These are my confessions...

I have a few things I need to get off my chest...

1. First and foremost...I hate running outside.  There, I finally said it!  Ughhh, I really tried to like it.  I did!

I ordered an arm band for my iPod and got some new running shoes and socks....

but my arm band gets really sweaty and my new running shoes are apparently slightly too small and give me blisters like no other.

I can't run near as long outside without walking, yet I can run 6 miles on the treadmill.

Fail!  I just like the hamster wheel, that's all there is to it!

2. Since I so love my hamster wheel over outside, I'm not so sure about this whole half marathon idea.

What was I thinking!?!  I might just have to run 13.1 miles at the gym with a number taped to my chest and restart the treadmill over twice since it cuts out every 60 mins and give myself a medal.

That could work!

3. I LOVE Starbucks....but I hate pumpkin spice lattes.  :(  I want to like them!  They're so fall-y and delicious smelling!

But I've tried them every fall for many years and they're just gross.  Can't like 'em!

I love pumpkin spice fallish candles!  In fact I really need to hit up some bath & body works and get some for this season!

       

I saw Starbucks has a salted caramel mocha so I think that will become my new fall drink!!

4. Friday we saw the movie Warrior.....and I bawled like a baby.

Yes, I cried at a movie about UFC/MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fighting!  And not even just once, I teared up and cried several times!

But this was much more than just a fighting movie!!  Don't get me wrong, the fighting is brutal and you will cringe through each blow....

but the story is what gets you.  Its about two brothers from a broken family, their estranged recovering alcoholic father, and their heart wrenching and amazing journey to forgiveness.

Brandon & I watch A LOT of movies and we both left the theater saying this was the best movie we've seen in a VERY long time!  Go see it!!

I have no doubt it will win awards!  It must.  It was that good!!

5. We missed U of Michigan's win over Notre Dame last night! Whoops!!

After the pool for a bit Saturday, Brandon & I watched college football all Saturday afternoon and flipped back and forth between all the good games!

Confession...this was really my view =)  but I was watching all the games too!

Brandon was super pumped (I was just mildly pumped :) for the first night game EVER at The Big House!  The Big House stadium has never had lights before so night games were never an option.

We made homemade pizza and brownie cookie bars and indulged as we basked in glory of college football.

But then Michigan started sucking and Brandon just couldn't watch.

We flipped around the tube, checking back every now and then, but it wasn't looking good eventually we fell asleep!

Big mistake!!  Michigan came back to win!!!  Might have been a little sloppy, but a W is a W right!?

B was very sad he missed it and made sure to watch the highlights on SportsCenter this am!

6. I feel overstimulated from all this 9-11 stuff, its a lot to relive.  I can't even imagine what it's like for those who were a part of it or were directly affected.

I think I'll just go read "The Help" and turn the tube off.

7. Brandon is gone for 6 whole nights :(  He's in Michigan for work and won't be back til next Saturday.

This makes for a very sad wifey.  But I will choose to be thankful for a hard working husband with a good job and a salary.

8. I wish I wrote less wordy blogs.

Oh well....don't hold your breath!  :)



Have a blessed week!

9/11 We Will Never Forget

It's hard to believe this is the 10th anniversary of the attack.  I've seen so much coverage of it this weekend and today and have teared up a few times - the ceremonies on TV this morning, the moments of silence, reading tweets at the gym, NFL tributes! Wow!

I was a freshman in high school and was walking to my 3rd block of the day when a friend from church stopped me outside in between buildings to ask if I had heard.  Somehow the planes had crashed and towers had fallen before I even found out.  The first words out of my mouth were something to the effect of "Oh my gosh!  Are we going to go to war??"  I had brothers around 18 and 20 and was terrified there might be a new draft!

During my lunch period I used a pay phone at school to call my dad who worked in a bank building in downtown Charlotte at the time.  I wanted to be sure no planes were headed to our big banking city.

As I searched for images to include today, I tried to pick up lifting ones. There were oh so many and oh so many sad and heart breaking ones.  But I wanted to chose ones that give hope, honor the memory, and look forward.

Those lost are gone, but surely not forgotten!  I choose not to remember this day as a day of defeat, but to remember this day as the day we all stood united as one nation under God, tall and defiant against the face of evil!

I will always remember President Bush's speech that night offering hope to our country on a day when hope seemed far.

"Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. .... I pray {those who grieve} will be comforted by a power greater than any of us spoken through the ages in Psalm 23, "Though I walk through the valley of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me".  This is a day when all Americans from every walk of life unite in our resolve for justice and peace.  America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time.  None of us will ever forget this day, yet we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world. Thank you, goodnight, and God bless America."

Labor Day Weekend

This post is rather late, but better late than never right!?  Blogging was on my "to do" list each and every night this week and each and every night this week I would cut and paste it onto the next days "to do" list.  Needless to say, this week was a rough one and I'm glad its over :)  I was a bug on the windshield of life last week, haha, but luckily, next week will be a new start again!  Ain't that grand!?

