Treasure Hunting

I went yard selling today. One of the best treasures I found was this frame for my rooster picture.

I'm going to paint it and get a mat for it, but I'm so happy to finally find something.

My other option was to have a frame custom made and that. is. not. cheap! (this frame is almost 4 feet)

I'll post after pics when I'm finished!






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Test

I'm testing this from my new iphone 4! I switched to Verizon-which meant upgrade for me!

This is what I've been doing all week.....





They aren't mine, just keeping them for a friend.


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Bad Blogger

I have been such a bad blogger recently.  I was doing so good and then the tornado events happened and it seems like everything got crazy after that. 

But hopefully I'll get back in the swing of things shortly!

Just an Update

I mentioned our Easter Carnival and egg drop that we were having this weekend in my last post.  We were planning/hoping for 1,000 and ended up having between 5,000-6,000!

It was way more people than we ever anticipated but everything went great!

We dropped 15,000 eggs from the helicopter.

We also had 4 Easter Services and had 1,077 people there (we are a 7 month old church plant, so this is way more than we thought)!  God is good!

**Numbers aren't everything, but it does typically reflect the amount of lives that are being changed.

Weight Loss Challenge Week 3

I've done really well this week even though the scale didn't really show it as much.  I'm hoping it is going to all catch up at one time and I'll have a big number loss.  Also hoping I'm gaining muscle while losing some F.A.T.!

This week:  down 1.7lbs

Total:  -5lbs

A drug rep brought us these today......

The fact that they have been here for about 30 mins and I haven't indulged myself yet, is a big accomplishment in my opinion ;)  I don't think I will last much longer.

Tonight I am going to a simulcast for "Secret Church."  You can read more about it here.  It's at The Church of Brookhills here in Birmingham, but it has gotten so big that they are doing the simulcast so that more people can participate. 

This is an excerpt from the website. I thought it was pretty convicting.

"Right now, around the world, millions of Christ-followers are meeting in secret places, worshiping in hiding, practicing their faith behind closed doors. If exposed, they face prison, torture, even death. Yet their devotion to God and His Word are unwavering, even heroic. They are our brothers and sisters in Christ. We must learn to take our God as seriously as they do."

I'm really looking forward to it but also know that it lasts for up to 6 hours.  Usually it isn't over until midnight.  The fact that I'm even debating if I'll be able to make it until it's over shows how much I take for granted that I can openly learn and share God's word.

Tomorrow our church is hosting a FREE Easter Carnival.  I know some of you are from the Birmingham/Cullman area so I thought I would extend the invitation.  It's at the Cullman Fairgrounds.

I'll be there, but unfortunetly I've never met most of you so I will have no idea if you are there or not :)

This is an old ad, it is now at the fairgrounds and not Depot Park. 

Happy Easter!



Weight Loss Challenge Week 2

As of this morning, I have lost 3.3lbs this week.  Even though I would love for it to be more like 10lbs :)  I'm pretty excited about it. 

Especially since we had small group at my house this week and one of the girls left this......

 "Sugar cookie flavored ice cream with a big blue icing swirl and colored buttercream freckles."

My ultimate weakness= white birthday cake with icecream, so I knew I was in trouble with this.  I ended up having to melt the remaining ice cream in the sink.  That was hard because it is soooo good.

My goal has been to do some type of physical activity everyday this week. Monday and Thursdays are Bootcamp.  So I'm trying to add something on the other days. 
We recently got one of these.  It is actually a better work out than I thought it would be.

3 down, 17 more to go :/

As of about two days ago, it looks like I will be going here in November.

Weight Loss Challenge

So this is my second time to blog in the past week.... who I am right now??????  And I'm blogging from home.  I haven't blogged from home in forever!

This isn't a blog I really want to post but I decided to hook up with Maggie and some other people for what they are apparently calling the "Weight Loss Challenge." 

Never in a million years, if my life truly depended on it, will I post my real weight. NE-VER (I'm just not that brave).  But I will post how much poundage I lose.

Ugh, diets stink!  But bathing suit season is coming up.  It's only 8 weeks.  I can go hard core  (hard core may be a bit of an exaggeration.) for 8 weeks.  I already have the working out part (well sort of, I still need to add some more to that), now I just need to get serious about the dieting.  I would be much better if it wasn't for the drug reps at work bringing us lunch.  So I'm digging deep, looking for some major self control.  But if I had self control, I probably wouldn't need to diet in the first place :)  Self control and self discipline are two things I'm really trying to work on right now.

I started working on self discipline a few months ago, starting with being in bed by 10 every night.  It's currently 12:15am so I clearly have a ways to go on the self discipline.

