Tag, I’m It!

I was tagged by Carolyn to do this little “survey”…I did a similar survey in April (here’s the post), so some of this may be duplicated.

Ten years ago I was…
1) loving life as a sophomore at Palm Beach Atlantic University;
2) skipping class in favor of the the beach;
3) getting ready to celebrate my 20th birthday (don’t do the math…that makes me almost 30!); 
4) not realizing how good I had it while in college;
5) learning how right my parents were all the time and beginning to understand and appreciate their wisdom.

Five things on my to-do list:
1) BSF Lesson;
2) Investigate opportunities on elance.com;
3) Get school portfolio up to date;
4) Read;
5) Blog.

Five snacks I enjoy:
1) frivolous ones;
2) chocolate;
3) chocolate;
4) chocolate;
5) chocolate.

Five things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1) give lots away;
2) pay off family debts;
3) save;
4) who am i kidding?!!?  SHOP, of course;
5) travel…lots…with people i love.

Five places I have lived:
1) Gainesville, FL;
2) Sanford, FL;
3) Lake Mary, FL;
4) West Palm Beach, FL;
5) London, England (UK)

Five jobs I’ve had:
1) LimitedToo;
2) Disney;
3) Blockbuster;
4) Target;
5) Christ Fellowship

Now, five of you jokers with blogs are supposed to do this…comment back!

Thankful

Are you sick of these posts yet? I’m not…it’s a good perspective shifter for me.

Tuesday-On Tuesday, I broke out my new workout DVD, and I was thankful for the satisfying feeling of sweating from a decent workout. I need to do more of it. I makes me feel so much better. I need a routine. I need a personal trainer.

Monday-I’ve said this one before, but honest to goodness, I am thankful for Bible Study Fellowship. I’m hoping that once I move, I can convince my sister to go with me, and we can take Paul to join the kids group!

Sunday-On Sunday I was able to participate in the one year celebration of Heritage Community Church. HCC was started by my youth pastor and his wife (Sidney and Meredith Brock). [Sidenote: can I still call him my youth pastor when I'm almost 30?!?!!] My sister and her family have attended HCC since its first service. As I sat with my entire family at the service, I was thankful of the legacy of faith that has been left for me. My parents are incredible examples of Christ followers, and part of that is due to the influence of their parents and grandparents. Sid and Meredith have also been examples of faith to me throughout my life. I can still remember him explaining to me why he had to leave our church during my senior year of high school to go pastor at another church in another town. Understanding his faith and trust in God then, has been an ongoing example to me at different times in my life. I could give even more examples of faith-filled lives from other family members and close friends. I pray that my sister, brother-in-law and I can carry on the legacy of faith that has been laid before us and lived out in front of us for our entire lives. I pray that our lives influence my nephew (and any other kids that God chooses to bless our family with) to know and follow hard after a God that loves him and knows what’s best for him. I am thankful for a firm foundation and legacy of faith in my life.

Saturday-I love cooking and enjoying food with friends. On Saturday morning, I was thankful for a fun, big breakfast with friends–old and new. I made pancakes, my sous chef made eggs and Matt made bacon. Kasey was the trusty dish washer/kitchen cleaner upper and new friend, Brooks, came to enjoy a mid-morning meal with us. It was a great time.

Friday-On Friday, as I sat on the Ainsley’s back porch eating a scrumptious dinner prepared by my sous chef, I was thankful for new seasons of life. Seasons of life, such as the one I’m embarking on, are exciting, scary, consuming, tiresome, fun and new. But, they are also an incredible opportunity to increase your faith in God. I’m not a fan of change, as anyone who knows me well knows very well, but I am a fan of being a part of what God wants to do in and through me. So for reasons like these, I am thankful for new seasons of life. [Disclaimer: this is partially written as a reminder I'm sure I'll need to read in a couple of weeks.]

