Life This Week

It's 11 PM on Friday night. I'm sitting in bed on my third glass of wine. Emma is snoozing away in her Rock n' Play and Abby is snuggled in between me and Jonathan in bed. Taylor cat is literally just sitting on the floor next to the bed looking around the room judging all of us, I assume. It may partially be the wine talking, but I feel so happy right now. In all honesty, I'd be feeling this way with or without the wine but that is beside the point. I feel like the days go by in such a blur right now and no matter how tired I am at night when we all get to bed, I can't help but stay awake sometimes. It's my chance to soak it all in, to have a minute to myself, to just be. Either way, right now feels like a good time to talk about this week.

Sadly, I didn't set any goals for the week, but I'm not beating myself up too badly about it.

This week:

- I completed week 4 of Couch 2 5K for the second week in a row. I wasn't feeling quite ready to move on to week 5, so I repeated week 4 and I'm glad I did. Week 4 consists of the following: run for 3 minutes, walk for 90 seconds, run for 5 minutes, walk for 2.5 minutes; repeat. It's sad to say but I struggled through every workout. To be honest, I feel discouraged and frustrated because I remember a time when this was actually enjoyable for me and I want so badly to be there again. It's taking time and it's a struggle right now, but feeling frustrated and discouraged only makes me want to keep going, so there's that. 

- At one point, we had baby poop dripping down our wall...and then had to be the one who cleaned it up. Trust me when I say you don't want to hear or see anymore about this experience. 

- I broke down in tears when Jonathan got home from work on Wednesday. I was feeling overwhelmed...tired....emotional. Some days I feel like I'm crushing it and other days, I feel like I'm not doing anything well at all. Wednesday was just one of those days. A good hug and some encouragement from my husband and I was feeling much better. Can I still blame these random crying episodes on hormones? Just curious...

- I accidentally brought Taylor Cat on a walk with us and she almost ran away for good. 

- I wore leggings every day. #momlife

Saturday is shaping up to be a good one. Emma and I are meeting up with my mom for some shopping and girl time. I can't wait! 

Hope your weekend is full of whatever makes you happy!

Counting Our Rainbows: Life Last Week/Weekend

Well, hello! I used to say "Count your rainbows, not your thunderstorms" all the time and I can't think of a more fitting title for this week/weekend recap.

I meant to pop in late last week but Hurricane Matthew made for a somewhat unproductive few days. Once we got word the storm was coming for us, we were pretty preoccupied Wednesday and Thursday making sure we were prepared for the worst. We were supposed to get the worst of the storm early Friday morning and most of the day so on Thursday night we settled in with a movie and some wine as we watched the weather get progressively worse. Thankfully we didn't get hit as badly as expected, but we lost power Friday morning and didn't get it back until late Saturday morning. We were incredibly grateful we were spared from the tremendous damage other areas faced and we actually really enjoyed our day together at home on Friday with our little family. It was nice to have a day at home together without any of the usual distractions like technology and work.

I do have to admit by Saturday morning, I was starting to get a little stir crazy and uncomfortable with no power in the house. I made plans to have a lunch date with my sister and in the meantime, our power came back on and I was able to clean up around the house a bit so we could enjoy the rest of our weekend. Emma and I had a great visit and lunch date with my sister while Jonathan finished working. Saturday night, we dropped Emma off at her grandparents' and went out for dinner and a movie. We saw Girl on the Train and I thought they did a pretty good job of turning the book into a movie!

We woke up Sunday to the most gorgeous, sunny day. So beautiful, it was hard to believe we'd just had a hurricane roll through two days before.

I told Jonathan I really want to take Abby out to a dog park or something. After being cooped up in the house for a few days because of the storm and us not having a fenced in yard for her to really run around in, I felt like she could really use a day out and some serious playtime. Jonathan made us breakfast in bed and we watched church service while we ate and loved on baby Emma.

