grace

life is a classroom. and we are both students and teachers. each day is a test. and each day we receive a passing or a failing grade in one particular subject: grace.

grace is compassion, gratitude, surrender, faith, happiness, good manners, reverence and the list goes on.

It's something money cannot buy and credentials rarely produce. being the smartest, the prettiest, the most blessed, the richest or even the poorest cannot help. being a humble person can, and being a helpful person can guide you through your days with grace and gratitude.

GREAT Expectations

so i am starting to figure out that there is a whole heckuva lot that goes into planning what the aisle is going to look like when I walk down it come August. Flower petals? white chairs? benches? knee deep white-rose petals? of course ;) ahhHHHH

and i thought that was stressful?

drew and i have started our pre-marital classes. we meet once a week for 10 weeks.

i literally have never been so stressed out in my entire life. i think we have fought more in the last 14 days then we have in the last 5 years :)

now. i was not gonna be that naive little girl who thought that marriage was a fairy-tale ended and after I was a Mrs. life would just be PErFeCt and all my problems would disappear.

so when we got to the chapter titled "Great Expectations," I took a deep breath and just KNEW we were going to nail it. Answers matching, easy discussions. bam. bam. bam. :)

so yes. of course when you read these statements, you think WELL, DUH. I am a modern-day, well educated woman with my own life and of COURSE I will not fall victim to these common myths. psshhh. who do you think I am?

umm. even DESPITE my willing myself to scream FALSE next to every single statement, I had no idea that my heart was trying to tell me that wait just a second. I DO have expectations that need to be addressed :)

first, I wanted to give you a little glimpse of some of our homework questions. We answer them SEPARATELY first, then go over them with our significant others.

So yes. you have some homework. answer these random questions. not on what you think your man wants, or what you think you SHOULD want or how you SHOULD answer, but go through these couple questions and answer :)

for instance? at first i thought, "what a STUPID question. who cares?"
then we discussed it... ;)

so go ahead. answer these...

no big deal right? piece of cake. so i thought too... ;)

Whatcha Weigh Monday?!

so this week, I decided to follow Matthew McConaghey's advice. He says the secret to his fit (I think "fit" is an understatement) body is that he sweats at least once a day. ok. i can handle that. so I didn't even need to do long strenuous workouts and depress myself by spending multiple hours at the gym.

This week I made the conscious effort to just MOVE more. Plain and simple. If I didn't have time to go to the gym, I would just lace up my running shoes, and go on a short little two mile jaunt around the neighborhood. i think the key is consistency, not such a big focus on quantity.

so did it work this week?

dun dun dun...........

-2.2 pounds

:)

this involves Superbowl eating (chili is lots of protein people) dinner and dessert with friends annndd my lovely lemonade drinks. :)

i was so happy i could have hugged my weight watchers lady when she said, "you go girl!" and told me my week's progress :) i think she was also just happy to talk to someone because she said I was the first person to come weigh-in that morning. It was 9AM and she had been there since 7:30AM. :( hehe.

TIP OF THE WEEK:

get a shake weight. :)

well. yeah. annnnddddd...

try to break a sweat each day :) whether it's cleaning your room (okay, a few days ago I was organizing the top of my closet and seriously I started to sweat from climbing up and down the little stool every other minute.)

now. go run over and manually CHANGE the channel on the TV, who needs a remote anyways? :)

4 Things to a Happy Weekend

"there is nothing that a good run and a good night's sleep cannot fix."
i have to agree with this quote. a 60 degree February Saturday morning run with this scene and a sleepover down in Seattle at K's apartment with this awesome air mattress bed setup? happiness :)


but after this weekend, there are two more things I want to add to this list.

~a good friend (or friendS)

~a good drink


seriously though. some pink lemonade flavored vodka with some Talking Rain Lemon/Lime sparkling water (ZERO calories) and a lime? my current obsession.

so i had a good run so I could enjoy my indulgences, got together with my AMAZING friends, where we ate and talked and enjoyed some of these good drinks. my weekend is setting up a great night's sleep tonight. :)

yes. a good night sleep TONIGHT because that air mattress sleepover at K's wasn't exactly a good night's sleep.... Why? because we stayed up soooooooo late :) like I remember after we broke some wine glasses I looked at my phone and was in COMPLETE shock that the calendar had changed to the next date. yep. I was up past midnight.

in fact, I JUST got a text that said,

"I have not stayed up until 2:30AM in like 10 years?! Haha are you tired? Sorry we stayed up late! Have a good day tomorrow!"

that text message sums up this weekend perfectly. a healthy life, good friends, GOOD DRINKS (which aided in to the 3AM bedtime) and tonight. a good night's sleep :)

try those 4 things and then get back to me :) I bet you can't help but smile.

