friday link-up

via entertainment realm

HE WAS ALWAYS MY FAVORITE: It's Friday!!! And until lunch today it was a seemingly happy go lucky day for me... then I got the news... Rapper, Adam Yauch aka MCA of the Beastie Boys passed away today.  My heart is so heavy right now. I've loved him since I discovered the Beasties in 5th grade. "Fight For Your Right To Party" was in heavy rotation in my school, and to be quite honest, still is today on my iPod. Just yesterday I was listening to "Ill Communication" in my Jeep. I have always kept a Beastie Boy CD in my disc changer, they've been my favorite rap act for as long as I can remember and frankly MCA, was my favorite rapper of all time (Sorry B.I.G. it's true). Adam, you have been an excellent example of what hard work, talent and selfless giving can do for the world. You are still and inspiration to us all. And in closing I will say what I always say in these circumstance, F-Cancer!

Now that I got that off my chest I will move on to something a bit more light hearted and hit up my Random Friday Musings and Confessions for the week.

Linking up with Leslie over at A Blonde Ambition Blog for her Friday Confessionals!

• I have only worked out ONE day this week. One day... that's sad. Especially since my schedule is supposed to be 6 days a week. (And because I will then bitch in the AM when I have to squeeze into my jeans). I'm not sure if I'm getting bored with TurboFire or if my mind is just getting more and more clever about talking me out of getting my workout on to bust my butt. Frankly, I don't have any motivation this time around like I did last year {my wedding}. This year I don't have plans to hit the beach, and I won't need a reason for a smaller size until Christmas when I have to squeeze my bigger booty into the snowboarding pants I haven't rocked since 2005! Lord help me when that day comes. I also figure if I am in better shape... snowboarding won't beat me up as bad as it would if I went right this second.

• Mike is currently hooked more than ever on podcasts - and now has me hooked too. My favorite is the Nerd-ist podcasts with Christ Hardwick. We've also been getting into Kevin Smith's podcasts. Everyday I reveal more of my inner dork. I'm thankful my husband is ok with that.

• Speaking of inner dork... May the 4th be with you. If you don't get it, it's OK.

• I'm newly obsessed with a new beauty product. Well it's new to me but not new to the beauty world. It's not like me to get excited about cosmetics, other than lip gloss. I will do a write up about it next week. It's changed my morning routine, at least in the make-up department.

• In honor of Leslie, I might have to cave today and have a ceremonial weekend Coca Cola. It's been a while... then again, if I do I'll have total guilt if I don't work out. I have to workout today, darn it!!!

And lastly I am linking up with Shana at Fumbling Towards Normalcy for Random Musings Friday!

• We are still "home" shopping for a new rental but it's starting to become bleak. We looked at a townhome community. They aren't really townhouses exactly more like larger, 2 story apartments shoved together. Everything seemed A-OK. We figured we could make most of our items we own fit, there is a swimming pool, a tennis court and possibly a fitness room {score}... as we left we started talking hopeful about moving in there. Rent would be less, we'd have some great amenities and there was no doubt the utilities would be less... then we read the information about the deposit. Not only was the pet deposit NON-REFUNDABLE, but it was also $500 PER PET!!! Did you read that right? PER PET!!! That's $1,000 we'd never get back. I don't know about you but I'm NOT in the market of tossing out $1,000! So the search continues. We are contemplating purchasing a home now... can you tell how left and right we are about all this stuff?

• I'm currently trying to lighten up our dinners each evening. Last night we had grilled chicken salads. We are usually a meat and potatoes kind of home but when I started P90X ages ago we switched up to more rice, and lighter sides with potatoes being a treat and what not. We don't eat a ton of red meat, mostly chicken, fish and pork. After the holidays all this fell by the wayside so I'm trying to get back in the swing of better eating. Last night's salad was topped with some homemade dressing and while this dressing wasn't the lightest thing in the books it was delicious and inspired me to be more active in making my own dressing from now on. I found the recipe via pinterest, but here is a link to find it for yourself... it's SO GOOD! It's a rip off the Spaghetti Factory's version of Creamy Basil Dressing from Sweet Savory Life! Note: I added pepper, and some fresh grated garlic cloves to mine for some more ZING!

• I recently discovered how to search what people have pinned from your blog and my findings were really helpful. Knowing that most people enjoy my recipes makes me want to blog about them more. This discovery also made me think twice about images that I post here due to the fact that someone had pinned an image of my mother and I when I was a baby... and labeled it with "Sasha" and placed it into a folder call "Characters". Am I wrong to be just a bit creeped out by this? I commented on the photo to ask about it but I haven't heard back. If you're curious about what people have pinned form your blog simply use this URL: pinterest.com/source/###### add in your blog's URL where the ### is. And bam, you can see what people have pinned and said about your blog! I hope you don't find anything as creepy as I did.

• At my job I have to do some hands on design work from time to time. I got to go to a photoshoot this week and it was extremely fun. I also got to sample our subject which was sushi and Japanese food from a local restaurant. I could totally get used to this.

• Also at my job... I have to do some stuff I never thought I'd have to do after I graduated college. I've been having to mount posters on foam core for clients and I HATE IT.  Although with each passing job I'm starting to get better at it with each attempt. When I was in school it would cause me to sweat and freak out. I had to get it JUST right or my teacher would give me a horrible grade. Now I guess it's a bit easier if I mess up we have TONS of huge sheets of foam core. Bottomline I like being hands on, but that's a bit much for me.

Well that's it, that's all, that's all there is - Beastie Boys

I hope you all have a great weekend. I hope to be front porchin' it tonight, as well as hopefully kayaking in the creek weather provided tomorrow. Getting a bit of sun, with SPF 30 protection of course and if I'm lucky enough maybe sipping a homemade margarita and noshing on some homemade guac in honor of Cinco de Mayo! AND, we're totally hitting up the theatre to see THE AVENGERS!!! Captain America, here we come!!! HAPPY WEEKEND! R.I.P. MCA! ox