Weekly recap + the new kitten.

On the blog:

Sunday: 5 things for a successful weekend.

Monday: The 3 reasons blogging is hard.

Tuesday: Boston, you're my home.

Wednesday: Tonight's National Anthem.

Saturday: I'm ready for a new week.

Last week's blogging recap is a day late.

I'd like to formally introduce you to Artemis.

She's been home with us since last Tuesday night.

We call her Artie.

My iPhone memory is packed with videos of my cat.

It's been one of those days.

Wednesdays seem to do that to me.

Since I have nothing witty for you today,

not that I do on the regular,

I bring to you, a video, of my favorite four-legged friend.

We're thinking of getting her a baby sister. 

Of the feline kind. 

Don't think this is some weird announcement.

She just seems like she may need someone else to play with.

Happy Easter!

We celebrated Easter by making the rounds.
I feel like that's always the way on holidays.
But I don't mind it at all.

At my parent's house, we not only celebrated Easter but we also celebrated my grandmother's birthday.
I won't mention her age (I hear that's rude to do), although the candles on the cake give it away.
It was a beautiful day -- warm weather, great company and yummy food.
Here are some photos.

Happy Easter. :)

Brown paper packages.

Tomorrow is Sean's birthday.

A few weeks ago, I came across this and I thought it was adorable.

It's a way to spread gifts throughout the entire day to make it fun, exciting, and last.

You get the recipient a bunch of gifts (they can be as small as candy or as big and extravagant as you'd like),

you wrap them individually,

and designate a time to open each of them.

I chose down to the minute 27 since he's turning 27.

In the original post, one gift is given each hour between 8AM - 8PM.

But I know that Sean will want to go do things on the day of his birthday.

So I decided to do a morning (8:27), around noon (11:27) and a night (9:27) thing.

I'm really excited for his birthday to come and for him to open his presents.
Isn't gift-giving the best? :)

Weekend recap.

I feel as though this collage sums up our weekend.

I wanted the husband to take me to Target at midnight on Friday night to purchase Breaking Dawn, part II.

He fell asleep, and I woke him up just to make sure that when I asked... 

he told me he would actually take me.

Then I said... no, no, it's okay as long as you were willing to do it.

:)

In the morning I got my DVD, walked through Target and saw the Easter decorations.

I thought about buying some.

I really like the thought of decorating for holidays.

But when it comes down to it, I feel like it's a waste.

[I know...]

All that work, buying, decorating, admiring...

Only to clean it up, organize it, and find a place to store it all, in just a couple of weeks.

No, thanks.

I've already missed opportunities to decorate for winter, Valentine's day... 

St. Patrick's day is right around the corner, and now apparently Easter.

Oh, well.

I got my DVD home, without any Easter decorations 

and made sure to take a picture of my complete set of Twilight Saga movies.

Apollo wanted in on it... but is clearly confused.

She was supposed to smile... but she looks like she's disgusted and yelling at them.

[She's really yelling at the birds outside that were taunting her.]

One more reason for Sean to make fun.

Sunday morning we were up super early so I could drag Sean to another one of those

"you won the largest prize at the show" presentations.

It was horrendous.

Remind me never to fall into that trap again, k?

It was a "90-minute talk" that turned into an ALL-DAY event.

And not a fun and exciting one.

It lacked food, drinks and comfort.

I prefer to spend my Sundays on the couch watching DVR,

opposed to in a "resort" being hassled.

Never again. Never again.

The best part was stopping at McDonalds on the way home 

(after not eating anything all day), 

ordering a happy meal and receiving a barbie tiara as my toy.

Oh, the joys in life.

It's Monday, this post lacked any real insight, but I think that's okay.

We're just getting back into the week.

And for me, it's my last week before a two week vacation.

Yay!

I'm off to watch The Following (I'm so frustrated with it! Does anyone watch??),

and to cut Sean's hair.

Apollo is hunting a bug that is flying around.

We're so busy...

Rompers from my husband's perspective.

I'm browsing clothing sites like Simply Audrey, Bloom, and -- of course, Anthropologie.

I'm not purchasing, just imagining.

This is a conversation that just happened:

Me: "do you know what a romper is?"

Sean: "no."

Me: "well, if I show you something will you tell me if it's ugly but could possibly be cute on me?"

Sean: "is it something Kim Kardashian would wear?"

