Family Matters

It sure if a good thing I love my family and Jeff's as much as I do! Of course I have been teaching at the same school at my mom for a couple of years now! I have to admit it is nice to go into her small little fridge and always have a diet coke for me when I need it! We don't see each other to much since Im with little 2nd graders and she is 5th so our schedules don't really overlap. But to make it a little bit more family style at our school they just hired my mother-in-law to work as an aide there. They moved back from Lake City and I had her come start subbing at my school while she was looking for a job. They kept her busy and an aide job opened up so she took it! So now I work with both of my moms =) Only downfall when I have kids of my own my babysitters are with me at work! Also my sister comes up to our school a couple days in the afternoon to tutor some of our students so everyone knows Jamie and Delainey as well! It is a big family party at our school! Can't complain to much as it is nice to be with my family all the time!

Workout Wednesday!

Jeff and I have been on the work out kick! I normally go to the gym and go 30 min-1hr cardio after school but once Jeff got home last night he said want to work out and I said what the heck. He started showing me the exercises he did in college for football! Holy moly was it hard! He would get on the treadmill and run on a straight up incline for two minutes while I did the push ups, squats, lunges whatever he told me to and then we would switch and I would run and he would do the next set. It doesn't sound very challenging but we were both sweating like crazy after an hour of doing this! And both of our legs are sore. Nothing like blasting loud music when you work out so I am sure our neighbors weren't to thrilled with it blaring at 8:45 at night. It finally has come time to replace my tennis shoes i have been needing to for so long but every time I work out my feet killed so I went and picked up a pair today! 

I also scooped up some cute and comfy work out clothes the other day! Lululemon is amazing and so comfortable yet cute!

There are so many more things on my wish list! maybe for valentines I can snag a few more things because they are so comfortable.  I am off to football practice for the Mama's!

Juicing my way to being healthy

I have heard so much about juicers lately and to be honest I think I want to try it. Not sure how it will go, but I have been looking for a reasonable one. who knew there were so many different types that range from 50 bucks to 300. I don't want to waste a bunch of money but it is so good for you to get all the nutrients and it helps your skin. I am starting to panic about not taking good enough care of my skin while I'm young because it is fine and then what it will be like when im 40. So I'm starting to try to be healthier and take better care of it. I read that  by eating fruits and veggies, we absorb 30% of the nutrients and by juicing we absorb 90%. Here are the few I was looking at that are under 100 bucks so it isn't to bad. I am sure if I hate it I can always give it to my sister and she will find a use for it for Delainey.

Target

Bed Bath and Beyond

Jeff has bet me to try not to shop for the entire month of February. I asked for a little bit of clarification but he said clothing or things we don't need! He thinks I have an issue and I won't be able to do it, but I will prove him wrong I have self control. He said the only exception is when we go to Colorado we can shop so I agreed.  I am guessing the juicer will be apart of not being a necessity, so I better find some time to go scoop this baby up before Friday! 

This is the first recipe I will be trying. Sounds delish!

• 1 Kiwi - Peeled
• 6 Strawberries - Medium
• 1 Orange or 2 Clementines - Peeled
• 1/2 Mango - Peeled and Sliced
• 1 cup Pineapple Chunks - Fresh
• 1/2 cup Coconut Water - Fresh or Canned

I was reading an article the other day listing some veggies you should use for weight loss. here is the list. I may be in trouble because they all sound disgusting to me!

Cruciferous Vegetables List To Use When Juicing For Weight Loss: Cauliflower (white or purple) Broccoli (green or purple) Brussels sprouts Kale (green or purple) Bok choy (chinese cabbage or pak choi) Cabbage (green, red or purple) Collards greens Watercress Radish Broccoli sprouts Arugula (rocket) Kohlrabi (white or purple) Mustard greens Turnip Broccoflower Daikon It won't hurt to try so I will let you know how it goes!

Weekend Recap

This past weekend went by in a flash! We had a bye week in football which worked well because we went over to Ashley and Carlton's house for our monthly supper club! We took a month off due to all the holidays so it was nice to all get together! We had delicious food and bottles of wine ending the night with competitive games! 

