shoes!!!!!!!

A girl and here shoes should never be apart. So, in a previous post I said that I wanted to own a pair of Manolo Blahnik's. These are the pair that I believe that I just have to HAVE!!!! In Pink python-embossed leather the Crisscross Ankle-Wrap Sandal comes in at a whopping $675.00. It's a killer but these are soooooo fantastic. And these are a cheap pair of super hot shoes that I picked up the other day. I can't wait to get them out and wear them. If it doesn't snow on New Years Eve I think that these will be on my tootsies. Yeah!!!!

Well just another day in paradise. Hope yours is just as nice!!!

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

This is what I get to look out my window at work and see everyday. My backyard at home is much better but, I am so loving the fact that we are going to have a white christmas here in Iowa this year. Last year we were looking at a lot of black dirt and dead, brown grass.

It is really foggy here today. Iowa weather is so tempremental. One day it can be in the 30's and the next it will be -1. That's just how it is here. Today it is foggy and by Saturday we are supposed to have another 3-5 inches of snow on the ground. It has to be below 20 to get really good snow here and if it gets too cold it won't snow at all.

On a side note I LOVE Sex and the City and I found this on a web page the other day. It makes me laugh and I thought it was really cute.
Hopefully I will be back before Christmas but if I don't. I hope that everyone has a very Merry Christmas!!!!

new puppies

These are "the boys" as my dad and I have taken to calling them. Max is the fat one on the left with the green collar and Benelli is on the right with the red collar.

Me with Max and Benelli
There is "Fat Max". He's Mom and Dad's new guy.
And Benelli all perked up being a cutie. My brother is his new papa.
Outside playing in the snow. They love to bite each others collars and ears.
We just got them on Friday December 14th and they are 10 weeks old they were born October 2nd. I can't wait to have them this spring and go play in the grass and go swimming this coming summer. But I am sooooooooo excited to have them. I love puppies!!!!!!!

On a side note my oral surgery went awesome. I haven't had any problems, so far, keep your fingers crossed for me. I have been eating solid food since the day after the surgery. I hated not being able to eat. I love food. hahaha. Any way that's my news from Northern Iowa!! Lots of snow on the ground here, and of course I'm loving that.

deer hunting

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING PICTURES ARE GRUESOME

If you don't mind a little blood and decapitation you are in the clear. However, I am a hunter and this is part of what we do. So, here we go.

Mine is one of those cuties up front with out antlers.

Dad's Deer

Shep's Deer

Brother's Deer

All I can say is that this year I didn't shoot "the kitten" (my deer was so small it got nicknamed that). We had a great time as usual. The weather did kind of suck this year. With the sleet that we got on Saturday Dec. 1st. I have a pump action on my gun that froze and my gun wouldn't move. We had a couple of safeties freeze on. Two of the guys said that their guns froze to their coats and one of the times that I was sitting my back froze to a gate. However, with 9 deer we marked this up as another great year.

e needs new wheels

Okay so I don't "NEED" new wheels. I just have been having issues with my car as it is. And so far I have looked into Chevy Trail Blazers (my mom had one and I loved it), Ford Mustangs (I think they are sooooo hott, however Iowa+winter+rear wheel drive= not good), and lastly Jeep Wranglers (I love them)!!!!!! Any way so I have been looking at years, mileages, and prices and as far as I can see right now. I would be much better off ordering one from Jeep NEW!!! As stupid as that may sound. Anyway, I looked at one on the Internet here in Iowa. It's and 2003 with 54,542 miles on it, soft top (which I don't want it gets way to cold here in the winter for that shit), manual transmission (which this girl isn't good at and really doesn't want) and they wanted........................................$13,995.00. So I went to the Jeep web page and built my Jeep

2008, no miles, with a hard top, with an automatic transmission, in the color I wanted........................................$21,090.00. If I go with the manual vs. the automatic it would drop the price to $20,265.00.


