Insta-August Photo Dump....

Insta-August Photo Dump....

It's time to dump a bunch of pictures from my phone onto here..this is my way of sharing the past few weeks without actually having to write anything...good plan, right? if you follow me on IG (here) you may have seen some (all) of these...but it not, then enjoy!!

 I think I am officially ready for Florida summer to be over...if for no other reason than the sky looking like this every 10 minutes

 Not much beats a Friday night snuggling on the couch, watching SOA and stuffing my face with a caramel Magnum bar....

 These amazing pumps were scored for $4.00...

When the sky doesn't look like it is going to open up and swallow you, it sometimes looks like this..and I am obsessed..

Whatarethechances?? Ok, so the orange one is mine and the blue one is my sister's, but how unlikely that an amazing neon yellow one would pull in right next to us...

 I am officially less than a year from 30...ugh....

The hubs got me my faveeeeeee....mint choc-chip ice cream cake...omg yum!

And my HILARIOUSSSS co-worker supplied the cake topper for this beauty...we shall call her Meredith...see the story behind the picture here.

 I had some frizzy hair on the way to go bowling, apparently...

 We are seriously some of the coolest people ever...

 Case in point..

 Andddd again...

Friday night fun at the bowling alley

My nephew discovered his passion for the drums...omg cutest thing ever

Showing off my new birthday bling....LOVE!

Andddd last but not least, I took part in the ALS ice bucket challenge...

and it.was.freezing...

Hope you enjoyed!!

50 random questions...PLUS today I am 28 + 364 days old...

50 random questions...PLUS today I am 28 + 364 days old...

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Ok so can we talk about how bummed I am that tomorrow is my 29th birthday?! 29 guys!!! That means that this is my last birthday EVER that will start with a 2...starting next year I will have a 3 in front of my age (barf)...But I have grown so accustomed to the 2 in the front--what am I going to do?? Getting old sucks.

Since I don't want to totally depress you today (I'll save that for tomorrow on my IG feed) I will instead steal Juliette's questions for today...mainly because I haven't written a post in way too long and 2nd because I love question posts.


1. What are you wearing? I am actually wearing the same outfit that I wore a few months ago when I took a pic of myself..and since I currently have period acne on my chin and my hair is gross and frizzy from the humidity, I'll share the old pic...there's a dress in there too, I just apparently chose not to take a picture of it...  

2. Ever been in love? Yes. I won't get all mushy and tell you how much I love my hubs, but seriously guys...he is the best..like kick-you-in-the-crotch-spit-on-your-neck-fantastically the best.   3. Ever had a terrible breakup? I'm sure they were terrible at the time, but looking back now there was nothing traumatic or unusual about them.  They needed to be gone from my life, and so they were..easy peasy.   4. How tall are you? 5' 1"   5. How much do you weigh? A whopping 100 pounds...can't keep weight on to save my life   6. Any tattoos? You would never know it but I have 12...and I can't wait to go back for 13 and 14   7. Any piercings? Currently just a few holes in my ears..over the years I had my nose, tongue and belly button, but one by one they disappeared.   8. OTP (one true pair, favorite fictional couple)? OMG it is a huge toss up between Noah and Allie, Edward & Bella, Monica & Chandler or Gerry & Holly...way too many to choose from

9. Favorite show? Friends, The Walking Dead, Sons of Anarchy, Jeopardy, Rehab Addict   10. Favorite bands? I like a lot of single artists...but if I had to choose a band I would say Sugarland   11. Something you miss? Our family that still lives up North   12. Favorite song? Pretty much anything by Chris Young...especially the Black Dress song   13. How old are you? 28 + 364 days...not 29 for another few hours suckas!!   14. Zodiac sign? Leo   15. Quality you look for in a partner? Someone who can make me laugh, loves country music and can protect me from anything...also someone who will hold my hair while I'm a puking mess..thanks babe <3   16. Favorite quote? "I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best." -Marilyn Monroe   17. Favorite actor? Morgan Freeman because he's amazing and Zac Efron because obviously.  

