Stuff I love . . . Day 26

Last night I spotted this beauty at the local grocery store:














I was so excited to see this "Heritage" Dr. Pepper. You might not be able to read the label, but the best part is that is says "Made with Real Sugar." That, my friends is a treat. I hope they keep this throwback going for a long time. I quickly purchased the liquid magic so that I could enjoy it with one of my favorite meals:














That's right - you are beholding the Gregwich and Real Sugar Dr. Pepper. Does it get any better? No, it does not. What is a Gregwich? you may ask. Let me drop some GJ knowledge on you. Second only to the Cuban sandwich, the Gregwich is one of my favorite meals in the sandwich genus. The best part is that they are easy to make. Just get a loaf of Garlic bread at the local grocers' and heat as per recommendation. Once it is warm and the butter/garlic is melty, cut a 4-6 inch section of the loaf. Then add ham and chedder cheese (mild is best) before placing your sandwich directly on the oven rack. When it is a little crispy and the cheese is melty - you are ready to enjoy. One cautionary note: not all garlic bread loaves are the same. Fresh Market and Smith's are good. Macey's = nasty. Just so you know.

Now you know . . . and that's half the battle.

i love . . . day 25

Here is some more bathroom/chalkboard wall scribblings. The Medusa makes me um - a little uncomfortable.

These love posts are getting old. I'm going to spice it up. Yesterday I realized that we accidentally bought two bags of red peppers from Costco. Whoops. In an effort to not let anything go to waste - I sliced up and roasted 4 red peppers. I ate 3.5 of them. How's that for spice? (They were delicious).

i love . . . day 24

Today . . . I love our pantry and coat closet (hidden by the mirror door) that we installed on Valentine's Day. Sure, it didn't make for the most romantical of days but we now have a place to hang our coats up AND hide all that cereal that we bought for one penny. So really - sacrificing Valentine's Day for the closet = totally worth it.

i love . . . day 23

Wow - with all these love posts - the shortest month of the year is starting to feel really really long. Only a few more days.


Today I love the fact that my nephew Davin is obsessed with pirates. He came to our house this weekend and well . . . there was only one thing he could draw on our chalkboard. One thing.

Yes, a whole wall in one of our bathrooms is a chalkboard. I envisioned it being graffiti-like. You know, like Gino's East's bathrooms, but in our house. Instead my nieces and nephews think it is for drawing pictures of themselves. However, Lauren did draw a picture of Medusa and put a rather cryptic/awesome message. Perhaps I'll love that tomorrow.

And although Davin's pirate/napoleon hat is hiding it - Sarah wrote, "Sarah is coolller than Drake" I'm sure this is a debate the two have all the time.

YEEEAAHHHH!! - I love # 22

I love that KT is a closet CSI:Miami junkie. Every one in a while I will find a few episodes on the DVR. In the glory days of Chicago when we had "on demand" through Comcast, I would occasionally wake up to a YEEEAAHHH! when a certain somebody couldn't sleep. In any case - this post at Fail Blog made me laugh. I think we have a new idea for a collage in the house.

i love . . . day 19

I love that on February 19th we received a letter from the IRS telling us that we owe the government $8,226,57. Apparently the IRS has determined that our "contributions" in 2008 are ridiculous and thus they don't count. Well too bad for them - we have receipts. I'm getting all tax attorney excited.

i love . . . day 18

I love the fact that we Carlklef's are working so hard to decrease our carbon footprint. Instead of using plastic bags to carry my lunch . . . I made this amazing fisherman's bag sort of thing. It is too big and I look ridiculous when I carry it but I am environmentally friendly.

Please pay no attention to the drawer at home that I have stuffed with plastic grocery bags .

i love . . . day 17

So today I was in the restroom and a lady tried to walk in on me. I didn't love that. Also today I used a smaller purse. I didn't love that either. But today I do love the fact that I got to attend an awesome training with Rosscat. It was like we were being paid to attend a marriage counseling seminar. Not really. But kind of. Today I also love the fact that because I'm staying late tonight at work - I watched some 30 rock to get me pumped up to answer emails. Poor Liz Lemon.

i love . . . day 16

I realize there is a jump from love day 10 to love day 16. Don't worry about it. I've just decided that by doing this - I'm now caught up on all my love posts. Today I love my germ infested gym. Here is why:

1) I left my ipod in the treadmill water bottle spot. Today I spoke to the lost and found and voila! Someone turned it in. Sweetness!


2) The gym (finally) received some new movies. So instead of watching "Step Up"/"Disturbia"/Pink Panther 2" (all shows that you really never need to see more than once) this morning I watched part of "Click" and then right on into "Deep Blue" or "Into the Blue" I don't remember but it has Paul Walker in it so I know that my friend Lindy probably loves it.


