my week, currently, vol. 3

It's been such a busy few weeks here, and it doesn't look as though they're slowing down anytime soon! I mentioned that I was in Minneapolis and Chicago earlier in the month, and this past weekend, I was home in NH for my father's birthday. In two weeks, we're in Iowa for the weekend. Steve's sister is having a baby in August, and they are having the baby shower. I am so pleased with myself, as I finished a quilt for her, and the baby is not here yet! This is the first time I've ever finished a quilt before the baby arrives! Now, of course, I have three more quilts to finish. 

Reading: I mentioned the other day that I am finally reading Lean In, and I am also reading Wedding Night, the new one from Sophie Kinsella. Yes, it's fluffy, but everyone needs that once in a while. Has anyone read this yet? I also have a huge stack of magazines to get through. I am such a magazine junkie! 

Eating: I have a beef stew simmering for dinner! I know it's 75* outside, but I was having a craving for it, and it seemed like the perfect thing. I am using the recipe from the Tasha Tudor cookbook, and I just love it. Comfort food at its best.

Listening: I have a rerun of How I Met Your Mother on tv. Speaking of, what did you think of the finale? THE MOTHER!!?!?!?!

Thinking: I'm thinking about becoming a Stella and Dot consultant. I had so much fun with the party I hosted last fall, and would love to try it out. They have such gorgeous pieces. I've never done anything like this, and not sure if I'd be good at it, but am thinking about it. Maybe I should have another party first?

Laughing: While I was home this weekend, I saw my best friend's boys, Jackson and Owen. Jackson is my godson and will be six in July, and his brother Owen will be two later in the month. During desert of cupcakes, Renee pointed to me and said to Owen "who is that?" and Owen giggled and said "Auntie Wexy," which I think was two-year old speak for Auntie Lexi...to which Jackson replied, "Ow-ey! she's MY Auntie Lexi, not YOUR Auntie Lexi!" Those boys are the best.

Wondering:  Why I don't have a lilac bush in my yard. I rarely see them in DC. I picked some at my parent's house and am wishing I had some here! Likewise, they have TONS of lily of the valley in their yard, and I am dying for some of those too!

Wearing: Yoga pants. Perfection  ;)

Loving: The three day weekend coming up! I am in need of a break, and I am so happy that we have no plans for the long weekend. I need a nap.

Wanting:  A cup of tea, but I have no milk for it right now. Apparently Steve didn't do any grocery shopping while I was gone this past weekend  ;)   I did a tea tasting with Capital Teas and Living Social a few weeks ago, and I need to blog about it. I had so much fun!

Needing: To clean the house. How is it always such a disaster? 

What's your week looking like?

my week, currently

I've seen a few posts like this recently, and thought it might be fun to do. I've been in a bit of a blogging rut recently, it seems, so maybe something like this will help get me out of it?




Reading: The Soldier's Wife by Margaret Leroy. Apparently I'm wildly into World War II-era novels recently (oh what am I saying, I'm often reading them!). I recently finished The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult and His Majesty's Hope by Susan Elia MacNeal, and will review them both soon. Well, I'll review The Storyteller soon, but His Majesty's Hope a bit later this spring. It will be released in May, and I received an Advanced Readers Copy, and was asked to wait until closer to the release date to post my review. Needless to say, I loved both and can't wait to write about them!

Eating: Likely, a wheat bagel with chive cream cheese with my coffee. I wrote this post last night, but scheduled it to post for the morning, so I am assuming that is what I will be eating when it goes live  ;)

Listening: At time of writing? I have Kourtney and Kim Take Miami on in the background. Gosh this show is ridiculous, and I can't believe I watch it, but I do. Khloe is the best of the three, in my opinion, and most days, I can't decide who is worse, Kim or Kourt....usually Kim, I'd say. She's just awful awful awful. Awful.

Thinking:  How to really get organized this spring. I feel a bit out of it (maybe this blogging rut is spread into other parts of my life?), and I need to do some serious purging and cleaning. I think I might actually make a schedule. This house is a disaster. Also, thinking that I am excited about a sewing day with the DC Modern Quilt Guild this weekend! We meet monthly, and it's been several months since I've been able to attend a meeting, and I am looking forward to seeing the girls and some inspiration, and also, work on a baby quilt for my sweet friend Christine's new little baby Ada!

Smelling:  Not a lot at all. I have an awful, awful cold and can't smell a thing at the moment!

