Random Musings on a Rainy Monday

Happy Monday!  It's rainy & cold here & my tolerance of cold weather is running thin.  Very thin!  But that's ok because I PR'd my deadlift in the 14.3 Open workout today, so I can't complain!

I pulled 185# for 10 reps in the WOD today!!  I've never done that before!  :)

And I totaled 100 reps!  I'll take it!

I discovered a few things in my travels to Atlanta over the weekend…

1 - Cruise Control is the bomb dot com!  My corolla never had cruise, so I've never really had the pleasure of crusin' it on road trips.  Consider me changed!  It's a must have for any interstate driving.

2 - I really dislike windshield wipers!!  I already knew this, but it was just reconfirmed on my drive home last night.  Windshield wipers & rain the whole way!  Just something about the repetitiveness gets on my nerves!  I don't like repetitive noises either.  Sends me over the edge.  You can imagine how well that worked in a classroom right!? ;)

3 - Justin Timberlake's new song completely reverts me back to my former middle/high school self! This song comes on the radio, I find myself swooning and suddenly I'm 15 again!

It just has such a 90's/N'Sync vibe to me {ps #teamNSYNC #NSYNC4life} & I can't get enough!

4 - CrossFit Kids is going to be SO much fun!!  I was initially a little nervous about the amount of work it might be, but after this weekend's course, I'm so, so excited!  As a former teacher, there were all these demands - grades, tests, standards to meet, etc.  But with CrossFit kids, it's so relaxed!  The most important thing is for the kids to have FUN {what a concept!} and have fun while moving!  There's no barbells or weights until advanced kids or teens, so you know they're safe, it's all about having fun and teaching proper form.  And really, they have years to get the form down, so there's no pressure! I'm very excited!

Here's to a quick work week…I saw my husband for all of 7.5 waking hours over the weekend, so hurry up Thursday!!

My Big Girl Car

A week ago today, I became the proud owner of this new beauty….

Meet Tracy, my brand new {slightly used} 2013 Ford Explorer!!!  If it's possible to feel love for a car, then I'm in love with Tracy!!

I'm not really sure how I came up with the name Tracy, but when the name occurred to me, it just felt right.  So Tracy it is!  And she now sits in our garage next to Rachelle, B's Ford Raptor!

It's a tight squeeze in there, fo real!  They're in love ;)

We weren't exactly planning to get a car right now…my corolla was paid off so we figured we'd wait until babies came along before I got a new car.  BUT….B's company has imposed a few changes on their company car rules which means we wouldn't be driving his company car up to Michigan for Christmas.

We certainly were not going to pack ourselves into my manual corolla that doesn't have cruise or power doors or windows for a 12 hour potentially snowy drive.  We toyed with the idea of spending a small fortune in gas to drive the Raptor to Michigan, but weren't thrilled with that idea.

A week ago Monday, when we found out we couldn't use B's car over the holiday, his exact words to me were…

…followed shortly by an email with a link to a beautiful 2013 Ford Explorer on AutoTrader!  So clearly, this is all his fault!!  {I've had a long standing crush on Ford Explorers & when they new body type came out, my crush turned to some major lust!}

I called on the Explorer from the link, set up a test drive for 3pm & the rest is history.  I knew I would love the car, there was no question of that!  It has every bell & whistle in the book, is super sweet & I feel so stinking blessed & unworthy to be driving this beauty!!

A lady was actually coming to test drive the Explorer at 330 that very same day.  She was previously looking at a 2011 Explorer they had that was sold right from under her nose, so she was coming back to see this one!  We acted fast & totally won :)

We picked it up last Wednesday afternoon & drove it straight to Atlanta!  She drives like a dream & now I'm suddenly looking for errands to run this week ;)  We traded in my little corolla, she & I had a good, long, brutal run together, including knocking the driver mirror off when pulling out of the garage this past summer.  Whoops!  I don't think I ever really loved her, though.  I never even gave her a name :(

It's funny how this car makes me feel like an adult.  Not being married, not owning our own home or business.  Nope, buying my potential "Mom" car.  THAT makes me feel like an adult!!  Whoa!  No car seats for Tracy yet, but maybe one day soon :)

And yes, I'll give you a ride in her!!  I know that's what you're all wanting ;)

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!!

Summer "To Do List" Update

Since today's my last day of summer vacay, I thought it would be fitting to do an update on my Summer "To Do" List and share what I finished!

