Book blurb: Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert.

Keeping this post short because I have a date night pending which includes playing little spoon on the couch with a very cute puppy (and hubby) and a big bag of popcorn. So, on with it...

http://www.amazon.com/Committed-Skeptic-Makes-Peace-Marriage/dp/0670021652
Find it here
You know a book is a success when you start recommending it before you've even read the last page. Anyone who lives above a rock has heard of Eat Pray Love. I personally gave the book, eh, a B+. Committed, which is somewhat of a sequel, completely takes the cake. First of all, if you're expecting something similar to her previous success, be prepared to be disappointed because Elizabeth Gilbert definitely took a different approach to Committed. Its full of interesting tidbits and perspectives on marriage and I am absolutely eating it up. For anyone who's considering marriage or has already dove right into it, do pick this book up and give it a whirl!


Sweet surprises.

Hubby and I decided to entertain some friends at our place this weekend. Naturally, Friday night ended somewhere around 3am Saturday morning. The best surprise ever? Coming downstairs Saturday AM to find the men had not only cleared away all remnants of Friday evening BUT had also laid out a champagne brunch for us ladies, complete with yummy goodness! IMPRESSIVE.  A lady could really get used to this treatment...



What a great weekend full of friends, food and weirdness. And we didn't even need to leave our house! One last shout out shot of these two "besties." 

The Betty Draper blues.


ROSYRILLI.COM The Betty Draper blues
 {Image found here}
    
I'm going through withdrawl. Maddict* withdrawl. Wouldn't this stormy, dreary night be the perfect evening to curl up on the couch and watch some Betty Draper drama? I seriously am missing the Mad Men series and am sincerely hoping it picks up again this summer. My all time favorite character, unpopular as she may be, has ALWAYS been and always will be Betty Draper. If you don't already watch this show, I urge you to start catching up on all of the seasons you've already missed!

*Maddict - Self-proclaimed Mad Men addict

Early bird gets the worm.

ROSYRILLI.COM Healthy beginnings
The results are in. My oh-so-courageous Monday morning challenge was... a SUCCESS! Ok, well, mostly a success. This a.m. I managed to crawl out of bed an hour earlier. But (there's always a but, isn't there?) I did happen to maybe...sort of....kind of...hit the snooze button (oops).  Only once though! Apparently going cold turkey was a bit too much for my groggy self to handle. And besides, did anyone else happen to notice it was a really awful, cold, rainy Monday morning following a particularly enjoyable, gorgeous weekend? I don't know about you, but this succeeds in making my alarm sound that much more dreadful.  Regardless, I started my week off on the right foot and was more than likely in a more pleasant mood than half the workforce today. Better breakfast. Check. More leisure morning. Check. Healthy beginning to my day. Check. Check. Check. 



Guilty pleasures: Chanel Eau Tendre.

Most of my extra dollars are spent on items that others can't even distinguish, which is quite the shame. Included, but not limited to: makeup, skin care, hair care, lingerie, etc, etc.. Another guilty pleasure: perfume. Ah, because really, is there anything better than a new scent you just can't stop sniffing? I got a pretty whiff of Chanel's Eau Tendre scent and I can't stop dreaming about the day I can add this pretty pink bottle to my collection. I left a sample in my car and it was pure heaven. Such a sweeter way to savor a smell than the traditional car freshener.  Are you crushing on any specific scents these days?
{Image found here}

Home remedies: pedialyte freezer pops.

Too many green beers last night? I have the perfect solution for you, thanks to this little guy below! I discovered this small gem of a hangover cure after a friend’s birthday bash in AC where the grey goose was all too plentiful. The next day I paid a pretty price and, to my great relief, I managed to get down some pedialyte freezer pops. No really, it sounds kind of strange but they're a life savor! Each flavorful pop is jam packed with electolytes and sometimes, when your body is rejecting a belly full of liquids because its still pissed at you for feeding it all of that liquor the night before, highly concentrated frozen ice is the way to go. Don't believe me? Give it a whirl! Let me know if it works out for you too.
  
My nephew Kenny, who was nice enough to share his frozen goodness with me :)


Vitaminnies.

I was banned from my pediatricians office at the ripe old age of 18, which was all fine and good with me because it was honestly starting to feel a bit awkward sitting around all of those crying babies in the waiting room. The problem though is that I never bothered to get another check up. I recently decided it was finally time, after 7 odd years, to pay a visit to the good doc. Apparently, from what I was told,  I only have a solid two more years to increase my bone density. And so with that, I went out and purchased myself some vitamins (because, let's be honest, exercise is more of a pipe dream at this point).  Half my problem with vitamins is remembering to actually take them. The bottles end up somewhere in the back of my my kitchen shelves and you know how the saying goes.. out of sight, out of mind. So, I had the brilliant idea today to find jars to stash the pills in and voila!

ROSYRILLI.COM Alternative to storing vitamins
Okay,so let's be real here.. there still just some ugly pills but it's a slight improvement to leaving the unsightly plastic bottles scattered across my counter, wouldn't you agree?

