What I'm Loving Wednesday

I'm linking up with Jamie for What I'm Loving Wednesday!

1. Carmex

Regardless of the season, temperature, weather - my lips are almost always chapped.  It's kind of ridiculous.  So throughout the years I've become an expert on good chapsticks.  Carmex is by far the best chapstick out there!  So next time you're standing in line at the grocery store and you're in the mood to try something new, grab one of these suckers off the shelf!

2. EverSleek Shampoo

I really try to be as healthy as I can, but when I think of being "healthy," food and exercise usually come to mind.  But we have to remember that our skin is the largest organ of our body.  So anything we slather onto our skin/head will immediately be absorbed into our bodies.  I recently purchased Loreal's Eversleek shampoo because it's sulfate free.  I was kind of nervous at first because I know they put sulfates into shampoo to make lathering easy.  But I was pleasantly surprised!  It lathered quite well and made my hair feel extra soft.  Good purchase.

3. Strawberry-Pretzel Salad

O-M-G.  I'm sure many of you are quite familiar with this dessert...but I made it over the weekend to take to a party and it was probably the best dessert I've ever made.  You can find the recipe here.  It was a pretty simple recipe...just a few separate steps.  It's always a crowd favorite...  YUM!!

4. Josh is HOME! 

I'm LOVING that Josh is HOME and it's Wednesday!!!!  As soon as I'm finished typing this post, we're going to make dinner and then spend the evening together...I feel like a real married couple, haha.  I'm really not sure why he's home (some random thing with this week's schedule), but he'll leave again tomorrow morning for just a few flights that day and then return home tomorrow night.  All in all, this week won't be too bad.  And then at the end of next week... SAN FRANCISCO!!!  Woo hoo!!

Have a lovely evening everyone!

XOXO,

Looking for Guest Bloggers!

As some of you know, I will be in San Francisco visiting my brother October 7th-10th.  Soooo, I was hoping a few of you might be interested in guest blogging!

I'm open to all topics...but my favorites are beauty, fashion, money-savings, pilot lifestyles, healthy living, etc.  

If you're interested, please comment below or send me an e-mail at mrspilotwife@gmail.com and we can work out the details!

Thanks so much!  I've never done this, so I'm kind of excited ;-)

A Wicked Weekend

Many months ago, my awesome mother surprised us all (me, Josh, my mom, & step-dad) with Wicked tickets.  I'm sure many of you are familiar with it already...but in case you don't know, it's a Broadway show and it's fabulous.  We didn't travel to NYC...the touring company just came to Pittsburgh.

Our Friday night:

Wicked is based around what happened prior to "The Wizard of Oz."  Therefore, to fully understand the story line, you need to be pretty familiar with Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Wicked Witch of the West, etc.  Needless to say, (for Josh's sake) we watched the The Wizard of Oz on Friday night in preparation for the show on Saturday....haha.  But wow...I am REALLY glad we did.  I forgot how many references there were and he probably would have been pretty confused.    

Our Saturday:

We woke up early Saturday morning and met Josh's parents at our favorite (breakfast) restaurant, Perkin's.  That was nice since his Gram was in town visiting and we don't get to see her as often as we'd like.

After that, we pretty much rushed home and got ready since we had tickets for the Matinee show.  Usually I prefer going at night, but my mom was able to get much better tickets if she chose the earlier show.  Good decision on her part because we had wonderful seats...about 10 rows from the stage.  Just far enough back that we could see the entire stage perfectly. 

As I mentioned above, Wicked was fabulous.  Like, so freaking good.  However, it was my second time seeing it and it will never compare to my first time.  I was fortunate enough to have seen the original broadway cast in NYC with Kristin Chenowith and Idina Menzel.  That night was magical.  I was pretty worried I was going to be disappointed with the traveling company, but I wasn't.  Their voices were SUBERB and they completely lived up to my expectations. 

Josh also loved it.  Let me just say, I am very thankful to have a husband that actually enjoys these kinds of things.  There are so many guys out there that would just refuse to see a musical with their girlfriend/wife because it's too "gay" or boring.  So thank you hubby - you are awesome.  

