the first one on our list: Figlio. It's a restaurant we've been wanting to try for awhile now. But like everyone, we get into the same food rut and end up going to the same restaurants when we decide to eat out. This little "project" will hopefully expand our food horizons and push us one step closer to that "Columbus Foodie" category (but in a good way).

Here is our list of 6 restaurants:

1. Figlio

2. Aab India Restaurant

3. Dirty Frank's Hot Dog Palace

4. Barcelona

5. Knead

6. Si Senor

I plan to be back after going to each restaurant to give you a little food review, hopefully with pictures, and let you know about our experience. Figlio is all about their wood-fired pizzas. Jeff is a huge pizza fanatic so he'll undoubtedly enjoy it. I also enjoy pizza, but I enjoy it best with different and unique ingredients and flavor combinations. I'm hoping that Figlio will give me that opportunity. I'll keep you posted!

Weight Watchers: Back on the Wagon

So I'm not sure anyone is even reading my blog anymore, but thought I better write a post if I'm going to keep this blog at all. I'm back on Weight Watchers (WW) again. Started last week and trying to adjust to this new Points Plus program.

I was hesitant and skeptical at first, being as though I lost 30 lbs on the old program. However, after week 1, I have to admit, it's pretty good. I hate having to re-learn all the point values for my favorite foods but I like that I get to eat as many fruits and veggies as I want and not have to worry about the point total. I think the higher daily point total is a little fraudulent though because, although you get more points per day, everything you eat is a little higher in points like it used to be. It gives a sense of false hope that you get to eat more per day, when in all actuality, you're really not. I'm pretty sure I'm eating about the same amount of foods as I did on the old program. My food staples really haven't changed.

I need to lose 14 lbs to get back to my goal weight. I'm proud to say that I lost 3 lbs in the first week. Just 11 more to go! If losing this last 11 lbs is anything like it was last time, this may be a long couple of months. However, if I can convince myself that exercise is good and I should like exercise, maybe it'll be a bit easier.

I'll keep this updated each week with how the journey is going. I'm hoping that my blog can become my motivation tool to keep myself honest in this journey. That being said, I had City BBQ tonight as our one meal out per week and it was awesome! Back to being super strict tomorrow.

Until next time...
Amy