Anywhoo....back to Labor Day weekend!  After school last Friday, our friend Andrea met us at our place and we set off for VA Beach about 430, only the worst time to try and leave Charlotte!  Haha...we encountered massive amounts a bit of traffic which set us back a little, but we finally made it to Justin's about 1030!  This girl was exhausted so I tried hanging out til 1130 but then I had to hit the hay.  But after a good nights sleep, I was ready to go!!

Justin did a great job playing host and took us to an awesome place for brunch called Citrus.  Their mimosa's were to die for (I had a watermelon mimosa with freshly squeezed watermelon juice!  Who knew you could squeeze a watermelon!?!?) and the strawberry banana chocolate chip pancakes were probably the best thing I've ever put in my mouth!!

Justin lives about 2 blocks from the bay so we packed a cooler with some beverages and good eats and parked our butts at the beach til about 430. PERFECT DAY!!

The bay is calmer than the ocean and a little warmer.  You get some little waves from the boats and traffic passing by.  One of Justin's good friends and his girlfriend drove up to meet us from Raleigh and we met another couple Justin & Andrea and Erin & Ryan had met earlier this year out on the beach!  They brought their all terrain radio so we had a party =)

The boys passing out brews.  Unfortunately we didn't really take many pics (what else is new!?).  I'm SO bad about this.  The boys tossed the football and played in the water while the girls relaxed, got our tan on, and talked about all things girly!

Saturday night we went out for dinner & then got our dance on!

This pic alone proves I am letting go of my vanity for the sake of the blog.  Hah!  We took turns catching each other "in action"!  Clearly we have awesome dance moves!  

Caught Justin in action too!!

Sunday it was more of the same!  We soaked up the beach as long as we could and didn't leave til about 530.

Sorry for the poor quality phone pic!

There was a cool little band playing at a house not far from where we were parked and they were decked out in American spirit!  That night we got some Mexican for dinner and stuffed ourselves silly!

Monday we headed back pretty early which left us with a little time to get ready for the next week.  Our Labor Day weekend was the PERFECT close to a sweet, sweet summer!  We spent it with great friends on the beach and made lots of fun fall plans for the weeks coming up!  

Hope your labor day was perfect as well!

Farewell Friday

I've been back in school for two weeks now, the kiddos have been back for a full week, and it's labor day weekend so I think its only appropriate that today I bid summer a bitter sweet farewell!

We are kissing summer goodbye with a LONG weekend in Virginia Beach with our good friends Andrea & Justin!

With summer leaving and the start of school, I am saying goodbye to a few things....

Sleep - oh sweet sleep!  How I love it so.  Sigh....early mornings and late nights are back to stay for this working girl.  I already loathe 530am on the clock and get a great amount of satisfaction out of pressing snooze each morning.  Sleeping in is now a precious rarity and a valued treasure on Saturday mornings.  On the brighter side, the early bird gets the worm right!?

Bright eyes - you did just read the above paragraph, yes?  Since I have bid adieu to regular and lengthy shut eye, I also bid adieu to my summer bright eyes that are free of deathly dark circles and say hello to beloved caffeine and gobs of concealer.

Bathing suit season - actually, this one I don't really mind leaving.  While I will miss Saturday's by the pool and a lovely summer glow, I will not miss the stress of squeezing into a bikini every weekend.  Sayonara and good riddance! I'll start that stress over again next year, somewhere around mid-February.

Summer - you were fantastic as always, shorter now that I'm older, and full of sweet memories.  I will miss you, but I welcome fall with open arms. Until next year, fare the well Summer!

Here's to a LOOOONNNNGGG weekend!!  Enjoy friends :)

I want to blog....

but I'm SoOoOoOoOo sleepy!  

This is not my sweet kitty, but it sure looks like him so I had to use it :)

For real!  That sleepy....y'all these longer school days now are wearing this teacher slam out!  But in a nut shell, here's the happenings of as of late....

-I now wake up at 530...er....ahem, my alarm goes off at 530.  I get out of bed somewhere around 540 or 545.

-I go, go, go ALL DAY long and then get home about 8.  Lately...

-HOPEFULLY, as I get back into school mode, I'll get home earlier than 8.  Ugh!  This guy sure hates being alone all day =(

pardon my face!

-My sweet husband, who spoils me rotten, sent me these lovelies on my first day of school!

-Along with some chocolate covered strawberries!!  Did I mention he spoils me!?  Oh I love him :)

-I went to VA this past weekend and was trapped in by this rude broad Irene!  Her rain & winds were relentless I tell ya!

-She didn't stop us though, we were on a mission!  We braved the rain & wind and my cousin Erin said YES to her perfect dress =) YAY!!!  Then we played yahtzee & catch phrase all night by the sweet light of the generator!