Ixnay on the Sweetsnay

Beginning Tuesday, I have decided not to eat sweets or drink soda until my friend Katie’s 30th Birthday. She is five days older than me and we decided that we both wanted to lose a little weight and get in shape before our birthdays. The drinking soda part shouldn’t be too difficult for me because I seldom partake in Cokes and the like. However, if you know anything about me, you know that most days do not end without me eating something sweet. I just have to. This will be hard, but knowing that Katie and Kathleen are doing it too should help to keep me motivated. Here’s hoping!

Summer in South Florida…Hot? Of course not.

Today is Melanie’s 31st birthday. In honor of my love for my friend and her love of chocolate I made a triple chocolate chip cake last night. My sous chef and ace of cakes, Chad, was so kind as to place the beautiful decorations on top.

Here’s a picture of the oh so very cute cake last night:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And…here’s a picture of it after LITERALLY ten minutes in my car before work. I did my best to salvage it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Think it’s hot today, anyone? I’m so sad about her cake.

One of Many Reasons to Love the Beach House

Mimi and Pops First Visit to Paulie’s New “House”

Five a Day

So, today I decided a couple of things. If you know me at all, you would know that for as long as I can remember, I have been able to eat whatever I wanted and not worry much about weight, etc. In fact, I didn’t weigh more than 100 pounds until after I went to college. Recently I’ve noticed that my jeans aren’t fitting quite like I would prefer them to. I have decided to blame it on the fact that I am almost 30, and therefore my metabolism is beginning to slow down. Of course, I’m sure it doesn’t help that I haven’t been as active in the last couple of months…and I’ve been doing a lot of weekend baking (probably to compensate for feeling sad about Kasey leaving).

Anyway…all that to say, here’s what I’ve decided:

1. I will do my best to drink 64 ounces of water per day.
2. I will do my best to eat 5-7 servings of fruits or vegetables per day.
3. I will do my best to work in 5 cardio sessions of 30 minutes or more per week.
4. I will do my best to do 2 days of weights per week.
5. I will do my best to get more consistent with 1 frivolous snack per day.

I don’t really have any rhyme or reason to my idea. I just kind of made it up and have decided that it will help me feel better about myself. I guess we’ll see how it goes.

Today, I got in 1 banana serving + 2 lima bean servings + 1 carrot serving + 2 potato servings = 6!

And, for the rest of the week, I decided to get a head start and portion out some fruits so that I will hopefully be more likely to get the 5-7 servings in each day. And, I got some juices so that I can get at least 1 serving in that way if I want/need to.

Well…let’s see how it goes. For now, I’m off to bake these cupcakes. Does that count as a frivolous snack?!

Just Like Old Times

I promised Kasey that after her visit this past weekend, I would write a blog about her. I also told her it must include a picture. For that, I must steal one from my friend Kathleen.  So…here we go…a blog for Kasey. I hope I don’t cry.

As most of you reading this probably know, just a matter of a few months ago, Kasey and I were on our way to a common law marriage (well, not really, but it was our own little joke). We were perfect (most of the time) roommates for more than six years. If you’re doing math, we started living together when we were 18…so, yes, that makes us each 24. (Ok, ok…yet another joke…gosh I’m funny…I think I’m trying to be light hearted so that I don’t cry.)

Seriously, we had a great little arrangement…

Somewhere along the way it just worked itself out that I cooked and Kasey cleaned.

We had therapy sessions on our couches and braved hurricanes on the same comfortable pieces of leather.

We threw parties like nobody’s business and always had waaaaay too much food.

We knew the best and worst about each other and we learned to live with it.

Basically, we learned a lot about friendship, family and relationships. I think her husband (and mine if he ever finds me) is forever indebted to me (and to Kasey in the other case) for all the priceless marriage preparation.

Back to a more serious note…you probably know that Matt and Kasey moved to Orlando shortly after their wedding. We all knew it was God’s best for them and exactly where He needed them to be. Even still, I don’t think any of us were prepared for how hard it could possibly be. A little more than a week ago, nearly 2 months after their move, it hit me that Kasey wasn’t just gone for the weekend. My realization contributed to a bad, emotional night. The next day I found out that Kasey also had a bad night. That made me feel better…not that she was sad, but that we were both sad together and that we could understand each other.

