Currently

Hello there sweet blog!!  Oh, how I have missed you!  Sadly, it's been almost a month since I last posted :(  I feel so incredibly behind!!

It's seeming lately, that I need to first read and reread this post and secondly, just be present in my life.  Free moments, let alone, free time to blog are few and far between these days.

My weeks are spent doing school work, house work, working out, attending to and enjoying my fur babies and rare dates with friends and weekends are spent enjoying time with my husband, our fur babies and our little family.

Blogging has taken a back burner for now.  Which, truthfully, makes me sad.  It may seem silly, but I really miss blogging!  I miss writing and recapping our weekends and what we've been up to.  I miss sharing pictures and recipes and anecdotes from our lives.

I really hope I can get back to blogging more regularly, and soon, but I'm not sure if I'm there yet.  I've seen several "Currently" blog posts floating around so in the mean time, here's what's going on Currently with The Shucks....

Loving:  Lately, I'm loving this weather!  It actually feels like we've had a fall this year and didn't just jump over to winter!  We've been enjoying fires in our new fire pit...

playing with Berkley outside, and sleeping with our windows open!  Lovely I tell ya!

Reading:  Well, not much lately.  As we've covered, I have close to zero free time lately so not much reading has been going on.  Every now and then I try to read a little at night, but reading at night puts my straight to bed, ha!  I've been reading The Other Wes Moore for about 2 months now.  I have Gone Girl and Where We Belong just sitting in my night stand, waiting to be read!  I have high hopes to finish these 3 by the end of... spring break!?  Haha

Watching:  Sticking with my current theme of being behind, my DVR is bursting with new fall TV, but what I have watched so far this fall, I am loving!  Some of my favorites include Modern Family, Parenthood, Grey's Anatomy, Boardwalk Empire, and New Girl.  We watched the first episode of Nashville last night and really liked it, too!  I can't wait for Happen Endings to come back on and I'm now 3 weeks behind on Private Practice.  Whoops!

Listening to:  Some of my current favs include Phillip Phillips - Home, anything by Maroon 5, Fun. - Some Nights, as well as {no shame here} Taylor Swift  - We Are Never Getting Back Together and the Biebs - As Long As You Love Me!  If any of these are on the radio, you better believe the volumes up and I'm jamming out :)

Thinking about:  All things holidays!!  We've gotten some new fall decor...

...and have some outdoor fall decor in the works!  Fall gets me so excited for our Anniversary, Thanksgiving & Christmas!  We recently drew names for our family Christmas gifts so I'm in the process of putting together my wish list :)  This will be our first holiday season in our house and I'm so excited to decorate and celebrate!!!

Looking forward to:  Babies!!!  My SIL is due any day now with my 4th niece or nephew and my sweet friend Rachel is also due soon with her first baby!  Brandon's sister & BIL find out the sex of their baby on Monday!  Ahhh, can't wait to meet all these sweet babies!!

Laughing at:  Berkley's new Halloween shirt!

Making me happy:  Quiet weekend nights at home.  Like tonight!  Maybe I'm boring, or just getting old, but nights like tonight....dinner out and now sitting and blogging with my husband laying beside me, the dog running around and a movie on - perfection :)

Celebrating:  Lots of fall Birthdays!!  

B turned the big 2-9 at the end of September!  His mom came into town for the first time since our wedding and we had a great weekend of celebrating!

We took Joan to Asheville for the day and toured the Biltmore House!

The next day we had friend meet us for dinner and cookie cake back at our place to celebrate!

Last weekend we celebrated my sweet nephew, Jude Leeland!  Can't believe he's already 5!!

Some birthday loot!

Cakepop love :)  Such handsome little nephews!

Tomorrow is my handsome brother's 32nd birthday!!  Happy Birthday Josh!  Couldn't be prouder to call you my older brother :)

Wearing:  I love me some fall fashion!!  Boots, sweaters, leggings, scarves....love it!  I've made a few new fall purchases, but I'm trying to rein myself in from spending too much!

I just got this cute Gap sweater in the mail...

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As well as this Under Armour running shirt to benefit Breast Cancer Awareness!