We packed up our little family and headed to a great park about 40 minutes from us for some outdoor fun and we had the absolute best day together. We called it Abby's Big Day Out but really, it was such a special day for all of us!

I could complain about the storm or our power being out for 24 hours over the weekend. I could comment on this election and all the negativity it's bringing. I could be preoccupied with all the negativity I feel like we hear daily. Instead, I'll just say I'm grateful. I'm grateful for the quality time we got as a family because of Hurricane Matthew. I'm grateful our power was restored and that losing power for 24 hours was the worst of our troubles. I'm grateful that with all the negativity in the world, we get to control how we react to it. We get to choose how it affects us. We get to influence our children in such a positive way that no matter what horrors are going on in the world, they are good and decent individuals who rise above it.

One of our pastors said this on Sunday, "The news is bad, but God is good" and I've just kept repeating that to myself since then. So simple, but such a necessary reminder, I think. The news is seriously so bad, but God is so incredibly good.

Life This Week

Hello! Happy Friday.

I have several posts in my drafts...topic ideas that pop into my head and I intend to come back and actually write them but that has yet to happen. In the meantime, I like these Friday posts to recap the week a bit and they seem to be all I can manage to post lately!

This week has felt...long. I can't explain it but I felt like the week dragged on and for most of it, I felt completely exhausted. The last week of every month now means I spend a lot of time working for Jonathan. Since I'm helping him with the administrative side of his business now, I take care of his invoicing at the end of every month which means this week, that was my main priority every day, aside from taking care of our sweet little girl, of course!

Since I needed to make sure I focused on getting my work done this week, my goals weren't super ambitious, or so you might think, but they're still things I wanted to make sure I accomplished.

My three goals for the week:

1. Complete Week #3 of Couch25K
2. Finish Girl on the Train
3. Go on at least 2 walks with Emma & Abby

I successfully completed week 3 of Couch25K despite struggling a lot through every workout. My knees are hurting bad which is probably just because I hadn't done much more than walking for the last few months. Hopefully the pain subsides here in the next week or so but in the meantime, I still powered through the workouts and it feels good to have 3 weeks done!

In my excitement over the movie coming out next week, I wanted to re-read Girl on the Train since it had been a while. Nursing Emma is a great time for me to get some good reading time in and that's exactly what I did this week. I actually finished the book this morning and now I'm extra pumped to see the movie when it comes out next weekend -- that is assuming we can sneak away for a date night, of course!

There are so many reasons why I need to make sure I get outside and walk with the girls a few times a week, but I've been so focused on setting aside an hour for me to workout that I'm not usually in the mood to head outside in this Florida heat. Abby loves hanging out with me all day and she plays quite a bit, but with a newborn around she doesn't get as much playtime as she used to and with all her energy, she loves getting outside for a walk. On top of that, we don't get out of the house much most weeks and while I don't always feel up to the production of taking Emma out and about, for my sanity, I need to make sure I get out and enjoy some fresh, albeit humid air every now and then. We were able to make it out for 2 walks this week and I'm hoping as the temperature eventually drops a bit, I'll be better about doing this more often throughout the week.



In other, very exciting news, today our Emma Joy is 2 months old! It's hard to believe it's been a whole 2 months since they placed this sweet girl on my chest and everything I'd just been through to get her out suddenly seemed like a walk in the park because I knew in that instant, I would do it over and over again if it meant feeling love like this. By now I've realized I never shared Emma's birth story and at this point, I can only hope it'll happen before her first birthday (haha). I'll post more next week for her 2 month update, but all I can say is the last two months have been an incredible gift.

I watched this video yesterday morning and I'm still laughing about it. Perhaps I can relate to too many lines in this song, but either way, it's amazing.

I also feel like you need to know about this candle we bought. My baby sister was raving about this candle to me last weekend and if this girl recommends something to me, I listen. It takes a lot for her to like something so much that she recommends it to anyone and I get it -- if something doesn't live up to the hype, you always hear about it. When she told me how amazing this candle was and that we had to see-- or smell for ourselves, I ordered it immediately. Within minutes of lighting it, I was pretty certain this is what heaven probably smells like.

