Merry {Belated} Christmas!

Merry belated Christmas to everyone! I'm having a VERY merry one thanks to this guy:

Isn't he HANDSOME?!?! He makes my Christmas merry and fulfilled. Having him home is the best Christmas present I could have asked for.

The second best Christmas present is the one he got me: a Canon Rebel digital SLR camera!!! I've been wanting one for years now so I was so excited when I opened it on Christmas day. I've been having a blast taking pictures of everyone and everything....

Libby giving me the stink-eye.

Libby watching Alex's dad shovel snow...I love this one.

The close-up, detail pictures are my favorite!

I can't wait to take pictures of my food...this camera makes everything look delicious!!


Snow + Christmas + Husband = Best.Christmas.Ever.

It has also been a very...eventful...couple of days, but that's a whole new blog post that I'll have to take time to write out later. Let's just say it involved a blizzard and a LOT of time on an interstate. :)

Bliss.

He's home.

My life is whole again.


And I'm happy.

I don't know the people in the photo...I just liked it.

For now, blogging is taking a back burner to reconnecting with my husband and spending the holidays with family. I'll be back soon enough.

Cry Me a River

Alex's homecoming is coming up very soon. I don't like to mention dates on my blog, for fear of violating OPSEC, so I will just leave it at "very soon". And of course I am beyond excited. But emotions are also starting to escalate and anxiety seems to be setting in. And it doesn't help at all that work is extra stressful right now too.

Today I cried "happy tears" 3 times in an hour with almost no explanation. The smallest thing sets me off. In those cases it was a blog I was reading {completely unrelated to military life}, a touching moment in last night's Glee episode I was catching up on, and a glimpse at my husband's Facebook page. That's it. That's what set me off.

I am slightly terrified at how I am going to hold it together at my friend's homecoming ceremony that I am attending tomorrow. I'm so not a pretty crier....my face gets red and splotchy and I make a really ugly face when I'm trying to hold back sobs. Ugh.

And of course now that we're in the downhill slide, some things have to fall apart just a little bit to remind me of how much I *hate* being without my husband. Last night I woke up in a fit of anxiety three times throughout the night. I don't even know what I was dreaming about...all I know is I was scared. I have struggled with bouts of anxiety when I'm sleeping all throughout this deployment but I can't remember another time when I had THREE bouts in one night. Ugh x 2.

One of those times after I woke up in a panic and was just starting to fall back asleep my precious dog woke me back up. I noticed she wouldn't stop shaking her head over and over and she was scratching her ear. Great. An ear infection. She has NEVER HAD an ear infection but of course now is the PERFECT time for one. So she kept me awake off and on for the rest of the night with that awful feeling of knowing that she's uncomfortable but that there's nothing I can do to make it better right away. Ugh x 3.

You truly don't realize how much you need your spouse around until he's gone. I know he would have calmed me down immediately if he were home and witnessing my nighttime anxiety. I also know that he would have made me feel better about poor Libby's ears and told me not to worry. I just miss his calming presence in my life like you wouldn't believe. He's my rock....and you better believe I am ready to get my damn rock back already!!!!!

Ornament Wreath

I had seen several variations of this ornament wreath all over blogland lately. I knew immediately that I wanted to try making one so I bought all the supplies. Then, one night this week after work when I was getting anxious about Alex's impending homecoming, I sat down and got to work.

First you have to hot glue all the ornament tops to the ornament balls. Some of my ornaments that I bought seemed pretty secure so I tried to skip this step....bad idea. The tops started popping off of the balls and that is not good. So, a word of wisdom: Don't be like me. Do this step. Or else you'll be doing your wreath all over again when the tops start popping off.

My thumb looks so fat in this picture...haha. And please excuse the really old, nasty looking hand-me-down-from-my-mom hot glue gun.

Then you take a wire hanger and form it into a circle. I forgot to take a picture of this step but see the link at the beginning of this post for one. FYI the circle doesn't have to be perfect....the process of putting on the ornaments will kind of mess up your circle anyway. The main reason behind doing this is to smooth out the wire in the hanger so that the ornaments will easily thread on.

