Top 10 Highlights & Lowlights of My Weekend

1. My husband's birthday was Friday. Wanted to buy him everything he wanted - but his wish list is a little pricey. (eastern Caribbean cruises, hot tubs, flat screen tvs - yeah, he dreams big!) Planned on getting him either an IU grill cover (sounds lame, but it was what he wanted dammit!), the overstuffed chair that goes with our living room set he has been wanting OR finally getting cable. But life had other plans apparently...though we are going to go on that cruise next year!

2. Our washing machine died. (so, yeah, my hubby got a washing machine for his bday - yay!) Stupid thing started making an awful sound....thought it was just because hubby was in the shower and was using the water supply. Upon further investigation found out that the agitator won't move....and the back of the dang machine won't come off and can't find any other way to get into the appliance to see what is wrong. But really, even if we could get inside the machine - we wouldn't have a clue what to look for or how to fix it. Had to stop the husband when I saw him go upstairs with a hammer and a crowbar - there was no way that was going to end well.

3. Husband lost his last pair of contacts. Could not get a new pair because his prescription expired. Set up eye appointments for both of us one the same day - his birthday - because we were both off from work. Same day the washer died, same day we had to go to the BMV....S.A.M.E. day. Puffs of air to the pupils don't exactly equal birthday fun.

4. Had to go the BMV to renew our plates. Yup, wanted to renew online but somehow August 15th snuck up on me and all of sudden our plates were expired. Tried to use the easy-peasy DIY kiosk. Yeah, didn't happen because of some sort of "binder" on my plate - something about our car insurance verification...so wasted all that time at the darn kiosk and ended up having to go inside anyways. Sigh.

5. Washing machines are expensive and cannot be delivered in a reasonable amount of time. Won't be here till Thursday. In the two days since it broke - one of our dogs has managed to both soil her crate which had a blanket in it AND puke on a towel - yay!!! Because, unless I make trip to the laundry mat - I gotta wait till Thursday to do a load of laundry. :( We opted for an Energy Star GE front loader model. (i.e. expensive)

6. Managed to have a great time with new friends who were kind enough to let us wash and dry the wet load of dirty clothes that were in the washing machine at the time of its demise (this was BEFORE the dog got sick). Ended up staying up till 2 in the morn (our host and hostess were whipping up some great drinks and convo) - though not good when you have an all day, two day conference to wake up for the next day. Blah! Was definitely a little blurry eyed and dehydrated the whole weekend.

7. Attended the blogIndiana Conference. Met and caught up with lots of great local Indiana bloggers including Kirsten from Middle West Meals and Casey from Moosh in Indy - among many others! Heard from great speakers including Douglas Karr, Krista Neher and Scott Abel - view the full list of all the wonderful speakers at the blogIndiana website! Now I just need a day or two process what all I learned and put it all to good use both towards my personal blogs and the blog we are building for one of our clients at work.

8. Added 3 more pairs of shoes to my collection! Sandals are on sale at Target everyone!! We are talking shoes for $7 - that is my kind of bargain! Wore all three pairs this weekend and none gave me blisters - hooray!

9. Bought yet another pineapple themed item to our home decor. Found a lovely pineapple doormat from Home Depot for $9.99! Thank goodness pineapples are a symbol of hospitality and not something weird or crazy - because we have pineapple everything (doorbell, door mat, lamps, etc). We like them because they are tropical-esqe and we are pretty much not Hoosiers at heart though we were both born and raised here in Indiana. We need sand, sun and salt water to feel at home.

10. Got to eat DQ Ice Cream Blizzard cake for breakfast all weekend! Managed to buy hubby a birthday cake BEFORE all hell broke lose this weekend. Gotta love that fudgey crunchy center!