That's a wrap! I'll be back next week with Emma's 2 month birthday post and hopefully more if I can find some time to write this weekend. I hope you have a happy weekend!

Life This Week

Happy Friday and happy Fall! I'm wishing it didn't still feel like the dead of summer here but it doesn't make me any less excited for fall decor, carving pumpkins and dressing Emma up for her first Halloween.

Jonathan and I started a new thing this week where we each come up with 3 goals for the week. These aren't huge, long-term goals -- just some things we want to accomplish or focus on for the week. I think with these posts each week, I'll start off by sharing what my goals were and how it went. Just another way to help hold myself accountable, I guess.

My goals this week:

1. Consume 50 carbs or less each day
2. Finish 'Thank You' Cards
3. Complete Week #2 of Couch25K

Cutting down on carbs is tough after 9 months of kinda eating whatever I wanted to. While I didn't keep every day under 50, I'm still happy with how this went. Some days I was closer to 80 and one day I was around 40. Any of these numbers are way better than I've been doing so I'm okay with it and next week I'll try to be more consistent.

I'm still completely overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and gifts we've received since Emma was born. Between our loved ones and Jonathan's clients, we've been blown away by the amount of beautiful and thoughtful gifts we've received. All of these gifts has meant a long list of people to send Thank You cards to and I've been keeping up with them pretty well. I had a few more people left on our list and I am happy to say I finished last night.

I had another successful week of workouts doing a 21 day fix workout each day and three days of Couch25K. I completed week 2 of C25K and I have to say that getting back into running hasn't been as bad as I expected. Don't get me wrong...it's a struggle but not as much of a struggle as I feared it would be. We'll see if I'm feeling the same at week 4, though!

I'm pretty happy with how my goals went this week and hope this new weekly ritual helps Jonathan and I work toward some of our bigger goals.

In other news...

I watched This is Us. I had little interest in the show until I noticed so many people raving about it on social media so I gave in. It was pretty good! I had seen a few articles saying it was the new Parenthood so we'll see how it measures up. I do know this is one show Jonathan won't be watching with me...haha.

Emma started smiling this week and my heart cannot handle it! She flashed me a smile Monday morning and hasn't stopped since. It's the sweetest thing ever.

We stuck around the house most of the week aside from venturing out for groceries and a Target trip on Monday. On one hand, this is great because we've been able to stick to somewhat of a routine and Emma has been napping in her crib more and more. On the other hand, I am getting a slight case of cabin fever. Jonathan offered to pick up formula for me on Wednesday because we were out and I told him, "No! I need to get out of the house alone. I will go get it!" It was a 20 minute outing to Publix but I was out of the house and alone so it was a nice break. I also picked up wine, so that helped.

On the agenda this weekend, Jonathan has been grilling like crazy lately so I'm going to pick up some steaks and hopefully it'll be nice enough to enjoy dinner on the back patio together tonight. Tomorrow I'm going bridesmaids dress shopping for a friends' wedding in May and on Sunday, we're planning on going back to church with Emma. I'm excited to go back and hoping the timing works out so Emma sleeps through service!

Is Wednesday too late to post about my weekend?

Well, hello there.

Against all odds, I'm finally making an appearance in the blog world this week. There's been a lot going on, one of them being me losing my gas cap this morning and calling several gas stations to track it down. I did track it down, thank goodness, but that is neither here nor there.

Side note: While complaining about this to Jonathan this morning, he texted me saying, "Count your rainbows, not your gas caps," which put a big smile on my face and made me laugh. This, along with many, many other reasons, is why I love that man.

I'm leaving for my annual work trip tomorrow...at 5:30 a.m. to be exact, so I've been busy all week preparing for that. I also had the most amazing weekend. I know you're all probably thinking weekend posts are for Mondays, but just go with it.