I know that I have some Jeep drivers out here in blogger land I have a couple of questions for you.

1. What is the difference between Air Conditioning Bypass and actual AC? (basically what the hell does the bypass do?) this is a difference of $895.00.
2. Do you love your Jeep and what is best and worst thing about it?
3. How long have you had it and has it held up the way you expected it to, considering how you drive it and what you've done to it?
4. If you know me, do you think a Jeep would be a good vehicle for me?

I really don't want to buy a new one but this is one of the options. I want a 2003 or newer, with around 50,000 or less miles, and I don't really want to pay over $18,000.00. Depending on how things go I will either sell my car outright or trade it.

first real snow!!!!!!!

so we got our first official snowfall of the year today. I call it official because this is the first snow that has accumulated on the ground. I was so excited to see this after leaving the oral surgeon's office today. I LOVE SNOW!!!!!

And yes I did shoot these while I was driving. I am a bad, bad kid. Two hands on the wheel at all times. I was just too excited.

The oral surgeon was very nice and he is going to try to take all three of the wisdom teeth that I have. My surgery will be on December 12th at 8am. This is going to be a completely new experience for me. I have never had surgery or been put under so I am a little nervous about it. But at the same time I can't wait to get it done.

the christmas wish list

Okay so I am finally starting to get into the season. I hate to do anything Christmas before Thanksgiving because I feel like it takes forever before we FINALLY get to Christmas. So I am a veto-er of Christmas music, Christmas shopping (unless it's a great deal), putting up the tree, all this HAS to wait until after Thanksgiving for me. However, I started my Christmas list, because my grandma always makes us "kids" have our lists ready for her so that she can get started with her shopping.

This year I have decided on some household items that might be nice. Mostly things for my kitchen. Serving dishes, spatulas, baking pans, handheld electric mixer, and things along those lines. I can't forget the fabulous Martini Shaker that I want too. This is from Pottery Barn and it rotates to tell you how to mix your drinks.

And those are all fine and dandy but if you want to know my really big wishes here they are.

Yes, I want a vacuum!! I like this one and I only have carpet in two rooms in my house so I figure it won't get that much use. This is the Hoover Mach 3 Cyclonic Bagless Upright. Coming in at $93.00. This doesn't seem to be to big of a buy.

Next, my mom actually saw this couch/bed in the ShopKo ad. I love that it is brown and I wouldn't mind having an extra bed for guests. My house is quite small and there isn't an extra room anywhere so this would be perfect. The couch actually folds down to make a full size bed. The arms are adjustable and coming in at $179.99, it would be a great solution in my home.
Okay, now here I am getting into my extravagant part of the list. I love golfing and I don't have my own set of clubs. And I don't need the Nike ones but they are soooooo nice. I can dare to dream a little. That's what Christmas is all about. These are the Nike CCi Irons with Graphite Shafts (might as well go big). These are regularly priced at $900-$1000.00 just for the Irons alone. I would then have to buy the Drivers, Wedges, and Putter.
Lastly, my biggest dream of all is to one day own a pair of these little babies. Extravagance in the extreme. I have watched Sex and the City almost from day one. I have loved and longed for a pair of Carrie's glorious Manolo Blahnik shoes. These Red Patent Slingback Pumps come in at a whopping $565.00. I don't care if it takes me years and years to save up. The sad thing is I have to own a (just one) pair of these someday.

Anyway that concludes my list.

On another note I have started Catch 22. This is book number something off my list. I am still chugging along, making very slow progress. I have an appointment with the oral surgeon tomorrow to tell me when my wisdom teeth will be getting taken out. I am so not looking forward to it. I am also hoping to have them delay surgery until the second or third week of December. I don't want to miss out on my deer hunting. I will know more tomorrow. I hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and eats lots of turkey.

turkey day is coming

Okay, so I went to church the last two weeks. I haven't been for the last three months. I feel like I am at the age that I didn't feel the need to go and I didn't feel the need to go either. I enjoy going to see all the people that I grew up going to church with. HOWEVER, our minister is a horrible, horrible man. Not only is he bad at his job but he is just an asshole. I am pretty sure that he thinks that he is "God's gift to Man". I will give him the benefit that he does know his stuff when it comes to religion and theology. Anyway our message this week at church included and I kid you not. Senator Grassley (R-Iowa), The ministers health, and the war. Now our message was called "Preservation"; I would like to know if anyone can figure out how those three topics fit into preservation. Because of all the people at church that I talked to couldn't figure it out.