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B and I are in the need of some new running shoes as well!  I think we're heading shoe shopping tomorrow and I really excited for some new kicks :)

Planning:  Our 2nd Anniversary trip to Nashville!!  We love Nashville and are so excited to go back and really explore a little this time!  A spring break trip back to Puerto Rico has also been in the talks, but we'll have to see about that one.  Keeping my fingers crossed!

Feeling:  Overwhelmed and stressed.  Finding balance between work and non-work activities has seemed near impossible this year.  I can't really put my finger on why, probably the same ol' reasons as always, but it just seems to weigh on me so heavily this year.  Praying it all levels out here soon.

Also feeling:  so incredibly blessed!  Whenever I fret over the stuff I mentioned above, I start to feel guilty.  My problems could be so much worse!  I have a wonderfully, fantastic life that I share with my amazing best friend & husband as well as my incredible family & friends.

Really, I'm just a big mess of feelings, haha!

Browsing:  For a Dining Room table!  Instead of buying for each other this Christmas, B and I plan to buy some dining room furniture (and hopefully a rug) for our large, empty dining room.  I have a general idea of what I want, but there are so many options out there.  Hopefully we find the right one soon, so that it's actually here by Christmas!

Enjoying: Girly at home manicures :)

It's simple little things like this that get me through the work weeks!  Right now I have a fun, sparkly brown on my nails!  Makes me happy when I look down :)

Cooking:  All things Paleo!!  I swear a Paleo post is coming, but in a quick summary, I'm down 5 pounds and having some of the best workouts I've ever had!  I feel so much better about myself, the way I look and feel.  It's been very eye opening.  I can't wait to write that blog post :)

Dating:  This sexy beast!!!

B finished his 2nd Spartan Race today -
the Spartan Beast Race!!

How luck am I!?  For real, I married a beast!  I'm so grateful for him - the way he partners, the way he motivates me and supports me in all things!!

Savoring:  Sweet snuggles from the fur babies!  This was us last night :)

A kitty in my lap, then a cute white doggy snuggled on the other side!

Wondering: If my Panthers are going to win again anytime soon!?!  :(  Don't get my wrong, they're still my team and I love & support 'em!  But I need some more Ws this season!!  Tomorrow is our bye week...so at least we can't lose!

Missing:  Blogging more :(  

If you read this far, well, bless you!  Haha, and thank you!  I definitely hope to be back more frequently.... So posts won't be this ginormous....at least a weekly update or something!?  We shall see!  

Hope you all are well my sweet blog friends!  Thanks for sharing this ride with me :)

Midweek Randos

I can't begin to tell you what a relief it is to have the thought and anticipation of moving lifted off our shoulders!!  I feel about 12 pounds lighter {ok, not really, but that would be fantastic!}  No, but seriously, big sighs of relief over here!

While we're super happy to be moved in, this guy is still a little unsure....

I think he still feels like he's a city kitty & just isn't used to the 'burbs quite yet!

All these neighborhood sounds and the big space of this house - as opposed to the old apartment - are just a little daunting for this little scaredy cat!  He'll come around I'm sure!

Now that we have a fenced in back yard, I think Benson might feel a little more safe in the 'burbs if he had a companion!  Or I'm just looking for a reason for us to get a puppy ;)

Problem is - we really have no clue what kind of dog we want.  All we really know is not too big, not too small, friendly.  Help!!  What kind of dog should we get??

Hopefully we'll get a pup sometime this summer!

And the summer countdown is in full effect, y'all...30 days!!!  Pure survival mode from here on out.  Kids are antsy, teachers are antsy, testing season is coming & summer's knocking at the door.  30.

The first book I plan to read this summer - 50 Shades of Grey!  I've read the reviews & I just need to check it out for myself :)  Judge away!

Yesterday I took out our trash bin & recycling bin.  Most mundane of tasks to most.  Not for me!!  It was really, super, exciting to take out our trash & recycling bins!  For the house that we own.  Craziness!

Don't mind me, I'm just living in a constant state of disbelief over here :)

Happy hump day, y'all!