Wishing:  For a vacation. I spent most of last week in Las Vegas for a wedding, which was spectacular, and worthy of an entire post or two, but I can't be the only one who often needs a vacation from vacation! We took a red-eye back Saturday night, and I was miserable for the second half of it - my ears were going crazy during the descent, and hurt so, so much, and I spent most of Sunday in bed because I felt so awful! I've been a bit jet-lagged since. So, another vacation is in need, I think!

Laughing: At the fact that this "Private Investigator" took Kim K along on both a ride-along and to talk to "clients." Really? That is allowed?! Please.

Wearing: Yoga pants. I pretty much change into them as soon as I get home from work. Ahhh, cozies. Perfection.

Loving:  The previews for the new Tine Fey/Paul Rudd movie Admission. It looks really funny! The line "Mom?" "Who is it?" "Who else calls you Mom?" gets me every time! I want to see it!

Wanting: A pair of mint green jeans. I know, I know, I'm totally late to that party, but I've just decided that I can't live much longer without a pair.

Needing:  A new job. Like crazy. 'Nuff said.

Feeling: Like I really need to get back to going to yoga regularly. I was good for a while, and then got out of habit of going. This cycle repeats itself all the time, and I need to change this! Also, I want to try barre classes. I took a spin class a few months ago, but it really bothered my knee, but I've heard the barre classes can be good.

Clicking:  Too much pinterest, of course.

That's my week! What does yours look like?

nail polish love. again.

In the past year or so, I've been really into nail polish and painting my nails. This must be from birchbox (are you a member? $10 a month and a box filled with beauty samples!) because they've sent several nail polishes over the months. So, in turn, I've been painting my nails, and keeping them painted most of the time! I do try to let my nails go natural for a day or two between colors...that seems like a good idea, right?

Well, thanks to MMS who let me know about a fabulous deal from Zoya, I am now adding a color called LEXI to my collection. It's my name, I had to have it! Look how pretty it is!

 Also! Right now, get THREE Zoya polishes for $10 shipped with code ZOYA2013!!!!


I ordered Lexi, of course, and two others that I won't mention yet, because they are for my sister, and she occasionally reads this  ;)


Also, I recently joined Julep, which is similar to birchbox, but just nail polish! I received my first shipment yesterday, so I will post about that later. 



Do you paint your nails much these days? What are your favorite colors?

on the debates, and the election in general...

Yes, this about sums it up for me...

(found on facebook, and cannot find the original link on the site! if you know it, please let me know so that I can give proper credit!)

Oh and yes, I was indeed a political science major in college....

filed in, so ready for November 7 to get here. 

birthday week has arrived!

My birthday was Tuesday, so Steve made me a lovely dinner and bought a cake from Cake Love, my favorite DC bakery.

Bacon wrapped tenderloin, bacon wrapped scallops and grilled asparagus with lemon. Oh, and wine, of course. That may seem like a lot of bacon, but on one's birthday, we don't pay attention to such minor details ;)

Strawberries inside the cake! Nothing better.

I'll be celebrating for the rest of the week. Tonight I am taking a Valentine making class at Paper Source followed by dinner with two friends, and then Saturday night I will have dinner with a few more friends at a place in Arlington. Sounds good to me.

Hopefully the corgi will arrive sometime this week too ;)

Do you celebrate birthday week too?

poll of the day

Oh hey! I have a blog! It seems it has been a bit forgotten as of late. No good reason why. Sometimes this happens, eh? Summertime and the living is easy? Something like that?

So, today's poll- when going on a long(ish) trip, when do you begin packing and are you terribly organized about it? Do you plan outfits in advance and pack accordingly? Or do you just toss a variety of things into your suitcase and wing it?

source

I'm not the most organized of packers. I don't really plan outfits in advance, with a few exceptions, so I just pack what I think I'll want to wear. Of course, I never wear everything that I pack! I was home in NH for the 4th of July weekend, so 2.5 days and had about eight outfit combinations and 12 pairs of undies. Seriously :) Maybe I need a method to my madness?

Friday night, Steve and I are leaving for the UK for the week! We fly out of BWI that night, have a stopover in London and then land in Glasgow on Saturday around 2pm local time. We'll be there one night, staying with friends, and then are driving down into England to stay with friends there for two nights before heading back into Scotland to the Highlands! Eventually, ie Thursday, we'll be back in Glasgow for a friend's wedding to end the week.

I'm so excited! It's been a while since I've had a good, real vacation like this and I really need it!

Are you going anywhere fun this summer?

Scarlet Threads cookbook swap!

I know you've seen this photo before, because I've posted it, but it's a picture of just some of my many, many cookbooks!