Also on the topic of church I got more out of the children's message than I got out of the one that I was supposed to be listening to. Anyway Thanksgiving isn't all about the turkey. It's about being thankful for the things we have. Just like that Indians (Native Americans) and the Pilgrims did when they had their first good year of crops. And I can say that I can relate to that being a farm kid and having a very, very good harvest. You can't beat selling your Corn for $4.00 per bushel and Soybeans for $10.00 per bushel. Farming is a very good life right now.

one more day

i'm a bad, bad blogger. and the sad thing is that i really don't have anything new to say either. it's getting colder and colder here in iowa. i am waiting impatiently for the lake to freeze so that my friend josh and i can go ice skating and ice fishing. the joy of living on the lake = all i have to do is walk down my back yard and hit the ice.

i am also getting ready for the approaching deer hunting season. yeah!! it's still 2 weeks and 1 day away but i love this time of year. i am hoping for a little dusting of snow before then. it makes it easier to track anything that might just get wounded. but that never happens, we shot to kill. hahahaha.

anyway i think i have bored everyone with enough rambling for one day. have a good weekend and a wonderful thanksgiving, if i don't get back here before then.

Kansas

So my mom and I had an adventure this weekend. We went to go visit my aunt in Lawrence. I have basically desided that the people of Lawrence were not the nicest people on the planet. However it was nice to go down and see my aunt and uncle. I hadn't seen them since their move in February.

I found it interesting that right after I had told my mom that I didn't like the people and she agreed with me that my aunt went off about how nice the people were. She hadn't even heard me say that I didn't like the people. Exspecially this one woman in the TJ Maxx. She came up to me and basically pushed her cart towards me just so that I would move so that she could look at what I had been looking at.

I told mom that I didn't feel the need to ever go back to Kansas again. I was also a little mad that my aunt went on and on about this cute little store down town called Bloom she said that they had all this cute stuff. Anyway I wanted to hit some of the shops down town that are trendy and have different stuff. Well I made that comment once and got completely ignored by my aunt. I guess I won't be going back to Kansas any time soon as far as I'm concerned.

Info

So the Nice Guy and I are still seeing one another. I figured it was time to give you some info on him. We have known eachother since we were kids and have grown up together. We were good friends when I was in high school. I hung out with him and his roommates a lot my senior year, because they were older and they had beer. (side note: I am a beer drinker. I don't like wine, however i do love a good UV Blue and lemonade, margarita, or Cosmo. Still beer is my favorite.) Anyway, Nice Guy and I have stayed friends and we have gotten to know each other better. After my split with the ex I was very surprised to have him ask me out.

Other than that. Nice Guy went to college for Business/Banking and Finance. However, he is working as an electritian for his dad (who owns the company). He has two older sisters (who both used to babysit for my bro and I back in the day). His family is awesome. I have also known them for years and years. He likes hunting and mechanical stuff. He is your typical all around guys guy. That's all for now I guess. Have a good day.

is it friday yet??

Okay so I am just ready for Saturday so that I can sleep in. I love weekends purely for the sleep in factor.

Anyway I have another date with the nice guy again tommorow night. I have no idea what we will be doing. I was kind of being bad and told him that it was totally up to him. So, as of this moment I am clueless and guess what?? I LOVE IT!!!

I will also be babysitting again this weekend for the family that has 4 kids I will have #1 and #4 ages 8 and 1. They really are great kids and I am excited to see them. I haven't seen them for a while. #4 should be walking like crazy, last time I saw him he was standing up on his own.

