Weekly Recap

I had every intention of blogging Friday afternoon & linking up for Five on Friday, but it ended up being a busy day & blogging just didn't happen.  Thankfully, I didn't let it get me down or make me feel guilty!  I knew the weekend would roll on, be just as wonderful despite my lack of blogging, & I'd eventually get back to my blog this week.

And I was right, here I am :)  Currently blogging to you from our patio, getting a little vitamin D - it's quite perfect actually!  All this warm, sunshiny weather has me itching for spring!  I sure hope this weather is here to stay!  It's been a long, cold winter {I'm sure most would agree}, but this weather sure does a lot for lifting your spirits & adding a little pep to your step!

Last week I really didn't have too much to blog about…more of the same 'round here!  Wednesday I had a little date with Andrea to grab lunch & a mani, it's our yearly tradition :)

Friday, I judged B in the 14.2 WOD…

We coached the evening classes, then we checked out the new Publix by our house.  So far I'm a fan!

Saturday morning, I worked out with the 830 class, we coached the 930 & then ran a few errands.  B picked up a new suit for Puerto Rico {31 days!} from our local little surf shop {I know, a surf shop in Charlotte, kinda crazy} & I snagged these cute shoes from Target…

#targetdoesitagain

I couldn't pass up $19.99, BOGO 50% off for some cute little summer shoes {much cheaper than Toms}!

We babysat for my brother & SIL Saturday night so they could celebrate their 11 year anniversary!  The kiddos were sweet and snuggly, they must like us ;)

Watching a little lego cartoon before bedtime :)

Abel loves him some Huck!

And selfies with Aunt Michelle!

Sunday we woke up feeling awesome, I guess that's what happens when you're asleep by 10, even though you lose an hour & wake up at about 845!  I know, our life is riveting…try not to be jealous ;) Brandon redid 14.2 getting a total of 252 reps!!  I got a total of 15 reps!  Ha, but I did get my very 1st chest-to-bar pull-ups, so still something to celebrate!

Brandon shared with me the joy of the Whole Foods Hot Bar {of which he partakes often for lunches or dinners when on the road} & then we did a little shop lifting at lululemon…

I made out with 2 pair of much needed crop pants & a tank!  So happy to wear spring workout gear!

B got some awesome new shorts!

We did a little work, a little laundry & a little cooking!  I made this super yummy breakfast casserole for the week & we grilled out some amazing turkey burgers...

That plate sure made for a happy belly!  I'm glad we have left overs :)  It's looking like a busy & great week ahead!  Hope your weather is warming up, too!

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!?  :)

Pure Joy

So in the midst of the craziness that is this life, I like to just stop and count my blessings every now and then.  I have oh so many, many blessings in my life and I never, ever want to forget to be thankful for them!

So here are a few things that have been bringing me pure joy lately...

Folded laundry on my bed after getting home from work on Friday.  

Bliss!  Oh man, I saw that & knew for sure (not that I ever doubted!) that my husband loves me.  He performed a few little house husband tasks on Friday while working from home and it brought joy to this weary teacher after a loooong Friday!

A good, long run.

In my new kicks!

We skipped a workout Sunday and tailgated for the Panther's game (another loss - wahhhh) & I didn't have time to run or workout yesterday.  Sadly work and the grocery store got precedent.  I was so excited to go run my little heart out on the treadmill this afternoon...felt so good to get over 6 miles under my belt!

A vacuumed floor.

Can I get an amen!?  Oh, my pretty floors - they have been neglected due to our busy schedule & had gotten so dirty!  They were in desperate need of a good vacuuming!  I can only let it go so long before it will send me to the nutty house & tonight they got the cleaning they'd been needing!

Sweet fur babies.

These 2 make me so happy!  How can you not love it!?

Fall.

I love driving through the city and seeing trees looking like this...

...and pulling up to my house and seeing this on the front porch :)

So many little joys lately!  May I not forget to count them!

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...

via

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

via

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 :)

Friday Confessional

Well it's about that time again....time for some Friday evening confessions, y'all :)  I'm linking up with Leslie at A Blonde Ambition for her Friday confessions as well!

1. First and foremost, hallelujah, good glory, bless......Friday took forever to get here this week!!!  I've never been so excited for Friday!  (Ok that's probably a lie, I'm pretty much always excited for Friday, but ya know....a little extra this week.)

I think I practically sprinted out the building today!

2. I discovered something rather unfortunate last night.... as it turns out, the KitchenAid mixer Brandon got me this past Christmas came with the burnished accessories (not the unfortunate part).  Which means that when I put the flat beater in the dishwasher the first time after using it, it stripped all the polish off (<---the unfortunate part!).

Which ultimately means, when I went to go make some amazeballs meatballs last night (which we ate tonight, yum!), I realized my flat beater was in fact ruined!  I was very, very disappointed.