-My poor car suffered a largish dent in the roof and some minor scratches from branches blowing all about...but it's just a car.  It shall be fixed eventually.

-My fam in VA is STILL sans power as well as AC and those sweet things that go along with it.  Remember them when you talk to the Big Guy tonight please!!

Well that about wraps it up.  Maybe I can blog regularly again one day, like next year.  Hah

In case I forgot to mention, I'm running on fumes from my 15 hour days.....so off to bed, sweet dreams friends!

Follow-up & the Last Weekend of Freedom

Alright y'all....if you haven't checked out the recipes from my previous post, scroll down & do so right away!  I would say they were all a success!!

One thing I would change on the Hawaiian BBQ chicken is maybe don't add the pineapple til you plate it.  When the pineapple is in the BBQ sauce all day it kind of takes on the sauce flavor & looses its pineappley (new word!) goodness!  So if I were to redo it I would either top it with the pineapple or serve it as a side.

Cilantro Lime Rice = bangin'!!!  Go make this RIGHT now!!  Omg, it was so good & we will be serving it often in this household =)

The Lime Infused Honey Crusted Chicken was also DELISH!!  B actually put together the marinade once I left for school this past Friday & it marinated all day.  It was juicy and limey and verrry flavorful!  Try it out!

I consider the Zucchini Oven fries a large success as I love zucchini & they were so good!!  My husband however only likes meat and potatoes so while he graciously ate 3, he didn't love them like I did.  But he said "No, they're good."

The Roasted Potatoes = YUM!!  Brandon did love these!  They were almost a little too salty (oops!).  I drizzled some EVOO over them and sea salt like I do when I'm roasting asparagus and it was borderline too much salt, but so tasty!

I finished the potatoes and zucchini off tonight for dinner!

Now to switch gears a bit....this past weekend was my last weekend of freedom before the kiddos come!!

Whaaaaaaa!!!  Haha, just kidding!  Mostly :)  This weekend was a good last weekend of "freedom" though!

B and I had some good down time which was pretty nice!  We hung out on the couch, by the pool, went out to dinner, got yummy ice cream, went to a friend's couples shower, lounged in front of the tube, watched Rio (super cute movie, btw!), and snuggled with this guy...

It was a nice quiet weekend before our busy fall gets under way!  Ready, set.....GO!

Putting Pinterest to Use

So we do things a little backwards over here....with Brandon traveling as much as he does, I've never really had to meal plan for the up coming week, cause well, it's just me!  =)  But I read blogs all the time about how families/wives meal plan, get their grocery lists together, have cute meal planning boards in their kitchen...

via

via

via

and (insert whiney voice) I wanna meal plan!!

Haha, so this Monday night I decided to "meal plan" for Thursday and the weekend.  Most Thursdays I try to cook but the weekends turn into about 2 or 3 separate trips to the grocery store and Brandon and I leisurely walking down the aisles as we try to decide what mood we're in for dinner, ha.  Oh the carefree life of a childless couple :)  I know this surely will not last...thus why I am trying to prefect the meal planning thing!

Anyways...this weekend we're going to have a movie/dinner date night either Friday or Saturday so one meal right there will be eaten out.  Sunday nights we tend to eat leftovers or sometimes make breakfast for dinner, whatev.

So this week I planned out 2 meals for the weekend.  While I was brainstorming meals to cook (I like to try new things to impress my husband :) I thought to myself, "Self, where have you PINNED many tasty looking meals lately!?"  PINTEREST!!! This is the link to my Pinterest "All that is delicious" board so I perused through to find some good stuff!

Tomorrow is my first day back to school and I was thinking I should go with something simple to ease my way back into the school year :)  And to me, crock pot meals = simple!  So tomorrow night we're having...

Hawaiian Crock Pot Chicken

served over...

Cilantro Lime Rice

The website giving the recipe for the Hawaiian Crock Pot Chicken suggested serving it over rice & I also had this yummy looking Weight Watcher's cilantro lime rice pinned to my board and both recipes have very few ingredients!  So botta-bing-botta-boom - Thursday's simple dinner!

We grill out most weather permitting weekends so Friday or Saturday (whichever night isn't eat out date night) we'll be having...

Lime-infused Honey Crusted Chicken

 with...

Zucchini Oven Fries

 and...

Roasted Potatoes

I realize the last picture is actually a mixture of many roasted veggies, but B's a meat and potato kinda guy and since we're already having zucchini as another side, I figured I'd just roast a sweet, a russet, and a few red potatoes (all cut up and seasoned of course!).  

I made my grocery list yesterday, stopped by Target & Harris Teeter today and have all the ingredients so I'm ready to go!  Look at me meal planning & putting Pinterest into use!!  Ha 

So far the planning has been successful I'd say...we'll have to see how the putting it into practice goes =)