Friday night was perfect. We were trying to figure out if we wanted to go out or stay in when it started monsooning outside and we decided that staying in was a pretty good idea. We made an awesome seafood dinner, watched a movie and drank several glasses of red wine. Life has been jam packed with family gatherings, wedding planning, work, etc., so this was exactly what we needed.

Saturday we headed to Jonathan's grandparents' house for a big family get together. Jonathan's aunt and cousin were visiting from California and we even had my parents joining us, which I was so very happy about. We ate, we drank, we danced, we re-enacted our proposal for Jonathan's aunt and talked a lot of wedding stuff. Such a perfect day and can I just say that having a dance party with my mom and my future in laws was absolute perfection?

My dad headed home and left my mom with me for the night because we had big wedding dress shopping plans for Sunday. We hit the road to spend the night with my sisters and had such a great time gossiping and spending some quality time together.

Sunday was the day I've been waiting for...wedding dress shopping! In all the wedding details I've planned so far, the dress was one thing I hadn't started looking for yet, so I was anxious to hit up a few salons and see what I liked. After my momma, sister and I met my maid of honor, Taryn for a big breakfast, we headed off to our 1st of 3 appointments, where we also met up with my friend Laura so she can join in on the fun.

I'm pretty emotional and as I've been planning our wedding, so many times I've found myself getting super emotional when I think about our day. I do have to say though, putting on a wedding dress for the first time made everything so real for me. Finding a dress I loved at my first appointment really made me envision walking down the aisle on our day and I was completely overwhelmed with joy.

Like I said, I did find a dress I loved at the first place, but my mom encouraged me to head to our next appointment so I could try on a few more and compare the dresses. I liked my consultant at the first place, but my second appointment is exactly what you envision your wedding dress shopping to be like. We walked into The Collection in Winter Park and the girls immediately started looking through the sample racks while I checked in. We were greeted by our consultant, Mimi and I loved her immediately! The girls had picked two sample dresses to show me, so I told Mimi I definitely wanted to try them on first. Long story short, I found my dress and I couldn't be any happier about what I'll be wearing the day I say I do. I'm so surprised by the style I went with, but it is true when you find the right one, you just know it. Even better, it was a brand new sample dress and we got a great deal on it!

After purchasing my dress, we headed up the road to celebrate with a champagne toast outside of our venue. We took lots of photos, drank and celebrated, then headed to a late lunch in Winter Park to continue the celebrations.

Momma and I

This day is one that I will never, ever forget. Sharing these moments with my mom and seeing her genuine excitement and emotion when I came out in my dress is a memory I'm going to cherish forever. Being able to share this day and so much excitement with those ladies was so amazing. I'll never forget calling Jonathan to tell him I found it and just being flooded with tears of joy on the phone with him.

Needless to say, I'm so excited about finding my dress and I can't for Jonathan to see me in it on our wedding day.

Things are slowing down a bit in the wedding planning process since we have most of the big decisions made already. I'll be in Philadelphia for a week working, so I won't have much time to do anything else. We are focusing on the honeymoon right now and I'm looking forward to getting that booked soon. It's going to be a hectic few months, so we'll be looking forward to the vacation!

I hope you're all having a wonderful week!

A few things I'm loving this week.

Hi all!

I know I've been a little MIA and I'm hoping to get back on track here soon. I was out of town for a long weekend to attend my grandmother's funeral and came back to what basically feels like a war zone in my house. I'm knee deep in major roommate drama and trying to deal with it has kind of consumed my time and energy this week.

I've owned my house for 3 years during which I've probably had 7 roommates/tenants and I've never had an issue until now. I don't have the energy to get into the messy details, but I'm disappointed and to be honest, I am really angry. Needless to say, I'm tired and so ready for this nightmare to be over.

Enough about that, though. I'm back and in the spirit of focusing on the good things, here are a few things that I'm loving this week:

This photo of Jonathan and I dancing at a wedding a few months ago...

