Presidents Day Weekend

We've had a busy and fun Presidents Day weekend!

Friday night our cousin Lauren and her husband John came to town to stay with us and go see Wicked! I've wanted to see Wicked for years (we had tickets a few years ago when we lived in Memphis but we ended up moving that weekend instead) so I was extremely excited when I found out it was coming to Birmingham! It was so good!!

Saturday morning we got up and rode with Lauren and John down to the beach for Lee's (and Lauren's) grandfather's 80th birthday party. The party wasn't until Sunday so we just got to hang out with everybody Saturday night. It was a lot of fun :) 

Sunday we had the birthday party at a camp on the lake. Here's a picture I stole from my sister-in-law's facebook:

(I've decided that our next house is gonna have to be on the lake. Lauren and John live on the lake so Sunday morning I got up and enjoyed the view while I worked on a little bit of homework. The view made even homework more enjoyable.)

We got home around 8:30 last night, then today I went to Anniston to pick up our puppies from Lee's mom. She had had them since Wednesday so I was so happy to see them!

Ellie was quick to get back to her normal napping spot--in the closet under Lee's shirts!

I love spending time with our families :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!  We don't really have any plans tonight, too much homework! :( Lee is gonna cook steak so I'm excited about that. It's been SO LONG since I've had a good steak!

10 pound challenge update

This is the 4th week of the 10-pound challenge and I've lost four pounds, so I feel like I'm on track :)


I haven't done as well with my exercise as I had hoped, but I'm hoping now that I'm in more of a routine with school and everything I'll be able to work it in more.  And I am on my feet all day every day, so that probably helps a little.


I'm planning to step up my diet a little this week and really start counting my calories. The past few weeks I've just been trying to eat more fruit and watch my portions, but this week I'm going to start keeping track of what I'm eating.


I'm happy with the rate I'm losing weight, and hopefully I'll be able to keep it up for the next few weeks!

Little Update

Life has gotten kind of crazy again! I'm going to do a quick update today of everything that's been going on.

• School has been taking up most of my time lately. I'm still loving my cooperating teacher and 5th graders I'm with for my internship. I was nervous about 5th grade but I adore these kids, and my cooperating teacher is amazing. She's so helpful and fun to work with. I'm in my 10 consecutive days of full-time teaching right now, and it was overwhelming at first but I feel like I'm getting in the swing of it now. My last day in this class will be March 2, then I'll move to a 2nd grade class at the same school.

• I'm doing pretty well on the ten-pound challenge. I know I haven't updated like I said I would, but I'll update about it tomorrow :) 

• Last weekend we went to Lee's grandmother's house. She lives in the country so we decided to take the gun and shoot. Lee loves that thing!

me shooting

Lee coaching his mom

Lee shooting

That's pretty much all that's been going on with us lately. I haven't had time to read as much as I'd like :( I FINALLY got Mindy Kaling's book on epub from the library and didn't even have time to finish it before they took it away from me :(  Sad. I was liking it, just didn't have time to read for fun.

Book Club Friday 1.27.12

Happy Friday!  I'm linking up again this week with Book Club Friday.

This week I'm reviewing Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan.

Here's the summary from Goodreads:
One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, two teens—both named Will Grayson—are about to cross paths. As their worlds collide and intertwine, the Will Graysons find their lives going in new and unexpected directions, building toward romantic turns-of-heart and the epic production of history’s most fabulous high school musical.

Hilarious, poignant, and deeply insightful, John Green and David Levithan’s collaborative novel is brimming with a double helping of the heart and humor that have won both them both legions of faithful fans.

Lauren reviewed this book on her blog and she loved it, so I decided to check it out.  [Lauren introduced me and Lee to The Hunger Games, so yeah, I trust her judgment!]

I loved this book!  It was really easy to read [I started reading it on Friday and finished it on Sunday] and I thought it had such a good message about all relationships: romantic, friendship, family, pretty much everything.  It's funny and a little sad at times, and I felt like part of me could identify with all the main characters.

I'll definitely be looking for more books by these authors.   

Oh, How Pinteresting

I've really been trying to cut back on my time on pinterest. But I check it a lot looking for ideas for school and it sucks me in every. single. time! I keep finding things to add to my to-do list even though I don't have time for what's already on the list!

Here's what I've been wasting my time with this week:

It's funny because it's true

via

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cookies...I'm gonna have to make these really soon...definitely won't help with the 10-pound Challenge...

via

I really want to do this to the mirrors in our bathrooms

via

White queso dip

via

And an outfit...I'm just gonna have to find that top for a good bit cheaper!

via

10-pound Challenge Week 1

I didn't start off the 10-pound challenge as strong as I hoped I would. I didn't lose any weight...but I didn't gain any either.

I did exercise 5 days this week, so that was good.  Wednesday and Friday were my off days because I wasn't feeling too great.  I mainly did the 30-Day Shred and a little jogging.  It was cold and rainy most of the week so it was hard to get motivated to get outside and jog.

I didn't do as well with my eating.  My friend moved to Nashville this weekend, so she came over Monday night to hang out for a little while and we decided to go get ice cream.  Horrible decision, I know, but ice cream is kind of our thing. We just had to go one last time!  I felt like I spent the rest of the week making up for that decision.  I drank two Diet Cokes two days this week, but every other day I just drank one.  I'm really working on that.  But I did drink at least six glasses of water every day :)

I definitely didn't do as well as I had hoped, but it wasn't a TERRIBLE start.  I know what mistakes I made and what I need to correct this week.

My goals for this week are to continue drinking six glasses of water a day, only ONE Diet Coke a day, exercise five days again, and to eat fruit with my sandwich at lunch instead of Chex Mix [I do love my Chex Mix though!]