Catching Up

Sunny informed me last night that I was way behind on my blog...so it's good to know I've been missed! :)

March 18-21 we went with Lee's family to Snowshoe, West Virginia to go skiing. I took my camera, but of course, I didn't take any pictures. His brother's girlfriend is better at taking pictures than I am, so she got one of us and put it on facebook for me...so here's the picture of us on the slopes:

I had been skiing with them before a few years, but they've all been skiing since they were like two, and that was my first time, and I got frustrated (and scared, I'll admit it) and quit. We went last year but I didn't ski. This year I told Lee I'd ski as long as he let me stay on the bunny slope the whole time, and he did and I was happy :) Also, I think it's worth mentioning that last year we got stuck on the side of a mountain in the snow. We were following his dad but he had gotten a little bit ahead of us, and we had no cell phone service so we couldn't get in touch with him to turn around. We were in a Honda Accord and not at all equipped for snow. It was really scary. Finally some guy came by and pulled us out. I'm happy to report that this year there was no getting stuck :)

We got home late last Sunday afternoon and washed clothes, watched The Celebrity Apprentice and went to bed! We were sooo tired!

This week the weather FINALLY started getting warmer. I love Springtime, but my allergies do not. I felt pretty bad all week long. Lee is pretty much the best husband ever for putting up with me last week. I was just a mess.

I'm finally feeling better today and have spent most of the day cleaning the house since it was pretty much neglected all week. I guess at some point this week I'll get out in the yard and pull some weeds. The TruGreen man came knocking on the door Friday afternoon asking if we wanted them to do our yard. I'm sure he went to almost everybody's house, but it still made me feel bad when he knelt down, touched some of the weeds in the yard, and said on their first service they'd get rid of our weeds for us!

Getting to Know You!

Happy Sunday! Time for some Getting to Know You with Keely!

1. What's your favorite Easter candy?
I don't think they're technically Easter candy, but Starburst jelly beans! They sell them all year, but Easter's just about the only time I eat them for some reason. I had my first bag since about this time last year this week. A close second is Reese's eggs...mmm
2. Who do you think is cleaner..men or women?
Women for sure...but some of the things I experienced when I lived in the dorm my freshman year of college made me wonder for a little while...girls can definitely be gross sometimes too!
3. Which do you prefer..wordy blog posts or ones with pictures?
I don't discriminate...I love them both!
4. Were you popular in highschool?
I mean...I don't think I was unpopular
5. What's your bra size?
C
6. How many states have you lived in?
Alabama and Tennessee (only for a year)...if I ever leave Alabama again it'll have to be for the beach
7. What's one blog you read every day?
She doesn't post every day, but I love Amanda's blog...when she does post I'm all over it! I just think she's awesome
8. Peanut butter or Nutella?
I've never actually tried Nutella...we had it for a little while because Lee liked it, but I never tasted it

I hope everybody has a good week! I've got a short work week coming up...I'm pretty excited!

In Ten Years...

Kendra tagged me to play the 10 year game!

Here are the rules:
Post where you want to be in 10 years
Pass along to ten of your bloggy friends

So here goes...

In ten years...

I will be 35...yeah...moving on now...

I hope to have a master's degree (more on that another day)

I hope to be in a job I love (more on that later, too!)

I hope to have made at least one person's life better just by being in it

I hope to have no debt...except probably a house payment

I hope to have a child or two

I hope I'm healthy and happy, and I hope my family and friends (including all of you!!) are too

Since I'm such a rule-breaker, I'm not going to tag 10 people! Because I'm still getting to know all my new blog friends, I want everybody who hasn't played yet to play along! Please leave a comment and let me know if you played!

Getting to Know You!

Getting to Know You time with Keely!! :)

1. Are you more of a talker or a listener?
I like to think I'm a pretty good listener...I can be a talker sometimes though, especially when you get me around all my best friends...and if I'm drinking!

2. Bra. Underwire or wireless?
Definitely underwire

3. I wish I was.....?
Sunny took my answer! Haha! I WOULD like to be a little bit taller though, seriously!

4. The Academy Awards are on tonight..will you watch?
I'll turn it on...I don't know how much I'll actually watch though.

5. Do you put your deodorant on before or after you get dressed?
After...I've tried it both ways, and it seems like I'm better at not getting it on my clothes if I do it after.

6. Would you rather do the dishes or clean toilets?
Dishes. See my post from yesterday...I DETEST cleaning bathrooms! (And apparently I'm pretty bad at it, too, because it doesn't even look like my shower's been cleaned at all...sad)

7. How much did you weigh at birth?
Like 5 and a half pounds, I think? Something like that. A pretty good size for a twin!

8. If you could only buy one thing for the Spring/Summer season..what would it be?
A comfortable cotton dress! I just love them so much! I've seen some really cute ones at Target this season, but so far I've only bought this one from Maurices:
I haven't had a chance to wear it yet, though, because it's been so cold! But yeah, those kinds of dresses are my FAVORITE!

