Nashville: A Trip to Remember

I got to spend an entire weekend in Nashville with two of my greatest friends! I am still coming off of a weekend-high. A quick weekend getaway is exactly what I needed with some of my ladies!

Angie and I met up and drove down together on Friday, and the time change worked in our advantage as we got to Nashville around 9:30! The three of us spent entirely too much time hugging and catching up, but Lyndsie made sure we made it to Cookout to get some shakes...um, SO delish!!

We actually hit the sheets pretty early, because we knew we wanted to get an early start to our day Saturday - which we did! We woke up and got ready together, which took us all back to college. It was awesome. We headed to downtown Franklin and hit up some of the cutest local boutiques. I snagged some new sunglasses because my eyes were dying, we headed to Frothy Monkey to try the famous fruit tea, and traipsed around eyeing everything.

After a couple hours we got hungry so we waited entirely too long for the town's best chicken - Hattie B's. We took it to go and went to a local lookout called Love Circle and had ourselves a little picnic.

We headed to another strip of stores and I finally got to meet some of Lyndsie's Nashville friends! We, of course, stopped for ice cream at Jeni's!

I had way too much appreciation for this mischief.

We headed back to Lyndsie's to watch episode 1 of Fuller House. None of us were expecting much because we all heard it was so terrible.  Ummm. We kind of loved it. Sure, it was cheesy, but so were the originals! I also loved that it was taped infront of a live audience, so the reactions/laughter was totally real.

We dolled up for a fun night out and surprised Angie with a mini early-bday celebration! She's halfway to 50!!!!

We may or may not have also enjoyed Sprinkles where we had a late night cupcake-fest!

After this we headed to a dueling piano event and it was kind of the coolest thing ever. I expected something totally different than what it was - but it was amazing. The pianist played/sang a TON of 90's songs, and my girls and I had way too much fun dancing the night away singing some of our favorite classics!

We didn't get to bed until about 2AM, but we still woke up for an early breakfast - to make sure we maximized our time together. Lyndsie slaved away in the kitchen making chocolate chip pancakes, eggs and fresh fruit! Is their little dining area not the cutest thing you've ever seen!?!

Goodbyes are always dumb, so we made them quick, and promised it wouldn't be so long until we all can get together. I am so lucky to have these gals in my life! Thanks for hosting us, Lynds!!! It was a blast and a half.

Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend! I'm feeling refreshed and ready to tackle this week! I hope you are, too!

Friday Favorites: The End of February!

TGIF, y'all, and yes, I'm allowed to say y'all today because I'm visiting my bestie in Nashville this weekend!!!! My friend Angie is picking me up after work and we're heading down there together! I am so excited to squeeze them both, and can't wait to see Lyndsie's home and even though I've been to her city a few times, its never been while she's been a RESIDENT! So it feels new to me! I've been so lucky lately to spend so much time with friends and family... I love all this free time!

I also love Amanda's blog and all the varieties of posts that she always has, but one of my favorite posts is her Friday Favorite's post! I love checking out everyone's posts and finding new workouts, new music and new blogs! So, I thought I'd finally link up, since its been a while!

Insert random photo to cover my disgusting greasy hair but since it says "SALTY DOG" it gets me excited for our upcoming vacation... only 20 something weeks... but who's counting?!

FAVORITE SONG
This is on repeat in my car right now. It brings me so much peace, and these ladies sound BEAUTIFUL together! Caleb and I are considering going to see Bethel Music when they are in town and I hope we land on the decision: YES YES YES!

FAVORITE RECIPE
I made this last night and while it didn't look exactly like the photo, we nearly ate every single piece of that chicken!!! So tasty.

FAVORITE WORKOUT
Although running has been my main priority this week, I've really loved whipping out my new kettle bell weights and trying these moves...full link here

FAVORITE MOMENT
When Caleb moved the entire couch away from the wall and sat it directly in front of our TV so we could cuddle while we watched our movie without kinking our necks... he's funny... but adorable.

FAVORITE MOVIE
The Intern. I really can't get enough of it!! Have you seen it yet?!?!