Good news, though - I used the dough hook to mix the meatballs and it got the job done.  Also, a new flat beater is only $14.99 if you ever need to know :)

3. Toms shoes debuted their ballet flats this week!!!

I need want.  Between Valentine's day & my birthday, I think there's lots of great reasons for me to get these babies!

4. I'd also really like one of these for my birthday...

via

I'm a sucker for a good monogram & this website has so many cute cases!!  I don't even know if I can pick a favorite!

5. Speaking of my approaching birthday - I'm turning the big 2 - 5 this year!  All this really means (besides an impending quarter life crisis!) is that my license will be expiring.  Joy!  This means one day soon, I'll be hanging out with all the pleasantries at the DMV until my number gets called.

I tried getting an appointment - called 4 different DMVs!  But they're all booked til the middle of March, which will leave me expired :(  Boo.

6. Hubs is finally home!!  We're watching New Girl & I'm laughing out loud!

I heart this show!  

7. But, I really heart my husband being home!!  And our Friday nights on the couch :)  And Confession Friday of course!!

8. Happy, happy weekend friends!!!!

Blogging Fool

That's me.  I am a blogging fool this week!  Its not my fault, though.  I'm holed up in the backseat of B's Ford Escape with a mobil hot spot and my mac.  Pinterest, facebook, & blogger are all consuming :)

Yesterday I fell in love, y'all.  I fell in love with a new city!  Like maybe I need to live there kinda fell in love!  I fell in love with Nashville.  Brandon and I stayed in Nashville last night and the city pretty much captured my heart. We're already trying to figure out when we can go back & stay longer than a night!

B really likes traveling through Nashville & staying there for work, but hates that he's always alone and can never go experience it.  Not this week!  Since I'm along for the trip, we figured we'd have a little Tuesday night date night in downtown Nashvegas!

B was gracious enough to indulge me and take a timed photo before we stepped into the heat!  :)  Just look past the messy desk!

Pause.  Can y'all see my shoes in this pic??  No?  I didn't think so.  So I took a close up pic for you!

How awesome are these shoes!?  Three and a half inches of tan, wedged gloriousness, and quite comfortable I might add.  I got the exact same pair in black, ON SALE, at Belk last week.  Probably should have told y'all sooner! They were having a big sale.  I got each pair for $17.50 and saved $103!  Just sayin' ;)

Resume to Nashvegas...our hotel was off Broadway in the heart of all the honky-tonk country flair Nashville promises.

Every restaurant & bar, and I mean EVERY one, has live music 7 nights a week!  So fun!

We ate at a BBQ place called Rippy's Smokin' Bar & Grill.  Brandon had eaten there before, but it had been a few years prior, & my SIL suggested it as well.  It had a great rooftop patio!  If it wasn't 157 degrees 101 degrees we might have actually eaten up there :(  Maybe next time.  Their pulled chicken plate was DE-lish!  I ate it all, no shame!!

After dinner we wanted to explore Broadway a little more!  Our next stop was this place...

The Stage was featured in the movie Country Strong (which I loved!) so we wanted to stop in and check it out!

They, of course, had a band and they were really awesome!  We took a video of them covering one of our fav Jason Aldean songs, but I don't know how to edit it unfortunately.  All around the bar they have pictures hanging autographed by any body who's anybody in Country Music!  Lots of country music stars stop in there on the regular to play, as well!  Just not last night, ha.  You can catch a lot of the videos on their website!

There was a giant mural adjacent to the stage with all the "founders" of country music.  In fact, the man on the top left is my relative, the King of Country Music, Roy Acuff himself!  (See...Nashville's in my blood!  I think that's why I liked it so much ;)

We stopped in a music store off Broadway & found even more Roy Acuff stuff!  I told B once we have a house we need to buy a canvas print of him like they had in the store to display in our house.  He said we'll see!  They had lots of his music for sale.  Have you ever heard any?  Look up "Night Train to Memphis", I think that's my favorite ;)

While I so loved The Stage, I also loved another stop off Broadway.

If you're gonna visit Nashville, let alone live there, you have to get some authentic southern, country garb.  While B considered a sweet cowboy hat, I picked out these bad mama jamas!!

 

How gorgeous are these!?!  Holy moly I can't wait to wear rock these thangs!! These are the REAL DEAL!  I'm talking gen.u.ine. FINE, real leather!!!  Yes!  I will create opportunities to wear these if need be :)  If I wasn't gonna be cremated, I might say bury me in 'em!

I told B he should at least pick out a big belt buckle or something, but he assured me he was ok.  

Nashville, you done swooped this southern, wanna-be-country, city-girl right off her feet in a most unexpected twist of events :)  The country music, bands, and bright lights are calling me back!  So return, eventually, I will!

Until then....