Back for Good

I have been a bad blogger. I unintentionally took a month long hiatus. (Oops!) I'm hoping that I am back for good this time. It's not the first time I've said that, but I'm trying to get into more of a routine at home and at work. And I want to make sure I make some time for things just for me.

I haven't really been up to a whole lot lately. I took a week of vacation in the middle of May. Just a "staycation" that I had planned to use to get some house cleaning done. I just needed a break from work. I didn't get much cleaning done, and I ended up spending two and a half days at work anyways. (Fail.)

I celebrated my 31st birthday on the 12th. It was also Mother's Day and my friend Kyla's wedding, so it wasn't much of a "me" day but it was a good day.

 

I've actually watched a fair number of movies recently. One of my goals for this year was to watch 24 movies. I was way off track and then over the past couple weeks Jonathan and I have watched a bunch. We watched all three Iron Man movies, plus the Avengers. (I love Tony Stark and Chris Evans is beautiful.) I haven't seen Thor yet, so that's the plan for Friday night. We also went to the new Star Trek movie with my brother and my parents for my birthday. I really enjoyed it as well.

We've been watching some play-off hockey too, but not the NHL. Our local QMJHL team won the President's Cup this past weekend. Jonathan is pretty excited because his NHL team (Colorado) has the top draft pick and it looks like one of our local boys might go first overall.

I read the Beautiful Creatures trilogy by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl this month as well. Not the deepest read, but I thought they were decently written and I enjoyed the story. I can't decide whether I'll see the movie or not. I tend not to enjoy movies if I've read the book. I spent the whole time comparing it to the book, and usually there are things missing. Some important, and some not so important, but it distracts me nonetheless. (Like with The Host - loved the book, and the movie would have been good if I hadn't spent the whole time focusing on the characters who were missing or the fact that I didn't think some of the actors suited the characters.)

I think that's more than enough rambling for today. Hope the weather is as warm and sunny where you are as it is here in Halifax!

It's Okay...

Slowly trying to get myself back into blogging. I figure some link-ups will help give me something to write about and will maybe (hopefully) bring some new readers by. So, today I'm linking up with Amber and Neely for "It's Okay" Thursday.

It's okay that I've only blogged three times so far this month. (And the month is almost over!)

It's okay that instead of cleaning my house yesterday on my day off I spent my free time thinking about and planning blog posts.

It's okay that I show up at my parents' every Wednesday at lunch time and let them feed me.

It's okay that I haven't read anything other than trashy romance novels in weeks.

It's okay that I'm currently addicted to Criminal Minds and that we've watched almost two seasons in a little over a week.

It's okay that I buy Daisy a treat whenever I go anywhere. (And it's okay that she's already destroyed the new toy I bought her when I was away last weekend.)

It's okay that I eat Subway at least once a week.

It's okay that I'm almost 31 years old and my favourite song is currently "Heart Attack" by Demi Lovato.

Liebster Award

The lovely Kylie nominated me for a Liebster Award. I'm not going to lie, I have been nominated before, but I totally dropped the ball and didn't do any of the follow-up. (Bad blogger, right here.) I've decided this time I'm going to make the effort though. Especially since before the nomination I didn't even know Kylie or her blog and now she's my newest follower! (And I'm almost to 10!)

So, what is this Liebster thing? I wasn't sure either, so I headed over to see what Kylie had said about it. Basically, it's for bloggers with fewer than 200 followers to encourage them (us) to keep on blogging. I'm very excited to be chosen, and it is very encouraging so thanks Kylie!

Here's how this whole thing works:

1. I will list 11 things about myself

2. I will answer 11 questions Kylie asked me

3. I will nominate 11 others and ask them 11 questions (This is going to be tough!)

 

11 Things About Me

 

1. I have lived in Nova Scotia my entire life, and have no desire to live anywhere else.

2. I've really only ever worked for one company, Sobeys. (I was a substitute teacher briefly)

3. If I wasn't married I would be a crazy cat lady.

4. If I wasn't married I would live on microwave dinners.

5. I was a nail biter for years and years but finally managed to quit.

6. Now I'm obsessed with nail polish.

7. I am the oldest of two kids and even though my brother is 26 I worry about him constantly.

8. My husband is 5 years younger than me.

9. I love baking, but complicated recipes scare me.

10. I've been an avid reader for as long as I can remember.

11. I won't drive any car but my own. I won't even drive my husband's truck.

 

Kylie's Questions

 

1. What is one TV show you never miss?  NCIS

2. What would you buy if given one thousand dollars? I'd re-do our master bedroom. Not furniture, but bedding, paint, curtains, accessories...