FAVORITE WISH
...I don't think that's even a thing? BUT anyway! I want to wish one of my favorite ladies - Becca - a HAPPY HAPPY birthday!!!!!! Throwing it back to SIX years ago! What?!?!

I am so ready for it to be 5. I am ready for a weekend of fun with some of my favorite gals! Why is it that time always seems to FLY when you're doing awesome stuff? I'd be fine if from the moment we get there, time slowed down for a bit! :) hope you all have an AWESOME weekend planned!! Have fun!

Week-long goal

I used to have these weekly goal posts every now and again that focused on ONE particular goal for one week only. I'd wake up on Monday morning and walk downstairs and Caleb would've come up with some new goal for us to maintain from that Monday to the next Monday. It was such a fun challenge to do together, and we both love a good competition. Some weeks it was something health-conscious like "no eating out", and other times it was something more fun like "watch a movie every night".

I decided that while I LOVE my monthly/yearly goals, sometimes I forget what they even were unless I check in...so on top of those, I may start this back up in our household. For myself though, this week I set a simple goal for myself for the work-week: to get over 10K steps a day.

Sure, I kind of stole the idea from my Fitbit, but hey, it works. So far? So good. I normally averaged about 5-6K steps a day before this week, if that, and it just bummed me out! Now that we're back to running, its a much easier goal to reach. I'm getting about 11K a day this week. These small goals give me such a sense of accomplishment when I need it most.

It might be silly, yet I can't help but do a happy dance when my wrist buzzes and congratulates me on my step goal...it's so fun!

Another goal of mine was to begin running this week and so far so good, I've done it everyday since Sunday. I'm really proud of that because last night? We got poured on. But afterwards, I kind of felt like a boss. Even though we (only) ran 2 miles and stopped like 3 times to rest. We're still making progress, and that's what matters!

Consider making smaller, more obtainable goals in March. Like a few month long goals, or week-long ones with a partner! It's fun to be a little competitive!

Half Marathon, here I come {progress report}!

Sunday afternoon I ran. I FINALLY ran. It's been a LONG time, and now I remember how much I like to run, and why I like it so much (you know, when my legs don't feel like they are going to fall off). While my feet pace along the sidewalk, I don't think about the troubles of my day or the worries I have about the future. I feel optimistic about the stressful days we may have ahead, and that makes me want to run even more.

Caleb is the one who convinced me to get out there Sunday afternoon, and he went with me. I'm surprised he even convinced me, I just ate a big lunch and dropped Becky off at the airport, so I kind of just wanted to flop on the couch. BUT! We both knew we had to start training. Oh thats right, we've officially decided to run the Flying Pig Half Marathon again!! 

We're planning to run tonight after work, which will mark 4 days in a row now! I haven't felt this great in a long time. When I went to the Doctors last week, and saw the scale, it wasn't a great feeling. Trust me, I don't define myself by the number I see on that scale, but it was quite the wake up call that I cannot continue being lazy. Seriously, the only things that fit comfortably anymore are my socks.

Something about running just makes me feel more productive. When I try to be better in one aspect of my life, the rest just kind of flows more naturally. Just like when I read my Bible in the mornings. When I spend time with The Lord first thing, I just have a better perspective on the rest of my day. I'm happier, more optimistic and want to take better care of myself.

Last night, we spent our evening rushing around from running outside, to a church meeting, then to  go grocery shopping. We didn't make it home until nearly 9, but having good food that'll keep us on track throughout the week has become a priority to us.

We now have a little under 10 weeks until our half marathon, so I've got a long way to go! BUT! I'm dedicated to really training this time. I think it'll be great motivation for me and be something fun for Caleb and I to do together again.

How's your week going?

A highly anticipated visit!

Becky booked her tickets months ago to come visit and the day had finally arrived; Erin and I were picking her up from the airport! I was so excited.  I hadn't squeezed her in almost TWO years! It's amazing to me to think about the genuine friendships that have been born from blogging, and I'm so thankful for them!

So many new memories were made and we just had the best time this weekend going wherever the wind took us.

We ate way too much. Between pizza, donuts, mexican food, and skyline...

watching too much hilarious stand up comedy, New Girl and Friends re-runs...

...talking about everything between old movies, high school, and family!

