Things That Drive Me Crazy

In no particular order...

1. People who are on their phone when I'm talking to them.
2. Angry lights. Aka bright overhead lights, table lamps and soft glow bulbs were invented for a reason.
3. Wash cloths
4. People who wear too much perfume.
5. Cigarette smoke.
6. People who leave their Christmas lights up past February 1st.
7. Children singing.
8. Leggings. They are not pants.
9. People who don't use their turn signal.
10. Sleeping without a fan/air machine. It's basically impossible.
11. The sound of someone filing their nails.
12. When towels aren't folded a certain way.
13. Blowing my nose.
14. People who think they don't need to blow their nose.
15. Nosy people.
16. Any movie/book having anything to do with Nicholas Sparks.
17. Feet.
18. When people get a dog only to make it live tide up outside.
19. Those who don't use doggy bags...would you be upset if I pooped in your yard and left it there?
20. People who don't flush after using the bathroom.
21. Flossing (especially when you have braces).
22. People who chew with their mouth open.
23. Kirby men.
24. The word soda, its pop.
25. Slow walkers.
26. Sitting forever at the doctors office.
27. Not remembering my password.
28. Mumbling.
29. Line skippers.
30. Taylor Swift haters.
31. Fitted sheets that don't fit properly.
32. People always have pet fur on their clothes. Two words: Lint Roller.
33. People who bite their fork/spoon when they eat. (Wonder where I learned this one Krysti Leonard)
34. When a vending machine eats my quarters.
35. People who push their tongue against their front teeth when they smile.
36. Judgement. People are so quick to judge!
37. Disrespectful children.
38. Stubbing my toes on the same piece of furniture repeatedly.
39. People telling me how to do my job a "better" way, which is usually the harder/longer way.
40. Cheap tippers.
41. People who won't make eye contact when they talk to me.
42. Hotels that don't give you enough towels.
43. Tom and Jerry. They are always ruining a perfectly clean house!
44. Techno music.
45. People who aren't conscious of what looks good/bad on their body type.
46. The American food system.
47. Unfair teachers.
48. Multiple traffic lights in a row that aren't coordinated.
49. Styrofoam.
50. Loud pillows...call me crazy but some pillows crinkle too loud when your head is on them

Pizza Pie

So I'm finally back from my beach vacation! Somehow I'm still pale...sigh...I guess I need a whole month at the beach to do myself any good. Right now I'm busy planning my 5 year class reunion that is this Sunday, and celebrating my little brother's 20th Birthday today! (Why did I ever think this summer was going to be sluggishly slow?!) I feel like making apologies for disappearing for a little bit, but I'm not. I'm picking right back up where I left off with Krysti's visit...I'll catch you up from there, how about that?

If I do say so myself, Krysti (My friend from college who came for a visit) and I are quite the talented cooks. One of my favorite things to make when I have people over is pizza. I know I've done a post for pizza before, but guys, its just so good! I can't help myself. Everyone loves pizza, there are about a million different combinations and toppings to chose from, so everyone can pick exactly what they like! Its a little messy, but totally worth every ounce of flour spilled on the floor! We turned up some music and got to work on our classic cheese pizza. 

I've noticed a common theme with Krysti and I. Every time we do something together we blast music. We're kind of professional road-trippers, late night food eaters, and dance party junkies. All of these memories have a song to go with them. Sometimes its dance-your-heart-out music, sometimes its so chill we have a hard time staying awake, and sometimes its sad music. What I love about our music craze, is every time I hear a certain song on the radio or my ipod, it takes me right back to what we were doing. Standing in my kitchen making pizza together will always come to my mind when I hear this song!

I Boy-Scout Promise

That I will be back this week!

What Makes Friendship Beautiful

Ok, so for the next 3 days of my life I'll be traveling. 2 days by car to Pennsylvania, and then 1 day by plane to South Carolina (vom). As exhausting as it might be, I'm so excited to get home and see everyone for a little bit. I feel like I'm so behind on blogging all of the fun things I did last week! 

