Meet Lunchbox
You can read the back story of how I acquired both of my cats, Muse and Lunchbox, where I invited you to Meet Muse. To further explain why my cat is named Lunchbox and not Silent Bob, you can watch Dogma. When Jay & Silent Bob first meet Bethany, Jay calls Silent Bob “Lunchbox”. I thought it fit well and was more unique than just naming my cat Silent Bob. So Lunchbox is his name, and he’s lived up to it. He rarely makes any sounds, unless he’s hissing or trying to get my attention to feed him. He’s not super fat, but compared to little Muse he’s pretty robust. He’s definitely the yin to her yang being the opposite combination of white & black with white being his primary color.
This should give you some idea of the scale between the two of them. Of course, she’s curled up into a ball and he’s stretched out, but if you focus on the size of their paws and heads you should see the difference. Since they’ve been together their whole lives, they usually get along very well. Being the dominant male, he’s a little aggressive (I think the vet who fixed him botched it slightly) from time to time with her, but generally he’s a snuggle bunny who’s very loving.
Before moving to this house, I’d definitely have called Lunchbox more of a snuggler than Muse, but they share the title now. We were moving around every couple of years for the first 4 years of their lives, so maybe that affected them. Now that we’ve been here for 6 years, they know where they’re at and know that it’s home.
One of the reasons I’m posting about my cats this week is because this week is their birthday week. We adopted them when they were about six weeks old and backtracked it to about July 15th. So my kitties are 10 this week! I love my cats, despite the typical pet owner issues I have with them, and I hope for another10 snuggly years with my kitties!
Read MoreMeet Muse
Meet one of my kitties, Muse.
It was 2004 and we’d just moved into a new apartment the month or so prior. I had a cat before the two kittens, Kahlua, but unfortunately she was hit by a car before we moved. It was never my idea to let her be an indoor/outdoor cat, but I got her my junior year of college and my roommate at the time had an indoor/outdoor cat and didn’t really heed my wishes to keep my cat inside only. It was a safer area with a big open field behind our apartment, so it wasn’t that bad. But once I moved home and into a city, she had gotten more aggressive, harder to get inside at night, and that’s how it happened. So I knew that these next kittens would stay inside only, so Dominic suggested we get two at once so they’d have company.
I got Muse and he brother from the same litter – sort of. The woman giving the kittens away had two cats that were both black and white and both happened to get out of the house the same day and come home pregnant. So they both had very similar litters and it was hard to tell, but she was pretty sure mine came from the same cat.
Muse was the runt of the litter and the only girl left, so we ended up with a chunky little boy who was very stoic and quiet on the ride home and a noisy tiny little girl who mewed nonstop. I am a big fan of writer/director Kevin Smith and wanted to name them with homages to one of my favorite movies of his, Dogma, but didn’t want to be super “on the nose”. Based on their behavior on that first car ride home, Jay & Silent Bob seemed like the best fit. But she was a girl, and I didn’t want to be super literal, so I instead named her Muse after Salma Hayek’s character and a play on the name of the actor who plays Jay, Jason Mewes. I’ll introduce you to the other cat in another post.
To this day, Muse lives up to her name. She is more vocal than the other cat, and also more hyperactive. Being the runt, she’s also a lot smaller than he is, so they are still very true to their names. Muse was not always a cuddler, but since moving into our current house in 2008, she has softened up a lot and is my constant companion on the couch. Hence how I grabbed this shot of her on the arm of the couch beside me. Unimpressed. You know, like all cats are!
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Early Summer Adventures of Trisha
I’ve been MIA since the 4th of July. Lots of work has taken up my time, with the short week and lots of make up work to be done. Not to mention the barrage of work that usually comes with the beginning of a month. So what have I been up to? Well, thank you for asking. I’m going to let some pictures do the talking. Questions? Leave a comment!
Super Simple Peachy Slushy
A macro shot of the bracelet I got from MyBlingPlace.com
Coco Crisp Garden Gnome beside the Travelocity Roaming Gnome
Winston helping with the laundry
Joy being digitally bribed with a Kindle
“The Simpsons” LEGO Minifigures: Nelson & Marge
Ariel Makeup Bag & Sally Hansen Miracle Gels
Just My Size Cotton Jersey Women’s Shorts Review
Recently, the awesome folks at Hanes Brands sent me a pair of Just My Size Cotton Jersey Women’s Shorts in Black. As a plus size woman, I’m always looking for active wear for the gym or lounge wear for hanging around the house that’s comfortable but doesn’t look like I’ve completely given up on finding clothes that fit me, either. I was happy to give Just My Size a shot. Luckily, while some brands sizes run small, Just My Size makes their sizing chart very easy to decipher. I picked out the size that matched my measurements and decided on Ebony (black). While these cotton jersey women’s shorts come in lots of colors (Emerald, Blue, Ebony, Cabaret [hot pink], Bright Violet, Light Steel, Blue Blaze, and Pink Cactus), I tend to err on the side of black when it comes to shorts… I definitely don’t need anything drawing more attention to the size of my derriere, thank you!
I started by wearing this out just around the house. Since I work from home, there’s no dress code, and the weather has been getting increasingly warmer as summer approached, so shorts are my go-to. The cotton was nice and soft for sitting in my office chair or lounging on the couch, but not too thick or hot like sweat material can be. They are long enough to not feel like they’re constantly riding up, but not so long that I feel like I might as well be wearing capri pants (let’s put aside that, because of my short stature, I’ve literally tried on capri pants that were perfectly pant/ankle length on me).
