Silent Night

Whew. What an exhausting week it's been!

I finished up my last days as an intern at DHS and started my first day as an employee at GWT! :) We've been working on our Christmas play that's coming up for GWT, and everything has been going so well, until.......

We got a fax from a lawyer in D.C. representing an organization for the separation of church and state saying that it's is unconstitutional for our kids to sing Silent Night in our program and that we have to take it out. I was speechless when I heard this. I mean seriously?? This is a Christmas play for Kindergarten through 2nd graders, and these people want to prevent the kids from singing a song that they absolutely LOVE! All of this mess has really stirred up our community, and everyone is mad. (Well, except for the one parent who complained to said organization) We have talked to our school system lawyer, but I'm not going go into anything else because we want to keep everything pretty quiet from now on. All the stuff I mentioned earlier was already on the news, so I figured I could share. Just be in prayer for our school and hope that we can continue with our song, because the kids will be heartbroken if we can't sing. :(

Other than that, everything is going great! Last night was the high school Christmas concert, and it went really well! Today is kind of my last day of teaching classes, and then we have our Christmas show Monday and Tuesday night! I'm so excited for the kids! And TONIGHT is the night I've been waiting on for the past 4 and 1/2 years...... my college graduation!!!!! I'm so pumped!! I have grad practice at 3:15 and then everything kicks off at 7:00! 

I'm off to my (sort of) last teaching day of the year! :)

Crafty Christmas Presents

Hello! Happy Sunday! :)

Hope everyone has had a great week! I feel like time is just going by SO fast. I cannot believe that Christmas is only two weeks away! So today after church, Chad and I have been doing a little crafting. We decided that most of our presents this year are going to be homemade since I'm still a student and we aren't exactly rolling in the money. ;)  I would show some pics of are crafties, but I don't want to giveaway the surprise! After Christmas, maybe I'll post all of our crafty presents so y'all can see them!

Later on, I'm going with my parents to my little cousin's birthday party. She's turning 5, and I can hardly believe it! She told her mom that this year she wanted a "cousins" party instead of a big party which I thought was so sweet. We have lots of cousins in our family: me, my 2 brothers, Anna and Tess from my mom's brother, and Peyton and Lyndi (the bday girl) from my mom's sister. We've always been very close and I really love when we all get together! So I'm looking forward to tonight!

Here's sweet little Lyndi at my wedding this past May! :)

Tomorrow starts my last 2 days as an intern, and then I become an employee on Wednesday! I'm SO excited! Also, my GRADUATION is this Friday!!!! I thought this day would never come! Then I'm going right back into school to start my graduate work, but I'm taking it verrrry slow this time. This has been a crazy and hectic semester, but I really have enjoyed it! I'm excited to see what else God has planned for me and for Chad and I together! :)

So like I said earlier, Christmas is only two weeks away! eeek! So that means lots and lots of Christmas parties, gatherings, get-togethers, etc. So far, I've counted 6 that Chad and I are attending. I'm really worried about gaining weight during all the holiday madness, and yes I know I should worry about it, but I'm still struggling with the fear. I always have a hard time with weight maintenance during this time of the year, but I'm just going to hope and pray that I can get through the holidays without overdoing it!

Well it's time to get back to crafting our Christmas presents! :)

Thanks for reading! God bless! :)

Boring Blogger

It's been over a week since my last post!! What's wrong with me???

Well, I've been completely stressed out and busy with finishing up my internship projects, helping get the high school choir ready for their Christmas concert, and getting the elementary kids ready for their Christmas show! I've been running around like a crazy person the past week and really haven't had anything terribly interesting to blog about. So that's the reason for my absence. Not that anyone cares ;)

My Thanksgiving was amazing and filled with fun, family, and lots of food! There was definitely some weight gain, but nothing that I can't fix! And to be honest, I don't even care! I mean, come on. It's THANKSGIVING! My favorite part of the break was definitely Black Friday shopping with my mom, brother (Drew), and Chad. We laughed SO much and had a lot of fun! We got a lot of good stuff too!

Chad and I have been slowly getting out house ready for the Christmas season since after Thanksgiving, and it's been so much fun decorating and planning for our first Christmas as a married couple! :) We decided that this year, we're not getting each other lots of presents. We each have a stocking, and we're going to fill each others' stockings with goodies and maybe some small gifts. It's just something fun and simple we can do with out spending a lot of money. 

Even though I just bought myself an early Christmas present. White North Face that is so amazingly warm! It was definitely worth it!

