Peace out, 2011

I can't believe it's almost 2012.  I can't believe how fast 2011 has gone.  It was an eventful year with Lee and me in school, the awful tornadoes in April, my awesome job over the summer, and spending time with our families over the holidays.


It has definitely had its ups and downs, and I'm excited about a new year!


There are lots of things I hope to do in 2012:

• Get a JOB!  A teaching job preferably, since that's why I've been in school for the past year and a half!
• Get new bedroom furniture.  The stuff we have now is a mixture of the stuff Lee and I had in college.  It's all pretty nice furniture, but it doesn't really go together at all.  We've been married for almost four years, so I think it's about time we got some grown-up bedroom furniture.
• Run a 5k.  I had planned to do that this year, but time just got away from me.  I'm going to start running again today, so hopefully I can run one soon!
• Make some stuff on my Silhouette Cameo Lee got me for my birthday!  I've had it since October and I [shamefully] haven't even taken it out of the box :(  I can't wait to learn to use it, and hopefully I can play with it before I start back to school in January.

I have a few New Year's Resolutions, but they're the boring ones people make all the time like work out more and stick to a budget, so I'm not really going to talk about those!

Christmas 2011

Christmas was BUSY this year!


We got back from the ski trip around 4:30 on the 22nd, then we unloaded the car and went to pick up the dogs from Lee's mom's house [a little over an hour away].  We went to dinner with his mom and sat around and talked for a little while and got back home around 10:30.  We were EXHAUSTED when we got home so we went straight to bed.  


The next morning we got up and finished up a little bit of shopping.  I got to Target around 8:30 and I was so glad I went pretty early because there was hardly anybody there.  Lee and I ate a late breakfast at Panera [their cinnamon crunch bagels are amazing] then came home and did our Christmas together.  He did really good this year [as usual]!  He got me an Erin Condren planner, a new camera, a zebra hat for skiing, The Help movie, season 2 of Modern Family, and a couple of other little things that I had wanted :)  I got him some new gloves for skiing [I gave him those early so he could use them on the trip], a new keyboard for his computer, a burger press to make stuffed hamburgers, and some other little things.  It was a good Christmas :)

New hat :)

My parents came to town on the 23rd, so after we opened presents we spent the rest of the day cleaning and wrapping presents.  I didn't wrap one single present before we went skiing, so we had A LOT to do!  Lee helped a lot.  When my parents got here we used Lee's new burger press to make hamburgers and just hung our for the rest of the night. 

On Christmas Eve morning we went to Lee's dad's house for brunch and to open presents with them.  

Lee's dad and stepmom with my parents

Me and Lee

Me and my folks

After we got back from there we went to my sister's house to spend the night.  We did presents with my family that night then watched my nephew open his presents on Christmas morning. 

 Riley with his Nana

 In his new truck

 Me and the hubs

 This one cracks me up...Riley wanted his mommy!

 Seesters

We left my sister's house around 11 on Christmas morning and headed over to Lee's grandmother's house to do Christmas with his mom's side of the family.  We had an awesome lunch and opened presents over there.  We stayed there until late that afternoon then went to his mom's house to open presents with her.  I made her a wreath I saw on Pinterest and I was so excited to give it to her!

Lee's roommate from college was in town for Christmas so later that night we got to hang out with him.  We had not seen him since last Christmas and it was SO good to see him!

We went to lunch with Lee's mom the next day then came back home.  I've spent the last few days trying to get this house back in some sort of order!  Hopefully we can start the new year with a clean, organized house!

2011 Ski Trip

We went on our ski trip the week before Christmas this year. Lee's brother's girlfriend graduated from Alabama on the 17th, and we headed to West Virginia on the 18th. We drove most of the way that day and stayed at a hotel about an hour away. We got up early on the 19th and drove the rest of the way up the mountain.

It hasn't been very cold this year, so there wasn't much snow and a lot of the trails weren't open. I think all the blacks were closed, but that obviously didn't bother me, seeing as how last year was the first year I got off the bunny slope :) 

My ski buddies for most of the trip

I think Lee was disappointed that the "good" trails were closed, but he decided since he couldn't ski those he was going to whip me into shape this year. [His words] I guess he did a pretty good job because this year I learned to buckle my boots all by myself AND I skied a blue trail! Two of them actually!

After I skied my first blue...I was so excited

We got two and a half good days of skiing in before it started raining on our last afternoon.

This is how foggy it was that day

We went night skiing our second night and that was a lot of fun! I didn't get any pictures of that, though :(

Lee said this was the first year he had actually had fun skiing with me. That sounds mean when I type it out, but he just meant that every other year when he's skied with me he had to stay on the greens and go really slow. [I did ski with his parents and stepbrothers on those trips though, so he could ski the "fun stuff" with his brother!] This year he still had to go pretty slow, he just got to go pretty slow on some blue trails too :) I can't wait to go again!

