I’ve been watching a lot of Food Network lately. I’m currently hooked on Chopped, The Worst Cooks In America, and Restaurant Stakeout. I also DVR Pioneer Woman’s show each week. Oh and that new Bobby Dean show isn’t bad either. I’ll admit that Restaurant Stakeout is a bit over the top, but I love watching these horrible employees get busted for their behavior.

My new job is still going wonderfully. I love it more each day. It leaves zero time for internet play during the day though. So many tweets happening during the day. So out of the loop am I! I don’t even care though. I just unsubscribed from about half of the things in my feeder. I think Apartment Therapy, Fail Blog, and Damn You Auto Correct were the worst offenders. I hate to see them go, but it will be nice to not always have at least 400 unread items in my Google Reader.

We saw Need To Breathe in concert on Friday night. These guys have to be the best live show I’ve ever seen. I’ve seen them twice now and they just blow my mind.

These tanks from Old Navy. I ordered three of them in different colors and I’m crazy about them. I have plans to order at least two more. Yes they are that great.

So my sister told me about this website Warby Parker. I’m already a big lover of Zenni Optical, but I have to admit that about half of the time I don’t end up liking the glasses that I buy. Thankfully they are cheap enough that it’s not that big of a deal. I donate them and move on. Well with Warby Parker, you don’t have that problem. You go to the website and pick out five frames that you like. Then give them your info and they mail them to you to try on. You keep them for five days and send them back. They pay for the shipping both ways.

Also, when you buy a pair, they donate a pair. So you pay $95 and that covers the glasses, the shipping, and the donated pair. And they had really stylish frames. But before I was gonna spend $95 (since I usually buy $8 glasses from Zenni), I decided I had better go get my eyes checked. It had been two years and I was pretty sure my prescription had changed. I was right. It actually improved slightly. But then this one thing happened. I kind of sort of fell in love with a pair of frames at my doc’s office.

I haven’t bought a pair of glasses from his office in at least six years. However, I know me and I know that I like change. So I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before I go hunting the internet for more glasses. And when I do, I’ll be sure and check out Warby Parker again.

I made a tank of gas last me exactly three weeks. My new commute is the best.

Thom and I have never really gotten into Valentine’s Day. Most years we don’t even go out to dinner. It’s not because I don’t want him fawning over me or showering me with gifts. It’s just that he’s never really been the kind of guy to think ahead and plan out romantic gestures like that. He’s more the kind of guy who offers up a trip the mall to let me pick something out.

But if he were the kind of guy who wanted to surprise me with gifts this Valentine’s Day, here’s a few things that would surely do the trick.

The Naked Palettes from Urban Decay. I love them both, but they are like $50 each so it’s not just something I can justify buying myself on a whim. Urban Decay makes the best eye shadows. I almost never wear anything else. My personal favorite shades are Mushroom, AC/DC, Misdemeanor, Sellout, and Mildew. Can be purchased at Sephora or Ulta.

Penguin Book Cover postcards from Anthropologie. $25

These are adorable and I have a project in mind for them.

This kick ass shirt with my current favorite tv character Ron Swanson. $25

Are you currently coveting anything? Do you and your sweetie celebrate Valentine’s Day?

I had the entire last week of the year off. So what did I do? I took down the tree, put away all the new loot, and I made laundry soap.

Now I’m not becoming some crunchy hippie type. I just simply look for easy ways to save money sometimes. Like how I always buy my toilet paper from the Family Dollar now instead of at the grocery store. The good stuff is so much cheaper there.

My only regret is that didn’t have any scented oils on hand. So my laundry smells like nothing when I pull it out of the dryer. Oh well. It made a lot of soap and there’s still plenty of stuff leftover to make a few more batches.

I was gifted some lovely things for Christmas. And also gifted some cash so that I could buy my own lovelies.

I have too many things. I love them so.

Show of hands who hasn’t joined Pinterest yet. It’s pretty much the best website of 2011. Perfect for someone like me who was looking for a better way to gather all of my inspirations and ideas. I’m mostly on it for decorating and other house related things, but it’s got something for everyone.

Let me know if you’d like an invite.

I know that you all probably want me to put up a how I did it post for the cabinets. It’s in the works I promise. In the meantime, let’s enjoy this photo I took a couple of days ago.

Sure, I forgot to take the blue painters tape off of the appliances first, but whatever. You get the idea. Now just imagine a medium-dark gray granite on the counters, crisp white subway tile backsplash, and dark floors that could be stained concrete or slate tile. Because that is what I am currently imagining.

I am also imagining this:

How did people ever decorate or renovate their homes before we had the internet?

I set a goal for myself at the beginning of the year. I was going to bring my breakfast and lunch to work every single day for the entire month. Not only would I save quite a bit of money, but I had hoped it would help with my eating habits and whatnot. I was in the habit of going out to lunch on average 3 times a week. And probably buying breakfast out that much as well.

Well I’m proud to say I did it. I’m not sure how much money I saved since joining Weight Watchers and buying all that extra produce wasn’t cheap, but I know I had to have saved something. I’m pretending that I saved $140. Why? Because that’s how much my new Kindle cost. And so I’m pretending that Kindle was my reward for doing good.

It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. It’s kind of nice not having to figure out where to go for lunch every day. And while I do miss things like sausage rolls and donuts and Brewburgers, I know that I ate better and I lost 10lbs. I know I can’t keep this up for the whole year, but I think I will allow myself a once a week exception. I’m very excited to try the new oatmeal from McDonald’s. It looks yummy and healthy.

