what we're leaving behind

I've written this post in my head a million times but I knew that getting down to it and actually typing it out would be the tough part. I can't believe I was so anxious, so ready to move, but here I sit feeling a little nostalgic about what we'll be leaving behind.

Sure we're leaving our little starter home for something much nicer but our house is cozy and I'm left wondering if we'll be able to feel the same in the next house. This house has so many memories. Allen and I put a ton of work into it when we first bought it and completely changed most of the rooms.

We were young and childless and staying up all night to paint didn't even sound crazy to us. We tackled projects both big and small and we did them together. We learned a lot from each other and about each other in the process.

It was in that kitchen that I had some major disasters and some huge successes. In that kitchen I showed Allen a thing or two about cooking and he showed me a thing or two about making homemade biscuits.

And then our family grew.  It was in the living room where I had Allen sit down while I presented him with a tiny wrapped package with the smallest onesie tucked inside. 

It was in the kitchen that we set up an elaborate Chinese food buffet all so we could have everyone together as they opened their fortune cookies and were surprised to read, Allen and Jennifer are having a baby. Arriving in April.

It was the place the Braylen Kate came home to, where we spent so many hours and days figuring each other out. Where she really taught me what it was like to be a mom. And beside our bed where she slept in her tiny bassinet for so many nights.

It was on the living room floor we sat one Saturday morning as Braylen took her first steps  and we scooped her up and danced around the house. 

It's now the house that she runs and plays in, where she plays hide and seek, she knows the place so well.

While I sit here and think fondly on all of those sweet memories. I know it was in this house that we built the foundation for our family and it's strong enough to take with us where ever we go. 

I know this isn't a sad time. But I would be lying if I didn't tell you that it's a little bittersweet. I know that we'll go on to make new memories. I know that we'll eventually make the new house cozy and warm and inviting just as we did this one. But I won't be able to think back on our first years of marriage or BK's earliest days without thinking of this house that we're leaving behind. 

To me it will always be the house that built the us that we are today.

this and that

• Our last day of school was on Friday and I went with some of the other teachers to the beach for the weekend. It was a nice little getaway and the weather was perfect! We stayed at (what I think is) the best place on the beach, Turquoise Place. 

The only two pictures I took on vacation. The beautiful water of Orange Beach and Leah and I before dinner on Saturday night. 

• One of the only things we need for the new house is a refrigerator.  We went yesterday and picked one up since there were some great sales. I'm pretty indecisive so I let the sales guy give me two to choose from based on our criteria. I think BK approves of the one we ended up with.

• I let my Paleo eating slide while on vacation. I didn't feel nearly as good and I'm happy to be eating Paleo-friendly again. I never thought I'd be excited to get back on a diet. 

• I know I mentioned during auditions that I was a Phillip Phillips fan and I was thrilled to see that he won American Idol this season. I can't wait for his album to come out and for now I've been getting my fix from his songs on iTunes. 

• I started a gallery wall a few months back and I've been watching for new deals to come along on Plum District. This morning I bought of their Canvas People deals so I could add to my gallery wall. If you haven't signed up for Plum District, you can click here and then take advantage of that great offer today! 

• If you were ever curious about who BK looks like just check out this picture of me around her age. I knew we had several similarities but I was pretty shocked at just how many... 

finding my fit

The title of this post is quite literally what I mean. Here I sit eating a bowl of mixed-fruit, watermelon, honeydew, and cantaloupe, to be exact. I laugh at the sound of Allen and Braylen Kate playing downstairs and those muscles in my stomach ache, (abs, I think you call them) and I'm quickly reminded of that plank-inspired ab workout I endured yesterday.

And this feeling? I really, really like it.

Granted, I'm still very much a work in progress but in the last month I went from working out zero times each week to working out three times per week. I work out twice a week with a trainer and I make sure to work out at least once on my own each week. A number that I plan to increase in June, four is the magic number next month.

My workouts haven't been easy or fun but somehow when they roll around I'm excited to go and I feel good the next day. I'm putting together a sample of the workouts we do but today I wanted to focus on some of the food choices I've been making.

I have the (more than) occasional splurge and I still need to reign that in and cut back. But for the most part I'm putting things in my body that I'm don't feel bad about later. For the first few weeks of working out I would talk about this ideal body I wanted to see and each time my trainer, Josh, would remind that those nicely sculpted abs start in the kitchen.

And as much as I hate to admit it, he's absolutely right.

He encouraged me to start the Paleo diet and yesterday marks my first week of Paleo eating. I need to sit down and really research and read about the diet but for now I refer to the chart below when making food choices.

                                                                                      Source: bit.ly via vernice on Pinterest

I'm going to try and do regular Paleo posts where I take pictures of what I ate during the week and give you updates on my progress. I can't promise you weekly posts, but I'll definitely try my hardest to post them on a regular basis. I did take before pictures when I started working out last month and when I reach my goal I'll show you the before and after.

Here's what the numbers look like:

Starting Weight (5/17/12): 145.8

This week's weight: 142.0 

Total weight lost: -3.8 

I would love to hear any recipes, success stories, tips for Paleo eating that you might have :)

P365, Paleo and Presence

because I'm going to put a few things together and call it a post...

P365-First, I wanted to do a quick catch-up of Project 365, here are my pictures from Week 20:

My pretty Mother's Day flowers on my desk at school, I took this picture on Monday.

I've been wearing this Kony bracelet for a few weeks now. I'm still hoping and praying there is a change in this situation. I snapped this picture on Tuesday.

We have a nest of baby birds on our porch. On Wednesday, we were watching the mama bird come back and forth and feed them, they seem like they are always hungry and I feel bad for the poor mama bird who has to keep 5 little birdies fed. 