I'm thankful for Becky and the fun we had this weekend! I can't wait for our next visit! She told Caleb all about the old history spots and we basically want to plan a visit yesterday. ;)

Sunday, once I got home from the airport, Caleb somehow convinced me to go for our "first run". It was honestly the last thing I wanted to do, but once it was over...I was pumped! Sounds cheesy, but for those twenty minutes I didn't think anything but happy thoughts. It's the reason I hit the pavement again yesterday and did a little bit better than Sunday. I'm excited to see how I improve over the next few weeks! Happy Tuesday, friends!

Deets of my week.

It's Friday and I'm so thankful! Some days of this week flew by, but most took forever. Thankful for silly emails with friends, super hot tea, and snapchat filters that are insanely pointless but most of the time, crazy comical.

I've been stalking Etsy all week looking at adorable aunt/uncle onesies for our FIRST NEPHEW! The struggle of being a first-time Aunt is real, guys...and by "a struggle" I mean I don't know how my bank account is going to survive! ;) juuust kidding. Kind of.

link

Earlier in the week, we had dinner with my Aunt & Uncle. She made homemade sweet and sour chicken and OH my word. The recipe was perfection! So you know I plan to post about that soon! She was so cute and had an entire Chinese meal planned. Almond butter cookies, fortune cookies, fried rice, the works!! I love my family!

I've never had more soup and tea any other time in my life than I have this week. Panera for the win!

Becky gets in town tonight!!!!!! I am so stinking excited I can hardly stand it!! We're grabbing dinner tonight and going wherever the wind takes us the whole weekend. Hope you have some fun planned, as well! :)

Suck & sweet: volume 2

Stealing this fun idea from the adorable Shelley! 
Suck: Nearly passing out yesterday at my Doctors appointment. I had to get some routine blood work done (which has never happened) and within a few seconds of blood being drawn, I got crazy lightheaded, my ears began ringing, I couldn't see anything but black splotches and I turned insanely clammy. The nurse informed me (before my hearing went out) that she thinks I might pass out, oh great. Luckily I didn't, but those next 5 to 6 minutes were torture. I chugged that can of Sierra Mist like nobodies business.
Sweet: the hearty breakfast I treated myself to post-blood drawing.

Suck: That it's only Wednesday.

Sweet: BECKY IS COMING TO TOWN IN TWO DAYS!!! We have lots of fun plans but also lots of room for spontaneity!! Can't wait to squeeze her again! 

Suck: that we're not caught up on The Walking Dead and I'm basically avoiding Facebook like the plague...

Sweet: but its the best show ever and its back, baby!!!

Suck: being so tired from not getting enough sleep

Sweet: not getting enough sleep because your husband made you laugh so hard by hiding your glasses and making jokes about your lack of good vision. He's a keeper ;)

Suck: having so many books in your house you don't know which one to start next

Sweet: having a husband who loves to read alongside you. We read for almost 90 minutes last night(before dinner, even!!)

Suck: forgetting your fitbit at home

Sweet: not having anything on my wrist for once is kinda nice

Suck: that Caleb passed off some of his germs to me and I'm left with a sore throat

Sweet: that I'm poppin Zicam like its my job and making fresh tea every hour to beat this!

Suck: being lame and not making homemade meatballs for your low-carb recipe

Sweet: finding out your local supermarket has Italian (pre-cooked) meatballs for crazy cheap

Suck: getting emails from Shutterfly that make me want to buy everything

Sweet: finally narrowing down wedding photos for albums and a canvas (or three)!

Hope everyone is having a fun week! Happy hump day!

V day: Round 7

It was pretty crazy when I realized this was mine and Caleb's SEVENTH Valentines Day together! We, as usual, kept it pretty low key. No fancy evening was planned, and not a lot of money was spent...which is truly the way we like it.

Let me back up, our entire weekend was "just how we liked it". I mean, it couldn't have been more perfect. Not ONE thing we had to do at a certain time, no one we had to meet, it was just awesome. Whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. Typically most weekends that are free still have a few (even small) obligations. This one? Different story. We were thrilled!

We started the night off after work on Friday by ordering a pizza...and that was totally unplanned. If you know me, you know I love my pizza. So when Caleb was upstairs and we hadn't yet figured out dinner plans, you could say I was pretty happy to receive this smooth text while sitting on the couch...

