Homemade Acai Bowl

Hi friends! Happy Thursday.

I've felt completely exhausted all week and I'm just starting to feel like myself again today. All the Easter planning and prep took a lot out of me for some reason and I've spent most of my free time this week getting our house back to normal and sleeping as much as possible.

I cannot wait to fill you in on Easter and share some photos from our day, but for now, all I can say is that it was absolutely perfect. We ended up with about 40 family and friends in our home and I can't begin to tell you how much joy and love I felt having so many of our loved ones in one place. I tend to go overboard with crafting and planning this brunch but when it comes, I am in awe when I see it all come together and it is so worth it. Remind me to come back and read this next year when I'm up  baking at 1 a.m. the night before Easter. 

I will share all the fun once I have a chance to upload our photos and whatnot, but for now, I'm just glad to be making an appearance here this week. My sister and the kids are still visiting but they've been at my parents for a few days. They'll be staying with us tonight and tomorrow and I'm meeting up with them a little later this morning at Downtown Disney.

For now, I'm enjoying a quiet Thursday morning at home and it sure feels good. I'm also treating myself to another acai bowl, so I figured now would be a good time to tell you how I make this bowl of cool, crunchy goodness.

Before I get to it, I should tell you that when I was looking to make this for the first time, I found lots of different suggestions on how much of everything to put in here. This happens to be how I like to make it, but you can mess with the amounts until you get it to your liking.

As far as the main ingredients go, it's easy peasy!

Ingredients:

• 1 Acai Superfruit Pack (I found these in the frozen food section of Publix but I've heard they can be found at Trader Joe's and similar stores as well)
• 1/4 cup of almond milk (I think you can skip this or replace with protein powder or whatever mix-in you prefer!)
• 3/4 cup frozen fruit (can be anything - bananas, peaches, strawberries, mango, blueberries)
• 1/2 cup granola
• fresh fruit for topping
• flax seeds, chia seeds, almonds, pecans for topping (completely optional but I used flax seeds on mine)

Instructions:

1. Put acai pack, almond milk and frozen fruit in blender and blend. You want the acai base to be blended but thick enough that you have to scoop it out. (Too thin: add more frozen fruit, too thick: add more milk)

2. When you get to your desired consistency, put the mixture into a bowl and top with granola, fresh fruit and other toppings.

3. Enjoy!

See, I told you this was super easy to make. The best part is you can really make this however you want. You can skip the milk or if you're like me and love yourself some granola, you can add more granola or switch up the toppings depending on what you have at home. It's a wonderful thing.

Seriously, I'm thinking I may need to treat myself to one of these at least once a week because I can't help but feel like one of these adds a little something special into my day. On that note, I better get on with this day. I hope you all have a happy Thursday!

Have you experienced the deliciousness of acai bowls yet? What are your tips for making them at home?

Weekend Snapshots

Happy Tuesday! Just popping in to share a few snapshots from our weekend.

I've been suffering from major baking withdrawals so on Saturday, I picked up a bag of pretty spring M&Ms and baked my heart out. This is my all time favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe because they always come out perfectly soft. The only problem is that I can't resist sneaking one of these babies every now and then so I've been bringing a bag of cookies everywhere I go to get rid of them!

Jonathan promised he would help my sister and her boyfriend re-landscape the lawn in their new house so on Sunday, we all met up at the nursery to pick out a few plants for them. Let me tell you, this was a great place to be first thing on a Sunday morning. The sun was out and I was a happy girl wandering around looking at the beautiful plants and flowers. 

We wrapped up our weekend with a quick shopping trip to find the perfect sunburst mirror to finish off our front entry table makeover. I thought I had found the one at World Market, but we popped into Kirkland just to be sure and we laid our eyes on this beautiful piece of work and knew it was the one. I've been promising some home makeover photos but we still have a few small things to finish up before I share those. In the meantime, I can't hold back on you guys when it comes to our entry table makeover. I need to see if I snapped a before picture of this because this whole space has been so completely transformed. It's brighter and more welcoming with a few pops of color -- it's exactly what I envisioned! It was fun (and a little bit tricky) to decide what pieces to include but I think we've got a good balance now.



Tell me -

• Did you do anything this weekend to celebrate the arrival of Spring? 
• What are your tips for the perfect entryway decor?

