Birthday Dinner #2!

Today, I'm having a birthday dinner with my best friend and her sister! We're going here. The food and wine is AMAZING at Stellar! The place is super sexy. My best friend and I were born on the same day (just a few years apart), so we celebrate with a dinner together each year! I can't wait!

Here's what I'm wearing:

dinner by featuring Forever21 tops

Hope you all have a great Thursday!
Smooches,
K~

Google is pretty much my BFF...

Because I allow Google to rule my life, I have changed my email address to a "gmail" account, that is solely for the blog. If, by chance, you have my email stored in your contacts it has changed. It is now:

ThePinkOwlBlog@gmail.com

Thanks to all of you who sent me birthday wishes! I appreciate them very much!! Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Maxi dresses, PJ's and crab legs...oh my!

Ok...so I've gotten several e-mails asking why I don't post pictures of myself on my blog. Well, I didn't in the past because of my career (if you've read for a length of time you know what I do). But....I thought I'd show you my birthday outfit I wore to dinner tonight! Now....this picture may not be up for long, but maybe now, you'll be able to put a face with The Pink Owl! Please pardon the hair (I'm growing it out) and the serious, ridiculous lack of a tan (you may need sunglasses, just sayin').

The dress I'm wearing is a gray maxi dress from Target. Not sure how I feel about the whole maxi dress look on me, but I love it on others! However, the dress was soooo comfortable! I put a little black cardigan over it, but I forgot to put it on in the bathroom self-portrait.

Speaking of Target, tonight I got the most amazing, comfortable PJ's I've ever had on! They are Gilligan and O'Malley (the makers of the Magic Pants that now have a loyal following in blog land--including myself who now owns about 8 pair of them). The PJ tank was on sale for $4.50 and the pants were on sale for $6.50!! I got the coral color. I have them on now, and they feel like heaven!! I plan to go back and buy two more pair tomorrow, as they will be perfect for my beach vacation this summer with my family.



Birthday dinner tonight was delicious and Joe's Crab Shack is a pretty fun place. My 3 year old nephew loved crab legs!?! After dinner, I took myself shopping and may or may not have purchased a new handbag...to me, from me!

They say it's your....

BIRTHDAY!!!!!!
....and today, I'm celebrating another anniversary of my
21st birthday!!!

Tonight, my parents, grandparents, brother, sister-in-law, my nephews and I are all going out to Joe's Crab Shack for my birthday dinner! I love Joe's and go there every year for my birthday. Strange place to go every year, huh? The crab legs are delicious! Hot Police Boy is visiting his dad in San Diego, so he won't be with us (which makes my nephew really sad, as he loves HPB). But, he and I plan to go out and celebrate my birthday when he comes back!

Hope you all have a beautiful day!

Smooches,
K~

Zoo Day....

with my 3 year old nephew!!


Danskin Stay Dri $5 dollar v-neck from Wal-Mart


Danskin Short Sleeve hoodie from Wal-Mart


Gilligan and O'Malley Micro Crop Pants from Target

Guess what? Guess what?!?

Two days ago....I payed off a loan that I've been paying on for FIVE years!!
I am now....DEBT FREE (except for my car, with only 18 payments left)!!!
Woo-hoo!

No. Nope. Nada. Uh-uh.....

No way. Negative. Ummm, no thank you. Not so much. Not in this lifetime. Not happening. Over my dead body. Nah. Never.

What the heck is all this, you ask? This is me counting the ways to say NO to my roommate. She and her boyfriend broke up today and she's not moving way up North anymore this is not surprising, since I'm pretty sure she cheats on him all the time. She asked if I still wanted to share an apartment, since she's not moving.

How did I really tell her?

"Sorry. Already reserved the new one bedroom. Non-refundable deposit paid!"

Single living...here I come!

My....

My favorite thing about today (Thursday) was:

Sitting in the grass with my nephew eating Pixie Stix and hearing him say: "Your car is pretty cool Kwissy".

Having dinner with my brother's family and my nephew dragging the huge dining room chair over to mine and pushing it as close to me as he could get. He wanted us to "eat our "pasghetti" like real best friends". (insert a "w" for all the "r"s)

Walking around the block with my nephew and having him say: "I wanna hold you". This is my favorite thing he says! He says it when he wants to be held. He's almost four, but you can bet your sweet buttons, that I picked that kid up and carried him even though he's almost as big as me! I will miss when he stops saying this phrase.

Watching my 9 month old nephew crawl around like a little wind up toy!

Snuggling with both of them in the rocking chair before I left, and being so thankful that I have these little guys in my life!

Great.

ETA: JUST GOT OFF THE PHONE WITH MY BANK AND...THEY CAN ONLY REFUND MY MONEY AS FAR BACK AS 60 DAYS. SO....THE OTHER 8 MONTHS I PAID THIS MYSTERY COMPANY? WELL, THAT'S MY MONEY IN THAT LOVELY CRAPPER IN THE PICTURE....DAMN.

So, last week I was reconciling my bank account online. I came across a strange charge for $14.99 for a company I did not recognize. I looked back through my receipts, my check register and couldn't find anything totaling this amount. It was for a "car warranty" company. Ummm...I have a new car that is still covered under a full warranty, so I don't need an "extra warranty". Well, I called my bank, and they discovered that this charge had been coming out of my account for 4 months!!! Yes, I realize, I probably should have caught this previously, but I didn't. They sent me dispute paperwork in the mail, are in the process of refunding all of the money, blah blah.

