New Years Resolutions

Every year, around this time, everyone makes these things called "resolutions." I've never really set resolutions because I didn't really think that you should make life changes just because it is a new year. Why wait until January 1st to better your life whenever you could have started yesterday?
But in the spirit of the "New Year" I decided to participate. So here are my resolutions for 2013.

-Continue my running/walking. I've set a goal of 45 miles for the month of January on Runkeeper and I am hoping to surpass that goal. And sign up for my first 5k (my coworkers will be super excited to hear that part)!

-Make pillows and curtains and anything else I can figure out how to make.

-Spend less and save more.

-Eat less macaroni and cheese and more broccoli. But still enjoy a few cookies or a piece of cake every now and then.

-Spend more time on my relationship with Ben. The last "date night" I remember was our anniversary in August... No bueno. Good thing we got like 32 gift cards to Olive Garden for Christmas!

-Work on blogging more and making some new recipes.

-Stay more organized... not waiting 2 weeks to fold the clean laundry and cleaning a little more.

-Sticking to our meal plans and only eat out once a month.

-Take more pictures, not just of Brody but of Ben and I too, and as a family. Sorry Ben, I know how much you LOVE taking pictures!

-Read more.

-Spend more time at the park and the beach.

So this list will probably change as the year goes on. Heck, it might even change a little tomorrow. But for now? I'm off to bring in the New Year with some of the coolest kids I know. I hope everyone stays safe tonight!

Happy New Years!

Finally, a Christmas recap (with LOTS of pictures)!

You guys. I have been majorly slacking in the world of social media. Don't worry, you didn't miss much, but I will fill you in on what all happened.

And this was only half of it!

The day before Christmas Eve was spent wrapping presents, cooking Stromboli at the in-laws (holy cow that is tough work!), candy making, and finishing up shopping. Which by the way, I had waited to do a little bit of the shopping so that Ben could be with me and he didn't miss out on buying Christmas presents for our family... Next year? I will do all of the shopping on my own whenever I get the chance. He is a last minute shopper and it stresses me out. We were running around like crazy at 6:00 that night when I still had a million things to do at home to get ready for the Christmas festivities and we would be out of town the next day all day long. So whenever I told him my plan for next year his response was "I think you said that last year and look where we are..." So maybe this year I learned my lesson?

Christmas Eve I was up at 5:15 making buffalo chicken wontons and getting ready to go to Alabama for the day. Every year for Christmas Eve we go to Grand Bay, Alabama to see Ben's grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. It is always a day full of visiting, eating, and then a fun game of "Dirty Santa." Ben ended up with a pink purse, Dirty Santa=success. Brody got to play with his dog-cousin, Lucy, and rode his Great-Grandpa's tractor and he fell asleep on our way home and stayed asleep whenever we got home, which usually doesn't happen, so we were able to get everything ready for Christmas morning, including Paula Deen's French toast casserole, and make it to bed at a decent time.

Santa stopped by!

Christmas morning, we had to wake Brody up, to which he responded with "NO!" Homeboy is not a fan of waking up in the morning. But when he saw his new toys he was so excited! So we cooked the French toast casserole, loaded up the car and headed to Ben's parents for breakfast and opening presents. I finally got my Coach purse (remember the story about every year since we started dating Ben has said I would get a new purse... FINALLY!!!) and lots of other goodies!

You can see the relief on Ben's face that he doesn't have to hear about the purse AGAIN this year. Or hes pretending to sleep. I'm thinking its the first one.

Then that afternoon as soon as we got home from Ben's parents I started making dinner for all of my family, spaghetti and meatballs and lasagna. I made a boatload of food and it was amazing! AND there was even a whole pan of lasagna left over so I stuck it in the freezer for another night! Yay for killing two birds with one stone! So then we ate and opened more presents!

I couldn't help but be a little sad the next morning whenever I woke up. Holidays are always so exciting and fun and then like ripping off a band-aid its over in like 2 seconds. But we did absolutely nothing the day after Christmas but eat leftovers and be lazy, and I have to say that it was much needed after going non-stop for like 3 days straight. And there was an "Extreme Cheapskates" marathon on so I was trying to get tips on how to save money...

He's not fully on board with my ideas for saving money yet...

 I was also trying to mentally prepare myself for the millions of things that still needed to be done before I have to go back to work next week. Including potty training... We are on day 4 right now of no diapers, except for a pull up while he sleeps. And while there were definitely less accidents today than yesterday, we still have a little work to do. Although we did go out for a few errands yesterday and he didn't have any accidents while we were out! Yay! Although I'm sure one day he will read this and be upset with me for sharing all of that so I won't give anymore details.

So that is what has been going on around here.
How was YOUR Christmas?

Friday Funnies

So I know you are dying to know about our Christmas festivities, and I promise I will fill you in soon!

We are working on potty training and making room for the 387 new toys Brody got for Christmas... So while you are waiting for the update, some "Friday Funnies" for your viewing pleasure!

If you haven't seen this guys rap videos, you should head on over to Youtube right now and search for Krispy Kreme.

Friday Funnies

First of all, I would like to apologize for missing last weeks "Friday Funnies." I was a little busy making this happen...

BOOM.

Moving on...

If you haven't seen New Girl, you are missing out my friend!

Ornament Swap!