3. What is your favorite beauty tip? I wish I had beauty tips!

4. If you could be the best at something what would you choose? Baking? I'm not sure really.

5. What is one superstition you have? I'm not superstitious at all.

6. What is the most awkward date you've been on? I went to a hockey game with the son of a co-worker once. I can't even put my finger on what made it awkward, it just was.

7. What is your favorite pair of shoes? My black boots, they make me feel a little fashionable.

8. What is your favorite smell? My husband after his shower. (Dove soap for Men...)

9. What is the last movie you watched? I can't even remember what it's called. It had Reese Witherspoon and Owen Wilson and Paul Rudd...

10. What is your favorite clothing store? Reitman's. Pretty much the only place I shop.

11. Describe yourself in 5 words. Short, friendly, cheerful, optimistic, impatient.

 

My Questions

 

1. How did you come up with the name of your blog?

2. What are you blogging goals?

3. If you could travel back in time to witness any historical event, what would it be?

4. If you could travel back in time to have dinner with any historical figure, who would it be?

5. If they were making a movie about your life, who would you want to play you?

6. What is your dream job?

7. What is your dream car?

8. What is your favourite book?

9. What is your favourite movie?

10. Who is your favourite musical artist?

11. What is your favourite recipe to make?

 

I know, they're boring questions!

 

My Nominees

 

Jenn @ Argyle Love

Cassie @ A Southern Pair

Jackie @ Health, Love and the Pursuit of Happiness

Jessica @ Hated on the Playground

Michaela @ Chasing the Extraordinary
Kyla @  The Adventures of Baby Bella
Brittany @ A Coffee Break with Brittany
Gia @ Lovely Serendipity

Okay, so that's only eight nominees. I apologize, but I haven't had a chance to hunt for new blogs this week and I really want to get this posted.

PS: Happy Valentine's Day!


 

 

 

 

Follow me maybe?

Trying to figure out how to get more followers. Working on a couple different ideas. Signed up for Better Blogger Network, trying to do a variety of link-ups, finding new blogs & commenting on them... Then I realized, it's hard to get followers if there's no way for people to follow me. (Ooops.) So I added the Google Friend Connect widget and I'm inviting you to follow my blog with Bloglovin. That being said, I'm not blogging just to get "followers." I enjoy it, I want to meet people and make friends. I am looking for suggestions though, how did you grow your blog?

 

Productive Day

Thoroughly enjoyed my day off today. I slept in, caught up on American Idol, took Daisy on a  couple walks, and finally got my layout looking the way I want it to look. I tried another new recipe tonight too, I made "Not Humdrumsticks" from the Eat, Shrink and Be Merry cookbook. They were pretty tasty. I hate raw meat though - so pulling the skin off the chicken drumsticks almost did me in. Blech. I got supper all ready for tomorrow too, so that when I get home from work all I have to do is throw it in the oven. I had hoped to get some baking done too (the muffins I made Sunday are disappearing really fast!) but I spent a little too much time working on this new layout. Wishing I was off tomorrow too, but I gotta pay the bills.

Layout woes...

I've decided I want a new layout.

Unfortunately, I can't afford to buy one. :-(

Which sucks, because I would absolutely love to have someone design one just for me. I even know who I'd get to do it, (the loveley Melanie from Adorability Designs if you're curious) but unfortunately $75 for a blog layout is just not in the budget right now. Plus, I used to be somewhat good at designing blog layouts and doing basic HTML coding so I figure maybe I should try and give it a go myself.

All that to say, things may look a little wonky over the next couple hours as I play with things.

EDIT: Okay, this is as good as it gets for now. Need to come up with more of a plan...

Sunday Social

Thought I'd try linking up with Ashley and Neely for Sunday Social this week.

1. What is the name of your blog? How long have you been blogging?
This current incarnation of my blog is called "Ms. Sunshine." In my group of friends and at work I tend to be the bubbly, optimistic, cheerful one. That's where I got the name. "Ms. Sunshine" has been around since July 2012, but it never really got off the ground. Back when I was younger I had several blogs, I was active on Livejournal and I used to own several domains. I loved it. I'm hoping 2013 is my year for blogging.

2. Why do you blog?
I love to write. I love to share. And I love meeting new people. I think that basically sums it up.

3. What is the first blog you ever followed?
Here at "Ms. Sunshine" it was either Melanie or Brittany. I used to have a couple great blog friends that I wish were still blogging.

4. What is your favorite post you wrote in 2012?
I didn't blog enough in 2012 to be able to pick a favourite. :-(

5. What are your blogging goals for 2013?
I'd really like to blog more consistently, and I'd like to make some new friends.

6. Name your top 3 favorite blogs.

1. A Coffee Break with Brittany
2. Adorability.org
3. Also Known as Sinead

In other news, I got my partner for the Blogger Bookswap today. Her name is Sara too! Really looking forward to getting to know her and picking out the perfect book!

