Friday, January 30, 2015

TV Addicts Resource List || TV Friday

Before I say anything else today I want to send a big huge THANK YOU hug to everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday yesterday. When I wrote my first blog post I had no idea that I'd find so many wonderful and amazing people and that those wonderful and amazing people would end up being important pieces of my life. The sappiness is so real right now, but I can't even help it!! I came home last night to find flowers in front of my door from sweet, sweet Allie and I may or may not have cried. It's those little things, guys. This blogging thing is so awesome.


25 is lookin gooooooood.

Now, I know I said I was going to have a birthday post for you guys yesterday, but that didn't happen. Because I couldn't decide what to write, so I just didn't. Moving on..

It's TV Friday!


One of my in-real-life friends asked me last week how I always know so many things about the TV shows we watch together.
Answer #1 - Because I'm an addict.
Answer #2 - I do my research.

If you've been a reader for a while, then you know my ultimate, ultimate goal in life is to know a little about a lot, just enough to make me dangerous. I also truly enjoy reading about TV shows and Television related things. I'm going to share some of my favorite sites and let you in on all of my secrets. This is a big deal.

#1 - TV.com
This website is almost my holy grail. It has a little bit of everything I'm looking for. On the homepage it shows the TV schedule for the night, which is such a cool feature. But my favorite, favorite parts are all of the episode reviews. There are always a ton of community posts too that are fabulous, fabulous. They always post any news about TV shows, like cancellations, renews, casting changes, etc. I'm also addicted to their round-up posts like "Top 11 ****" and "Top 10 drama shows of 2014" and "Your Everything Guide To ***".
I probably check this website every day. Ain't no shame in my game.

#2 - Wikia
This one is a little more specific depending on what TV show you watch. Most TV shows have their own Wikia or Wiki page. Such as the Supernatural Wiki (which is just oh my god, amazing if you like supernatural) or the One Tree Hill Wikia. Those are the last two I visited, which is why they're the two examples I'm showing you because they're on my brain, but really a ton of TV shows have them. Fans run them and they are always FULL of information. Trivia, to episode quotes, to breaking down a character, to just everything.

#3 - imdb.com
If you don't know about imdb, then you need to figure out your life.

#4 - Google
Honestly, I wasn't going to add this to the list, because how obvious, right? But it's the honest truth. Quickly typing in a TV show into Google, especially the day after an episode aired, will give you awesome results. I do it all the time! I especially LOVE when that Google search leads me to someone's blog post. Heaven.

#5 - Twitter
Girl, have you ever searched your favorite TV show on Twitter? What are you doing with your life?! A quick little #TVD search and I'm lost deep into the hole of Twitter life. This can back-fire on you though. Last night I clicked on #Parenthood and I decided that that was a terrible idea approximately 15 seconds after I did it because it was just full of tweets about crying. Also, side note, I'm glad Parenthood is over now so that soon Netflix will have the whole series on there and I can jump on that bandwagon.
Because day-late-dollar-short is my middle name.

Now I also have to tell you guys if you're reading my TV Fridays posts, I'm assuming you have at least a small TV addiction. First step is admitting you have a problem, it's ok. But if you do have a TV addiction, then you need to take your butt over to Becca.
I can not, CAN NOT even tell you how serious I am about this, but you need to be reading her.

On that note, I have to go, because I have a lot of TV to watch. I need to get on Becca's level. The struggle.


Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Do You Like Wine? Do You Love It?

Just stopping in really quickly today. I'm going to make it short today because I'm sort of planning a bonus birthday post for tomorrow. I wasn't going to stop by at all, but then I got a reminder email this morning and just had to share everything involving it.

Has anyone heard of Club W?


Totally understandable if you haven't, but that also means that you're missing out. Like a lot.

I don't want this to sound like an infomercial, but damnit, I have good things to say about it! So just bear with me, I guess?

Club W is a wine delivery service. So first of all, wine to my door? Yea ok, sign me up. But it's actually more than that I think. It's based in California, so most of the wines you can choose are California wines, usually from small, local wineries.

You can fill out a palate profile and have them choose wines for you based on your tastes and what they recommend or you can just select the wines from their offered wines that month. You get new choices every month to choose from, with a couple wines that repeat for a few months. You can choose to get 3  or 4 bottles a month (i choose 3), but you can take a month off if you need to. For instance, I took December off because I already had so much wine stockpiled for the holidays, I didn't want 3 more bottles. ...Who am I?

I really, really love Club W though because I've gotten to try so many different kinds of wines, which I'm in love with. If I could wine taste every day, I'd die happy. I also love that every bottle is $13 and from my experience so far, the quality of wines you're getting are worth much more than that, so I consider this a steal.