Well, it gets worse. Since that happened, I have been paying much closer attention to my bank statements. This morning at about 3 am, I started looking through this months statements and I found ANOTHER company charging me $13.99 a month!?! WTH? So....I started investigating. They have deducted 13.99 a month out of my account since JULY of last year! TEN MONTHS have gone on without my noticing this. This company was a "home owner's club"--I called the phone number associated with this charge and it was an automated line that directed me to a website. Hello...I live in an apartment. No home ownership here thankyouverymuch.

So, I have to call my lovely bank again, to figure this out. In my defense, I guess I missed this charge as I have a bi-weekly amount automatically sent to my savings accounts and, I always round up with any charge so I usually come out with a surplus at the end of the month anyway.

Regardless, two companies have managed to sap over TWO HUNDRED dollars of my hard earned money from my bank account over the past 10 months. This is very concerning to me. I'm concerned as to HOW this happened and HOW these companies had access to my checking account? So, moral of the story? Check your bank statements carefully. I know I'll be doing a much better job of this from now on. Crap.

Rain!!

We are having some MAJOR storms in my area right now! I came home from work this morning and went to sleep until about 1pm. Then I decided I had to get out of the apartment and just go somewhere! I took off to Anderson because I needed to go to Verizon and get them to replace my battery in my Blackberry. It won't hold a charge. I love going into a Verizon store--or any electronics store, for that matter--it always smells like new tech toys that I just have to play with. Betcha didn't know I was a huge NERD, did you? Anyway, they were super quick and helpful there (not at all like this one) and I they are going to mail me a new battery, as they had none in stock. Then, I had to go to Target because I had to buy orange juice, apple juice, and french vanilla creamer for Easter brunch at my parent's in the morning. While I was in Target, the sky opened up and it started pouring, thundering, lightening and the wind was really picking up. The lights were even flickering in Target. I hurried up and made my purchases and got out to my car (I remembered my umbrella for a change). As I was driving home, the roads were rapidly flooding! I was a nervous wreck! In some places, I was driving through over a foot of rushing water! It was scary. I probably should have pulled over and waited for it to let up a bit, but I think I would've been waiting a long time. It still hasn't let up and I've been home for about an hour now. My plans for the evening are to clean, clean, clean this apartment! I have my windows open listening to the storm, and I love the smell of rain. The roommate is gone, so I have the whole place to myself! I don't even feel guilty about not going out tonight because it's so yucky outside. I plan to put in some scary movies, pour a glass of wine and relax when I get done cleaning. Tomorrow is brunch at my mom's and then Easter Mass on Sunday with Hot Police Boy. I haven't even bought an Easter dress yet!! I'm gonna go shopping tomorrow after brunch, because HPB has to work a special detail, so I'll be on my own. Nothing like waiting until the last minute huh?

Have a super happy Easter ya'll! I'll be back on Monday!
Smooches,
K~

Thankful Thursday....

Today, I look around me,

and I'm overwhelmed by the blessings

that have been bestowed on me.

As undeserving as I am,

Someone still blesses me.

Beyond measure.

Despite myself,

my faults,

my shortcomings,

my inadequacies.

Today, I am immensely thankful.

For nothing in particular.

Yet, for everything.

Today, is a good day.

For no particular reason.

Yet, for every reason.

When I doubt,

which, of course, I will

in the future.

May I be reminded of

today.

A beautiful day.

For no particular reason.

Yet, for every reason.

Hauntingly beautiful....

This is simply amazing.....enjoy!



ETA: Kurt Nilsen (the blonde who sings first) was the season one winner of Pop Idol (2003), Norway's version of our American Idol. I also noticed Per*z Hilt*n had this up on his page today! A friend sent me this in an e-mail, and I think it's lovely! The harmonizing is glorious!

This week....

1. I've had little to no Internet because of storms and upgrades by our Internet provider. Thus, no blogging.

2. I realized that you blog friends are the best! Thank you for all the advice on my previous post. Obviously, I knew what to do, but at the time it was fresh, and I was feeling like I was going to hurt someone's feelings. I can be the biggest bitch when I'm working--if I have to be--but in real life, I'm a big 'ol softy. I don't take sh*t from anyone when I'm working, but I'm rather passive aggressive when I'm not working! :)

3. The situation worked out just fine. She wasn't mad at all, at least not to my face. That's all I really cared about anyway. Roommate free living.....HERE I COME!! Can't wait! I reserved my one bedroom apartment today! It's going to be fabulous! Whoot!

4. I've also realized that I am in love. Like, seriously head over heels in love. With my Blackberry. It is the happiest, most loving relationship I've ever had with a cell phone! Redundant, I know, because I've said it a million times, but really.....

5. For some reason, I have felt freaking FABULOUS for the past few days. I just feel really happy with where my life is and I'm proud of myself. Not really for any particular reason, but I just am.

6. Also, I know I caught some of you by surprise when I wrote that I was divorced. Trust me, that was THE BEST DECISION I HAVE EVER MADE IN MY LIFE! I should have made that decision about 4 years sooner than I did. I've been HAPPILY divorced for the past 5 years. One day, maybe, I'll tell the story on here. It's long and not pretty, so we'll see.

Smooches to all of you!!
K~