(pre-move, by the way- this is no longer my kitchen!)

I posted it yesterday in Scarlet Threads blog, as we are hosting a cookbook swap!

This photo doesn't even show all of my cookbooks! There are a lot more that you can't see, off to the left on other shelves and such! They range from all sorts of types, from international to baking to southern cooking. I love having them, but I will admit that I don't use them all as often as I should. There are some I use regularly, but there are others that I've never used. Awful, so awful, I know! I'm sure though, that I'm not the only one who doesn't always use all of her cookbooks, right?

This is where I thought of hosting a cookbook swap! We can trade a few cookbooks that we don't use, and then get a few in return that we will! Here's the idea. Leave us a comment and say that you'd like to participate. In a week or so, depending on the number of comments, we will end sign-ups and then partner people up. We will email you your partner's information and then then the two of you can discuss what you like, what you don't, etc and exchange addresses. Each pair will swap a cookbook, more if you'd like, but one minimum. Please don't go out and buy anything, take something from your shelf that hasn't had much use by you, but that your partner will love and use!

How does this sound? Make sense? Ask any questions, of course, and we will answer them as best we can! Also, please share this post on your own blog/twitter/facebook, etc! We'd love to have lots of people participating, as more people makes it more fun!

Want to join the fun? Go HERE and sign up!

Friday I'm in love

If you follow me on twitter, you may have noticed my excitement over the following retweet a few weeks ago---

(I'm not sure why it is so small, and if I try to stretch it, it gets blurry...can you read it?)

Yes, that is Fred Savage of The Wonder Years fame! I had found him on twitter and tweeted about it, and he replied! Amazing. I'm not sure if I've ever discussed my great love of Kevin Arnold and The Wonder Years, but it is high, high, high on my list of loves, and his reply to me pretty much made my life complete.

I think it is hilarious how I wrote how my life was complete after finding him, and his reply was "it gets better," implying that his tweet improved my life. He's so cheeky! Love it!

Are you on twitter? What's the best reply you've ever gotten? Anything from a celebrity?

brotherly love and all of that

You know the amazing company called Living Social, right? They are in cities all over the world and the send out daily emails with amazing deals ranging from restaurants, to hair/nail salons, to fun adventures and nearly anything you can think of. I've bought certificates to stationary stores, clothing stores, restaurants, nails, etc. Usually they are at least 50% off the price. Example- last week, I paid $25 for a parafin mani AND pedi at a local nail salon. Whats not to love about that?! Exactly. Nothing. It's amazing.

I get emails for Baltimore and Richmond too, since they aren't too far away, and this morning, I signed up for Philadelphia, which is really only about two hours away, same distance as Richmond! Today's daily deal in Philly was this- wine and dinner for two at GiGi restaurant in downtown Philly. This restaurant is owned by Stephenie LaGrossa, who was on Survivor three times. I'm such a dork, but I love Survivor and she was one of my favorites of all of the seasons that I've watched, which is most of them! I'm sure she isn't there often, but I'd love to see her there! I thought this was too good a deal to pass up, and I've been wanting to take a little road trip to Philly anyway. I've really only been there once, in college, for like four hours (long story, maybe I'll tell you another day), and there is so much to see there! In fact, my crazy boyfriend drove to Philly last night because Donald Rumsfeld was doing a book signing there! He left at 4pm and was home at 11pm! Yes, he's insane.

I'm excited about this though, and yes, I know I am insane too :)

Is Living Social (or its competitor Groupon) in your city? What deals have you bought?

on vitamins

When I was a little girl, I took a daily vitamin, as most children do, I think. It was some sort of chewable, and fruity flavors, and shaped like a little bear. I liked the purple bears the best. As I got older, in college,etc, I got out of habit of taking vitamins, but am getting back into taking them. It is important, right?

I wonder though, if I am taking too many! The vitamin isle at the pharmacy is overwhelming and sometimes I feel like I should be taking everything that they offer. I mean, they are good for you, right? Right. Right?

I take the One a Day Women's, a "complete multi-vitamin, plus more!" It supports bone health, heart health and healthy girl parts. I also started taking a Super B-Complex (with vitamin C and folic acid), which helps convert food into energy. Also, a Super Omega-3, with fish, flax and borage oil, for heart and circulation support. Also, a zinc supplement and an acai supplement, which is an antioxidant. Also, this is not a vitamin, but I've heard about oceanic silica supplements and how they can aid in hair growth, so I am trying those out as well. My hair grows painfully slowly.