I'm back...for real this time...

Well...

I keep saying I have a blog so I can have memories of everything that's going on in my life, but then everything that's going on keeps me so busy I don't make time to blog about it.

That's going to change.

Now.

I got a new camera for Christmas so hopefully that will encourage me to take more pictures. [Not surprisingly] I had been bad about that too. Now I just have to learn how to use it :)

Here's a picture taken with the new camera on Christmas Day:

Well hey there

It's been just about forever since I've blogged. The whole reason I started a blog was so I would be able to look back one day and remember everything that was going on in my life. The problem is, here lately there's been SO MUCH going on that I haven't had time to blog about it. But I'm going to get better. I'm gonna try to set aside a little bit of time every week to document what's been going on.

School is really tough this semester. Our teachers told us that this semester would be a little better than last semester, but that was inaccurate. It's been way more demanding. But I've only got a few weeks left, so I just have to power through. Then I'll be student teaching next semester :) Lee stays really busy with school too. He has class two nights a week until 10:00, so we haven't seen much of each other this semester. It'll all be worth it in the end, though.

We've had lots of birthdays and other family celebrations to keep us busy pretty much every weekend. Plus it's football season so my Saturdays are all pretty much accounted for. Roll Tide.

Due to the above [and being sick off and on all semester], I have hardly worked out AT ALL this semester. That's about to change. I may not work out for a long time, but I WILL work out at least four days a week. I have the Zumba DVDs and there's a 20-minute workout on there. I can do that.

Yeah...come on Carly...

via

In other news, I got an iphone the other day, and I'm already obsessed with instagram! Here are a couple of pictures I took of our babies:

Spoiled thang

He's pretty ferocious, huh? [He was yawning!]

This is Alabama Football

I'm linking up with Lindsey today for her football link-up! You know I can't pass up a chance to talk about my beloved Crimson Tide :)

{2007 Spring Game...Nick Saban's debut}

I am counting down the days until football season! I'm just now starting to get into professional football, but I have always loved Alabama football. I was born a Bama fan. My older brother and sister both went to Alabama. My life plans were as follows: Graduate high school. Go to The University of Alabama.

{2007 season...Nick Saban's first game with Bama}

So that's what I did. In August of 2002 Sunny [my twin sister] and I packed up and made the move to Tuscaloosa, Alabama. First order of business at orientation: buying football tickets! [Seriously. That's the first thing I remember doing.]

{With Sunny and some of our friends before a 2005 game}

I called myself an Alabama fan up until that point, but my love for Alabama football was nothing then compared to what it is now. I have a confession: I grew up watching Alabama football every week [or listening on the radio if the game wasn't on TV] but I didn't understand the game until I was in 8th grade. I remember watching a game on TV and saying, "Ohhh...I get it!" and then I just understood. We never missed a game on TV, but we didn't get to go to that many games in Tuscaloosa. There's just something about being there that made me absolutely fall in love. Hearing Bear Bryant over the speaker, watching the hype video, hearing "THIS IS ALABAMA FOOTBALL!" Gives me chills!

{2005}

I was in school for the 2002-2006 football seasons. Not good years for the Tide. Three different coaches left or were fired during that time. One never even coached a real game! We didn't beat Auburn a single time during those years. [If you don't know, the Alabama/Auburn rivalry is HUGE around here. We talk about that game all year. You're one or the other. You're not a fan of both.] A few weeks after I graduated, we hired our current coach, Nick Saban. He came in and turned the program around.

{After the 2009 SEC Championship Game}

We went undefeated and won the National Championship in 2010. Lee and I weren't able to go to that game, but we did get to go to the SEC Championship that year. You can read about that here.

As bad as it hurt for Auburn to win the National Championship last year, it's pretty awesome that the state of Alabama had back to back National Champions. I'm just hoping we can bring that championship back to Tuscaloosa after this season!

I've been through some really good seasons and some really bad seasons, and one thing that has never changed is my love for the Alabama Crimson Tide :)

The Budget

Lee and I have been on a budget pretty much since we got married. We never did Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University or anything like that, but we did read one of his books. I like a lot of things he says, but there are some things that I don't necessarily agree with. Like credit cards. He doesn't think you should use them at all, but we put EVERYTHING on our credit card. We get points for the dollars spent and then we get gift cards with those points. I can see how some people might get in trouble with credit cards, but we make sure we have the money before we buy anything and we pay off our card every month.

Anyway, since I've been back in school we've been pretty strict on our budget since we're doing without the money I was making. We've been following the budget just to get by without going into even more debt than my student loans are going to bring. I knew the student loan debt would be a lot, but I was talking to my mom the other day and realized it was going to be a WHOLE lot. I really already knew that, but I had been trying to not think about it too much.

