Day 31: Proud

I think my proudest accomplishment this month is probably that I got myself a job and only missed a couple days of this blog. Woo! Oh, also, remember that drawing I said I was doing? It's really good. Not to toot my own horn, but I'm pretty proud of it.

Here's a picture of it:

It isn't the best picture, but it looks good in person. Promise.

It's supposed to look like this:

I'm thinking about going over it with charcoal to make the black parts black and not pencil-y. Idk, yet.

Anyway. Happy End of the Month!

love, Ellen

Day 30: Family

I am the oldest of 2 girls. My little sister is named Abby and she's a Senior in high school. We have a mom and a dad who are pretty cool and they take us to cool places like Oregon. 

For my senior trip, we went to the coast of Oregon and had an excellent time relaxing, seeing the sites, eating incredible food. You can read all about it HERE. I was having some boy troubles then, but it didn't stop me from enjoying a vacation with my family.

Since then, I've added so many more people to my family just by falling in love with one guy (who, btw, isn't the one from the troubles). Now I have a husband, 4 brothers-in-law, 5 sisters-in-law, and a new parents-in-law that I love spending some time with. My family tripled in size over night. I don't get to see them all at once because they all live in different places, but I get to travel around and see them, which makes it double fun. 

I love my family and I'm so grateful for all of them. Yay! 

love, Ellen

p.s. Since Sean got some new movies yesterday, I got new pencils and canvases to draw with! So I'm working on a project and I hope it turns out. It's looking pretty good, so I think it's going to work. 

Day 29: Hobbies

I don't have very many hobbies that I do regularly but there are tons of things that I like doing.

If I had the time and supplies, I would love to take up embroidery. I've done it a few times but I think I would be pretty good at it and would like doing it. It's something I can put down and pick back up instantaneously, which I like, and it can travel with me fairly easily, I think.

I also like doing art. If I had a place to do it and store it, and the money for all the supplies, I would love to learn how to paint, draw, and sculpt better.

I also like baking. I have a few signature recipes but at the same time, I hate heating up my tiny apartment and I never eat all of the things I make.

I've mentioned before that I love organizing. It's kind of a hobby, I suppose but at the same time, it's an obsession.

I love music. I can't wait til Sean and I have a house so I can have my piano and cellos and Sean's guitars and my ukulele and all of our vinyl and CD's around me. I'm not that great of singer but I can learn.

Something else I love doing and I'm actually pretty good at is wire-bending. Weird, right? Sometimes I think I should do it as a business. I've seen things like this sold on Etsy and stuff but I've never really done anything about it.

And that was even with crappy pliers!

Anyway, I think that's all.
love, Ellen

Day 28: Nice

One time, while waiting in line to check out at Target, we were kind of in a rush. We loaded our things on the belt and waited as the lady in front of us finished her purchase. She received her receipt and turned around and handed us a gift card and, in our rush, merely said thank you and went on our way.
Turns out, that gift card had $20 dollars on it and, little to that lady's knowledge, we were already low on cash because we were about to get married.

I'm so grateful for people like that who are so generous and kind to complete strangers. I hope that I can be one of those people some day.

The other day at work, there was a guy at the drive through that I was helping who you could tell was having a hard day. What looked like his father was sitting in the passenger seat, slumped over, and looking very close to death. I wanted so badly to just say "Anything on me" but I had just started at that job and I didn't know my boss's policies of donut-giving and I was really low on cash, so I secretly gave him a free donut with the intent on paying for it at the end of my shift.

I went on with my day and it was just me and the boss in the shop and he told me that it was perfectly okay to give away free donuts toward the end of the shift because I would throw them away anyway. It was a relief but at the same time, I wish I could have done more for that guy.

It's one small step toward becoming a more kind and generous person.
There was a sign at our wedding that looked very similar to this one:

(Thanks, Tiffany!)

True dat.

love, Ellen

Day 27: Fire

I hate to think there could ever be a fire or any natural disaster happen to me, but anything is possible, even the worst. One of my biggest fears is an earthquake that turns into a Pompeii situation because of Yellowstone. Anyway...

 Besides the obvious Sean, Erma, and Reggie that I'd grab, I'd also definitely grab our wedding quilt that was hand made by my mom's old boss (see header), our scrabble set left to Sean by his grandma, and probably my phone because then I could call the fire department which is a couple blocks away to come save the rest of my possessions.

