DIY Sugar Scrub

I have something magical to share on this rainy Saturday morning. It's called sugar scrub. Between nasty hospital dry air, cold winter, and drying heaters, my skin gets kinda gross in the winter. So I googled "sugar scrub" and came across this link for homemade sugar scrub.

Here's what I did: took 1 1/2 cups of sugar and 1/4 cup of olive oil, put them in a mason jar, and shook it up really well. That's it. I keep it in the shower and exfoliate a few times a week. The original recipe calls for massage oil to scent it, but I don't have any and I don't care about scent anyway. The olive oil moisturizes your skin and the sugar makes it nice and smooth. I wash off after with my normal body wash so I don't smell like the kitchen.

It hangs out next to my hub's Axe body wash and the clearance shampoo. Keep it classy.

I give it a good shake every time I use it.

I don't use it on my face/neck/chest since I'm a little sensitive. But its amazing for arms, legs, and feet!

Get your sugar scrub on, people!


PS. Happy birthday to my sweet momma! I love you!

Christmas in Kansas City

I made it through work this week! That means two days off before and after Christmas. Except I get to work Christmas Day. Aren't you jealous? Now I'm just waiting for the sweet hubs to get home and thought I would share some highlights from our Christmas trip to the 913. We celebrated a little early since Kiewit was flying us back to KC for par-tays. I mean...meetings.

I had a really great seat on the first plane and a really crappy seat on the second one.

We did a little Crown Center ice skating and general Christmas merriment with Caleb's family. We also enjoyed some Jack Stack. I love you, bbq. And here's something honest: I love to ice skate. Everyone was ready to go and I was like "but I just warmed up!"

We had "Christmas" with both sides of the family, since we will be hanging out here in Tennessee for the actual holiday. The most fun was watching George. We seriously love that guy. Caleb's dad got some KU tickets and gear for Christmas. We force our love of the Jayhawks on everyone around us! Baby June, guess where you are going to college?

My dad got a grill for Christmas. He was super pumped. I also made him grill our Christmas dinner but he didn't seem to mind!

I love my parent's Christmas tree, it always looks exactly the same as I remember it from when I was a kid.

We also babysat for George and June one night. Caleb was a jungle gym and his keys were the best toy ever.

June cried most of the time. So we just snuggled her and kept her out of bed. Oops. Sorry to mess up the sleep training...

We had SUCH a good time with our families! It's always hard to leave. Hopefully someday soon we'll be back for good!

Last sip of Boulevard Wheat in the airport before catching our flight back...

I got an early Christmas present from the hubs...a macro lens. So expect so close up pics soon...

Kansas City goodness

This post is a little belated since I got back from Kansas City late Saturday night. I was going to post on Sunday but then I was hanging out with my hubby all day. I worked on Monday and Tuesday (and it was a little crazy). Yesterday I was going to post, and then after spending most of the day shopping, I realized I should probably clean. I did buy three pairs of shoes at Target though. On sale. And they are super cute.

Anyway, our trip to Kansas was a success. We went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter, which was amazing. Caleb did make our group stand in line outside the theater starting at 7pm. It was really, really, really hot. I should have taken pictures of all the hilarious costumes people were wearing but I just wasn't in the mood. I was too dang hot. But the movie was seriously awesome. And they had butterbeer, which was super hilarious.

Butterscotch schnapps, cream soda, and a glow stick.

We spent the weekend hanging out with our families and celebrated Caleb's mom's birthday! We had a birthday cookout and spent the evening watching George do funny baby things. Because we are all obsessed with George.

Tell me this picture doesn't make you smile.

Caleb had to leave on Monday (boo work) and drove the whole 12 hours by himself. My husband is a rockstar. I got to stay for the rest of the week and spent lots of time hanging out with my family and friends. My parents celebrated their 27th wedding anniversary last Friday and we headed out to the Royals to brave the heat. We got some shady seats and loaded up on buck night goodies, so it was a good time.

27 years, people.

We also saw our all time favorite player, Johnny Damon. I like to call him Johnny D. And we cheered for him even though he was playing against the Royals and we love the Royals. Johnny D. played for the Wranglers (a previous Royals Double A team) when we lived in Wichita and we loved him. We have loved him throughout his major league career, long hair, and two wives.

Johnny D., you can totally get 3,000 hits. I believe in you.

Not only was it buck night, my parent's 27th anniversary, and Johnny D. day, it was also firework night.
I do love some good fireworks.

Saturday was my last day in Kansas. Kerry and I headed out to George's first birthday party. It was freaking hot. I am a committed aunt.

He is starting to walk!

It was so hot, the candy all melted. The kids didn't seem to mind though.

Layne, the other birthday boy, sucking melted gummy candy out of the package.

Birthday boy with his parents and super cute cake.

Kerry and I took some notes for our future children's bday parties as we sweated it out. (By future, I mean distant future.) So so cute! Check out Audrey and Jami's blogs here and here!

BFF pic (minus Cara! We love you Cara!)

I had a wonderful week but was so happy to get back to my hubby. I love Kansas City. And my man.