I'm off to the gym now (I've talked myself in and out of going about seven times now, so I'm going to go before I change my mind again!) Then, we had a change of plans last night and went to eat at Joe's Crab Shack instead (where we had the most awkward waiter who thought it was appropriate to tell us how much money he makes a year???), so we're grilling tonight! Mmm!

Spring Fever!

This weather is giving me some serious Spring Fever! The thermometer on my back porch says it it 70 degrees right now! It's warm and the sun is shining and that makes me happy!

In honor of the nice weather, today I did a *little* Spring Cleaning! This morning I went to the gym, tanned and did some laundy (holla Jersey Shore...gym tan and laundry!)...still doing the laundry...it never ends :( Then I cleaned the living room and finally tackled the bathroom. I HATE cleaning the bathroom. We've done a pretty good job keeping the living room clean here lately so really all I needed to do was dust and vacuum (and Lee vacuumed for me b/c he's sweet), but the bathroom is a whole other monster. I just CANNOT keep the shower clean no matter how hard I try. I know I should really just clean it more often so it doesn't get that bad, but it's really hard to make myself do that! BUT I'm pretty much finished now, and it looks pretty good. I may organize the linen closet in there tomorrow and then it will be REALLY clean...until about a week from now and it's all messy again!

In a little while we're going to take the dogs for a walk around the neighborhood, then we're grilling some hamburgers tonight. It's perfect grilling weather!

Geeze I hope it doesn't get cold again!!

Getting to Know You!

How do Sunday afternoons get here so fast?? I'm watching the Olympics gold medal hockey game--USA just scored and tied it up!--and thought I'd play the Getting to Know You with Keely for this week!

1. Would you rather bungee jump or sky dive?
Neither! Those both sound really really scary to me! But if I HAD to choose I'd probably pick bungee jumping...you don't have to remember to open a parachute or anything like that when you bungee jump, do you?
2. When using a public restroom to you squat over the seat or sit?
Definitely squat
3. Favorite flower?
Daisies! I've always loved them and Lee got them for me the night he proposed :) I really like orchids, too
4. Pedicure or manicure?
Pedicure I guess...I don't get either done professionally very often though
5. How many siblings do you have?
I won't count in-laws because I have kind-of a lot now. But I have a twin sister, a brother and another sister
6. Do you pee in the shower? (gasp!)
No.
7. Bikini, tankini, or one piece?
Bikini, probably shouldn't, but I do
8. Where do you hate to shop at, but go there anyway?
Wal-Mart. I hate Wal-Mart for so many reasons, but sometimes there's just no way around it. I pretty much have quit going, though. I really don't even remember the last time I went.

That's it for today! I hope everybody had a good weekend!

Rest in Peace, Rajaan

If you know much about me, you know that I love Alabama football. But when it comes down to it, I am really a fan of the SEC and *most* of the time I want all SEC teams to do well. (There are a few exceptions but that’s not the point of this post). I read the SEC blog on ESPN.com everyday, and I found an article today that literally made me cry at my desk at work.

Rajaan Bennett was an 18-year-old from Powder Springs, Georgia, who was shot and killed in an apparent murder-suicide on February 18. He had just accepted a full scholarship to Vanderbilt University.

From what I’ve read about him, he was quite a guy. His father was killed in a car accident when he was 10, and after that he became the man of the house and helped his mom take care of his special needs brother. You can read the article on the SEC blog here or CNN’s article here. I won’t get into it too much because I think you should read the articles, but even if you don’t read the articles, please at least read the essay he wrote the week before he was killed (taken from the SEC blog on ESPN.com):

"Strength"
by Rajaan Bennett
Somebody once told me that, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13). Life hasn't been a walk in the park for me, but I'm thankful for the obstacles, hardships, and accomplishments that GOD has provided for me. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be the Rajaan Bennett that you know today. I wouldn't have things any other way.

Strength is the ability to do or bear things in the state of being strong.

In the year of 2000, I moved from the streets of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, to the suburbs of Powder Springs, Georgia. A year later, my dad died in a horrible car wreck, and as a ten year-old, I knew he wasn't coming back. This tragedy rattled me to the core. I felt as if there was no need for me to live. I wanted to be as happy as the kids with dads and moms.

Some days I would wonder - why me? But eventually, I realized that it was my turn to become a man. As I became older, I came to notice that in life you use strength as a blanket to protect you from this cold world.

I am the oldest of 3 and I have a brother with special needs who I have to take care of. I have to balance school, sports, friends, and family - and it gets so hard, but I push myself. I push myself like a sprinter who is neck and neck with an opponent with 10 meters left. With the strength that I posses, I feel like I'm Hercules.

I matured faster than all of my friends - and there will never be a time that I will give up. I may complain, I may refuse, and I may even cry about it, but I know I have to do what I have to do.

I work hard at whatever I do - just for that man upstairs to smile down on me with the rays of the sun ...and they feel so warm. My drive cannot be stopped or even slowed down, because every obstacle has a way around it. Every day I become stronger from the weights physically, the books mentally, and life emotionally.

There is no limit to my strength and at the end of the day, I want to be known as the strongest.