Now, Club W doesn't know who I am and I doubt they give a flying fig one way or another, so I wasn't asked to write this post and I'm not getting paid or perked for it. However, Club W does offer referral links. If you sign up using my link here, then I get some perks and YOU earn $26, that's 2 free bottles. You can use $13 on your first order and then another $13 on your second order. Oh, and you can also get your own referral code. Because life is awesome like that.

Having said that, if you don't want to earn $26 and you don't want me to earn free bottles either, then feel free to click this regular Club W link here. I'm not mad at ya!

Just thought I'd stop in and let you guys know about this cool thing, since I'm currently deciding on my next 3 bottles for them to send to me!
Also, I asked on my Twitter, but I have a little Poll for you guys..

White Wine person or Red Wine person? 

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Winterize Your Nails & Hands || With Julep!

I've been on this earth just shy of 25 years now. In that time I've made a bad decision or two.. or three. Who's counting though, really? I'm not going to sit here and admit to all of the bad choices I've made, but I will tell you about one.

In high school I wore acrylic nails. Eventually I decided I no longer liked the look of them on myself, but mostly I hated what they were doing to my real nails. Destroying them. The acrylic nails destroyed them. Looking back, I really wish I had never subjected my nails to that kind of torture for so long. In recent years I've put quite a bit of effort into taking care of my nails and hands. I am rough on my hands. I use them daily, obviously, and I'm not at all dainty about it. I also find myself washing my hands a lot and that combined with my already dry skin, I mean.. by the time the cold January weather rolls around, my hands and nails are a mess.

Last year I came up with the perfect solution for my dry hands, that I'll share at the end of this post, but first let's talk about my other problem area - my nails.

I hadn't ever found the perfect solution for my poor nails. I really just needed someone to tell me exactly what I should be doing and how I should be doing it. Instructions people, I needed instructions. So let's all say hi to Julep and then let's follow that up with a "Thank You, Julep!" because they've got you covered.


A clear set of instructions on how you can take care of your nails all year long, but especially in these cold winter months when everyone is suffering just a little extra.

Also, let's talk about how badly I NEED some of their new winter nail polish colors.


Isla and Sawyer are calling my name. Like whoa. Also, only because I spent 45 minutes last night reading it, Julep has a blog. Which is #1, really cool, but also #2, it has a lot of things on there! I had expected to glance through really quickly, but then got completely caught up in post after post. I'm always about sharing blogs I really love and this is another one on that list. Good stuff.

Now, my perfect solution for dry hands? You don't need to get too fancy. Promise.


1. Start with some traditional Vaseline. Just rub a small amount all over your dry hands.
2. Rub your hands in a sugar or salt scrub mixture. There are tons of DIY recipes on Pinterest, but the easiest for me is just mixing some sugar and coconut oil. Easy, affordable, and effective.
3. Rinse the scrub mixture off of your hands.
4. Use a good hand lotion. Hand creams tend to be thicker than normal lotion, which makes them more effective. I love the Neutrogena hand cream. It's fragrance free and makes my hands so, so soft!

Let me know if you try any these tips! Especially if you have an AMAZING sugar scrub, because I'm on the hunt!
Also, let me know which new Julep winter nail polish color I need. Totally serious, help me decide. It's going to be my birthday present to myself.

Monday, January 26, 2015

Currently.. In A Hurry.

Time: 7:37am

Let's see how quickly I can bang out this post today. I'm on a time crunch.


Sitting >> On my bed. Waiting on my dad to get to my apartment, because guess who was gifted a gently used washer and dryer for her birthday (that's in 3 days, but who's keeping track?) ? This girl. Momma, I'm a big girl now! My dad is coming to get it all officially hooked up this morning.

Drinking >> Water. I've slacked majorly on my water intake the last couple months and I'm ready to get back in the game. So I'm determined to drink a ton of water this week.

Reading >> American Sniper! I started it last night because I need to marathon read it so my dad, my grandma, and myself can go see the movie real soon. As soon as I'm finished my dad needs the book back to finish reading it, so I'm trying to read it as fast as I can!

Planning >> Fun wedding/bachelorette things for my friend! I'm going to say it a hundred times before now and June, but I AM SO EXCITED FOR HER! This is so much fun!

Watching >> The clock. Tick tock, tick tock.

Cooking >> Haven't decided what I'm going to cook this week. I'm thinking this or this? Opinions?

Looking >> For my gym shoes for over 20 minutes early this morning. I legitimately could not find them anywhere and I was THIS close to saying "F the gym, I'll stay home" when I got down on my hands and knees and happened to find my shoes under my bed, behind my Christmas decorations. Because that makes perfect sense.. No idea how they got there since I just had them on yesterday.

Wanting >> YOU to be semi-stalking me on Insta, the Twitter, and le Pinterest. If you're feelin' crazy you could even follow me on YouTube and Tumblr. But that's only for the elite crazies, like myself.