Me: "yes."

Sean: "then, nope."

When I showed him, his face looked like the photo above.

Which was taken 4 weeks ago when I was waving my scarf in his face,

while doing an interpretive dance.

Apparently, my dancing skills and the idea of Kim Kardashian cause the same facial expression.

Maybe, it just means I force him to watch E! too often when her shows are on.

Speaking of... I have 2 episodes of Kourtney & Kim.

What a Friday night!

How well does your spouse know you?

I've decided to link-up with Jessica for a "how well does your spouse know you" quiz.
I made a point to ask Sean these questions days ago in anticipation for this day, Valentine's Day.
Happy Valentine's Day. :)
And after each question he said "hmm, that seems like a trap".
He's a smartie.

If you've been reading along you know I've been talking a lot about our love story the past few days.
You can catch up here: part I, part II, and part III.
I'm interrupting the story because I ran out of time and my valentine wants to take me to dinner.
:)

So, enjoy.

Here are the instructions:

1. Fill out the Valentines Day Questions. You can find them here.
2. Hand over the same set of questions to your spouse. Find out his answers to the questions about you.
3. Write a post comparing both of your answers
4. Link up your blog post below!

How long have you been married? 

His: Like exact? I’m not good at math, a year and 8 months

Hers: A year and almost 7 months

Where was your first date?  

His: Official? Olive Garden

Hers: Olive Garden

Where was your first kiss? 

His: In a friend’s kitchen

Hers: At a friend's house

Who first said, "I love you"? 

His: me?

Hers: He did... while watching an episode of MTV's Room Raiders.

What were your wedding colors? 

His: Pink, and black? White?

Hers: Black and pink

What is her most commonly used phrase? 

His: That’s a tough one, "nerbit"? (that's my nickname for him)

Hers: I don't think I have a catchphrase. 

Who is her celebrity crush? 

His: Robert Pattinson

Hers: Robert Pattinson

If she was ordering drinks for both of you what would you each get? 

His: A mountain dew for me and a coke for her

Hers: A mountain dew and a coke

What is the best meal she has ever cooked you? 

His: I don’t know, fake chicken dinner (One time I bought a rotisserie chicken from the market with all the sides, changed the containers when I got home and told him I made the whole meal from scratch)

Hers: I don't generally cook

What is the worst meal she has ever cooked you? 

His: You never really cook dinner that bad. There’s something, but I can’t remember what it was
Hers: Maybe something that didn't cook all the way through, that happens often

What is the most-played song on her iPod? 

His: Anything by t. swift

Hers: Taylor Swift

What would she say is your most annoying habit? 

His: My OCD

Hers: Nothing :)

What is the last thing she does before she goes to bed? 

His: Wash your face

Hers: Wash my face and brush my teeth

If you could throw out one item of her clothing what would it be? 

His: I feel like that’s a trap. But, Uggs

Hers: Probably a "grandma sweater". (he tends to NOT like sweaters?)

What would you say is your favorite thing about her? 

His: Too many things to choose from. You’re my wife.

Hers: I'm hysterical. Obviously.

What's her go-to drink at Starbucks? 

HIs: A water?

Hers: I don't like Starbucks

What's her blog's name?

His: Jasmine and Sean

Hers: Jasmine and Sean

:) happy valentine's day.

Weekly Recap & hello February.

On the blog:

Monday: Happy Birthday to the first man I ever knew.

Tuesday: Enjoying the present.

Thursday: It's all about the money, honey.

I got a few questions on the blog and facebook regarding Thursday's post about money. 

I find that ironic since I don't necessarily consider myself good with money as much as I am cheap.

But I'm thinking about doing a post in the up-coming week answering said questions.

Should be interesting!

Also this week we said goodbye to January and welcomed February.

It's always exciting to welcome a new year but once January is over it's amazing to notice how quickly and easily we fell into that new year. It happens every time!

So in the first month of 2013 we got a facebook page and made a blogger button.

Revealed my success at last year's resolutions.

Went to dinner with family, celebrated Three Kings Day and my dad's birthday.  

Showed our home on the blog here, here, here, and here. 

Had date nights with Sean and received flowers at work.

Got really sick, almost died, and fell hard. 

I revealed facts about me and Sean launched his new band.

We also booked our first summer vacation (details to come), 

spent every Sunday night with family,

celebrated Sean's brother's birthday,

hung out with friends,

saw many, many movies,

and spent all our spare time with our favorite feline.