Once you have the circle, untwist the hanger's hooky part {that's the technical term} and do your best to smooth out the kinks in the non-hanger end. You know what I mean, right? Right. This part required me to bust out my pink needlenose pliers...yes I really do have a set of pink tools and I loooovvvee them. They were a gift at one of our wedding showers so if you gave us the pink tools and you're reading this THANK YOU! :)

Anywho, just start threading the ornaments on! I had a bit of a hard time figuring out what pattern to thread the ornaments on so that it looked as perfect as the Eddie Ross version. I never figured it out but I basically alternated between a large ornament, medium ornament, small ornament, repeat. I think......I don't know. Just do what you want. :)

Keep threading ornaments on until you start getting close to the end of the circle. Keep pulling the two ends together to see when you have formed a nice, full circle of ornaments.


All I did to secure the circle back together was to bend the non-hanger end of the wire back into a sort of "hook" and then I just hooked it around the hanger end. Once again that probably makes no sense. But that's it! Then I just added some poorly tied ribbon "bows" and hung it.

As you can sort of see in the above photo, I left the hook part of the hanger in tact and used it to my advantage for hanging purposes.

It turned out a big more oblong than circular and it's CERTAINLY not perfect, but I still love it! :)

Cool Etsy Product Alert

It's a purse organizer! It keeps things well-organized, easy to find AND it makes it super easy to change your purse! Just take out the purse organizer and place it in the new purse.

I literally only change out my purse every 5-6 months or so because I am ENTIRELY too impatient to move all my purse crap on a regular basis. I always wonder how people have the patience for doing that all the time, but this purse organizer is the perfect solution!

The best part is it's only $28, which I think is pretty reasonable for a homemade purse organizer! I really want this thing, but I've already made my extensive wish list and at this point buying anything for myself when I should be buying Christmas presents would just be irresponsible. So for now, I will hold myself back from the instinct to buy that sucker faster than a hobo eats a ham sandwich. {sorry, that was bad}

P.S. I originally saw this purse organizer mentioned on the Failed Feminist blog. It's a great blog so check it out! And she may have even inspired a "What's in my purse?" post for me. We shall see.

Under Pressure

Let me introduce you to little Ashlex, our future child, according to www.morphthing.com: drumroll please.................................................................

I think Ashlex is pretty cute, in a semi-creepy kind of way! I had never done one of these "What will your baby look like?" things so this was fun.

But the most fun part was the email I sent to my mom with the subject line "Our Baby" and the photo attached.

You see, my mom is...hmmm how shall I say this....OBSESSED with the idea of being a grandma. Aren't you supposed to DREAD being a grandma?!? Well...she doesn't. It's ridiculous. And she tends to get just a teeeeensy bit jumpy at any mention of ANYTHING that could POSSIBLY be related to Alex and I having a baby.

For example, I say "Ugh I feel nauseous." Mom gasps and says "Morning sickness?!?!?"

Or I look at a very cute baby in church and say "Aww...cute." Mom's response: "Not nearly as cute as YOUR baby will be." ::wink::

My dad isn't much better either. In fact, he could even be worse, considering his speech at our rehearsal dinner involved him holding up a baby cousin of mine like she was Simba from the Lion King and saying something along the lines of "THIS is what you and Alex need to produce now." WE WERE NEGATIVE 24 HOURS MARRIED AT THIS POINT. So you can only imagine the pressure we get from him now that we are 2+ years married.

OH! One more story. {I could go on for hours about my parents baby-centric antics.} Our first Christmas as a married couple came about 4 months after our wedding. My mom put a PREGNANCY TEST in my stocking. She claimed she "just wanted to see the look on my face" but we all know that this was actually a thinly veiled plot.

Want proof? Here is when I looked in the stocking and saw what it was. I'm looking at her with the "I can't believe you did this" look.
And here I am giving the death stare and holding up my precious "present".

I've since learned that the best plan of action against this is to do nothing....other than roll my eyes. Because if I try to explain how we're still young and we're not quite ready to be parents yet they just come back at me with 25 reasons why we SHOULD be ready.

So anyway, when I sent the "Our Baby" email to my mom I knew it would get her all flustered so I was anxiously awaiting her response.

Her response was "Don't ever do that to me again." hahahaha

Sorry, Mom!! It was just too easy.

