Losing My Mind and My iPhone

I think I'm losing my mind slowly.

Or, at least, I'm losing my stuff lately.

In less than a week, I have lost an iPad and an iPhone in plain sight.

If it weren't for this app, I may still be looking for them.

Do you have two "i" devices? If so, I highly recommend downloading the Find My iPhone app on them.

I don't care if they can use it to track my every move. It's not like I lead that exciting of a life.

"Look she went to Starbucks...where is she heading now? CVS. The grocery store. This chick is wild and crazy."

It has saved my sanity on more than one occasion, including a harrowing 6 hours in Charleston when my iPhone decided to tour the city in the back of a airport shuttle van.

Back to losing my stuff in plain sight. This morning I set my phone down and 2 minutes later I couldn't find it.

I searched upstairs. I searched downstairs. I searched the car.

Nothing.

I grabbed my iPad and sent an alert to my phone and waited.

Then my iPhone rang and lit up 5 inches from where my iPad was sitting. In my defense, it was partially hidden by a plastic bag.

Oops.

Note: I received no compensation from the makers of this app. It's just saved my bacon a time or two.

On My Doorstep

After what can only be described as an "adventurous" drive home (Baby Sister and I swore each other to secrecy), I was excited to see this waiting for me outside my garage door.

The Last Boyfriend: Book Two of the Inn BoonsBoro Trilogy (The Inn Trilogy)

Even though I have been using the Nook and Kindle apps on my iPad to read more books lately, I am still a huge believer in books. I sit in front of my computer all day, use my iPad to take notes in meetings and am forever on my iPhone.

So the last thing I want to do to unwind in the evening is to pull out my iPad to read. My eyes need the break from brightly lit screens.

Don't get me wrong, Leah over at Beyer Beware convinced me to read the sample of Fifty Shades Trilogy Bundle: Fifty Shades of Grey; Fifty Shades Darker; Fifty Shades Freed through Amazon and I ended up buying the trilogy and reading them back-to-back-to-back on my iPad.

But, I am equally excited to dive into Nora Roberts' second book in her The Inn Boonsboro Trilogy. Thanks to Amazon Prime (have you signed up for the free one-month trial yet?) this book landed at my door the day it was released with free shipping and for a good price.

Since I have my month of free 2-day shipping, I may have jumped online last night and ordered a gift for a baby shower later this week. Cross your fingers that 2-day shipping, means 2-day shipping! There also may be some toilet paper making its way to me too. How weird and random is that?

Do you use Amazon Prime? If so, what are your favorite deals?

What about Overstock? Any other good sites out there?

Please share. I have 20-plus days left with my free membership so I want to take advantage!

NOTE: There are affiliate links included in this post. Nora Roberts, E.L. James, and their publishers do not know who I am so they didn't ask me to mention them. Though, if Nora Roberts happens to read this, please know that I am a HUGE fan - have been for years...ever since I found one of your books in my grandma's shed as a teenager! 

Food Blogger I Am NOT: Chocolate Chip Pie

I was looking through the photos on my computer recently and I came across a couple of shots I caught on my iPhone and ran through Instagram. 

I am fairly certain that my intention was to share the photos and recipes on this very blog.

However, as the title of this post indicates, I am not a food blogger (not really sure what kind of blogger I am) for so many reasons. So forgive me for the less than stellar photos of my kitchen creations.

I did get a shot of my After-Easter Trifle before I took it into work to share with my cellmates coworkers.

I just adapted the double chocolate trifle recipe on my blog and used some left over chocolate cake (icing and all) and Easter Reese's Cups instead of strawberries and brownies. That's what I love about trifles...as long as you have pudding and whipped topping, you can make a trifle with just about any fillings.

As for the next photo, I did indeed want to share this recipe with you but forgot to even get a photo of the Chocolate Chip Pies before I took them to my family to share. So, I had to call my sister and ask her to get a shot on her iPhone and send it to me.

This recipe is a favorite of my family and members of said family have been known to request this pie instead of birthday cake.

It's rich. It's gooey. It's really easy to make.

Chocolate Chip Pie

1/2 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. margarine or butter, softened
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 t. vanilla
1 c. nuts (we use pecans)
1 c. chocolate chips
1 unbaked 8-9 inch pie shell

Beat together flour, eggs, sugar, butter and vanilla. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Pour into pie shell. Bake at 325 degrees F for one hour.

I put my pie shell on a cookie sheet just in case of spillovers.

If you don't like nuts, leave them out and add some more chocolate chips! It's good either way.

Wednesday Loves

This is my second attempt at this blog post (let's just say that my iPad app is now in the doghouse) so I want to say that it will be better than the first attempt...but I'm pretty sure it won't be!

I have struggled of late to write posts with real content and just don't know what's wrong with me (don't worry "I'm not crazy...my mother had me tested." Name that show.).

