Endings and New Beginnings

It's funny that this time of year brings about so many thoughts of goals and achievements.  Something about the holidays makes me all nostalgic, then I tend to get caught up in the whirlwind of the New Year.

Do I set specific goals/resolutions...Vision Boards look cool...

So, been thinking about it...and that's as far as I've gotten.

I know that I want to do more writing, I feel a need for a productive outlet.  Hopefully that means learning more about blogging and I really want it to mean more writing articles for money.  I mean, let's just be honest!

So, today will be a day of reflection and maybe some goal setting.  I'm acknowledging that I need to do 'something' because after all I am up at 4am (on a Saturday) because my mind is in a state of over-processing!

2011 has been great...bring it on 2012!

Proud Parenting Moment

In one week, my daughter brought home an invitation to the National Jr. Beta Club and an invitation to be tested for the gifted program at school.

Awesome moment, right?!  To know that riding her tail to do well in school may pay off and that she is being recognized for her achievements.

Very proud parenting moment!

Congratulations Brianna!

Catching Up

Well, no posts lately.  That means I've missed Thanksgiving all the way to Brianna's Birthday!

Going through my pictures, I realized I also have a couple of yummy recipes to post as well!

Thanksgiving (11/24/11) went well.  Usual crowd, usual food...good times! 

We will let this shot be the memory:

Friday (11/25/11) leftovers and online shopping...how great is that?!  Then the kids had a sleepover!

Saturday (11/26/11) evening we took the kids to Lights of the South with the Coopers.  This happened, you can't make this stuff up:

Later that night we had a bonfire and stayed up too late!  Fun times!

We also managed to get this accomplished:

So, fast forward to the next weekend...

Saturday (12/03/11):

And:

So, now this past weekend was Brianna's 11th (can you believe that) birthday.

Cupcakes at school on Friday:

Birthday party and cake on Saturday:

Then on Sunday (her actual birthday) we went to lunch and a movie.

Okay, I'm all caught up now!





Monday

I saw a quote/statement today that I loved!

Everyday is a gift...Mondays are a gag gift!  So appropriate.

Especially today.

I'm supposed to be off for 9 consecutive days, but guess what?!  I'm at work...vacation interrupted by a Monday of all days.

Ugh!

It is currently 8:10 and my class should have started at 8am, and guess what?!  No instructor to be found...great!

It's definitely Monday!

Catching Up

It's already Thursday.  It's amazing that the week can be almost over, but drag by all at the same time.  Don't ask me to explain that one!

I miss my previous weekend!

I took some time for me :)  Now, granted, nothing went according to plan...but that did not surprise me!

Saturday morning I left for Atlanta.  I had plans to go here:



...which I did, and finally bought some of this:

And

I also bought a copy of this book:

Which I had actually forgotten about until this moment.  So, needless to say I haven't started reading it yet!

For lunch, I made a trip here:

And had the summer rolls, sushi rolls, and crispy dumplings pictured below:

My intent was to attend a RAW foods cooking class being offered at this same location, but that didn't happen.  The class was canceled.

So, I did a little shopping and got a pedicure :)

I stayed the night close to the airport.  One to get out of the city center, and two I just like the planes in the night sky.  I stayed at the Renaissance Hotel:

The view was fabulous, picture doesn't do it justice.  I was on the 10th floor and left the full window open the whole time I was there:

Sunday, I relaxed (since nothing opened until after lunch) and then went to the mall for more shopping.  Left empty handed and drove home!

So, not much accomplished, but only had to look out for me :)

Ever had something on your mind...

...that you don't understand or know how to express...

I had one of those moments, and it was exactly about what is in this post!

No coincidence, simply amazing!

New Powers Await You

This post is fabulous!

You must read this!

Crap In, Crap Out

Must share for Johnny Depp Fans!

For all you Johnny Depp fans...Cely at Running off the Reese's has him on todays edition of:

Magnificent Men of Monday

Your welcome!

Happy Halloween!!

It's hard to believe that today is actually Halloween!  I'm Halloween'd out!  (although I'm sure that's not a word?!)

The kids dressed up on Friday to go to school as that is when they did all of their Halloween activities.  Guess they wanted a 'normal' week this week?!  Who knows?