I only have about two more weeks of my student teaching left, and then it's GRADUATION and Christmas break!! I can't wait to graduate (Dec 16) and come back next semester as an employee! I have some really fun ideas for the kids next semester! :)

Okay well, this post has been nothing but random and probably just a little boring. So I wont torture you guys anymore! ;) Sorry for such boring blogging, maybe my next post will be better!

Thanks for reading! God bless! :)

Gobble Gobble

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! :)

Thanksgiving is one of my very favorite holidays! I seriously think I love it more than Christmas! The reason is because with Christmas, you have to worry about presents, but with Thanksgiving, you get almost all of the same foods, time spent with family, and a nice relaxing break from work! Now don't get me wrong, I still LOVE Christmas! But, sometimes it seems more stressful than fun. I like to look at Christmas as a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus with everyone I love. The presents and food are just bonus goodies. :)

Anyway, back to the real reason for this post! It's a "What I'm Thankful for Thursday/Thanksgiving!"

I'm thankful for soooo many things, but I'll try to stick with the most important ones! :)

1. A loving and supportive family

 They are the best. No questions asked. 

2. A wonderful amazing husband

He puts up with a lot of my craziness... and I don't know how he does it! :) 

3. A financially stable life

Chad and I have been blessed enough to have made it through half of our first year together without any major troubles. In the beginning, it looked bad for us, but we prayed and new God would provide. He certainly has! :)

4. A job waiting on me after I graduate in a few weeks!

I can finally make this announcement official! My contract for continuing on as the music teacher at G.W. Trenholm primary school was approved by the board earlier this week! I start in January!!!! :)

5. The willpower and strength to stick with my diet/healthy lifestyle 

I've been able to lose close to 25 lbs the past 3 months and have gotten down to 142 lbs! :)

6. Last but DEF not least, an amazing, loving, merciful, and forgiving GOD!

Without Him, I. am. nothing. He is the reason for numbers 1-5! He has blessed me SO much! :)

Well, I'm off to get ready for Thanksgiving feast number one for today! We are driving up to Shiloh, TN to visit my grandad's family and eat. A LOT. ;) Later tonight we'll be going to visit my dad's family where I'll be bring this little beauty that I made. (Recipe from Dashing Dish)

So we've got double Thanksgivings today! :)

I hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving!!!

GOD BLESS! :)

3 Out of 4 Aint Bad!

Evening everybody! Hope your day was good!

I accomplished 3 out of 4 things on my list of things to do today, which isn't too bad!

The first thing I did was clean, because I wanted to get the not-so-fun stuff out of the way early! So I cleaned the bathroom, the living room, and the bedroom pretty well, and I cleaned here and there throughout the rest of the house. I also did some laundry!

On to the BAKING!

I made the low fat, low cal chocolate mocha cheesecake. 8 servings, 180 calories per slice!

I also baked the skinny orange creamsicle cupcakes! 125 cals! :)

I'll be sampling one of these after dinner. ;)

If you want either of these recipes, go check out the blog Dashing Dish and look in the dessert section! :)

As for the crafting I was supposed to do today, I got two scarves done but never got around to the Christmas decorations. Oh well, maybe tomorrow!

Here are my scarves!

First I started with two different tshirts

I cut the hems off the bottoms and cut from the sleeves up at the tops.

Then for the pink shirt, I decided to try a scarf that I saw another blogger do on her site. Her name's Krystina. Check her out, she's got really great stuff! :) Her version is a lot better than mine. I actually might go back and fix mine up a little bit better, but for now, this is what you get!

Then I used the white shirt to try my own creation...

I cut strips on both sides but didn't cut all the way through

If you make these, be sure to stretch out the fabric after you cut so that the ends will roll up a little.

So that leaves my internship projects..... yeah I never got around to doing those. But like I said, maybe tomorrow! ;)

 The rest of tonight is going to spent relaxing and probably going to visit with my parents when they get back from Auburn. And then tomorrow, Chad come home! I've been so lonely with out him!

Well that's all that I have for y'all tonight, so thanks for reading!

God bless! :)

Leggings as Pants

Good morning! Hope your week was great!

Mine was pretty average, so not much to talk about.

Last night however, was a little out of the ordinary because I slept over at my parents (which is right next door to us). The reason behind this sleepover was that my dad was taking my mom to see the Auburn game today with some friends, and they needed me to watch the dogs. So, instead of having to continuously go back and forth from my house to theirs, I decided to just stay there. Chad is gone all weekend to Atlanta, so everything worked out fine. I got to spend my night with these little nuggets...

Sasha was with me too, she just doesn't like to be in pictures. ;) I piled in my parents' ginormous bed with all the doggies and had a grand ol' time. I slept until about 8:30, which is sooooo late for me considering my body usually tried to wake up around 6:30 on the weekends. So, I was happy with that! I took care of the dogs before heading back home to start the day.