After the show, we all went out for dinner at Max & Erma's which is a fun restaurant that's right across the street from the theater.  It was nice to be on a "double date" with my parents...albeit different, but nice.

Our Sunday (today):

My former boss had a party at his cabin.  We got there at about noon and stayed until mid-afternoon.  No joke...it was by far, the nicest cabin I've ever seen in my entire life.  It was something you'd see on HGTV or something.  I really wish I would have taken pictures...but then again, it may have been weird if they caught me taking pictures of their bathroom.  It was right along the river too, so the view was just breathtaking.  

After we got home, we did our usual get-josh-ready-for-his-trip routine and now we're both curled up on the couch watching the Steeler game.  Ahem...Go Steelers!

So overall, this past weekend was wicked fun ;-)

My First Blog Award!

Yay!!!  I received my very first blog award!

Thank you Miranda from Aimless Translation!!  You definitely made my day.  

The rules of this award are to say 3 random facts about yourself and then pass the award along to 5 other bloggers.

My 3 random facts:

1.  I have a step-brother who currently lives in San Francisco and we're going to visit him in October!  I am so excited AND I can fly for free. Seeeee...there are definitely perks to being a pilot wife ;-)

2.  I am obsessed with the TV show Full House.  I have every. single. episode memorized.  This ties back into my random fact #1.  If you don't already know, that show was set in San Francisco.  In other words, I will actually get to see/take a picture/hyperventilate/whatever else IN FRONT of the ACTUAL FULL HOUSE - HOUSE.  Shea=Pumped.

3.  I played piano when I was younger for 7 years.  Yep...7 freaking years.  And do I have anything to show for it?  Nope.  Playing piano was one of those things my mother made me do because she insisted that I would appreciate it later in life.  But my heart just wasn't into it.  I had no desire to play and therefore, no motivation to ever practice.  I'll be turning 25 in a few months and I still don't care if I can play or not.  It just shows that if you don't have a true determination to do something from within yourself, you're probably not going to accomplish very much.  

Here are the 5 fabulous bloggers that I pass this award along to:

Momma St.J Says...

Hey, Belly!

The Smelly Life
Daddy...Daddy, Come Back!
Blue-Eyed Blog

I absolutely LOVE these blogs. I can't say enough nice things about them...so you should definitely check them out.  I get beyond excited when I see they've written a post.   Thank you all for keeping me entertained!

XOXO,

Fall Bucket List

I saw this great Fall Bucket List floating around the blogger world and I just had to snatch it up!

I seriously love every single activity on this list.  I want to do everything!!

Especially the corn maze!  I've always wanted to do one and every single year it somehow slips by unaccomplished.  This year will be different.

If you can think of another fall activity that this bucket-list is missing...leave it in the comments section!  (Except Haunted Houses...I'm a chicken and refuse to subject myself to that kind of terror.)

Finding the Joy

Hi Ladies!

I am thrilled to be linking-up with my dear friend over at Momma St. J Says... for Finding the Joy Friday.

Today I'm finding the joy in:   

Fall, Fireplaces, & Pumpkin Pie

As I type this, I am curled up on my couch in front of my fireplace.  I'm so cozy!  There's a chill in the air and I love it.  We bought our first pumpkin pie of the season and I fully intend on enjoying it as soon as I'm done typing this post.  YUM :-)

My Hubby's Hard Work

Today was Josh's first day off from his trip, but instead of relaxing, he worked all day on our house project.  When we first bought our house, every room was covered in medium brown/oak trim.  It did look nice - but we both really love white trim/doors.  So, we reluctantly took on the project of repainting everything.  Oh. My. Gosh.  This project sucks.  We finished with the first floor, took a few months off, and now we're back to it again.  I came home from work today and was pleasantly surprised by how much he'd done.  Thank you again sweets!  I really appreciate it.

One of these days I'll do a house tour post!

Monkey Balls

Do any of you know what these amazing things are?!?!  Ok, so their real name is "Osage Oranges," but for some reason everyone refers to them as Monkey Balls.  I'm not sure I want to know why...

