When I Grow Up

 

I love this linkup idea from Whitney and Erin!  I always think about what I'm hoping life might turn out like when I grow up, and am happy to share with my readers today!  Without further adieu...

 

When I Grow Up...

I wanna be famous, I wanna be a star, I wanna be in movies.

Just kidding - am I the only person who automatically starts singing that after "When I Grow Up"?

 

I want to live in a gorg home in South Orange County (the best place in the world, in my humble opinion), maybe even in the community we live now.  If we're talking dream houses, we're talking something a little bit like these:

 

{via}

{via}

{via}

 

I'll be rocking an extra carat or two on my left-hand ring finger.  My dear Handsome Husband is already aware that I don't need a fancy car, expensive shoes or designer clothes - I want my fun money on my hand.

 

I'd like to have a little family with three or four kiddos.  I used to be totally sold on four, but something tells me I should try out one before I go signing myself up a family of six.  

 

I will still be driving an SUV of some kind, because the idea of going back to a sedan makes me groan.  My current favorites are:

 

Kia Sorrento

 

Ford Escape Hybrid

 

Told you I'm not about fancy cars.

 

As far as career goes?  I'm not sure where I'll end up, to be honest.  I have plans to continue my education exponentially, but I haven't quite decided which direction to go.  I could become a Nurse Practioner, work in Nursing Administration, become a Nurse Anaesthetist, or choose a specialty like Diabetes Educator or Nursing Instructor.  I have a few boxes to check before I have to choose a specific route, but these are always in the back of my mind.  What I'm fairly certain on?  I don't have plans to become a Stay-at-home Mom.  I have respect for the women who do that, and I do think there are many benefits, but I just don't think that is going to be the route for me.  However, I've never had to drop a kid off at daycare or miss their first words, so I'll get back to you.

 

I hope to have met and made many new friends, but I really hope I have the friendships that stand the test of time.  I hope Cute Apartment and I can raise our children as friends, maybe even cousins.  I hope Best Friend Fashionista is still a part of my life, and that Swagger and I and our lawyer husbands get together on the reg (yup, I said is Swaggs).

 

I would really, really like to own a business.  I know that is vague, but I have so many interests that I think could manifest into a small side business and I think that would be very satisfying.  Also, HH has a somewhat bizarre interest in owning a franchise, and I think that would actually be pretty fun also (though in real life?  I don't think many fulltime attorneys or higher-level nurses have the time for something like that!).

 

Most importantly (because I'm of the school of thought that if you put your energy into your marriage, you're a generally happier person in other aspects), I hope my Husband loves me just as much as he loves me today (maybe more!) and that we still laugh together every single day.

 

What do you want to be when you grow up? 

 



Adventures in Pinterest: Quick Change, A Baby Shower Gift Idea

I'm back at it with my Adventures in Pinterest, and today I have a darling baby shower gift idea to share with you!  After being invited to Tutor Girl's Sip and See for sweet Lucky P (I'm a poet, and I didn't know it), I was on the prowl for a great baby shower gift for a second baby.  It was my thought process that TG would have most of the essentials, and I wanted to get something different for this little bundle of joy - something unique!  I got her a personalized blanket (go pressure Tutor Girl into blogging and showing it off!), but I also put together this gift to the entire TG/Ronomon family, in hopes of helping to tame the chaos that must come with two kiddos under three in the house!

 

My Pinspiration:

 

{Pin, Source}

 

My Version:

 

 

As you can see, I went with an entirely different look and I just adore how it turned out!  TG had told me that she was going to do P's nursey in yellow with hot pink accents, and when I saw this basket (Michaels for under $13 dollars!) I had to have it!  The bags are from Amazon, and you can find them through the link below:

 

 

I apologize the card is a bit blurry and hard to read!  It says:

 

Quick Change

Each bag contains everything you need for one diaper change on-the-go:

A Size 1 Pampers Swaddlers Diaper

Cotonelle Travel Wipes

Disposable Changing Pad

Hand Sanitizer

Bag for Diaper Disposal

 

I got most of my products from Target, but you can find almost all of them on Amazon as well.

 



 

I decided to spring for some nice hand sanitizer for the bags, and took advantage of the 10/$10 deal at Bath and Body Works for the minis:

 

{B&BW}

 

I loved putting this gift together, and will most definitely be putting another one together for future baby showers! 



And I can't possibly end this post without including an adorable photo of Little Miss Lucky P from her Sip & See:

 

The Cutest!