Today I have lots and lots of fun things to do!

1. Bake for the school's bakesale

We're having a bakesale at GWT to help raise money for the music program, so I'm making a healthy "no-bake mocho chocolate cheesecake" that I found at Dashing Dish. What a great blog! I'm also making DD's healthy orange creamsicle cupcakes! I'll post the results of my "bake fest" later tonight!

2. Craft!!

It's been a while since I've done any DIY crafts and things around here. So I've decided that since I'm all alone today, I'll make use of my time and make some things! On the crafting agenda today are multiple t-shirt scarves and probably some Christmas decor! I'm pumped! :)

3. Clean

Okay, so I know cleaning's not very fun. But it really needs to get done. Parts of our house are just filthy. Bleh.

4. Work on internship projects

If you were an education major in the state of Alabama, then the following words will make you shutter. Project USA. That is all.

So I've got a busy but fun day ahead of me! And I will be rocking a look that I've critisized for a while now.

 That's right, leggings as pants. Oh well. It's COMFORTABLE! :)

But for now, I'm going to sit here and finish my breakfast:

A cinnamon raisin bagel thing with pumpkin butter

Delish!

Until later, thanks for reading! God bless!

Oh and btw, I lost another pound this week even after my weekend in Gatlinburg! That puts me down to 144 lbs! I'm pretty pumped about that, but I know that NEXT week will be the real challenge. THANKSGIVING! ;)

Gatlinburg Day 2 and 1/2

HELLO! Happy Monday night! :)

Even though Mondays may not be so happy for some of you.

The last time I posted was in Gatlinburg, and I know I said I would be posting the rest of our vacay, but I totally got caught up in doing absolutely nothing all weekend. In other words, I got lazy. ;)

Anyway, day 2 of our trip was so fun! I actually woke up early and hit the gym since I knew my food choices wouldn't be the most "healthy." After breakfast, we took the "funtime trollies" to get into downtown Gatlinburg.

There were tons of people there, so by the time we got into downtown we were starving! We decided to stop at a place called No Way Jose's. We'd never heard of it before. I am SO glad we went there because it was awesome! Everything was so fresh! Check out the salsa...

And this was my chicken fajita salad. SO GOOD!

After lunch, we explored the downtown area for a few hours before making another stop for some Edy's ice cream! The only bad thing about it was that there was no pumpkin flavor. :( I ended up rolling with the peanut butter cup ice cream. O.M.G. So good!

We stuck around for a little while longer (so we could walk off all the ice cream) and I really wanted to take this picture! Don't laugh at me ;)

After we spent all day in downtown Gatlinburg, we went back to our resort and relaxed until dinner. Since traffic was pretty bad, we didn't want to drive too far for dinner and ended up going to Buffalo Wild Wings. Not very unique, but who cares?? It was yummy! After dinner, we spent the rest of our night in the resorts hot tub just relaxing and talking about our trip. What a great day! :)

Day 3 of our trip was short, but still fun! We woke up, ate some breakfast, and checked out quickly. Then we got to hit up the Tanger Outlet! Yesssssss. Our first stop was at Starbucks, then we walked around all of the stores for a little while before they opened. After looking around and shopping all morning, we (well really just me) left with some goodies!

PUMPKIN BUTTER! So good!

Gingerbread Cookie Tea! 

Infinity Scarf! I've been looking around for a simple, but cute one :)

So, after a fun 3 day vacay, Chad and I headed back home to good ol' Tuscumbia. But we were glad to get home. :) 

Today it was time for me to get back to the real world. I went back to teaching and working on my internship assignments. But, next week we have two days of school and then Thanksgiving break! Yay! I'm hoping to be able to cook up some yummy treats to bring to all the families' dinners that we'll be going to. Maybe I can even make them healthy! 

Hope everyone has a great week! Thanks for reading! God bless :)

Gatlinburg Day 1

Well, we made it!

After about 5 hours plus another hour of bumper-to-bumper traffic, we made it to the smokies!

Here's what greeted us at our Wyndham resort

On our way, we stopped at Wendy's for lunch, and I had a yummy bowl of chili!

I drove the rest of the way, which ended up being a terrible idea, because I get so stressed out in crazy traffic. And really, the traffic was CRAZY. It took us an hour to travel 10 miles! 

But once we were at our resort, everything got better. It's a really nice room with lots and lots of space! Here are some pics I took...

A great BIG bathroom! I love it!

There's also another room with two full beds and another bathroom, but we're not using it so I didn't take any pics. 