Friday night both the kids went to a Halloween party at a friends house.  Apparently parents were invited too, but I did not read the invitation like that...oops!  So, David and I ran errands and went out to eat :)

Saturday morning Brianna had a fall festival at the girl scout camp...I dropped off a 'dark angel' and came back with Cindy Lou Who dressed as a dark angel...lol!

While she was at the fall festival, I rode out to watch the Region AAA Drama Competition at Cross Creek High and cheer on Harlem!  The show was great, and I had a nice time.

The boys went 'hunting'.  They didn't see anything, and this is the only photo proof...so, you decide!

Brianna has had this 'pumpkin project' since Wednesday that is just about to drive me insane!  She took a basket to school on Wednesday so that she could get her 'baby pumpkin' to take care of.  I'm thinking no big deal...well, we had to deal with this until today!  Not only did she get a baby pumpkin, but she actually got twins, thanks teachers!  So, Jack and Jill have been going everywhere with us...like I said, driving me insane!
Here they are Saturday night:

It's Friday...

...thank goodness!  It's just been one of those weeks...

Not that my weekend will be relaxing.  The kids have a Halloween party tonight (must make blood/bones for them to take) and Brianna has a Fall Festival tomorrow (must make cookies). 

I think David and Bryson are going hunting in the morning, and I'm going to go watch Harlem Drama compete in their Region AAA competition.  Hmmm...I don't even know what play they are doing this year?!  Oops!

On a random note, I thought everyone knew what Angry Birds was?!  Come on, even my grandpa plays!  Well, a kid at karate had this shirt on last night:

The karate teacher asked if it was Woody Woodpecker?!  What?!  He had to ask me what Angry Birds was!  He's only 23!  I told him he needed a new phone...lol!  Then later he was asking the kids to stretch their 'Go Go Gadget' arms...really Mr. Hobbs?!  These kids don't know who Inspector Gadget is!  Hilarious!

On a positive note, I have kept up with my eating.  Something raw at every meal.  It's been an EFFORT, let me tell ya!  I feel good though :)

Yesterday was a success...

I'm not bragging, doing this one day at a time!

I did have something fresh/raw with every meal!

Success!

Here's to today...

Questions:

Do you set mini-goals?

Do you wait til you've 'mastered' one before moving on?

No motivation

I'm in a funk...I have no motivation!

My eating has been crappy, and I still haven't started exercising regularly as I intended to.

Work is still crazy...

No one else is gonna worry about ME, so why am I not worried about ME?!

It's crazy, I know!

I watched Forks over Knives yesterday, and that was a fantastic reminder of why a plant-based diet is the way to go.

I started watching it while the kids were outside playing with Papa, but it was still playing when they came home so this sparked a lot of questions from Brianna.  She is really struggling with decision-making.  I'm trying to play the neutral card and/or devil's advocate because I want whatever decision that she makes to be hers, and I will support that decision.

To get back on the path to better eating (remember Vegan isn't always healthy) I'm going to eat 'something raw' at every meal.  I don't care whether this is fruit and/or vegetables...just something raw/natural.

I'll get back on track...

Questions:

1.  What do you do when you are lacking motivation? 

2.  Do you have some motivational quotes that you like?

iPhone Panic

So, I've been meaning to put all of my music on one computer for a while so that I could dump everything into the laptop.  I managed to start this process the other night by burning a DVD of all the music off my desktop computer.  Last night, I decided I would load all of that on my laptop then sync my iTunes to my phone.  No problem!

For those of y'all that don't have an iPhone, the sync has to be done prior to any phone updates.  I got all my music and was so excited.

All of my iPhone updates have been no big deal, so I decided (at 11pm) last night to go ahead and download and install the updates.  The countdown began, and it was gonna take an hour...so I left it going and went to bed.

I 'thought' I had set an alarm to wake me up about an hour later to check on it, but I either slept through it or just didn't do it?!

At 3am I woke up on my own and went to check on it.

PANIC!!

My entire phone was re-set and NOTHING was on it?!  I think I stopped breathing!

So, as calmly as I could in my groggy state, I decided that a re-store should work, and I had just synced everything so all should be well.

Well, I went back to sleep and when I got up this morning, I had to work this dang thing like a brand new phone.  Set-up and everything!  This was more than just an update, I think it loaded a whole new operating system on the dang thing!