A dose of daily wear.

ROSYRILLI.COM A dose of daily wear
ROSYRILLI.COM A dose of daily wear

RILLI WEARS:
cardigan: banana republic
shirt: j.crew
pants: limited
shoes: me too

In honor of one of my oldest, bestest childhood friend, I'm dedicating this post to wiley wears! I have a whole new respect level for both her AND her boyfriend after attempting to reproduce what she does daily for her daily wear blog. I had to beg and plead with my hubby to play photographer tonight and it was met with great resistance. Re-takes brought on even greater bouts of heavy sighs. I neither posses the foresight, style or wardrobe to pull off a daily wear blog but now have even greater level of respect for those who do! 


Monday morning challenge.

I'm addicted to the snooze button.  And I swear to you, it didn't always used to be this way. I'm not even sure how it happened really. It's sad to admit but oh so true. I exercise that snooze button at least 2, 3, sometimes even (gasp!) 4 times every.single.morning. My poor husband has to bear witness to this twisted routine and yet, in all of his morning glory, he still tolerates it. He's a saint. 

I can still fondly recall the mornings once upon a time, in a far away place, when I awoke early and spent an hour + leisurely getting ready to greet the day. What happened to those good old days, you ask? It seems they've been replaced by last minute goodbyes accompanied by running, tripping and/or chaotic scrambling all the way out the door. Tsk tsk. This snoozing of mine has overcome my life so much, in fact, that I now shower at night JUST so that I don't have to wake up earlier in the morning. And what's most pathetic about this routine is that every night before bed, I swear to myself I'll get up earlier tomorrow. I won't snooze my alarm. Tomorrow will be the day I take back mornings. But, the snooze always prevails.

And then I noticed something quite peculiar this morning. I got an hour less of shut eye. Thank you daylight savings. And guess what? I snoozed my alarm just like normal BUT didn't actually feel tired, like I had just woken up at 5:45 instead of 6:45, which is actually what happened. This, in case you didn't recognize it, is a glimmer of hope. I can do it.  I will do it. I will wake up early enough to eat breakfast sitting down. Maybe even have some tea.  Pack a healthy lunch. Wardrobe myself in something I'm not embarrassed to show up at the office wearing (for once). Style my hair. Maybe even cuddle with my hubby in bed for a few minutes before saying goodbye. I WILL do it! Not this week, mind you (that would be a little too ambitious of me), but... next Monday. DUN DUN DUN. Oh you got that right. I'm challenging myself on the very worst of mornings. The dreaded Monday morning. Oh, how I'm already looking forward to this. Results to follow! And not to worry, I'll try to throw in a few posts in the meantime. 


Red wine to unwind.

It's quirky, I know, but whenever I see characters on Tv or movies cupping mugs of hot coffee or sipping wine I find myself longing for similar stolen moments.  And so, I decided I needed more of this me time in my life. Now years ago, I made a grand life decision that I would never become addicted to the coffee jolt. Years later and my smile is still thanking me. So I recently made the only logical decision left - My 2011 resolution would positively, just have be, to drink more wine. Red wine, to be exact. It's such a more enjoyable goal than say trying to lose 5 lbs! Plus, word on the street is that one glass a day keeps the doctor away. And so, with that, this evening I salute you with a big fat cheers! And don't you worry, I'll make sure to clean my pearly whites later so as not to tint my toothers :)


ROSYRILLI.COM Red wine to unwind

Pinching pennies.

One day, while frequenting the Petco near my office, I noticed a new neighbor in town... Bottom Dollar Food. Visions of expired dollar store food danced in my head and so I disregarded the store front as quickly as I had taken notice to it.  Luck would have it (isn't this just always the way) that within days I heard a radio spot advertising the new chain. And with that, I decided to give it a whirl. 
$$$$$
I have to pause here in my storytelling to own up to a rather obnoxious flaw: I'm a certified brand snob. I'm a company's favorite customer - loyal. To a fault. I like to think of myself as a rather logical loving individual and this is the one area of my personality that just isn't rational, no matter how I try to spin it. I can try and blame it on my childhood - on my sixth grade bestie who grabbed my shirt collars to confirm that they were from the "right" stores. Regardless, this current runs deep in my veins and it has me, time and time again, reaching for the food labels I know best. 
$$$
Bottom Dollar Food happens to shelve quite a few generics, which succeeded in producing quite a bit of discomfort for me when I realized I was already committed. With a cart full of fruits and veggies, there was no turning back when I hit those aisles full of food labels. And so, I continued.  My Rilli Review: Success! A block of cheddar cheese for only $1.39! A box of cereal for $1.79! Biscuits for $0.58! And the list goes on and on. Perhaps it was the limited variety which forced me to buy the generic brands I love to hate. Perhaps it was the smaller cart which made me feel like I was buying more than I was. Whatever the reason, 43 items later and a bill of only $83.44 and I was HOOKED! After all, I'm not feeding a family of four here. It's just my hubby and I in a household where Lucky Charms are a perfectly acceptable dinner option. So will I go again? Absolutely. The small aisles, limited selection and bagging my own food in a designated area are all worth it. I'm already day dreaming about the things I will buy with all of the extra pennies in my pocket... 