I was a little depressed for a little while, but now I've decided it's a good thing because it's got me really motivated to really stick to the budget and cut back where we can. I really want to figure out how we can cut back in ALL the areas of our budget.

I'm going to start setting a few goals at the beginning of every month and then report back on how we did. I'm also going to start writing about any really good deals I find or other ways I've found to save/earn money.

August goals:

• Keep our grocery budget below $250 (I mean really, there are only two of us, shouldn't be too hard
• Pay at least $50 extra on the car payment
• Get back into couponing (I had been doing pretty well...not extreme by any means, but I was definitely saving money...and then I just kinda quit)

That's it for the August goals...I figured I'd keep it pretty simple since this is the first month I'm doing this :)

Seven Years Ago Today...

...I was moving into my crappy apartment on the third floor of Preston Place

...I was excited to be living with my sister and best friend

...It was ridiculously hot [kinda like it is today]

...The air conditioner in the apartment wasn't working

...I met the boy that would become my husband ♥

This is one of the oldest pictures of us I could find this morning...I think this was our first Christmas together

I love you, Lee!

Finished

I am finally finished with my summer class! I had a paper due at midnight tonight but I went ahead and finished it yesterday! It was so hard to get motivated, but we're having a family party at our house tomorrow so I need to spend all day today cleaning up. It's such a relief to be finished! The class wasn't that bad, and I really like the teacher, but it's nice to have a few weeks without that hanging over my head :)

So now my plans for the rest of the summer are to finally finish Harry Potter [I'm about halfway through the last book and I should finish this weekend] and read as many other books as I can before school starts back. I'm taking the Praxis in a few weeks so I'll study for that too, but that shouldn't be too bad.

I'm really going to try to take a lot of pictures at the party tomorrow night and post those next week!

Oh, How Pinteresting!

Happy Wednesday! I'm linking up with The Vintage Apple this week for Oh, How Pinteresting! These are some of my favorite quotes I've found on Pinterest recently. I posted some of my other favorites here.

Source: tumblr.com via Julie on Pinterest

Source: wherewomencreate.typepad.com via Sarah Marie on Pinterest

Source: makemestfu.net via Kristin on Pinterest

Source: ilovecharola.tumblr.com via Carly on Pinterest

Ruth's Chris

My father-in-law's birthday was Thursday [the big 5-0!], so to celebrate, HE took US to Ruth's Chris last night! Pretty sweet! We went there for his birthday last year, and I am loving this birthday tradition! There were a lot of us, so we got our own little room :)

Clyde with all his kids [the light was really bad but this is the best pic I got]


Me and Lee, happy after eating our delicious steak

I always get the same thing when we go: the ribeye. It never disappoints. I could only eat about half of it though, so Lee had the rest of it for lunch today :) And their sweet potatoes are AMAZING!

Happy Birthday, Clyde!

Book Club Friday: Children's Book

Happy Friday! Since I'm working my way through the Harry Potter books right now and those really don't need a review, I wanted to post about one of my favorite children's books:

You Are Special by Max Lucado

Have you read this book? It is so sweet! The message is basically that you are special and important to God no matter what others think about you.

My Children's Literature teacher read it to our class last semester and I teared up in class. It's such a sweet, important message.

I bought this book the other day as part of a two-year-old's birthday present. I don't think it's ever to early to start letting him know how special he is :)

It's a children's book but I think I'm going to have to get a copy for myself!

HIMYM Wisdom

Today I've got another piece of wisdom from How I Met Your Mother. If you're not watching this show, please do. It comes on lifetime and the CW all. the. time. And I think another channel too, but I can't remember which one. I'm not even watching them when they air the first time...Lee is really weird about watching TV shows in order, but anyway...

This quote is from "Happily Ever After" from Season 4.
Kids, you may think your only choices are to swallow your anger or throw it in someone's face, but there's a third option: You can just let it go, and only when you do that is it really gone and you can move forward.

That really stuck with me. Just let it go. People are gonna do things all the time to upset you or make you mad, and sometimes it might actually be best to go with one of the first two options. But sometimes you just need to let it go.

Just let it go and move on.

What I'm Loving

Happy Wednesday! I'm linking up with Jamie again this week for What I'm Loving Wednesday!

I'm loving that I got to see my old roommate/best friend on the Fourth of July!

{This is us at her bachelorette party back in 2007}

Life has been crazy for us over the past year or so...especially for her, she's been dealing with a lot...and we haven't gotten to see each other much. I was so happy to get to see her Monday. She had a baby in January and I got to meet him too! It was such a good time. I think things are starting to slow down now so hopefully we can see each other more!