Weekend in Photos

Happy Monday! It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas in our house and after this weekend, we now have the most adorable Christmas tree in our living room! Here's what else we were up to this weekend:

Saturday morning my momma and I had our hair and makeup trials for the wedding. It was the most perfect mother/daughter time and we were sooooo happy with the results. Side note: this will not be how my hair is for the wedding. I obviously couldn't have Jonathan see the actual style so I had them take it down before I left. After our appointments, we met up with my sisters and brother for a super fun lunch, then did a little shopping. It was SUCH a great day.

Later that night, I was looking so fab that I told Jonathan we just needed to head out on the town to take advantage of my fancy hair and makeup. We went out for a few drinks, just the two of us and it was wonderful. After a few drinks, we headed home to camp out on the floor and watch Elf. I may have spilled red wine on our beautiful carpet less than 3 minutes into the movie and we both proceeded to pass out not even 30 minutes in. This was a perfect night and I have zero photos to prove it which is totally okay with me.

Sunday we overslept quite a bit but were able to watch church online. After that, we pulled ourselves together and headed out to run what felt like a thousand errands. We had gotten a Bath & Body Works gift card from Jonathan's aunt and uncle, so first we headed to the mall to stock up on soaps and whatnot for the house. About 30 minutes and one $50 gift card later, it was safe to say we wouldn't need to buy soap for our house or any goodies for our guest bathroom for quite a while.

Funny story: We sent this photo to Jonathan's aunt to thank them for the gift card and show her all the awesome goodies we bought. She responded saying she thought she had gotten us a Bed, Bath & Beyond gift card...oops! Either way, we were able to put it to good use and this made me laugh because Jonathan originally thought what they gave us what a gift card for BB&B!

Our next stop was Target to buy some Christmas ornaments and some lights. Also on our list: Santa hats. Reason #64,503 I'm marrying the perfect man for me: When I broke the news to him that it is really important to me that we wear Santa hats while shopping for and decorating our Christmas tree, he said "Absolutely I always do that!" It only makes sense to follow that up with this photo:

I do have to say shopping for a Christmas tree when it is nearly 90 degrees out isn't exactly ideal, but we live in Orlando, so that's life. After just a few minutes of searching, we found the absolute perfect tree. It's like a lot of things in life, when you've found the right one, you just know. We scooped up our adorable tree and headed on home to decorate! 

But first, we had to visit our neighbors house so Jonathan could show me his chicken coop. Yes, that's correct. My fiance' has recently become obsessed with getting chickens of our own and has been trying to sell me on the idea for weeks. I'm actually not totally against it as long as we  Jonathan builds a nice coop and whatnot. I just don't want chickens running rampant all over our yard because God knows I won't be able to get them under control if they try to run away. So yeah, our neighbor has three chickens and Jonathan was dying for me go see what was going on over there.

First of all, they have three chickens and call them "The Dixie Chicks" which I just love. I'm starting to come around to the idea seeing as we go through eggs like it's nobody's business in our house, so this would make sense for us. Plus, Jonathan says we would get them really young so we can raise them from little chickies. How cute! Chickens I'm just okay with, but little baby chicks...that I love.

After hanging around the farm our neighbors' for a few minutes, we finally went home to decorate and cook dinner. I can't even tell you how much it melted my heart to watch Jonathan setting up our tree. I was cleaning up the kitchen a bit and preparing dinner and I couldn't help but stop and take in this view.

Once our beautiful tree was finished, we sat down for the most amazing dinner, grilled chicken with the most delightful wedge salad and a glass of red wine. By the time 8 p.m. rolled around, we laid down a bunch of blankets and pillows in the living room and snuggled up for Home Alone next to our first Christmas tree.

Days like yesterday are the days we'll always remember. I'll always remember picking out our first Christmas tree, watching Jonathan string the lights and adjust the tree until it was just perfect, standing there when it was all done with his arm around me "soaking in the moment" and crying the happiest tears because this is all I've ever wanted in my life.

This concludes the longest post in recent history. How was your weekend?

Linking up for Weekend Shenanigans.

it's a new day.

Hi, remember me?

I know it's been pretty quiet around here lately. 

With the wedding less than 4 months away and trying to coordinate the sale of my house, along with moving out of it, the thought of sitting down to blog hasn't been very appealing.

