beautiful addiction

I’ve never really heard of a cat playing fetch…but my kitten does.  She’s about 7 months old and loves to play fetch!  If you throw her little yarn ball across the room, she’ll run after it, pick it up in her mouth and bring it back to you.  She drops it at your feet or in your lap and looks up with those big kitty eyes that say, “Again! Again! I love you! This is fun!”  She’s seriously a great source of entertainment.

Does anyone else’s cat play fetch?

I read an interesting article over at Zen Habits that details how everyone should incorporate a Life Laundry Day, or a day to clear up any unfinished business so that you are clutter free and your mind is at ease.  I think I may try to do this once a week (not sure what day would work best, yet…probably Mondays since I can get all my errands done then — grocery shopping included).  Plus this will give me a nice start to the week so that the apartment is nice and clean, all my errands are done for the week, and I’m good to go.  And as the week goes on, I can add things to the list of what needs to be done on the next Life Laundry Day.

I like it.  How about you?

Head on over to see more wonderful menus at Menu Plan Monday!

• Monday - Veal Parmesan with spaghetti noodles and marinara sauce
• Tuesday - my homemade spicy chili (Dave’s favorite meal, even if it IS summer!)
• Wednesday - boneless pork ribs with BBQ sauce in the crockpot, pasta salad, corn
• Thursday - leftovers
• Friday - breakfast for dinner! eggs, toast, sausage links
• Saturday - baked blue skinless whiting (fish) with tomatoes, mozzarella, onion, oregano and lemon with homemade cheesy Bisquick biscuits (so easy to make!)
• Sunday - leftovers

* This post is sponsored by iDerma.

Do you have Sensitive Skin? I do!  Thankfully there are some awesome products out there for all different skin types.  iDerma offers anti-aging products, moisturizers, cleansers, sunscreens, mineral makeup and lots more.  I tend to be a snob when it comes to skin care products because I only like to put the best on my face.  There are definitely some products I’d like to try from their sensitive skin product line, like their Kinerase products.

Are you willing to splurge on skin care items if they really work for your skin type?

If you pay attention to my Twitter updates over there on the sidebar, you may have noticed that I was in a 4 wheeling accident this past weekend.  If you don’t read the Twitter updates…then this is news to you.  So let me explain.

Dave and I went up north with his dad and brother Friday evening to stay at the family cabin.  Saturday we woke up and had big plans to take our quads out on the trails for the afternoon.  I didn’t really feel like going, but drug myself out there anyway.  All was going well until we got to a small 2 track trail.  I was following behind Dave and it was really dusty, so it was hard to see through the dust.  The part of trail we were on was flat and fine, no big deal.

All of a sudden as the dust cleared, I was heading straight for a huge divet in the trail.  At this point the trail took on a more man-made appearance, with really deep divets on either side of the trail so that in order to ride it safely you really had to ride with one set of tires down in a divet and the other set of tires up on the ditch or center of the trail.  I didn’t have time to make this choice, however.

I hit the divet, my hand flew off the handlebars from the impact and I lost control of my quad.  It bounced over to the other side of the trail and I was flung over the handlebars.  I went straight up and over, nothing was stopping me.  Midair, I closed my eyes.  I remember hitting the ground head first, and my shoulders and back crumpled over my head and finally the rest of my body landed.  All I could think was “I’m goin to get ran over by my own four wheeler…” and then I did.  I can’t say for sure, because I don’t fully remember, but I think the right front tires ran over my midsection/ribs and the quad came to a stop.  My head was stuck under the quad between the engine and the side of the enbankment of the trail.  I couldn’t move.

Again…all I’m thinking is, “I’m going to get ran over by Ryan as he comes around that corner.”  I was afraid that Dave’s brother wouldn’t see me in time.  My quad was still running and all I could hear was the engine above my head.  I had to get out of there.  So I dug the sand away from around my helmet and unlodged my head from where it was stuck.  I crawled out from under the quad and sat in the trail gasping for air as Ryan pulled up.  Then Dave’s dad pulled up and he told Ryan to ride ahead to get Dave.  At this point I was pulling my riding gloves off, threw off my goggles and somehow managed to get my helmet off.

My mouth was full of sand and I was spitting to try and clear it out.  Dave’s dad asked if I could move, if everything was all right.  I said that I thought I was ok.  Nothing appeared to be broken.  I tried to stand up but lost my balance and quickly sat down with my head between my knees.  I was sore, shaky and covered in dirt…but I was alive.

We had to ride back to the cabin, and every bump I hit caused my back to buckle and hurt.  My right leg was hurting where the leg connects to the hip, kind of in the pelvic area.  Everything hurt.  There is a deep 3-4 inch gouge mark on my helmet where the engine scrapped against it as the quad rolled over my head.

Needless to say, we got back, I cleaned up and took some pain killers and worked out a deal to where Ryan is buying my quad off of me.

I’ve crashed that thing twice in the two years I’ve had it (the first time was similar but I hit a tree and messed my hand up really bad, although I didn’t break anything).  I’m not willing to see what a third time will bring.  I’ve hurt myself enough and I’m done with it.

