Vacation

Well, I'm headed out for the next few days so you're not going to see much here.

I'm hoping that Caley, Samantha and I will have a fantastic road trip, complete with a few great adventures.

Hope everyone has an amazing remaining week and weekend, see y'all next week.

Peace and blessin's



photo taken from Life Photo Archives

Shabby Apple Anyone?

Down and Out Chic is hosting a Shabby Apple giveaway. I love the dresses at Shabby Apple, they have a good blend of fun, chic, classy and sassy dresses.

Visit Down and Out Chic to enter into the giveaway to win one of these two dresses.

Colorado is Awesome

I forgot how much I love Colorado. This may come as a surprise to many of you who have heard me talk about this wonderful state, but my love for the area was confirmed yesterday.

There are so many things to do and I feel like everyone leads an active lifestyle. Denver is the No. 6 fittest city according to Forbes, and it's not very surprising.

I'm not saying it's perfect but It's pretty freaking amazing! If you're not from here you should come visit.

Here some highlights from this little slice of heaven:

You can literally walk a mile high.

Love Coors Field.
LoDo. So much to explore in the mountains. It is seriously beautiful.
***all photos taken from Denver.org photo library

Interleague Play

I love that bud Selig introduced interleague play. I dig having two leagues because you can have an NL team and a AL team and they rarely play each other (except on the rare chance that your two teams match up for an interleague series).

Last season I got a change to see David Price hit (if I remember correctly he did manage to get a single). I love it when the AL pitchers have to bat.

The dynamics dramatically change when you take away the DH, or you add one when the team typically plays without.

I'm looking forward to watch baseball this weekend.

Here are some articles debating the difference between the two leagues.

MLB.com article about the matchups this weekend.

NL vs. Al, which is better?

P.S. BYU softball had a great regular season, MWc Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year, Coach of the Year, MWC Champions, Sixth-consecutive regional appearance. They face Texas today...

Turns Out I've Been Doing it All Sorts of Wrong

I’m afraid that my throat may swell shut when I’m sleeping at night. That would be terrible. I woke up about six times last night because of this lovely little problem.

My allergies are the worst they have ever been. I’m planning on seeing a specialist about this next week but for the time being I thought I would search to see what at-home remedies would be helpful.

Turns out That I’ve been doing everything wrong.

I need to wash all of my bedding (not just sheets but pillows and blankets) once a week in water that is over 130 degrees. I also should not live in a carpeted home (apparently 90 percent of allergies in the home can be prevented by simply have a hard surface floor rather than carpet. Did I mention we don’t have a vacuum?

Clothes should not be left sitting around, thanks to my great love of clothing I don’t have the space and since we’ve had a new roommate I’ve had to limit my clothing space to just one closet (a travesty)! Needless to say, my clothes are everywhere.

The home needs to be cleaned incredibly well, but the allergy sufferer shouldn’t dust or vacuum, and shouldn’t be exposed to harsh cleaning chemicals, unless it’s the wax kind (didn’t even know there were wax cleaning products).

You should sleep with your window closed (mine is wide open with a giant fan blowing that air directly on me).

There are ridiculous amounts of information out there for allergy sufferers and it’s difficult to sift through all of the information to find anything valuable, but in all my searching I have learned that I’ve been living my life all wrong.

I’m moving again this weekend (which will surely bring the dust up from all over the place and cause my body to attack itself) so hopefully I’ll be able to make some changes.

Stars and Stripes Hats

What do you think of this year's stars and stripes hat? I dig it. Might decide to buy some as gifts for family members...

Need a Laugh

Today I needed a little pick-me-up. I didn't wake up on time this morning and I was rushed and late getting to work. My outfit is less than stellar, my hair is less than done, and my face is less than made up.

What did I turn to??

Postcards From Yo Mamma

So awesome.

There was one time where my dear ol mum wrote something to me via e-mail that I thought would be worthy of submission, but upon reevaluating that decision I realized the background story was entirely too complex.

This one is my fav:

Most Def Not Gonna Become a Text GEEK!

Just so you know my point of view…
texting is a bitch… my poor eyes can’t see those little letters, numbers, and punctuation little pieces of shit.
So don’t go expecting your life to change just cuz we’re on the PLAN!!!
in emergency only I will use it, but I am most def not gonna become a text GEEK!

Saturday at the Rockies

Dear Heckling Crowd,

Thank you for reminding me that the fan experience can still be a lot of fun. Thank you for picking on Willie Harris. Thanks for grabbing his attention in the middle of the first inning, and then continuing to heckle for the remainder of the game.

Thank you for your sometimes witty remarks and for commending Willie for getting a hit.

I especially enjoyed the following comment, “Hey Willie, your socks are higher than you batting average.”

Thanks for getting better as the alcohol continued to poor and thanks for being willing to pay six dollars for a beer.

Best,

Jillian

Dear Willie Harris,

Thanks for waving to the left field crowd prior to the bottom of the first inning. Thanks for wearing your pants up, inspiring my favorite comment of the week.

You’re awesome,

Jillian

Dear Gentlemen who know nothing about baseball,

Thanks for entertaining me on Saturday. Your willingness to shout at the Nationals’ players despite your knowledge level extending barely beyond what a t-ball player knows brought me great joy.