Usually, if I’m going to leave the house, I’ll change into jeans, jean shorts, or a couple of pairs of cotton twill shorts I have in a pinch. I’d usually never wear cotton shorts like these out of the house and in public unless at the gym (at which time I’m lucky I’ve even been motivated enough to go, so I don’t care what I really look like so long as I’m clothed). However, one day when I was wearing these Just My Size Cotton Jersey Women’s Shorts, my brother (who lives with us) came home from work and wanted to go grocery shopping. Since his car is busted right now, I rushed to finish up what I was working on and we went to the grocery store. It wasn’t until I got to the store that I realized I hadn’t changed my shorts, as I’d intended to.
But it was okay! They weren’t inappropriately short, or slightly too small and clingy (as some of my “house shorts” are). They are not really designed in such a way, either, to look like sweat shorts, so they just looked like black shorts. Crisis averted! Here’s some other rough pros & cons about these shorts:
Pros
- Pockets! I can’t stress enough how nice it is to have cotton shorts with pockets.
- Comfortable fit.
- Wide yet comfortable waistband.
- Did I mention POCKETS?!
Cons
- Cat hair magnet (not really their fault, though)
- Not pre-shrunk
- Tumble Dry Low
The last two cons really just mean that I won’t be able to throw them in with the majority of my clothes. I have a some clothes that get washed separately since they go into the dryer at a lower setting or get hung to dry anyway, so I just need to remember to throw these into that basket! That’s okay, because I definitely don’t want my new comfy shorts to shrink before I do! One of the best features of these shorts is the price – right now they’re only $7.79! It’s an incredible deal and really, if you wanted to buy a few pairs, this price is very easy on the pocket book. In general I appreciate that Just My Size clothes are plus size clothes that aren’t plus size prices. I’ve never bought any Just My Size brand clothing that were uncomfortable or overly expensive. It’s a great brand for those of us who are plus size and don’t want to feel like sausage stuffed in a casing all of the time!
Verdict: Get Some!
Seriously, they’re not even $8. When was the last time you got any piece of clothing that was under $8 brand new? Heck the last t-shirt I bought was $15! That’s two pairs of shorts! Stock up on several colors to get you through the summer. I’ll be picking up another pair myself. You won’t regret this purchase.
Disclosure: I was provided a pair of Just My Size Cotton Jersey Women’s Shorts complimentary for review. This opinion is 100% my own.
Read MoreJulep Polish Giveaway Winners!
First, a sincere THANK YOU to everyone who entered my Julep Polish Giveaway! I appreciate all your tweets, Likes, and shares. It really means so much to me to engage with readers like this, and I’m very glad to have given back. I’m working hard to vary my content to include more aspects of my life, like my photography, entertaining, crafts, whatnot, and hope you’ll continue to join me for this journey!
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I randomly selected which winner will receive Julep Valerie, a teal with iridescent microglitter, and which will receive Julep Glam Roc, a midnight purple & gold stardust (matte glitter). Thanks to Rafflecopter, the winners were chosen using Random.org technology and my personal random process of picking which winner would receive which polish involved mixing them up in my hands without looking and picking one first for the first winner, and one second for the second winner. Highly technical and scientific, right?
Congratulations to Amie W. of Pingree Grove, IL and Sonya P. of Berwick, PA!
Thanks so much for your tweets and Facebook likes! If you really want to get your hot hands on these fabulous Julep polishes featured in my Julep Polish Giveaway, they are available at Julep.com for $14.00 each (or $11.20 for Mavens). If you choose to signup to be a Maven, use code FREEBOX to get your first Maven box for free (just pay the totally reasonable shipping cost).
So… what should I give away next? 🙂
Read MoreJulep Polish Giveaway! Valerie and Glam Roc
Recently Julep was offering a Golden Ticket Mystery Box with the potential opportunity to name one of their new polishes. You won this opportunity if your box included a gold-topped Gold Star Glitter polish. Well heck, I just wanted the gold star glitter, so I ordered away! (okay, I really did hope to name a polish Trisha too lol). My Golden Ticket Mystery box did not contain one of the Golden Ticket polishes (sad for me) but it certainly did not disappoint in it’s abundance! I ordered one of the Mystery Boxes (#3 cause that’s my lucky number) and went with a Mystery Add-on too, so all told I spent about $40 and I definitely got my money’s worth. Here’s the impressive haul:
- SEVEN Julep Polishes: Gayle, Glam Roc, Nic, Scarlett, Shoshanna, Stevie, and Valerie
- TWO Julep Lip Glosses: Merriment and Peace (the Halo Gloss set)
- TWO packets of Forget-me-not seeds (not beauty related, but still fun)
- A Julep Emery Board
- A Trial size bottle of Julep Freedom Polymer Top Coat
Quite the hall, and well worth the $40 as this is over $100 in value just in the polish alone. I’m pretty excited for the Freedom Polymer Top Coat since I haven’t tried it yet. I probably won’t be buying another Mystery Box any time soon, only because I now have these polishes to try out first! The astute reader, however, might notice that there’s a couple of duplicates in that list of polishes.
I already own Valerie (a cool jade creme with subtle golden sparkles) and Glam Roc (a purple and gold sparkle textured polish). So I’m having a Julep Polish Giveaway! Of course, I’m keeping the ones I’ve already opened (duh) and giving you the brand new ones I just received.
How do I win the Julep Polish Giveaway?
Complete the tasks in the Rafflecopter widget below for a chance to win – the contest starts RIGHT NOW (or, 10:45 AM PST 5/28/14) and ends in 1 week (or, 11:59 PM PST 6/4/14). Two winners will be chosen and one will win Valerie and one will win Glam Roc (chosen at random by Rafflecopter). Winners must live within the US or have a US mailing address for shipping.
There are many opportunities to increase your entries and chances of winning, so get going with this Julep Polish Giveaway!
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