Thinking >> I need to hurry up and finish this post because I still have things I need to do before my dad gets here. Things he told me to do last night to be ready for him today, but I ignored him because that's my job as his child.

Time: 8:02am
Boom. Done!

Tomorrow friends, I'll be back.
With something fun.
Because I'm a fun person.
Duh.

Friday, January 23, 2015

My TV Lists || TV Friday

Guys, I need a good slap on the wrist. Remember how I had plans to be productive last weekend? And remember how that didn't happen? Well that's thrown off my whole damn week.

I'M SO UNPREPARED.
And it's driving me crazy.


It's TV Friday, but I'm behind on a lot of the shows I want to write about and I just didn't have time to catch up on everything this week. So many hours of TV, so little time. I'm going to be the first to admit that today's post is a bit of a cop-out post. Having said that, it is a post someone asked for back in September, during TV Week.

*side note: remember TV Week? God, I loved TV Week*


I'm just now getting around to posting it because well, I just now remembered it. Someone (and if it was you, tell me so i can give you the credit) asked me to just make a little list of the shows I watch regularly, the shows I DVR and let build up and then binge watch, the shows on my "want to catch up" list, and the shows on my Netflix list. Since some of these lists are actual lists that exist on my computer, this is an easy post!

Shows I Watch Weekly

  • Chicago PD
  • Chicago Fire
  • Supernatural
  • Pretty Little Liars
  • The Flash
  • The Vampire Diaries
  • Criminal Minds
  • Bones
  • NCIS
  • NCIS Los Angeles
  • NCIS New Orleans
  • Young & Hungry
  • How To Get Away With Murder


Now obviously, I don't always get to watch these shows weekly, but these are usually the shows I don't let pile up on my DVR.

Shows I DVR To Binge Watch

  • Arrow
  • The Originals
  • Grimm
  • American Horror Story
  • The Walking Dead
  • Grey's Anatomy

These are shows I let build up to 3 or 4 episodes on my DVR and then watch all together when I have time. Actually, American Horror Story I'm letting the whole season tape on my DVR so I can just binge watch the whole thing. Also, Grey's I've been recording, but I haven't watched a single episode this year. I'm just kind of over it, guys. 
Arrow is a show I want to move up to the Watch Weekly list, but that keeps not happening. 


Shows I Want To Watch

  • Scandal - Guys, I know I need to get my ish together and watch this show. I know.
  • Homeland - I just want to be one of the cool kids and know what everyone is talking about!
  • New Girl - I really need to get caught up so I can watch this one!

Next 3 Netflix TV Shows On My List
  • Prison Break
  • Friday Night Lights
  • Greek
I very recently bumped Prison Break to the top, but yes, these are the next 3 shows on my actual, real list. Prison Break because, Wentworth Miller and Sarah made me. Friday Night Lights because I'm sick of everyone telling me how awesome it is and me not knowing. Greek because it's only 4 seasons and I think it'd be a quick watch and remind me a little of One Tree Hill, which is my one true love.


So there you have it. 
Now, the big question - What should I add? Because look, I'm always willing to add TV shows to my lists. #TVAddict

#KaysJokeOfTheDay
What did Lil Jon do when the hardware store employee tried to sell him a lightbulb?
Turned down 4 Watt.



Thursday, January 22, 2015

What's Your Ultimate Goal In Life?

Yesterday it was 11am before I realized I accidentally hadn't hit Publish on my Wednesday blog post.


God Hermione, I know. I had a lot going on yesterday and I was super scatterbrained! Anyway, I decided not to post it at all yesterday, because.. reasons. The real issue here is that this whole thing totally fudged up my schedule. I had already planned a super quick and short surprise Thursday post and obviously Friday is going to be another TV Friday. Well, after a debate with myself just 15 seconds ago, I've decided to stick with my schedule and yesterday's post will get posted sometime next week, which is BIRTHDAY WEEK. Boom.

Moving on..

Today I had just planned on doing a little get-to-know me kind of thing. I've been feeling like I've been seeing a lot of new faces in my comment section and my email inbox lately. Which is awesome and makes me very happy, but I really need to probably do a new About Me page. However, since I'm still planning on rebranding and changing practically everything about this little 'ol slice of the internet soon, I don't want to take the time to do that, only to then do it again. So I took to tumblr (yes, i created a tumblr recently-ish, mostly so i could get access to more gifs, because.. gifs) and searched for some typical "About Me" questions. Here you go.



All The Things You Didn't Know That You Wanted To Know

What's your real name?
Hey, I'm Kristen.



How old are you?
24 years and 358 days.

When is your birthday?
January 29th.

Where do you live?
Bloomington, Indiana.


Hair color, eye color?
Brown hair, green eyes.

yesterday's pic of slowly transitioning back to my dark brown hair || my green eyes, but when i was unsuccessfully trying to be more blonde

What do you do?
I work in a CPA & Accounting office, I work at Indiana University in athletics, and I blog.