Happy February!

I'd make goals, but it's too cold to do anything extra.

Maybe once spring comes, I'll be more up for accomplishing things. 

:)

Facts about me.

I thought I'd share some tidbits today.

Everyone's doing it, so why not?

First things first: you could obviously read my about me.

Don't want to click anything?

Totally understandable.

If you're new in these parts of blogland,

here's what you should know.

1. One time I met Oprah... at the wax museum. 

But we shared a moment. I swear.

2. I make this face when I'm confused.

Or when I'm angry that the Dublin zoo took my admission ticket...

which means I can't keep it to scrapbook.

3. My worst fear is drowning. 

I can't be in the water without some type of flotation device. 

Even though I look calm in this picture... there were probably tears at some point.

4. I don't drink alcohol. 

I make this face when I do. 

5. I force animals to be close to me. 

I can't help it. 

I just love them.

6. I love spending time with my husband. He's the best and we have so much fun together.

That's all for today.

I guess I'm just an Oprah loving, slightly confused, aqua-phobic, non-alcohol drinking, animal obsessed... 

wife, in love with her husband.

A sweet gesture.

When Sean and I started dating, he bought me flowers. They were beautiful. I had been in Mexico and he bought them for me to welcome me home. It was sweet.

When I was bringing them home to my house, I placed the vase on the floor in front of the passenger's seat. Naturally when I was backing up the car, the vase tipped, I leaned down to catch it, hit the gas instead of the brake and hit his brother's car. In the driveway. Yup. I was that girl.

It wasn't a light tap, either. It was a huge ordeal. An honest mistake but clearly an embarrassing moment that is still referred to... "hey, remember that time you hit my car and practically totaled your car?"... "hey, remember when you crashed the car in the driveway?"

Yes, I remember.

Needless to say, Sean's rarely given me flowers since. And when he has, he's had them delivered to the house to avoid any necessary travels.

Well, this week he surprised me and sent flowers to my work.

The best part? He sent them just because.

Not for a holiday, or birthday, or anniversary. Nope.

Just because he felt like it. :)

Of course, inside the box was a note that said "please don't crash your car". I didn't.

And I love them.

...Apollo is learning to cohabitate with them.

Home Tour: bathroom.

Since we've been here for a year and plan to stay for at least a bit longer I thought throughout the week I could show how we live. Or what we're working with.

Monday: our kitchen.

Tuesday: our dining & living room.

Wednesday: our bedroom.

Today: our bathroom.

Keep in mind, interior decorating and photography... not my expertise. It's also rarely this clean, we love bright colors, and Apollo may or may not make an appearance in some of these photos.

It's pretty plain.
But plain in a bathroom is a good thing.
The shower curtain is all pulled because Apollo climbs up it like it's a jungle gym.
It's also really hard to take pictures of a bathroom and not see your reflection in the mirror.
We have two doors in the bathroom, one leads to our bedroom and one leads to the main part of the apartment.
So I guess it's kind of like a master suite.
But not really.

Tomorrow, I will try to post about our second bedroom/office/craft space/music room (we're multi-functional). But it really depends on when the sun sets and whether I'm able to take pictures or not. :)

Home Tour: Kitchen.

We've been in our place a year this week. We can't believe it. Sean's very excited that even though the one year anniversary of living someplace is upon us... we aren't currently living among boxes and packing for a new place. He's pumped to be staying here for longer and that our lease extends through May.

I can just tell.

I'm, also, very excited that we're not moving. I mean, renting a truck and maneuvering it around snow banks and trying to carry heavy boxes is not fun. Oh wait, I don't actually participate in that aspect of moving. I'm more the "oh, that box goes in here" or "uhh, I think a little to the left would look better" type of girl.

Since we've been here for a year and plan to stay for at least a bit longer I thought throughout the week I could show how we live. Or what we're working with.

Keep in mind, interior design and photography... not my expertise. It's also rarely this clean, we love bright colors, and Apollo had a really hard time keeping away from me while I was taking pictures. So if you see something strange... it's most likely her tail.

Today: our kitchen. 

I know our Christmas wreath is still up. That was one decoration I missed on Friday.

Oh, and I didn't take a picture of our sink, but rest assured... we have one.

Tomorrow: the dining & living room.