Mish Mash!

This was taken this morning.  Isn't that just adorable?!

Also this morning, I bought my first ever Groupon.  I bought the hubs & I massages at a place in Maumelle (the town we're moving to) for $20 a piece.  But, wait, it gets better!  I had a Groupon Coupon (say that 3 times fast!) that was $20 off. So, I only paid $20 for two 30 minute massages!  Um, score!  Groupon always has great deals, but I was kind of afraid to use it, because I had no idea how it really worked.  But I couldn't pass up that deal!  Ya'll it was so easy to use and I can't wait to use those massages after we move! 

I hope everyone has a great 3 day weekend!  We have two BBQs to attend and some awesome family time coming up! 

*No, I was not contacted by Groupon.  I'm just really, really excited.

Two Things Thursday

1.  A co-worker brought in some chicken biscuits this morning.  I turned them down.  Be proud.  This was huge for me!!

2.  Then, my work day went downhill.  I needed a little pick-me-up.  What did I turn to?  A mini nonfat, no whip, hot chocolate.  Mmmm, 140 calories and 1 fat gram later and I'm in bliss.  So what if I already had a diet Mtn Dew?! 

Life Update

Sooooooooooooo, it's been a while since I've given just a little life update....

• Hubs & I are super duper excited about moving :)  (Of course I had to include that!!!!)
• I "ran" a 5k this weekend.  It was the first time that I've done a 5k and been sick.  It was awful.  I've had a head cold for about a week now so I can't breathe through my nose and I'm coughing junk up (nice huh?), then add to it digestive problems the day prior and race day (um, again, nice?)... and then add to it getting sick a little after mile 1... and you have my race day.  It was horrible.  38:47?  It was earned.
• If all things go "according to plan," I'll graduate with my MBA in August 2012.  Yay!!!
• Work has been over the top crazy.  We're working 10 hour days and it's just all kinds of hectic.
• I have no idea if hubs and I will be able to do the 34 mile Bike Ride on June 4th due to moving and such.  It's still up in the air.
• Ohhhhhh, at the new house, I'll have at least 6 miles of running routes just in the neighborhood alone!  Plus, the town we're moving to has bike and running paths EVERYWHERE!!!!  So excited!

Photo Friday

Please forgive the layout on this post.  Blogger has gone crazy.

This was yesterday's breakfast, lunch, and snacks.  Only thing not pictures is my salad I had at lunch.  I had eggs and a banana for breakfast.  An orange for a mid morning snack.  Meat and a salad for lunch.  Strawberries and grapes for snack.  I didn't eat my other orange.  I know it looks like a lot of fruit, not to worry, I eat a ton of veggies with my dinner.  I like to snack on fruit during the day.  :)

Look at how big my strawberries were!  They were huge! 

Remember how I was so excited to get my run in yesterday?  Well, that didn't happen.  It was 46* and rainy when it was time to run.  I'll run in the rain, I'll run when it's chilly, but I will not run in the cold rain.  So, instead, I'll be running tomorrow and maybe even Sunday.  I've gotta get my biking in there too this weekend.  This weekend will be busy with lots of outdoor activities!  It's suppose to be sunny and warm all weekend!  My idea of PERFECT!

Oh and one last thing... Grey's last night SUCKED!!!!  Please, for the love of great tv, do NOT do another one of those singing episodes again!  It was horrible! 