Saturday it was a beautiful day so Jeff and I hit up the town center for lunch and some shopping. I had a few things on the list but I am starting to panic that I do not have enough warm clothes for our ski trip in a couple of weeks!  I have been trying to go get a few things here and there so I do not freeze my butt off out there. My friend just got back from Colorado and said it was the coldest she has ever been and she goes skiing quite a bit. 

Luckily I was over at her house on Saturday to celebrate Kerry's birthday I tried on some of her ski gear which fit perfectly! I didn't really want to go buy new ski stuff since I doubt this is where Jeff and I will be going on our trips. We are more warm island type of people, but you never know we may just love it!

I will for sure be ready for a little vacation after this week at school. It is Catholic Schools Week which means just lots of crazy events and activities for the kids to celebrate catholic schools. It started today with wacky tacky day, 100th day of school, and pancake breakfast for all the kids! My favorite is field day which is on friday because it is a competition and I am positive my class will win!! I have some awesome athletes who I have been giving pep talks to already! Then the teachers play the 8th grade in kick ball! Last year wasn't so good, but we have a younger crew this year so I think we will have a chance! The whole week is mere Chaos and craziness! Then we ended our day today with our fire alarm going off during the middle of dismissal and fire trucks coming! It is never dull being a teacher. Here is our 100th day worm we made today out of 100 sugar cookies and icing. 

I'm off to watch some bachelor and go to bed early!

Making Moves!

It is hard to believe January has almost come and gone! Jeff and I have been talking quite a bit lately about our plans for the next few years and what we want! Well I do most of the talking and he nods. So I sort of went back to see what my 30 for 30 list was to see if we could cross anything off or what else I might want to add. There were a few things I could cross off or I am working to crossing off. So here goes nothing....

We can cross off number 9 as Jeff and I did a few things this year to help some families in need for Christmas.

# 14 working out- I am currently back to finding time to do this and hopefully that will lead to me crossing off #22 about loosing some weight. I dread going to the gym because this is sad but true the thought of having to do my hair completely over again is dreadful that is what happens when you are blessed with out of control frizz hair! But after I feel so good so I am sucking it up!

We started # 21 with our trip to Nashville and watching the Jags! Hopefully they are better this year so it is a little more exciting! the most exciting part this year to Allie and I was what drink or food the boys would bring back to us in between possessions.

I am really working on # 19. about being a better listener.  My father one year gave my sister and I both a letter with a book. The book is called the Love Dare. I have always just put it in the bottom drawer of my desk and never really did much with it. (sorry Dad if you are reading this) But I was on a cleaning rampage the other day of all the closets and came across it. I decided I am going to take the dare! It is all about being a better wife. Each day there is a dare to do things or say nice things for your husband without wanting something in return. I am on day 3 and so far so good! Hopefully this will help out with my listening skills because so far they have been not saying anything negative. So even when I want to say "are you kidding" I hold it in =)

# 28- Annual Girls Weekend Trip- We are working on it. there are a few of us that keep saying lets do it but no plans have been made. I think we decided we wanted to go to Charleston but it is finding a time when it works for everyone! I won't cross it off since it isn't booked!

#15- Throw Jeff a party is in the works! I have wanted to host a Beer Olympics with teams and games with prizes so we will see how busy we get but I am thinking about doing it for his birthday this year in April!

Now for one that I am excited about!  Jeff and I have been doing a lot of talking and we all know what I love to do is plan PARTIES! I could think of any reason to throw a party just because I want to have something to do and plan! My poor husband doesn't appreciate the amount of money and time I put into every party but hey who doesn't love a good one! People remember the little things! I've always said I wanted to plan, but where we live isn't' the best place for it. Well I decided it is time to get the ball rolling anyway. Whether I don't do anything with it or I open up my own little business I have to go back to school to get certified as a party planner! So Jeff said go for it and this summer I am going to take a class to become a certified wedding planner. I don't really want to only do weddings but birthday parties, anniversaries you name it! We will see where God wants me to go with it but honestly I buy so much stuff it will be nice to write some of it off once I start a little business! So yay!
So I am crossing off # 10!

That is it for now! I will continue to try to work on crossing some more off!