3) While I am glad that the gym received new movies I also love the fact that I was able to watch "Hannah Montana" (an amazing very non-predictable movie where a town keeps a secret) and "Crossroads" where Britney Spears discovers that she is not a girl and yet not yet a woman. For good measure I thought I would remind you all of the shirt that she wears in the closing scene - powerful stuff:
Unfortunately - this picture doesn't really do the butterfly shirt justice. Oh well.

i love . . . day 10

I love our family budget. I know totally weird. What's worse is that we have been married 4+ years and this is the first time we've had an actual budget . . . it was always because of me. I used to think that budgeting = poor. And that budgeting means that I can't go out and buy anything I want to when I want it. Oh I guess it does mean that. But actually . . . it's great.

Each month Greg will go and cash out the money we have set aside for groceries/entertainment/eating out/mad money. We then live off of that. Sure we look ridiculous carrying this expandable envelope around . . . but it works. However, we are always out of restaurant money by the end of the month. Always. Oh and also - we have a line item for "yarn." That's right. Ridiculous.

And because I like all my blog entries to have a picture of some sort - I'm posting a picture of Greg in my dad's Santa Clause sweater. It's just ridiculous. That's why. Besides who wants to look at a picture of a budget?

i love . . . day 9

For some reason each month we get the catalog Duluth Trading Co. This catalog is known for selling "working man" clothes. I used to think this was a ridiculous catalog . . . but I've now changed. It's hilarious. For example, Duluth sells "Longtail Ts." There is a customer quote describing these t-shirts stating, "My husband loves his Longtail Ts and so does everyone working behind him!"

This is another ad - filled with ridiculous puns:

i love . . . day 8

I have decided to profess my love for my purse. Rosscat hates my purse, however, I love it. It is an imitation Louis Vuitton that I picked up in China for a whopping $2. Sure, all of the zippers broke by the second day of using it - but it handles itself like a champ. And I can fit everything in it. For example, right now I just did a quick inventory and I have a couple of books in it, my lunch, a diet dr. pepper, my moolah, a pen/pencil holder, my camera (but no cord so I can't post a picture of the purse fabulousness), my phone, sunglasses, spectacles, and a mirror. This purse looks so good that many a time ladies have asked me if this is a new purse out by Louis Vuitton. It's not. It's a new purse out by those who believe the sincerest form of flattery is imitiation.

I was thinking of this because I just saw a picture of Louis Vuitton's latest purse:

It only costs $1,9680.00. A steal. Except I think if I got a Hefty garbage sack - I might be able to whip an imitation bag right up.

i love . . . day 7

Rosscat gave me a subscription to the New Yorker for Christmas. I love it. Even though there are times where it is really dense reading. Often Greg will go to read an article and then he looks at how long it is and instead picks up his Entertainment Weekly. I digress. With the subscription came a calendar. I love February's picture:

i love . . . day 6

I love theatre. Not necessarily community theatre and really I love musical theatre (sometimes heavy dramatic plays aren't that much fun). But on our conference/vacay we went and saw this little ditty:The only reason we went is because Ross's BF was in it. Which was totally random in and of itself. But I must say - for a community theatre play - it was actually really funny. Apparently it is also a movie . . . who knew?

i love . . . day 5

I am posting these a wee bit late - but that doesn't make the "love" any less real. I love eating outside on a patio in February without even a jacket on. What a delight. Here is a fake picture of what it was like:

i love . . . day 4

This morning I played the best joke on Greg. I couldn't help it - it was awesome. We were at the airport waiting to go to Phoenix when I tell him how fun this weekend is going to be because Toddcat has a work visit in Phoenix too. Talk about a party. I think I saw Greg's face drop to the ground. He still doesn't know that I just made it all up. Toddcat just texted Greg asking what time we are going to meet up tomorrow. I can hardly wait to see how long we can drag this out.

i love . . . day 3

Right now - I'm loving my new book, "The Help." Totally excellent. I am supposed to give a presentation on Saturday at this conference and instead of reading the books that I am supposed to present on . . . I keep reading about Aibileen and Minny and Skeeter. Totally recommended.

I love . . . day 2

I love this stuff. Love it. I attribute my youthful looking skin (I'm complimenting myself here) to the fact that I slather this stuff on my face day and night - and the fact that I am Dorian Grey. (Hopefully someone gets that reference?)

I love . . . day 1

So since it is the month of love - I thought I better start posting some things that I love. You know, similar to the gratitude posts I try and do in November where I start out strong and then start to peeter off by the end of the month. But I'm going to give this a go.

For starters - I love my family. My sweet cousins have been going through some traumatic experiences this past week and I'm so appreciative of how much they have shared with all of us and the miraculous on-the-cusp of recovery of their little boy.