Another Homecoming

Hiiiii! Happy FRIDAY! :) Today I went with a "new look," and decided to let my hair air dry instead of drying and straightening it. What do you guys think? It was nice to not have to use my straightener this morning.

This week has been cray-zay for me! Monday and Tuesday were extremely loooong work days for me, and Wednesday was not much better. I had to stay at the high school to teach instead of going to the elementary school, which made me sad because I love my little kiddos! But, yesterday I got to return to them, and today is homecoming for our school system, so we got out of school at 1:00 to get ready for the parade. I wasn't able to snap any pics at the parade because I was too busy waving at all of my students! I knew that I'd see some of them in the parade, but I never knew so many of them would be there. Plus I had students from the elementary school, middle school, AND high school. It was insane, but it made me so happy to see my students so excited! This is why I love teaching! :)

As for the game tonight, I don't think Chad and I are going to make it. I've got a pretty decent dinner planned (ranch & parm chicken), and I think Chad wants to stay in and watch movies. Plus, I'm planning on fixing us a healthy pumpkin milkshake after dinner! I'll post later about it. ;)

Also, today our dog Sasha got into something outside and had an allergic reaction. Her face got swollen and red. Isn't she pitiful :(

Tomorrow Chad and I are babysitting his nephew Bobby for his mom because it's her birthday! He lives with Chad's parents, so we're taking him for the day so they can celebrate. It's also the first day of October, which means it's my birthday month!! ;) For those who don't know, my bday is on Halloween, and though some people hate having a holiday birthday, I LOVE IT! (Though I probably wouldn't like a Christmas birthday.) Anyway... October is one of my very favorite months of the year! Actually, I love everything about October through December! Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas!!!! Ohhhh I can't wait! I'll be baking lots of goodies I'm sure and DEF blogging about it all! So get ready for a fall FULL of posts! :) Hopefully, I'll be PAST my weight loss goal so that I can let myself go crazy on those holidays! ;) If you want to check my progress, go to my weight loss page! I update it weekly. Only 4 lbs until my main goal, and then maybe I can keep going..... we'll see!

Until next time, thanks for reading! God bless! :)

A Sunday With Nothing To Do???

Happy Sunday!! It's a beautiful day here in Tuscumbia, I just wish there a little more sunshine....

My view for the afternoon is of the hubs doing the "man" thing. Weed eating, cutting crass, etc. 

 

After I post, I'll be doing the "wife" thing. Washing dishes, laundry, etc. *fun fun* Anyway, here's a little bit of the rest of our Saturday!

We headed back to the stadium for a little tailgating with some of Chad's old frat brothers. Saw some old friends and got to chat for a while. Then we went to our seats. And BOY were they awesome!!

Right on the 50! Thanks to the O'Neals from our church for the tickets! :) The Pride of Dixie (University Band) took the field and looked great!

They are BY FAR the best college band I've ever heard! Here's a link to a video of their show on youtube! It's FAB! UNA also honored some people for being inducted into the sports hall of fame, and one of the people inducted was George Lindsey aka Goober from the Andy Griffith Show! He's a big part of UNA and we have a George Lindsey Film Festival every year, so I've seen him before. But I wanted to snap a picture in case any readers wanted to see him! It's an iPhone pic so it's not good quality. =/

Chad really enjoyed himself, especially the food. He had a hamburger, nachos, and even tried to talk me into a funnel cake. I however decided to pack a Subway sandwich in my bag since I knew we'd be at the game during dinner time. The game was great, but nerve wracking! It was close all the way up until the 4th quarter when UNA finally pulled ahead by 8 (which is still not a lot). In the end, we won 28-20 over Harding University. Here we are enjoying the game and our great seats!

We can't wait to go back for another game!

So , it's Sunday now, and I'm so excited because I have nothing to do! This hasn't happened since I've started teaching, so I'm taking advantage of it and doing.... NOTHING! Later on tonight we're taking our youth down to the park to play kickball, and I may get in on the fun to get some exercise.... but we'll see how I feel then. ;)

I hope everyone enjoys their Sunday!! Thanks for reading! God bless! :)

Parades, Sushi, Pumpkin, and..... demon babies?

Afternoon y'all! Hope your Saturday is going splendidly! Chad and I have had a GREAT day so far... and it's not over yet! I just thought I'd take some time in between our festivities to blog. :)

So, today is our college alma mater (The University of North Alabama) homecoming, and we decided to take part in all of the fun! Well, it's actually not my alma mater yet. I don't graduate until December... but it sure does feel like I'm already out because of my student teaching! 