3 Things Thursday

1. I'm lusting over this Opi nail color called Brunette on the Internet (or something like that) on Sephora.  It's on sale for $5 and I'm thinking it would look great with my skin tone, etc.  But, is it too dark for spring/summer??  I'm totally not a girly girl and it's been MONTHS since I've painted my toe nails and YEARS since I've painted my fingernails.  I can't believe I just admitted that....
2. I ran by Starbucks this morning for another Skinny Caramel Macchiato.  Yes, I'm a slight addict.  I have the app on my phone and checked this morning to make sure they were open before driving by.  :)  But the drive thru lady called me her friend and it made my day.  I know she probably says that to everyone, but it honestly made me want to come back again.
3. We are having our 3rd house showing today.  Our house has been on the market 3 weeks.  The crazy thing is, I prayed yesterday morning that someone would NOT want to see our house yesterday because it was a mess.  Then, hubs gets the text (yep, they TEXT you) to let him know they're showing it today at 1:30.  The Man Upstairs definitely answered my prayer by holding the showing off a day!  The house is spotless and ready to be seen!  Now, peas and cornbread, let it sell! 

ABCs of Me

I have nothing new going on really.  Yesterday someone came and saw our house!  Yay :)

(A) Age: 29, I'll be 30 this year.(B) Bed Size: Queen. Although when we move we're buying a King.

(C) Chore You Hate: Vacuuming.

(D) Dogs? We've got two.  Jack Russell named Rocky & Golden Retriever named Bear.

(E) Essential Start Your Day Item: Caffeine or food.  It's a tie.  I need both!

(F) Favorite Color: Blue 

(G) Gold or Silver? Silver.

(H) Height: 5 ft 7in right on the dot

(I) Instruments You Play: I played the Clairnet in Middle School.

(J) Job Title: Network Analyst II

(K) Kids: I wish.

(L) Live: Central Arkansas

(M) Mom's Name: Mary & my stepmom is Sam/Samantha

(N) Nicknames: Shan & Shannie

(O) Overnight Hospital Stays? None, but I did get discharged at like 7pm once.

(P) Pet Peeve: Negative People.

(Q) Quote from a Movie:  "And in the morning, we're making waffles!!!"  (Shrek, said by Donkey)

(R) Right or Left Handed? Right

(S) Siblings: 1 Sister (19) & 2 brothers (24, 22)

(T) Time You Wake Up? 5am

(U) Underwear: VS Pink

(V) Vegetable You Dislike: I'm not sure that I have one...

(W) What Makes You Run Late: Other people.  Seriously, if I'm ever running late it's not my fault! LOL

(X) X-Rays You've Had Done:  The better question is what hasn't been X-Ray'd?  I've had an MRI on my brain, a few dye tests on my heart and bladder, a few ultrasounds on my heart, X-Rays on both of my shins, my collar bone, my ribs, and I believe that's it....

(Y) Yummy Food You Make: ha, that's funny.  Um, I make a good Mexican Chicken Casserole!

(Z) Zoo, Favorite Animal: I love the monkeys and giraffes!  Love, love, love them!

Random Musings

Thanks for all the support on yesterday's post!  Ya'll really came through with excitement for us! 

Now, for just some random stuff...

• Tonight is my Org Behavior class.  This class takes a ton of prep time and I'm not fully prepared for it.  I'm close though - I think.
• My teacher seems easy to get along with.  He expects a lot out of you, but at the same time he seems laid back.  We'll refer to him as Dr. H.
• Tomorrow is weigh-in #2.  I hate to report this, but I'm not sure if I've lost anything.  We ate really badly for dinner Thursday-Saturday.  Yikes.  I've been pretty much on track on the other meals and since then though.  I've been riding my bike trainer alot, too.  So we'll see.
• Speaking of eating badly... I have "reasons" for it.  We were very busy with house stuff.  We're putting our house back on the market.  Our original plans were to be done this past Monday, but that didn't happen.  We're shooting for this next week.  I'll post pictures once it's on the market again.
• Of course that means we're house hunting again, too.  Let's hope that when we find "The One" this time that our house sells quickly thereafter.  That's what stopped our purchase in October - our house wasn't getting much traffic.  Boooo housing market boooooo!