I do eat pretty well, I think. Of course, I am far from perfect and definitely indulge at times, which is important to do (don't deny yourself anything!), but I eat plenty of fresh fruits and veggies, etc, and make sure my meals are balanced. I will admit though, that I usually fail to eat breakfast, but this is something I am working to improve.

Maybe I should speak to my doctor about the vitamins, as she'd know best, of course. Those seem like the best to take, in my very humble opinion, but maybe I am wrong, and don't need to take them all!

What about you? Do you take any vitamins? Am I fooling myself, thinking they are doing good things, when in reality, they aren't doing much at all?

meet me in Moscow

Confession: I am a bad Christmas shopper, because I can't seem to leave the stores without picking up a little something for me. Just something little, and something that nobody would ever to think to get me for Christmas...just a little treat.

I know, I am bad.

Saturday night, I met the lovely Heidi and Liz in Georgetown for a date. We first went to LuluLemon, where we took some hilariously fun pictures in their photobooth, complete with reindeer antlers and Santa hats. I'll post them another time.

We poked around the shops, I reclaimed my foursquare mayorship of Anthropologie (yes!!!) and had a cocktail or two. Afterwards, we found ourselves in Sephora (DANGER AHEAD) and I picked up this little doll-

Stila's Make An Impression In Moscow Travel Palette!!!

What it is:A travel palette containing four ravishing Eye Shadows and a Convertible Color dual lip and cheek cream in a collectible mirrored palette.

What it does:The fourth in a five-part series of collectible palettes, the Make an Impression in Moscow palette features Stila's award-winning Eye Shadows in four trend-setting shades: Matruschka (beige), Chill (pale blue), Nadia (orange copper), and Mink (brown). The wintery palette also includes Convertible Color in Lily, a sheer, hydrating pink shade that's ideal for creating a naturally flushed, cold-weather glow.

It was a five-part series?! I missed the other four?!

Okay, the website lists two others...Aspen and Tokyo, but where were the other two?! Maybe Luxembourg and Krakow? :)

(must order and find)

I know I didn't need this, but the best part, it was only $10 and I just couldn't resist the pretty.

Tip- don't ever let me go to Sephora.

Are you victim of treating yourself when shopping for others?

would you try this???

I know it sounds strange, but it is good! I found it at one of my favorite DC bars last night, the Brickskeller, which has hundreds of beers on their menu! Lots of imported beers, including this one, from England, I believe.

What do you think? Would you try it?

wishing for fluency

Once again, it is Wednesday and time to wish along with Kelsey over at Seattle Smiths!

'I wish' .... I was fluent in another language in addition to English,
and it would be....

You know, this is a really hard question for me! I love learning languages, and I think that it is so important to be able to speak other languages. I am not currently fluent in anything, but I have a good grasp of Polish and Spanish. I speak some basic French and German. Also, right now, I am taking an Albanian class, though the last class was last night (so sad!). I also taught myself some Norwegian when I cam home from Poland. I wrote my Master's thesis on Norway and Iceland, so it seemed logical to learn one of those languages :)

I truly wish that the U.S. was like Europe in the sense that they teach second (and third, and fourth!) languages in elementary school. If I am still living in DC when I have children, I plan to send my children to one of the international schools where they would have half of the day in English and half in another language of my choosing (most offer French, Spanish, Mandarin, German or Arabic). I really want bilingual children. When I was in Luxembourg and then Poland, I wanted to find a man to marry, so I'd have bilingual children and an EU passport. Clearly that didn't work out ;)

Story-
When I was in Luxembourg, I lived with a family. It was a mother and a daughter, Laura, who was five years old. She had a five year old vocabulary in French, German and Luxembourgish. One morning, I was in the kitchen preparing juice when I heard the two of them in the living room. They were having a conversation about school, and were speaking French. Then, mid-sentence, Laura paused for a few seconds, and suddenly switched to German, because she didn't know the French word. I remember being so amazed that she could just flip a switch in her brain and change languages, just like that. I wish I could do that...

I'd like to be fluent in French, because that is the second language of NATO and widely spoken around the world. Many jobs that I see request French fluency. Same goes for Spanish. My Spanish is better than my French, but I am still far from fluent. I'd also like my Polish to be better. Now that my Albanian class is over, I think I may try a new language. I'd love to learn Russian and Mandarin at the moment. I'm also considering Swedish and Portuguese!

Or, maybe I should take an upper level of French/Spanish/Polish, to get closer to fluency in one of them. What would you do? Take a new language, or improve what you know?