After we settled into the room, we had to go find some food because we were starving. We drove down the rode and stopped at one of the first places we saw, Fudruckers. Neither of us had ever been there before, so we didn't know what it was like. We were both surprised when we walked in and saw that it wasn't a normal "sit-down" restaurant. But, it looked and smelled awesome, so we stayed. 

Since I'm trying to stay healthy, I went with the garden burger, It was delish!

Chad had the 1/2 pounder with everything.

After dinner, we went to Walmart to pick up some things and then came back to the room. Now we're both enjoying our complementary hot chocolates and watching the new CSI: NY

I love being able to just relax and have absolutely nothing to do or worry about! This is how a vacation is supposed to be! (Even if it is just for 3 days)

On a side note: I wrote yesterday about my feelings on my weight and how I'm trying to just stay healthy and maintain my "true weight." Well, I decided to weigh myself this morning before we left (so that I'd know what kind of damage I'd done when we got home), and it turns out I've lost about three pounds! This put me around 145 lbs! I was SO excited to see that number! I know it may go up after this weekend, but I'm prepared to bring it back down! As of today though, I've stayed within my calorie range! I'm pretty proud since I'm on vacation and all :) Tomorrow I may not be so lucky.

We'll be hitting up downtown Gatlinburg tomorrow to shop and see the sights, and then hopefully I can convince Chad to take me to the Tanger Outlet! *fingers crossed*

I'll be returning tomorrow with a post on our 2nd day, so be on the look-out! Until then...

Thanks for reading! God bless! :)

Your "True Weight"

Happy Thursday!! 

But for me, it's like Friday! We're out of school tomorrow for Veterans Day, and Chad and I are going on a much needed mini vacation this weekend! We're leaving for Gatlinburg in the morning! 

I. Am. So. Pumped.

We haven't been on any kind of vacay/road trip/anything fun since our honeymoon back in May! We are soooo ready for this! I can't wait to take lots of pictures of the beautiful Tennessee scenery, especially this time of year!

But, that post will be coming in the future, so for now, I'm sticking to the past/present.

This week has been a really good week at work/school. Perhaps because I've been so excited about my trip?

 

Monday I taught all classes at the high school and middle school, and they all went really well.

Tuesday I went with my cooperating teacher to take some of our choir kids to audition for an all-state choir. It was long, but fun day!

Wednesday is was back at the elementary school teaching my kiddos all about music! And what do you know, after just one day, I lose my voice. But, I love them so it's allllll good! ;) 

And today was equally as good. We had some special visitors in my first class this morning. A reporter from the local paper came by to observe, take some pics, and interview some of us about our new music program at the elementary school We are all so excited to be given the opportunity to bring back the music program. And I am equally as excited to be given the opportunity to teach it! So after having a double first grade class complete with 3-4 visitors plus a reporter, I was pretty exhausted. And that was just my first class of the day! But all my classes today were great, so even though I was tired, the kids' energy kept me going! :)

So be on the lookout for an article about G.W. Trenholm's new music program in this paper. :)

So, I said in my last post that I've having some weight-loss troubles. Most of them are mental problems (not saying I'm crazy lol) and not physical, but I still thought I'd share.

For some reason, even though I weigh less than I ever have, I still feel like I need to lose weight. =/ I've been freaking out ever since I hit 146, because this scale just will not go any lower. And to top it all off, after having two really bad food days over the past two weeks which has caused me to gain 2 lbs. Though it may not seem like a lot to y'all, it feels like 20 lbs to me, and I don't know why? :( It's so frustrating. 

BUT, I had a good realization today. I heard about this diet called the Dukan Diet and went to the website to check it out. The first thing you do for this diet is calculate your "true weight." The "true weight" is supposed to be the realistic healthy weight that you can maintain. And after entering in all the required info, I was told that I was already at my "true weight," which is apparently 147 lbs. (Even though technically I'm 148 right now) So, this really helped me feel better about my weight-loss struggles! I'm going to try my best to maintain this "true weight," and if I lose any in the process, then good for me! :)

Well, I'm off to take dinner out of the oven and pack for a fun-filled weekend in the mountains!! 

Thanks for reading! God bless! :)

Better Late Than Never!

Happy Monday night everyone!

Okay, so I know that Monday nights aren't normally a time that everyone loves, especially me. I've just started back to work after the weekend, and it's only Monday night, so I realize that there's still four more work days until the next weekend. But, this week is only a four day week because we are out on Friday for Veterans Day! I love long weekends! Plus, Chad and I are road tripping to Gatlinburg, TN for the extra long weekend! I can't wait! I seriously need a vacay, no matter how short it may be! :)

But this post isn't for me to brag about my fun weekend ahead, I really wanted to do a little recap of my past weekend. I know it's late, but better late than never! :)

Saturday, Chad and me went to a friend's house to pick up some tickets to the UNA game that he was giving us (so nice!), and they were having a yard sale. So we thought we'd buy something since we got the tickets for free! After doing a little searching, I found something that I really thought I could use...

