*** One of my favorite pictures from the wedding. I don't know why but I find this picture sexy.... Yeah, I'm kinda weird. ***

Since my Friday afternoon was horrible, I stayed in with a bottle of vino and watched some television. I watched most of the debate and then headed over to the Food Network. I don't know if any of you have seen the Bon Appétit Best American Restaurants Special. It aired for the first time about a year or so ago.

Well, while I do love the Food Network, this post does actually have a purpose. In the show, Bon Appetit Magazine named 17th Street Bar & Grill the best Ribs in America. This restaurant is located in my hometown of Murphysboro, IL and is actually where my younger brother works. He is a cook there. While, I'm not a HUGE fan of ribs, I don't like eating meat off of a bone, I do love their BBQ sandwiches and love their fried pickles.... hmmm... fried pickles.

You can check out their website here... http://www.17thstreetbarbecue.com/

The owner is a friend of my Step-Dad's and has done extremely well for himself over the years, opening several restaurants, including one in Vegas.

Here's a pic of me and my lil bro at the rehearsal dinner.

FYI - BBQ in our neck of the woods is serious business. Last weekend 17th Street hosted the 21st Annual BBQ Competition. My friends have a team and they actually won 5th for Shoulder, I believe. Congrats!!! Hogs n' Dawgs!

Additionally, the caterer I chose for my wedding is also a World Champion BBQ team. They now are a well know caterer that regularly works for the St. Louis Rams and others.

We actually had rib teasers and mini BBQ sandwiches for appetizers at the wedding. Everyone loved them and cleared them out completely. I couldn't let people come down to So. IL and not taste some BBQ.




For dinner we had the breast chicken people said they ever had and great beef tenderloin. Food and booze were the most important thing to me. I kept asking people, so how did you like the food.... Everyone thought it was the best food they'd had at a wedding. I'll be honest I ate about 2 bites of food, the salad, and a piece of bread.... My taste buds where dead for some reason.

As you may know by now, I'm originally from the Midwest. While I did live for a brief period of time in MS and LA (around age 4 -5, parents still married), I'm a "northerner" and living in the South has taken some adjustments. But some things, just rub me the wrong way I can't stand them.

My #1 discomfort living in the South is..... Fire Ants. OMG I freaking hate these lil bastards. They are horrible. We have a nice yard, maintained well I believe. But we still get ants from time to time. And those lil mothers... create pure agony for me and the dogs.

The last time I did actual yard work I got bit my some ants and what the doctor thinks might be a spider. Somehow it appears that I spread the "venom" to other area of my body. Yeah it's freaking disgusting... I had to get medicine and prescription ointment to get rid of them, I actually have a scar that hasn't went away yet... that was about 3 - 4 weeks ago.

So Fire Ants.... You are #1 on list...

Don't worry I have more to come... hopefully, the southerns that read this blog can help me with some of the others that make the list...

I have great hope for Ms. Britney Spears. I want her to succeed.

Take a listen to her new song...

This pic is from the first day he bought home his full gear.... Isn't he cute!

Picture from the night he got his wings. Its about 8 o'clock.... he's wasted....

What about Gavin?

(Brent and Milo taking a nap on the floor in my old apartment.)








Charlie's 1st day home at our old house. Look at those feet.

So I'm watching today's Oprah, its about the recession and people that are in debt. Right now, she's talking to people that are $90k in debt and have 29 freaking credit cards.

Ok America, what the hell is wrong with this picture? I am 28 years old, I've done pretty well for myself over the past 6 years since I graduated college. But here's the kicker.... I have never been able to get a credit card. People that are in debt, get credit cards. People like me, that never had a credit card, no student loans, no car loans, no debt.... guess what... no credit for you. You're undesirable... You have insufficient credit history. People, I've been turned down for a Victoria Secret card.