Indeed A Country Girl

My husband has no idea I took this picture.  Our secret?
Saturday, we decided to go 4wheeling in the woods at his deer lease.  It was right at 40 degrees outside, so we layered up and rode around different "trails" for about 3.5 hours.  We packed bottled water and Cheez-its and had an amazing time.  So much fun, that we've decided we're definitely going to do it again soon.  I love doing this kind of stuff and I'm so glad that I married a southern boy.  I can't imagine living life any differently.

So, I guess ya'll have heard that the "Blizzard of 2011" has hit.  I'm working from home for the 2nd day in a row.  Don't let the sound fool ya - it's not as fun as it sounds.  Especially working 10 hours days.  Yuck.  Maybe tomorrow I'll show ya some snow?

Friday Fun

I had my Operations Management 20 minute presentation last night.  One of the requirements was to have a funny YouTube video at the end.  Well, I searched high and low and this is the video that I used.  So, enjoy!

Also, just a little life update...  Hubs has been gone for the last WEEK deer hunting and has finally returned home.  Although, it was nice to watch whatever I wanted on tv (the whole one night that I was able to watch tv) and not having to cook dinner at all, I'm glad to have him back home!  What can I say, he keeps the bed warm and he will shoot potential killers at night - ha!  I kid, I kid!  We have a security alarm that is always on, but my one fear is that someone will try to break in (a killer, ha!) while he's gone!  So, I'm glad he's back home!

My Christmas Book List

I thought I'd share with you all a list of books that I want for Christmas.  I have a few books still that I haven't read at home, but I always want more.  :)

Are there any good books that you've read recently that I might like to read?

Alone Time

With the beautiful weather {that seems to have disappeared}, I've been taking little walks during my lunch hour.  The above picture was taken with my iPhone last week.  I love getting out there and enjoying some alone time in the middle of the day.  Sometimes life just gets too overwhelming and it's important to make time for yourself.  I'm trying to do that more and more.  Usually during my lunch hour, I eat my sandwich and fruit cup, then work on homework for the rest of the hour.  Exciting, huh?  But now, I try to take a nice little walk during lunch.  I clocked it the other day, it's exactly a half mile one direction.  So, it's nice to know that my little walks take me a mile.  I'm thinking of exploring the next street over too and making that distance and alone time a little longer. 

I figure since I haven't been running hardly at all, that I should at least get a nice walk in during lunch.  I can't wait for December 17th.  This semester will be over and I'll get my life back.  :)

Thanks

I just wanted to say thanks for all of the kind words.  The funeral was on Saturday and the funeral home was FULL of family and many, many friends.  Our friend definitely touched many lives and left each of us with something different.  He taught hubs and I to live each day to the fullest and do what you want, when you want. 

It's still difficult to understand.  We understand death when it's someone old or someone sick, but it's difficult to understand when it's someone who was vibrant, very healthy, and close to your own age. 

Tonight is the class that I shared with him.  It will definitely be different not seeing him there or hearing his phone vibrate every few minutes as we're sitting in class.   :)

Other than that, this weekend was full of joy.  We decided to finally buy a new 4-wheeler.  Hubs had sold his about 2 years ago and we've missed having one.  So, we purchased a new one Saturday evening.  We then spent all day Sunday riding around my granddad's farm with my dad and cousin.  It was a ton of fun and in the end, the new 4wheeler was covered in cow manure, but it wasn't anything a car wash couldn't fix.  :)  I love the simple life.  It was truly a great way to spend a Sunday.  The weather was great and in the end we put 14 miles on that 4wheeler - all on open farmland.

Sephora Love

Speaking of online shopping....  I indulged in a little Sephora love this morning!  I love, love, love makeup, although I don't wear a ton of it.  I just love all the pretty colors and such!  And, Sephora is like a girl's best friend when it comes to makeup!

So, this morning I ordered some more Bare Minerals, because I'm dangerously close to being out.  While ordering online, I checked my email account and I had a code for a special sample set - SCORE!!  So, with my order of makeup, I'm getting my normal 3 samples, and THEN a special sample gift set - with a gift bag and everything!  I'm one happy camper this morning! 