I hope you are having a wonderful week! This is my last day off before my work weekend so I'm trying to spend it getting some stuff done and not thinking about work! Happy Thursday!

Happy Father's Day!

To my dad:
Who missed a golf tournament 25 years ago for my birth, who taught me to ride a bike, throw a ball less like a girl, drive a car (way before the legal driving age), who paid for me to learn all the things he couldn't teach me himself, who came to all my concerts, musicals, and even my sporting events, who told me I could be anything I wanted, who taught me how to pray, how to stand up for what is right, and how to admit when I am wrong. I love you, Daddy.

To my father-in-law:
Whose patience, understanding, wisdom, trips to the emergency room, and probably a lot of prayers shaped the man who is my husband. Thank you. Don't worry, you will probably get to enjoy payback to your son in the form of grandchildren some day.

We wish we could be there to spend the day with you! We love you both!

Good signs, good times: Voth parents rock it in East Tennessee

I sat down to write this post around 11 and then remembered that *gasp* I had not filled out my NCAA tournament bracket yet AND had not had a cup of coffee. So I sipped coffee and filled out my bracket with half an hour to be spared. That was a close one. Then I remembered that I needed to pay some bills and make some appointments, so I went ahead and did that. As I am sitting here at 12:30 still in my pjs with dirty dishes stacked up in the kitchen and a ton of laundry to do, I'm thinking I should probably not be making a blog post right now. Too bad.

My parents came to visit over my four day weekend and it was wonderful. We ate hot dogs from the hot dog place, ate cupcakes from the cupcake place, went shopping, watched basketball, went to Asheville, and just hung out and got caught up on things. I had fun and hope they did too! I didn't do a great job with the photo documentation. My camera skills and been sub par recently and mostly I am excited for spring so that my pictures aren't all brown. I did get a couple good ones though.

This is my favorite.

A few from our little trip to Asheville:

Drinking sodas from glass bottles. And holding hands.

Root beer float.

Hilarious sign. Who needs a mustache? For 10% off?

I agree with this. 100%.

Asheville is awesome. We love it. And we saw this awesome bumper sticker there.

10 points if you know what this is from.

I think we ate cupcakes every single day they were here. At least I did. A perfect excuse for cupcakes.

Mmmmm.

Anyway, I love when my parents come to visit! I actually had time to cook when they were here, which I love to do. And I have some great stuff to share. Which I will do tomorrow when I get off work. Because I hear the laundry calling my name!

Have a great Thursday and enjoy the start of March Madness! Rock Chalk Jayhawk! I'm taking my boys to the championship!

Happy Birthday Mom and Dad!

I know, I said I was going to post about my closet cleaning that was supposed to happen yesterday. But then I worked yesterday. Because I am nice and traded someone who was sicko. (You owe me!) I however DID clean that closet today. Its pretty epic. And I will post about it. With before and after pictures. On Friday.

As for right now, I would like to post some pics for my parents. Because their birthdays are the same week. (January 21st and January 26th) And they are awesome. And my mom has a milestone birthday this year!!!! But don't worry, Mom, I'm not telling which one...(40???)

I think this pretty much sums up my dad...

And I love the pics of my mom and I at one of my wedding showers...

They helped make my beautiful and perfect wedding possible...

And they are Wii Fit pros...

I love how as I am getting older, they become more of my friends as well as my parents. And the older they get, the more fun they have! Happy Birthday Mom and Dad! I love you both!

There's no place like home...

So we went home for ten days...and it was wonderful. We were pretty disappointed that we had to miss Christmas with our families but this was a great time! I kind of took a massive amount of pictures...and even missed some stuff I should have taken photos of. Oh well. But this post will come in two parts because there is just too much stuff!

Family Christmas dinner with the Bakers...we finally got to meet Tessa, Jordan's super cute girlfriend! It was her 19th birthday so we had to celebrate. And I'm pretty sure Joe hates taking pictures as much as Caleb does.

Obviously we are in love with baby George. He wants to crawl so bad!

So freaking cute. Don't you just want to kiss those cheeks??

More of us and George. Obsessed.

He loves hanging out with Grandma!

I got to see my bffs, Kerry and Cara. Kerry made a yummy dinner and we sat around and drank some wine and had some girl talk. I miss that a lot here! And I took no pictures of it...sad. But I love those girls! We didn't go ice skating like I promised Cara. It was just too dang cold! Next year, Cara, next year.

My beautiful Grandma Frank was in town too! She taught me how to make a blueberry pie for the Voth Christmas dinner. We had a blast.

Grandma is a pie making pro.

After Voth Christmas dinner, the boys all disappeared and my mom did facials for the girls. She will give you a FREE Mary Kay facial if you want one!

So fun!

Part two will be posted tomorrow night...don't fret. 

I went to the gym this morning (only because I had to go downstairs to move my car...and figured I should make the trip worthwhile). The guy that works there said "Oh hey, I haven't seen you in awhile!" Thanks gym guy. Maybe that's why I huffed and puffed my way through the tredmill and eliptical. I think I can, I think I can...