Honestly, I've let it all become too much to handle. My coping skills have gone completely out the window and to make matters worse, Jonathan has been feeling the same way. We are both at our limit right now, that's for sure. He's working 6 days a week and his one day off is typically spent in our wedding prep class, attending some wedding related meeting, making wedding decisions, etc.

Outside of work, my free time has been spent going through my house trying to figure out what to throw away, what I need to put in storage, what I can go ahead and move over to Jonathan's until the wedding, what I am going to bring to my parents' house while I stay with them for the next few months and what to give away. Switching gears from wedding planning, to house packing, to negotiating closing details has just been making my head spin.

We are both keeping things in perspective knowing that all the stress now is for a much greater cause and will be so worth it. We absolutely cannot wait to be married on January 3 and we know that the headache-inducing decisions we are making on what we think are silly things like linens, cups, table sizes, etc., are all going to be so worth the headaches when we are celebrating with our loved ones the day we are married. We know this. We know the sale of my house so quickly is an absolute gift from God. We'll be extra thankful when we come home from our honeymoon and don't have to deal with the stress of selling/renting/moving out of my house. We know this.

That doesn't mean we don't let everything get to us now and again. Our coping skills aren't where they should be because we are just weighed down by everything going on in our lives. There have been so many times lately where I've let a small hiccup get me so upset and worked up. In those moments, it's like I'm watching myself and thinking, "This isn't  you. You're better than this. You don't let things like this get you down. Who are you and what have you done with the optimistic, happy, rainbows and sunshine Amanda you used to be?"

I can recognize that I'm not dealing with things as I should be, that the stress I'm under is making it difficult for me to cope as I normally would. I can also recognize that this doesn't mean I've changed or become someone I didn't want to be. This isn't permanent. I know they'll always be something to stress about and worry is a part of life, but I need to not carry the burden of that stress and worry. I need to have faith and understanding that everything will be okay and my worrying won't make a bit of difference in the outcome.

The good news?  In just a few days, I'll hand over the keys to my house and with it, much of my stress and anxiety will be gone. The stress of being a landlord and friend, the stress of HOA payments, the stress of trying to keep up with the needs of a house I only spend a few days a week at. This will be gone. Sure, you can bet I'll shed a tear over this chapter of my life coming to a close, but that's another post for another day.

I'm really looking forward to the time I'll spend at my parents' house over the next few months, spending the hour or so before bedtime reading or relaxing rather than cleaning out my garage and being able to truly enjoy the final stages of planning our wedding since my focus won't be on my house anymore.

The even better part? This is all leading up to starting the new year marrying the absolute man of my dreams, moving in with him, making his home our home and enjoying life as husband and wife.

What I'm also trying to say here is that I'm back. I want to get back to writing regularly and enjoying it. I'm looking forward to filling you all in on some more wedding details and share everything else I've been up to. I really do love this blog and I'm excited to be able to make this a priority again.

I hope you're all doing well!

Breaking up with bread and other updates.

Hi everyone! I'm still feeling a little too distracted to get back to posting regularly, but I want to share a few updates on wedding planning and life in general.

To add to the stress of planning a wedding in six months, I've been wrapped up the last few days trying to figure out what we are going to do with my house. I bought my lovely townhouse almost 4 years ago and I don't regret it for one second. It has been the perfect first home for me and I've enjoyed my time there making it my own. With that being said, I am so looking forward to moving in with my new husband after our wedding in January. I planned to keep my roommates in my house to at least January and then figure out what we wanted to do with the house after that. Well, life is a funny little thing and things don't always go as planned. Things have changed recently and it's kicked my butt into high gear this week and we are making a decision this week instead. There is a good chance that by the end of this week, there will be a FOR SALE sign in front of my house and I'm feeling surprisingly optimistic about this possibility.

In other news, I recently decided it was time to break up with bread...more specifically, carbs. If you know me in real life, you know bread is my weakness. I can't turn down a dinner roll to save my life. Recently I realized I had been in celebration mode since our engagement on June 29. Cake? Sure, I'll have a piece. Ice cream? Why not? Drinks? Heck yeah.