Midweek Randos

Well it's not quite mid week yet, but I thought it was Wednesday pretty much all day so I feel like this is an appropriate title!

If you look above....I've added a few pages.  

An "About Me" page - just a intro to me, my life, and my little ol corner here in cyber space.  As well as a "Recipes" page with links to all the recipes I've blogged about.  

This one is almost more for my convenience - ha it's definitely more organized than any recipes I have at home.  You'll find all my recipes in a large stack in a semi-neat pile in a "catch all" cabinet.  Maybe one day I'll organize those.  Maybe not... :)

I have a few more pages I plan to add, but I'm not sure when they'll be up. Probably around one of those days when I have time to organize my recipes!

I FINALLY finished The Help!!!

I started reading it this summer, but then school started back and got in the way of any free time I had!!

Week nights, reading puts me straight to sleep! I was terrible at reading text books in college, haha, heavy eyes ensued almost immediately!

Anyways....I would read a chapter here and there and I did finally finish!  It was SO SO good!  I can't wait to see the movie now!  (Yes, yes, I realize the rest of the world has already seen this! I'm just slightly behind.)

I already have two other books on my "to read" list.

I've loved all the Jodi Picoult books I've read and I've heard this one was another great one!  I want to read all her books, but for now this is the next one of her's I'll read.

A few years ago, Oprah interviewed Wes Moore.

He shared his story of how as he was growing up, making great strides and accomplishing great things, another man from a nearby neighborhood by his same name was doing the complete opposite.  I'm a firm believer that our choices lead us down a certain path which is exactly what this book is about. I love the quote on the front of this book...a chilling truth and a tragedy, one name and two fates.  I can't wait to read it!!

Any of y'all have either of these books??  Care to share?  ;)

I sure do love my husband, ya'll.  And I would do just about anything for him!!  Except maybe this...

Brandon wants to be a SMURF for Halloween!!  Really?  Really!?!  Painting myself blue, or any other color, is probably the last thing on Earth I want to do.

I mean, I'm a fun person and I like Halloween and eating all the yummy candy getting all dressed up!  But I don't. want. to. be. BLUE!!!  Body paint just does not sound like a good time to me!  

HELP!!!  What else can we be!?!?  Please, I beg, someone give me a good idea so I can change his mind!

Happy (almost) midweek friends :)

New Training & Midweek Randos

So I am 14.5 weeks out from my half marathon (we're definitely going with one in November!) and have officially begun training.....dun dun dun!! Although running outside now is still kicking my butt, I definitely feel like I'm burning off some goo and I like my new training schedule.  Once I'm 9 weeks out, I will begin to follow this schedule I found on The Runner's World.

Week	M	T	W	T	F	S	S	Total
1	Rest	2 miles. 5-7x1:00 AI, 2 miles	Rest	4 miles + 4 GP	Rest	3-4 miles	6-7 miles	19-21 miles
2	Rest	2 miles, 5-7x1:00 AI, 2 miles	Rest	4 miles + 4 GP	Rest	3-4 miles	6-7 miles	19-21 miles
3	Rest	2 miles, 2x[1:00, 1:30, 2:00] AI, 2 miles	Rest	4 miles, incl. 4x1:00 AI + 5-6 GP	Rest	5-K race	4-5 miles	22-24 miles
4	Rest	3 miles,3x[2:00, 2:30] AI, 2 miles	Rest	5-6 miles, incl. 4x1:30 AI + 6 GP	Rest	3-4 miles	7-8 miles	24-26 miles
5	Rest	3 miles, 3x[2:00, 2:30] AI, 2 miles	Rest	5-6 miles, incl. 4x1:30 AI + 6 GP	Rest	3-4 miles	7-8 miles	24-26 miles
6	Rest	3 miles, 2x2:00 AI, 2x2:30 AI, 1x3:00 AI+6 GP, 2 miles	Rest	5-6 miles + 4 GP	Rest	10-K race	4 miles	27-30 miles
7	Rest	3 miles, 2x[2:00. 3:00, 4:00] AI, 2 miles	Rest	6 miles, incl. 4x2:00 AI + 6 GP	Rest	5-6 miles	9-10 miles	32-34 miles
8	Rest	3 miles, 2x[2:00. 3:00, 4:00] AI, 2 miles	Rest	6 miles, incl. 4x2:00 AI+ 6 GP	Rest	5-6miles	9-10 miles	32-34 miles
Taper	Rest	2 miles, 4x1:00 AI	Rest	2 miles easy, 4 x GP	Rest	2miles	Half-marathon race