What's your favorite color?
I like pinks and corals, but I really like black and grays.

What's your favorite kind of food?
Carbs plus cheese. In any kind of combination.

What's your favorite social media website?
It's honestly a tie between Twitter and Instagram. I love them both for their own reasons.
Shameless plug - Follow me on Twitter @MissKayStoll and Insta @kaystoll129 if you aren't already.


Do you have any tattoos or piercings?
No tattoos.. yet. Yes, 4 total piercings on my ears.

Do you collect anything?
Candles. I think it's officially safe to say that I collect candles.

What's your ultimate goal in life?
To make someone happy, to make someone laugh, to make someone's day better, to make someone's life better, and to influence someone else into doing the same.


Ending on that high note. #LifeGoals
See you tomorrow for TV Friday.. I have no idea what I'm going to write about yet, so it'll be a surprise to both of us!

#KaysJokeOfTheDay
What do you call a man with no shins?
Toe-Knee. (Tony, get it?) 


Wow, that's enough internet for today, Kay.

Monday, January 19, 2015

Don't Jinx It! || The Weekend Story

One of my friends and I have this one joke we always say with each other. When we were first 21 and we went to the bars all of the time, sometimes we'd say things like "Yea, I'll go out tonight, but I don't want to stay out too late" or "Yea, let's go out, but I'm not going to drink very much tonight". Without fail, every single time we made that declaration, the opposite happened. Nights we said we weren't going to stay out late? We'd close the bar. Nights we weren't going to drink very much? We'd be calling for rides home.

So, any time either of us says something like that, the other one always says "don't jinx it!" because those are always the nights things don't go as we plan them. Which brings me to this past weekend.

Friday afternoon I made all of my plans for the whole weekend and they involved getting a lot of stuff done at my apartment, alone, by myself. I had planned to only leave my apartment to get some quick drinks with friends Saturday night and Sunday I was going to try out a new church with a friend and then a quick Bridal Show thing. Friday afternoon I said "I really want to have a relaxing weekend of doing nothing" and that is when I should have said "DON'T JINX IT!".

Instead of getting some work done on my computer and relaxing on Friday night, my sister called and I talked to her on the phone for 3 and 1/2 hours while cleaning my bathroom, reorganizing my makeup, sorting through my closet for clothes to take to Goodwill, and dusting my bookcases. Because we're excellent multi-taskers like that.


Saturday is really where my plans went awry.
While on the phone with my sister the night before she decided to drive the 2 hours back home from school for the weekend, since she didn't have classes on Monday and all of her roommates were gone for the weekend, so she was bored. Well, when she got into town the 2 of us took our younger brother to the mall and shopping with us. This turned into a 4 hour ordeal. By the time I got home (with an embarrassing amount of new B&BW candles) I was in a rush to get ready to leave for some quick drinks with 2 of my girlfriends.  

We went to a downtown winery bar, so we were sitting drinking wine and they're trying to convince me to go to another bar with them for a few more drinks "just for a little while". So I finally agreed, but I said "I'll go, but I really don't want to stay out late". My friend that knows the joke looked at me and laughed out loud after I said that and I knew, I KNEW saying that was a huge mistake.

I had jinxed myself.

We walk to another bar, get a drink, and I get a text. A number I don't have in my phone saying "Are you not even going to say hi?" Uh.. Who are you? Come to find out, it was one of my old guy friends who I hadn't seen in probably 2 years! We were really good friends in high school and the early college years, but then life happened and we both were doing different things and yada yada yada. Well he had seen me across the bar and still had my number, so he texted me. It was his birthday (which i remembered right away by the way, because i'm a crazy person who remembers birthdays really well) and we all got to talking, reminiscing, catching up, and before you know it? It's 3am. Bars are closing.

Kryssy, Krystal, and Brenda - Our alter egos.

We end up back at his house and he cooks us eggs - Exhibit A


Somehow, we don't end up back at my apartment until 5:30am. Yea, that happened. Do you know the last time I stayed awake until 5:30am? A long time ago, because I'm an old lady now.

I woke up at 8:30am to get ready to try out a new church with a friend (this is probably a whole separate post). After church I went to lunch with my friend, her fiancé, and her parents. Then my friend and I went to a Bridal Show for 2.5 hours.

I was IN LOVE with this table setting

We get back into town and we both need groceries, so we go grocery shopping together, and then finally, I'm back at my apartment at 6pm.

My nice relaxing weekend by myself turned into anything but. And I couldn't be happier about it! Good memories that I'll remember for years and years, instead of a weekend I'd forget in a month.


However, it's 7:45pm, I'm running on less than 3 hours of sleep, and I'm going to breakfast with my dad in the morning and then I have a very full work day ahead of me. So, that's why you're getting this post instead of the post I had planned to write and prep this weekend, because I'm going to bed as soon as I type this last sentence.