1 - Clean out my email.  Check!  Although it's already starting to pile up again...never ending process I guess :)

2 - Complete the Photo Wall in our bedroom.  Check!  You can read all the details and see pics here!

3 - Make a desk for our bedroom.  Totally scratched that idea!  After completing the photo wall, I decided I'd rather have a long bench or low table underneath it instead of a desk.

4 - Spray paint the door knobs & hardware in our house.  Downstairs - Check!  We are about halfway through with this project!  

The downstairs is complete except for the deadbolt on the back door (does anyone have any clue how to get those off!?) and we're almost complete with all the doors in our bedroom.  12 doors down, 11 to go!

This project is not hard at all, just time consuming as the summer humidity makes it take longer for the spray paint to dry!  Brandon has kind of adopted this project, so knobs and hardware are only getting painted on the weekends when he's home.

We love, love, love how it's looking, though!!  We feel very DIY savvy ;)

5 - Get a chair for our family room.  Check!  We ended up getting this chair this past weekend!

I originally wanted a colorful, printed chair; but after lots of looking, nothing could be shipped within a timely manner & this one was on sale and is very comfy!!  It's from By Design.

Ben's in his lion perch :)

Since the chair isn't colorful, I added some colorful pillows!  I'm still trying to decide if I love it and may keep looking for something I like better.  We can always move this chair to our bedroom if I find a different chair down the road.

6 - Organize our closet & create a jewelry wall.  Check!  God Bless us, we have a huge stinkin' closet and this girl right here isn't complaining!!  As of today, closet updates are finally complete!  

I organized all my clothes several weeks ago and hung the jewelry wall 2 weekends ago.

neutrals and pants way down there

Jerseys, scarves, and light jackets 

Colors!  And dresses

Here's my shoe wall just for fun :)

jewelry wall

Then today, I picked up the final jewelry organizational pieces - these 2 dishes from World Market to hold my bracelets and earrings on top of my dresser!

Without the dishes, my earrings and bracelets were all over my circle plate - it was a confusing mess! I love the way it looks now!

7 - Change the title for my car to be solely in my name.  Unfortunately, this task is not complete!  I did pay off my car (yay!!) back in July and I've been waiting to receive the title in the mail ever since.  Thankfully, I decided to call and check on it and they told me it had been 'returned to sender'!  Weird considering they had the correct address!?

It should be in the mail now, though.  Sadly, I now have to pick an afternoon after school to spend at the lovely DMV.  Joy!

8 & 9 - Get a queen box spring, mattress, & railings and make a headboard for the guest bedroom. Ha. Haha. Hahahaha.  I knew this one wasn't going to happen!  Not this summer anyways! But it is still on my house 'to do' list.....for one day :)

So since I scratched #3 and I knew 8 & 9 probably wouldn't happen, I completed 4 1/2 tasks out of 6.  Not too shabby!  

Truthfully, I'm just thankful to have a summertime to relax, vacation, complete some "to do's", and rejuvenate before heading back to teach my kiddos!

I'm convinced summertime was really invented for teachers ;)

Small Successes

As of last Tuesday, I made my last and final car payment!!  

It may have taken me 67 months a really long time to finally pay it off....but each and every nickel paid on that car came from my hard earned money (thank you Outback, nannying, and my lucrative teaching salary) and it is paid in full my friends!

I really don't even love that car.  I mean I like it alright, it's a pretty good little car - it's held it's own through all I've put it through, get's me from A to B - but nonetheless I bought it in college, and it's mine and I've now paid it off!!  :)  Woohoo!

Feels like a very grown up thing, to have paid off my car.  I'll take that small success!

Next month, I plan to take the money I would have used for my car payment and put it towards one of my student loans.  So as of next month, I will have paid off my very first (and much smaller than the others) student loan!!

Another success!

Then in September {and for many more months to follow}, I will take the money I would have used for my car payment and the one student loan payment and put it towards my other student loan payments.

And then, hopefully, before I take a break from teaching to have babies (well that's the ultimate desire, good Lord willing) I will have paid off my student loans before I'm no longer doing what I went to school and accrued those loans to do!

And that will be a big success!!  

But we're not there yet.

Once we are there, we'll take the money from the car payment and student loan payments and put it towards B's student loans.

But we're definitely not there yet, either....one day :)

Don't worry, we're not going all Dave Ramsey on ya, {not knocking that at all!!  Many of my family members are completely Dave Ramseyed!} just applying some good practices to bring about some small successes over here :)

Feels pretty good.