1. Buy a House (Accomplished and have been living In our house for 2 months now happy as ever).
 2. Get pregnant at some point
 3.Visit Napa Valley and go to all the vineyards (think this would be a great girls trip)
 4. Zip Lining in Costa Rica
 5. Get a nice camera/video camera and take more pictures
 6. Go to Ellen Show
 7. Visit Italy and parts of Europe (this will be a difficult one because Jeff has no desire to go)
 8. Run Disney Half Marathon (maybe walk some too)
 9. Give a family in need Christmas
 10. Start party planning on the side
 11. Spend Christmas in NYC (jeff has never been)
 12. Attend a bible study regularly
 13. become a better cook/take a cooking class
 14. work out 3-5 times a week
15. throw Jeff a big birthday party
 16. Host a formal dinner party at our house with a chef
 17. Learn how to play golf so I can play with jeff
18. Start a supper club with friends and family
 19. Become a better listener and less stubborn
20. Read more books
21. Go to a road football trip every year (obviously Jeff's input)
22. Loose 10-15 more pounds
 23. learn how to make homemade meatballs like my Bumpa and Jeff's Pop Pop
24. Still be teaching
25. Take salsa dancing class
 26. start up volleyball program at my school 
27. Finish Decorating our house (will this ever happen? probably not)
28. Have an annual girls weekend trip
 29. Build a pergola in my backyard
30. Have a big 30th birthday party!!

Savannah

We are back from Savannah and had a great time! Jeff and I absolutely love it there I would move there if I didn't have to leave my family, we both agreed if we found a reasonable place and had money we would buy a little condo there. We go so much we probably spend more money in hotels then we would in a little one or two bedroom that us and our friends could stay in. Maybe down the road that is something we could do! When we got there we went and ate at this delicious restaurant called Soho. It was very eclectic and a small little art gallery up front, but the food was amazing. It was like in an old warehouse looking place with chairs and tables it looked like they found on the side of the road.  I wish I would have taken a picture of my food, but I had the organic grilled chicken panini with pasta salad which was heaven and Jeff has the roast beef panini which was delicious at well. We will for sure be going back there for lunch because there were so many things I wanted to try. 

After lunch we walked around the area which we haven't been to before. I found a cute little boutique and we went and did a little shopping. Then we walked in and out of some antique furniture stores. Then I came upon a small little store called La Paperie. I loved it. You could get little gifts, wrapping paper and all sorts of stationery. 

One of Jeff's co workers was there with his girlfriend so we went and had a few drinks with them went and listened to some live music in city market. Then we went to my favorite roof top bar to watch the sunset! We have great drinks and a few appetizers and then went to get freshened up for dinner. We went to Alligator Soul, which we went to a few years ago. It was good but not like I remember. It wasn't my favorite meal but it could have been my appetite wasn't very big since we had a big lunch and an appetizer already! I do like the atmosphere of it being underground with old brick walls. 

After dinner we were stuffed and exhausted so we decided to call it a night and head back to the hotel. It was nice just to spend the day with Jeff! We came back home to reality of cleaning and loads of laundry my favorite thing!! 

3 year anniversary!

Two days late but we celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary on Wednesday! Time sure does fly I still think about my wedding and how I wish I could relive it all over again. I swear I will have another one just to renew our vows one day just so I can plan it all over again. It funny because we were planning my sisters friends wedding the other night and the girls say how many times do you even really look through your wedding album? Well I'm abnormal and I love to look through mine!
Okay back to my husband who this is really about!  We have been together for 9 years so we have been together for almost 1/3 of our lives! Still to this day I wouldn't change a thing! I have learned to love his flaws ( ok maybe not dropping your clothes all over and leaving them there) but I've learned not to yell and just pick them up on my own so it gets done quicker! He is my favorite person to be with and talk to! I honestly couldn't imagine life without him and I can't wait to the years to come when we start our family and just keep enjoying our time together. We have had a big year together and a lot of firsts so our 3rd year of marriage will be one to remember!