What a weekend.

Friday, January 16, 2015

Vampires, Witches, and 1994 Hell! -The Vampire Diaries || TV Friday

Hello my friends, it's Friday. Which means it's time for TV Friday.

This particular Friday we're only going to be discussing one TV show, because.. It needs it's own post. Yea, I'm talking about TVD. Also yes, I'm a little late getting this up today. I knew on Tuesday that I was writing about TVD for TV Friday, but I didn't start this post until late, late last night, because procrastination. Once I started the post though, I realized how much I actually had to say and it took me forever to figure out how I was going to organize all of my thoughts. Unfortunately I fell asleep mid-post at 1am, which is my long-winded excuse for why this is late. I'm sorry, yo.

The Vampire Diaries
*spoilers all over the place*

If you've been reading my blog for the last year (ish), then you know that I thought season 5 of The Vampire Diaries was absolutely the worst. I mean, so awful that I was almost, very seriously, done with the show. I stuck it out, for reasons, but it was a long season full of shit. Actual shit. So if you knew all of these thoughts I had been having, then you're really going to be surprised by my next sentence.

Season 6 of The Vampire Diaries has been top notch.

Honestly, not sure it could've gotten worse and my expectations were very low, but wow. This season has been incredible and reminded me why I used to love this show. So let's break it down.

To quickly recap the finale of Season 5 - Mystic Falls is a magic free zone, Bonnie and Damon are on The Other Side somewhere, maybe, Enzo is back, Alaric is also back, but as a vampire, and Tyler isn't a hybrid. Boom, you're caught up.

The Good
-The Season 6 premiere. I was a really big fan of the first episode this season for a lot of reasons. First of all, the writers took a risk and started us off with a 6 month time jump. Practically all of the main characters had separate story lines going on, but yet, things felt more cohesive than all of Season 5. It was good stuff and really started to give the viewer and idea of what's been happening for the past 6 months, but also start up some story lines. I love that Stefan had just given up and was MIA, especially while so many of the other characters were working hard. Elena taking witchy magic herbs to hallucinate Damon was brilliant storytelling, honestly. But then.. THEN the end. The last scene. We finally see Damon and Bonnie. They're wearing flannel, reading a newspaper, and eating pancakes. It was just so.. I just loved that scene.
-The 90's. Bravo to the TVD writers for knowing when to exploit something. The 90s are so, so in right now and transplanting Damon and Bonnie into 1994? I mean, how freaking perfect. GOOD writing, people. Also, such a different and interesting plot line, because I don't think anyone was expecting something like that. I mean, we all knew Damon and Bonnie were going to be alive, but I think all of us thought they'd be in a different PLACE not a different DECADE. It's been fun.
-Damon and Bonnie bonding. Again, such a good plot point because they took 2 characters who openly didn't like each other and threw them into a different decade together, alone (mostly) for over 6 months. I mean, come onnnnn! I loved watching their love/hate relationship and I want so much more of that! TVD, give me more Damon and Bonnie. Also, this is coming from the girl who wanted Bonnie to die for forever.

-Alaric is back. I'll take him back anyway I can get him back. I think this was a situation where TVD got rid of a character and realized they F'd up. The craziness at the end of season 5 was the perfect excuse to bring him back. He did come back and an Original vampire, which.. okay TVD, kind of interesting how we were supposed to follow your shotty explanation of why he's an Original, but still Vampy Alaric was fun for a little while. But homeboy is back to human status now and I'm not mad.
-Yellow Ledbetter. Episode 2 of this season was definitely in my Top 10 of the best TVD episodes ever. The storytelling was just so spot on! I particularly loved the Damon and Bonnie scenes, because this was the episode where we really found out where the hell they were and what has been going on for 6 months, also the big twist at the end - They aren't alone! So good. Enzo stabs Stefan with a fork in the most awkward dinner scene and I loved it. I mean, I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to stab Stefan with a fork. We have a new character who is a founding family member, surprise, and is casually murders vampires. Really liked that storyline, while it lasted. Oh, and then there's Elena, who in typical Elena fashion, wants Alaric to erase all of her good memories of Damon. Which brings me to my next point..
-HOW they erased Elena's memories of Damon. Specifically how they wrote into the storyline that Alaric had to find the specific memory where Elena fell in love with Damon. Really cute storytelling AND it gave the TVD writers a chance to show some of her memories and have Elena talk about why she loved Damon and talk about the good things about him. This was smart, because there are still a love of Stelena lovers and not Delena lovers, so this was a chance for Elena to really tell the audience good things about Damon and why she loved him. Really, really good storytelling. Also, it let us have cute flashbacks and I'm a sucker for a good flashback scene.