Saturday we got ready early and headed to our local libraries used book sale. We scored quite a few awesome deals and even ran into Erin & Jared! We decided to meet back up later for games! Before that, we scored our free chipotle (and when we got there, ended up scoring 3 more free coupons...heck yes) and had ourselves a little day date.

Hilton Head-opoly!

Caleb and I decided on no gifts this year, but of course, my man didn't listen. His gift made me cry...so darn sweet. He framed a couple of his favorite wedding photos of us in an adorable frame with a bible verse about love. He is the best!!!

Sunday Caleb took me to a couple flea markets and we found some old vintage cameras (enter all the heart eye emojis). We had a gift card for dinner so we headed there and yes, we made it through the snow storm! We honestly had no idea it was going to be that bad out, so we're thankful we made it home safely. We passed a huge accident about every 5 minutes!

Once we got home, I decided to make some Red Velvet puppy chow and it. was. delicious!!!

I plan to post the recipe at some point, it was so tasty! The ingredients I bought could've probably tripled the recipe, but I'm thankful I didn't because I seriously would've finished it off! ;)

This weekend was seriously perfect. No real plans, but so much stinkin fun with my man! I hope everyone had a great weekend, too!

Dear things...

Dear Friday, I'm so thankful you're here. Caleb and I have lots of fun planned for this weekend! Possibly a used book sale, a cheap matinee and a fun lunch date?! Yes please!!

Dear hair, I think I'm finally learning to curl you the right way?!

Dear Caleb, I hope you feel better soon. Poor guy, he's been sick all week. Pass on some good vibes so he feels better soon and we can enjoy our free weekend to the fullest!

Dear meal planning, you're making me feel accomplished. I'm really getting used to cooking and enjoying it a lot! My favorite thing is hearing Caleb tell me how amazing dinner is - yay!

Dear Blake Lively, why aren't we best friends?! Come on...

Dear bible study, you're really challenging me! You're making me pick apart verses and unpack them for what they really are and learning to apply them to my life! This is different than any "devotional" that I've done in the past. The context is more educational-style, but I'm loving it! For those of you interested, I'm reading this!

Dear Chipotle, thanks for your #raincheck promotion this week. Since they shut down on Monday during regular business hours, you could text them and they'd send a free meal coupon! I was afraid it was a scam, but I'm glad I took the chance! So we know where we'll be tomorrow!!

Dear donuts in the break room, go away. I'm trying to be good.

Dear lunch packing, you've been fun. I'm loving my nighttime routine now. Sure, it takes me 10+ minutes sometimes, but if I don't take the time to prep, I realize I will fail in the healthy eating department.

Dear friends, enjoy your fun weekend! Caleb and I have V-day evening plans to stay in, and I'm pretty pumped about it!

Contemplating another race...

Oh how proud I am of these few numbers on this little piece of paper!

Flash back to May, 2013. Erin picked me up and we headed Downtown to go see our husbands finish their first half marathon. Erin and I still laugh when we think about how rough we were looking that morning, but it really didn't matter, we were going to see our men cross that finish line and celebrate! That's what mattered!

We kind of got a little emotional watching them accomplish this huge victory and crossing that finish line! It was then that I decided that I wanted to have a moment like that one day. So the next year, we all geared up and decided to do it together. It.was.freaking.brutal.y'all!! BUT it's one of my favorite memories with our foursome and we loved it (even if I was slower than a group of turtles running through peanut butter)...

...it was slow, it was painful, but this beautiful medal and my sense of accomplishment made it ALL worth it!!

I had never experienced pain like I did those 72 hours after that first race It was really bad that entire evening following, so I basically grabbed everything from our freezer and covered my legs with them. In that moment I pretty much decided I'd never run again....

...so what's the only logical thing to do? Convince yourself it was worth it and run it again the next year! ;) I even cut over an hour off my time!

