Tis the Season to be…Busy!

Oh, is that not how the song goes!?  Haha, I thought it was appropriate ;)  Things are definitely great busy around here, that just leaves little time for blogging.  Whomp.  But I'm back at it today & excited to link up with Faith tomorrow for her 6th Annual Christmas Card Carousel!!

Last week & this weekend was a whirlwind of fun!  I checked so much off my Christmas shopping list last Wednesday.  With a red cup in hand of course!  Then later that night I attended the 3rd Annual Charlotte Blogger's Ornament Exchange!  Classic Annie was sweet enough to host us all at her beautiful home!

Pretty ladies :)

It was so great to get to hang out & catch up with some sweet bloggy friends!  We of course keep up through our blogs, but it's fun to hang out in person, too :)

My little recaps of the 2011 & 2012 Ornament Exchange are linked accordingly!

I had every intention of linking up for Five on Friday last week, but we flew out Friday night to a snowy Michigan for Brandon's company Christmas party!

We're so thankful that work trips translate into a little extra Michigan family & friend time.  We stayed with B's sister & bro-in-law Friday night & got some sweet snuggles from our little baby man nephew the next morning before heading off to WOD with our friend Pauly B!

How cute is that…Brandon wore Paul's CrossFit Lake Effect

shirt & Paul wore B's CrossFit Pineville shirt!  They didn't even 

plan it!  They're too cute ;)

We met up with B's family again for some lunch.  Cute little man stole the show…

After lunch we drove out to Spring Lake to get all gussied up for B's work party!  I think we clean up pretty well…

It snowed all weekend in Michigan!  The little downtown of Spring Lake was just the cutest...

And inside wasn't too shabby either...

After the delicious dinner, dessert & obligatory speeches, there was obligatory karaoke!  The boys sang "I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" and well, it was pitiful!  Haha

My group 1st sang "Rudolph" and then were called back for a sing off & we sang "Frosty".  Clearly we had some innate dance moves that won each of us a $100 Meijer gift card!!!  {You've probably never heard of Meijer, they're not down here.  But we will be spending that when we are back in a few weeks ;) }

It was definitely a fun little night!!  B's work crowd sure can throw a good party!  This was my 4th Christmas party with them!!  {2010 was pre-blog, 2011 & 2012}

We ate breakfast with the whole crew the next morning & then made our snowy trek back to the airport!  Can you believe that...

All that snow & we still managed to say on time!  It's a Christmas miracle!!  As always, we were glad to be back home to our white dog & Ben cat!

Are you busy hustling & bustling as well!?  I plan to wrap up a storm tomorrow, there will finally be presents under our tree!  And be sure to check back tomorrow to see our Christmas card :)

Five on Friday

Linking up again today with April, Christina & friends!  Leggo!

1 - We picked up the final season of Dexter last weekend!  We're about 4 episodes in already & I can't wait to watch a few more this weekend!!  I'm so sad it's coming to an end :(  I'll sure miss my favorite serial killer!  I think we want to start Homeland next!

2 - I ordered our Christmas cards this week!  They're no where near professional, but hopefully they turned out pretty cute!  At least the proof looked pretty good.  Here's a sneak peek of an outtake…

I ordered from Vistaprint once again.  I looked at some other places (Tiny Prints, Minted, etc) and they had gorgeous cards...but I just couldn't bring myself to pay those prices!!  Maybe I'm cheap!? Maybe I'll change my mind when we have professional pics or kiddos on there!?  I just couldn't bring myself to pay upwards $130 for a greeting card (that sadly might get thrown away!).

3 - This weekend is my grandmother's 80th birthday!  We're having a surprise party for her (don't worry, she doesn't read my blog, ha) this Saturday & lots of family is coming in town.  I love playing hostess & having my cousins stay with us!  Should be a fun weekend!

4 - My cousin Jon wrote this hilarious post about surviving the 'Christmas Shoes' song.  He's so right, you can't unhear that song, but you want to so, so bad!!  I think I'd be ok if I never heard that song again!

5 - I'm so excited for the 3rd Annual Charlotte Bloggers Ornament Exchange next Wednesday! Should be such a fun night!  I can't wait to catch up with some wonderful girls I haven't seen in a while, meet some new faces & bring home a super cute ornament :)

Happy weekend!!

Weekend Recap

We had a fun little weekend over here!!  There was pretty much a common theme....lots of good {sometimes not so Paleo} food, friends & fun!  

Friday night we broke out the Weber because Brandon loves to grill & I love to eat grilled food!

B likes to live dangerously {or he was just lazy & it was hot out} and grilled in his undies!  Haha, don't worry, the neighbors didn't see!

It's Restaurant Week here in Charlotte so Saturday night, B & I headed uptown to meet Warren & Kelly for a little double date action at Blue!  Sooo good!!  If you're local, call & make a reservation asap!  Restaurant Week lasts til next weekend :)

Awesome red eye right!?  Ughh couldn't correct it!

Great night with great friends!!