Last week Krysti and Whitacre (her dog son, who is also Scout's long lost twin brother) came to visit! It was a little spur of the moment, but that's typical Meredith & Krysti. I can't begin to say how much fun it was to just hang out for more than 48 hours. I didn't feel like we had to talk all night long to catch up! We ended up cooking lots of yummy food, being completely dog obsessed, and taking tons of pictures. That equals a successful weekend in my book. It probably seem like a boring week for most people, but Krysti and I haven't had a weekend to just hang out like old times in...well...forever. Weekend visits to Asbury just doesn't cut it. Only with your best friend can you go to work during the day, come home to a cleaned, swept house and be completely OK that your guest did it. 

 I told you they were long lost brothers!

Is it bad if I gush over dogs more than babies? They are so cute!

 We made Non's Chicken Pot Pie soup! This soup has become our "signature" meal together. We make it every chance we get. Now that we don't have to work in the cruddy basement of Glide Crawford dorm, over a sketchy stove that might explode at any minute, it tastes even better. 

We drank these babies...sometimes it really is a great thing to not be at Asbury! If you haven't tried Smirnoff Cherry Lime, you need too! I'm pretty positive they will be my new evening summer beverage!

Good booze, good food and great friends can't compare!

 I am so blessed to have such a good friend in my life. Now that Scout and Whitacre are besties, our circle of best friend love is complete. I wish we could always live right next door to each other. The beautiful thing is, when we are together its like we were never apart. I think that is one of the most comforting things to have in a friendship. We managed to squeeze in frozen yogurt, puppy chow mix, local donuts...so we like our sweets...along with shopping, movies, dog washing, and pranking a kid who left his bike in my yard. I guess we haven't changed that much, haha! We did go thrifting, and found so many cool things! Come back tomorrow to see what we found for Thrifty Thursday!

The Story of Us

OK, so if you don't hear from me over the next few days, its because I will be extremely busy getting packed up to leave for home this summer. You saw my to do list yesterday, its crazy. Today I added about 4 things I forgot to that list. Unfortunately I have about 1,000 things I want to blog about! It always happens this way! With Krysti visiting I actually had a fantastic week & weekend, with re-life, fun, girlie-time, which made for interesting things to blog about! And lets not forget about new news on Evan...I miss that guy! (High school girl voice) I did this because we're totally in love. 