Oh my goodness. Batman: The Dark Knight was amazing. Seriously, the best movie ever. I’m not a huge follower of Batman or anything like that. Never was. But TDK came through shining and even with all they hype for the movie, they didn’t let me down. Heath Ledger (may he rest in peace) did a PHENOMENAL job as The Joker. Not even kidding. He had that character roll perfected to a “T”.

So we get to the theater a little before 10:00 and get our tickets printed from the box office with our confirmation number and whatnot. We go to stand in line and wait, and there’s already a pretty decent line going on. Will’s mom called and said that she heard on the news that people had been waiting in line since the day before, which doesn’t surprise me. I’m glad we got there early enough though, because there were at least 100 or more people in front of us.

We wasted some time in line, chilling on the floor and it was SO HOT in there (thank you 90* weather). They passed out candy and did a drawing for free t-shirts and movie posters (which none of us won). They even had an issue of The Gotham Times newspaper that they handed out to everyone, which was really cool.

They began seating about 45 minutes early, which was nice. The theater was air conditioned and much cooler than waiting in the hallway. I’d never been to an IMAX theater before, and the screen was HUGE, although I thought that the theater itself would hold more people. We were a few rows closer to the screen than we preferred, and a little to the left, but really it wasn’t bad seating at all. Could’ve been worse and been in the front row. As it was we had to kind of pan our heads back and forth at some points during the movie because the screen was just SO big. Amazing.

When the lights dimmed and the movie came on, people started clapping and then it got just dead quiet as the first scene opened. It was all uphill from there.

The story line. The cinematography. The one-liners from The Joker. Everything was simply genius. There were points in the movie where everyone started clapping because it was such a good scene or whatnot. When the credits rolled, most of the movie goers stayed in their seats (including us) to make sure we didn’t miss anything that may have been added at the end, which we didn’t. But a majority of the people clapped when Heath Ledger’s name came on the screen, and that was kind of cool. It’s so sad that he’s gone. His performance was phenomenal and I wouldn’t be surprised if he won best actor or whatnot in the movie awards.

We will definitely be seeing it again. I’d even pay the $12 to see it in IMAX again. We had such a good time, even though we didn’t get home until 3 in the morning and Dave had to be to work for 8. Poor guy is so tired!

Aside from the typical gambling and activities on the LV Strip, I think it’d be fun to get away from the down town excitement and do something normal. They’ve got some awesome stuff that is not so touristy, such as Las Vegas golf. Dave wants to go golfing, although I’ve never been. That site has some beautiful golf courses and vacation packages if you’re looking for that kind of thing.  Use Las Vegas Golfing to help book your affordable golf package at many of the world’s best golf courses!  Their site is easy to use and offers some great deals for the golfer in your family!

It’s been so hot here the past few days, and extremely humid.  It’s making me sick to my stomach to even be outside and not in where it’s lovely and air conditioned.

On a positive note, we (Dave, Will, Nick and I) are going to see Batman: The Dark Knight in IMAX tonight for the midnight premiere.  I’m super excited!  I saw a 6 minute preview of the movie on Will’s special edition and can’t wait to see the whole movie now!  We pre-ordered our tickets a few weeks ago, and it’s sold out (obviously).  We plan on getting to the theater around 10:00 so that we have better chances of getting seats together and not being all split up!

On that note, I need to go take a nap because I was up until 6am this morning playing Guitar Hero with Will and then I got up at 12:30.  I had to go meet someone who was buying my laptop off of my for $250.  Extra cash for the upcoming vacation in September

The Mindful Living online television network was created by Dr. Kathleen Hall, a lifestyle expert in stress and work/life balance, The network shows viewers how to bring meaning to their lives and live mindfully. What is mindful living? Essentially, it means to wake up and simply pay attention to your life and the things you do. Becoming stressed and overworked is easy to do, but learning to control your life can help take the tension out of it.

This is something that a lot of people could probably take to heart. As Americans we are always on the go and rarely take the time out to enjoy our lives without the stress and feeling overwhelmed with how things are going. Even when on vacation, it’s rare when people leave all their work behind. I know I take my laptop with me! It’s hard to disconnect. What if we could all live a little more mindfully and take in how beautiful life really is?

I made some oatmeal cookies this evening from a recipe I found online and it was just basic ingredients (oatmeal, flour, salt, oil, brown sugar, water, and baking soda). I was looking at the “dough” thinking to myself how was it ever going to turn into actual cookies?

Well, it did. But they are flat! I’m assuming that’s how they’re supposed to be, but they just look funny. The edges are nice and crispy and the middle is very soft and chewy. So I was pleasantly surprised. Relatively healthy, too, from the looks of the recipe. And a great way to get rid of the huge canister of oatmeal I’ve had forever.

It’ll be a great snack to take up north with us this weekend when we go to the cabin! Five hour car ride requires some healthy snacks.

Haha…you have to check this out! It’s pretty much right on when getting to what women REALLY want!

Ok, off to take a late evening stroll with the hubby. It’s still light out and warm, and I could use some fresh air.