by Christa on March 19, 2010
Isn’t that a SNL skit? Weekend Update? What is that called? No matter.
It’s finally Friday! And the weather is going to be gorgeous for gardening! Shane bought the seeds for our tomato and jalapeno plants yesterday, along with a “mini greenhouse,” which speeds up germination.
We’re also looking at a new kitchen table. Ours looks a bit crowded in the breakfast nook, which you can sort of see in this picture:
It’s just large enough that we can’t center it under the lights. So, I found one I really like and Shane actually likes it too! It usually takes us FOREVER to agree on furniture. Our current table wasn’t an issue because I bought it when I lived alone in Dallas – life story, we lived apart for a year after college because I didn’t want to move to Beaumont, and that’s what brought us to Charlotte. Although I bought it with Shane’s tastes in mind! And while it looked cool against the mirrored walls in my apartment, it’s not so much in the nook here. Soooo that brings me to the table proposal. This is on sale at World Market!
Both ends can fold down, we can center it in front of the window and under the lights, and tuck the barstools on the sides.
Another reason we need a smaller table in order to make room in the nook is our PANTRY, dear Lord. It’s more like a shoebox. I wish I had a picture. I’ll take one. You pretty much have to close your eyes and reach in elbow-deep and blindly grope around (TWSS). It’s about a foot wide and situated next to the back door across from the laundry room. Totally awkward and makeshift. So we’ll get the wardrobe/closet equivalent, whatever that might be. I was considering some sort of buffet style, but that’s too low to the ground. It’ll have to be a tower.
Maybe something like this, and we can stain it to match.
This one’s nice too:
We’re currently keeping some food in the island cabinets – we need that space though, because we have dishes and pans in the laundry room! Oy.
by Christa on March 18, 2010
I have a fab new blog coming about the gohjuss “rose” cupcakes I made and the regular Suzie Homemaker I’m becoming, but let’s not focus on that.
My husband is the president of the HOA! An accomplishment unlike any other in our small family thus far!
A neighbor nominated him and everyone was all like, “yeah, Shane, he rules.” SO MOTE IT BE. Or something.
Even the real prez approves.
Worst face-in-hole EVER, but I don’t care.
by Christa on March 14, 2010
It was quite the whirlwind-wedding-weekend (say that 5 times fast!) the past couple of days. Shane and I flew to Houston for Lindsay and Ryan’s wedding – pics to come! We enjoyed a late lunch with sister Aimee and her boyfriend Michael before heading to a Dillard’s clearance store to find a dress for me to wear to the wedding in Conroe (about 20 miles north). I had convinced myself that what I brought was simply inappropriate (not the case AT ALL) and needed something new (naturally). Shane even picked it out when we split up in the store! Yeah, I haven’t heard the end of that one – he keeps telling me what a nice dress it is! And it is, of course. I made him take a picture with me while we waited for the shuttle to take us to the rental car pavilion at George Bush Intercontinental:
Doesn’t he look so excited?!
And here is a shot of downtown Houston while we were driving on I-10 on the way back from Cyclone Anaya’s (yummyyyyyy Mexican food!).
Don’t worry, Shane was driving!
We also saw this interesting sign. I was all, “hmm warning: guy falling on head?!”) You can tell it’s a crosswalk sign but uh. Definitely upside down, and nailed that way (TWSS).
Ryan and Lindsay made such a beautiful couple at their wedding (naturally!) and every element of the decor, ceremony, etc. just screamed the two of them – so sentimental and whimsical!
And lucky me, I just knew someone would have already posted a pic of them on fb. Their first dance!
More to come. It was our first wedding to attend since our own, and very special since Lindsay has been a dear friend since high school. And loved getting to dance with Rachel for the first time since high school, too! Too bad the choreography was “Cupid Shuffle,” hah!
We turned around and came back this morning, but not before getting in breakfast tacos at Taco Cabana this morning – how I miss that place! Carolina needs one really badly. They need Taco Cabana, Kolache Factory, Amy’s Ice Cream, Texadelphia, and Chuy’s – at least those. I think if NC had those I would be ok living here for awhile! 
by Christa on March 12, 2010
I’m obsessed with Nissan Rogues right now. I probably use the Build My Rogue program probably once a week.
Plus, if I get one I can ironically use the phrase, “going Rogue.” That’s not why I like it though. I mean, look at it!
The yen is getting ridiculous – and I think my Civic is jealous. It can just tell I don’t want it anymore.
I know I have a LOT of other priorities before a new car. But it’s so pretty…I don’t know if I like the white or the plum (aka iridium graphite):
by Christa on March 10, 2010
So, as some of you know, I quit my job at a global corporation in December. It was not a good fit and I didn’t like the person it had turned me into or the life I had, to say the very least. Since then I have been doing some contract work in HR and am just mingling about.
I’d like to explore different career paths, but it’s hard for me to reconcile that desire with “hey! I have a lot of experience in HR! and people will pay me accordingly!”
I wouldn’t have so much of a problem with it if it weren’t for credit card/student loan stuff to pay. Not to mention, I like having stuff. Who doesn’t? I want a new computer, I want a new car – basically I like y’know…stuff.
Money can’t buy happiness, but it sure does help!
We’ll see what happens. I’m just gonna fly by the seat of my pants – what else is new?!
by Christa on March 9, 2010
What’s a family gotta do to get some more coups up in here?!
Shane and I are huge coupon people. I mean, why wouldn’t you save money on groceries you’re gonna buy anyways? Makes sense!
We get The Charlotte Observer every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and go coup-clippin-crazy!