That'll be all for today.
love, Ellen

Day 26: Quirky

I had an assignment in a creative writing class I took in college to list 10 of our quirks and I went way above and beyond.... whoops.

I'll just post my assignment from that. It'd just be easier.

• I organize organize organize. The only problem is I love re-organizing more  which doesn't make much sense... 
• I have hypothetical conversations too often. 
• I have a post-it note collection and it's one of my favorite things to remember things with (if that makes any sense).
• I'm bad at story-telling. I've had too many people tell me "Are you done?" at the end of 
• I have an eyeglasses collection. 5 pairs is much too much for someone whose prescription is hardly strong. 
• I drink a lot of milk. I could probably drink a gallon a day without trying. 
• I like having my hair be short. I like having it like 2 or 3 inches long the most. But I also like doing things with long hair and wearing hats... It's really complicated.
• I like reading but I'm incredibly slow at it. 
• I love old things. Old music is my favorite, I love antiques and antique prints, and I married older than me! (by 9 years)
• I like doing art. I'm an amateur painter and I like sculpting. I'm actually pretty good at making jewelry and I'm working on my drawing skills.
• I'm afraid of boys. I've never had a blood brother (I have brothers-in-law now) and I've only dated one other guy besides my husband. When boys try to flirt with me, I bring Sean up early in the conversation because they weird me out. 
• I like making lists. To-do lists, packing lists, etc. 
• I'm horrible at planning parties. I'll bring cupcakes but don't make me plan it. 
• I'm bad at cooking. I can do it but I'm not great. Also, washing dishes is gross but I'll do it if I don't have to cook. 
• I love animals. I've had a cat for my entire life (3 different ones until I moved out). I have a kitty now named Erma Gerd and a ball python named Reggie. When my husband and I have a house we'll get a little dog for me and a big dog for him and we'll still have Erma and Reggie. 
• I accidentally love watching horrible television. Toddlers and Tiaras is great and so is My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding. Ew but great.

Okay. I'll be on my way now. 

love, Ellen

Day 25: Sport

Oops, forgot yesterday.
Here's it quick:
I'm very talented at organizing and I think it's because I spent a lot of my high school times playing tetris.

On to today! My favorite sports team only became my favorite sports team after Sean and I met. I acquired the Twins as my favorite baseball team when I fell for Sean. We've watched and listened to many a game and I even went to Target Field and saw them beat the Phillies last June!

Anyway, as of this year, I've been so much more into baseball than I ever was into any other sport. I have my own glove and bat and we go and play at the park near our apartment about 3 or 5 times a week (when we have time). I really think I'm getting good, too!

love, Ellen

Day 23: Money

If I had a thousand dollars right now, I'd put it directly in the bank and save it for either a house or a real honeymoon for our 1 year anniversary.

But first I might run out and buy some sausage for biscuits and gravy for dinner. Mmmm... perfect rainy day meal. I also created a really awesome blanket and pillow nest for Sean and I to cuddle in while watching our 9th (but really the 8th) Academy Award Best Picture Winner, The Great Ziegfeld. It's a little more than 3 hours long so I figured we'd need to get comfy for this one.

I just made some biscuits and I hope they turn out! Kitty loves the nest.

Sean just texted me if I want to go to a movie... hmm... the nest might be nixed. At least kitty likes it!

Okay, I'm going to go check on those biscuits.
love, Ellen

Day 22: Meal

I keep forgetting to tell you to go to Ellie's blog for her blog-a-day updates! (Sorry, Ellie!) But do it. Here's the link: http://elliehuey.tumblr.com/

What would I choose to be my last meal? This is a pretty difficult, actually. I'd probably want something my parents would make. They're pretty great cooks and I wish I had that skill, but alas.

Here's the thing, my go-to food is always seafood. I might want sushi because I love sushi but at the same time, I still want my parents to be the chefs.

Side note: I don't know why I said last meal. It really should be "What's your favorite meal? Who makes it and what makes it your favorite?" but I said last meal. No one be sad.

Okay. I really like my parent's Alabama BBQ chicken and Mexi-corn (it's a white barbeque and corn with cheese and lime mayo and cayenne powder) but I also would LOVE some fresh crab and macaroni salad.