 These quotes...

This photo of my siblings and I at my parents' house this week...

This text from Jonathan...

Getting to spend a few days with my adorable nephew...

I absolutely adore that little guy. He is by far the sweetest, most easy-going little baby I've ever been around. Just thinking of his cute face makes me smile.

I couldn't end this on a happier note than that. I hope you're all having a great week!

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!

Weekend Recap with a side of Ice Cream

Happy Tuesday!

I don't know what is with me but I can't stop thinking about ice cream. I had an ice cream sundae last night before heading to the gym...that was a big mistake. Now I'm sitting at my desk really wanting frozen yogurt or one of those cookie ice cream sandwiches. Why can't I have a celery obsession this week? Why does it have to be ice cream?

Anyway, I hope you all had a great weekend. We spent the weekend at Jonathan's house and after waking up for an early morning run, we threw an impromptu barbeque on Saturday. I can always count on my Pinterest board for a last minute recipe and whipped up these babies with plenty of time to spare before anyone showed up:

Funfetti Cake Batter Cookies

These were super easy to make and were a big hit! We had a blast playing horseshoes, day drinking and hanging around with Jonathan's friends and family. Unfortunately for me, day drinking makes for an early bedtime. We were in bed by 10:30 and I didn't mind it at all.

With no plans on Sunday, we stayed in bed until about noon. Normally I would feel a little guilty about this, but it was absolutely glorious. It feels like we always have plans or a reason to get up at a certain hour when we are together, so it was nice to just lay around together. By the time we finally got up, we were able to squeeze in some bowling and a few games of pool before I headed home.

I should probably add that my boyfriend who is in a bowling league and is so legit with his own bowling ball and whatnot learned that I do not bowl well. I think after the first game his score was somewhere in the 180s and mine was 35. Yep. I also managed to throw a bowling backward on one of my turns. Luckily, no one was injured and Jonathan got to see just how bad I really am at bowling.

With Jonathan and I living about 40 minutes apart, I love spending our weekends together. It's nice to have the uninterrupted time together without driving back and forth to see each other and I love waking up with him in the morning. It's been interesting to see our relationship evolve as we spend our weekends together. I actually want to write a separate post on it because it's all so new for me.

Anyway, I'm already counting down for this weekend. We're waking up early on Saturday to head to the Ocala National Forest to go camping. We'll be roughing it with some of Jonathan's friends and my roomie for the night. I'm not super outdoorsy, but I've been dying to go camping for a while. I absolutely can't wait!

Hope your week is off to a happy start!

Love found us.

Yesterday was just another day. Another wonderful day, but still...just another day. I absolutely couldn't wait to head to Jonathan's house after work. We didn't have elaborate plans...just to go for a run, go rock climbing...something active. Instead, when I got there we both decided we weren't up for all that so we relaxed for a bit and planned to see a movie later in the evening.

Later on, we got in my car to head to the movies. In the driver's seat, Jonathan sat there sorting through his mail as I texted my roomie something about how I was probably going to stay at Jonathan's for the night. There we sat in the driveway, me texting away not really paying attention to anything else...when out of nowhere he blurts it out..."I love you."

Before I share what happened next, I should probably tell you that I kinda already said this to him last weekend. I say "kinda" because (1) I had a few too many drinks downtown that night and (2) up until last night I wasn't sure if I had actually said it or I had simply dreamt that I said it to him. I hadn't said anything to him after the fact because I didn't want to make him uncomfortable if he wasn't ready or anything.

To be honest, I have been holding myself back from saying it for a few weeks now. What can I say? When I fall, I really fall. I've been falling in love with him since our first date when he knocked on the door of my favorite frozen yogurt place begging them to let me in after they'd already closed. I don't know the exact moment I went from falling in love to being in love...but I've known for a few weeks now that I'm absolutely in love with this guy.