Are you fluent in another language? Which one? What languages have you learned and do you hope to learn more?

my closet overflows

Do you ever look in your closet and say to yourself "ugh, I have nothing to wear!" when looking at a full closet? Of course you do. Admit it. I know I do!

I did laundry over the weekend, so when I got home last night, I spent some time hanging things and folding things, putting them away and I noticed (as usual), that I have no space in my closet to hang things, because there is too much there! I try to regularly go through my closet, taking things out that I never wear and donating them, but despite that, I feel like there is never enough room for everything.

I hope I don't sound shallow for saying this- I use my closet for a lot of storage too!

Still though, I find things in there that I haven't worn in years, but I can't bear to part with, for sentimental reasons. It isn't as though my wedding dress is hanging in there, since I'm not married yet, and I don't have any children, so I am not storing their first outfits either. My sentimental items include this ridiculous pink furry sweater thing that I bought in Poland, thinking it was the coolest thing I ever saw (it wasn't!) and a fabulous leopard-print lined red trench coat that I bought in Luxembourg (maybe I should wear that the next rainy day?).

Things like that. Clothes can invoke memories. I can remember the outfit I was wearing when I met certain boys that had importance in my life. I can recall what I was wearing when I found out that my best friend was pregnant with her first (and only) child, my godson Jackson. I can remember exactly where I was when I wore certain things. Since these things (and others) are attached to happy moments, I don't want to get rid of them, even though I may not wear that pink fluffy sweater (maybe I should post a picture of it, and take opinions?).

Do you do this? Do you attach memories to certain articles of clothing?

jumping on the wedding train

In a few weeks, Wedding Season 2010 begins. As it stands, we have six weddings this year, April, May, June, July, August, October and November. If you're curious, they are in Iowa, Virginia, Virginia, New Hampshire, London (Ontario), Iowa and London (ON, again). Once again, I'm a bit dizzy, looking at them all :)

The two London weddings are siblings- the bride is the August wedding and the groom is November. I knew the groom first, as we worked on a few campaigns together, and I became good friends with his sister when I was in London a few years ago running a campaign with him during Canada's Federal Elections in 2004. I'm looking forward to them, as I haven't seen the groom since I left Canada, but I saw his sister two years ago when she was interning in Baltimore that summer.

Here's my problem- the weekend of the bride's wedding, in August, Steve is out of town for a convention. I obviously really want to go to her wedding, but I don't want to go alone, especially to an out-of-town (and country!) wedding where I won't know many people. Of course, I'll know their family, and maybe one or two friends, but for the most part, I won't know anyone. I don't think I am very good in situations like that, where I don't know many people. I get a little intimidated, and I think that a wedding might make it a little more stressful!

I am debating what I should do. Should I just say I can't go? Should I go alone?

Have you ever been in a similar situation? What would you do?

would you eat these?

A few days ago, Steve and I were at the grocery store. As always, we went up and down every isle (yes, that's how I shop...) In the chip isle, I saw these---


conversation---

Lexi- "cheeseburger doritos! we have to try them!"
Steve- "you're disgusting."

Ha. He loves me, I swear.

He always makes fun of me, because I always feel the need to try the gross flavors of chips. We didn't buy them, as I didn't want a huge bag if they were indeed gross. Yesterday morning, my co-worker and I ran to the vending machine and I saw a snack-sized bag! Perfection!

They taste exactly like Burger King.

So friends, would you try them???

the dreamy dress is mine!

Remember this post, where I professed my love for the dress of my dreams? I was unsure as to if I should spend the $128 on its Anthropologie tag, but then decided to, thinking how much I loved it and knew I'd wear it to many events.

Imagine my dismay when I discover that it is sold out in stores and online.

BOOOOOO!!!

I was a bit sad, but hey, what can you do...

You can go to ebay of course! So I searched for it on ebay, didn't see it, but added it to my "watch list" so that whenever someone listed something matching the description, I'd get an email letting me know. From time to time, I got such an email, though usually it was the other color (it also came in a cream color) or the wrong size. Then, right before Christmas, I got an email saying that my size and my color was listed!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I watched it and watched it, not bidding until the end. Then I realized that the sale ended when I was in Iowa. When I say that I was in Iowa, I mean that I was literally flying over Iowa! So, I asked one of my best girls if she'd bid for me, which she did, and she WON!!!!

HURRAH!!!!

Oh, and I won for only $81 shipped!!!

She mailed it to me last week and it arrived yesterday and I am IN LOVE.