1. What are your middle names?  Evan's middle name is Ross and mine is Leigh. (Meredith Leigh Slee...should we blame my mom or Evan for this?)
2. How long have you been together?  8 years...dang.
3. How long did you know each other before you started dating?  Probably about a year or so. We met when I was 14 and he was 16 at our church youth group. 
4. Who asked who out? We had been hanging out just as friends for awhile. But, Evan finally asked me to be his “offcial girlfriend” in his car.
5. How old are each of you? I'm 22 (23 in about a month) and he's 25.
6. Did you go to the same school? We went to different high schools, but both ended up at Asbury University for college
7. Are you from the same hometown? Yep. Kittanning PA, our parents live about 500 yards from each other.
8. Who is the smartest?  For sure Evan. I took an IQ test and sent him the link to take it. I scored a 108 (trying extremely hard) and Evan scored a 128 even though he said he “got bored” towards the end and just started picking bubbles...that's not annoying or anything.
9. Who majored in what?  I changed my major about 100 times Art, English, Education, History. While Evan majored in Bible Theology with a Communications minor.
10. Who is the most sensitive?  I don't think either one of us is sensitive at all really. Maybe I have my monthly moments every now and then, but for the most part we are bluntly straight forward to a fault. Feelings aren't our forte. 
11. Where is the furthest you have traveled as a couple?  Um...from our home in TN to PA...I will get my honeymoon one of these years!
12. Who has the worse temper?  I do for sure. I'm constantly letting my temper get the best of me by snapping at people when I'm angry. Evan is always cool, calm, and collected, if he ever did lose his temper I think he might slaughter people.
13. How many children do you want?  That's a great question.
14. Who does the cooking?  We both take turns cooking. Evan is naturally better at it than I am though.
15. Who is more social?  Haha that one is me for sure! I never shut-up while you usually have to pry words out of Evan at any occasion.
16. Who is the most stubborn?  We are both crazy stubborn, but pretty bending when it comes to each other. I believe my old nickname Evan used to call me was "Muley." He's just "A Slee"...they are all stubborn in that family!
17. Who wakes up earlier?  Evan. He's up at 4 every morning to go to work. I'm naturally a morning person though too...4 o'clock isn't morning though...that's nighttime in my book.  
18. Who is the neat freak?  Evan. Sometimes I joke with him that he's borderline OCD about things. I'm really working on that this year to save him from strife...and so he doesn't divorce me.
19. Where was your first date?  Um, we really didn't have a first date. We were always hanging out together before we were ever officially dating, so there was never a first “big date."
20. Who has the bigger family?  We're even. We both have 1 younger sibling and about the same amount to aunts/uncles/cousins.
21. Do you get flowers often?  Never. I only kill flowers. Evan knows the real way to my heart is through something that goes to my stomach.
22. How do you spend the holidays?  Pretty laid back with our families. Since our families are literately yards apart, it makes it easy to do holidays with both sides of the family on the same day. The downside is having to eat 3 Thanksgiving/Christmas/Easter dinners in one day...
23. Who is more jealous?  Neither one of us are the jealous type. 
24. How long did it take to get serious?  We were very serious from the start. Neither one of us were interested in dating someone for the fun of it. We both had the same mindset of only dating someone who you would consider marrying. 
25. Who eats more?  Sadly I use to out-eat Evan daily, but since I've mustered up some self-control he's the “big eater” on campus now. Neither one of us put crazy amounts of food away. 
26. What do you do for a living?  I wish I knew! Lately I've been thinking about the possibility of becoming a high school principal. Maybe a photographer? Who knows though.
27. Who does the laundry?  Both of us. We are pretty equal on all the house chores.
28. Who is better with the computer?  I'm a serial computer killer. I'll go with Evan on this one.
29. Who drives when you're together?  Always Evan. I'm a bad driver.
30. What is your song?  Oh gosh...don't judge...but “I Swear” by John Michael Montgumery. 

Blurry Vision

This week has been a blur. But a good blur. Scout and I are both sitting here exhausted. 

I've been puppy sitting, cleaning, packing, shopping, cooking, making to do lists, finishing up the school year with a bang, all while having an awesome visit from Krysti (and her pup Whitacre). Its a good thing Krysti is just a puppy obsessed as I am. Things got a little furry around here if you know what I mean. Saying my house is a tad furry, would be an understatement. Tomorrow my sweeper is calling pleading my name. 

Things to do:

Meet with the kid I hired to mow my lawn while I'm gone

Look at getting my mail forwarded/held

Clean my entire house: baths/beds/clothes/kitchen/dust/sweep

Clean out the fridge

Get Evan's phone shut off

Get my hair cut

Mail Evan's package (that I still haven't sent after a week...)

Pack for Pennsylvania & South Carolina

Pack Scout's bag

Refill and replant the hole to China that Scout dug in my backyard

Order my glasses

Hopefully pick up our pictures I ordered

Sushi date with Lisa

Put gas in the car

My list of things I have to do before I leave for Pennsylvania on Thursday is kinda overwhelming, but I'm sure I'll get the important things done. For now I'm pushing away the million things I have to do by focusing on Friday. Friday my bum will be covered in my cute new suite, getting a free skin scrub from the sand, while the sun kisses my pale skin to tan perfection. Oh dear Lord I can't wait! 