This had to stop. I mean, our wedding is just a few short months away and I'd really like to feel my best on that day. It's been about two weeks and I've done pretty well at drastically cutting down my carb intake and increasing my exercise, protein, etc. I've lost about 5 pounds, which is pretty satisfying considering I don't have a specific goal other than to feel better, get toned and fit into my clothes a little more comfortably.

Most importantly, I feel great. I'm still treating myself to a yummy snack or dessert once on the weekend, but I feel more in control and better overall now that I've gotten my diet under control.

And because I can't let a Wedding Wednesday go by without an update...

I sat down one night last week after chatting with Jonathan on the phone and felt really inspired to write for some reason. I started writing and next thing I knew, my vows were finished. Yes, we decided pretty quickly that we wanted to write our own vows and I have been a little worried about how I would say everything I wanted to say without being too cheesy, too wordy, too serious, but I am so happy to have them done and I'm so happy with how they turned out. I'm sure I'll make a change here and there over the next few months, but I'm so happy I sat down to write that night! Now I just have to figure out how to say them at our ceremony without being an emotional mess.

We also attended our first marriage prep class at the church last weekend. We absolutely loved and I know it will be something we genuinely look forward to every Sunday for the next 12 weeks.

I've also made my decision on shoes, my veil and my wedding jewelry, so I'll be placing those orders in the next few weeks!

We also sent the agreement for our room block, so I was able to finalize our wedding website and share it with everyone. It's crazy to think of how overwhelmed I was when I went to The Knot to start our website and now all the information we needed on there is complete. I'm pretty psyched!

This weekend, my mom is coming to the appointment with the woman who'll be handling our flowers and I can't wait to start talking about bouquets and whatnot. Jonathan and I are also going to the jeweler to choose our rings on Sunday and I absolutely can't wait for that.

All is well, life is good, we are so blessed. That's all I have to say about that.

Linking up for Wedding Wednesday.

Birthday Weekend Recap & My Birthday List

Happy Monday everyone! I have lots to tell you about after spending the weekend celebrating my 27th birthday and Mother's Day. It was a jam-packed weekend full of family and friends...it was just wonderful. As I do every year, I also have my annual birthday list to share!

First, let me tell you about Saturday. My birthday was on Sunday and not wanting to take away from Mother's Day celebrations, I decided to celebrate on Saturday. Instead of stressing myself out trying to plan a dinner and night out with friends and family, we decided to host a BBQ at Jonathan's house to celebrate my birthday. This way, whoever wanted to come could come and I wouldn't have to stress about making reservations and planning a night out. It was the perfect plan in my book. 

My parents, Jonathan's entire family, my siblings, my best friend, Taryn and tons of our friends showed up and it was such a blast. This was the first time our families were spending some time together and it was also Jonathan's first time meeting my best friend. Most importantly, our families hit it off perfectly and Jonathan and Taryn get along great. Having all of my favorite people in one place made me one happy girl. 

Jonathan gave me the absolute perfect gift...a key to his house. I've been spending most weekends there and have really come to consider it home. Giving me my own key was such a sweet gesture and I couldn't be happier with where we're at in our relationship.

So glad to have my momma there!

Best friend meets boyfriend.

After a long day of celebrating, we were ready for bed.

Sunday, after spending as long as possible snuggling Jonathan, I hit the rode for my parents' house for the day to celebrate Mother's Day. After going to lunch and getting in some quality time with my parents, I headed home to Jonathan's to enjoy the last bit of such a wonderful weekend. I couldn't be happier ending my birthday with a quiet night at home with my love.

And now, I bring you this year's birthday list. If you've been following along for a while, each year I come up with a different birthday list. My 25th birthday was a list of 25 lessons I've learned so far. For my 26th birthday, I came up with a birthday day bucket list. I kind of struggled coming up with a theme this year. I wanted to do 27 random acts of kindness, but didn't really get it planned out in time. I've been thinking a lot about how so many people my age freak out about getting older and it drives me nuts. I still feel so young and still feel like I have so much to learn and look forward to. Because of all this, I've decided to share a list of things I still need to learn. Here goes...I still don't know:

1.    How to dance (hey, just because I love to dance doesn’t mean I am good at it)

2.    My alcohol limits; when I need to stop drinking to avoid being a disaster

3.    CPR

4.    How to use a really nice camera

5.    How to go around making people smile all day and still pay my bills

6.    How to French or fishtail braid my own hair

7.    How to curl my own hair

8.    Okay, just how to do my hair in general

9.    The difference between hungry and bored

10.  How to leave the house without obsessively checking to make sure I turned off the straightener 

11.  How to cook eggs other than scrambled. Sunny side-up, omelets, over-easy, over-hard...I don't know how to do any of this successfully. 