I have four weddings this year, and I am pretty sure I'll be wearing it to each of them, including bridal showers!

Are you going to any weddings this year? Can I come as your date and wear my pretty dress? :)

hello 30's!

Just like that, I am thirty years and one day old. Oy vey, oy vey indeed. Celebrations were had and they were all sorts of loveliness. Now, thank you notes must be written and mailed this week (confession- I may have just mailed my Christmas thank you notes last Friday...but the point is, I mailed them!).

On Saturday, I met with a group of local quilters about beginning a DC Quilting Guild, and I am really excited about it! There were about a dozen girls there, all roughly my age (give or take a few years) and we had a lot of things to talk about, a lot of things we want to do. I think this will be a good thing.

This week I am going to an info session about a mentoring program I learned about. I may volunteer with that, we will see. I think I still need to sign up, oops. This weekend is Steve's company's holiday dinner (a month later!) and then I am going to a bridal show with one of my favorite girls.

Do you go to a gym? Which one do you use? Do you like it? I am considering joining a gym. I say considering, because I often have brilliant ideas of things I want to do, and this is just one of them (ha!), though it would be a good thing. Truthfully though, I hate going to the gym. In high school, I worked at one and got a free membership which I almost never used. So, the idea of paying for something that I already know I don't like doesn't thrill me. Who knows though, maybe if I found the right thing, I'd like it.

I like the idea of a juice bar at my gym :)

thirty-somethings, all at once

The Chinese say that this is the year of the tiger, but for me, it is the year of the 30-something, as a good number of my friends are turning 30. I still have no idea how this is happening! I feel no older than 24! I miss 24- it was such a good year!

I'm kicking off my 30's on Sunday (oy vey!). A friend's husband is 30 a few days later. A good college friend is 30 the beginning of February. And so on, and so on, and so on. I won't take you through my next twelve months of birthdays, but rest assured, they are all written in my calendar in pink pen!

The end of February I have two 30th birthdays; one the 22nd and one the 26th. The 22nd is for my oldest friend in the world, H. She was born almost one month after me (I'm the 24th, she's the 22nd) and our parents lived across the street from each other when we were born and so obviously we were friends. The birthday on the 26th is for one of my best friends from high school, D. H lives in my hometown and is having festivities on the 27th of February, a Saturday. D lives in NYC and I got an email from his girlfriend this morning indicating birthday festivities on the 26th, the Friday, his actual birthday.

I was thinking of going home for H's birthday, as my parents will be at her party, along with other family friends. Of course I want to go to D's as well! NYC isn't too far from DC, and NH isn't too far from NYC, right?

Would I be crazy to try both? Take the Chinatown bus to NYC Friday afternoon, then a bus (or maybe fly?) to NH from NYC Saturday morning and then fly back to DC Sunday? Maybe I should take the Friday or the Monday off?

I mean, I did two weddings in one weekend in two different states...two 30th's should be a piece of cake (pun intended!), right?

a proposal, or lack thereof

Okay, I have a confession. I fear that I've turned into one of those girls. The ones that I scoffed at, thought were ridiculous and told myself that I would never become.

I'm talking about the girls who become crazy and obsessed with becoming engaged. You see, Steve and I have been together for more than five years and we are not engaged and do not live together. For a long time, it didn't bother me, because I knew it was coming. I said that I didn't want to live with him until we were married, but frankly, I never thought it would be five years later and no engagement. While I still do know that it is coming, I am beginning to get very frustrated with both him and myself, but mostly myself for letting myself get so crazy about it, because I swore I'd never let myself get this way (whoa, way too many "myselfs" in a row...).

Like I said, we talk about it, and I know it is coming, but I need to make myself stop focusing on this so much, the lack of a ring and keep in mind that he loves me and it will happen and that is the important thing. I tell myself not to bring it up, and sometimes I am very good. Sometimes though, I am not so good and something will pop out of my mouth before I realize it. Luckily, he doesn't seem to be bothered by this- he's so easy going, he just lets it slide, but I will admit, that sometimes I let it get the better of me and I turn into a crying, girly, ridiculous mess, and that my friends, isn't pretty and isn't the girl that I want to be.

So, any ideas on how I can stop the focusing on the bad and remember all of the good things about my relationship? There are plenty, and I know this. I know how much he loves and cares about me and that he does want to be with me when the time is right, which will be soon enough, when I stop acting like a crazy girl!

If you were together for a while before an engagement, did you act a little crazy sometimes? How did you keep your head together and not let your heart take over?