Anyway..... first activity of the day was the parade! I love parades, but because I was in a sorority (ZTA), I always had to be IN the parade and never got to watch. Chad was the same way. He was in the university band (The Pride of Dixie) and had to march in every parade. So it was really fun getting to watch from the sidewalk!

The homecoming theme was "Expanding the Legacy," so everything was about building for the future. Here was Zeta's float! I loved getting to see some of my sisters again!

Chad was also in a frat, (Alpha Tau Omega) and here is ATO's float! Looks kind of similar ;)

After the parade, we went to a Japanese restaurant called Umi for some lunch! It was fantastic! Best ginger salad I've ever had.... and the soup and Cali roll were great too!

Then we headed over to Target. We love Target! But, it's usually too far of a drive just to browse without having something specific to get. We were already in Florence though, so why not? :) I'm SO glad we went because we found pumpkin spiced...... EVERYTHING!

Coffee, coffee creamer, latte mix, oatmeal, pancake mix, and waffle mix!! Chad started making fun of my love for pumpkin and tried to trick me with things like pumpkin spiced milk and pumpkin spiced jam. I caught on to the joke when he mentioned pumpkin spiced tuna and pumpkin spiced wine. har har har. Anyway, Chad would only let me get the creamer, latte mix, and coffee.... but oh well! I just tried the latte mix, and it was so yummy!

So after our Target trip, we made one final stop at a new halloween store called Spirit. Lots of cute, scary, weird, and *hem* risque costumes in there. And then, we saw this......

And this........

Well, we're getting ready to head back down to the stadium to participate in some tailgating, and then watch the game. I'm PUMPED about our seats because a friend let us borrow his season tickets, and our seats are awesome! I'll have pics later on. And have I mentioned yet that the weather is PERFECT?! The high is 79, so I know tonight will feel amazing! I'll be posting about the rest of our day tonight or tomorrow, so be on the look-out! Until then..... thanks for reading!

God bless! :)

FAB Friday!

Hello hello hello!! Hope you've had a FAB Friday! It's been a few days since my last post, and I've really wanted to blog this week, but I've been super busy!

Yesterday was a pretty great day! I taught all day, and then after school, Chad and I met our wedding photographer to pick up our finished pictures! Very exciting! :) We met at a little coffee shop/book store downtown, so we got there a little early to get some coffee and browse. Afterwards, we walked around the downtown area because there was an event called 4th Thursdays going on. Every 4th Thursday, our town blocks off the roads downtown and has a band set up and some vendors down the sidewalks for a few hours. It was really nice getting to see it all. Plus, we got to enjoy a cupcake from Yummies Bakery. ;) I had a caramel cupcake, and he had a moon pie cupcake. They were awesome! Then we snuggled up and watched the new episode of The Office. We are def obsessed with that show! But, I'm going to miss Michael Scott. :(

Today was an equally as fabulous day... and the fact that it's Friday made it even BETTER! :)

Started the morning off with a new creation.... CHOCOLATE Oatmeal! Very tasty!

Then it was off to work! But, this being Friday, I was able to dress casual. So I went with a good ole pair of comfy jeans and Toms!

When I got home from school, Chad and I decided to go for a little walk. We walked downtown and around the park. It felt amazing outside!

After our walk, I cooked us up a yummy Mexican chicken dinner! It was a weight watchers recipe I found online somewhere... VERY good! Then we sat outside on the deck and enjoyed some pumpkin spice lattes. Always my favorite. :)

Now, I am spending the rest of my Friday night uploading all these wedding pics to Facebook! Well, not all of them, just the ones a really really like! :) I can't wait to get some of these printed! Click if you want to see my Wedding Photos or my Bridals.

Tomorrow will be a fun day. It's our college alma mater (University of North Alabama) homecoming game! We're gonna go check out the parade, grab some lunch, and then go to the game that night! I haven't been to a game this year yet, so I'm excited! Well, until tomorrow fellow bloggers..... Thanks for reading!

God bless! :)

Sunday Funday

Happy Sunday y'all! Hope you had a fabulous weekend! This is exactly how I've felt for the past week, and it's how I'll feel until spring returns....

My brother sent me this, and I thought it was hilarious. (But so true!)

So, this morning I got up early to start cooking a healthier meatloaf in the crock-pot that would be ready for lunch when we got home after church.