  18. Favorite color? Neon green   19. Loud music or soft? Soft, unless I am in a super bad mood..then loud   20. Where do you go when you're sad? My bedroom or my bathroom   21. How long does it take you to shower? Usually like 10 or 15 minutes...I am a huge water hog   22. How long does it take you to get ready in the morning? Thirty-five minutes from the time I open my eyes to the time I am in my car. (Yet somehow it takes me an hour and half to get ready on the weekend...)   23. Ever been in a physical fight? No...unless you count when I was like 9 and I beat up a little girl who was like 6 for calling my mom a bitch...don't mess with a gal's momma   24. Turn on? When my hubs sings to me   25. Turn off? When people whistle   26. The reason I started blogging? I was already blog stalking like 10 blogs and I figured why not join in! Also, my mom said that I have a ton of interesting crap to write about so I should start one..   27. Fears? The dark, dying, losing someone I love, strangers, heights, enclosed spaces   28. Last thing that made you cry? Last night we were watching SOA and *someone's* funeral was going on...and *someone* put a picture inside *someone else's* cut....and I can't say anymore because my sister hasn't seen that part yet and she will KILL me if I spoil it for her...but MAN that was a rough episode

  29. Last time you said you loved someone? This morning when I hung up the phone with my hubs.   30. Meaning behind the name of your blog? Because my last name is Keen (duh) and it kind of sounds like "Keeping up with the Kardashians," except without all of the ugly crying faces and money floating around.   31. Last book you read? It's been wayyyyyyy too long since I've read a book, but I think it was when I re-read the Twilight Series a few months back   32. The book you're currently reading? Absolutely nothing right now..but you know what? I go on my cruise in a few days so I don't even care   33. Last show you watched? Sons of Anarchy   34. Last person you talked to? Ummmm, one of my coworkers...we will call her Yelena.   35. The relationship between you and the person you last texted? It's a group message between my sister, myself and my mom..the current convo?? My brother-in-law left a dead goldfish in a Ziploc bag on the table today...he wants to return it to the pet store for a refund...it cost one dollar. Good times.   36. Favorite food? Italian every day  

    37. Place you want to visit? Ireland first and then Greece...I guess I wouldn't turn down Italy and Scotland along the way   38. Last place you were? Aside from my desk? I would have to agree with Juliette and say the bathroom.   39. Do you have a crush? Does a husband count? This is a weird question if you are older than the age of 13...next   40. Last time you kissed someone? This morning before the hubs left for work...half asleep morning breath kisses are great   41. Last time you were insulted? I feel like the hubs said something mildly insulting last night..for the life of me I can't remember what it was, so clearly it wasn't anything too important   42. Favorite flavor of sweet? Caramel is up there on my list...pretty close is watermelon anything and nerds...and then of course dr. pepper   43. What instruments do you play? I play a mean set of drums on rock band   44. Favorite piece of jewelry? My wedding ring. It is just a plain white gold band but it means more to me than any other piece of jewelry, and it is the only one I never ever ever take off.   45. Last sport you played? Ummmm, I think basketball in the driveway a few days ago   46. Last song you sang? "If I ever leave this world Alive" by Flogging Molly. The song is fantastic and if you haven't heard it you need to listen right away..I've even nicely included it for you below...

  47. Favorite chat up line? Ok so I didn't know what this meant so I googled it....((Chat-Up Line: A pick-up line or chat-up line is a conversation opener with the intent of engaging an unfamiliar person for romance or dating. Overt and sometimes humorous displays of romantic interest, pick-up lines advertise the wit of their speakers to their target listeners. They are most commonly used by men who pick up women.))    ....My actual answer is that I hate pick up lines and they are cheesy...get over yourself and just say hello you toolbag   48. Have you ever used it? Never   49. Last time you hung out with anyone? Last night I hung out with my sister, brother in law and the kiddos...we chalked int he driveway, took Casper for a walk and went out for some Mexican   50. Who should answer these questions next? Ummm.....anyone who reads this today... Sooooo tomorrow is the big 29..you probably won't see me around these parts since I'll be under my blanket pretending to be 28.

Happy International Lefties Day!!

Happy International Left Handers Day!

Being left handed is pretty awesome. We are more unique than most, we use the right side of our brain, allowing for us to be more creative, and we tend to be more beautiful than right handers (ok so I made that last one up...whatever). As unique and free spirited as we may be, there are a few plenty of reasons why being left handed sucks. After scouring the web this morning, I have found the top reasons why being left handed is for the birds.

1. Writing with a pencil is the WORST...

2. Go ahead and find the lefty desk..I dare you...grade school, high school, college...no difference

3. Spiral notebooks? My worst enemy...

5. ALWAYS having to sit at the end of the table...otherwise you are faced with this...

6. I can't count how many papers I turned in looking EXACTLY like this...

7. The infamous question I get whenever someone catches me writing...

8. Watching people stare as you turn your paper to get ready to write...

 

Since I don't want to completely bash my fellow lefties with today's post, I decided to share a few celebs with you that deal with the same daily struggles that we do:

Angelina...