 

Linking up with: The Vintage Apple, Something Swanky, Vintage Wanna Bee, Ginger Snap Crafts, Lil Luna, I {Heart} Nap Time, A Diamond in the Stuff, Live Laugh Rowe, 504 Main, Tatertots and Jello, Be Different Act Normal, Six Sisters' Stuff, C.R.A.F.T., Delightful Order, House of Hepworths, Positively Splendid, BEAUtiful Mess/Keep Calm and Carry On, Southern Lovely, Someday Crafts, Chic on a Shoestring Budget, A Night Owl, House of Rose

Quotable Tuesdays

Hey Spring Sweets Swappers!

Today is the deadline for mailing out your package, so please get it out so your partner can have some yummy SWEETS to enjoy shortly! 

What HH Has to Say About Me

When one of my all-time favorite bloggers, Becky, posted about her idea to host a link-up where our loved ones would come and share random facts about us, I immediately ran to Handsome Husband to ask if he would write tell him he'd be writing yet another guest post on the old Stress Case blog.  You can check out other posts HH has written HERE and HERE.  Spoiler alert: he has another one in the works!  Now check out the following rando facts about me from HH (with my comments in bold, y'all know I can't keep completely quiet about this!).

Want to know something random about Stress Case?

She doesn’t like nuts.

...

get your mind out of the gutter.

She does this thing where she gets really annoyed and upset that she can’t find something (like a certain clothing item, etc.) and yells at me as to its whereabouts without having even actually looked for it yet. After years of experience, I now do not answer her yells. Instead, I pause for a few seconds and listen intently. After about 3-5 seconds, I hear “OH! NEVERMIND! FOUND IT!”  Such a false accusation...I've totally looked for at least 30 seconds before hollering about it!

She likes to come up with fun catch phrases or names that she’ll say for a little while and then never say ever again (like “you little minx!”).

She likes to mess with me while I brush my teeth, presumably because in those 4 minutes (who brushes their teeth for four minutes?), I am helpless and cannot defend myself against her attacks.  My favorite is to spray him with my perfume!

She likes to do funny dances and make up silly songs and then make me repeat that same dance or song OR do the dance or song (sometimes both at the same time) with her. And I, of course, oblige her.  I, too, sometimes do that to her.  It usually starts with one of us doing or saying something ridiculous and then immediately telling the other “yeahhhhh do it!” or “yeahhhhhh say it!!”.

She will only see movies that meet her specific movie criteria. I’ll let her elaborate on what exactly that criteria is.  To name a few Casey-approved categories: Sports Movies, Rom Coms, Based on a True Story...who needs something that doesn't fit into those categories?

She sleeps like a rock. Literally, the woman could sleep through an apocalypse.

When she cooks, she likes to play a game with her self where she tries to see just how many dishes in the kitchen she can possibly use to prepare each meal. Being that I do the dishes, I LOVE that freakin game. There are never too many dishes to wash.  Can't help that I make gourmet dishes and that requires lots of dishes! 

After this recent tax season, she turned into a Libertarian.  I guess HH forgot that I don't talk politics!

She will not, under any circumstances, switch ‘sides of the bed’ with me, ever. Sometimes I want to experience the other side of the bed for just one night but nope. Not. Happening.

Kind of like the teeth-brushing scenario, she likes to wrestle and roughhouse with me literally seconds after I tell her I’m going to sleep.

The best part about all of this is that I think all of these little fun facts about my wife make her a hilarious person to be around at all times.  That’s why I love her (well, at least that’s one of the reasons)!  The sweetest Hubs there ever could be, I'm one lucky weirdo! 

  

How to Do a Baseball Game Right

I've lived in Southern California all my life (about 23 years of them in Orange County, within 30 minutes of Angels Stadium), but until recently, I had never been to a night Angels game.  I know I know, it's like never going to Disneyland (which, you know, I never do) - just another thing to take for granted.

Now don't get me wrong, I had been to a few daytime ballgames, and good God, I did not see why people enjoyed them.  It's hot as hell, and a baseball game lasts forever while I start to die of boredom in the blistering sun.

But all of that changed last month when I learned how to do a baseball game right.

It all started when Handsome Husband's law school buddy and huge Angels fan, Sports Lawyer, invited us to a baseball game.  HH told me we would be sitting in Diamond Club seats, and as I'm sure he expected, anything with Diamond in the name is alright by me.

The seats directly behind home plate...that's The Diamond Club seating.

{via}

I was excited to see the Angels play at night, and as always, spend time with these new friends of ours that have been so incredibly kind and friendly as we've gotten to know them over the past year of so.

Now that I have learned the best (and in my opinion now, only) way to do a baseball game, I'm sharing that knowledge with you.  Now get our your credit cards, and get to a ballgame!

1. Attend games only with Sports Lawyer, or people who have a passion for the team you're watching play or sport in general.  They do things big, and those are the people you want surrounding you. 