I also started the state of the house project today. (I've been working the last couple days, give me a break.) I cleaned and organized the bedroom. It took like...an hour. I even cleaned under the bed and put up pictures. So I was pretty happy with myself to get it done in such a short amount of time. Even though this is the least cluttered room of the house. It was a good way to start out the project! I also remembered why my house is cluttered and a mess. Because I work all the time. And on my days off here are the things I want to do: 1. lay in bed and watch the Today Show and drink coffee, 2. go to the gym, 3. bake things, 4. catch up on all my dvr'd shows. *Sigh* I will not give up. 

I'm working all weekend and so my sweet hubby who has been working his butt off all week can play xbox in peace. Closet cleaning time on Monday. Watch out closet!

The hub is going to a concert tomorrow night so when I get home from work I will post the rest of our fun trip! Have a beautiful weekend! And enjoy your snow days all you lucky KC people!

Party with the Voths

Three 12 hour shifts: check

All patients still alive as of 7:00pm on October 13th: check

Sleeping in: check

Coffee: check

Discussion with Expedia.com customer service rep: check

Ahh. I had a delightful week of work. But a much better four day weekend with my wonderful parents in town. Yes, they decided to venture into the great land of East Tennessee. We really had a good time. Mostly it was me dragging them and Caleb around to all the things I wanted to do. But they were game. And the hubs pretended to be oh-so-excited to spend the weekend doing lots of fall themed activities. 

Day 1 (Thursday)

I have like 20 antique stores just on my street. We started at the top of the street and worked out way down. We probably shopped for like 3 hours and we didn't even make it into all the stores. Thats how many antique stores there are. Unfortunately, I have no photo evidence of the antique store adventure because Caleb had the camera at work. Don't worry, you are just missing looking at lots of really old junk.

Day 2 (Friday)

My parents and I love a good outlet mall. We have a huge one about a hour away. I thought it would be a good idea to drive down there, mostly because there is a Coach outlet. And I love Coach. (My husband can thank himself for starting this minor obsession.)

The Coach store was insanely busy with crazy women holding like 10 purses.

I didn't buy anything. Sad. Then we went to Johnson City to look at the hospital I work at. So exciting. But we did eat some bbq at this super cute bbq place called The Firehouse. It was delish and adorable and cheap. So many of my favorite things combined! It also provided a great photo op.

My parents. Don't they look great with the fire truck? Also, I used the "antique" effect in editing this pic and I think it looks way better than the original.

Day 3 (Saturday)

The most classic fall day I can think of. This was a great day.

We started with the farmer's market. Because I LOVE the farmer's market.

Delightful.

I love early morning light. Especially the way it shines through those pickled eggs. Mmmmm.

I love pumpkins. Which you would know if you were at my wedding a year ago. I got this little beauty for a whole dollar.

*Side note: See that little circle of weird light in the middle of this pic? I have a really nice camera with two great lenses and I get these sometimes. Can someone please tell me how to NOT get these little reflective light things on my pretty photos?*

Lots and lots of apples. My favorite.

Delicious.

I also purchased a cookbook at the FM. It is called the 2010 Kingsport Farmer's Market Cookbook. I wanted it as a souvenir of Kingsport. It has some great recipes such as "How to cook a possum." Perfect. I was just wondering how I would go about doing that.

Up next: Chick-fil-a breakfast. A Baker Saturday morning tradition. C and I always eat Chick-fil-a breakfast on my Saturdays off. My parents had never experienced the greatness that is the chicken, egg, and cheese bagel.

That is perfection right there.

We had to document such a positive experience.

Next: driving to Rogersville to check out the Kiewit project and to attend "Heritage Days." Thats right, readers. Another festival. SO many things I love in just one day...

The road that takes Caleb to work. I think its super cool.

Peeking through the fence at the tower cranes.

On to Heritage Days...

These mini pumpkins bring back memories of wedding pumpkins...

There were tons and tons of great booths...this was my dad's favorite.
                                                                 

This lady made yarn from Alpacka wool

Mom models a hat made from the yarn.

The alpacka and her dog.

Caleb and the Kiewit booth.

Caleb and one of the Kiewit guy's kid. I just think this is cute.

There was also tons of live music on a stage in the middle of all the booths. This kid was our favorite...by far. 

Amazing tiny child playing the fiddle. He was awesome. And hilarious.

What festival is complete without some festival food? Deep fried oreos=yummmm.

All four of us at Heritage Days.

There are so many great pics, I will probably make a facebook album. But this post is getting pretty long. And we still have one day left to go.

End of Day 3: introducing my parents to sushi. No pics of this, but it was great seeing them fumble with chopsticks and getting their first bite of raw fish. They liked it! Success.

Day 4 (Sunday)

We went to Bays Mountain Park, which is a really cool place very close to where we live. It has a planetarium and lots of animal habitats and fun stuff to see.

After getting in trouble for driving on the bike paths, we finally found a place to park and hiked for a bit. Mostly, it was just beautiful with all the changing leaves and the lake.

Love that.

All in all, it was a great weekend. We loved having my parents here!

Up next: a fabulous weekend with my husband to celebrate one year of marriage...can you believe its been a year? Me either.