On a side note. I want to have count downs on the side of my page. If anyone could tell me where to find one that would be great!!!

jerks vs. good guys

I know, I know, I know. Two post in one day well I felt the need to separate these because they are two very different by semi related topics. After writing the first this popped into my head.

~I am still very much enjoying my time with the nice guy. It's one of those things that I am starting to get used to. Having a nice guy that is. My guy friend J and I were discussing the other day the whole women liking bad guys thing. J is a good guy. His ex left him for a bad ass that left her. He told me that women like bad men because we find it to be a challenge to change them. And the funny thing is as women we get told that we can and then we get told that we can't. And how we should go about trying to change men. The fact is that instead of being with a jerk we should just be happy with our nice guy. The only problem is that there is something inside of us that wants us to leave the good guys of the world and be with the jerks. I don't get it and I'm not saying that I am any better than anybody else. I was with a jerk for over two years. I still "loved" the jerk I wanted to be with the jerk. Now, I am with the nice guy we have gone out/hung out three times now and I need some spice I need to have that little bit of jerk to keep me interested. I need something!! What that thing is I don't know. If you do please tell me.

This is just a random rant. I guess it is just one of the mysteries of men and women.

just another day in paradise

Well I had another great night with the nice guy. We watched Knocked Up, and We Are Marshall.

Knocked Up made me laugh a lot. There is lots of sexual humor, lots of pot/getting high. The movie is a riot for all but one small part. I can't tell you what that is cuz I just plain don't want to ruin it for you. And how could I forget the ever beautiful and extremely HOTT Katherine Heigl.



Next I am a huge fan of football movies. I hate watching actual football. We Are Marshall is one of my favorites. The movie is based on the Marshall University football team in West Virgina in the 1970s. Basically there is a plane crash that kills almost the whole football team and coaching staff. So they work from the ground up to rebuild. Matthew McConaughey plays their new head coach, Jack Lengyel. Matthew is an absolute nut case in this movie. He just flat out looks like he is off his rocker but it adds some comedy. And I can't forget Matthew Fox who is the cutie assistant coach, Red Dawson.

I have also finished The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. The book was insightful to say the least. Individualism and egotism are huge topics of the book that is based around the story of 4 men that are all in love with the same woman. Based on architecture and the drive to succeed the book isn't bad if you can make it through the 700+ pages.

Date Two

I had another very nice date with the very nice guy again this weekend. We went out for pizza and were going to go bowling. After sitting and eating and talking for 2-and-a-half hours we decided not to go bowling but to just grab a movie and watch it.
Zodiac is a very interesting movie based on the true Zodiac killer of the late 60's and early 70's in San Francisco, California. This movie should not be started at 11pm however. Be for warned that it is a 2-and-a-half hour movie. So needless to say. The nice guy and I are going to have to watch it again to make sure that we got the full affect. (not falling asleep would have helped). Well I believe that is all I have for now.

farming + harvest = my home in autumn

Fall is my absolute favorite time of year!!!!

These are just a few from around the country side of good old IOWA!!

I wouldn't trade being born and raised here for any other place.

nothing major

It has been a very slow beginning to the week. Not much going on here. The weekend was lite, just went to a friend's b-day on Saturday night. We had a really good time.
Last night I went to go see my Auntie who's in town for the week and to see my grandma in the hospital (hip surgery).
Other than that just working and sleeping.
Thinking I am going on a date either tomm. or Friday night. Haven't confirmed anything yet. Pizza and Bowling looks to be the plan for now. I'll just have to see what happens.

The birthday boy!!

and his beautiful wife and I.

my date was great

I had a lot of fun on my date last night. We went out to eat at Applebee's where I have never had a bad meal. Nice relaxed atmosphere. I had a GIANT chicken cesar salad. It was fantastic. I will be eating the rest for lunch today. Yea!! We then had some time to kill and cruised the car lots of Mason City. It was funny. We both found new vehicles (too bad we can't afford them).