The slap chop! Now I don't have to cry while I chop onions.

Over the weekend, Chad and I also discovered a way to "spice up" our boring lunch sandwiches. We pulled out the ole' George Foreman and made hot turkey and swiss sandwiches for lunch, complete with one of Gaggy's homemade pickles! Very yummy :)

Saturday evening we went to the game to cheer on the lions! 

We left a little ways into the 3rd quarter because 

1. it was obvious we were going to win

2. we were starving!

So we headed to Olive Garden and feasted on soup and salad. So good!

Sunday started off like usual with church, and afterwards we went out for lunch with my mom and brothers. Then that afternoon, I went to sing at a special service for All Saints Day in a very old, but beautiful Episcopal church called St. Johns. It was a really nice service.

Sunday night we had a bonfire/hayride for our youth, and it was a blast! Chad and I both feel so blessed to have such a fun and very unique youth group. We love them! :)

On another note, I've had a lot on my mind lately about weight-loss and things related. So, be expecting a possibly emotional post on the subject. But for now, I'm getting off to go wait for Chad to come from a meeting so we can cuddle and talk! Too mushy?? lol ;)

Thanks for reading! God bless! :)

Bed Warmer

Happy Friday all! :)

Fridays just make me so happy! I feel happier at work/school/whatever I'm doing on Fridays.

Yesterday was a doozy though. I started getting sick while teaching throughout the day(I'm thinking sinus infection), which made for a not-so-enthusiastic music teacher. But, I powered through and made it to the end of the day. I did have to skip an opera rehearsal that I had later that day, but my director was understanding. I ended up napping when I got home and woke up just in time to fix Chad and me a quick dinner before he had to leave for an interview thingie in Moultan. Once he was gone, I took a shower, some sinus medicine, and sat down with a bowl of pumpkin ice cream until the meds kicked in and knocked me out.

I did manage to warm the bed before I got in it. Chad and I discovered a fabulous trick to making our bed warm before we go to sleep. I really enjoy it if you can't tell.

  Heater under blanket = happy (sleeping) Grace :)

Anyway... I was asleep by 8:00 and STILL felt tired when I got up at 5:30. That's 9 & 1/2 hours of sleep! Shouldn't that be good enough?? 

Today I feel much better, just a little puny. But I'm ready to take on the day and make it great! Hope everyone else has a fantastic Friday!!

Thanks for reading! God bless! :)

Happy Hallow-Birthday to Meeeee!

Hey Hey Hey!

That's right! It's my hallowbirthday! Or is it Birthdayween? I don't know and I don't care! Today I'm celebrating 23 years of being alive! Well, I actually celebrated yesterday with my family since today was a looong work/school day for me.

Yesterday my mom cooked a delicious birthday lunch that included spaghetti and meatballs (my FAV), texas toast, salad, and cake & ice cream! Here's what was left of my cake!

I ate SO much food! It was ridic. But no worries, today I am back to my healthy ways! ;) After lunch, we all layed around watching scary movies until everyone started to slip into food comas. ;) Before I left, Mom gave me my presents!

Low-fat pumpkin lattes and pumpkin ice cream! She knows me so well! :)

My "real" present from my parents is coming in the form of new brakes on my car. They've been squealing for a while and really needed to be fixed, so today I got them done.

Chad and I went shopping for my presents on Saturday and ended up with this!

New TOMS (they're tan burlap) and two new coffee mugs, one travel and one regular

Today was just a normal ole Monday, but my kids made it better by singing happy birthday to me in the high school and middle school choirs! Chad's cooking dinner tonight and then we're going to our church's Fall Festival/Trunk-n-Treat, so it should be a fun night. :) 

While typing just now, my grandad (who we call "gaggy") stopped by to give me my present! I was so happy to get to see him. :) He gave me a jar of his homemade pickles, which are UH.MAZE.ING. And he also gave me some money. He's the best. :)

Well, I'm off to watch Chad burn down the kitchen cook a yummy dinner!

Thanks for reading! God bless! :)

Happy Halloweekend!!