Then, Sunday night, I met Rachel & Ashley for a little girls night at Chuy's!!  We talked & ate & talked some more!  It was so much fun!  I'm so thankful to have friends like these 2...we pick up right where we left off the last time!  And we just get each other I think.  That's huge!  I'm also so thankful they're doing the whole baby thing 1st!  Haha, I know who I'll be calling when it's our turn ;)

That about sums it up....food, friends & fun!  Now back to eating like a good trainer & on with the work week :)

Midweek Randos

Happy hump day!  One of my fav days of the week....the weekend is in view :)

Between 2 jobs at the moment and my normal crazy train brain, I have lots of random things floatin' around in my noggin'!  Today, I shall spill a few.  In no particular order...

How cute are my new shoes!?!  They are Reebok Realflex Fusion Crosstraining shoes {purchased at a steal of a price here} and I am loving them!!

Berkley is quite the CrossFit dog.  He's been doing box jumps & burpees :)  I think he needs a CFP collar or shirt with our logo!  Hmm...where can I order one of these!?

Last Wednesday I got dinner with this pretty lady...

Alexa & I met for dinner and a drink or three :)  Clearly the guy behind us is real cool...thanks for the bunny ears old man.  We chatted away til almost 10!!  That was late for a school night, haha.

I've driven Rachelle a few times lately {lunch runs while working at the box} and man she rides real nice!!  I clearly used this dreamy filter in the pic because driving Rachelle is dreamy!

How spoiled is this little white fur ball!?  He's slept in the bed a few nights the past week which is new for him & us.  Probably a bad idea right!?  He got in his crate on his own last night so, we'll just have to see about all this bed sleeping!

CFP's website is live!!!  www.pinevillecrossfit.com - Check us out {and ignore the fact that it's still under construction & the horrible pic of me on the coaches page!}

Random enough for you!?  :)

Spring Break Lovin'

Oh Spring Break, how I love you!!

I am in full blown spring break mode this week and loving it!!  It's so nice to not have a packed agenda, sleep til 730, be able to run errands, meet friends for lunch and dinner.... oh yes, spring break and I are having a full fledged love affair!

Last weekend, my friend Lisa and I knocked out a 5 mile run on the greenway in prep for our 10K this weekend down in Charleston!  It was then necessary to follow our run with brunch and mimosas at Toast to celebrate Spring Break and all it's glory!!

Mmmmmm!

For Easter, Brandon and I visited a church that meets at the high school right beside us, then changed out of church clothes & into our workout clothes for an Easter workout at the track.  The gym was obviously closed due to the holiday so we made up an outside Easter WOD!

Brandon captured my best side in action...thanks for that!

Monday, my sweet friend Rachel had lots of us bloggy ladies & their baby girls over for lunch! Between the 4 of them, there are 5 baby girls from 3 weeks to 5 months!!  So neat that all their little girls will grow up and all be the same age/in the same grade together!  I was so glad to finally get to meet Faith's girls and Katie's brand new little bebe!  And since Faith has twins, I got to pretend to have a baby too, haha ;)

Katie, Faith, Me, Ashley, & Rachel

I spent a chunk of my Tuesday morning sitting in Toyota's waiting room as they serviced my car for it's 60K mile check up.  Paying that bill was fun.  NOT!  Ughh...money spent on maintaining cars is the worst!!  I could think of so many other things I would rather spend that money on!  But alas, it is wise to take care of what ya got I guess!!  Oh adulthood....sigh.

Last night was much more fun!  A bunch of girls went out to celebrate my friend Lisa's birthday (which is actually tomorrow)!  We met at Vine American Kitchen for dinner and drinks (and cupcakes!  Shhhh) and it was so much fun!  I'm so blessed to know so many wonderful women!!

Lane, Sara, Me, Whitney, Lisa, Courtney, Laurel & Dana

We will be celebrating Lisa's birthday pretty much all weekend long in Charleston!!  :)  The weather was looking dismal for tomorrow so we decided to cut the trip short a bit and not head down til Friday morning.  It will still be lots of fun, though!

I made the mistake of checking my work email today!  Not smart.  It got my mind swirling on all things school!  So I took a nap to sleep it off :)  No more of that til Sunday night when I need to mentally prepare, haha.

B took tomorrow and Friday off so I'm excited for a day to relax together tomorrow before our fun weekend away!

I wish Spring Break and I could make this love affair permanent...I should really look into that ;)  

Hope everyone's having a splendid week, spring break or not!  And if you're working, at least you're already over the hump!!

Birthday Weekend!

This past Saturday, I turned 26!!!

I am now closer to 30 than 20, which, in my opinion, is pretty exciting because really, life just keeps getting better!

This weekend was a busy one, but I would have spent my birthday weekend no other way :)

Festivities started early on Thursday night with Andrea and our traditional birthday trip to our favorite, Polished Nail Bar!  Then followed up by a little impromptu birthday dinner at Jade with Lisa!

Feeling spoiled with pretty nails from Andrea & a Lululemon giftcard from Lisa!  For real, my friends are pretty freaking fantastic!

I've been fighting a lovely cough for a while so I took the day off on Friday and tried to rest up.  I took some good naps with this guy...

...and made these ah-MAZ-ing Paleo brownies for my birthday!!