I obviously didn't want to say those words to him too soon and certainly didn't want to drunkenly blurt them out, but there is no doubt about the fact that I absolutely meant it.

So back to the driveway...

He says it and I can't really believe what I just heard. I slowly look up from my phone and say "Did you mean to say that?" He laughs and says of course he meant to say it. "I love you." He said it again. Here we are on a Tuesday night just sitting in the driveway and this man manages to make me feel like I could stay here, in this car, in this moment, forever. I obviously tell him I love him too, give him a big, smiley kiss and we finally pull out of the driveway and head to the movies. Just like that.

A funny part of all this is that I proceeded to text Natasha right after this (I had been texting her when it happened) and the conversation that follows is seriously one of my favorites ever. We were both too excited to type apparently because this stops making sense at one point.

Yes, she is talking about my dog, Blake

Only a best friend gets just as excited as you do about this kind of thing. I love her!

For the record, I cleared things up later last night by asking if I drunkenly said I love you the other night and he confirmed that I did. I did say it. Of course I did. To be honest, though, I wasn't freaking out too much. After all, if I had said it, he didn't run away or anything so no harm done and I knew if anything, at least he would know where my head was at when he was ready to put his feelings out there.

I'm in love with someone who truly deserves my love and affection. The best part? This wonderful human being loves me right back. He doesn't just say this, he shows it and we show each other every day. I've never felt so safe and secure in love. I'm overjoyed beyond belief.

P.S. I promise to get back to other topics around these parts eventually. This relationship has overwhelmed me in the very best way, so bear with me while I soak it all in and I promise to start mixing it up soon.

You can never have too much happy.

You'll have to excuse the excessive optimism I am giving off lately. I am over the moon happy and I'm loving every minute. For example, I've found myself smiling for no apparent reason and I shed a few happy tears simply sitting at my desk daydreaming about how wonderful my weekend was.

I feel like I could go on for days about all the simple, magical, wonderful moments of pure joy I've felt over the past few days, but I'll try to simply cover the highlights here.

I packed a bag for me and a bag for Blake on Friday and we headed off to spend most of the weekend at J's house. This was my first time bringing my puppy love to Jonathan's house and we both weren't quite sure how he would hit it off with J's cat, Money. I'll cut to the chase and say they didn't hit it off. At all. Blake wanted to play. Money was scared for his life. It was a nightmare and we had to keep them separated all weekend. I only tell you all of this because I have to say...if this is the biggest issue with our relationship so far, then we are pretty darn lucky.

Moving on...we had a great Friday night enjoying a home cooked dinner with Jonathan's sister and his friend, then heading out for a few drinks. I love that we can go out on the town and have a great time socializing, but I love it even more that this man can't wait to get home so we can enjoy our time alone as well. We had such a fun and relaxing night and ended up staying up until 3 a.m. talking about everything under the sun.

Saturday morning we went on a bike ride to the farmer's market and took Blake along with us. I wish I got a picture of Jonathan riding his bike with Blake running alongside him, but here is one of me. It was so nice to start the day off this way.

I ran The Color Run yesterday (I'll get to that soon!) and had to make a tutu to match the rest of the girls on my team, so we spent the afternoon out and about getting the materials I needed, meeting up with J's parents and sister for a late lunch and headed home to attempt a homemade tutu. I can't find words to express how special it is to have a man who not only helped me with this, but was happy to help and be a part of it. I'm not the most crafty girl out there and had no clue what I was doing. Even shopping in Joann Fabrics to get the supplies was a task. But he helped. With everything. He cut strips of tulle while I tied them on the elastic. Then he helped me tie and finish the tutu. When we were about to crawl into bed that night and I remembered I wanted to cut a little length off of it, he had me put it on and twirl while he cut it for me. We are a team and I love that about us. I also have to mention that I am falling for his family, as well. They are so welcoming and easy to get to know.