I also noticed that they had a 3 set of Bare Minerals/Essentials eyeshadow in warm colors - my fave color set - for around $13... that stuff is normal $30 plus!  I might go back and order a set for both my sister and I.  I mean, it's a good deal!  :)  Plus, it can be part of her Christmas present.

Seriously, go check out their website and the special code for the sample set is GETAWAY.  Yes, all caps.  You can thank me later.  ;)

And no, this isn't a plug for Sephora.  I just love makeup shopping online :)

3 Things Thursday

It's been a while since I've done 3 Things Thursday!

1. Hubs has had dinner with the bosses the last two nights.  This means that I haven't seen my husband since Sunday and of course I wont see him tonight due to school.  I've been using my time wisely though - my homework is complete, the house a little cleaner, I started reading again for fun (like 5 pages, but still!), and I went to bed at 7:45 last night!  I slept like a baby!  I feel almost human this morning!  Hooray!
2. I can not wait for tomorrow night!  Friday nights are our "date nights."  We don't really call them that, but that's how I think of them.  It's the one night that I don't think about school and we go out to eat at Larry's Pizza then come home and catch up on all of our shows together!  I love it and look forward to it each week!
3. I haven't cooked dinner all week since hubs has been hanging with the bosses and coworkers.  By the way, I was invited to go, but I knew that they wouldn't be done eating until way past my bedtime - and I was right!!  Anyways, this week I've had a kid's cheeseburger meal, Ramen noodles, and hub's leftovers from the first co-worker dinner.  Tonight though, I'm making Sloppy Joes and some steamed squash before heading off to school - I'm craving them!  Yum!

What A Difference!

I went home yesterday and took a nice 45 minute nap - it was wonderful! Then, I went to bed at a glorious 8pm! I woke up this morning feeling SO MUCH BETTER!



Also, this might be TMI, but I woke up this morning to mother nature's gift - totally unexpected. So, that explains my fatigue, water retention, and bad mood, too! But, seriously mother nature, can we please have some form of regulation? I mean, last month it was 39 days, this month it's 24. GEEZ LOUISE! How are we suppose to have a baby when you wont cooperate?!



And on another totally unrelated note...
Look what we made this weekend....

Homemade Pizza

Homemade Nachos

Um, hello nice 4 mile run this afternoon... I've got some extra pounds to burn off! HA! You see, we've been trying not to eat out (we usually eat out like 4 times a week) and so far, we've gone 2 weeks without doing so! We're doing this because we spend entirely too much money eating out each month - so we're making some of our favorites at home! :)

And yes, those are so VERY UNHEALTHY, but at least it was turkey pepperoni, right?

Good Times!

Thank you all for the comments on Friday's post. That was a hard one to write and there has been several times where I've thought about deleting it. I hate being vulnerable - especially on the internet for the world to see. But, it's something that I needed to share and write. Seriously though, thanks for reading and commenting - it really did make me feel better.

Lots to update on, but it's a hectic Monday so I'll just skim over it all and elaborate later. :)

• My dad was released late Friday evening. He's at home and seems to be getting better. That's a huge prayer answered!!!
• We looked at 3 or 4 houses on Friday - more on that later this week. :) HA!
• I had a 5 mile run on Saturday. It was SO NICE to catch up with my friend Naomi!!! I've missed our times together and it's only been about a month since we've seen each other! We had a very, um, memorable 5 miles that included running through the Country Club's golf course's sprinklers! LOL Good times!
• All the house work is done! We took our last loads to the dump and storage. There was a pregnant black widow in our storage building....More on that later.
• My sister, aunt, and I made a huge meal for about 14 people on Sunday to celebrate my step-mom's birthday. We made cabbage rolls, boiled cabbage, fried cabbage, mashed potatoes, cake, and root bear floats! I'll explain what cabbage rolls are later, but they're a family thing and take about 3 hours to cook. YUM!
• My Grandad is having a pretty routine surgery this morning. I'm praying it all goes well!