Anyways, they keep spiders out of the house!  They're pretty hard to find each year because it frosts too early/too late (can't remember which one, but the timing as to be just right).  But I was driving home tonight and I saw a woman selling them along side of the road!!!  I immediately stopped the car, turned around, and filled a plastic bag up with monkey balls.  Good times.

Now I'll just hide them around my house & be free of spiders this fall/winter.  Yessssssss :-) 

I'm grateful for so much more, but I really just want my pie...so I think I'll stop here.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

XOXO,

Miscellany Monday!

Here are my randoms for this rainy Monday...

one.

We attended a wedding over the weekend and it was *beautiful!*  My co-worker had been planning that day for over 2 years and I was there for her the whole time.  I wasn't a bridesmaid, but I sure felt like one!  The decorations/details were perfect, the DJ was amazing, and we had a fabulous time!  Congrats to the newlyweds!  Here are a few pictures of our night :-)

two.

Sunday was the start of Pittsburgh Steeler football!  Although the game turned out pretty badly, it's only week 1 and I still think we're a pretty good team this year.  I have faith!  We actually watched the game at a friends house which was really fun!  We recently started hanging out with this couple and it's been great having double dates.  All of our friends live soooo far away, so we're really excited that we now have some friends that live close (literally 3 minutes away) and we both get along with them really well.  

three.

I finally got a new lap-top! Yayyyyy!  No more broken letter "D!"  It's an HP ProBook with some really cool features.  I'm still getting used to it...but so far, it's been great.

four.

Yesterday we watched a lot of the 9/11 specials and it was so surreal and incredibly sad.  I just can't even imagine what those people had to go through on that horrific day.  Being married to a pilot makes it even more strange.  As a pilot's wife, I actually don't worry about Josh having to deal with terrorist attacks...but maybe I should?!  Ugh...I don't know.  I just pray that God will continue to protect him.

five.

This week should be easy-peasy.  Josh leaves tomorrow (Tuesday) morning and comes back Thursday afternoon.  So he's only gone 2 days!  I'm excited :-)

That's all for now!  Hope you're all having a great start to your week!

XOXO,

Tooth Update

So here is my lovely tooth update...wait until you hear this story!

And yes, this would only happen to me.  Anything that could possibly go wrong with someones teeth, will most likely happen to me.  

My appointment was scheduled for yesterday at 2:40pm, so I had to leave early from work to make it on time.  However, when I first woke up that morning, the pain was just gone.  I was pretty surprised - wasn't complaining of course - but after 3 straight days of pain, I was slightly confused.

And just a side note...since I have so many issues with my teeth, I'm constantly researching dental problems, scenarios, procedures, etc...I'm basically a wannabe dentist.  I even give advice at work. Ha...

For those of you who don't know, once a tooth starts really hurting, you're probably doomed for a root canal.  Contrary to popular belief, regular sized cavities don't hurt.  But once they get deep enough, move beyond your enamel & dentin and reach the "pulp" (AKA: nerve), that's when you feel the pain.  Once you feel the pain, the nerve is already infected and you need a root canal.

Back to my story:  So when I woke up yesterday morning, I was pleasantly shocked!  Teeth don't just stop hurting?!  So I went off to work pretty much expecting the pain to return sometime before for my appointment.  Well, I got to my appointment and there was still no pain.  My mouth felt completely normal.

My dentist searched all around my tooth, gums, and nearby teeth and couldn't visibly see anything wrong.  He then decided an X-ray would be best since there might have been an infection or something going on inside the tooth.  

So after the X-ray I wait...and wait....................and wait. 

Finally he comes back, holds the picture up to the light, and says, "Welp, I've been staring at this this for awhile now and I can't find anything wrong at all.  But I do see a little inflammation along the side of the tooth...so I think you pulled a ligament. It's pretty rare...but it does happen. Typically the pain only lasts 2-3 days, so that's probably why it's feeling better."

I PULLED A LIGAMENT IN MY TOOTH?!?  WHO DOES THAT????