Brent, my financial planner that he is, has been helping me try to build credit. My mom co-signed for my car loan, I even took out a small loan and paid it back over a 2 period of time just purely to generate some credit. Its been tough. I've had to buy furniture out right, we're talking a couple thousand bucks. I had to pay double deposits for things. Its totally sucked people. Luckily, my 1st job out of college I had a company car so all my bills were paid out of my 1st paycheck of the month. My 2nd job, I got large quarterly bonuses that I could save for those large purchases. And now, I get a monthly commission.

I will say over the past couple years I've slowly built some credit. I got a Banana Republic card and I was thrilled when I was able to get a Sears card to buy my elliptical machine with. But that's it. (I recently closed the Sears card.)

But the best thing about getting married was truly getting credit. My husband Brent has fabulous credit, and he actually put me on one of his credit cards for wedding purchases. And I'm now paying it off.


So here's my main question, and a major discussion that Brent and I had over dinner this past weekend.... how did it get THIS bad. What were people thinking.... especially people that bought houses they could never afford, getting 20 credit cards, buying new cars.... I'm just so confused....

Now they are saying that getting loans for the next couple of years is going to be extremely tough. Brent and I are planning on buying a house when we move to NC. This all makes me nervous, luckily by that time we should have saved a healthy down payment but we will also have a VA loan if we need it.

For any of your Cub fans, or Chicago fans in general the BEST website is http://www.wrigleyvillesports.com/

I would never tire of looking at this fine piece.

Hi. My name is Heather and I'm a Shopaholic. There I've admitted it, but its something I've known all along. But I would like it to be known, that I'm always looking for a bargain. Also, moving to P'cola where my shopping options are extremely limited and the fact that I'm short, narrow shoulders, and big booty, I can't really rely on online shopping too much because I need to try things on.



That being said, I love Target as does most of the world. Unfortunately, I miss my Super-Target near my old apt in Indy like no other... but I'm dealing/coping.



Anyway - today I'm sporting a cute lil number that I bought at Target. I've also bought it in Black as well. I'm a firm believer if you like something and it fits perfectly buy it in multiple colors/fabrics/etc. So I do and I did.




I've paired it with my Franco Sarto Metallic Brown leather/wood platforms which I bought 2+ years ago at DSW (which I don't have any near me in P'cola) and they look a lot like Michael Kors wooden platforms. Additionally, I'm wearing large gold hoops from Old Navy and my White leather and Wicker large Coach purse. Its my go-to for the summer and its still summer down here...

P.S. Side note, I got an XS, it made me smile... especially since I know I've gained back 5 lbs or so since the wedding... damn it...

Brent came home this weekend, and it was so great to see him. It is a wonderful change to be sharing a bed with him again. It's nice to roll over and have him there, it is comforting and a needed change.

Friday night we went to the new Chinese Buffet that opened close to our house. Its the 2nd time we ate there, it is surprisingly good and has a lot of options. After that we stopped off and loaded up on dog food. We came home watched a couple episodes of The Tudors (my new DVDs from Netflix) and played a rousing game of Scrabble. Yes, we are dorks, but we get into some mean Scrabble competitions. I successfully kicked his butt, he wanted to quit 3 times, but I wouldn't let him.

Saturday we headed to yoga, met some of our friends for a late breakfast at Bagelhead's (a cute lil bagel/coffee shop near the water), took the dogs to the Vet, and then bought our books. We got home and low and behold our wedding DVDs were in the mailbox. YEAH!!! Needless to say I popped that sucker in and Brent proceeded out to weedwack the yard ( I don't know how to do it and the neighbor boy I pay to mow the yard doesn't weedwack).

Saturday night we headed out to dinner at the FishHouse in Pensacola. We had a great time and the food was wonderful. Brent actually talked me into eating sushi, I have always disliked it. But we had Alaskan Rolls, and I liked them.


Side note: Not being from the South I didn't realize that Brent and I matched, wearing Navy and Orange (Auburn colors) and Auburn was playing that night. The hostess asked if we were Auburn fans. We're from what we call the Midwest, but southerns call the "North". I'm new to the "dressing up" that occurs for sporting events.