Then I went back to bed. After waking up much later than I intended, I rushed through my morning activities to get ready for church and ended up having to eat the pumpkin oatmeal I made in the car on my way. I was a little frazzled, but it was definitely worth it! It was so yummy! :)

The meatloaf ended up being pretty tasty. Chad said he'd def. eat it again, so that's a plus! Then I spent the rest of the afternoon working on lesson plans for this week and relaxing with the hubby until evening church. We had a "chill night" with out youth and got to hang out, goof off, and just have fun. Only problem was I didn't eat dinner before and was painfully hungry by the time we got back home. :( So I just scarfed down a batch of buffalo chicken bites from one of those frozen boxed meals. Oh well, still good! I just ended my din din with one of my pumpkin cupcakes! Like I said, I'm obsessed with pumpkin at the moment. ;)

Well, Chad and I are about to be off to bed! I know it's only 8:30, but after a few weeks of teaching, I can't last much later than 9:00. :( Good thing I love what I do!

Thanks for reading! God bless. :)

Picnic at Cane Creek Canyon

It's Saturdayyyyyy! And, it feels next to perfect outside here in our little town of Tuscumbia. :)

Ahhhh... I'm just dreading that sudden change from beautiful fall weather to frigidly cold winter that always seems to happen over night here. :( But for now, I'm taking full advantage of the amazingness that is outside!

Like today, the hubs and I decided to take a quick trip to a nature preserve called Cane Creek to explore and have a little picnic. :) We started our morning off with a REAL pumpkin spice latte that I was able to make with my newly bought pumpkin puree!

Then we added cinnamon marshmallows! ;)

Very yummy! Then, after an impromptu visit from Chad's parents (which we always love!), we packed up our picnic basket and hit the road!

It only took about 15 minutes to drive out there. My favorite part about the directions I was reading was at the end when it said "pass the chicken houses." hehe The preserve is by a cute looking Spanish-style house.

Here are a few pics from our short hike...

We found a cute little lizard!

And this was my view for most of the hike ;)

Afterwards, we grabbed our picnic basket from the car and headed to the tables.

Our lunch spread:

For him- Coke Zero, turkey sandwich, pringles, banana, and one of my pumpkin cupcakes :)

For me- Diet DP, a lighter turkey sandwich, light lays, apple, and pumpkin cupcake

It was such a fun morning/afternoon, and the weather was PERFECT! I definitely want to do it again soon.

In other news, Saturday has become my new weigh-in day. It used to be Sunday, but last week I couldn't wait. lol So I decided to stick with Saturdays. I weighed myself this morning and lost another 2 lbs! Down to 156 lbs now, and hopefully in another 3-4 weeks I'll be down to a solid 150 lbs! I'm pretty pumped. :)

Chad and I are spending the rest of the day relaxing and enjoying our Saturday. We're probably about to head down to my parents to visit, and also so that I can borrow "The Sound of Music" from them to show Chad. Can you believe he's NEVER seen it??? I was appalled. So tonight I'm sitting him down and making him watch it. Hopefully he'll be singing Do-Re-Mi by the end of the night. ;)

Well, until next time, thanks for reading! God bless. :)

Pumpkin Heaven!

Hello! Happy Fridayyyy! I hope you've had a wonderful Friday. Something about this day just makes me happy, no matter what I have going on that day. Today was another day of teaching. Fun fun :)

So, all week I've been finding recipes on websites and blogs for EVERYTHING pumpkin. I talked about my own version of the pumpkin spice latte that I made and LOVED. But, I never had the right ingredients to make a really good one... Well after seeing all of these yummy pumpkin recipes, I decided to try once again to find some pumpkin puree. I headed down to the Food Land in search of ingredients to make pumpkin cupcakes and pumpkin spice cream cheese frosting, and hallelujah, I found the pumpkin puree!! So I went ahead and got multiple cans so I don't have to make anymore trips. (And now, I have the ingredients for a GOOD pumpkin spice latte!) I came home and immediately began making these cupcakes. And, they are soooooo easy!

Start off with the following:

For the cupcake: Yellow Cake Mix, Pumpkin Puree, Pumpkin Pie Spice, and 1 cup water

For the frosting: Cream Cheese (I used fat free), Brown Sugar, Cinnamon, Vanilla Extract, Pumpkin Puree, and Pumpkin Pie Spice

The cupcake mixture was pretty gorgeous!

And the frosting looked.... not as pretty lol But look at my new mixer that Chad's mother gave me! :)

The cupcakes turned out amazing!

I actually forgot to take a pic of the ones I frosted before they were eaten. :( But, a word to the wise, they are better with out the frosting! I will not be frosting the rest of them!

WITH frosting they are about 121 calories and WITHOUT frosting they are only about 84 cals! So good!

After I whipped up these little beauties, Chad, me, and 4 of our good friends met up at our favorite Mexican place Casa Mexicana, (very popular in our town) where I had my usual chicken fajita skillet. (no tortilla, rice, beans, etc.) It was delish as usual.