I talked about losing weight here.  I want to lose 20lbs by the time this is over.  I think that it doable but it will be hard work.

I'm not sure how good I'll be at actually blogging about the "diet." But I'm really going to try and keep up with it so that I'll be accountable.

And why is it that when you are on a diet all you think about is food?

What I'm Loving....

I think everyone does these on Wednesdays, but let's just pretend I posted this two days ago.  I'm trying to fight against this blogging rut I'm in.

So here are a few things I'm currently loving:

.....I'm loving that it's almost time for lake weather! 

Karley and I last year on July 4th

.....I'm loving that my friend asked me to come to the beach and do her hair and make-up for her wedding.  It's a very small wedding so only family will be there.  I'm also going to do something on the beach for them decor wise.  It won't be anything big, but just something to add for pictures.

This is my inspiration

.....I'm loving this book I recently started.  In my opinion its pretty deep, or maybe I'm just slow :)  Either way, it makes you think.  I am reading it pretty slow because I feel like I have to do a lot of processing.  Maybe its not the book that is so hard to grasp, but actually applying what your reading to your life. 

It talks about joyful thanksgiving, which seems like such an easy concept, but actually is much more challenging than I was expecting.

My only complaint is her writing is very poetic and I can't decide how I feel about it.

And another update....... I'm LOVING this.......



It has been going great!  I have made it every week without missing a class.  My only problem is it's only two days a week so I've got to do something else at least 2 more days.  And the cold weather we have had recently has been less than inspiring.  I'm pretty over it and ready for summer.

......I'm loving Dancing with the Stars this season!  I wasn't excited about the cast at first but now I'm loving them!  I watch way too much reality t.v. though and need to prioritze. 

....I'm loving Twitter right now!  I check it way too much!  When I first started twitter a few years ago, I thought it was the dumbest thing ever.  And now I'm a little obsessed.  I follow way too many celebrities though.  It's embarrassing.  But apparently not embarrassing enough to stop.  I've seriously considered having two accounts simply because I feel that people like Beth Moore, John Piper, David Platt, etc should not be surround by words from every reality star there is, all of the Kardashions, and the Bronx Zoo cobra.

......And the last thing on my list is Google Reader.  I love it!  I may not be blogging as much, but I'm definitely still reading way too many blogs.  I recently introduced Maggie to it and she loves it too!  It makes reading blogs so much easier.  The only problem is that I never comment anymore because it's not really set up for that.

Writers Block

So everytime I sit down to write a new post, I just get a huge writers block and nothing comes out.  Once I do write something, I end up erasing it. 

I'm going to try again later today though!

Today is the day!

Bootcamp starts today!  This is how I feel about it.....

Apparently we have to do a shuttle run?!?!  Didn't I do that in elementary school?  I practiced last night, so we will see how it goes. 

Want to know what I'm dreading the most about bootcamp?  (Ok, maybe not the most, but it's pretty high on the list-and the list is pretty long!)  Sometimes they post pics on the official "Bodyshock Bootcamp"  facebook page to promote bootcamp.   I'm pretty sure a picture of me during class isn't what they need to get more people to attend. 

I honestly don't think it's going to be as bad as it is in my head, but I want to expect the worst so that I might be a little relieved when I get there and it isn't some kind of new torture technique they might consider using in prison.

These are the ladies that will be attending with me:

Jecca and Kourtney

Cristi (This is a pic of her and her husband-which she likes to call him her "Italian Stallion."  Haha!  She's going to kill me!)

and April

I have a lot of fun with these girls, and I'm hoping I don't get the giggles during class!

And here are some pics of my weekend....

Friday night a few girls got together and went to dinner and then came back over to our house for cupcakes and a movie.

Maggie brought these.  It's reasons like this I need bootcamp in the first place.  So thank you Maggie :)

We also built a fire in our fire pit.  It was a very last minute decision so all we had for fire wood was our Christmas tree that is still sitting behind our house and a phonebook.  Not really the best idea I've ever had.  We had a big flame but there was so much smoke you really couldn't get near the fire.  My plan was to sit by the fire, drink coffee, and eat our cupcakes.  Unfortunetly, between the smoke and the fact that I just can't figure out how to make good coffee, that didn't really happen.

We gave it a good attempt

I saw a cute wreath on another blog that I really liked.  I tweeked it a little and here is the finished project.

Hope everyone is having a Happy Monday!  I actually look forward to Mondays now because I really enjoy starting a new week.

Superficial Post

This may be a post that not many people really care about, but I know I've talked to some of you about make-up in the past so I thought I would just share.