{And in all honesty, it actually makes me happy how excited both of my parents are for future grandchildren because I know our future children will be SO LOVED by Grandma and Grandpa. But they could be a little more discreet about their excitement for pete's sake! :) }

Thanksgiving 2009

Some of my favorite images from Thanksgiving 2009:

Mom & Me

Mom & my brother

My ADORABLE cousin!!

The food spread

The dessert table

My plate: before

My plate: after

Thankful for Thanksgiving

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Oh how I love Thanksgiving! It's no secret amongst those who know me that I am a BIG fan of food and eating. My family used to call me the "human garbage disposal" because I could eat so much. Unfortunately as I've grown up all those calories catch up to me faster than they used to. For that reason, I love Thanksgiving because it doesn't matter how many calories you take in or how high you pile your plate! It's the ONE day a year where eating copious amounts of fattening comfort food is encouraged!

I'm in my hometown for the long weekend, spending time with immediate and extended family. We aren't actually doing our big Thanksgiving meal until tomorrow though so I have to wait another day for my delicious meal...boo!

In honor of Thanksgiving, here are some things I am thankful for this year:

1. This deployment is ALMOST over. My husband will be home verrrrry soon and I am so thankful for that.
2. My supportive friends and family. I don't even know how to express how thankful I am for all the support we've received over the past year (and all my life for that matter).
   
3. A stable lifestyle. Alex and I both have stable jobs and a nice rental home to live in. In this economy, that's certainly something to be thankful for!
4. All 4 of my grandparents are alive (and spunky as ever)! As I get older, I realize how truly lucky I am to still have all 4 grandparents in my life. I can't imagine life without them so I hope that they all live to be a LOT older so that my future children can be blessed to know them, just like I have been.
   

I hope you all have a very happy Thanksgiving!

P.S. I feel an upset coming on. Beat the HELL outta t.u.!

All I Want For Christmas...

...is the things on this list! I always love reading/hearing about other people's wish lists because it gives me ideas of things to ask for and/or give for gifts. I readily admit that I suck at thinking of things to ask for as gifts and I REALLY suck at giving gifts. I can just never think of anything good when the time comes to actually buy something for someone. Maybe it's the pressure?



Anyway, below is my 2009 Christmas List that I started way back in early October so I could be sure to have time to think of stuff. The dollar signs at the end of each item stand for the price range:

$ = $50ish or under / $$ = $55-$150 / $$$ = $155 and up

Ashley's Christmas Wish List 2009

• Bare Minerals SPF 15 Foundation in “Fairly Light”: I love me some Bare Minerals but it's so expensive that I refuse to buy it for myself. I've always been a drugstore makeup kind of girl so it's hard for me to justify the extra cost of this stuff, despite how much I love it! $
• Workout Apparel (tops, shorts, Capri pants, sports bras, etc.)
• Bike Seat Gel Pad (for Spin class) $
• This work-appropriate dress in size 6 $$ SOLD OUT
• This perfume from Mary Kay and matching solid perfume and lotion $
• Mary Kay Microderm Abrasion Set $
• Mary Kay Timewise Miracle Set: Can you tell that I went to a Mary Kay Party recently?? :) $$
• Non-nickel Earrings: (I’m allergic to nickel). Especially the big dangly kind. $
• Digital SLR Camera: I honestly didn't expect this to be something I would actually get. I've been asking for one for going on two years now without much luck. But this year my husband is actually buying me one!! I guess the deployment made him a softie. Plus, he's getting a new truck...so the least I should get is a new camera! :) I can't WAIT to see what he picks out and to use my new camera. $$$
• High-quality Cookie Sheets: The heavy duty, non-stick kind. My cookie sheets are from my college days and they have seen better days. $
• Flip Mino HD video camera: We have one of these at work and I love it. So small and easy to use! $$
• Cute Cosmetic Bag: Not picky on color/style as long as it’s cute. I like medium-sized ones usually. $
• High-Quality, King-Size Bed Sheets/pillow cases: in white, light blue, or mint green. We only have one set of sheets for our master bed because nice sheets are so dang expensive and it seems ridiculous to spend $100+ on a backup sheet set! $$

Clutter-Free is the Way To Be

Today I set about to clean off my dirty, makeup-caked bathroom counters...this is one job that I tend to neglect. I'm pretty decent about remembering to wipe it down with a Clorox wipe every now and again but it still needs a deep clean once in a while.