So I am once again resorting to my iPhone photos and Instagram to create some content, instead of writing an inspiring, uplifting or motivational post...wait a minute, that doesn't happen even when I do a written post!

Oh well, enjoy some snippets of my life of late and if you find my inspiration, please tell it I miss it!

My cards for Blissdom arrived yesterday! So exciting. I can't believe it's a week away. Just found out Rascal Flatts is performing - wow.

I'm in LOVE with tights. My sisters and I actually spent 30 minutes in the hosiery section of Filene's Basement while we were in NYC this fall. (Quick fact...the store is NOT in an actual basement, see photo below.) I loved the above tights so much, I bought them in brown too.

This is the view from the Filene's Basement in NYC...as you can see NO ONE was out that day...maybe because it was cold and raining. Didn't have to fight crowds but made it hard to enjoy our walks through the city.

This is my adorable niece whose parents left her in my care for several days while they went on a cruise. I returned her to them with a double ear infection and hair that hadn't been washed in days. I told them the only guarantees I would make was that I would feed her and she'd be alive when they returned. Both happened.

This is my favorite photo of late...my two youngest nephews dumped a gallon bag of "army men" on the rug (which hasn't been swept in weeks) at my front door. It looks to be a scene out of Home Alone when Kevin set the traps for the pair of bungling burglars. Luckily, I remembered they were there as I came down the steps or I may have taught them some new words after stepping on them in bare feet!

Monday Musings: Charleston

"Charleston, oh Charleston, I still hear your sea winds a blowin'..."

Wait a minute...that's not quite right, is it? Glen Campbell was singing about another city by another sea.

I headed to Charleston last week for a conference. It's the first time I visited the city and I was excited to fly in early enough to see some sights...but you know what they say about best-laid plans.

This little guy went missing within the first 20 minutes I was in town.

Now, I don't know about you but I'm just not me without my iPhone. Sad, but very, very true.

I figured out right away where I must have left it...in the airport shuttle van.

But what if it fell out of the van while I was exiting. Or what if the driver found it and immediately started calling China or sold it to a stranger down at the port?

Once I stopped panicking I realized that while I didn't have my iPhone with me, I did have my iPad and I had connected all of my Apple products via the iCloud. This meant I could download the very cool (and free) Find My iPhone app.

I spent the next 5 hours watching my iPhone cruise around Charleston until the nice driver dropped it off at my hotel for me. Did I tell you that the app has Google maps on it so you can actually see images of where your device is, not just a map?

Of course, this little mishap caused me to stay in my room staring at my iPad instead of sight-seeing. I did make myself go to the restaurant in the hotel for a meal and enjoyed some Indiana-raised roasted duck from Maple Leaf Farms...yummy!

After I was reunited with my long lost phone, I snapped this photo from my hotel room window. My room overlooked Marion Square. It was in the 70s most of the time I was down in Charleston so by Noon each day the square filled up with college students and young families enjoying the gorgeous weather.

The conference I attended was quite good (more insights later) and among many other things, I learned a little bit about South Carolina's history and its rich farming background.

Did you know that South Carolina farmers used to raise lots of rice, indigo, tobacco and peaches?

In fact, today in just a couple of counties (it might be four) South Carolina raises more peaches than that other state that claims to be the "Peach State."

That's your history lesson for the day, boys and girls!

Another cool fact I learned is that the trees in the photo below are NOT palm trees. These beautiful plants that grace the South Carolina flag, as well as line the streets of Charleston, are Palmetto trees.

I loved all the big homes across Charleston with the wide sweeping porches, Palmetto lined walks and hidden gardens.

I decided that if I owned a home with porches like the ones above in a southern city like Charleston, I would invest in a gorgeous Southern Belle dress and wear it at least once a week. While standing on my porch waving to tourists, I would call out, "Y'all enjoy y'ahselves now."

Boy, now I really want to go download a couple of Glen Campbell songs..."Like a Rhinestone Cowboy..."

My Heart Stopped

I knew it was going to happen someday.

I'm just too clumsy NOT to drop my phone at some point.

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I've had my iPhone for about two months now and have avoided any mishaps until yesterday.

I pulled it out at the used bookstore the snap a photo of a book that a friend has been looking for and it happened...

My beautiful, fragile phone slipped through my fingers and fell (in what felt like slow motion) to the cement (or is it concrete?) floor. I heard the clatter and saw something fly off the phone.

I swear my heart stopped for just a second and then it started beating a mile a minute.

The phone landed face down so I slowly bent down and picked it up...not wanting to turn it over and see the damage.

Fortunately, the case lived up to its claim and absorbed the impact with NO damage to the phone itself. The piece I saw when the phone hit the floor came from the case itself and it's actually not too noticeable.

But to be on the safe side, I'm considering investing in a different type of phone protection...

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I'm serious...my heart is still racing and I look kind of silly holding my phone to my ear with both hands.