This is too hard and I'm too hungry. I'm going to go eat and leave it here because if I don't, I'll just pass out. (or not... I'm not starving...).

byyeeeee.
love, Ellen

Day 21: Letter

Hi, Future Ellen!

I've always had a weird time writing future self letters. I'd usually ask if I had a boyfriend or a brother... Here's the thing, I have a husband now. I imagine you (future self) would still be married to him and getting ready to have kids or possibly chasing a little one or two around by the time you read this (because someone... mhhmm... forgot to set a future date to read this. We'll say I'll read this in 5 years.

I realize now that no matter how much you plan out your future, there's always something else that's going to happen so I'm not going to ask you questions. How are you supposed to answer them anyway?

Right now in my life, I just started working at Daylight Donuts and it's been a lot of fun. I work more hours than my cafe job and I get better pay so it's all around better! Plus I get all the donuts I want (within reason) and I just really like it. I don't know where I will be in a year when we plan on moving out of our teensy apartment without laundry, dishwasher/disposal... I hope you're remembering this place with fond memories because it's kind of a pain trying to store all of our stuff here right now.

I can't wait to buy a house. I want to be able to personalize it and have a real place to call home for longer than a year or two. OH. Something I'm really excited for is our trip to Oregon next summer for Abby's graduation. I can't wait until Sean and I can spend some time on the beach together (as you can probably tell from my past posts this month...). I hope this new job will get us enough spare cash that we can go somewhere fun for our 1 year anniversary/second chance honeymoon but I'm not getting my hopes too high.

It's really weird right now not going back to school with everyone. I can't wait to go back to school to be an interior designer but for now, it's weird not planning on going to classes and taking tests. I don't even know.

Erma turned one year old this month. She's still got some kitten problems like random arm attacks and pushing all her water on the floor, but at least she's a little more grown up from when she would just attack me every time  I moved anything. She's also getting better at allowing us to pet her, which is nice.

I think that's all I want to write for now. I'm pretty sure you can gather from former posts where else I am in my life but it's always nice to hear from your former self, usually.

love, Ellen

Day 20: Wearing

Today, after work, I put on my cut-off shorts and my Star Wars comic tee shirt that looks like this:

This is one of my go-to outfits. I love how comfortable the top is and the shorts are so comfortable as well. Plus it's so cute. I made the shorts myself by cutting up some old pants and then I folded it up and sewed down the sides under the seam. The shirt is kind of old, I bought it about this time last year at H&M.

I think my style shows off my personality pretty well. I like looking nice but I like being quirky as well as comfortable. I like showing off my spunk and not having to work too hard to keep it together. And days when I'm not feeling like shorts will do, I put on my dark green or gray pants and my awesome Van Halen sweat shirt. I got all those things at H&M (seems I shop there a lot, eh?).

Anyway, I'm going to go eat some food or something.
love, Ellen

p.s. Sean started a new movie review blog HERE. Check it out!

Day 19: Name

There are a couple places my mom said she got my name from. First, I have a great aunt named Ellen and, as far as I've been told, she was a firecracker. She wrote poetry occasionally and I have one of her pieces in my special box full of nice letters and memories from my life.

The other reason I was named Ellen was just because my mom liked it. Which is a very understandable reason because I plan on naming my kids based mostly on how much I like the name and then partly because someone else awesome has the name or not because whatever, you know? A name is a name and we should learn how to define it for ourselves and not let someone else define it for us.

My blog name, Bottled Pop and Picnics, comes mostly from when Sean and I were dating. One of the things we liked to do most was to go to various grocery or novelty stores and buy a couple bottles of soda to try and then we'd keep the caps and Sean would make magnets with them. We'd also go on picnics a few times. When we were engaged, we gathered all the kinds of soda and used the bottles as centerpieces of our tables:

Also, our 2nd Valentine's together was mostly watching a movie and having a floor-picnic with sushi and glass bottled soda. Hooray!

Okay, I've got to go clean the house before Sean gets home.
love, Ellen

Day 18: Wisdom, Funny, Brothers

Okay, I know, I've been horrible at my own challenge lately... but starting a new job and having my mother-in-law here have been making things a little hard. But I'm not complaining because I'm so grateful I have a job now and got to see my beautiful mother-in-law for a while!