{This is a side note from the point of this post but my tip for really scrubbing off all that caked on mess is to spray whatever bathroom cleaner you use all over the counter and sink. Then wet a scrub brush and go to town scrubbing! It really gets all the grime up! Then take a damp sponge and wipe up all the crap that you scrubbed up with the brush. Rinse and keep wiping down until your bathroom counters are SPARKLING!}

So I started clearing off all the CLUTTER that had accumulated on the counter...hair products, ponytail holders, clips, toothpaste, deodorant, lip gloss, etc. Once the counter was completely cleared off I was shocked when I realized how much more RELAXED I felt looking at an empty counter top.

Right then and there I decided to find a home for all the clutter. Because this was a last minute and unexpected decision, I didn't get any "before" photos of my counter...but just trust me, it was pretty bad!

In the end I only left necessities and pretty things (like perfume bottles) on it. And it looked SO much better:



It's amazing how a little change like this can make me feel so much better! Clutter-free is the way to be and I hope to continue with my de-cluttering in all the areas of my house.

Deployment Carbonara

I've eaten a lot of pasta during this deployment. It's easy, it's filling, and you can make it in small portions. At first I mostly just ate pasta with olive oil, salt & pepper & parmesan cheese but after a while I started experimenting with other simple options.

I absolutely LOVE Spaghetti Carbonara....to me it's basically like an adult macaroni & cheese. What's not to love?!? When I feel like a traditional Carbonara I make this recipe that I featured on my old food blog. But one day I was craving Carbonara and didn't have any bacon or parmesan cheese. What I did have was goat cheese so I experimented and ended up loving the result!

In this case I used Lemon Goat Cheese, which gives the pasta a great lemony flavor but you could use any flavor of goat cheese! Or, if you just have plain goat cheese and still want lemon flavor you could add a squeeze of lemon juice to the pasta.

Lemony Spaghetti Carbonara {aka Deployment Carbonara}
Source: me

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. spaghetti, half a package {I use whole wheat}
• 1 egg
• 2 oz. lemon goat cheese, half a package {or any flavor goat cheese you prefer}
• Salt to taste
  
• Lots of freshly ground black pepper

Procedure:

Boil water and cook spaghetti noodles according to package directions.

While pasta is cooking, crack the egg into a small bowl and beat well with a whisk. Crumble the goat cheese into the beaten egg and then mix well with the whisk. It's okay if there are still lumps of goat cheese...just get them incorporated together. Add salt and freshly ground pepper to the egg mixture. Set aside.

Once pasta is al dente, drain water and then IMMEDIATELY place pasta back in the hot cooking pot. Quickly pour the egg & cheese mixture into the hot pasta and immediately stir to combine. Timeliness is key here because this is the only way you are "cooking" the eggs. If you don't do this quickly you will be dealing with raw eggs in your pasta...not good.

Add more salt & pepper to taste and serve immediately.

Makes 3-4 servings...depending on how big your servings are. :)

Libby wanted some Carbonara too.

Grocery Store Guinea Pig

I am a sucker for new food products. I fully admit it. Anytime I see something new and different on the shelves I just HAVE to try it. Sometimes it works out great, sometimes it doesn't. So I decided to start sharing some of my food finds with my blog readers so that you can know whether it's any good or not without wasting your hard earned money! Pay close attention to the super-special, critically-acclaimed rating system commonly known as Ashley's Rating. Let the rating begin!!

Sunsweet Plum Sweets: I saw these Plum Sweets on one of my favorite healthy-eating websites, Hungry Girl {subscribe to her daily emails...they are awesome!!} I thought they were a great way to get your antioxidants both through the dark chocolate and through the prunes. My only complaint with these is that you can barely tell that there are prunes inside of the chocolate coating. It basically just seems like chewy dark chocolate and I personally wouldn't mind more plum flavor. ASHLEY'S RATING: One thumb up

Yoplait Delights: I've seen these on lots of commercials lately and decided to give them a try. I'm not really a big yogurt fan {I think it's the tanginess of it that I don't like} so I was hopeful that these would be a yogurt that I actually liked. After all, I LOVE the combination of raspberry and chocolate. After tasting them though, I decided I'm still just not sold on yogurt. To me it just tasted weird to have tangy flavored chocolate. But I guess if you like yogurt then you will probably like these. ASHLEY'S RATING: One thumb down