After killing time we went to the movie 3:10 to Yuma. This is a good movie lot of the whole wild west/shooting random people because you don't like them/and lots of pride and morals. I would recommend anyone to go see it once. And the ending is a good one. I didn't cry so I classify it as a good first date movie. And it doesn't hurt a woman to go see it you get to see the awesome Christian Bale (yummy),

Russell Crowe (who I'm not a huge fan of but he was awesome in this movie), and a little blip of Luke Wilson (who is also very yummy). Needless to say I've basicly been feeling Christain Bale since Batman Begins. Very excited to see The Dark Knight his sequal to Batman coming out in July of '08, co-staring the beautiful Maggie Gyllenhaal,

and the sexy Heath Ledger.

Well that's all for now. Basicly I am really excited for our next date whenever that might be. ;)

trap shooting recap

So the shooting was awesome minus this HUGE bruise I have. And no it isn't the fault of anyone but myself. I guess this is what you get when you don't get the gun all the way up to your shoulder.


Oh well it was all in good fun. We had a nice little game of who could shoot the best, too. Needless to say I should have just stopped after my first five shots (5 for 5) the rest wasn't pretty.

Also, along with my fun this weekend. I got asked out on a date!?!?!?!? That I am super nervous for. It will just be a huge change for me after being in a relationship for over two years. Don't get me wrong I'm really excited too, just really nervous. I have the whole girl complex of what should I wear and is my hair gonna look good that day, and how should I do my makeup, and should I kiss him at the end of the date. Yeah I feel so weird. I am this worked up about it and it isn't even until Wednesday!! Hopefully I will be a little bit more calm by then. Get all my jitters out now. I will give you all updates after the big date!

P.S. Much advice needed on all topics.

trap shooting

This weekend we are all getting together in our hunting group to do some trap shooting. I'm really looking forward to getting a gun in my hands again. It's been much to long and after a long week it is a great way to relieve some of my tension. Don't worry I'm not a nut case. I just like to go hunting. We are just preparing for the upcoming seasons.

the weekend was wonderful!!!!!!

I had a great weekend in Ames with my bestie, Jenny. Friday night we went out and saw all of the guys we used to hang out with when we were freshmen. It was a fun experience seeing them all again.

Saturday was a great day to sleep in and upon waking up we did a little shopping at the mall. It was so funny the Iowa-Iowa State game was in town this weekend so it was nuts in town. However, we all thought that Iowa was going to kill ISU so we didn't even watch the first half of the game until we found out that ISU was winning 12-0. So we get back to Jenny's and turn on the game. This turned out to be exciting with a 1 min to go and the score at 13-12 with Iowa winning. ISU ball at the 20, one little kick to win the game 15-13. Needless to say we partied hard at the bar uptown after the game. Met some really drunk people in a bar. They were funny and we had a good time hanging out with them. 3am finally rolled around and we hit the sack. I got a wake up call from a friend, at 8am, to see how I was feeling the next morning. I guess I had talked to him a lot the night before.

Anyway goodtimes all around. Only I really miss Ames and want to go back and have some more fun. Here are a few pics from the weekend.

We love our Vodka, and we love it Rich.

Girls just want to have fun.

ames for the weekend!!

So I am off to Ames for the weekend. To spend some well needed time with my bestie Jenny. I am really excited to escape my little bitty town for awhile. Yea!!

Also on the list of good news. I GOT MY PHONE!!!!! Yea!! to that too. I am soooo happy that I finally got it after their wrong shipping and such. I hate when people give you a date that it will be there, and then it ends up being 2 days later. I know that it sound mean and bitchy to say that (you know wow she's pissed about 2 whole days) but all I am saying is if you give me an exact date meet it. If you can't meet the date then give a range. So basicly just give a range because I swear no one meets the date exactly.