12.  To speak my mind without worrying how people will react

13.  How to change a tire

14.  How to relax

15.  To have more patience 

16.  How to fold a fitted sheet 

17.  How to give a toast without crying

18.  How to argue without getting upset

19.  How to check my oil

20.  How to stop throwing a bunch of random crap in my purse. The other day I had two forks in my purse. Completely unnecessary. 

21.  How to get my dog and Jonathan's cat to get along

22.  How to get Blake more well-trained

23.  How to leave for work without driving back home to make sure I shut the garage door

24.  How to "do" my make up aside from the basic mascara and eye liner I wear most days
25.  How to pack more efficiently. I don't need 12 shirts for one weekend at Jonathan's, honestly.

26.  How to get mad. When I get mad, I just get sad and sometimes that doesn't help.

27.  How to do a cartwheel 

 

I've learned so much about myself and life in the last few years and I know there are still so many lessons to learn. I can't wait to see what wonderful things this year will bring. Cheers to 27 years!

Linking up with Sami for Weekend Shenanigans!

Christmas Snapshots

Hello! I hope you all had a Merry Christmas. The last few days have been absolutely wonderful. I feel relaxed and so completely blessed after being home for Christmas. I'm back at work for 2 days, then off to Jacksonville for a long weekend to see my cousin get married. I really want to update you on the man in my life because things are moving right along, but that will have to wait until tomorrow because I have too much to say. In the meantime, here are a few snapshots of my Christmas -

On Saturday, I spent the day at Disney with Taryn. She was in town for Christmas and Saturday was our only chance to see each other before I headed to my parents'. As always, we had an absolute blast.

Minnie Mouse ears were a must!

My mother and I schedule a day just for baking every Christmas. We did this on Sunday and as always, we had a wonderful day in the kitchen together.

 

I still had a bit of last minute shopping to do on Christmas Eve, so my brother, dad and I braved the crowds (which actually weren't too bad) to finish up. I told them it would absolutely make my day if they wore Santa hats out shopping with me and after putting up a bit of a fight, I walked out that morning and they were both wearing hats. This made me happier than you can imagine.

 

they are such good sports!



It just wouldn't be an occasion if I didn't get a family photo of Blake and I. This is my first Christmas with Blake and he was so adorable playing with all his new toys and playing in the piles of wrapping paper in the living room on Christmas morning. 

 

 

It's safe to estimate that I cried happy tears at least 5 times over the last 2 days. My parents always made Christmas so special growing up, making it less about the gifts and more about being together and appreciating the special time together. This is why I get emotional during the toast at dinner and why I love looking around the living room as we open gifts on Christmas morning. Our house is so filled with love and support. It is such a blessing.

 

 

 

Tell me...

What was your favorite Christmas moment this year?

Thanksgiving Weekend

Hello friends. I hope your Thanksgiving weekend was delightful. Mine was so delightful that I'm having a really tough time getting my shit together this week.

Thanksgiving weekend is always wonderful. Celebrating Thanksgiving with my family is always special, emotional and full of joy. The long weekend is like a little mini-vacation from work and it's so relaxing to spend a few days at my parents' house. I even volunteered to give the Thanksgiving toast before dinner and I am a little embarrassed to say I wasn't even halfway through it before I started sobbing. Maybe next year.

It was my intention to take lots of cute photos of my family on Thanksgiving, but that didn't work out as planned. My brother acted like the paparazzi was trying to snap photos of him without his consent, my sisters weren't much more cooperative, then I started baking away and didn't really think of it again. I can, however, always count on my child to suck it up for a photo session with his momma, so there's that.

So thankful for this little boy.

I baked my ass off for Thanksgiving this year. I don't bring many cooking skills to the table (yet!), so this is how I contribute to Thanksgiving. These are all super easy to make and I loved how they came out. I linked to the recipes so you can try them for yourself.

