Wednesday, June 29, 2011

What I'm Loving Wednesday!


1) I am loving the fact that after tomorrow I will have a whole month to relax and get ready for my first year of teaching!
2) I have found a few little DIY projects I want to do before school starts, none of them are difficult or time consuming. This is one I plan on doing-- jewelry holder made from picture frames. You can buy cheap frames and decorate them by just painting them, with cute fabric, decorative paper, or simply leave them as is. This project is as simple or elaborate as you choose to make it. I will be starting this one as soon as I move in my apartment this weekend!

3) I am moving this weekend! I will be moving in with my dear friend and sorority sister Kristen. I cannot wait to get all moved in and settled. The best part is, the apartments I am moving to have a pool, which works out great for my month off. I plan on finally getting a tan!
4) Smoothies! I have been making a smoothie for breakfast almost every day before work. I love, love, love fruit and smoothies I was just lacking a blender. However, thanks to my dearest boyfriend, I have a blender and have been able to have quite a delicious breakfast.
5) A week from Friday, I will be in Nashville visiting my 3 best friends. We have been close since high school and I am so glad we are still close after all these years. Once graduated from HS, Michelle and Chelsea went to UT Knox (unfortunately for them) and Lindsay went to Mississippi St. After they graduated they all ended up in Nashville, just at different times. Michelle was the first to officially move there, followed by Chels soon after, and then Lindsay who just moved in a couple of months ago! It'll be nice to get out of Memphis and see my girls for a couple of days. EVEN BETTER-- I will also be venturing to see my beautiful friend Olivia who lives in Nashville as well. Should be a pretty wonderful weekend!

What are you loving today??

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Make that 4...

     I cannot believe I forgot about this when I posted yesterday! I have actually read 4 books in the last few days! I read the ones I posted yesterday and I also read Water for Elephants I absolutely adored this book, I couldn't put it down. In fact, it started getting on David's nerves a little - guess I wasn't paying enough attention to the little princess haha.

     The Help is taking a little more time for me to read because I am trying to get my desk cleaned out since my last day of work is Thursday :( I have also been working on backing-up and cleaning off my laptop in preparation for my wonderful friend Whitney since she will be purchasing my lovely MacBook Pro in a few weeks. And lastly, I have been preparing for my move this weekend! Life is a little hectic right now, but I hope it slows down here soon so I can relax and really get on reading this book!

Monday, June 27, 2011

Recent Reads

     Thanks to work being slow slower than usual, I have had some extra time on my hands to start reading. I love reading but I just haven't had the time to do a lot of it the last year or so. With that being said, I pretty much read 3 books in 3 days and am now onto my 4th! Here are the 3 I read last week:


1) Eat, Pray, Love -- I didn't actually read this entire book in a day. I started this book last fall, but with all of the school work I was having to do with student teaching, I just never got around to finishing it until now. I thought it was pretty a pretty good book overall. Not a favorite, but had some good parts throughout-- a little to drawn out for me at times though.

2) The Art of Racing in the Rain -- LOVED this book. It is the first book I purchased through iBooks and read on my phone (which made my desire for an iPad even greater!) I literally read this book in a single afternoon. There were parts I did not care much for, but as a whole I really enjoyed it. Made me love my Maddog even more :)

3)Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea -- This is the 2nd Chelsea Handler book I have read and I can honestly say I have enjoyed them both. They are books that you can easily read on the side while reading a more in-depth book. Filled with short stories and adventures of her life, I found myself getting quite a few good laughs in while reading it.

Now for the book I am starting today:


The Help -- I have heard numerous people talk about this book and how much they enjoyed it so I figured it was a good choice for my next read - especially since they are going to be coming out with a movie in August! I am really looking forward to this read and hope it is as good as everyone says it is. I am 1 ch in with 33 to go :)

Anyone have any other good book suggestions? Send them my way, I am up for trying anything!

Friday, June 24, 2011

Eye Catching Goodies

     During my last couple of weeks at work, I have had plenty of time to surf the web, read, and get certain parts of my life organized. The fact that we have ample down time in the good ole Fogelman basement has lead to me online "window" shop. I am having to leave my job 2 weeks earlier than expected due to budget cuts, so I am having to watch my spending much more closely since I will have ZERO income for the next month and a half. I have been good. Only browsing, no purchasing. However, I have started a list of things I have either just come across and thought were cute as well as things I plan to purchase/do in the near future. Figured I would put them here as a sort of reminder to and share with others.

Q&A Journal from Anthropology: This is a different take on a journal. I heard about it from my dear friend, Whitney. Instead of being a blank journal, each day has a question/prompt for you to answer each day over a 5 year span. It allows you to write a short and to the point answer and then reflect and see how your views/life has changed as each year passes.