-Kai. Do you know what Kai is? A perfect villain for TVD. The kind of villain TVD lacked after The Originals left for their own show. I am so obsessed with this character. I truly love to hate him. He's straight up psycho, but has a wonderfully dry sense of humor and in a few moments you almost really feel for him.. But then he does something psycho, because.. psycho.
-The Gemini Coven storyline. Everything that TVD lacked in season 5. Also, downright brilliant of the writers to incorporate the twins they introduced to us in season 5, who quickly became fan favorites. I love that this season they introduced us to the characters separately, even mentioned the Gemini Coven in the first and second episode quickly, and then 8 episodes in? Bam, they're all connected. I have to say, I kind of saw all of that coming, BUT I was still really, really happy with it. Complicated families of supernatural beings is what TVD does best, so they need to stick with that.
-That Bonnie is still stuck in 1994. One, I'm really not ready to say goodbye to the 1994 prison yet, because gosh, that was just such a good plot line and something totally different! But two, it's SAD, really sad to see Bonnie completely alone now. Which means there are a lot of different ways the writers could take that and I'm excited. I've not liked the Bonnie character since Season 1 and I really, really wanted her to be a character that dies for good. BUT this entire season has made me love her!! I love.

-The Stefan and Damon reuniting scene. I don't have too much to say about that other than I'm just such a huge sucker for a bromance scene. Stefan finally confronting his feelings about Damon being gone and then Damon actually coming home in the same moment and the hug and ugh.. Perfectly done.

-Stefan and Caroline. I really like this new sort-of love storyline. More than that, I loved that Caroline told Stefan off for being an ass not once, but twice. Atta girl, Caroline! I'm a fan of them together though, I just hope that the TVD writers take it slow. No need to rush it all, ya know? Then you get them together and that's that. Slow build, much better.
-Cancer. How awful am I, but I'm glad we're killing off a character. TVD neeeeeeds it. This one is just plain sad too, so the death will have some serious impact. I have some issues with this storyline too, but when I overlook those, I love this. I'll be so, so sad to see her go though. The last of the parents.
-How they made Mystic Falls into a safe zone again. The magic barrier is down and the gang can head back to Mystic Falls. But mostly, I love how they did that. Good writing that we had a character who can suck magic from people, why not from the ground? Good writing. Also, it says so, so much for the writers that I hadn't spent all 10 of the first episode wondering when they were going to get back into Mystic Falls. I think they no magic barrier was a good plot device and they kept me distracted enough that I barely missed them being in Mystic Falls at all. Good writing.

The Not-So-Good
-Elena erasing her memories. I'm so torn on this, because now that she's aware that she's erased her good memories of Damon, she's a little easier to deal with. I also think it was a cute trick of the TVD writers since this almost made a clean slate for Damon and Elena, so now the audience can watch them fall in love again, basically from scratch, so that's a good trick to keep people interested. I did see it coming that once Alaric erased her memories and they kept talking about how he could un-do it if she wanted, I knew that meant that soon there was going to be a reason that Alaric couldn't un-do it. I mean, obviously. All good stuff. BUT, Elena erasing her memories of Damon is just so.. Elena, and I don't mean that in a good way. The first few episodes after that when she wasn't aware she had erased anything and her friends were pretending for her? The worst. She was almost unbearable to watch. Not Nina Dobrev, I mean the character. Nina is a rockstar. The only thing that made this all okay, was when Damon got to tell Elena that he would never erase his memories of her because he'd rather suffer from missing her then let go of one good memory of her. Boom. Basically he was saying "Elena, you bitch".



The Bad
-Enzo. Just when I start to almost like him again, they make him really annoying. I mean, does his character have any purpose right now other than to be the character who kills everyone so that our main characters don't have to? No. Stop. Our main characters are vampires. They need to kill a person or two or I'm going to think they've lost their touch. Instead, the writers have just made Enzo incredibly annoying.
-That the TVD writers forget their own lore. This happens a lot, but I specifically want to talk about the cancer situation. Stefan made some half-ass attempt to tell Caroline they can't cure her mom's cancer because "if our blood could cure cancer, don't you think we'd have heard about that by now". *side eye* Okay, BUT earlier THIS SEASON, Elena healed that girl at the corn maze and then a few episode later her temporary boyfriend told the audience that the girl Elena healed had had this shoulder injury thing for years and years, but now it was gone. We're supposed to deduce that it was because Elena healed her, right? So now you're trying to tell us that Caroline couldn't heal her mom? I read in some comments on a TVD article that people think we're supposed to believe that actually vampire blood can only heal injures and not diseases. I mean, I'll try to buy that, because I really, really like that Sheriff Forbes is going to die of semi-natural causes instead of something supernatural. It's something different and so good of TVD to acknowledge cancer, but I hate how they explained it and how they muddied the waters with Elena healing that other girl and curing her injury thing. Also, I'll have to rewatch the episodes, because I don't actually remember if her's was a shoulder "injury" or "disease" type thing. Which will annoy me if it wasn't an injury.
-Alaric and Damon are in a bro-fight. I'm so irritated with the writers for this. The whole time Alaric was "dead" we spent time talking about how much Damon missed Alaric and how Alaric was Damon's only really friend and Alaric even said he missed Damon in that one episode. Remember? "I miss you too, buddy". One of my favorite scenes on TVD ever. So when they brought Alaric back and then when Damon came back form 1994 hell, I was pumped for some serious bromancey best friend scenes! Instead, they made Damon take about 342 steps back as a nice guy and compel Alaric, which grrrr, pissed me off. So now they're in a bro-fight. And I'm so angry about it. Not good character development, TVD.

