Our Busy Weekend

This weekend seems to have gone by SO fast! Although the weekend isn't over yet and we still have today, I know today will be a busy day as well.

Friday I went out for a girls night with 7 of my girlfriends. We went to dinner and to see Dear John. The movie was SO good! The only downside was that the theater was completely packed and we weren't able to all sit together. But it was totally worth it. If you're considering seeing it, I would highly recommend it!

Saturday I drove to Cape Girardeau and had a late lunch with my parents and hung out with them for a while, came home and did some quick grocery shopping, and went to a church function in the evening when Quentin got off work. After church we headed to a local pizza restaurant with some of our friends and had some yummy pizza and a fun time hanging out.

Today, as you know is the Super Bowl. This does not excite me in the least, but some friends of ours are having a Super Bowl party at their house, so I will entertain myself with the girls while the guys watch the game. We're going to have some great food too- so it's a good thing I'm doing my long run this afternoon. haha We're bringing a queso dip with pulled chicken, which I found here. I hope it turns out good! It looks so yummy!

Thanks for reading! :)

Random Happenings

It's been a few days since I've blogged, mostly because I haven't done much this past week worth speaking of. A few random things I've been up to:

I started my guitar lessons a week ago and it's going pretty well I think. Obviously I am not playing songs or anything yet, but it's fun learning some chords and practicing moving my fingers around and finally getting the hang of it. My fingers definitely get sore, but nothing too horrible. I'm excited to learn some new stuff..hopefully my instructor will notice I've been practicing!

School is back in full swing, which makes it difficult for me to have material worth blogging about. haha I thought having just 3 classes would be so easy, but of course I'm in my last semester now, so the classes are only getting tougher. I have SO much reading to do. Blah.

The weather here is crazy right now! We woke up this morning to several inches of snow (not sure exactly how many). It put a little kink in my training plans, I had an 11 mile run planned today at Tunnel Hill, but looks like I'll be hopping on the treadmill. Boo! The roads aren't cleared enough for me to run outside and it's too deep to run through.


In other news, Quentin and I have been thinking really hard about where we might go after I graduate in May, and we're starting to feel like St. Louis might be the place for us to go. One important thing is that there is a church there that is part of the network of churches we currently go to, so I know we would have a good church to attend. Other things that lead us to St. Louis are a bigger job market, close to where my brother and sister-in-law will be living, and close enough to home that we could visit our friends and family easily. We'll see how things turn out, but right now we're really considering St. Louis as a definite possibility.

Thanks for reading!

Birthday Fun!

I had a fabulous birthday yesterday and was so happy to spend my day hanging out with my wonderful husband, my parents, and my closest friends.

Quentin got me the ring I've been wanting from Tiffany & Co. Sadly, apparently Tiffany's sizing is different from all other jewelry stores (I had my finger sized at TWO different places and they both told me 4.5). Well, in Tiffany sizing, I really need a 5.5. So, I have to send it back and have it re-sized. I hope it doesn't take too long because I love it and I want it back soon!


I had a great lunch with my parents. They got me a Wii Fit (on its way in the mail now) and some money for my birthday. After lunch, we took off to get our couples massage. O.M.G. I love massages. It was SO relaxing and I could have seriously slept the rest of the day after that.

I changed my mind and decided to go to Houlihan's for dinner. Mostly because I wanted that fabulous Snickers dessert. haha Hey- I had salad for dinner! The guest list included:
Myself
Quentin (hubby)
Natalie (BFF from high school)
Justin (friend from my days at Pier One)
Heather & daughters (I could say a million things about her-she is a great friend!)
Amanda and Mindy (friends of mine from school)


After dinner, a few of us went to the Blue Martin for a martini. I had a lemon drop and sex on the beach. Both were quite yummy!







Happy birthday to me! I am blessed.

Thanks for reading! :)

It's my birthday!

Yay! I have a fun day planned today for my birthday. SO glad that it fell on a Saturday because school just started again and that would just stink if I had to go to school on my birthday. haha

Today's agenda is:

12:00: Lunch with parents at Thai-D

2:00: Couples massage w/Quentin

7:00: Dinner at Fujiyama with friends

8:30: Drinks at the Blue Martin martini bar

Time to hop in the shower! I slept in and I don't want to be late for lunch!

Thanks for reading :)

p.s. I am 24. Gasp!

Introducing...

My new hobby!



I ordered my very first acoustic guitar a little over a week ago and I am so excited to start learning. I have probably never even picked up a guitar before, so when I say I am a beginner, I mean I don't even know what all the little accessories are that came with it outside of the picks and the tuner. I'm taking lessons from a coworker of mine who really knows his stuff, so I know I'm in good hands. My first official lesson will be this Sunday.

I don't know what exactly made me decide to start learning acoustic guitar. I guess I just love music and I've kind of always in the back of my mind wanted to learn it. I love the sound of an acoustic guitar and I guess I think it would be cool if I could make it sound beautiful too. We'll see.

Thanks for reading! :)

Goals..

Some of you might remember me writing about losing weight a few months ago, but lately I have just been STUCK at the same weight. Over the past two years, I've lost about a total of 45 lbs., but I've been within the same 2-3 pound weight range for almost a YEAR now! I can't seem to get under a certain weight (sorry, I'm not going to publish my weight on my blog haha). I am glad that I have been able to maintain my weight loss. Believe me, I was super nervous about losing all this weight and then gaining it back like so many people do. But I have pretty much completely changed my life, and I honestly don't think I could ever go back to being so inactive and unhealthy. Since I've lost the weight I've become a runner- something I thought I'd never do- yet something I can't imagine not doing now.

So, the point of this little blog is to give myself a kick in the rear and lose that last ten pounds that I know I could lose if I'd try a little harder. This weekend is my birthday, so I'm sure I'll be cheating a little as I'll be eating out a few times more than I normally do. But it's time to get serious! We're taking our annual trip to Florida March 7-13 and I am going to be ten pounds lighter by then. That's my goal. I'll try to do weekly updates on how I'm doing so I can hold myself to it. Feel free to leave me encouraging comments. haha I might need it!

Thanks for reading! :)

Back to school..

I can't believe tomorrow is the first day of my LAST semester of graduate school! Well, until I go back in a few years to pursue my Ph.D.- but that's going to be a while! I'm only taking three classes this semester, which is going to be a huge relief I hope. I'm used to taking 4 or 5 classes at a time, so I'm really happy to be taking only 3 during my last semester. This will hopefully give me the extra time I'll need to start...gasp...job hunting. I'm SUPER nervous about the job search, but I'm starting by praying about it and trying to figure out where God wants us to be, not where Austin wants us to be. :)

On another note, my birthday is this weekend! Yay! I have a fun-filled day planned. Lunch with my parents at a Thai restaurant, a couples massage after lunch, dinner at my favorite Japanese restaurant, and drinks at The Blue Martin. Sounds fun, right? Now I just have to find the perfect outfit...

If you're interested in my latest half marathon training progress, I just finished up my 9 mile long run yesterday, I have a 10 mile run planned for this weekend, and then I'll get to decline to 8 miles, followed by 6, and then my race! I LIVE for the decline part of my training programs. haha I'm running a local half on Feb. 13 with my dear friend Meghan who gave me the running bug a little over a year ago. After that, I'll be doing the Go! St. Louis half marathon on April 11. Should be fun!

Take a look at the beautiful trail that I do my long runs on. It's a little foggy in the picture, but I'll take another one next weekend. :)



Thanks for reading!