Mandii's Muse

I meant to post this last week, but never did! So you are getting to see it today! This is just a little "what's up" on this Wednesday! 1. What I’m Eating this Week: I am thinking some soup, pasta, and baked chicken with a baked potato! 2. What I’m Reminiscing About: It has to be my recent experience at the Duke game , and all my trips to North Carolina to Cameron Indoor. I absolutely love basketball season! 3. What I’m Loving: I’m loving all the cozy winter wear I get to wear! Now, it doesn’t have to be below freezing, but I’m enjoying the sweaters, cozy robe, and warm fuzzy pajamas I get to wear. 4. What I’ve Been Up To: Not much! Just working, doing the usual grocery shopping/Costco runs, family time I get to have! 5. What I’m Dreading: I think I say this every single time, but I dread the Winter to Summer clothes switch over! It is such a chore that I dread every season. 6.  What I’m Working On: I’m working on upcoming blog posts for you! I’m a...

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! It was nice to be above freezing, and see the sunshine for a little bit! Did your team win the SuperBowl? Here's a little glimpse into my weekend!  My mom made this delicious chocolate cake with peanut butter icing. It was as good as it looks, and we can't wait to eat some after dinner tonight again!  Can you tell who we were rooting for based on our table decor? We had meatball sliders, kielbasa, mini tacos, spinach/artichoke dip, pimento cheese, and potato salad. Yummy!  Since it was going to be nice most of the weekend, my dad was nice enough to wash my car off at the car wash.   I have been doing a #girlreadyourbible challenge for February, in addition to my normal daily readings. I'm doing the book of Philippians. Starting off this week right with a Patriots win on Sunday, and hopefully a Duke win on Tuesday! How was your weekend? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Well guys and gals, I headed into “enemy” territory and rooted on my Blue Devils while they played Pitt. I bought the tickets for my Dad for Christmas, and agonized whether or not I should get them or not. My mom was a big help in convincing me. I was a researching fool getting seats, I had multiple seating charts pulled up, multiple ticket companies pulled up, it was quite the process. Luckily, I was able to get seats on the first level AND on the Duke side of the court! Score! My dad and I knew going into this season that we really wanted to see this team play. We especially wanted to see Zion Williamson play. The dude is crazy big, and crazy athletic. The game was a 9:00 game on ESPN. As soon as I left work on Tuesday, I ran to Dunkin’ and got a latte to help keep me awake. Luckily we had a 2 hour delay that morning, so I was able to sleep in a little, and I had adrenaline going, so it wasn’t hard to stay awake at all. My dad and I opted to eat at home, so we hurried up an...

I hope your Labor Day weekend was relaxing! I'm saying that Summer is officially over, and now I am in full on Fall mode. I wanted to share with you a little bit of what I did over the long weekend, so let's get right on into it! Thursday: My parents and I went to the last Cleveland Indians afternoon game of the season. It was absolutely the most perfect day for baseball. The weather was just right, not too hot or cold. We were able to get into our favorite parking lot, our seats were fantastic, and the Tribe ended up winning! We ended the night at our favorite pizza place. (Because ballpark food is expensive, y'all!) Friday, I went and got a haircut. I love my hair long like it is, but it was time for a little trim. I swear, coming from the hairdresser is like the best feeling. You are relaxed, you look great, it is the best! I got a few highlights, and just enjoyed the "me" time. I finished up some Act 48 hours I was working on, cleaned the upstairs area, an...

Hello! It's a Monday. I wasn't quite sure what to title this post, so forgive the generic title. I am going to be 100% honest, and say that I am truly grateful that I still have two more weeks before I get back to the subbing grind. I have been enjoying lazy mornings, random errands, and no set schedule. Anyway, back to the post at hand! I have been obsessively watching the Olympics. The swimming has been freaking fantastic. Michael Phelps is the GOAT, Katie Ledecky is superhuman, and Nathan Adrian is the world's cutest anchor. I'm pulling for my girls Kerri Walsh Jennings, and April Ross. USA Men's Basketball has made me say not very ladylike things to my TV screen. Coach K better whip these youngin's into shape. My sweet dog had some trouble crossing from the kitchen to the living room area. Bless his heart. The garden has been in full bloom (except our zucchini's.) I'm on the hunt for recipes to use up tomatoes and a variety of peppers. Any sugg...

So if you saw yesterday's post, I recapped a little bit of February and March. Now I can get you caught up from then until now! I was able to go to a Pittsburgh Penguins game! I always love going to the last game of the season. Even thought I didn't get a shirt off the players back! However, it was neat to see the Stanley Cup winning team before they hoisted the trophy. Plus, when you have seats 6 rows behind the glass, you don't say no! The school I work at (still subbing!) had a local meteorologist come and give a presentation. It was a great assembly, and the kids really enjoyed it! I know I did! In the mail one day, I got something from one of my I mean, could JJ and I be any cuter?! many celebrity boyfriends. (LOL!) I got this magazine full of pictures of JJ Watt. Listen, any time he comes in my mailbox, I'm not going to complain. ;) Unfortunately, June was a crazy, and sad month. To start it off, my dad had a kidney stone, and he also got bit by a sp...