So now we're all back at our hizzie chilling out on our deck. And it's a beautiful Friday night! I love getting to chat with friends. :)

Tomorrow, Chad and I are packing up a picnic lunch and heading down to a place called Cane Creak Canyon for a nice nature hike and lunch. I'm pretty excited :) I'll def. take lots of pics for a fun post later tomorrow night! So, until then, thanks for reading. God bless! :)

Thanks Mom and Dad!!

Hello all! Happy Wednesday! Hope you "humpday" has been spectacular! :)

Today was a great day, as usual! Teaching my little kiddos about music, church at good ole FUMC Tuscumbia, and coming up, the BIG BROTHER FINALE! I've been waiting like 10 weeks for this! And for all you BB fans, I can't believe I'm saying this but, GO RACHEL! :)

OH! And, I found the most amazingly delicious gum EVER. APPLE PIE! yummmmm!

So, earlier today I was talking to my mom. 

Here we are together at one of my wedding showers. Aint she cute? :)

We talked about a lot of different things, but mostly about how hard being a parent can be. After we talked, I began to think about all the things she and my dad did for me, to me, with me, etc. while I was growing up. And all I have to say is thank you God for giving me such AMAZING parents! :) 

I am so thankful for having parents who forced me to go to church even when I didn't want to, because now I know the importance of staying in church as an adult and how easy it can be to stray away from God. I'm thankful for having parents who wanted to trust but knew not to, because I know good and well that I lied to them as a teenager to try to get my way. Who knows what kinds of things I would have gotten into if they had let me do whatever I wanted? I'm thankful for having parents who DIDN'T give me everything I asked for, because now I understand that I can't have anything I want. Life just doesn't work that way. Finally, I'm thankful for parents who loved me so much, that they made themselves the "bad guys" in my eyes to protect me and teach valuable life lessons. I wouldn't be the person I am today with out them. Mom and Dad, if you're reading this, I hope you're proud of who you raised me to be, because I sure am proud to have parents like you guys. Love you! :) *Wipes away tears*

Here's one of my very favorite pictures of me and my parents. This is on senior night at my high school football game. It's a bad picture because it's a picture of a picture. lol But I still love it!

Here we are on my wedding day :)

This sums up how my Wednesday turned out to be. A realization of all the wonderful things my parents did for me. I hope you've have similar experiences with your own parents! 

Okay, Big Brother starts in 8 minutes so I'm going to run! Thanks for reading! God bless! :)

Where Were You?

I thought it'd only be appropriate to take a minute to remember the events that took place 10 years ago today. Where were you when those two planes flew into the towers? I was in 7th grade english class. I remember our principal announcing over the intercom for all teachers to turn on their televisions because of a possible terrorist attack. When I looked at the TV all I saw was the black smoke pouring out of the tower. Then we all witnessed the second plane flying into the other tower. It was a horrible feeling. I didn't know what was happening, who was responsible, or where another attack might take place. 

I can also remember that we were supposed to have our very first middle school football game, and I was a cheerleader. It would've been my very first time to cheer at a football game, and I was so excited. But, because of the attack, our game was canceled. I know it's silly to think about it, but I was so mad at the people who led the attacks because it caused my very first football game to get canceled. And now, thinking back, I realize how silly it was for me to be upset over cheering at a football game. I should have been worried about the people who lost loved ones on that day. But can you blame a 12 year old girl for being selfish? It's kind of in her nature. lol

Anyway, 10 years later I still think about the frightening scene I saw on television in Mrs. Davis' class and remember how it brought our country together, and for a little while, made everyone realize how blessed we are to live in such an amazing country. I thank God for blessing me with freedom to be who I want to be, do what I want to do, and say what I want to say because many people around the world don't have that freedom.

Now that I've said my part about 9/11, I'm going to switch gears. 

Okay, Happy Sunday! :) I hope everyone's weekend has been good! I've spent my Sunday getting ready for my long week of teaching by working on power points, picking out music for activities, and practicing this little baby...

I'll be teaching my elementary kids about woodwind instruments this week, and I always bring in an instrument to play for them. Last week I brought a trombone which I'm decent at playing..... but I'm not very good at playing the clarinet, so we'll see how this goes!

Other than preparing for the week, I've gotten some laundry done, taken a ride on the moped, and even made another one of my pumpkin lattes from my last post. :) I have a feeling I'll be making a lot of them! Now I'm just getting ready to make some dinner, watch Big Brother, and wait for Chad to come home from his trip! I haven't seen him in over three days, and I miss him so much! I hope you all have a fabulous Sunday! 

God bless! :)