We had football practice on our actual anniversary and of course we couldn't miss that. So we went to Capital Grille last night for dinner with my parents which was delicious and Jeff and I are heading to Savannah this week just to relax. It is one of our favorite places and is so close we love to go whenever we can. Normally we are with a crowd of friends and going from one place to another constantly so it will be nice just to relax and be the two of us!

But First we have a football game tonight at 9:00 which is going to be freezing cold! I hope everyone has a great weekend! I am thankful it is a long one!

Emerald

The color of the year is emerald which just so happens to be baby D's birthstone! Maybe we can snag her up some cute clothes this year! I've never been a huge fan of the color, but I wouldn't mind it in smaller accessories or a handbag!

Weekend Recap

Last week was one long work week for me! Being off for two weeks and the 1st full week back is hard for myself as well as all my kids! I sure was happy to see Friday get here! I went over to my sisters to help her and one of her newly engaged friends get some ideas for her wedding! Saturday Jeff and I got up and had such a productive day of finally taking the lights off the house, yard work (that was jeff's part), I went out and ran a few errands. I had to get a cap to go under my wig. Our friends are getting married next month so her  bachelorette party was local but she asked us to wear a wig. I decided since I'm blonde I would go to the other extreme and get dark brown. It was funny to see everyone in their wigs. It definitely wasn't the most comfortable thing to wear the entire night. 

Are you ready for some football?

I can't say I am that excited over the game because I do not really favor either team. However I do favor Sean and the bachelor which is currently on at the same time. However Jeff on the other hand is obsessed with football so I ran up to publix after school to get a few things to make some football treats but in a healthy way! I of course turned to skinny taste.com. I decided to make the hot spinach dip ( except I used fresh spinach leaves instead of frozen) and buffalo chicken potato skins! I do weight watchers and the points were on 2 and 3 points a serving which is great in my book!  I didn't tell Jeff they were from skinny taste and made with all fat free items and he loved them. Whether he was just saying that or truly enjoyed them I don't know but he ate quite a bit! I highly recommend you trying them and they were super easy to make. 
Anywho I am off to watch bachelor and real housewives! If I had to choose I would say Go Notre Dame really only because a few of our friends like them!

2013!

We have so much to be thankful for this past year! Most importantly little Delainey was brought into this world and my goddaughter, Haigan as well. But Jeff and I had a big year of purchases we bought our first car and house together. There seems to always be a project or something we want to do with the house but we couldn't be happier with where we are at now! It is a perfect place to start a family. 

When we look into 2013 Jeff and I didn't set to many resolutions so it isn't unattainable! We both put on the usual try to loose some weight! I started back up on weight watchers and getting back into a routine of working out since all the holiday madness is over! Weight watchers worked pretty well for me two years ago and then I sort of went relaxed last year but I am going to get pretty serious about it again. My goal is to loose weight before we try to have kids so that is something to work for so I can just put it all back on with a baby griffin! My flag football season started this past week so that always help have practice and game each week to keep me active as well. We won our game on Friday 26-0 to a team that was suppose to be pretty good but didn't turn out that way. 

We have quite a few weddings coming up this year and a few trips are planned with our family and friends so lots to look forward to!

Today after we went to Church and lunch with the family we decided to walk around the town center to do a little shopping. We have some bachelorette and wedding parties coming up so we needed to grab a few gifts. But while we were out I have been searching for some sheets for our master bedroom but to be honest sheets are so expensive and that is just something I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on so I always am apprehensive! I came across these little pinstriped sheets that we could get monogrammed and they happened to be 20% off right now so I decided to go for it! We just got our last name on them instead of our monogram. We got some sheets and pillow cases! Of course my husbands response was is this really a necessity? But we haven't got new sheets since we got married which is coming up on 3 years ago so its definitely time! I can't wait for them to get here! 

Honky Tonk Badonkadonk

I think I still hear country music playing. It definitely isn't called Music City for nothing. We just got back from Nashville yesterday and it was definitely a good time. We flew out on Saturday morning extremely early with Allie and Brandon. We lost an hour so it was still pretty early in the morning when we got there. We all stepped outside of the airport and said Oh my Gosh! We left Florida Saturday morning at 6 am and it was 70 degrees we stepped off the plane in Nashville and it was low 30s! We were not ready for that. It was sort of wet and there was a possibility for snow so we were pretty excited. We went and got breakfast and long and behold it started snowing. At first it was just little snow flurries but  then it started coming down pretty good. Brandon had never seen snow so we were pretty happy!!
It is amazing that Broadway street is just full of bars and starting at 10 am there are live bands playing everywhere and the drinks started flowing. We all love live music we would go from place to place to have a drink and listen to music. We would stop sometime in between to eat! All we did was eat, drink, and walk around.