Pumpkin Streusel Pudding Cookies

Apple Snickerdoodle Cobbler

Peanut Butter Cookie Cups

Even Blake was exhausted from all the excitement. He absolutely loves weekends at my parents' house....so much room to run and so many other friends to play with!



Sleepy boy.

Because my BFF Taryn was in Orlando visiting her family for Thanksgiving, I drive back to Orlando for Friday and Saturday to spend time with her, then went back to my parents' for Saturday night and Sunday. This resulted in my spending what felt like 80% of my weekend in the car, but it was totally worth it.

In less than 2 days, Taryn and I managed to squeeze in rasberry mojitos and banana pizza at Cafe Tu Tu Tango, meeting friends for a night on the town and a few hours of fun plus a photoshoot at Epcot. Best friend time is always good for the soul, even if we did get into a drunken argument about nothing on Friday night. When I get my hands on the rest of our photos from Epcot, I'll share them, but in the meantime, this is our time together in a nutshell.

As we typically do, we were running late to meet our friends downtown. I pulled up to the toll booth to find this guy parked there. I was obviously excited about the prospect of a random act of kindness falling into my lap and we couldn't really get around him, so I jumped out to help. He didn't understand English, was lost and didn't have any change, so we helped! I was so caught up in the moment, I didn't think for a second he could've thrown me into his car and driven away. Let's just say my dad wasn't thrilled...

"Every brunette needs a blonde best friend." This photo was taken at Epcot and we got the idea from this pin on Pinterest.

Yes we are almost wearing the same outfit. It wasn't planned, but we went with it anyway.

After dropping Taryn off at the airport and begging her not to leave....

Just causing a scene at the airport.

...I hit the road back to my parents' house to relax for the rest of the weekend. I spent Saturday night watching Elf with my momma and spent Sunday doing a little shopping with mom and dad. My weekend was the perfect combination of fun and relaxation/friend and family time. Thanksgiving was absolutely wonderful and now I'm psyched to get ready for Christmas.

I'm probably due to update you all on other life happenings, but I'll save that for later. Hope all is well in your world today!

Gratitude Overload

"It is not happy people who are thankful; it is thankful people who are happy."

I honestly don't know if there is a better feeling than the feeling I get when I arrive at my parents' house for a holiday. It's as if any stress, anxiety or concern I've been carrying around just falls off my shoulders as soon as I pull into the driveway. 

It's Thanksgiving. My favorite holiday. I cried happy tears three times before I even got here today. I can't help it; I'm an emotional lady and I get overwhelmed easily when I start to think about all there is to be thankful for. There are so many things; big things like life in general and simple things like the banana pizza dessert at Cafe Tu Tu Tango. 

It honestly wouldn't be a celebration unless I presented an exhausting list to you, so here we go. 

Today I'm feeling thankful for:

• Books
• York peppermint patties
• Finding a roommate this year who has become a very dear friend of mine
• Blake. This little boy brings me so much joy.
• Optimism
• The smell of rain
• My job
• The not-so-great things in life, because they make the good stuff stand out so much more
• Country music
• How I feel driving home after a really good workout
• Rainbows
• Having people in my life who accept me completely
• My quirkiness
• Being part of such a fun, loving, supportive family
• Tears of joy
• Anyone who has come into my life and treated me unfairly or didn't appreciate who I am. Because those people left, it made room for the good ones
• Songs that make me want to twirl
• Unexpected morning phone calls from my mom
• My health
• The new Taylor Swift album
• Pinterest. Where else could I find all the best cupcake recipes and inspirational quotes in one place?
• The quote, “Count your rainbows, not your thunderstorms.” This quote has helped me see the bright side in so many negative situations. 
• My girlfriends
• Knowing that one day I will look back and laugh at how confusing dating is to me right now
• Blueberry vodka
• Friendly customer service employees
• How it feels to wake up in the morning with the sun shining through the windows
• EVERY DAY

Life isn't perfect. Horrible things happen sometimes. I've been sick. My heart has been broken. I've experienced sadness. But, in all of those times, there has always been something, even something small, to be thankful for. Sometimes you have to search a little more than others for the good and that's okay. Those situations help you appreciate the small things. They make you realize how blessed you really are. We've all got to start seeing the perfection in less-than-perfect situations. 