Bring it on, Monday :)

:)

So I read the paper every single morning. yep, like an old person. while that means I do know the weather forecast and winning lotto numbers, I also know really random things. like I read the jail report section, the high school sports section and the CONTEST section... :)

So I knew I just HAD to enter our engagement story into the Bellingham Herald's Valentine's day "What's YOUR engagement story?" Contest.

I mean, for goodness sake. I pulled my diamond ring out of a PUMPKIN :) D deserves some kudos for that one.

wanna vote for us? :)

just click here
http://bellinghamherald.upickem.net/engine/Votes.aspx?PageType=VOTING&contestid=49887

and then we are the SECOND STORY OVER (the first in the right hand column)
just click the little circle that says"vote," then type the letters you see at the top of the page (ya know, like the security checker thing :)

you rock :) for voting on my rock :) and the awesome way it got on my pudgy little finger :)

we almost made it to Friday! woohoooo ;)

hopeless but hopeful

i am soooo sick of pulling my camera out of my purse when I see something I HAVE to take a picture of. I get the camera going, and take the picture. THE STUPID THING IS TURNED AROUND SO IT TAKES A PICTURE OF MY FACE. like the time I SWEAR I saw reese witherspoon at Subway (ended up with a picture of my forehead) or when I was trying to take a picture of what I thought could be mold on my BRAND NEW deli meat. I got this lovely face. (yes, this is my focused face.) I literally have like 20 pictures currently on my phone of myself, when I think I am taking a picture of something in front of me.

Remember how I wanted to cook dinner for my family one night a week?

well i found an awesome recipe in my Cooking Light magazine for Enchilada Cassarole and jalapeno refried black beans.

i went to the store and got allll the ingredients. (30 dollars later...)

I even splurged and got the extra nice hamburger meat :) it was like 8 flipping dollars.

so i was like okay. everyone will be home Wednesday night. i'll make it then. get home from work, walk in the door and say, "umm MOM, I WAS MAKING DINNER TONIGHT!! WHY DID YOU MAKE TERIYAKI CHICKEN?"

she forgot i was going to cook. fine. whatever.

next night, I decide to try again. I am getting the ingredients out and realize I can't find the hamburger. NOT in the freezer, not in the fridge... hmm...

you guys. i left it in my car. IN MY CAR. for like three days. vomit. and it was LIKE EIGHT DOLLARS! :)

so needless to say, I haven't made dinner yet for the fam. not off to a great start :)

Drew and I started our pre-marital class last week. We walk into the place, and there is a big ole cat waiting at the doorstep. drew is allergic to cats. like can't breathe. :)

The guy from the other couple is going to be a male nurse. that is great, but i think we may struggle finding things the boys have in common :)

I have kind of switched jobs. My last day at my old office was so sad. :( they threw me a party and all got together and got drew and I aprons because they know I love to bake so much :) so sweet. :) I will take a picture of us in our matching aprons soon. ;) i know you can't wait. Today was the first day at the "new" place, and I can't believe how God is just opening up my naive little eyes wider and wider and wider everyday.

twice this week (yes and it's only Wednesday) I was having a little emotional bride-to-be/busy at work/ HATE THE COLD RAINY NIGHTS/miss my friends/miss my old co-workers/miss my sister moment. during the first tearfest, i had JUST hung up the phone with my mom where I had called her crying saying, "MOMMMMMMMYYYYY, WHAT IF I DON'T GO TO HEAVEEEENNNN?" (I'm been weird lately. I am kinda obsessed with obituaries and think about death alot. not in a morbid way, just i think about it alot.???) anyways. RIGHT then. Kailee called me. it was PERFECT. she always makes me feel not so crazy :)

then today, I was going off about these CRAZY!!!! (watch Dateline tonight, anyone?) things that are happening at work and I was just getting so IRRITATED when I saw the little facetime symbol pop up on my phone. It was baby Evy and her momma!!!!!! AHHHH. I had never facetimed anyone before, and yes, i am late to the party, but IT IS SO FREAKING COOL! :) and those beautiful ladies are just so good for my soul. and baby E took a STEP today :)

enough of my emotional rant. i had a rough week, but each time I was feeling hopeless, I got a HUGE boost of hope :) life is good. ;)