Wire Wrapped "love" necklace from Etsy.com: This website has everything, I could be on it for days! Came across this necklace and really liked it. It is simple but I could definitely see myself wearing it. Best part is that is only $15!
Also from etsy.com: Thought this was a beautiful. I love that sea green color! This would be great to wear with most anything. I love rings even though I don't have many!

iPad 2: This is something I absolutely plan on buying this fall. I am selling my current MacBook Pro since I get one through Shelby County so I figured I would get an iPad as my personal computer. Can't wait to get this gadget!
Polaroid 300 Instant Camera: I have been eyeing this bad boy since a little before Christmas. I love taking pictures, and I think it would be neat to have this updated instant film camera to use for more spontaneous moments. I have always loved the look of those instant pictures and now that I can take them myself, it is even better! Can't wait to get this!

Bridesmaids Cards from Etsy.com: One of the blogs I follow wrote about these. This girl recently got engaged and while trying to figure out how she wanted to ask her bridesmaids to be in her wedding, she came across these unique handmade cards. I thought these were so cute, they could be used for various things but that was just the one way I read about.

 



Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Scrumptious Treat :)

     For those of you who may not know this, I love to cook! I love to try new things and cook for people. I follow a really wonderful blog, Skinny Recipes -  I have found around 20 recipes for various things in this blog and the best part is, they all lean toward the healthier end of the spectrum. Each recipe includes some of the nutrition facts as well, which I find to be beneficial.  I have yet to try a lot of the ones I have picked out simply because I am kind of between homes right now and just haven't had the space and materials to do so, but I plan to start once I move in July! Thought I would share this blog for anyone else who has a love for cooking and experimenting with new recipes. Check out the latest post, I will definitely be trying this in the very near future! How delicious!!





Anyone have any good cooking, baking, recipe blogs they follow??

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Insanity

     Good morning, blogworld! I don't have much to update at this time, but figured I'd post a little something anyway.  If you know me, you know I am not a lazy person, however, I just don't like going to the gym and it is as simple as that. I really struggle to find the motivation to get up, drive to the gym, all so I can just run/elliptical/bike or a little of all 3. I get so unbelievably bored that time is just crawling by and I am miserable. I have tried everything, listening to music, reading, watching a movie or show on my phone... NOTHING helped. So I recently decided to ditch the gym membership and try something different. I got online and purchased Insanity. For those of you who have never heard of this, it is made by the same company that does p90x, but it is a more cardio-based workout that uses no weights and solely works you using your own body weight. Also, instead of promising incredible results in 90 days, it is a 60 day program.
     With that being said, I am not looking to be some lean, mean, ripped machine-- I am simply looking to get in better shape and lose a little bit of weight. I chose this workout over p90 because I want to get in shape by the time school starts, which is conveniently in about 60 days (from when I started). I have been an athlete my whole life, I played softball growing and then played other sports on and off non-competitively. I always liked being outside running around doing anything, but once I got to college I didn't really do that anymore. So it was time for a change, and boy oh boy has Insanity brought just that.
     I am on week 2 day 3, and I am addicted. It is a workout that I dread doing when I wake up every morning because I know it is going to kick my butt, but I also look forward to it because I can already see improvement in my endurance, flexibility, etc and it has only been 8 days!! I look at this program as a challenge. You start the whole thing off doing a fitness test and record your results. This test consists of 8 workouts in which you have 1 minute to do as many of that exercise as you can. You get about a minute rest between each exercise and do this until you get through them all. The great part about this is you repeat this fitness test every 2 weeks to track your progress. I can tell you without a doubt that I will be improving my numbers from my first week and I can't wait. I think that is my drive and motivation behind this program... it pushes me and makes me want to be better. No matter how in shape you are, this workout will ALWAYS be a challenge because there is no limit to how much you can push yourself. You will always be exhausted and pushing it to make it through. The difference is, by the end of it you will just as tired as you were the day you started, BUT you more than likely are doing about 2-3 times the amount of work you did when you began.
    Sorry for such a long post, but this has been a pretty big new development in my life and I plan on posting periodically throughout the next 52 days to share my progress. As of right now I am on day 8 and I have already lost 7 lbs, I'll take it! Can't wait to keep going and ultimately see and feel the result of this workout come August! Happy Wednesday, bloggers! Enjoy the rest of your week :)

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Newest Addiction

     Thanks to my dear friend, Katie, I am now addicted to the Vistaprint website! They have so many great things and they seem to always have a good deal going on! This obsession began when Katie gave me these cute little thank you notes she made on this website for graduation. About a month later, the wonderful LivingSocial deal of the day was an offer of $50 worth of stuff for $10 on that website, so I decided to give it a try. Needless to say, 20 customized Thank You Notes, 4 customized notepads, 150 customized checks, 1 customized sticky note pad, and 1 customized pen later... I believe it is safe to say I have a problem. However, with the great deals I got on all of this stuff I bought around $90-100 worth of supplies for a measly $20-$25. Plus, all of the things I bought (except the checks) will be put to use once I start teaching in the fall, which makes this all worth while. Hopefully I can calm this addiction down before it gets out of hand though :) With that being said, if you have not tried Vistaprint.com and you have use for office supplies (they have quite a variety!) I highly recommend trying it out. Hope everyone is doing well and Happy Hump Day!!