One of my resolutions for the year was to stop moving my keep the change money from my savings back to my checking. This went better than expected in January. Not only did I not take any money out, I managed to put more in savings than just the amount from the keep the change program. I’ve added an addendum to that resolution where I put X amount of each paycheck into savings and I leave it there. So, one month down, 11 more to go. If I can last the whole year I can probably buy myself new counter tops. They will go great with my new appliances.

Did I mention I’m getting new appliances? I didn’t think this would happen for a very long time, but it’s totally happening. Thank you Uncle Sam for giving me back enough of my money to make this happen. I’ve already picked out my fridge. She’s a beaut.

It’s a much nicer fridge than I originally had set out to get. And almost twice the price. It is still significantly cheaper than many other ones I saw, so I’m pleased.

I’m still trying to decide on an oven. We don’t currently have a gas line so I have been looking at electric, but I’m thinking that maybe if it’s not too big of a deal to get a gas line I would rather do that. Also I’m switching from a cooktop and double oven to an all in one range. This will require some construction to take place in our kitchen. I’m really hoping that all of this comes cheap. And quick.

So that’s my life as of late. Oh and we’re still snowed in. I did make it to work yesterday and today, but then it started snowing again so I left early. I have zero plans to leave my house all weekend.

So Tulsa is experiencing a blizzard today. It’s pretty crazy outside. Thankfully we still have power and no work today! (and hopefully none tomorrow)

Here’s what my back patio looks like.

We’re getting about 2 inches per hour. It’s ridiculous. Thankfully I have my new Wii and my new Kindle to keep me entertained. Netflix streaming is like the best thing ever. So are free e-books.

If anyone else has a Kindle and would like to be book sharing buddies let me know. And feel free to let me know any tricks to finding free and/or cheap books on Amazon. Do they have a way you can search by price?

In order for me to sleep at night, I need white noise. It wasn’t always this way. It started just over 4 years ago when I got married. I would turn on a fan at night in an effort to drown out his snoring. Now I can’t sleep without it. It’s winter though and it’s cold and dry. Turning on a fan just seems wrong. So I decided that I wanted a white noise machine. My first thought was Sharper Image. When I think about Sharper Image I think about expensive toys that are cool, but I can’t afford. And this thing looked cool.

It has 20 different sounds and an alarm clock. Of course I have no idea why anyone would want to listen to wind chimes or foghorns, it’s on there. There’s rain, white noise, thunderstorm, roadside, ocean tide, fan, aviary, train, and some others I can’t remember.

I turn it on Sunday night in preparation for my first week back to work after the holidays. Except that the noise isn’t really soothing me. It’s annoying me and making my heart race. So basically it’s stressing me out. I move to the only other sounds I can stand which are fan and thunderstorm. It gets no better. I finally gave up and turned the fan back on. And then took the Sharper Image Sound Soother back to Bed, Bath, and Beyond (where I bought it with a 20% off coupon) the next day.

The white noise app I downloaded to my phone was even worse. The best way I can describe it would be to compare it to listening to music on a pair of headphones from the Dollar Tree versus listening to music on a pair of Bose headphones. One sucks and one is awesome.

Oh and I also got the heated throw that I wanted. No more sliding into a cold bed at night.

Since Jessica asked. And Lord knows I love to cater to her demands…

I did get the immersion blender I asked for. And a Microplane. I got gift cards to Dillard’s and Target and Anthropologie and Itunes. I used one of those to buy me a Calphalon jellyroll pan that I didn’t know I wanted at first. But let me tell you how nice it is to finally have a pan that is the exact perfect size for my Silpat.

I have three new sweaters and a few new candles. A new pair of Guess prescription sunglasses and a fanny pack that we’re calling a hipster because fanny pack sounds bad.

And in case you were wondering why I would get a hipster for Christmas. My sister bought one for herself in Vegas and I’ve been kicking myself ever since for not getting one too.

Here’s a photo of her wearing it across her body, which is the more attractive way to wear it.

But it can also be worn around the waist just like a fanny pack. You know, for all those trips to Disney World.

Things I didn’t think to ask for until the last minute and now desperately want? A white noise machine and an electric blanket. Holy crap heated blankets are expensive. Mine broke last year and even a twin sized one is like $70. And of course I sleep on a king sized bed.

I’ll be getting a white noise machine soon though. These days of sleeping with a fan on in the dead of winter need to go away.

And now let me share with you my favorite photo from the holiday season. Baby Kyah and Thom just couldn’t get along.

Let me start this post by saying that I shop too much and I don’t really need anything. I know I have too much stuff. I’m so thankful to work for a company that gives me the last week of the year off so that I can spend time at home clearing out the old to make way for the new. Everyone in my family is healthy and has some kind of roof over their head. So for that I am completely grateful.

Now with that being said, I present you with my Christmas wish list. Because I can still want right?

Let’s start with the Fossil stuff. Because that’s where the bulk of my addiction comes from.

Camera Charm $22

Stella Watch in purple $95 (or turquoise or white)

Key-Per Messenger $88

Key-Per Lunch Bag $35

Immersion Blender $29.95 Oh the soups I could make with this bad boy.

Penguin Classics hardcover books $20 each. I’ve seen these at Borders as well as Anthropologie. They are just the thing to force me to read the classics.

Leatherbound Classic Books at Barnes & Noble $20 each Specifically the Alice In Wonderland and Narnia books.

Adorable camera strap from Phat Straps on etsy $31.99 And I need one of those things that tethers the lens cap to the camera too. I don’t know what that’s called.

Map Coasters from thepaintedlilly shop on etsy $30. I really need a good set of coasters and these are pretty rad.

Hot Spot Pie Plate from Anthropologie $28. How cute is that?

Oh and these…. you could just put them in my stocking Santa.

So what’s on your Christmas wish list this year?