Panic aside, all of MY info and pictures are still there, so I guess I'm good.

I need a new manual though because this phone is now crazy different!

All this for my music...sanity must occur!

Fabulous Weekend!

To sum it up, this weekend was fabulous!  Fun-filled and stress free :)

Got up Saturday morning so that I could get my hair done.  It was time to get rid of the blonde highlights.

The kids got to play with the neighbors granddaughter, Emma.  She was happy because I let her drive the golf cart by herself.

She crashed into a tree after this, so the driving lesson was officially over!  LOL!

Then we met Joy and Julia at Steed's for some fun at the Corn Maze.

Then the rest of the crew showed up...David met us there and brought Lizzie and Emma then Brooke, Mike, and Carole showed up.



Julia, Bryson, and Lizzie waiting on zip line.

Lizzie

Bryson

Julia

Kids on jumping pillow.

Finally got them to stay still!
Bryson, Lizzie, Julia, Brianna, and Emma

Carole and I chatting...we look so innocent ;)

After this we went and ate Mexican food.   Mike and Carole backed out of this adventure, but the rest of us had a good time.

Sunday the kids convinced me to take them back.  They wanted to go so bad they paid their own way in, so who was I to tell them no...

Lizzie, Brianna, Emma, and Bryson

Lizzie and Brianna buried Bryson in the corn!

Hated to see the weekend end!







A Duck on the Run: Banjees Wrist Wallet Review and Giveaway!

A Duck on the Run: Banjees Wrist Wallet Review and Giveaway!: Yup, time for another giveaway! The awesome people over at Sprigs sent me some Banjee wrist wallets to test out. Banjees are a nifty alte...

Fall Fun

October starts such a busy time of year.  Fall activities and Halloween are on the way!

Last night I took the kids to pick out their costumes:

Here's what Bryson picked (I think this makes some type of Ninja 3 years in a row):

Here's what Brianna picked:

At least they get to where them more than once.  They have a Halloween party and then actual Halloween.

Saturday we are going to Steed's Dairy to play and go through the Corn Maze. 

My niece's birthday party is next weekend at Gymnastic's Gold, then the next weekend is a Halloween Party for the kids, Fall Carnival for Girl Scouts, and of course Monday is Halloween!

Then it's on to the Holidays!

Accountability = FAIL!!

So, posting my goals did nothing in the accountability department!

I have gotten a lot of compliments lately about weight loss, and have continually tracked...so, to make it simple I thought I would post it here.  Look for new tab at the top of blog!

Thanks~~

Still working toward my goals....

2011 Article 6--Sunrays

Sunrays

2011 Article 5--End of Summer Time

End of Summer Time

Whiny Wednesday

Today has been aggravating...

No particular reason, just whiny!  Everyone whining about FB changes especially...

It's just been a blah Wednesday for me, and I have to look forward to W1D2 when I get home.  Yay! [sarcasm]

I need to write a few articles before the end of the month, and today is already the 21st?!  Yikes!

I've been a pro with the procrastination again, and have really enjoyed playing with various photo apps on my phone.  Yeah, I know...I'm not writing an article about that!

I think it may be hard to tell, but the pictures on the right are mosaic style made up of other pictures of mine.  So neat!

Then there's this one where I put my favorite sun ray pictures together...beautiful...

Just thought I'd share!  This way you're procrastinating with me...LOL!!



I survived day one!

So yesterday, I put my goals 'out there'.  I don't normally do this, and it's totally out of my comfort zone, so we will see if this whole accountability thing really works!

I weighed in yesterday, and that number had gone up a tad...ugh!  Not being in an active competition tends to do that, but a new one starts Friday, and I have some Thanksgiving goals anyway!  Coffee is going to be my biggest enemy...it's so delish this time of year!

I had to make a run to Wal-Mart, and I so wanted to use that as an excuse and skip the exercise...I was so tired.  Here was my inspiring sunset picture:

So, here are my results from yesterday:




I used a cool app on my phone named 'Get Running' that has the Couch to 5k program built in and it works with my music!  Awesome!

28:33 minutes of exercise

1.687 miles done

I wanted to NOT do it, but ya gotta start somewhere!

So, good job for me on a Monday!

Happy Tuesday y'all!