Book swap!

I know I just blogged not even half an hour ago, but I just found the greatest blogger swap EVER. (Well, at least in my mind...) It's a book swap! I am so ridiculously excited. I've been trying to find ways to meet new bloggers, plus I've got my 2013 reading resolution. This is perfect. If you are a book lover, you should definitely think about joining up. I can't wait to see what book I get.

 

 

Where do people come up with these amazing ideas? It's so easy to participate too. (Is it sad that this totally made my day...?)

A.W.O.L

Yup, I've been totally AWOL. I'm a little bit disappointed in myself actually. I really thought I would stick with it last time. Apparently I was wrong. However, instead of doing what I usually do and totally scrapping this blog and starting over somewhere else I'm going to try and revive this one.

 I've made some goals/resolutions for 2013 and I think a couple of them will actually help out with giving me things to blog about.

My first goal is to try 50 new recipes this year. Jonathan (my husband) gave me a really nice cookbook for Christmas (Joy of Cooking) so most of the recipes will probably come from it. I still spend a lot of time on Pinterest though so I'm sure there will be some from there too. I've actually tried one already this year, I made a yummy chicken tetrazzini. It was all from scratch (no cans of soup) and turned out really well. Even better was that it made enough for 3 meals, so I froze what we didn't eat and now I have two meals ready to go in the freezer. Hoping to do more cooking ahead this year too.

My second goal is to read 50 books this year. I love reading, but I find in recent years I've spent more time watching TV than I've spent reading and I don't like that. Not that there's anything wrong with watching TV, I enjoy sitting down and watching a good show with Jonathan, but I want to make sure it's not all I'm doing. I've decided to start by re-reading Harry Potter. It's been a while and I really enjoy them. I am looking for suggestions for later though, if anyone has any.

My third goal is to watch 24 movies this year. I know it might seem silly, but I've never really been a movie person. I don't know if I have a really short attention span or what but even if a movie looks really good, I still have a hard time making the decision to spend 2.5 to 3 hours sitting in one place to watch it. I actually saw my first movie of this year on new year's day. I went to see Les Miserables with Jonathan, his sister, and two of his brothers. (For the record, I loved it and definitely recommend it. I was a tiny bit disappointed with Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean but I thought the rest of the actors did a wonderful job, especially the little guy who played Gavroche.)

As always, I'm also going to try to eat better/exercise more. Together Jonathan and I have also decided that we're going to be more fiscally responsible this year. We both have pretty good jobs (I actually got a nice raise right before Christmas) but we are irresponsible when it comes to spending. (Me way more than him...) I'd really like to work on paying down some of our debt this year. And of course, one of my goals is to blog at least a couple times a week and find some good blogs to read.

Happy new year!

Who am I?

My blog has been rather neglected. I find I'm struggling a bit for a couple reasons. One is that life is (for the most part) really good right now.

When I used to blog it was a lot of whining/complaining/ranting about work and occasionally other things. I'm not really allowed to rant about work (they had us sign a social media policy...) but even if I could there wouldn't be a lot to rant about. My direct manager is awesome, we get along super well and have very similar ways of managing. My store manager is a great guy, but he doesn't seem to be there very often. And our customers are actually good. The occasional crazy but it's actually pretty rare. Some of my staff don't have quite the work ethic I would like them to have, but there's no one who drives me totally batty.

Plus I used to talk about boys a lot. And now there's only one boy in my life and he's a great husband. He does the laundry, doesn't snore, doesn't leave dirty clothes in the bathroom (that's actually more my thing...), cleans out the kitty litter box, and doesn't complain when supper is frozen pizza for the third time in a week. He's great with my family, and I love his family. We are struggling to conceive (we've been off birth control for two years now and are waiting to get into the infertility clinic in Halifax) but we are still both confident that when it's the right time it will happen. It definitely sucks, but it hasn't been putting any real stress or strain on our relationship.

The other thing I think I struggle with is why I have this blog, what my purpose is. When I was younger I didn't have a purpose and neither did the blogs I read. Now I feel like every blog has a raison d'etre - it's a fashion blog, or a mommy blog, or a baking blog... And I'm not a fashionista (I wear a uniform every day...), I'm not a mommy, and while I enjoy baking I follow recipes EXACTLY and do EXACTLY what they say. I don't understand the mechanics of it enough to have real advice or opinions.

So, you're probably wondering why I even have a blog. I enjoy it. I enjoy writing. I love it in fact. Every so often I even decide that I'm going to write a novel. (I even have one mapped out in my head and in notes on my phone.) I missed blogging when I didn't have my blog. But now that I have it again I just don't know exactly what I'm supposed to do with it....