Back to business.

The best thing my mom told me when I was younger was that

"You marry who you date."

or

"You're an odd duck."

Haha. It's true though! When I was dating Sean, I was told this often and I kept it in mind. When Sean and I would argue or be upset, I would remember that and figure that everything would be okay when we got married because it was never something I would be upset about for very long. We hardly ever argue and people kept telling us we would. Not saying we don't but we just remember the more important things and move on. I love Sean.

She also told me I was an odd duck and I'm cool with that. I'm different and I know it and I'll work it.

Check out Ellie's blog  here: http://elliehuey.tumblr.com/post/58378065229/abode
Seriously, guys, this girl is cool.

I have a funny story. So Sean and his brothers, his brother's wife, and his mom and I went to Gilgal garden in SLC yesterday and it was so pretty and had delicious grapes and we had so much fun there and, at one point, we met another family whose sons were interested in our game of 'catch the grape in your mouth' and we had a ton of fun telling jokes and grape tossing.

This leads into what was supposed to be my yesterday post about my favorite joke.
I have a few:

What do you call a fake noodle?
- an imPASTA!

How do you throw a space party?
- you PLANET!

What does a fish say when it swims into a wall?
-DAM!

What do you call a jack-o-lantern bandaid?
-a PUMPKIN PATCH!

What do you call an alligator in a vest?
-an INVESTIGATOR!

and then this picture makes me laugh every time:


EVERY TIME!!!!

haha.

Okay, one last thing and I'll be on my way:
I'm sorry I missed telling you about the live-chat with the Scott brothers from Property Brothers via their twitters... Anyway... I'm horrible. BUT! Make sure you watch the finale next Sunday night!

love, Ellen

Day 15: Dream House

Okay. I missed yesterday but I went to the zoo and got a job and had all my in-laws over for dinner... so it was hectic. Don't judge me.

You heard right, folks! This here's a workin' girl! I got a job at Daylight Donuts and today was my first day, I worked from 5 am until 9:45. I sell donuts and it's great.

Back to real life (or not...?). My dream house. Oh, the things that will go in it. I want an unfinished studio-sized basement where Sean and I can put a bunch of art projects and a movie theatre. It'll have a corner with play-doh and finger paints and kids crafts. FUN! And at night, a screen comes down and we move a couch out from the corner and watch movies on a projector. It'll have a wall that was painted with water balloons filled with paint like on Princess Diaries.

It would have an awesome garage for fixing cars and building dune buggies and whatever.

Sean and I will have a fantastic master bedroom on the second floor with a luxurious on-suite and a walk-in closet with plenty of shelf-space. All our kids will have a bedroom on the second floor with us but on the other side of the house. Laundry will be on the first floor and there's going to be baskets for each child on wheels in a shelf thing and all the kids will take their own clothes to their rooms and put them away.

Our kitchen will have all the counter space and a big nice fridge and it will have a bar-seating area and an open concept to a family room.

Also on the first floor there will be an office where Sean and I will write and edit and do work. Also all of our geeky paraphernalia will be in there and an Allosaurus skull. AWESOME!

I think that's all.
I've got to go make chocolate chip cookies now...
love, Ellen

Day 13: Love/Hate

5 Things I have a serious love/hate relation ship with.

1: I hate how much I absolutely love donuts. They're all just so great and so tasty but they're just so bad for you! Doesn't even matter, I'll still eat all the donuts I want.

2: I have a recently realized love/hate relationship with Doctor Who. I loved it so much when I watched all of them at once and I still like watching a few episodes here and there but I hate that it's so much bigger than it was and that they had to announce the next doctor so early. I don't want to know til I can hate him for being the end of Matt Smith (if that makes any sense) and then gradually like him because he's not half bad. And because I love the cheesy old effects and one-episode plots.

3: My relationship with food is an incredibly complicated one. I love eating and I love the taste of food. When I get too hungry, I get crazy angry. However, despite all of these things, I rarely can eat a whole meal. I rarely join the clean plate club and I have a habit of leaving the last bite. It's all mental, I'm sure. I just have weird habits, I guess.

4: I love reading but I'm very slow at it. I love the stories and I love words and all that, but the fact that I'm so meticulous about spelling and grammar (which sometimes makes me nervous saying that because what if I have a misspelling or something on here...)  makes it hard to just read something straight up.