Hello all! Hope you've had a fabulous week! It's Saturday morning and officially the start of the Halloweekend! And for those of you who don't know, Halloween is also my BIRTHDAY! :) So, it's kind of like my birthday weekend too! ;) I'm turning 23 on Monday, which is not really any kind of special bday like a 16th, 18th, or 21st. I don't remember the last time my bday was on a Monday though, and for some reason, having a Monday birthday doesn't really sound fun. =/ But I'm going to make the best of it! Today, Chad and I are going out to find me a birthday present, and I'm pretty pumped! I received an early birthday present this morning when I weighed-in and saw that I'd lost another 2 lbs this week! This brings my weight down to 146 pounds! But, as for my actual present, I've got a few things on my mind that I want to search for...

1. New TOMS!

I've been wanting to get some new ones for a while now, but since they're not cheap, I wanted to wait for an occasion to make the purchase.

2. New Jacket (Northface or Columbia)

Lately, I've been wearing Chad's Columbia fleece jacket everywhere, and I know it's starting to anooy him because he wants to wear it. lol So, maybe we can find one like it for me! :)

3. New Otterbox (Commuter Series)

I have an all white Otterbox on my white iPhone and have been wanting to try a new color.

4. New Boots!

Who doesn't love a new pair of boots??? :)

So there's my list of options for today.... but before we head out, we've got to go to Walmart (joy =/) to get some things that we desperately need, like toilet paper and bread. Then we're heading to the movies to finally see Paranormal Activity 3! I can't believe we are actually going to see it. The first two movies seriously freaked me out. I've always been afraid of demonic activity and things like that. My brother and I actually had a demonic experience when we were at a singing competition in Tuscaloosa. I wont go into details, but I'll tell you that we will never again stay at a Jameson Inn. *shivers*

ANYWAY....

Chad and I decided to just man up and go see it since we would end up wishing we had seen it. BUT, we are making sure to go see it during the day so that it's still daylight when we leave the theater. lol! 

After the movies we'll be shopping for my present!! :)

While at Walmart today, I'm going to pick up some kind of healthy popcorn that I can pre-pop and take with me to the movies, because Chad is most definitely going to fill up our giant popcorn bucket with buttery, fatty, movie theater popcorn, and I want to have something that I can actually eat!

So, since I didn't have any fun pictures to share with you today, I'll leave you with this....

I seriously laughed for 5 minutes when I saw this!

Hopefully I'll be back with more posts this weekend on all my birthday/Halloween activities! 

Thanks for reading! God bless! :)

I'm Going To Be A STAR!

Good morning and happy happy Saturday! I've got a busy weekend ahead of me which I'm pretty excited about! But, before I talk about that, here's a little recap of my week.

It's been a pretty good one! I was able to finally pull out my new boots, which I LOVE!

Chad and I received a free 42 inch TV from his aunt and uncle! Free is always a number that I LOVE! And look how big it is! We are pretty excited :)

And yesterday, I decided to curl/scrunch my hair for the first time in MONTHS maybe even a year! What do ya think? :)

It's almost the same as when I let my hair dry naturally instead of straightening it. So, I don't really know if the curling gel really worked? 

Well... maybe it's a little different..... 

ANYWAY...

Last night Chad and I went to see my brother and his gf Suzanne (who was one of my bridesmaids) in a show called "Songs for a New World." A lot of my other good friends were also in the show, 

and it. was. uh. maze. ing.

I definitely teared up a few times. They're all so talented and I'm so proud! Next week I start rehearsal with most of the same people from the show for an opera we're doing in the spring called "Hansel and Gretel." I'm Gretel and Suzanne is Hansel. So it should be pretty hilar to see us playing brother and sister.

Today is going to pretty interesting. Chad and I are helping a friend out by being in part of a music video that he has to make for an entertainment class. (Hence the title of this post!) I keep laughing to myself thinking about the stuff he's going to have us do. We're supposed to be a couple in love, so it should be pretty easy for us right??? ;)

After that, I'm meeting my long lost BFF Jessica (my MOH in my wedding) for lunch and then she's coming over to see our house because she hasn't seen it yet! I can't believe we've lived here for almost 5 months and she hasn't been over yet! But, she's been at school in Auburn this semester and hasn't really had a chance to come over. I'm so excited to catch up! I miss her!

This is us at one of my wedding showers :)

Well, Jeremy (our friend making the video) will be here in about 30 minutes, so I have to get ready! I can't wait to share all the deets about our "shoot" today! lololol ;)

Thanks for reading! God bless! :)

Annoying Things About Losing Weight

Okay so, weight-loss is awesome, and I'm so glad that I'm doing so well

BUT...

There are still some annoying things that come along with losing weight. 

-Like the fact that I'm always cold! 

-Or that my favorite outfits don't fit anymore.

(I guess I should learn how to alter my clothes)

But the thing that annoys me the most is when people say things like,

"you're too skinny," or "you need to stop losing weight," or especially when people say "you need to eat a cheeseburger!"