But the recovery from my second half was much worse, as I didn't train properly. My body just wasn't ready to go from practically nothing to running uphill for 7 miles straight. It was brutal and I could hardly walk for 3 weeks. So much so that I thought maybe I tore something. Luckily, it all felt normal again soon...but I convinced myself there was no way I'd ever run that particular race again. I even questioned if running was "for me". Since then, I haven't gotten as into running as I used to be. I think I started putting too much stress on myself that the thought of running just kind of annoyed me. The comparison game was another issue "I'm not fast enough", blah blah blah.

BUT!

I was so silly to think like that.

Running is for ANYONE who can get off the couch and make themselves endure it. Running is for anyone who puts one foot in front of the other, no matter how slow!

So...now I think I want to run the race again. 

I'm all over the place, I know. I think i'm going to take this week and really pray about the decision. I think it would be fun to run my third half marathon alongside my husband, again! I think it would be a fun challenge to beat my last race time and set a few goals for myself throughout the training process. PLUS it would be a fun excuse to whip out my favorite workout pants! ;)

What about you guys? Any fun exercise goals this year? Any races on your calendars?!

Mostly productive weekend!

Friday evening was the perfect date-night in. I made spaghetti and meatballs and then we popped a ton of popcorn for all the movies we were about to watch!

Saturday, we woke up earlier and I got a tough workout in (I also finished with a 90's video called "8 minute abs" - ouch). Caleb had to leave to help his Dad with some things, so I took it upon myself to basically finish all of our laundry (seriously, it never ends) and organize our bedroom. For a few days there, you could hardly see the floor. It was giving me serious anxiety (and a few stubbed toes).

After a few hours of cleaning (I also scrubbed that kitchen - woo!), I cleaned up and we got ready for one of our favorite little girls birthday parties! If you recall, last month, she was in the hospital with pneumonia, so her original party got cancelled...so this was finally her day to celebrate! She makes me so darn happy I can't stand it!

Sunday we heard an INCREDIBLE message from our pastor at church. Then went over to Erin and Jared's for a day full of Disney games (#nevergrowup), KFC, and football. To be honest? My favorite part of that Superbowl was Bruno Mars. I love that man, and am reminded how badly I want to see him in concert! The game as a whole was kind of sloppy, and hard to watch! But overall, I'm ready for a break from football. My who-dey heart is still a little broken!

Did I mention the 4 of us nearly finished this bowl of "crack dip"?!! 

All in all it was an awesome weekend. Caleb and I are definitely NOT taking this free time for granted. This coming weekend we've also got NO obligations and are so looking forward to it! I hope everyone found some fun to get into! :)

Happy Weekend!!

I'm so thankful that its Friday. Caleb and I finally get to enjoy a weekend doing whatever the heck we want. It may sound crazy, but for us, those just don't come around that often. I'm so excited to get home tonight and figure out what the heck we'll do. Probably get crazy and begin a new Disney puzzle.... ;)

Obviously, Friday is reason enough to be happy. However, I also got the chance to go to Ruby Tuesdays with our receptionist. She's the sweetest...always so positive, optimistic, and genuine. So I grabbed her for lunch one day and realized how much she needed it. Her Dad was recently diagnosed with aggressive pancreatic cancer and they've given him less than 6 months to live. I hate that she's going through this, but I'd like to think that for even a few moments, she wasn't thinking about all the darkness in her world.

I've been utilizing the other perks of Amazon Prime, other than just the free shipping! If you don't have the Amazon Prime music app - you need it NOW! I came across a ton of Colbie Caillat and I forgot how much I used to love her. I've got a pretty killer playlist going!

My sweet Greta also picked me up with HER OWN CAR this week. She's like a little sister to me, and I'm thankful to be able to make these fun memories with her. She offered to take me to Starbucks one night, so of course, I obliged.

Last night I spent an hour watching another free webinar. I'm pretty much in love with Katelyn James and every image she's ever taken, so gaining insight for FREE from her is an opportunity I can't pass up. I really can't get enough!

We also took a stab at cauliflower pizza last night and totally transformed a Pinterest recipe from pepperoni to buffalo chicken! We really did love it. I have to be honest, it didn't satisfy that "pizza" craving, but it DID taste amazing. But man, I miss carbs. 

Hope everyone has a lot of fun for the weekend planned, or a lot of relaxing, which is just as awesome in my book. Happy Friday!!