I knew Kasey would be coming to visit this past weekend (which happened to be four days after our breakdowns) and I looked forward to it so very much. We had a weekend just like old times. Kasey came on Thursday and after I got home from class we played a little Rock Band, stayed up late and then had a little sleepover. On Friday, I took a half day off of work and we hit the pool before celebrating Dawn’s upcoming wedding at her shower. Saturday morning was great. We slept in and then I made pancakes at Kasey’s request. Later that day she had to leave to head back to Orlando, but we reminded ourselves that she’d be back in less than a week to celebrate her birthday!

In the past couple of weeks, I have grown increasingly appreciative of my friendship with Kasey. She knows me so well and I value the investments we’ve made in each other. God has blessed both of us tremendously.

Something I’m Not Good At…

…and therefore don’t like very much…

Waiting.

Never have been good at it. Never have liked it.

(except this year I’m ok with waiting til my birthday since I’ll be turning the big 3-0…gosh I’m old)

But also refuse to settle for less than God’s best in any area of my life.

It’s kind of a strange dichotomy.

Thoughts?

Back in the Land of Blog

Ok…here I am…I am back. I know you people are so excited. Even if you’re not, humor me!

This past weekend entailed lots of moving and not so much time for blogging, but life is getting back to “normal” (whatever that is), I think.

So, I’ve got quite a list of things I want to blog about but first things first…the highly anticipated reunion that we have all been waiting for…NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK!

I heard a couple of months ago that this was going to happen, but I was pleasantly surprised last week when my Dad sent me an article online which contained a link to their website, which contained a new picture! I have to say…Joey’s still the cutest!

Cute then:

And, cute now. I can’t get the “now” picture to work for some reason. Anyhow…I’m not really sure what this reunion will mean for the pop world, but I guess we’ll all watch and see together.

Ultimately, this news gives me hope for an ‘NSync reunion!

Who’s your favorite New Kid? Who else would you like to see reunite?

Cinco Things

This is not on my list of things to blog about in the previous post, but Katie’s wish is my command…

What was I doing 10 years ago (spring of 1998): 1) finally adjusting to life at Palm Beach Atlantic and deciding it was ok to stay for three more years; 2) skipping class in favor of the the beach; 3) I think I also had a babysitting job that I wasn’t crazy about, but I felt really bad for the little girl’s situation so I stayed 4) not realizing how good I had it while in college (hello real world, 10 years later); 5) learning how right my parents were all the time and beginning to understand and appreciate their wisdom.

Five things on my to-do list: 1) see previous blog post; 2) beg itunes to let me redownload my music after my hard drive crashed; 3) unpack, unpack some more, settle in; 4) homework; 5) pay the balance of my school bill

Five snacks I enjoy: 1) frivolous ones; 2) chocolate; 3) chocolate; 4) chocolate; 5) chocolate

Five things I would do if I were a billionaire: 1) give lots away; 2) pay off family debts; 3) save; 4) who am i kidding?!!?  SHOP, of course; 5) travel…lots…with people i love

Five of my bad habits: 1) not exercising enough; 2) getting annoyed when people don’t meet whatever expectations i made up for them in my head; 3) i’m on the computer way too much; 4) my mom would say that i pour a glass of whatever i want to drink and then don’t drink it all and then she has to pick it up afer me; 5) not putting away clean clothes…i HATE doing that

Five places I have lived: 1) Gainesville, FL; 2) Sanford, FL; 3) Lake Mary, FL; 4) West Palm Beach, FL; 5) London, England (UK)

Five jobs I’ve had: 1) LimitedToo; 2) Disney; 3) Blockbuster; 4) Target; 5) Christ Fellowship

Now, five of you jokers with blogs are supposed to do this…comment back!