Take me to a football game, I'm wearing a t-shirt, jeans, and tennis shoes. My friend Lauren, who is from Chicago, is marrying a great guy from Atlanta, got a crash course on the attire when they went to her 1st Georgia football game. He didn't warn her, and she felt totally out of place.

Funniest part - when Lauren and I met in college, she told me that I was the "most southern" person she knew ... since I was from Southern Illinois. She made fun of what lil accent I had then... How I say soda instead of pop, etc... Now, she's marrying Rob who is totally a southern gentleman.... Its totally cute and ironic and I love it.

And in case you're wondering.... I successfully finished off the bottle of Sophia and it was good.

Well, well, well... Today is my 100th post, I can't believe that people are actually reading and caring about what lil ol me has to say.



For my 100th post I would have liked to have some cute, witty blog, but unfortunately that its going to be the case. I dedicate this, my 100th post, to Travis Barker and DJ AM. If you have not heard yet, they were both in a horrible plane crash in the early morning hours of Saturday in Columbia, SC. It appears that the pilot over ran the runway during take off and went through and fence and hit a highway off ramp. Due to the fact they the accident occurred during take off, the plane had a full tank of gas which resulted in the plane becoming engulfed in flames. Six people were on the plane, the pilot and co-pilot, Travis and DJ AM, and Travis' assistant and security. Travis and Adam "DJ AM" were the only survivors.




Travis and Adam are currently recovering from 2nd and 3rd degree burns and are in critical condition. It appears they were ejected from the plane during the crash and were on fire when bystanders came upon them on the highway.



First off, my heart goes out to all the families affected by this horrible accident. Secondly, I pray for the timely and safe recovery for both Travis and Adam. I have been a huge fan of Travis since he was in the AquaBats (prior to Blink 182). I had the opportunity to see him in concert on several occasions when I was younger. And had the chance to see DJ AM at PURE when we were in Vegas earlier this year. Both have such amazing talents and are too young to leave us so soon.



So today, on my 100th post, I hope you all keep Travis and Adam in your thoughts and prayers.

So per muffymartini's suggestion I headed to Cost Plus World Market over my lunch break. Yes, I call it by its full name, I always have and always will. Some of my friends make fun of me.


Anyway, she was ranting and raving about the explosion of all things pumpkin so I went with the intention of taking a look at the decorations, and ended up with with I normally end up with BOOZE! That's right, I bought 2 arms full over booze. I love their selection of sparkling wines and champagne. I'm a champagne and white wine gal, sorry not a huge fan of reds.


So I bought Brent's favorite And then I bought some of my own...

Now I have only had Sofia once before, but I really liked it. I was totally excited because the last like 10 times that I have been to Cost Plus World Market (see I did it again), they have been sold out. I have not yet had the Rose Wine but I am excited. There is a vineyard near Indy that had the best Rose Wine so I'm hoping it will be similar to theirs.

FYI - Veuve Clicquot is my favorite champagne but it can be pricey. But, its on sale right now, at you guessed it, Cost Plus World Market for $37.00. I was going to get a couple of bottles, but I thought I had enough booze. I have 2 bottles of Pinot Gringo in the pantry and a couple bottles of white wine from our wedding (we only used wine from the area's local vineyards, a blog for another time.)

So now I can't wait to get home and put that baby on ice.... Have a great weekend everyone, and Drink Up! Salud!

The pic is bad. I had my hair up in a ponytail. I had to water the yard tonight after work. Yes, I'm sporting my ol AGD IM 98-99 Champs Shirt. Yeah!!! I created the quote on the back of this "Success is never handed to you, you have to earn it!" Like it, yeah thought so...

So I can't believe I hadn't blogged about this earlier, my Bachelorette Party in VEGAS baby VEGAS! It was one of the best weekends of my life. We had an awesome time and it went by was too fast.

This is what drunk looks like the first day there. Sporting my new "Soon to Be Mrs. Warren" hat. Thanks Jes.

In Da Club. We got there right when it opened, and stood in the girls only line. We didn't have to pay, it was awesome.