2. Park in the very front spots.  I am a lazy biz, so you'll imagine my excitement when I realized that we were parking practically on the damn field. 

3. Eat at the buffet at The Diamond Club Restaurant before the game. 

 

The patio of The Diamond Club Restaurant, where we sat while eating our dinner, and also stayed for the entirety of the game.  Hard to want to go sit in your folding baseball stadium seat when you've got a whole table to spread your shit out on with a fabulous server coming every 15 minutes to make sure you've got all you need.

 

4. Don't be one of those people who cannot look away from the game.  Even Sports Lawyer, who loves it, can enojy a simaltaneous conversation.  My personal opinion on sporting events is that the memories you make with the friends you attend with will be much longer lasting than the game in front of you.

 

5. Take your time indulging in the buffet (we're talking 5-6 trips over a few hours, people), and make sure to wash your food down with some cheap beer.  (Okay, the cheap beer thing is just me, most of our party actually ordered good beer, but nothing beats BL for me!)

 

6. Top off your fantastic meal with some super fabulous desserts to share.  Bonus points if you can order a dessert that makes your husband this excited.

 



7. Document your view, and make sure to share on Insta.

I mean, right?

8. Happen to catch the most hilarious dance-off between two spectators that you've ever seen!  I truly wish I would have thought to record the moment, because no words could do it justice.

9. Thank Sports Lawyer and his very generous parents in person, and with a blog post to seal the deal.  Thank you, A Family, for the wonderful evening - you are a family full of generous, kind and inclusive people and we are so happy to have met you! 

And that, my friends, is how you do a baseball game right.

5 on Friday v.3

5 Things ...

...you'll find on my phone

1. Way more photos than one person needs on a mobile device (I'm pushing quadruple digits, here).

2. Text messages dating back to 2012, I love to read ones that make me smile.

3. Candy crush, thanks to Jenna.

4. Instagram (@stresscasey - shameless plug).

5. Super cute icons, thanks to the amazing app, Cocoppa!

...you'll find on my desk at work

 1. The cutest rhinestone work accessories - pink  tape dispenser, a gift from Gardening Momma, and  a clear rhinestone business card holder was handmade by Sister Swimmer!

2. My favorite mug ever with a sassy Tinkerbell on the front, a souvenir from Disney World.

3. A picture of me and my Handsome Hubs from our wedding day.

4. Lots and lots of paperwork, it's like a visual to do list.

5. A cup full of brightly colored pens, if you can't love a colored pen, what can you love?!

...you'll find on my kitchen counter

1. My adorable red Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer, that trips my electricity everytime I use, but I still insist on using it whenever possible.

2. The cutest little candle from Best Friend Fashionista.

Don't get it twisted, that's not dirt.  My counters just need to be re-grouted (is that a thing?).

3. Lots of mail begging to be sorted through.

4. A necessary couple fleurs.

What do ya know - mail and fleurs together!

5. And usually?  Some dirty dishes.  I ain't no dish natzi over here.

This is real life, y'all.

Lots of Link Love

Like Tara, I think it's important to emphasize the importance of community in the blog world and not only focusing on ourselves and our own blogs, but to spread lots of blog love to those who deserve it.  Every once in a while, I will highlight the posts over the last few weeks that touched me, made me laugh, pulled at my heartstrings, and inspired me.

• Julie made me smile so big watching her reveal her BIG news to her friends and family.

• Whitney had me cracking up with her Spice Girls Life Lessons. 

• Jennifer shared the maybe most gorgeous baby shower I've ever seen.

• Michelle gave us a very valuable tutorial on embedding pins since Pinterest has changed it up a bit. 

• Jessica did tons of Easter Pinterest projects, and shared them all with us!

• Jenna is kicking off another round of That Weight Loss Challenge, and it is quite motivating if you're trying to knock a few pounds off the scale!  

• Mandy shared a bit of her love, engagement and wedding story and I loved how honest she was.

• Brandi wrote her love story in seven addicting and enthralling parts.

I love these links, and you know what else I love?  The awesome giveaway I've got going on for an adorable chevron and hot pink camera wrist strap!  You've still got a few days left to enter - check it out HERE.

Spring & Summer TV

Once upon a time, the good TV was only on in the Fall and in the Spring and Summer we were destined to find entertainment from reruns and movies on the 200s (what I used to call the movie channels as a kid, now they are like 1200s).

That is so not the case anymore!  There is so much fabulous Spring & Summer TV out there, it's nearly as exciting for you couch surfers like myself as Fall is!

Take a looksie at my favorites coming (or just recently premiered) to a TV near you!