For all those not-so-great situations, I feel like we get so many more days where the good is so overwhelming you don't know how you got to be so lucky. Those are the days when you go to count your blessings and you don't even know where to begin so you just close your eyes and thank God. 

That is me today; overwhelmed with gratitude. 

Tell me...

What are you feeling most thankful for today?

Bake, Exercise, Bake, Exercise, Repeat.

Hi everyone! I'm sure you're all anxiously counting down until you finish work for the week and busy preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving with your loved ones. My week so far has consisted of lots of baking and working out everyday in preparation for the over-indulging I plan to do on Thursday am already doing. For example, run 5 miles and get a good arm workout in on Monday night = it is totally acceptable to eat 5 pumpkin struesel pudding cookies fresh out of the oven.

 

I'm still thinking up my Thanksgiving day blog post, but in the hopes of distracting myself from the fact that I still have to make it through one more day at work, today I'm sharing what I'm most looking forward to on this Thanksgiving weekend.

• Baking in my parents' kitchen on Thanksgiving day. The house is so alive with conversation and laughter and my parents are so adorable cooking dinner together.
• Going for a run on Thanksgiving morning through my parents' neighborhood. I rarely run outside, mostly because it's usually dark out when I get around to working out and it's just more convenient for me to run on the treadmill at the gym. My parents live out in the country and with the beautiful weather we've been having, I can't wait to wake up on Thursday morning and get a nice outdoors run in!
• Family time. It's not very often my siblings and I are at my parents' house at the same time since we all have different schedules. It'll be nice to all be together...we always have such a good time.
• Relaxation. I've mentioned before how terrible I am at truly taking time out to relax. When I am at my own house, there is always something else I feel I should be doing. Thanksgiving at my parents' house really forces me to relax, read, take an afternoon nap on the patio...things I don't make time for on a regular basis.
• Celebrating. Life is so full of ups and downs and I feel like my family has seen so many of these recently and in the last few years. I've really come to look forward to soaking in the joy that is Thanksgiving day and really take time to celebrate the things we are thankful for.
• Seeing my best friend. My best friend Taryn will be in Orlando for Thanksgiving and even though I'll be at my parents, I am driving back to Orlando to spend Friday with her because I can't have her so close and not see her at all. There's been a lot going on in our lives since I last saw her in October, so I can't wait to have some time with her.

Thanksgiving has really become my favorite holiday. I love everything about this day and can't wait to celebrate!

Tell me...

What are you looking forward to most?

St. Patty's Day & Manual Labor

I have to admit something. I just recently started embracing all the fun St. Patrick's Day has to offer. I can't remember ever going out to celebrate while I was in college and even right after I graduated. The "new" me I embraced a few years ago (which was why I started this blog) goes all out for it and I'm so glad. I have such fun stories from the past few years and this year did not disappoint. The best part? I went out with a really fun group which included my sisters, one of their boyfriends and my guy friend (My Sister's Ex and no, we are not dating).

We went to Pat O'Brian's, a bar at Universal's Citywalk and had an absolute blast! I have so much fun with my sisters and I'm so very thankful for being so close with them. I'm glad we can do things like this together. Such a fun group of people and a really fun night.

sistas <3

What else did I do this weekend? Something so very exciting that I can hardly contain it! I got hardwood floors in my living room/foyer! I have literally been wanting to do this since the day I bought the place (May 20, 2010)! I spent Friday night ripping up the carpet and prepping the floors with my dad and sister. Honestly, manual labor is not my thing, but I think did alright considering I was suffering from a major hangover after going to the bar with the boys the night before. We planned on finishing the next day and on his way, my dad called me telling me we didn't need to do very much because his flooring guy would be coming on Sunday to finish. Thank goodness! My poor dad tore his rotator cuff playing golf a few weeks ago and is in no shape to be doing this kind of stuff, especially when I'm not the most helpful assistant. By Sunday night, my downstairs had been completely transformed! I still have a few finishing touches to make before I put the room back together, but here is a picture of the floors! My excitement level about my happy little home is through the roof right now :)

Happy floors, happy home

In other news, who is excited about The Hunger Games movie coming out on Friday?!? I absolutely cannot wait to see it on Saturday with my sister and my mom. Do you have plans to see it this weekend? Also, this made me giggle...