I mean, I understand that all of these statements can be taken as compliments, but until I feel comfortable with my body, I'm going to try to be fit and healthy and lose the extra weight that my body doesn't need!

 

I've researched healthy weight ranges on a lot of different sites, and it's been hard to find one specific range for my height. But, the closet I could get was between 131-164 lbs for the range, and 147 lbs as an ideal weight. So technically, I'm only 2ish lbs away from an ideal weight but could still lose another 18 lbs and be healthy. I know that people's intentions are not to make me fat or make me feel unhappy about my weight, but I do wish they could compliment me in other ways besides telling me I'm too skinny, because really, until I weight less than 131 lbs, I'm not. But don't think this means I'm going to actually try to get down to 131 lbs. I honestly don't think that weight is possible for me. lol

I just want to feel good about the way I look and feel good in my clothes. Thank you to all the people who support my journey and thank you even to the people who may have said some of the things I mentioned, because I know that you're just saying it out of love. :) 

Thanks for reading, and I hope that you guys continue to follow me on my weight-loss journey

God bless! :)

Monday Morning

Morning! Hope your weekend was awesome! Mine was great, but as you know today is Monday, so it's time for all the normal people to go back to work! Boo!

Here's a little of what went on this weekend. After my last post Saturday morning, Chad and I made a trip out to his dad's house for a little visit. We stayed for about an hour and a half before we had to leave and hit up Walmart for a much needed grocery trip. Before we when out there, we decided to try some couponing to help save some $$$. I'm not sure how much it really helped though.

What we didn't realize is that it would take us over an hour to get everything and get out. So, when we got there right at 12:00 (prime lunch time) I was already hungry. 

It was past 1:00 when we finally got in line to check out, and I was on the verge of passing out... literally. As soon as the cashier rung everything up, I grabbed a pack of Fuji Apple Fruit Crisps and ate the whole bag in probably 30 seconds. I was still starving. By this time, my hunger head ache was peaking, and I was feeling like POOP. It was awful. But, we made it home, and I scarfed down some lunch and took a nap, which made me feel so much better! :)

Later that night we met up with some friends for some Mexican food! (Fajitas... yummmm!) Then we all came back to the casa to relax and chat. We ended up watching some OnDemand TV shows. Family Guy FTW! :) Then we called it a night because most of us had to get up early for church the next day.

Sunday is one of my favorite days of the week! I love going to church, singing worship songs, hearing a sermon, and getting to fellowship with my church family (as well as my actual family). I also teach the Jr. High Sunday School class, which is an experience. But, I love them! :) Sunday night was fun because it was a special night dedicated to music. The choir sang special songs and different people in the church sang solos, duet, and trios. It was nice to get to listen to everyone and not actually have to sing myself (which Chad and I do a lot at our church), even though I love being given the opportunity to sing for my church and my God! Next Sunday is our church picnic and our band will be performing, so I'm excited about that. The picnic is always so much fun! :)

I really need to finish getting ready for work/school today. The students are all out, but the teachers have a workshop thingie to go to all day. I'm not entirely sure what it is, but I guess I'll find out in a little while! Be on the lookout for a more serious post later today about an issue that I've been dealing with lately in relation to my weight-loss. It's not too serious, but it sure is annoying! But, until then...

Thanks for reading! God bless! :)

First Time In YEARS!

GOOD MORNING!! Happy Saturday! :)

I can't believe I'm actually awake and active at 8:00 on a Saturday morning. But I guess after waking up at 5:30 every morning, anything passed 7:00 is "sleeping in" for me now. Ugh, oh well! It really doesn't bother me today because I received the most amazing surprise ever this morning! As I said before, Saturdays are my weigh-in days, so I hopped on the scale this morning hoping to at least lose 2 lbs so I could hit my first goal of getting down to 150 lbs. Well I looked down at the scale today and seriously couldn't believe my eyes! I lost about 3 lbs this week putting me at a weight of 149.4 lbs!!!!!!!! Y'all, seriously. I haven't weighed less than 150 in YEARS. The last time I got below 150 lbs was in the summer of 2007. I had an emergency appendectomy and couldn't eat for days which put me at around 145 lbs. But as soon as I got better, those 5 lbs came right back! So this is the happiest I've been with my weight since then!! Can you tell I'm PUMPED?? lol

Today will be a pretty easy day. Yesterday was my father-in-law's birthday, so we're going to visit him today. Afterwards, we have a huge grocery trip to get out of the way before we enjoy a fun night eating and hanging out with friends! We all haven't hung out in a while so I'm excited! I'm reeeaaally in the mood to watch the original Footloose tonight because Chad has never seen it! And if we ever plan on seeing the new one, I want him to have seen the original first! So hopefully Netflix wont fail us tonight!