The Voice

Premiered March 25th

Real Housewives of Orange County

Premiered April 1st

  

Mad Men

Premiered April 7th

Nurse Jackie

Premiers April 14th

Big Brother

Premiers June 26th

Dexter

Premiers June 30th

Breaking Bad

Premiers July 14th

I mean, seriously?  It would be a good summer even if I never hit the road for a vacay or saw the ocean solely based on the quality television about to enter my living room.

And hey, no judgement on Real Housewives - OC girls are the first ladies of Bravo!

What shows do you watch during the Spring and Summer?

Quotable Tuesdays

East Coast Vacation Recap: An Authentic Philly Cheesesteak

Wanna read more about our East Coast Vacay?  Read about our plane ride out, our train ride to the city, an NYC rendevouz, and the day we spent in Washington DC.

On the day we were set to return home to sunny Southern California, we decided to see one last famous city on the East Coast: Philadelphia.  We always fly in and out of Philly (I'm like a local, shortening the name and shiz), but in all the years I've visited, I had never taken the time to see the local Philadelphia, PA sites.

Being that I married a history and politics nerd, he was excited to see things like The Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, and you know me, anything to make my man happy (yeah right).

Spunkmaster Flex and Aunt Delaware joined us for our day in Philadelphia also, which was nice as we got to include both sight-seeing and some family time in our last few hours on vacation.

We spent most of our time at Independence National Historial Park, where the Liberty Bell and Hall are located, as well as some other random super important historical buildings.

HH in front of Independence Hall

 

I'm not sure whether it was actually colder in DC and Philadelphia or if I had just had enough of the freezing (read 40s) weather, but this day?  I was ready to be done with the coats and scarves and gloves and teeth chattering.  Who knew I was such a California girl afterall.

 

Glamour shot of The Bell

 

Hubs posing by Independence Hall, where something important must have happened at some point

 

The backside of The Hall

Imagine our surprise when we realized we were seeing another SCOTUS!

(Check out the DC recap if you're confused as to what the hell I'm talking about.)

 

After taking in the historical sites, we tried on something a little more my size.  Looking at some gorgeous real estate in the area.  I love me a pretty house, and the historical little row houses in Philadelphia are no exception.  I wish I could have taken some photos, because some of them were so darn cute I'd love to been able to share with you. 

 

Had we had more time in Philadelphia? I would have loved to have seen the Constitution Museum and park the car to take a long walk around the cute neighborhoods to get some better looks at the pretty little row homes in the city.

 

But alas we did not have unlimited time, but before we left the city we got to check something off the old Bucket List.  Have an authentic Philly Cheesesteak.  Spunk took us the to ultimate place to get one of these greasy sandwiches - I mean, there were literally two places on opposite corners of each other!  Talk about competition!

 

{Via}

 

In the photo above, you can see how close these two competing sub shops are from one another with Pat's in the foreground and Geno's Steaks back a ways.  These two spots are apprently so popular that sometimes their lines are touching!  They nearly were when we were there for quite a late lunch.

 

We decided on Pat's if for no other reason than it was closer to where Spunkmaster dropped us off.  We got in the line and I got nervous.  There were all these signs dictating how you should order your cheesesteak and it was intimidating.  I literally begged HH to order for me, because the guys who were taking the orders were barking at patrons.  Maybe I'm old fashioned (or who knows, maybe they are), but in my world?  You don't yell at customers, and owning a restaurant doesn't suddenly make you a damn dictator.

 

 



The worst part?  They got our freaking order wrong!  It wasn't too far off, but they managed to eff up our order.  Me thinks if you can't get it right after you yell at people for ordering improperly, you should try a new system.  But whatdoIknow.

 

So the big question - how were the (albeit messed up according to our order) steaks?  Well.  They were great.  And they were way better than the cheesesteaks you can get out here in California.  However, I gotta be honest and mention that I did not notice a huge difference between authentic Philly cheesesteaks from Philly and the fantastic steaks I've had in Wilmington and Rehobeth, Delaware.  Just an innocent California girl's opinion.

 

After sufficiently expanding our bellies with our subs, we were off to the airport and our vacation slowly came to an end.

 

Lots of hugs and some tightening in my chest as we said goodbye to our hosts.  It was the end of a beautiful trip, which I always find bittersweet.  As I get older and more established in my adult life at home, I get anxious to get home - to sleep in my bed, to cook my own meals, to get back to normal.  But at the same time, the absolute worst part of these trips to the East Coast is that most of the time when we say goodbye, we don't know when the next time we will see each other is. 

 

Aunt D and Spunkmaster, thank you for your hospitality and for taking us to see DC and Philadelphia.  We loved sightseeing with you, staying up late and chatting, and especially watching Youtube videos and Oscar-winning movies with you.  We can't wait to see you again, but I'm thinking it's your turn again and California is calling your name!  Christmas on the sand?