Shea.

Shea does that.

And NO - I had NOT been pulling ligaments by using my mouth for "inappropriate" acts.  Come on people, let's keep this PG!

So overall, my appointment went much better than I expected and for once, there really wasn't anything wrong.  Yay!  ...no $1,000+ root canal!  Who knew I would be able to add "pulled ligament" to my list of mouth problems.  At least it's a good story :-)

Tomorrow is Friday and I am pumped!  Josh and I have 3 full days off together.  We're pretty busy each day, but it should still be fun!

XOXO,   

Toothache...ugh!

I have another toothache.  Let me just stress how incredibly MAD, upset, and frustrated I am with this.  No matter what I do, I always have teeth problems.  If I go to the dentist and I don't have any cavities, I'm actually surprised.  I brush my teeth twice a day, floss every single day, use mouthwash, and chew gum that's supposed to be good for your teeth.  I also had a root canal last year which was really upsetting to me because 1.) it's so unhealthy for you and 2.) and its SO FREAKING EXPENSIVE. 

I was just at the dentist 2 months ago and he actually said everything looked good.  I was shocked!  But now, my bottom front tooth is hurting and when I look in the mirror, I can see a dark spot.  If I end up needing a root canal (which really wouldn't surprise me), I'm going to be so bummed.  I don't know what else I can do to stop this from happening?!?

So I called the dentist this morning and it figures, today is a holiday and they're not there.  Now I have to worry about how quickly I'll be able to get in there and what they'll tell me.  When things like this happen, I just obsess over them until I find out what's wrong.  I really wish I could just let it go and not care.  I know I'm not dying from a toothache, but I can't help but worry what the outcome will be.  I just don't want another root canal!

Sorry I'm rambling and complaining so much.  I'll probably get an appointment for sometime this week, so I'll be sure to keep you all posted.  

Hope you all are having a better Labor Day than me! :-(

Hair Before & After!

Just got home from getting my hair highlighted and thought you guys might want to see the finished product!

Just a little history first:

Back in high school I was quite blonde.  I would get highlights regularly every 6 weeks and as a result, I became more and more blonde.  At the time, I really liked it - but looking back, it was probably a little too much...see below.  Eeek.

When I went off to college, I started fresh by dying my hair back to dark brown.  This may or may not have been to save a little extra cash :-)  Fixing those roots was quite expensive!!  Anyways, my hair has been dark brown ever since and although I think I look good as a brunette, I've just been longing for some dimension/contrast to my hair.  I'm tired of just one color.  

So after months and months of deciding whether I really wanted to take the plunge back towards blonde, I finally made the appointment for this morning.  

I think it turned out really well.  I emphasized that I didn't want it to be too blonde and no crazy platinum streaks.  I think she pulled it off!  So here are the before & after pics.  (They're really not the greatest pictures...but I couldn't get the lighting right.)

Before:  

After:

So there you have it.  I think I like it! :-)

Hope you're having a great Saturday!

Love,

Seriously?! Thursday

Things that make me go, Seriously?!

• My DVR decided to just turn off Monday night around 9:45pm.  Yea...I love not seeing the endings to my favorite tv shows.

• My cat just puked all over my beautiful suede living room ottoman.  I thought I'd insert a lovely picture for you all to enjoy!  You're welcome.  

• The letter "D" on my laptop barely works.  In fact, the entire key has been removed and I'm now only pushing on the rubber nub that's sticking out.  It seriously takes me about 5 seconds to get the letter to appear on the screen.  So in other words, I've been typing this post for awhile now...

• I need a new lap-top.

• I took extra time to curl my hair this morning for work and what happens the second I pull into the parking lot?  Torrential downpour and no umbrella.  Seriously?!?

• And finally, I'm seriously going to my miss my boss that's retiring tomorrow.  I'm so thankful that he took a chance on me when I was first hired as an intern/student.  I appreciate the opportunities he gave me and the faith he had in my abilities. It changed my life and I will always be grateful.  Tomorrow will be a sad day :-(

Hope you're all having a great week!