5:  It took me a while to come up with the last love/hate but I think it's gotta be my cat. She's so cute and funny and fun to play with but at the same time she's just pure evil who attacks my limbs at completely inconvenient and stupid times. I'm afraid to leave my arm hanging off the bed at night because she'd come up and attack it. Dumb. But I still like her.

Day 12: Famous

I already told you I'd be late but faithful in the blog-a-days this week already, so here's today's.

If I were to have lunch with anyone who is famous right now I would definitely go somewhere with Tina Fey. We would have so much fun and talk about all kinds of good ideas for sitcoms and things and then we would be friends forever happily ever after.

I already told you that I highly recommend her book, but if anyone out there knows her and would be willing to hook a girl up with some pal time (or whatever), I'd be down. She is just so beautiful and funny and witty and I just want to be her best friend.

We would probably have lunch at Zupa's or something. Maybe sushi except that's hard to eat in a social situation. The thing is, I love a good salad and sandwich so that would be easiest.

Oh. I just re-read the prompt and it says the whole day. The longer the better! I would probably just want to sit and talk and maybe come up with some really great pilots or something for a new hit sitcom to air this fall because she would come over on August 21. (umm... I like this idea. Too bad it's not going to happen, probably. If only.)

love, Ellen
p.s. check out Ellie's blog post: http://elliehuey.tumblr.com/post/58117814436/sk8r-girl

Day 11: Favorite Treat

HI! Sorry I'm so late tonight... it was a busy day. I'm imagining this is how it's going to be the next week or so with my mother-in-law in town. It's okay!

My favorite treat. SO DIFFICULT.
Here's the thing. I absolutely love donuts to no end. I could eat donuts with everything. Plain glazed donuts are my favorite but I'll eat the other kinds too. I tried my hand at baked glazed donuts once and they turned out pretty well except that I used too much yeast and mixed it at the wrong time... but we still ate them!

My favorite thing to make as a treat, though would have to be chocolate chip cookies.
Here is my favorite recipe:

Best-Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies
barely adapted from Anna Olson, Food Network Canada

Ingredients: 
3/4 c. unsalted butter, softened 
3/4 c. brown sugar 
1/4 c. granulated sugar 
1 egg 
2 tsp. vanilla extract 
2 c. all purpose flour 
2 tsp. cornstarch 
1 tsp. baking soda 
1/2 tsp. salt 
1 c. bittersweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars until fluffy and light in color. Add egg and vanilla and blend in.

3.  Mix in flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Stir in chocolate chunks.

4.  Using a standard-sized cookie scoop or tablespoon, drop dough onto a prepared baking sheet.  Bake for 8-10 minutes, until barely golden brown around the edges.  (The tops will not brown, but do NOT cook longer than ten minutes.)

5.  Let cool, on the sheet, on a wire rack for five minutes.  Remove from baking sheet and let cool completely.  Makes approximately 3 dozen.  Try not to eat them all.


But, here's a thing too.
Next time you need a quick and easy cupcake recipe, just take any box of any flavor of cake mix and take 1 can of room-temperature (or not, it just makes it easier to stir and rise a little better) cola or sprite or root beer or cream soda or whatever, just make it carbonated. Works like a charm and they're delicious.

love, Ellen

Day 10: Dream job

I think my dream job would be an interior designer. I love making things look presentable and organizing and it just seems like my perfect fit.

Either that or a proofreader because helping people improve their writing and just make things sound better.

I could really go with either because they both fit me so well. I'm imagining that the interior designer pays better, but I could still love either job.

Anyway...
love, Ellen

Day 9: Date

My dream date goes hand in hand with my dream vacation, essentially.

Sean and I would start out riding our bikes on the pier and lock them up near a fair. We'll eat funnel cakes and play fair games for a while as the sunsets and then we'll walk along the shore at dusk back to our bikes and ride back to our town house just down the pier.

Either that or...

We go to a park and play baseball for a while and then grab some food (sushi or pizza or burgers... whatever) and have a floor picnic in the living room and cuddle while watching a great movie surrounded in soft pillows and blankets in a nest.

I love spending time with my incredible husband and I'm so glad he's the one I get to spend forever with.