I've recently made the switch to bareMinerals make-up.  And by recently, I mean last weekend.  Several friends wear it so I thought I would give it a try.  For the past year I have been wearing M.A.C.-which I love, but I was ready for something new.

Incase any of you are considering it, here are my thoughts so far:

1.  It is way better coverage than I thought it would be.

2.  It last longer than I thought it would. (As far as staying on all day)

3. It takes several days to get used to.  At first I didn't think I was going to like it, but I'm starting to become a fan.

4.  I'm curious how often I will have to buy it.  I don't think it's going to last as long as my other make-up has in the past.

5.  I LOVE the bronzer that comes in the starter kit. 

So that's all I have so far.  Let me know how you feel about it if you've tried it or if you have any other make-up suggestions.

I will say that I have heard it may be unsafe???  Apparently it's bad for you because you inhale the particals or something like that.  I'm hoping it's not as bad as it sounds!

Finding a Routine

So I signed up for this yesterday:

I'm really nervous!  I have two friends, Cristi and Jecca, that encouraged me to do it with them.  We went and ran/walked last night.  (It's pretty sad when you have to get in shape in order to 'get in shape.')  I haven't ran in so long.  I did a little better than I thought I would, but no where near what I had been doing when I was training this time last year.  Running is NOT like riding a bike!  You don't just pick up where you left off!  Dang!  And I wish I was a natural runner that made it looked effortless.  But I'm pretty sure my face and my body scream, "This isn't easy!"

My friend Maggie has been doing it (bootcamp) for a while and she looks amazing!  So she's my current inspiration.....no pressure Maggie!

Something else I've realized is how crucial it is to be getting enough sleep.  I am a night person.  I don't always mean to be, but it seems that midnight gets here faster than I realize. So my new goal is to be in the bed by 10 on week nights.  This is going to be a HUGE challenge for me.  I think the first thing that is going to help is putting the iPhone down!  (Did I tell y'all I finally got the iPhone?)  I waste so much time on that thing!  But I was in bed at 10 last night.  I slept terrible, but that was due to the fact that I was on call for work.

I struggle with this a little, because I'm 26 and single and a blessing I have is not being on a strict schedule.  So I feel like I should be staying up late and doing random fun things while I still can.  But I have a real job that just doesn't let me be as random as I once was.  But I guess that's just part of growing up????

My little sister is hoping to have a job with Student Life this summer.  I found myself a little jealous of her wishing I could go back to those care free days where summer vacation is an actual reality and not just a past memory.

And just for fun, here are some recent pictures.  All are from my phone because apparently I don't believe in using a real camera anymore.  Or actually being in any pictures I take.

These are some cookies I made for my friend's baby shower.  It was my first attempt with royal icing.  There's a shadow, but it's an owl incase you can't tell.

These are the cupcakes.  They were so yummy! (White cake with white icing is my ultimate weakness!)

 Last night after we walked, we sat around the fire pit.  It was such a gorgeous night!

 And this is from our Valentine's Party.  We just got several girls together and had a "party" at a local Mexican resturant.  It was actually super fun!

Now I have to get back to work.  This has been my motto recently......

Happy Monday!

P.S.  We had 520 (I think that was it) at church yesterday!

Still Here

I'm still here.  Just not a whole lot going on that I find blog worthy. 

Random note, I started taking vitamins this week.  I'm hoping they will give me more energy.  I'm lacking motivation to work out and I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I feel exhausted all the time.  Which is because work is crazy busy right now.

If anyone has any other suggestions, I'm open to hearing about them. 

And just because I have nothing else to blog about, here are some random pictures that never made the blog.  I just closed my eyes and chose these, so they really are random.

My friend Cristi and I At Mallory's Lingerie Shower

Side note:  10 years ago, if anyone would have ever told me she and I would have been friends now, I would not have ever believed them.  There are so many people like this in my life now.

Does anyone else have friends like that?

Me and Karley when the Osborn's were here in July.  The picture here is my inspiration for the rooster picture in my house.  Karley painted it for me after seeing this one.  It's in a few post back.

These were my eyelashes I wore for Halloween this year.

Mal and I at the Alabama Theater.  They play Christmas movies here during the holidays.  Mal had never seen 'White Christmas.'



That's all I have for now!

Bored at work

I'm currently sitting at work waiting on 4:30 to get here (I have 2 hrs 9 mins to go).  It has been such a long day, and I didn't even get here until 11! 

When I leave here I'm meeting a friend to go to "Body Pump" class.  The new year has inspired the typical weight loss/get in shape plan.  Over the last year and a half,  I have lost a total of 30lbs. Which is crazy to me.... 1) Because I can't believe I needed to lose that much weight 2) I just can't believe I actually did it. 