Alexia Onion Strips: I first saw these Onion Strips on Top Chef Las Vegas and was intrigued by them. I figured they would be frozen onion rings but they're more like potato chips. They are like Funyuns but way better! I couldn't stop eating them, which is not good since I am trying to be healthy and these don't exactly fit into the "healthy" category. Oh well! ASHLEY'S RATING: One thumb up {would have gotten two thumbs up if they were healthy!}


Jell-o Mousse Cups: I spotted these Jell-o Mousse cups on the shelves and knew I had to try them. For some odd reason, I'm not a big pudding fan but I LOVE mousse. I know...that doesn't make any sense. I think I just like the lighter texture of mousse as compared to the heavy texture of pudding. Anyway, these are probably my FAVORITE of all the new products that I tried!! The best part of all is that they are only 60 calories...score!! This is definitely my new go-to dessert to satisfy my post-dinner sweet tooth. {OH and if you go to the Jell-o website you can get a coupon for $0.50 off. Even bigger score!} ASHLEY'S RATING: Two Thumbs UP!!

I'm Sorry

Dear Readers,

I'm sorry I've been MIA for almost 2 weeks. It's been a combination of things that have kept me away from my beloved blog.

1. I joined a new gym and I've been back on the working out train lately. I realized that Alex's homecoming is quickly approaching and I needed to start getting my butt in gear. So I've been working out about 4-5 days a week after work for the past couple weeks. This usually means I don't get home from work and the gym until after 7pm and by the time I eat dinner and relax a bit it's already time for bed!

2. I think I've reached the "I'm-Just-So-Freaking-Ready-For-This-Deployment-To-Be-Over-That-I'm-Apathetic-About-Everything...Including-My-Blog Phase." You can quote me on that phase. It's self-diagnosed, but I think it's pretty accurate and scientific!

3. I've been busy busy busy! Work has been super busy for me and I've been out of town a lot on the weekends. I've been out of town the past two weekends and I'll be out of town for the next two weekends too! Then I'll have one weekend at home and then I'll be out of town again (for Thanksgiving)....WOW. I've been having a TON of fun every weekend but not being at home for the weekends does mean that I tend to get behind on things and my life becomes hectic. I really need my weekends to play catch up! So needless to say, I've been behind on EVERYTHING lately and I don't see that changing soon.

4. I am not feeling 100% healthy. Granted, this has only been an issue the past couple of days, but it still counts as a reason why I've been MIA! I'm trying like crazy to fight off whatever this sickness is that I can feel coming on. So far I think I've been beating it by getting lots of vitamin C, drinking Airborne in my water, and going to bed early but I'm still just not 100%. Let's hope I can keep fighting it off without getting too sick! This is not a good week to be sick for me....too much going on!

Anyway, thanks for checking in to my blog despite my lack of updates lately. I hope to be inspired to blog about something more interesting than my "excuses" soon but I can't make any promises. :)

New Blog Button

Do you like my new addition to the blog? Scroll down just a bit and look on the right side. It's just after the "About Me" section. Go ahead...don't be afraid.

If you can't find it then I'll make it easy on you:



Do you get it? What do the first letters of the first 4 words spell out? hehe

Found this little gem on a military wife's blog that I stumbled upon today. Click on the button and it will take you there.

Thanks for the great new button, Shay!

Random Rants

I'm bored at work today {which never happens} because my computer got confiscated so the IT department could upgrade it to Vista. What if I don't freaking want to be upgraded to Vista? "You don't have a choice." Fine. Take my freaking computer and I'll just play on a different computer all day since I can only access my files and work email from MY computer. My job pretty much relies on my computer so there's not much I can do today. Hence the blog updating and random ranting. Let's get started:

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Pandora Internet Radio is AWESOME! It's a free internet radio service that caters to your specific taste in music. And I love it.

Unfortunately, it's blocked on our computers at work {bastards}. I mean really, what harm does it do to allow your employees to listen to music on their computers?!? In fact, I would probably get MORE done if I was able to have music playing at my desk.