I'm loving that I'm finally reading the Harry Potter books. I know I'm so far behind on this, but what are you gonna do? I finished the third one this morning and it was SO GOOD. I liked the first two okay, but I LOVED the third one. I'll be starting the fourth one this afternoon :)

Speaking of books, I'm loving that I won a First Reads giveaway on Goodreads this morning! I never win giveaways! I just set up my account this weekend and I'm still trying to figure out what I'm doing, but I think once I get it figured out I'll really like it! If you're on Goodreads you can find me here. I'm always looking for new books to read!

I'm loving Pretty Little Liars!
I didn't watch when it first came on, so I missed the first several episodes of the very first season, but now I'm hooked. I never miss it.

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy Fourth of July!

{via}

We had lots of fireworks in our neighborhood last night! The people about two houses down from us set off a lot. It was really pretty but Ellie was scared to death! I thought her little heart might explode! She couldn't get close enough to me and Lee. She's always liked to be held, but she's never wanted to be held like this before:

I don't think she's a fan of the holiday!

Three-Dollar Date Night

Lee and I had a fun, cheap date night last night! We've pretty much already spent all of "fun" money we had budgeted for July so we have to be pretty frugal this month.

We made sandwiches and headed out to the park for a little picnic. That part was kind of a fail, though, because there were SO MANY flies! I had to scarf down my sandwich so the flies wouldn't land on it! This was our company while we were eating:
After we finished eating we walked around the lake for a little while. These little ducks were just walking across the street like it was nothing! I thought it was funny!
After we left the park we went to Target and got a couple of popcorns, then came home and watched a movie that we got from Redbox. [We watched No Strings Attached...I wasn't that impressed]

So we paid about $2 for the popcorn and $1 for the movie. Plus we got a thing for a free Redbox rental next time! Pretty fun little cheap date night :)

Book Club Friday!

Happy July! I'm linking up again this week for Book Club Friday!

This week I finished Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella.
I was at the library looking for something light and fun to read while I was working at the pool, and this one looked cute.

Here's the synopsis from Goodreads:
When twenty-eight-year-old Lexi Smart wakes up in a London hospital, she’s in for a big surprise. Her teeth are perfect. Her body is toned. Her handbag is Vuitton. Having survived a car accident—in a Mercedes no less—Lexi has lost a big chunk of her memory, three years to be exact, and she’s about to find out just how much things have changed.

Somehow Lexi went from a twenty-five-year-old working girl to a corporate big shot with a sleek new loft, a personal assistant, a carb-free diet, and a set of glamorous new friends. And who is this gorgeous husband—who also happens to be a multimillionaire? With her mind still stuck three years in reverse, Lexi greets this brave new world determined to be the person she…well, seems to be. That is, until an adorably disheveled architect drops the biggest bombshell of all.

Suddenly Lexi is scrambling to catch her balance. Her new life, it turns out, comes complete with secrets, schemes, and intrigue. How on earth did all this happen? Will she ever remember? And what will happen when she does?

With the same wicked humor and delicious charm that have won her millions of devoted fans, Sophie Kinsella, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Shopaholic & Baby, returns with an irresistible new novel and a fresh new heroine who finds herself in a life-changing and utterly hilarious predicament…

I never really got in to the Shopaholic books, so I didn't know if I'd like this one or not. It was pretty cute, though. It won't be topping my favorite books list or anything, but I did enjoy it. It was definitely a good "sit by the pool and relax" kinda book :)

Now I'm trying to get through all the Harry Potter books...I want to read them all and then go see the last movie in the theater. I realize it comes out in two weeks, but Lee challenged me and I obviously accepted. I'm on the second book now and plan to have at least the third one finished by the end of the weekend!

This Summer I Will...

...read Harry Potter...all of them...I know I'm horribly late getting on that bandwagon, but whatever. I've read the first one before, but it was a long time ago, so I'm going to read it again. I'm starting them tonight.


...lose 10 pounds...4 down, 6 to go

...cook a lot, and freeze a lot of meals for us. That way when I go back to school in the fall I can just pop something in the oven when I get home at night instead of eating sandwiches or Zaxby's every day

...get a good tan...which should be easy since my job is to sit at the pool

...run a 5k...I started the Couch to 5k [again] back in January, so obviously I should have finished it a long time ago, but with everything that happened in the spring semester I got a little behind. I kept at it though, and I'm about to start the final week! I've found a few 5k's pretty close to my house so now I just have to decide which one to do!

What are your plans for the summer?

Word

I love Pinterest. I could spend hours on there every day just browsing. One of my favorite things to do is look at the prints to find quotes that I like. I put my favorites on a board called "Word." Here are some of my favorites from that board:

{Just Be Nice}

{The only person you can control is yourself}

{We all have flaws, but we all have awesome parts too}

{I need to remind myself of this when I get in one of my irrational moods}

{This is one of my all-time favorites}

{To me, ice cream=happiness}

Let me know if you want an invite to Pinterest!