For old time's sake.. Sigh

-TVD writers character development. I talked about it a little in the bullet point above, but it really applies to multiple characters. The writers have an awfully bad habit of progressing a character in a certain way, but then making them do something that their old self would do. Sometimes I kind of get it, because that's real-life too and sometimes it felt right in that storyline. Usually though, TVD does it almost like they forgot they've spent 25 episodes taking their character in one direction. It's always like 4 steps forward 3 steps back kind of thing. It's starting to get a bit annoying for a show that is in it's 6th season. I don't want to watch the characters act exactly like their season 1 or 2 self. Otherwise what was the point of all of the other seasons? Ya know?


So there you have it. I have a ton more I could say, but I really just have to leave this here, because I've written a novel at this point. The Vampire Diaries will be back on The CW next Thursday with a new episode and I am so excited to see where they take things from here.

See you right back here on Monday, friends!

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Calling All Current & Former Brides!

One of my best friends got engaged right before Christmas. She had asked me before her engagement had even officially happened if I would be her Maid of Honor. Then last night I sat in a bridal shop while my best friend chose her wedding dress.


I'm having a moment.

I took a ton of pictures, but of course I can't show you those, so for now let me just say.. She looked beautiful. The dress is so absolutely her and the tiara, because yes, she's a tiara kind of girl, is just beyond amazing and fabulous and glorious. None of us even cried because we were all just so happy and laughing and watching her twirl and just so.. excited! There was no time to tear up! It was just all so much fun and just so HER.

Her mom had me do up all of the buttons on the back of her dress after she had decided that dress she had on was "the one". It was just one of those moments I don't want to forget, so I'm writing it down here. I've never been a bridesmaid or especially a Maid of Honor, so this is all new and exciting. I'm just so damn happy for her.


I'm having another moment.

Here's the thing.. I don't know how to be a Maid of Honor. Part of me feels like it's just going to have to be a "learn as I go" type of thing, but another part of me wants to make sure I do all I can for my best friend. On Monday night I took to Pinterest to figure out how to be a Maid of Honor. Shoot me. Why did I do that? Basically, according to Pinterest, I need to quit my job so I can be with the bride at every moment, but I also need to hit the lottery because I need to be spending thousands of dollars planning multiple elaborate parties for her.

Pinterest just doesn't make things practical sometimes. What I need? Practical advice.

If there's one thing Bloglandia has an abundance of, it's brides.
So I figured I'd put this out there - For those of you who are currently planning your wedding or for those who have already have your special day, what are some things you loved that your Maid of Honor did (or are doing) or what are a few things you wished she had done (or wish she would do)

I know everyone is different and every wedding and every bride is different, but I think some real, practical advice from some real brides, not Pinterest brides, would be the most amazing thing right now!  Thank you in advance!
I love you, friends!

Monday, January 12, 2015

My Sister Takes Over The Blog! (Uh Oh..)

Happy Monday, my friends! Boy, do I have a fun surprise for you today!

My sister has been home for winter break the last few weeks, but unfortunately, she goes back to school today. Last night I knew she wasn't doing anything of importance, so I texted her and asked if she wanted to answer some questions for my blog today. Some questions I found on the inter webs, and some I made up, just to make it colorful.


Now, my sister needs no real introduction around here. I've mentioned her on the blog so many times that I can't even link back to those posts, because it'd take forever. So.. Here you go. OH, plus I've added my own comments, because obviously she can't have the last word.

What is your name and what do I call you?
My name is Lindsey, but Kristen usually calls me Lou or Linds.
Or brat. Or Sista. I actually call her Sista a lot. Also, Kristen = Me, for those of you who missed that memo.

What do you call her?
Most of the time I just call her Kristen, but I don't usually pronounce the T so it sounds more like "Krissen"
When she was younger she used to call me Deeder, which I think was maybe supposed to be "Sister". It was sort of cute. Especially this exchange:
Mom: "Lindsey, what are you doing?"
Lindsey: "Big potty. Big potty like Dee." 
CUTEST home video IN ALL THE LAND.