Marky Mark...yum

 Julia Roberts...

 One of my faves, Morgan Freeman...

 Mista pres himself...

One of my many girl crushes, ScarJo...

 Lebron...

Miss Carrie Bradshaw herself...FYI, her hubs Matt Broderick is also a lefty.

I'm wishing all of my fellow 10 percenters a HAPPY LEFTIES DAY!!!! For the other 90% out there, go enjoy your spot in the middle of the table.

How to score a great deal on a cruise

How to score a great deal on a cruise...

So I'm sure I've probably mentioned the fact that I am going on a cruise 3 or 4 500 times over the past few months, but I am so super duper excited that I just can't contain it!! I'm not going to tell you exactly when we are leaving, because there is probably some crazy stalker out there just waiting to come into my house and steal my underwear while I'm gone...legit fear guys. Anywho, sometime over the next month I will be cruising to sunny Cozumel, Belize & Mahogany Bay, eating, drinking and gambling like it's my job. And what is better than cruising the Caribbean for a week? Cruising the Caribbean for a week in a balcony room. And how much did I pay for this room, you ask? A helluva lot less than I should have!! Wanna know the scoop?? Of course you do!!!

Rewind 4 months back to March-April-ish. We had finally picked a date for our cruise, decided where we wanted to go and put in the time at work. Next came choosing which of the 1,500 or so rooms we were going to stay in. Last year we stayed in an ocean view room on the main deck. The view was great, the location was perfect and we had no complaints about noise. Since we are cruising for 7 days this year instead of 5, the price for the ocean view room was not exactly ideal. We debated back and forth between going all out and splurging on a balcony room (which would have cost us $1,700) or taking the cheap way out and settling for an interior room. We decided that since we had spent zero time in our actual room last year, and it didn't really matter to us where we slept, we would go with the interior-upper-lower room. The size of the room is the same as all the rest, but instead of a queen or king bed, you have an upper and a lower twin bed...think of glorified bunk beds...glorified only because they are floating in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. We were satisfied with our decision and didn't really think about it again.....until last week that is..

Last week we were chatting about how cool it would have been if we have spent the extra money and booked the balcony room instead of the interior room. The view, the sea breeze, the naked time on the balcony meals on the balcony. It would be amazing, right? We decided to call Carnival and see if they were running any specials on room upgrades. After 15 minutes on the phone we were told that if we wanted to upgrade to a balcony it would cost us an additional $850...considering we had only paid $850 to begin with, we were definitely not about to double the cost of our trip. Even the ocean view room would have cost us an extra $650!! Ummm, no thank you...Before hanging up the phone, the super sweet phone rep told me to keep checking the rates online because they are constantly running deals as the cruise date gets closer...So what did I do as soon as we hung up the phone? Got to researching...

A few minutes later I found a deal that had to be wrong. Like, there was no way they were advertising something THIS low online and that high on the phone. I looked around for a catch---anything that would shatter my excitement and slam me back down to reality---and I couldn't find one. Not a single catch. Back to the phone I went...1-800-Carnival? (which by the way, is not even close to their number) Sure, I'll hold while you check your system. What's that you say? You will honor the rate I found online? Why thank you kind lady, that's so nice of you.

So here's the deal. We booked our cruise back in March. We paid $850 for an interior upper-lower room, which is the cheapest rate they offer. The going rate for a balcony room at that time was $1,700. We then waited 4 months, found an amazing rate online for a balcony room, called back to upgrade and Voila! After all taxes, fees and other charges, we paid around $1,250 for the entire week in a balcony room, a savings of $450 off of the rate in March. I know, I know...we still paid a few hundred dollars more than the price of the interior, so we really didn't save anything. But looking at the big picture (and why wouldn't you look at the big picture?) we made out like bandits. I can say without a doubt that we will be using this trick again in the future!

Just for fun, let's compare our previous room to our current room....

*Interior VS Balcony*

 ...The interior room on the left...balcony on the right...

Try it out for yourself. If any of you have a cruise planned over the next month or 2, give the cruise line a call or browse around online. I bet you will be pleasantly surprised at what you will find!!

Things that drive me crazy...

Things that drive me crazy...