Our local grocery store, Harris Teeter (similar to HEB, for you Texans out there) runs a few different promotions, spread out over the months. My favorite is triple coups – triple any coupon up to $0.99 face value. So that means if you have one for $0.75 off, you get $2.25 off! And if the item only costs $3.00, well sheesh, you just got it for $0.75! Steal. of. a. deal.
One they’ve run a couple of times lately is what they call Super Double. Every day is double coups up to $0.99 (awesome) but super double is when you can double coups up to $2.00 face value. Helloooo?! I just got a package of razors for $2 the other day.
They all know my face in there because one of the kids thinks it’s hilarious that I call ‘em coups. He’s always like, “Hey coup lady, you got your coups today?” And no doy I do. Laugh if you want, but I save on average $50 per trip during Super Double. That adds up!
Also, a bit of spring cleaning is in order. Shane and I are hosting our 3rd Annual Passover Seder in a few weeks – a big dinner reading the haggadah (story of Passover – ever seen The Ten Commandments?) We can’t wait to share our favorite (ok ok MY favorite) Jewish holiday with all of our close friends. It is also Mac’s favorite holiday. Just in case you were wondering!
Well that means we need to do some serious purging. I’m currently working on three different piles of stuff – Salvation Army, Yard Sale, and Junior League Wearhouse. Need to get things in order – I’ve been working on some organizational stuff and will take pics of that shortly. It’s the little things that count, right?
by Christa on March 7, 2010
You know you’re an adult when you want to be sure your family & friends relieve themselves in a well-decorated area.
This is the fun stuff we did to the half-bath in our foyer. And really, it was fun! Most of the goods were found at TJ Maxx with the help of my lovely bargain-finding mother-in-law during a visit.
Before – we moved into an almost bare house. And I say almost bare because we purchased some of the furniture off the sellers. They house-flip for a living (unfortunate timing for them, unfortunately, fortunate for us, fortunately) and had staged it nicely. Buuuut needless to say, we didn’t really take a good hard look at bathroom decor.
While it seems I was very meticulous in taking ‘before’ pictures of the house, one I didn’t think to capture was the stupid foyer half-bath. So you’ll just have to use your imagination. Here’s how it currently looks:
Feh. This is a mediocre picture, taken with a camera I really don’t care for. I miss my old camera (and that’s the one I took to Hilton Head and skiing!) But you get the jist. Table and cream & tan towels from TJ, as well as the whimsical framed photos (which LOOK like Hilton Head, btw). Wicker Kleenex cover from Target. Interesting thing about the Kleenex cover – it’s a teeny tiny hotel one BUT I got the cover for $3 marked down from $20 in theclearance section (God bless you, clearance section). What to do, what to do? I took a stack of tissues out of the box and just covered it – hah!
First guest to try to grab the box of tissues is in a for a purty big surprise. And they better clean up the mess! ;o)
by Christa on March 7, 2010
This weekend we Ginsburgs went our separate ways and did our own darn thangs. It was Erin’s bachelorette weekend in Hilton Head Island, about 4 hours from our home in Charlotte, so I headed down there with Amy on Friday afternoon to get everything set up.
We spent Friday night at a couple of bars with live bands, be they rockin out in their big-and-tall bee costumes:
(that’s Erin trying to dance on his stinger!)
OR be they channeling their inner Tim McGraw:
(Lori spent some time onstage!)
Saturday we went for a walk on the beach – it looked like Dawson’s Creek, we did some tumbling on the sand, and Sarah tried to catch birds by luring them with Pringles.
We had Erin’s lingerie shower and cake (pictures not posted to protect the guilty) and went for a yummy dinner at Steamers.
So glad to come home though – 2 nights is awhile to be away from the hubs and the boy (Macker).
From what I’ve gathered, Shane spent his weekend doing the “labor intensive” work in the garden – tilling for our upcoming veggie plant fest, cleaning in the house, and getting the boy groomed.
Pics of the garden stage 1 to come soon! Since we had one last year (cucumbers and bell peppers major fail, tomatoes and jalapenos major AWESOME), we’re kicking it up a notch and shootin’ for the stars this year. And by stars I mean avocados. I’ll get all the ingredients for good guac if it kills me.
by Christa on March 4, 2010
Hey, hey! We’re the Monkees Ginsburgs!
So LiLu over at LivItLuvIt is doing a fab job of pimpin’ the new blog – I heart it so much already!
So she (appropriately) thought the blog was called Growing Up in Ginsburg – which, I like the reference to our last name as a town, or ‘burg.
I let her know that it’s Growing Up Ginsburg, no in. Yanno – like Growing Up Gotti. Sorta. Only less blood money, more yarmulkes.
I had to tell that little anecdote. Are we loving the blog all?!
by Christa on February 24, 2010
Shane and I figured out we’re collectively not Shaun White when we went on a mini snowboarding trip with the Turtles. Matt and Erin chose to shred the black diamonds on their skis, while we stuck to being nailed to planks of wood.
The cabin we stayed in was really nice – if only we hadn’t had to hike a half mile to get to it from our cars! It was up a hill and with all the ice and slush, etc. just impossible to navigate in the Caliber and Jeep. I’m currently rollin’ in a Caliber thanks to the injuries to the Civic two weeks ago.
Shane was not very happy about it, you could say.
We got all suited up and enjoyed a craaaazy full day of snowboarding. It was really warm out (well…40s anyways) so the snow melted and when it refroze it was HARD.
Matt’s belt broke – er…correction? It got destroyed like his pants and jacket when he went on the sled down the half-mile long driveway. I TOLD him it was fast! Erin helped him fashion a belt out of straw. They’re pretty proud of it, as they well should be!
So this is Growing Up Ginsburg’s temporary home. I’m working on acquiring a new design but you’ll have to bear with us for now! Getting some stuff around the house in order too. I can’t wait to show yall what we’ve been up to!