It's so stormy outside and I love it! I've still gotta do the dishes and clean the floors but It's still great weather and I get to see my fabulous mother-in-law today!

mmm... thunder rumble...
okay, I'm out.

love, Ellen

Day 8: Time waster

I seriously have a problem. When I'm not at work, I'm at home watching tv and surfing the internet for funny pictures and gifs. boring life.

Anyway, some of my favorite places to find cat pictures and other mildly funny internet things is
Slow Robot

And it's sister site
I Waste So Much Time

The other one I spend too much time on is
9gag
however... This one has a million typos and stupid pictures so it can get stupid at times.

Other than those, I keep up on a few blogs
Ellie's (Which you should check out because she is doing my challenge with me)
Mandey's (She is so cute and her twins are ADORABLE)
Jessie's (She is also very cute and is super stylish)
and a bunch of my friends (who you can find on the side of my blog under Comrades in Blogery)

Also, and most obviously, PINTEREST.
Seriously, I don't know what people do without it. It's my go-to source for recipes and home decor ideas and hair styles and make-up tutorials and pretty much anything else. You can follow me here.

Go waste some time.
Sheesh.
love, Ellen

Day 7: Exciting

There are a couple fun things happening this month.

The thing Sean and I are looking forward to the most is his mom is coming to town! I love my mother-in-law and I can't wait to spend some time with her. We got to hang out in June when Sean and I went to MN but it's always exciting to be able to see her. She's so sweet and I'm just so excited!

 I can't wait to show her around my state. She's been here before but not since we've met or since 3 of her kids have lived here so we can show her around like locals (of which I am the only true one).

The other thing I'm excited (but more nervous) for is finding a new job! I've applied at a bunch of different places but nothing real yet. I have high hopes for a place I'm going to get an application from tomorrow morning (because they have kind of odd hours) because I have someone there to boost my application. Fingers crossed.

I'm really kind of bummed that tomorrow is my last day because I've made so many great friends in my time there and I'm going to miss all of them. All my regulars and my coworkers... I'm going to miss all of you! Sad.

Bittersweet.
love, Ellen

p.s. I took this picture on Saturday when Sean and I were out sailing with my Grandpa on the Salt Lake. BEAUTIFUL!

Day 6: Motto

I have a few motto's and they change every so often.
Recently, I had one that was

"I can learn anything."

I also try to remind myself 

"Everything will work out."

It's really hard to remember that last one sometimes. Looking at life right now, jobless soon and no school, I don't know what is going to happen, but something good can work. I've made a ton of great friends in my time at the cafe and I would keep working there or at least in the library but I can't so I have to find something new. It will all be okay.

love, Ellen

p.s. Check out Ellie's blog from yesterday!

p.p.s. I have to share these things with you:

1: Even though I'm not a huge Mumford and Sons fan, I love this music video! 

2: HOLY CRAP. These are the most ugly beautiful instruments I've ever seen. It makes me want to whip out my cello, for real.

Day 5: Vacation

I could use an all-expense paid trip to anywhere right about now. Life is getting the best of me and it's hard to not just say "Screw it" and become a hermit. However, Sean has already done that and doesn't recommend it.

Let's get down to business. If I were to pack up and leave this very minute (with all expenses paid, mind you), I would book it to the Oregon coast. I would stay in a town house right on the beach and sleep with the windows open so I could hear the waves crashing all night long. In the daytime, I would lounge on the beach eating crab and playing my ukulele.

Sean and I would go on long walks on the beach and we'd visit all the antique shops around and visit a marina and get a crabbing licenses. Then at night, we'd come back to the townhouse and relax with a movie or a book and enjoy our findings from the day.

Oregon is just such a beautiful place. It's not California crazy or Washington rainy, but it's just comfortable and magnificent. I would definitely live there if I could take my whole family with me and we could all work in an adorable boutique/cafe. Unlikely, but still.
We're going there next year for my sister's graduation trip and I seriously can not wait.

 SO EXCITED.
love, Ellen

p.s. Check out Ellie's blog from yesterday (favorite book) - http://elliehuey.tumblr.com/post/57362901635/time-is-nothing

Day 4: Fave Book

I know it's early, but today is going to be a pretty busy day.