Sunday we went to the Jags vs Titans football game. One of Jeff's old teammates from Wake plays for them now so we got free tickets. We did not go because the jaguars are any good but because Jeff and Brandon are good fans and love their team. The sun was shining which made it not be to bad. There definitely weren't to many other jaguar fans so the poor boys were on their own.

We ate at so many delicious restaurants and heard so many great bands! I don't know if I will hop on a plane to move there just yet as it is pretty cold we definitely loved getting back to where its in the 70s in dec/jan. but we will definitely go back for another visit. It is always great spending time with Allie and B!

Broadway St!

view from our hotel room

jeff got to meet up with two of his old football buddies

best mac n cheese I've ever had! They even kept it in a doggie bag for us and said we could pick it up anytime before 3 am because we didn't want to throw it away but we weren't going back to our hotel right then. So nice of them and we did pick it up after the ball dropped!

The street was filled with thousands of people. one of the bartenders told us this is like one of the top new years eve party in U.S.A. It was a little rainy but it was worth it to see them drop the music note and see the fireworks. The streets were filled with beer carts, food trucks, funnel cake stands and was all roped off. We stayed inside one bar for hours on end because this band was amazing. We popped out at 11:30 to not miss the show and get soaking wet!

Here's to another year! 

Happy New Year to all of you!

Christmas 2012

Well Christmas eve is with my family and we did Church and went to a little Italian restaurant down in Riverside. My poor husband had to work and they didn't even let them off early I couldn't believe it. So sadly he missed church but just met us for dinner. We then went back to my parents and we all got to open up our pajamas and played a game. We headed home to get right to bed because Jeff knows me to well that I get up entirely to early for being an adult. I can't help it I love Christmas! I was rolling around the bed waiting for Jeff to get up and finally at 7 I said forget it and just woke him up. We opened up all our stockings and again I was impressed he picked out a david yurman bracelet for me all on his own. He knows better and takes my sister along with him just to make sure. But it was beautiful and I was surprised! 

We got ready and headed over to my parents to open presents with them and my sisters family. Delainey was a riot to watch open up her presents really just eating the paper and playing. But we all got lots of great stuff and are blessed to have such a wonderful family. We then headed to Jeff's parents to do presents and lunch with his side of the family. Jeff's mom got one of his ACC championship jerseys framed which he was so excited about. Now I just have to figure out where to hang that thing. It is HUGE!. 

Tis' the Season

Well I am back and starting to get some what settled. Not to sure how I feel about going back to school tomorrow. But I will do a quick little recap of what we were up to over the holiday break.

We did a little Festival of the lights 5k with my sister and some of her friends. It was down in San marco and we had a good time even baby D came along for the walk/run.

We went to an Eric Church concert with Al & B and for someone who doesn't like concerts very much the past two have been amazing. Thank you Eric Church and Zac Brown for changing my mind about concerts being a waste of money. 

Jamie and I had our annual Christmas party. This is the third year we have done it and we did it at my house this year. We had a great time and a lot more people came than we expected. I think there was easily 70 people at our house at one point and it didn't end until the wee hours in the morning. I guess its a good thing when we ran out of every single thing even all the wine and liquor people brought as gifts! I took a few pictures of the party. We did a hot chocolate and coffee bar, had signature drinks in ornaments we called jingle juice and some cookies that blew me away by this lady's attention to detail. 

it actually worked out great Jeff went and bought the heater for our back porch which I thought was silly because we live in florida and it was 75 degree a couple days ago, but that night the temperature dropped big time so it was nice to have. My brother-in-law also made a bon fire in our backyard to help keep those warm outside.

The invitations I got made were little coasters that we made look like a heineken beer label but with our invitation on it.