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Window sill seeds in March.

What to do on such a rainy, dreary, Sunday in March, you might ask? Why, plant some seeds of sunshine, of course!


ROSYRILLI.COM March seedlings
This is my very first attempt at sowing seeds (I literally had to look up what exactly to sow even means). Admittedly my thumb isn't quite green YET, but I do manage to keep my house plants at least partially alive and that has to count for something, right?? 

Lucky for me, I have the perfect window sill and sun room to use as a platform for my little soon-to-be baby seedlings. Now all they need is some love and affection. Grand sprouting entrance in, oh, say T minus 18-28 days.

I decided to get creative with this project of mine and have some fun creating handmade labels for each set of seeds. Materials needed? Scissors, seed markers, paper and some fun stickers. Not too shabby for an overcast day!

ROSYRILLI.COM DIY seed labels
Hope you had a lovely day as well, my fellow green thumbs!

Vintage technology.

I went without cell phone. For FIVE whole days. I mean, that’s practically a full week, wouldn’t you say? This was not at all of my doing, mind you. In fact, to my utter dismay, Monday morning nonetheless, I found my not-so-smart phone completely frazzled. Kaput. Finished. Non-functioning. Three trips to the Verizon store later, and I had successfully secured myself a replacement, but had to wait for the FedEx man to kindly leave it as a present on my door step.  

To recount my wireless days, its apparent that the pain was eased at each passing hour.  By day four, I barely noticed the lack of distraction.  My nearest and dearest family members had been alerted of my limited communication capabilities and no emergencies (thank goodness) arose. I truly found myself forgetting to miss my cell phone. That’s not to say that I wasn’t ecstatic when my number was finally restored to its former glory, but I now know a glimpse of what life was like a few decades ago. And honestly, it wasn’t that bad. It has me eyeing up my classic land line phone and wondering if perhaps there will ever be a day when I restore it too, to its functioning glory. 

ROSYRILLI.COM vintage technology: the land line phone


A rilly random reflection.

Reading and writing,  both very prestigious are they not?  

Yet, somehow in the context of the internet - emailing, IMing, twittering, blogging - reading and writing somehow seem, dare I say it... tacky? And with the added advent of cell phones being used for texting rather than calling, why do we even bother speaking at all? My oh so professional observation: The written word is slowly planning a takeover of the verbal variety in popularity these days.  So if people originally started speaking to each other and then written word came later... where will we go from here???   

Such itsy bitsy changes that end up impacting our lives. Check back tomorrow for my next post, which will probably help shed some light on my late night babbling about communication styles.


Playing nurse.

Unbeknownst to you, my little anonymous reader, I made a promise to myself when I first hatched this blog. I promised to avoid ever... and i mean ever... to use this forum as an outlet to complain, rant or rave. Instead, I vowed to show you glimpses of my world through rose colored glasses. So rosy of me, I know.   :) 


So here's the thing - I can maybe sometimes be a teensy bit of a big whaling baby when it comes to feeling under the weather. Sigh. Most unfortunate this morning was that my poor hubby was forced to take a sick day. And, worst of all worsts, it still didn't cure him...


pauvre bébé
And what do you know, OF COURSE, like clockwork around 3pm I began to feel those big bad germs being such creepers. The nerve. So in defiance, my last ditch effort feel good recipe, as is below.

  1. Healthy supper. Broccoli being the critical ingredient... because my mommy dearest always said it's the miracle veggie, of course. 
  2. Water - Avoiding city tap water at all costs. Did anyone else see that documentary where they lit the toxic water on fire? Cherishing my BRITA.
  3. Hot tea.
  4. Hot shower. 
  5. Hot se...  ahem! No no. Not advised. 
  6. Airborne. My hubby has told me a petrillion times that this helps so I'm respecting his great words of wisdom and indulging in this mega-vitamin elixir.
  7. Beauty sleep. Pretty sleeping mask a plus.
My fingers are crossed. Please pray with me that I will not be forced on a blogging sabbatical because of these germs.

And one last pocket full of pondering for you this evening:

Why is it that animals never seem to get sick? No, really. Think about it. You don't see your dog or cat coughing from a cold they caught from the neighbor dog, do you? Are our immune systems that much weaker? One would think that breeds of human would have evolved more than the pets we keep for company. 

See you (hopefully) tomorrow loves! 

Sidetracked.

I had plans for this evening's post. Grand plans people. But then, something magical happened. I was driving my normal commute home,  innocently minding my own business, when I noticed it was... wait for it.... still light out! I actually saw pretty blue sky. I could not be anymore excited about these improvements to my life. Spring is right around the corner and even though March can be such a tease weather-wise, the days are definitely getting longer. My daily existence instantly feels a few hours fuller. No longer will I be encouraged by the black night sky to curl up in a ball on my couch and watch TV all evening. 

Oh, the anticipation...


ROSYRILLI.COM backyard sunset