My absolute favorite book would have to be Tina Fey's Bossypants. If I could spend a day with any celebrity, it would be her and we'd have the best time and come up with some incredible material for a new show which will be airing Monday nights at 9. But no, seriously. She is so incredibly funny and all around great. I look up to her so much and wish I could be her.

Even though I'm not really a writer (except on this blog and in my mind), I would want to work with her to create hilarious dialogue and situations that the multitudes would enjoy. And reading her book just made me fall into more of a girl-crush on her. (For those of you who don't know, a girl crush is something where, instead of crushing on a boy who you want to datemarry, a girl crush is where you want to be another female so much it's like a crush). She talks about everything from her face scar to her days as an improv actor to a writer for 30 Rock to a cruise she took... She's so great.

Here's the cover. Enjoy.

I give it 100 stars.
Read it, Love it, Read it again.
love, Ellen

Tomorrow's Challenge: Where is your favorite vacation spot? What do you like about it? Would you live there permanently if given the opportunity?

Also, check out Ellie's post from yesterday!

Day 3: Craziest Thing

Here's a fun fact about me you might not know: I don't do crazy things. I don't like heights and the thought of falling terrifies me, so I pretty much stay in one place. However, I have done some absolutely insane things that are just stupid, mostly.

Throwback to March 2012. I had been dating Sean for a month when he invited me to go to Phoenix with him to meet his family (minus his older brother & sister-in-law). Like a crazy person, I was excited to go. We left in his brother's car with some random girl from Brady's past at about 6 pm and then the car broke down and we drove 35 MILES AN HOUR for the rest of the trip, getting us there at 8 in the morning. It was a nightmare. 

Then I met his family and that was great because they are great people and it was fun, even though that random girl was uncomfortably flirting with Brady the whole time. The second day we were there (or so, it's all kind of a messy jumble of events), Sean's grandma, who was in Phoenix at that time, insisted we went on a hike in the desert. Sean's dad had said he'd buy "everyone" clif bars and then he only bought 4 for a group of 10 people. We each had a smallish water bottle. 

So essentially what I'm telling you is that I went with a bunch of strangers and a guy I had a crush on on a walk in the desert without food or water. 

Not only that, but after  that walk (when we realized our stomachs were eating themselves) we went to a hellish tourist trap called Tortilla Flats and wandered around, got HANGRY (def.: so hungry you start biting people's heads off) and decided to go to another hellish place called Organ Stop where a large organ rises out of the floor and plays crappy show tunes while you eat sad pizza on picnic tables. WORST.

I think I've told this story before but it's probably the most insane thing I've done.  So here it is again.

love, Ellen

p.s. Check out my sister-in-laws post at her blog - katieandbrady.wordpress.com
And Ellie's post -http://elliehuey.tumblr.com/post/57264526864/creatures

Day 2: Dream Pet

Right now, I have a cat and a snake that look like this:

They're both good pets, but if I were to be able to have any pet, it would be a little dog. Something I can play with and cuddle with that won't attack people and won't fight with my other animals and will be fun to take on little walks around the park. I'm thinking something like a Chihuahua or a Pomeranian
AWW!

or this one.

CUTE!
I don't know what I would name it right now, but pretty much any human name that I wouldn't name a human could be possibilities for the dog. If that makes any sense.

Tomorrow's topic: What is the craziest thing you have ever done or would do?
love, Ellen

Day 1: Favorite Album

I've actually been having quite a time with this one. I've been really stuck in a loop with a few albums. Jack's Mannequin - Everything In Transit
Motion City Soundtrack - Even If It Kills me
and
Jay-Z - Blueprint 3

But I think I might have to retreat to The Beatles but I don't know which album I'd choose: White Album, Rubber Soul, or Abbey Road. AAAHHHH. Life is Hard.

You know what? I think I'm going to go to just go with the Motion City Soundtrack one. It has such a great variety and has fun dancing songs and relaxed slow songs... It's just great. I can't think of any song that I don't like from it.

I've shared songs on here from the album before, but here are the main ones I'd probably listen to.
Antonia:

Broken Heart:

Calling All Cops:

Last Night:

I still highly recommend all the other albums mentioned in the beginning of this post, but I just keep coming back to this one.

love, Ellen

p.s. Check out Ellie's blog-a-day. Thanks for doing this with me!