Hope ya'll had a fantastic weekend and let's try to enjoy this Monday!

4 Things Friday!

I'm lacking creativity today, so go with me...

1. We're going to see the comedian Jeff Dunham this Sunday! I've never heard of him before but the hubs is pretty excited. I bought these tickets back in like March, so we've been waiting a while for this weekend!
2. I'm ditching the 5k tomorrow due to the weather. Yes, I'm punking out. Seriously, the low is like 77 (which it wont be at race time)...add in our glorious humidity and no thanks. Plus, it's a new course and I'm not a fan of new courses on their 1st year. Andddddd, remember how I rolled my ankle Sunday? Well, I've been favoring my other ankle while doing cardio all this week and now it's sore. Go figure. Plus, hello sleeping in!
3. We're totally booked for Branson. I'm so so so excited. Too bad I have a wait a little bit! I love little road trips (when I'm not driving), then we have a newly remodeled condo with a free standing jacuzzi (YAY), plus Silver Dollar City with my family and pool time!
4. Hubs truck is scheduled to go in the shop on Monday to get repaired from the wreck. I'm hoping to post pictures of it soon! I just wanted to get some kinks ironed out before I did so.
   

3 Things Thursday

1. I've come to the realization that I don't like for people to do things and get away with them. I think this started when my little brother used to do things he shouldn't but never ever got in trouble for them. I wanted to be a lawyer when I grew up - so that I could put the bad guys away.... Yesterday, while coming home in traffic, the lady in front of me threw out her drive-thru cup - littering the interstate! So, I wrote down her license plate number and called it in to the Littering Hotline. Yes, I'm that person. It irritates me when people litter. It irritates me when people do things and try to get away with them. I hope she gets a fat fine in the mail and learns her lesson.
2. I've also come to the realization that if you tell me I can't do something, I will try everything humanly possible to try and prove you wrong. 9 times out of 10, I do. I might elaborate more on this later. :)
3. We're planning a trip to Branson and I'm so very excited! Condo is rented and it's newly remodeled and we'll be the first ones to stay in it! Plus, I haven't been to Silver Dollar City in YEARS!
   
   

Catching Up

As you may have noticed, I didn't post much last week. I woke up Thursday morning with the worst headache I'd had in a long time, so I called into work. Around 9am, I started vomiting. Let's just say that I moved the bathroom trashcan near the couch and I literally was unable to leave the couch all day and night Thursday. Friday, I started having another lovely symptom but was able to eat some soup. So, I guess I had the stomach virus that everyone seems to be getting? I was so sick that I lost 4 pounds in one day. It was awful.

So today, I'll be trying to get caught up at work. I've never in my life taken 2 sick days consecutively. I'll be back to my blogging self soon!

3 Things Thursday

1. On Tuesday, hubs and I ran 3.1 miles straight - without stopping! This was a first for both of us. We've always done the Galloway method - the 4:1 interval to be specific. So, I was/am thrilled that I decided to try to do it! Honestly, my time wasn't that bad for me - 38:22! Needless to say, I was sore Wednesday and I'm still a tad sore today. Tonight is the run clinic and I'm going to attempt to run straight through once again. It's one of my goals on race day!
2. Next Monday (the 3rd) is my final for my grad class. I've been studying my booty off and I'm going to continue to do that the next few days. Let me just say, I do not miss finals one bit! Because of said final, I haven't been doing much besides studying...and I'm a stress eater. So, I'm a tad concerned about tomorrow's weigh-in. Eeek!
3. I've become addicted to Literati on Yahoo IM. We use IM here at work to communicate and a few of us have been playing the game. Do not worry though - it's not like that's all we've been doing! It took 8 hours to play 2 games yesterday! So trust me when I say - we're still working away! But seriously, I may have to get the app Words with Friends. I love this game so much, that I missed it when I left work yesterday! ha!