I'm hoping to lose another 30 this year.  And by this year I mean before the summer ;)  Or at least 20 by the time summer gets here!  I want to start running again, but its so cold outside and cold weather is not very motivating.  So for now I'm going to get in the habit of taking the indoor fitness classes. 

Usually starting a new year isn't that big of a deal for me, but this year I have found myself more excited than usual.  Excited may not be the right word, but I am definitely anticipating what 2011 holds more than I have any other year in a while.  There are three areas in my life that I'm really choosing to focus on:

1.  My spiritual life/walk with the Lord.
     -  I have been on an interesting "Spiritual Journey" over the past 6 years.  A journey that has definitely been different than the one I would have chosen for myself.  I'm sure I'm not the only one that can say that.  I'm at a place now where the only way I know how to really describe it, is I am ready to go deeper with the Lord.  You know the feeling you have when you start a new relationship?  Where you are really excited about what's to come?  That's where I am right now.  I have no idea what's coming, but I feel like I'm ready. 

2.  Finances
    -I have seen a lot of people who feel like the Lord is moving them to do something, but finances seem to stand in the way one way or another.  I know with God all things are possible, but I also know for me personally there are things I need to be doing/taking care of now so that I am doing my part. 

3.  Getting in shape
     -I've pretty much said all I'm going to say about this already in this post.  But I'm more motivated than I have been in a long time.

One other area I'm working on is what I'm doing with my time.  I'm the worst ever at volunteering to do things that I really have no desire to do.  I stress myself out over things that aren't important to me.  I know that sounds selfish, but the problem is I do things that other people enjoy doing or simply because I think there isn't anyone else to do it.  But because I'm doing them, those people aren't.  And in order to focus on these other 3 things, I need to evaluate what I'm doing with my time.  So I'm definitely learning to say no to a lot of things.  Or more importantly learning to keep my mouth shut and my hand down when asked to volunteer for something.  And I'm learning that down time is ok.  I don't have to constantly be on the go. 

So that's just a little about why I'm looking forward to 2011.
And just for fun, here is a picture from 10 years ago.....
I'm on the front row, 2nd from the right.

Tonight we start our new small group, which I just remembered I'm supposed to be taking a dessert to!  P.S.  It's these kind of things that makes losing weight not very easy!  Looks like it's probably going to be raw cookie dough to bake when I get there.  I'm sure the ladies won't mind!

Happy Monday!

I'm getting old!

You know you're getting older when these are your favorite Christmas

gifts :(

But this vacuum is awesome!  Especially for hardwood floors.

So one thing I have figured out recently is that furniture is expensive!  And when it comes to decorating, I want everything done immediately.  I don't like waiting. 

So when I found out I would be moving, my cousin and I began making a list of things that we would need.  I bought a couch from my friends that lived in our house before us.  They were wanting something different and I loved the couch so I just bought it from them.  Lucky for me it was in great condition!

This is the couch.  I just got the picture from Ashley Furnitures website.

As soon as I knew we were moving, I began looking for furniture at yard sales and thrift stores (I call it "treasure hunting." And I LOVE treasure hunting!)

This was my first find.  I actually found 3 of them.  They came out of an old church that was close to our house.  They were not much to look at but the guy sold me 3 of them for $10. 

Before

After

I basically just sanded and painted two of them and they are now in our foyer.  The walls in there are a chocolate brown.  I'll put pictures of that up later.

For my next find I knew I wanted a buffet for our dining room.  I found this one at a yard sale and negotiated with the man so I got it for $30.  I was pretty impressed with myself.  Especially since my negotiating skills are lacking!

Before

After

(It's a terrible picture but I painted it a smokey gray color and the hardware is white.  I love it!  Except that the drawers get stuck, any suggestions on how to fix that?  They stick from the paint.  The picture is thanks to Karley.  I saw it in a resturant here in B'ham and she did a replica for me.  I'm having a frame made for it.  The size is not standard so I couldn't buy one.  The lamp is from a yard sale but has since been moved and replaced and the red candle sticks are from the thrift store.)

I got this chair from my granddad's storage buildings.  The same place I got this.  So it was free.

After

(I know it's bold, but I loved this fabric!)

This is a table we put in the kitchen.  There isn't a lot of room so it needed to be something small.  My cousin had this so she painted it and recovered the chair.  She also made a valence to hang on the window.

Before

After

There is another chair but it wasn't finished at the time I took the picture.

 So that's all for now.  There are still several things to show you, so hopefully I'll have those up soon!