I realized that I never shared with you my SuperBowl party! Don't worry, it wasn't anything spectacular, but it was fun none the less! My parents did a lot of the cooking, and they did a great job as they usually do! We were all rooting for Devner, and were so happy when they won! We love us some Peyton Manning. (I was rooting for the Patrtiots when they played them, but when the Broncos won, it was all Peyton!) We had my grandparents out and had some BBQ pulled pork, potato salad, coleslaw, and baked beans. So we represented Carolina as well. ;) My mom made cream filled cupcakes (She made me some without cream filling, because I don't like cream filled cupcakes.) with the icing being blue and orange. She's so creative and I can't stand it. To church that Sunday, I wore my orange and blue sweater and had many people asking me if I was rooting for Denver. Yes, yes I was. I can get behind a theme to dress for! That was my SuperBowl party! I guess we will hav...

Perhaps you weekend was crazy like mine, or maybe it was more relaxed and low key. Either way, I'm thankful for weekends. Let's start at Friday shall we? Friday my dog Cashew was supposed to get a bath. Right as my mom and I were getting ready to leave, my dad walks in with paper towels wrapped around his finger. He was trimming bushes and sliced his finger with the trimmer. Thankfully, it is just a really bad gash that probably should have had a stitch, but is healing slowly. So I bandage him up, and we are running late to the groomers. I called and told them that we were on the way, and find out that they couldn't take us. So we rescheduled. That should have been an indication of the weekend ahead. This was prior to the madness! Saturday I had bought tickets to go to the Cleveland Indians game. My parents always do nice things for me, so I wanted to repay them a little bit. The day was gorgeous! It was sunny, a nice breeze, and we hit absolutely no traffic until...

I'm sure you have heard of the Sports Illustrated Jinx. Legend has it, that if you are on the cover of Sports Illustrated, you will have significant bad luck. Well, I'm no best selling sports magazine, but I have my own jinx: "The Mandii Buys Your Jersey Curse." Don't believe me? Let me convince you. It all started with Brian Giles. He was a major player on the Indians 1997 team, and by far my favorite player. So how does a supportive fan show her love for her favorite player? You buy a jersey! Shortly after buying his jersey, he gets traded to the Pirates. I waited it out for a good while to see if he would get traded again. When he didn't, I bought his jersey, this time for the Pirates. Oh, and he got traded to the Padres shortly after that jersey was purchased. Jinx! Einar Diaz (1999 was a bad hair year for me.) I can honestly say that this next baseball player was one of my absolute favorites. Einar Diaz was a backup catcher to Sandy Alomar. His je...

As a true Indians fan, this will always be Jacob's Field Baseball is one of America's great pastimes. Thanks to my parents, I grew up a Cleveland Indians fan. 1995 was a huge year for us! My family and I sat through many games, cheering on the team, and making all kinds of memories.We almost made it to the World Series, something that hasn't been done in Cleveland since 1948. In 2007, my family and I went to 7 Indians games. The Tribe made it to the American League Division Series. We were up 3 games to 0 on the Red Sox. Well, wouldn't you know that those darn Red Sox won 4 games in a row. Made it to the World Series, and won the whole thing? This game that we went to on Saturday was a combination of many. First, they were celebrating the 1995 team because it has been 20 years since that incredible season. (That made me feel incredibly old because I was 7 when all of this was happening. AHH!)  Second, this was our first game in EIGHT YEARS! I guess it has taken ...

One of our free appetizers! On Friday, I went to Columbus Ohio to see the Pittsburgh Penguins take on the Blue Jackets. I went on a bus with my aunt and uncle, along with my uncle's nephew. We left at 12:00 and arrived at Easton Town Center at 3:30ish. Easton Town Center is absolutely incredible! It is an outdoor shopping center with over 150 stores and 35 restaurants. After spending a very short time there, I already want to go back and shop until I drop! We ate at a restaurant called Bar Louie. Our tour guide had given us a coupon book and Bar Louie had a coupon for a free appetizer with the purchase on an entree. So, we showed our waitress the coupons and she said that we could do it! Win! So we ended up getting 4 appetizers that totaled around $50. My buffalo chicken flat bread was half off for Happy Hour, so my bill only came to $5.50. So, it was a cheap dinner stop. The view from the seats!  Next, it was time to head to Nationwide Arena. Our seats were up high, ...