So it has literally only been 4 days without a blog post, and yet I feel like I have been away from this place for months!! See what blogging every day can do to you? Whatever, I'm totally looking forward to the next 30 day challenge....

Today I am going to share with you some things that drive me crazy!! Like, absolutely bat-shit bonkers...Some of these may be true for you, but I'm going to guess that for the most part, I'm just a freak and let the little things bother me.

1. The hiccups...especially the painful ones that make you feel like your stomach is convulsing...and the ones that last through an entire episode of The Walking Dead. You can hold your breath while drinking a glass of water through a licorice upside down, and they are still there---nagging and lingering.

2. Loud motorcycles that speed past you on the interstate...or the ones that idle next to you at a stop light, causing you to miss your favorite part of a song. Cool, so I understand you like people to notice you and if you don't speed up to the front of the line you are going to miss the Harley convention, but please choose a lane that is not next to me. Thankyouverymuch.


3. That annoying piece of skin on the side of your fingernail..you know the one...You will bite it and bite it until it comes off, knowing damn well that it is going to hurt for 7 days afterwards. It will then proceed to get caught on every blanket, t-shirt and hair on your head, causing more biting and eventually wrapping a piece of scotch tape around it because you are at work and you are classy like that.

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4. Movie credits...there is just something about the credits rolling and the song playing in the background that literally makes me angry. I have to shut the movie off AS SOON as it is over, and I will just about jump off of the couch to find the remote. You know how some movies will show a funny clip after the credits have finished rolling? Yea, I've never seen that part.


5. Whistling....omg guys I don't know what it is about whistling but it makes my skin crawl!! So one little whistle to get someone's attention or when the hubs whistles at me from afar--I'm totally cool with that...but when someone just walks down the street whistling some obnoxiously happy tune---I seriously want to scream.

6. When clothes are hanging out of the dresser drawers...I'm sure this is 100% due to my OCD...There is something about seeing the sleeve of a shirt or the teeny tiniest part of a sock hanging out of the drawer that kills me. I will stop whatever I am doing to walk over and fix it. This rule also applies to cords, paper and anything else that will obnoxiously weasel its way halfway out of the drawer.

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7. People that make up words...for example..."funner, supposably, irregardless" to name a few...First of all, they are not real words...second, I am secretly judging you for using said words. And third, THEY ARE NOT REAL WORDS...Ok, I know I said that twice, but I feel like it is warranted.

8. People who overuse apostrophes...apostrophes are used for 2 things. To show possession and to join 2 words. If I am talking about Katie's shoes, there would be an apostrophe after Katie. There WOULD NOT, however, be an apostrophe after shoe. I feel like if you don't know, don't add an apostrophe. Less is more people.

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9. Commercials...I know that this mainly has to do with the fact that I am Netflix spoiled, but commercials drive me insane. If I am watching something live, (which is super rare by the way as I will pause a show just so that I can fast forward through the next commercial), I get so flustered at the break, knowing that I have at least 3 minutes until my show picks back up. Netflix + DVR = best inventions ever.

10. Slamming your baby toe on something...you could seriously be walking at snail speed, gently graze your baby toe on the side of the couch and suddenly you are laying on the floor, grabbing at your foot as though it were just chopped off, screaming every curse word known to sweet baby jesus. It doesn't matter how hard you hit it, your baby toe is definitely the wuss of the lower half of your body when it comes to pain.

There are probably like a zillion other things that drive me crazy, but I'll leave you with those for now. What drives you crazy?? And am I the only one who hates the ones that I mentioned?

 

Final Challenge---VLOG Accent Link-Up

Final Challenge---VLOG Accent Link-Up

First of all, let's celebrate the fact that it is Friday, and I survived an entire month of blogging. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but *toot toot.* Anddd it's August, which means that in 3 weeks, I will be 29. Yuck.

Now that we got that out of the way, let's talk about accents. Being from up north, I've heard every Yankee accent you can imagine. I've heard Bostonians talking about "pahking the cah" and New Yorkers telling me to "fugget-abott-it." Then I moved down to the heart of the South and heard more "ya'lls" and "bless her heart's" than I could have imagined. Along the way I have picked up on a few things, and today I am going to share them with you.

 
 Sorry about the weird random clicking in the beginning of the video..like I said, it's my first one!! Hopefully you enjoyed listening to my ramblings. Forewarning, I will NOT be blogging this weekend...like, at all...sooooo check back next week to see what I have in store for you!!