A while back I started seeing a bunch of posts from other bloggers for "Ornament Swaps" and I thought "How fun would that be?!" So I decided to sign up!

I was super excited when I found out who my partner was! I was paired with Ashlea from Ashlea With An A, and I'm so glad I was! She is super sweet and I really enjoyed getting to know her! 

Actually, while I was out shopping I saw an ornament that I thought was really cute and had wanted to get for our tree, but shopping with a 2 and a half year old is nearly impossible so I got what I needed and didn't think about anything else. So I was super surprised whenever I got my ornament from Ashlea, because it was VERY similar to the ornament that I had wanted to get!

Thank you again, Ashlea! 

Wordless Wednesday

Day of Silence

Catching up!

So it has been a little quiet around here, incase you haven't noticed. I decided I would put the blog on hold until my finals were over. And as of yesterday at 11:20 I was done with the semester! Now I just have to wait on grades to be posted, which professors always take their precious time doing. Thanks guys.

Anyway, last week wasn't too eventful so you didn't miss much. We had my Christmas party for work, Ben's Christmas party, my finals, and today is mine and Ben's birthday! 

Nothing too exciting for the birthdays, we decorated our gingerbread house, Brody was not interested in anything other than eating the candy so technically I decorated it, and went to see Santa. Which by the way, when it was his turn homeboy literally ran up to Santa and jumped in his lap.  

We also finished up our Christmas shopping other than a couple of gift cards that we have left to get. The stores were CRAZY today while we were out, so I really want to get all of it done like as soon as possible. 

And now we are waiting on wings from Buffalo's Reef, a local favorite! If you are ever in the Fort Walton Beach area and want some good wings, stop by there! 

Anyway, this week should be really really good. I'm working three more days this year, yes this year people 2013, is right around the corner! And I have lots of goodies to make for friends and family, so expect some yummy recipes soon! I know I have been slacking in that department but its super hard to make yummy foods when you are trying to lose a few pounds and you know all you really need is some lettuce. Which speaking of that, hubs Ben said he can see a difference, which means all of my running/walking/extreme shedding and shredding is paying off! Woohoo! 

So that's all I have for now, I hope everyone has had a great weekend! 

Have all of you finished your Christmas shopping yet?

Just a few thoughts...

I hadn't planned on writing about this topic. I actually don't want this to turn into one of those blogs where people put every single opinion of theirs on every single controversial topic out there, just because they can. I have actually had a post sitting there with "Draft" next to it for months now because I don't want to offend people or spark a debate and make people hate me. 

Anyway, I'm sure you know what has happened in CT by now, unless you are living under some kind of rock. 

As I was going through my newsfeed on Facebook last night I couldn't help but be disgusted. Every other post was something about "well looks like we are going to have a new gun law, better stock up now!" Are you people seriously more worried about gun control right now? 

20 innocent kids were killed. 

Little boys and girls who were probably very much looking forward to getting that new bike or easy bake oven for Christmas. Kids who were probably planning sleepovers with their friends for that very night. 

And you are worried about your gun rights being taken away.

If someone wants to kill someone, with a gun, they will obviously find a way to get it. Stricter laws are not going to fix anything, period. How many people do illegal drugs every day? The laws are not going to fix these kind of problems. 

Another thing, can we please stop exploiting these other kids? Is it necessary to interview 7 year olds who have just gone through the most traumatizing thing a kid could go through? These kids are probably not even old enough to fully understand what has just happened. 

All I ask is that you show some respect for the families who will never get to see the excitement on their child's face Christmas morning, or see them graduate high school, or even get married. And for the other kids who lost their friends and classmates, who now have to worry about their safety every day they go to school. And for all of the parents, I can't even imagine all of the questions that they will have to answer.

That is all for now.

Friday Funnies (finals week edition)

I don't have much for today. I have my two finals next weekend and I am trying to get my assignments finished up so that I can just work on studying next week before my tests. 

Then... I'm FREE! Well, of school that is, for a while! Yay!

I mean, do I really need to know how many oxygen atoms are in 7.98 moles of Sulfur Trioxide? 

Is this real life?

Wordless Wednesday

It's December!

So I had intended to do this post yesterday but we had my niece's birthday party then the Alabama game (SEC champs!) and cooking dinner kind of distracted me. Oops. Let's talk about how it is now December. WHAT?! Oh my goodness. There are so many exciting things going on it is kind of crazy. So let me tell you what all I am excited about for this wonderful month.

~Birthday! Mine and Ben's birthday is on the 16th! This year I will be 23, Ben will be 31. I am getting old.

~Being finished with this semester! I am already done with one class, I just have to take the final in a couple of weeks and I have quite a few quizzes left in the other class. I'm pretty sure I am going to take next semester off, since the classes I need are only offered at an inconvenient time. 

~All of those crazy Christmas lifetime movies. Lifetime movies are already addicting, so add some Christmas lights and a dysfunctional family and there goes your whole day.

~Shopping! It is just so much fun this time of year!

~Continuing my couch to 5k program! Week 4 HOLLA!

~Practically living in the kitchen. Which is fine because thats where us women belong, right? KIDDING. 

~Lots of family time!

~Yummy candies and cookies that will completely ruin my diet. 

And finally...

~SANTA!!! SANTA'S COMING!