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I'm not following it to a T yet as far as how much to run each day, aerobic intervals, gentle pick ups, etc, but I am following the run/rest recommendation.  In my old work out schedule I would run & weight lift about 5 days a week. By the end of the week I could always tell my legs and muscles were giving out on me and my runs seemed WAY harder by day 5!

So on "rest days" I no longer run, but still go to the gym to do my weight routines and first start off with 10-15 minutes on the stair stepper or treadmill at an incline to get my heart rate up.  Holy moly has this made me a happy worker-outer!  (That's a word, yeah?)  Now my workouts whether at the gym or running are about an hour as opposed to the hour and a half to two hours that they used to be with running and lifting all combined!

So now I feel like this working out....

Instead of like this....

Haha, you get the idea any way.  I used to get burnt out working out for so long and get in a rut!  So I think these rest days are the ticket.

I think I've figured out that while Benny may be a contributor to my allergies, he is not the main cause.  Sunday, while sitting in the airport for hours upon hours, I slowly went into an allergen fit!  Stuffy, itchy nose, sneezy, did I mention itchy?  For some reason when I travel I forget how to take my vitamins & zyrtec.  Weird.  So Sunday and Monday I paid for it.  But that means that Benson stays (ha, like him leaving was ever even in question ;)

Monday & Tuesday I think I had a massive allergy headache going on.  It was terrible, debilitating even.  But today I have been headache free all day long. Hallelujah!!

I FINALLY finished reading Water for Elephants.  I blogged about being excited to read it here and now, almost 2 months later, its read!  It took me a bit to really get into, but I love, love, loved it!!  Now I can't wait to see the movie!

Have you seen the trailers for this movie??

I picked up this book last week and can't wait to get started!  I'll be traveling with Brandon next week (making our way back up to Michigan) and will have PLENTY of time to read tagging along in the back seat of his car :)  Hopefully I'll be finished reading and ready for the movie when it comes out soon!

Happy hump day friends :) 

Finally arrived...

Me that is.  I have finally arrived in the 21st century!  Sunday I got my iPhone!!! Wooo

Haha, glad to finally make it! Clearly you can see I'm a little dorky excited! =)  I'm still learning how to use it and I barely have any apps so far.  So tell me your favs & I can download them ASAP!!  I need to sync it to my laptop too, but not so sure how all of that works, still figuring it out.  Kinda sad to leave the crackberry world and all my bbm friends.  But, I'm over it!

I realize I might be a little late on this train as well.....but the last time I was at Target, I picked up

and soon I'll have time to actually read it without being too tired.  During the school year, reading usually puts me right to bed, ha.  Sleep deprived much!?  I haven't seen the movie yet, so this way, by the time its out to rent I will have read the book.  What books should be next on my list??  Maybe I can even get them on my iBooks app!

Summer has officially arrived as well incase you weren't aware!  I realize it's not actually official until June 21st - ish, but it's already blazin' hot down here in the south!

And I got my first skeeter bite of the season this weekend.  That, my friends, definitely makes it official!  We had lots of fun Saturday night at our friends' Cory & Courtney's engagement party.  Most of it was spent outside....there was delicious food, great friends, fun games (cornhole & kan jam), and this awesome photo banner!

Haha, this just cracks me up!!

The party was Hawaiian themed so naturally Brandon wore his best old man Hawaiian shirt!  They had leis and tiki torches...it was so much fun!

Other than the engagement party and iPhone fun, our weekend was pretty low key and just what the doctor ordered. Brandon's feeling much better now, too! Hope you're weekend was just what you needed too.

Happy last week of school!!!!!