Picking the Right Cookie

This past Saturday I saw The Five-Year Engagement. I had been wanting to see it for awhile now, since it recieved a higher-than-normal rating on Rotten Tomatoes of a 63%. Let me be clear by saying, I don't normally want to see chick-flicks in the first place, so this was out of character for me. They rank somewhere on my list right around Anime. Maybe I should have listened to my gut instinct to stay away from the sappy, funny romance, because as I sit here, I'm still trying to figure out how it had so many positive reviews. I guess I need to get a different sense of humor, because the comedy just didn't rub me the right way. And let's be honest, I'm kinda of bitter about romance movies in the first place...if you can't tell. To give you a background of the story, Violet and Tom are in love. (Duh) Tom proposes to Violet, and they move to Wisconsin because Violet was offered her dream job there. They try to plan their wedding in vain, as one thing after another comes up. Unfortunetly, Tom has to give up his dreams of running his own restaurant to support Violet. Throughout the story Tom becomes hopelessly miserable, and they begin to drift apart. For much of the movie their relationship hangs in the balance. As much as I hated how long it was, combined with the on-again, off-again relationship of the characters, there was one scene of the movie that really stuck out to me.

 The main character Violet and her sister, are having a heart to heart while they play with her sister's 2 small children. They begin to talk in "Cookie Monster" and "Elmo" voices to not only entertain the kids, but to talk in adult code in front of them. Violet is so confused and undecided as to whether she wants to marry Tom, or if there are better fish in the sea. Violet is so wrapped up in finding the perfect one that she's having a hard time committing and accepting anyone who isn't absolutely flawless. Violet's sister become increasingly frustrated and blurts out:

"Elmo thinks there is no right cookie. You just have to pick one and take a bite!"

Her sister becomes baffled for a good reason, she is in a completely different situation than her sister. She ended up marrying Tom's brother, who in kind terms, is a loser. They had a one night stand that resulted in her sister getting pregnant. Violet's sister married Tom's brother mainly because she was pregnant. If that wouldn't had happened, they would have quickly gone their separate ways and never saw each other again. Her sister is obviously living a life that she never saw herself having. She's not bitter or unhappy with how her life turned, honestly she couldn't imagine anything better, she is madly in love with her husband and kids. Seeing her sister agonize over a perfectly great guy makes her snap and talk some sense into Violet. She quickly lets Violet know that there isn't such a thing as the perfect cookie, because she had experienced first hand how life works. You work with what you have, even if it isn't perfect.

Not to make cookies a deep analogy, but I look at it this way. We all start life out with a full box of cookies. There are all types of cookies out there with all sorts of flavors. Certain flavors attract us more than others. I personally like all chocolate flavors. I've always been pretty selective when it comes to cookies; I only sampled one or two kids of cookies before deciding what kind I wanted. I figured why waste your time sampling peanut butter cookies, when I knew I wanted chocolate! At some point I met a chocolate cookie that I thought I could stick with everyday, so I took a bite and bought the box. If you're smart, you'll know not to keep a checklist of every single ingredient you want in a cookie, because you probably won't ever find it. You'll just end up picking apart every cookie you try. Pick a main flavor and take it with or without nuts as a compromise. I'm not saying buy the first bag of cookies you think would be OK. Lets be honest, who wants to eat a so-so cookie everyday? Not this girl. Its knowing that there are good parts about cookies, like sugar, and bad parts, like calories. Remember to be selective about who gets try your cookies. The more people we let sample our cookies, the less we will have to fill our cookie jar in the end. Give them a smell, not a bite. I can't promise eating same the same cookie everyday won't get stale or repetitive. You have to be creative. Sometimes you have to make an ice cream sandwich out of your cookies, or dunk it in chocolate milk instead of plain old white, even then, sometimes slathering cookies in hot fudge is totally called for. Its more about the fact that you have a special one-of-a-kind cookie all to yourself that you don't have to share with anyone.

 In the end its all about the choices you choose to make, as with everything in life. I made a choice picking Evan, and I choose to love him unconditionally everyday, despite his lack of perfect ingredients sometimes. For all I know, there could be another guy out there who I would get along with better or love more easily, but the facts are: there will never be a perfect cookie, on this physical earth, that fully satisfies me in every possible aspect of my life. Returning my cookies for new ones will only result in the same vicious cycle of used, half-eaten, broken cookies. In my book I have a strict no return policy when it comes to cookies! So stop obsessing over finding the perfect cookie! Just pick one and take a bite!