After our tutu project, we spent the evening hanging with a few of his good friends I hadn't gotten to meet yet. I planned to go back to my house and sleep there since I had to get up early for the race, but I honestly couldn't leave him. Laying in bed that night, we talked until we couldn't keep our eyes open any longer. We talked about how happy we were with each other and when then he asked me to promise we'll always be positive for each other...always lift the other person up instead of bringing them down. When he said all of this...I just closed my eyes and thanked God for everything that led me to this wonderful human being.

Needless to say, I am absolutely overwhelmed in the best way possible.

Speaking of happiness overload...

The Color Run was an absolute blast! It really is the happiest 5K on the planet. If you have a chance, I definitely recommend signing up if it comes to your city. It's so much fun!

Before and after the race with Laura

Seriously...have you ever seen someone this happy after 3.1 miles?

To say I'm feeling blessed is a huge understatement. One thing about life I love: whether I'm doing something new and exciting like The Color Run or simple things like riding bikes and taking Blake for a walk, with the right people, every minute is absolute perfection.

A Happy New Year Indeed

Happy new year! I know I'm a little behind the times on my New Year's post, but better late than never, right?

You see, I don't really love the idea of making New Year's resolutions. I can't explain why, but I usually shy away from it. This year, however, I would like to try and be less frantic. I want to stop trying to squeeze too many things into days I don't have time for them. I want to be more realistic about how long it will take me to get ready so I'm not always running late and therefore rushing around to get ready.

I was off to such a great start after spending a few fun and relaxing days in Jacksonville last weekend for my cousin's wedding. I had all day on NYE to get things done (i.e. go to the gym, take down the Christmas tree, make cheesecake filled strawberries, etc.) before heading over to Jonathan's NYE party. Unfortunately, I knew it would be a little unreasonable to attempt to squeeze in time for blogging that day. I would've ended up frantically trying to get a post up and in honor of my resolution, decided that a January 2nd post would have to do.

My weekend in Jacksonville was absolutely wonderful. We squeezed a lot of run and relaxation into just two days. My cousin's wedding was simple and absolutely beautiful.

Everyone is so happy :)

The wedding was in Jacksonville Beach.
Beautiful location!

Mom and I were basically twins that day :)

We got home late Sunday, just in time to get ready for a fun NYE at Jonathan's house. Ringing in the new year with Jonathan, his family/friends, my roomie/wife Natasha and even my sister and her boyfriend, was an absolute blast. I loved meeting and having fun with so many new people that night, but also having my best friend and sister with me for it.

A few weeks ago, I never would have expected to be celebrating a new year with a new (and wonderful!) man. As I typed this, a memory from last NYE flashed through my mind. I was at a party with my boyfriend at the time and as the crowd counted down the seconds to midnight, I couldn't find him anywhere. I hardly found him in time to kiss at midnight. This year, my boyfriend announced to the whole party that I was going to be his first kiss of 2013. He was so cute and so proud to be telling everyone this. He put down the mic and ran over to me with plenty of time to spare. It was so silly and adorable. I don't mean to be overly cheesy, but I haven't been with someone so proud to be with me in a very, very long time. Let's just say my midnight kiss was full of hope, excitement and lots of sparks.

The night consisted of lots of dancing, more kisses and at one point, me drinking vodka straight out of the bottle. If that night is any indication, 2013 is going to be full of joy and love.

Smitten :)

the ladies!

I hope you all had a wonderful time celebrating the new year! Here's to a joyful 2013!

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?

Flowers & a Man Who Actually Called me on the Phone. Is This Real Life?

Hello world. I've been stuck in bed with a nasty cold all week, but yet somehow a lot has happened. This cold couldn't have come at a worse time. I still have Christmas gifts to buy, errands to run before my holiday trips and my workout schedule has been completely thrown off.

In the midst of all this, I absolutely need to post something here because things has taken an interesting turn in the last few days.

