I’ve always had a thing for lemons. Dave sent me to Home Depot one time for potting soil, and I came home with a lemon tree. My thumbs are not green at all, so the poor thing didn’t make it. I can keep tiny humans fed and healthy,  plants and trees not so much.  Anyway, thought I’d share some of my favorite lemon items.

Lemon Dress From Amazon – true to size and so cute. Dress it up with black wedge sandals & a pretty necklace or dress down with sandals and a denim jacket. Amazing find for under $20

Sparkling Limoncello lotion – The perfect summer lotion for sun kissed skin

Lemon Spoon Rest from Charming Charlie – When life gives you lemons grab the vodka is a motto in our household, this $10 find is the perfect addition to my kitchen. 

Get your lemon on peeps!

B~

Sweet Lifers, it’s my favorite time of  year…Nordstrom’s Anniversary Sale.

This sale is a shopaholics dream come true, sorry boyfriend…I will probably not pay any attention to you for the next 3 weeks!

Check out what I’ve already purchased…so far…

I love anything cold shoulder, this Socialite sweatshirt was a no brainer.  You had me at ruffled Gibson & Chelsea28. I missed out on these cute Halogen Flats last year, couldn’t let that happen again. How cute are these Lazy Sunday Jammies? I’ve been on the hunt for a pink cardi all year, this Bobeau High/Low Jersey cardi in pink blossom looks perfect.

Eliza J, you make some of my favorite dresses, this pink ruffle fit and flare is my new LBD…Pink is the new Black! Charles, these nude pumps will look great with my Eliza J. Cardigans are my jam for the Fall, this Leith Easy Circle Cardi looks super cozy.  Ruffles and cold shoulder all in the same shirt, I didn’t stand a chance.

I am currently peering out my window waiting for FedEx to deliver these fantastic fashion finds. When they arrive I’ll show you how I plan on wearing them!

Off to shop the sale…again, sshhh, don’t tell Dave.

B~

The Committed Relationship 15 is kind of like the “freshman 15”, except instead of being 21 and one Bikram yoga class away from losing the extra 15 lb.’s, it takes months of eating carrots and hitting the gym for your pants to even stay buttoned.

I always said if I was married or had more kids I would still workout every single day. Well ladies, I am a liar… The only place I have run to in the past year and a half or so is the kitchen…for ice cream. Props to all the moms out there that find time to work out every day or at all. I have so many questions…Where do you find the time? Where do you find the energy? Where do you find the motivation? Where does your mojo go the minute you move in with a guy? How do you get said mojo back? How do you choose the gym over snuggling in the bed with your smoking hot man eating Chinese food, watching Sherlock?

I love running, used to wake up looking forward to a 3 mile run in the freezing cold New England winter or being one Globe Jump away from death, you Shaun T fans know what I am talking about.  Dave and I have been together for 2 and a half years, during this time I have joined NYSC twice, visited three times, and maybe ran one or two miles. Except that one time I ran to Dave’s Mom’s house and got lost…not joking, that actually happened.

So let’s get to my A-Ha moment….

Picture it, me complaining yet again about how I need to lose the 15 pounds I gained in the past 2 years, how I want to start running again, and get Shaun T back in my life…all while literally shoving a quart size container of Nonna’s Homemade Nutella Gelato in my face (we will get to this amazing dessert’s recipe another time).

Dave says to me “I want you to have a tight ass”.

The devil himself took over my 15 pound heavier body and my first thought went something like this “ I am about to be on Snapped, Dave is about to be my co-star, and I will probably get away with this crime of passion as soon as the jury hears what he just said to me”.

I thought for a moment before responding, which I am not very good at, just ask Dave. Instead of totally losing it, every episode of Oprah I’ve ever watched finally payed off….. I had my A-Ha moment.

I WANT A TIGHT ASS TOO! Who doesn’t? I had a tight ass once…and I want it back!

Instead of stabbing him in the eye with the spoon I was using to eat my ice cream, I agreed with him, sometimes he is right, please don’t tell him I said that.

With a two-week vacation to Italy in the works, I need a plan and I need it fast.  How can I possibly be seen on the beaches of Italy by people I don’t know and will never see again with 15 extra pounds of Nutella gelato jiggling on my body???

My plan of attack is Shame…I’ve started to shame myself into going to the gym after work… If I change before I leave the office, my co-workers see me in my gym clothes and I am too ashamed not to go! Ladies, I have no words of wisdom here…as you can see I have resorted to shaming myself into working out.

I am off to treadmill jail.

“The One”. Does this term make you cringe? Me too… until of course I actually found him!

My friends would cry laughing at my dating shenanigans…so naturally I figured the world deserved to share in my misery…I mean funny life. I’ve talked about this blog for so long that I actually found “The One” (we’ll get to that in a minute). After a marriage and then long-term relationship ended, I set out on a quest to find a good man (I can hear the single ladies laughing as I type this). I’ve dated more frogs than I care to mention….The Mammas boy, The Jesus Lovin Freak (No disrespect to Jesus, but this guy was NUTS), The Marine…ok, ok…more than one Marine (who doesn’t want to date a Marine?), The eternal bachelor (several of these)…this list could go on for a while. Each date was funnier and funnier or sadder and sadder…depending on your level of sarcasm. I even turned to online dating, quickly realizing that was a huge mistake…the “matches” felt more like I was being punked than set up. Just as I was about to give up, thinking “The One” for me was an industrial size bad of M&M’s and a Netflix marathon…an old boyfriend reappeared!

Turns out I found “The One” when I was 14. Dave and I met Freshman year in High School, we had a mutual friend in common. In the hallway of Saunders High School, an adorable boy walked up to me and said “Are you Barbara”. He stole my emotional teenage heart! We dated for 2 years and then went our separate ways. After nearly 12 years of no contact, Dave reached out via a mutual friend and wanted to get a drink. I instantly reverted to a 14-year-old girl. Instead of beeping my friends 911, hiding in the bathroom with the house phone, and impatiently waiting for them to call me, I sent hundreds of texts to my best friends trying to figure out what to say or do. Let’s be perfectly clear here… I was going to say yes… no matter what my friends said! I carried a torch for this guy for the past 20 years.  We met for a drink and it was as if 12 years hadn’t passed and we were back together. I felt like the lead character in a Nicholas Sparks movie and fully expected him to get hit by a bus, have early onset Alzheimer’s, get shot by his dad on the train tracks, or of course a combo of the three (I know, I know…too many Nicholas Sparks movies).

“My One” has two young kids, 9 & 5 and my son is 19…yes, I know what you are thinking…how could someone so young and vibrant have a 19-year-old son? Well…. I got pregnant my junior year of high school (after “My One” and I broke up). While I would not recommend getting knocked up in high school, it worked out quite well for me. I fully expect my life to be funny…I mean, I am raising two young kids with Dave, my son will be off to college soon, and I am living with my boyfriend after being single, independent, and living alone for YEARS.

You’ll want to stick around to see what kind of shenanigans I get myself into!