There is a reason that these players are getting paid so much to compete at the highest level, no matter how lazy the fly ball to left-center looked I assure you that Carlos Gonzales’ efforts were much greater than yours would have been. Trust me.

Best,

Jillian

Men At Work

Picked up a new book, Men at Work. The book has been around for awhile but I thought it might make for a good read. As I began with the new introduction I immediately fell in love with the book and I wanted to share this little excerpt with you. First, I think this is so more moving and beautiful than any other contemporary writing that I could lay my hands on. Second, it combines two things that I love and play supreme importance upon, baseball and good writing.

Enjoy,

In the twenty years since the first publication of this book, baseball has experienced many exhilarating improvements and some disorienting and dispiriting turbulence. Though it all, however, baseball has remained a gift that keeps on giving because it never stops surprising, intriguing and challenging its attentive fans. Its steadily thickening sediment of statistics and other layers of history invite fresh comparisons to contemporary players an their achievements with those of previous generations. And for baseball fans, who must be the most argumentative Americans, comparisons entail controversies, which are integral to the vibrant life of the game off the field and around the calendar. Furthermore, baseball retains its remarkable capacity for evolving new subtleties pertinent to the related skills of assembling a team and playing the game. And even in baseball’s third century, it has a beguiling ability to generate enchanting new quirks. Consider this actual event from a minor-league game: a team hit into a triple play without the ball ever being touched by a fielder. How? Think about it…

Don't worry I'll post the answer next week

Happy Friday

It's finally Friday, it has been a long week. I'm in such a good mood just knowing that I can sleep in tomorrow morning.

I'm not really sure what my plans are for the weekend, I'm pretty sure baseball will be involved.
My mother and step-father are headed down to Texas to see my brother Jeff's team play. His fiance is visiting too and I'm super jealous that they are all together.
As much fun as I am having growing up, the thing that is the hardest for me to deal with is the distance that separates my brothers and me. I don't like it, and I'm going to whine about it for a minute. I really miss them and their respective wives/fiances/daughters.

Here are some happy Friday thoughts for you:Coach is a genius with social marketing. The company hired four popular bloggers to desgin limited-edition bags for the Web site. SO SMART
Ever wondered the best way to get that beach look with your hair? This is one of the most comprehensive descriptions I've ever read, it will please all types of hair and budgets.
Since I have naturally curly hair I find that the best way for me to do this is to blow dry my bangs (they are blunt cut so I have to) and the roots near my part. I put a little Surf from Garnier Fructis, don't put in too much, just enough to give it some texture - then drive with the windows down. I know it sounds ridiculous but it works for me.

I love this photo that I stole from here


I bought this little gem last weekend and I can't wait to lounge by the pool with it, if only the weather were going to be nice this weekend. I just need a nice silk scarf to top it off.

I'm hunting for a new swim suit - Help! I'm digging this suit from Hapari, but I also think i want something that looks a bit more retro. I'm so confused...

Blah Blah Blah

This is how the last few days in my life have been. I think I can directly attribute a lot of that to my lack of hitting up the gym. I did spin on Monday but I haven’t been back. It makes me cranky when I can’t work out my daily work frustrations.

Priority tonight: 24 Hour Fitness, followed by volleyball at the church.

I love me some volleyball.

P.S. I feel a little guilty that I haven’t written about the amazing perfect game on Sunday – I’ll blame it on the blah blah blahs.

Baby It's Cold Outside

It’s so nasty outside right now, not looking forward to the snow that will fall tonight and tomorrow morning.

I think I may stay in tonight and watch a movie.

There are some great ones that I’ve been dying to watch lately… which one to pick?

The Weekend Makes Me Giddy

I can't believe it's Friday! I love the weekend and I'm so excited for this one.

I'm continuing my birthday celebration with some cousinly fun tonight.

Then tomorrow I'm going to spend some quality time with the girls, after a nice pedicure sess, I'll hit up the cherry creek farmers market, followed by the cherry creek mall, then some festivities in LoDo. I can't wait!

Just a few things that made my week awesome:

Lisa, an old colleague of mine (I'm 24 now so using the term colleague is completely appropriate) turned friend, put this on her blog and it has changed my life. So, so, so funny!

I've been obsessed with The Pioneer Woman ever since my friend Hilary introduced her to me. I've been testing her recipes whenever I can. This week I made this amazing salad.
I've been reading all about how she met her husband and I would recommended it to any girl. I don't usually like this stuff but I cant' get enough, start at the bottom of the page and work your way up.

For my birthday Hannah showed up with this so perfect.

Words to Live By

I needed a reminder last night, I think we could always use a reminder... It's been on my mind lately

Met Gala

I’ve been loving all the information on the Met’s new exhibit “American Woman,” I’ll expand on that a bit later but right now I just wanted to show you this dress that I loved from the Met Gala last night.

I’m not incredibly fond of Nicole Richie but I absolutely love this dress!

There were a lot of incredible dresses on the red carpet last night, there were also a lot of weird one. I love the rich color of Blake Lively’s mini dress, and my heart swooned for the two Burberry gowns.

I also really loved Maggie Gyllenhall's dress.

I noticed a lot of the nude/tan and cream/peach colors on the red carpet. Check out this gallery of photos to see all the looks.