I met a really handsome guy downtown last weekend. If your single, you know that 9 times out of 10 when you meet a guy at a bar, the chances that (1) you'll actually hear from him and (2) that you'll actually want to get to know him outside of that environment, aren't very good. Nevermind the fact that you probably had a conversation about nothing at the bar and may not even remember it. Well this guy seemed a little different from the get-go. He bought me a beer and he asked about my job, my favorite books...not the typical "so, where are you from?" conversation most guys go with.

I was surprised to get a text from him Monday and even more surprised that he asked me out to dinner Tuesday night. Then something amazing happened. He picked up the phone and called me to make dinner plans. I can't tell you how refreshing it was to skip the weeks of awkward texting conversation that inevitably end up happening with guys I meet. I feel like so many guys (or maybe just the ones end up interested in) hide behind Facebook chat, texting...anything to avoid picking up the phone and talking like a normal human being. Getting an actual phone call from someone I had just met was such a treat!

Anyway, we met for dinner on Tuesday night and had a great time! Things that made me think I might like this one:

-when I walked up to meet him at the restaraunt, he shouted "You look beautiful!" I'm not one of those girls who needs to be told that all the time, but I've also dated too many people recently who couldn't even tell me they liked me, so it was nice to hear this from him.

-he brought me flowers. What? I haven't gotten flowers from a guy in years. We walked to his truck after dinner to get his jacket (which he made me wear because it was chilly and I was getting sick) and he pulled them out and handed them to me. It was sweet and thoughtful and not over-the-top cheesy. I didn't know how to react!

-I didn't feel like we were on a first date at all. The way he talked with me was like he had known me for a long time. It was comfortable and fun without the first date awkwardness that I am all too familiar with.

We ended the night with frozen yogurt and plans to see each other again tonight. I'm excited and pleasantly surprised by this whole situation.

I think I posted this quote on a blog post a while back, but it rings true for so many things in life including my relationships with people. I can't dwell on people who don't want to be in my life. I need to look forward and put my energy toward the people who want to be here.

I've had a tough time lately finally getting up the courage to speak my mind to people who haven't treated me fairly. I'm realizing when I stop putting my thoughts and energy toward people who don't deserve it from me, I make room for people to come in my life who do deserve my attention.

Unfortunately, this is a lesson I keep having to learn. I'll get it down eventually, but in the meantime, I'm excited to see what happens next. I just hope I'm feeling better in time for my date this evening!

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!

Why I Loved This Weekend

Happy Monday everyone!

I kicked off my Monday by landing my client an interview with The Wall Street Journal, so excuse my being overly excited about anything and everything. I was sick last week (boo), but thanks to my awesome doctor, I was back in action just in time to have an absolutely delightful weekend. Why, you ask?

Saturday I spent the morning pampering myself and it was just lovely. I got my highlights touched up and eyebrows done and ran a few errands. I'm headed to Boston/Maine this weekend for a wedding, so it was nice to be out and about getting what I needed for the trip. I followed this up with a really fun dinner with my two girlfriends.

Sunday I had the pleasure of spending the day with my parents, brother and one of my sisters in Orlando. We all had things we needed to pick up for our trip, so we set out on a shopping adventure. My dad and brother aren't the biggest fans of day-long shopping trips, but they hung in there! We took a break for lunch at one of my favorite little restaurants in downtown Winter Garden, but other than that we shopped until we dropped! I am a little obsessed with some of my purchases. So much so, that I need to share them with you.

Nike Lunar Forever running shoes.
I can't wait to run in these tonight!

This shirt from Forever 21.

Eurostep Women's Adrift Boat Shoes.
These are so cute and so comfortable.

Fast Track by China Glaze.

Sundays with my family are absolutely delightful. It doesn't matter what we're doing, the day is always full of love, positivity and lots and lots of laughter. Spending the day with them Sunday left me feeling so giddy and grateful.

And this weekend we're off to spend Friday night in Boston and the rest of the weekend will be spent on a lake in Maine for my cousin's wedding. Should be a blast!

How was your weekend?