So a big EFF YOU to the IT peeps that decided it was okay to allow access to FACEBOOK but not to Pandora. Facebook is less distracting than harmless background music...REALLY?!?

Oh and P.S. don't even think about leaving any snarky comments about how I could listen to music on a radio {aka the old fashioned way} because my office is literally a closet that got transformed into an office so I can't get a lick of radio reception in there. And I don't own CD's anymore so that won't work. All my music is on my iPod but I'm not about to go out and spend money on an iPod docking station for my office that would be way too easy for someone to steal. So just stop thinking of alternatives and say it with me: shove it IT department!

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On another note, WTF is up with this whole Balloon Boy drama?! What kind of whack jobs do you have to be to think of such an elaborate {and stupid} plan and then be dumb enough to get CAUGHT. Idiots! Throw the parents into jail and get those kids some therapy STAT.

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The Biggest Loser is on tonight and I'm super excited about it!!! It's one of the only shows that I still get excited about watching. So inspiring and fascinating to watch them drop crazy amounts of weight every week.

{I really really really hope Tracy gets the boot tonight. What a crazy b!tch!}

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Wow this post sure did live up to it's "Random" title. haha.

Playing Dress Up

Last night I attended a Mary Kay party at my good friend Kate's house. It was lots of fun and I purchased some new makeup that I'm super excited about! While we were there, the Mary Kay consultant told us that the Mary Kay website has a feature where you can give yourself a virtual makeover.

So today, as I was avoiding edging the lawn {one of my most hated husband jobs}, I checked it out. And I got totally addicted! I have always loved playing dress up and apparently I'm still a little girl at heart. :)

All you have to do is upload a picture of your face and then you can go to town with hair, makeup, and even accessories. Here is one of my looks that I put together:
I was especially enjoying playing with the different hair styles since I've been debating on cutting my long hair lately. Hmmmm....still can't decide! What do you think? Should I cut my hair like that?

Oh and if you're interested, here's what I purchased:

Limited Edition Loose Eye Shadow in Lilac Lace

Creme Lipstick in Whipped Berries

Mineral Bronzing Powder in Desert Sun

Full Coverage Foundation in Ivory 200





Mineral Powder Foundation in Ivory 2




Concealer in Ivory 1 {this stuff is so much better than the drugstore concealer I had been using.}

Columbus Day To-Do List {ROUNDUP}

Wow!! This whole accountability thing really works! I got a ton of stuff done today. List items in green were accomplished, red were not accomplished.

Columbus Day To-Do List {ROUNDUP}:

-Do dishes and put away
-Wipe down countertops and sink
-Clean out fridge and wipe down (it's been a while) -- Only halfway did this one. Cleaned out old food and such but didn't get a chance to wipe it down.
-Sweep all floors (kitchen, living room, bathrooms)
-Mop all floors (kitchen, living room, bathrooms)
-Pick up bedroom clutter and put away
-Vacuum all carpet and rugs (kitchen, living room & bedroom)
-Do Laundry (wash, dry, fold & put away)
-Paint toe nails (they need it badly!!)
-Grocery shop -- Ran out of time for this but that's okay. It wont hurt me to have to eat out of my pantry for a day or two til I can make it.
-Work out at the gym for 1 hour -- I did a Body Pump class. My arm muscles are quivering as I type this.
-Mow lawn (it's been raining all weekend so I don't think the grass is going to dry out enough for me to get this one done but we will see!) -- The grass never dried out enough.

Here are some photos for your enjoyment. I should probably be embarrassed by some of these but I'm just keepin' it real here, people!

Before {look familiar?}

After

Before...embarrassing! {Excuse the lazy dog}

After...so zen. And the dog still hasn't moved...ha!



Before...holy clutter, Batman!


After

I hate folding laundry...but I did it. Go me!

Not my best paint job ever but I was in a hurry to get to the other items on the list! {I just realized that my white skin and the dark toenails almost look like something out of a horror movie...lovely.}

I just have to share this comment that was left on my original to-do list post. It was from "anonymous" so whoever you are, thanks for the laugh!

Anonymous said...

Cleaning lady $60
Yard guy $25
Pedicure $30

Having all day to work out and stop at the grocery on the way home...priceless.