Are you twins?
HAHA well no we aren't. We're actually 3 1/2 years apart in age, but we get asked if we're twins ALL THE TIME.
Seriously, every time we go anywhere. Also, some extend family refers to us as "the twins". 
Oh, and to clarify, she's 21 and I'm 24 going on 25 (Jan 29th). 



Do you mind being called twins?
I don't mind at all! Either I look 3 1/2 years older than I am, or she looks young. I think either of those would be a win for us. It's also pretty funny to see peoples' reactions when we tell them we're not twins.
Everyone usually thinks we're lying. Like yes, we'd totally lie about that. 

Are you close?
Yes. We fought so much as kids, but I think the older we've gotten the closer we've gotten. We hang out with each others' friends all of the time.
Agreed. I think we're very close.

Any memorable arguments?
This is a tough one. We've had so many little arguments that we get over in 5 seconds, that it's hard for one to stick out from the other.
Mostly her and I just have little spats and get over them fairly quickly. I do remember once when we were young, Elementary school age, we had gotten in a fight about Barbies which was not uncommon, but I got so mad that I put a puzzle piece between my knuckles and punched her in the leg with it. HAHAH, I was such a bitch.

What annoys you the most about me?
The fact that she LOVES to annoy me. My buttons get pushed very easily and she pushes every one of them just for the pure enjoyment of it. It's great. (refer to question #17)
One of my greatest pleasures in life is to annoy her. She just makes it so EASY! :) Also her "it's great" remark is her sarcasm coming through, in case you didn't sense it.



What do I do well?
Planning. It almost is annoying because I'm such the opposite, but she plans things down to every little detail and it always seems to work out for her. She's also really good at crafting and decorating!
We are polar opposites in this. The other day my dad was talking to me about when we were going to do my family birthday dinner, which is weeks away, and he said "I know you and I need to work this out now, because you need to add it to your calendar and plan around things, but I'll just mention it to your sister the day before." It was such a perfect moment that completely highlighted that difference in his two daughters.

Funniest memory?
There are WAY too many funny memories to count because we're constantly laughing, but honestly I just get the biggest kick out of us quoting movies. There are some movies we should just not watch with other people.
This was an unfair question, because "funniest" memory is impossible for us, because we're hilarious people. I will back her up and say that there have been many, many times that we have entire conversations in movie quotes (or YouTube quotes. or Vine quotes. Or TV quotes.). Like actual, real conversations, not nonsense.

What's one thing you can do that I can't?
Well I'm obviously the hilarious child of the family, so sorry bout ya sista. We all can't be as blessed as me.
WOW. Unfortunately, I have to give her credit - She's the most funny child of the family. Ew, it pains me to say that.

Last things we talked about?
I asked her to come out to the bar with her friend when they got done seeing a movie and she said no because they were basically in pjs. Lame.
We had gone to the 9:45 showing of Into The Woods, so she asked me this at like midnight. I'm too old now for that late night nonsense. 

Favorite inside joke with me?
Nobody ever really understands what we're saying. We pretty much have our own coded language.
Truth.


Do you hang out frequently?
As much as we can. I go to college two hours away from her, but I see her when I come to visit or am home for breaks.
I think considering she's usually 2 hours away from me, we hang out a lot. More than the average pair of siblings, I'd say. In the 3 years she's been in college, I've never not seen her when she's been home on a break or on a weekend, even if it's been for less than an hour. 

What do you think about blogging?
I think it takes a lot of patience and planning, two things I don't have. But more power to the people that do it, I love reading them. I think it'd be cool to be able to look back at your old posts and remember things that you did that you probably wouldn't remember otherwise.
Good answer, so I have no comment.

How often do you read my blog?
Sometimes I forget about it, but I usually read every post. I see the link on twitter and that reminds me.
Huh, I actually didn't know she read it much at all. 

Do you ever want to come back on the blog?
Sure, I'd love to!
No.


Why are you such a huge brat?
Well isn't this just the perfect question for Kristen to sneak in there. *currently glaring through the screen at her* I'm no bigger of a brat than she is, so she has no room to talk!
Ugh, that's such a bratty thing to say, Lindsey. 

When are you bringing the toddler mullet back?
As soon as you bring the bowl cut back. Don't make me get pictures out.
LOL. (my sister had an accidental mullet when she was 3-ish. I had an on-purpose bowl cut that my mother thought was just SO cute (it wasn't) when I was in 1st grade)

Any last words?
I think my ongoing tab needs to be lowered for taking the time to do this ;)
Backstory - Since my sister was in high school I started telling her I was keeping an ongoing imaginary tab for all of the money she owed me. Through the years, her imaginary tab has gotten large, quite large, and it grows much quicker than it shrinks. So she tries to find creative ways to decrease it. Like I said.. Brat.


Yea, I guess she's alright.

Let me know if you enjoyed this! Maybe I'll be able to convince her to do it again! Or maybe I'll get someone else to take over the blog.. Hmm…

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