How cute is BK in pig tails? I love that hair is getting long enough to put up, even if she won't leave it that way for long.

I munched on these honey and cinnamon coated almonds for most of the week. They were a quick-fix for my sweet tooth.

On Saturday we went to a housewarming for Hugh and Micah at their beautiful new house.

On Sunday, we ate at Cracker Barrell after church and BK played that peg game with Phillip until our food came.

Paleo- I've been following the Paleo diet for about a week now. I looked at the guidelines at first and thought it would be too strict but I'm finding it's a lot easier to eat healthy than I had imagined it to be. After we played softball on Saturday the guys wanted pizza and I resisted the urge and had a cajun grilled chicken breast instead. I'm going to weigh-in on Friday and give you a full report then.

Presence- I'm talking my presence on the blog, that is. I don't know how bare the blog will be for the next few weeks. I'm busy trying to finish up everything at school, pack-up our house and move into the new house. All while squeezing in two beach trips.

I do have some recipes to post from the past few weeks and the next time I cook I hope it will be in this kitchen....

(Really I just couldn't resist showing you one of the favorite parts of our soon-to-be new home)



packing up

I've been a little hesitant to talk about the whole home buying process on the blog. I'm completely aware that there are several people/things that play a big part in the process and even as I sit here with a closing date, I know that things could still go awry. But I blog because I like to document things. My thoughts, my feelings, our life. And well, this is a pretty big part of our life right now.

I spent the better part of this evening carefully packing up my china, with the help of my mom, of course. And it's all a little surreal to me still. It has been nearly a year since we first put our house on the market, we've had two houses under contract and last summer I mastered the art of cleaning the house in 20 minutes for surprise showings.

So where are we right now? Well, we are set to close next Tuesday, we should move in next week and be out of our house by Sunday. Which is all a little overwhelming for my type-A personality. But I'm trying my hardest not to get on everyones nerves by stressing out.

And tonight as I sat on the countertop eating a container of Greek yogurt at 10 PM (because that's clearly not a sign of stressing out), I was a little sad thinking of all the memories we made in this house that we're leaving behind. This house saw us grow in our marriage and our faith, welcome Braylen, learn to be parents. It was where we built the foundation for our family.

But I can't be sad because I know there are so many more memories to be made. So many good times to be had and added to the memories we've already made.

I'm a big believer that God is in the details and this was no exception. The last few weeks have been perfectly orchestrated and I love how each little piece of the puzzle has seamlessly come together. Pieces I didn't think would fit at times.

And for a little comic relief I have to share with what we found BK doing while we were packing. The cardboard box entertained her for pretty well but we all had a good laugh when she said "Look, I put roof on it mommy!!" I guess she likes the look of Post-It! shingles.

15 things I won't apologize for

I recently read an article on Self.com in which Miranda Lambert talked about things she would never apologize for. I laughed out loud at some of them and some of them don't apply to me at all. I thought some of her quirks were cute and some of them I might apologize for. Hey, we're all different, right?

 But I thought it would be fun to come up with my own version of this list and give you 15 things I'll never apologize for. Because I think we could all make this list and each person would have completely different things on their list, each of them true to their individuality.

And I think we should stop apologizing for the things that make us who we are. We shouldn't worry if everyone else is doing it, we shouldn't worry if everyone else likes what we're doing or what others might think. Just own it.

I won't apologize for...

1. The fact that I don't like the idea of a 5-year plan or a 10-year plan. I like now, today, this year. I have no idea how many children I want or how close together they should be, but I think when the time comes I'll know.
2. My obsession with Mystic tans.
3. Not pumping my own gas. It's one of those things Allen spoiled me with when we were dating and now it's just habit. We drive my car to church or somewhere at least twice a week and he always makes sure I have gas. Of course, they're may be extenuating circumstances and I would, of course, have to but I really can't tell you the last time I had to do this.
4. The fact the I watch The Real Housewives, all of them.
5. Having to say "no" sometimes because I know it's best for myself and my family to not add another thing to my plate.
6. Breaking the budget for a great pair of shoes.
7. That extra shot in my macchiato, it basically makes me Superwoman. The caffeine, that is.
8. My parenting choices.
9. What I believe in.
10. That cupcake I ate last weekend.
11. Those hours I spend at the gym every week. They make me a better person in the end.
12. Going back to work.
13. Thinking that singing loudly in my car is the best stress reliever.
14. "Me" time.
15. Turning off my phone some evenings to be completely present with my family.

You tell me, is there something you won't apologize for?

death by chocolate

The other day while browsing Pinterest I saw several people I follow had pinned a recipe for Death by Chocolate. And I remembered that my mom used to make this same, exact trifle. Every Sunday singing at church or family gathering we had, people would always request that she make this.

I remember my brother sitting on the counter and eating the remaining Cool Whip straight out of the container. So this weekend I dug out this old picture to go along with the recipe post and show you that recipes do indeed cycle their way through making it hard to figure out where they originally came from.

Let's all take a moment to look at how cute he was, I wasn't even close to this cute as a child :)



But back to the point, Death by Chocolate, not a bad way to go if you ask me.

2 large packages of instant chocolate pudding (prepared as directed on box)

1 family size package brownie mix (prepared as directed on box) and crumbled (once they have cooled)

6-8 Skor candy bars, crushed finely

1 large container of Cool-Whip, thawed

In a trifle bowl layer brownies, pudding, cool-whip and candy bar pieces. Continue layering (2-3 times) until you have filled the trifle bowl. End with the candy bar pieces, they act as a garnish.

You might want to take a spoon to the entire bowl. I won't judge you.