They were so good!!  B & I have such a sweet tooth, I'll have to find a reason to make these again soon!

For my birthday dinner, B took me to Terrace Cafe.  It was just as good as the first time!

My love at dinner :)  This meat and potato lover eats salads now!!!

Sorry for the crapola pics!  And the bags under my eyes!!  WTH 26!?!

Again, not the best pic, but that gorgeous necklace was my birthday present from B!  He's so sneaky!!  Finding time to go jewelry shopping without me even knowing!

Birthdays overwhelmingly remind me how loved I am and how blessed I am simply by the people that I'm lucky enough to call family and friends.  All the well wishes, Facebook posts, tweets, texts, phone calls...sure can make your heart swell!!

As I said, our days were busy this weekend, but our nights were spent laying on the couch together with our fur babies.  I can think of no better way to celebrate another year!

***

So here's to 26!!  This will be a year for the books, it's going to be exciting y'all, I promise!!!  So stick around!

*And no, I am not pregnant! ;)

Happy Saturday!!

HAPPY SATURDAY Y'ALL!!!

WOD Junkie

Brandon & I started our Saturday morning with this workout!  It's a Crossfit workout that we did at our gym & it is no. joke.  I dare you to try it!!

We had to modify a bit because of what the gym had - I used 20 in box, did 25 pound push press, B used an 15 pound medicine ball and I used an 8 pounder.  We also had to do air squats instead of double unders because they had no jump ropes.

But still, it was a butt kicking good time!  I'm excited to try it again and try to beat my time today!

Welcome February!!

 If you recall, I was aiming for a booze free January and also decided for a Starbucks (and any other coffee) free January in an effort to boost my Paleo habits.  I made it til last weekend alcohol free!!  26 days....I think that's pretty impressive!  And I made it all month without coffee!

So you best believe I had a tall vanilla latte in hand yesterday morning :)  I'm going to keep it to a one latte a week minimum, though.  Better for the body & the wallet!

I'm also down 2 pounds since the beginning of the year!  Whoop whoop!!

That's less than I had hoped for, but I've really upped my weight training once again and can definitely see a difference.  Muscle weighs more than fat & I'm not going to obsess about a number.  It's so much more about how I feel, look, and how my clothes fit.

But - seeing those numbers go in the right direction sparked some more motivation for sure!!

Puxatony Phil predicted an early spring today & our back yard seems to agree!  Bring it on spring, I'll gladly kiss these cold temps goodbye!

Hope your weekend is shaping up nicely!  I'm going to paint my nails a fun bright color in honor of an early spring, meet some teacher friends for dinner & then head out with my man!

Cheers friends!

Lately: 'Tis the Season

'Tis the Season y'all!!

To be busy of course!!  And since I'm a little behind on blogging, again, thought I'd do a little Lately Christmas Edition post to play catch up!

'Tis the Season to Travel - Last weekend we flew up to Michigan for B's Work Christmas Party!  We had such a good time with everyone!!  B's company sure knows how to throw a party - this year was themed 'A Country Christmas' complete with line dancing & a photo booth!

Photobooth fun!

'Tis the Season for Ornament Exchanges - Last week, I went to 2 fun ornament exchanges!!  

My ornaments ready to be exchanged!
{And the pretty glitter tags Andrea & I made!}

The first was a Charlotte Blogger Girls Ornament Exchange!  Classic Annie was so sweet to organize it all!  We met up at Aria for dinner and drinks.  It was so fun to see some great blog friends again & meet some new blogger girls for the first time!

All the girls {minus Rach who had to get back to her baby girl!}
See Annie's recap to get the links to each girls' blog!

The second was an Ornament Exchange with some girlfriends from school!  My friend Lacey hosted us at her house & she had quite the spread!

And each calorie was was so worth it!  ;)

I brought a Ham & Pineapple Cheese Ball that I've made several times before, it's super easy and super yummy!  {Recipe here}  I didn't take any other pictures the whole night, just enjoyed hanging out with some sweet teacher friends outside of school for a change!

The new pretties that adorn our tree!  :)

'Tis the Season to Induldge - The party spread in that pic above is exactly what I'm talking about! The Holidays come with eating, there's just no avoiding it :/  I'm trying to be as "good" as I can, my breakfasts, lunches & dinners during the week are still Paleo, but all the snacks at school and the parties - I still have to indulge a little!

'Tis the Season to Enjoy - I'm loving all our decorations!  My pillow covers finally came in and I've finally gotten to some gift wrapping.  Only a few presents left to be bought and a handful left to wrap!

Alien eyed Berkley & presents under the tree!!

'Tis the Season to Celebrate - Tomorrow I'll share with you our Christmas card {even though they have yet to be sent out!!  Grrr...that's another story!}, B has 3 workdays this week & I'm down to 4, then we're both off for almost 2 whole weeks!!  Friday, there will be much cleaning and baking going on :)  Family starts to arrive on Saturday, as well as our dining room table {finally!!!}, and I'm excited to celebrate this wonderful season!  So much to be thankful for this year!

Time to curl up on the couch and enjoy what's left of my Sunday night!  Merry week before Christmas, friends!!