I'll be back later tonight (or tomorrow morning/afternoon) with a post on the days festivities!

Thanks for reading! God bless! :)

A Letter, Breakfast, and more Pumpkin!

Hello hello hello! Happy Friday night! Hope your day has been great! :)

Mine has been fabulous! Another very FULL day of teaching elementary music, but it's things like this that make it all worth it!

One of my 1st graders walked into my room and handed me this piece of paper that says "I love music Mrs. Kennington" It was so sweet! I taped it on the wall by my computer.

Later on at home, I was talking to Chad and randomly asked if he wanted breakfast for dinner. We've yet to do any kind of breakfast dinner since we got married, and he was all for it! So I went by Food Land to get a few things and voila! BREAKFAST FOR DINNER! :) And after making a few tweaks here and there for my part of the meal, it only cost me 317 calories! Healthy breakfast FTW! :) Here's our spread:

French toast, bacon, biscuits, coffee, and juice! SO GOOD!

And I even saved up enough cals for my latest dessert creation!

This may not look very good, but I swear to you it's amazing! I used light Cool Whip and mixed in some pumpkin, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. After I stir it all in, I stick in the freezer for a little while to give it a better texture and then DIG IN! It's seriously so yummy!

While Chad and I were cooking dinner, I downloaded the new iOS5 to my iPhone. For a while there, I thought it had deleted all of my apps. I was freaking out so bad. But after I let it chill for a few minutes, they all came back to life! Thank goodness, because I don't know what I'd do without MyFitnessPal, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter! Whew!

This week I've been adjusting to a new "wake-up" time. I've slowly weened myself down to 5:30 am, and really, it's not too bad. I actually enjoy it! If you're part of my family, then you know how crazy that sounds. (I used to be able to sleep until 12:00 pm!) I've been using that time to catch up on all my favorite blogs (the list is getting longer and longer), drink my one two cups of coffee, and YES, even exercise! My abs are still sore from the (very few) tummy workouts I did this week. Tomorrow is weigh-in day, and the past two weeks my weight-loss has slowed, so hopefully adding this exercise will have helped my body to get rid of these last two pounds! Last Saturday I weighed-in at about 152, so we'll see how tomorrow goes.Maybe I'll hit my first goal of 150! *fingers crossed*

Until then.... thanks for reading!

God bless! :)

Catching Up

Morning!! It's pretty strange that I'm blogging early on a Tuesday morning, but I kept putting off my normal Sunday post... and then Monday just went by so fast! So happy Tuesday! :)

So I never got to share with y'all the treat I got to have Saturday night. Normally, I'm very strict to my healthy eating lifestyle and don't let myself have crazy treats, but Saturday night was the exception. I figured that just once wouldn't hurt me.... right? ;) So, it was finally time for me to try Sonic's new Pumpkin Pie Milkshake! And, Oh. My. Word. It was glorious! :) I ate every last bit of that thing!

So the next day was Sunday, and I told you guys about our youth's bonfire we were having. So here are some pics from that! It was a lot of fun, and we had a pretty good turn out! 

If you look down by the river, some of our youth are down there playing around. They look so tiny!

This was our fire BEFORE it got dark and BEFORE it reached "bonfire" status.

We all went hiking and found this really awesome cave, but the iPhone camera could not handle the awesomeness (not to mention the flash couldn't handle the darkness). So this is a pic from inside the cave looking out. The moon was beautiful that night!

Yesterday was a normal, average, everyday, blah Monday. (Why do Mondays even exist??) But I was able to find some time to enjoy an afternoon/evening cup of coffee outside before dinner. :)

So today (Tuesday) I am missing work/school for a doctors appointment I have with my endocrinologist in Birmingham, which is about 2 hours from here. For those who don't know, I have something called Graves Disease, which means that my thyroid gland is really overactive. Three years ago I had my thyroid gland radioactively destroyed (sounds horrific doesn't it??) with an iodine pill. No worries, I felt nothing! So now, I have zero thyroid hormone production in my body, which means I have to take a pill everyday to replace it. But, I haven't had my meds for the past six days which is a pretty big deal. I've had to schedule an appointment with my doc to get some more meds and to make sure everything is working properly. I'll update you guys on the news when we return this afternoon! It should all be fine though. :)

So until then.... Thanks for reading! (Especially so early in the morning!) God bless! :)

P.S. My mom just sent me this hilarious picture.

This is our terrible, awful, bad, adorable, sweet, beagle hound Buck. Aint he cute??? :)