Anyway that is all for now. Talk to you after the weekend!!

projects

I am a project freek. Right now I am working on making pillows for my chair and sofa in my living room. Here is a sneek peek of one!! Art hands. hahaha did some tree drawing the other day. Hope to replicate this on a pillow.
Just me!
Another shot of the back yard!!!! Need to go down to the lake and take a pic for you all to see.

fall is here!!!!!!

The cold weather has hit the area. Today we are sitting at a lovely 68 degrees and it couldn't feel better. I finally broke out my long sleeves. I love fall!!!!!! I will post pics of leaves and harvest as soon as it happens.

just another day

It is raining here AGAIN today. I have had too much rain. I want fall with leaves, and colors, and smells, no more rain!!!

The weekend was good babysitting turned out great. The kids were good like usual and my cash is going to get me a new phone!!!! Yea!!! BlackBerry here I come. WooHOO!!!


Can't wait to get it. Hopefully on Tuesday!!!! Everyone needs to call me I am going to need to test out all the new stuff that I will be able to do with it!!!!

adventures in babysitting

Crazy kids, #1 playing Bratz on Play Station all afternoon, walk to the park, #3 eating the whole bag of Cheetos, #1,#2,#3 picking on eachother, oh yeah that bratz game means I have to read everything because they can't, #4 is just crawling all over the place, let me tell you so far it has been a very interesting day. Not horrible but I think the girls are getting bored of me and not wanting to just hang out. Well it is almost supper time here so I will be able to feed them in a little bit. I love that they have wireless internet so that I can sit here in the living room and just type away and watch the kids at the same time.

Maybe I will be able to write a little tomorrow too.

the weekend

So, here I am preparing for another weekend. I say it like I have big plans. Don't worry I don't. I will be babysitting for a couple that I know from 8am Sat to 2pm Sun. Yes I will be pulling and overnighter with 4 kids. Ages 8, 6, 3, and 1. The three oldest are girls and one little boy. The kids are honestly amazing I have babysat for them many times. Never for this long or over night, so we will see how this goes. I'm sure everything will be great. Hopefully we won't have and bad adventrues.

Well I hope everyone has a great weekend. See you on Monday!

the name game

I stole this from Cousin J

1. YOUR SPY NAME: (middle name and current street name)
Ann Beeds Lake

2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME: (grandfather/grandmother on your mom’s side, your favorite candy)
Patricia Snikers

3. YOUR RAP NAME (first initial of first name, first three or four letters of your last name)
E-Sym

4. YOUR GAMER TAG: (a favorite color, a favorite animal)
Green Dog

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)
Ann Clarion

6.YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (first 3 letters of your last name, last 3 letters of mother’s maiden name, first 3 letters of your pet’s name)
Symmitduk

7. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The", your favorite color, the automobile your dad drives)
The Green Ford

8. PO.RNO NAME: (First Pet’s name, First street you lived on)
Snoopy Balsam

9. YOUR ACTION HERO NAME: (first name of the main character in the last film you watched, last food you ate)
Sara "Sway" Ruffles

What movie is "Sara 'Sway'" from? That's for you Cousin P. I think mine are all odd but I think that Snoopy Balsam is really wierd.

my house!!!!!!

This is my little house!!!!!

The front door opens to my kitchen.
The kitchen is open to the living room.
My bedroom is next to the kitchen. The bathroom is right next to my bedroom and I have a lovely PINK tub and sink just like Cousin J used to have!!!!
The three season porch. This is attached to the back of my house and the door opens out to it from my living room.
More of the porch. Dad gave me his deer to hang out here. Hopefully it will be replaced with my own after this December.

My back yard. Look at all those trees and the lovely glistening you see at the bottom of the hill is the LAKE!!! Woohoo. Well that is it. That's my cozy little house. Sorry for the delay in pictures again. I am such a slacker. And I know my pictures aren't that good. I was in a hurry to take them. Didn't want to make you all wait any longer.