Christmas 2010

I hope you all had a great Christmas!

The college I work at is closed this week s :) so I have been relaxing and enjoying time with family and friends!

We are so incredibly blessed to have such great people in our life.

We got a new tv, air mattress, heated mattress pad (so excited about this one) some new sheets and blankets, some gift cards, some new clothes and my annual Wizard of Oz ornament.

As I read this it makes it sound like we don't have heat in our apartment, we do but are having some major issues with the apartment we live in (a whole different post).

The best part by far was getting to spend time with the people that matter the most and with it being my niece's 2nd Christmas and she could actually open her own gifts she was just too funny!

I will add some pics soon but I am at my Dad's and my camera cord is at my house.

Wishing you all a great New Years!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!

from my crazy family to yours!

Sending love to all my readers out there that time out of their busy lives to read about and be part of my crazy world.

Love you all! Have a blessed day!

Being a grown up?!?!?!

We went shopping this weekend, not because I needed to I have been done with my Christmas shopping since before Thanksgiving (thankyouverymuch) but Josh on the other hand is the worlds biggest procrastinator per usual.

So we went to Kohl's to look for a gift for his sister and while we were there I was browsing at some snowmen plates and platters that were 70% off and was pondering getting one for me and one for Josh's mom. I was picking it up and then putting it back then picking it up again obviously trying to decide if I was gonna buy it or not and this woman just blurts out to me oh hunny just buy it and tell your husband its a gift for yourself Merry Christmas lol.

I sorta laughed then put the plate back down and didn't buy it (trying to save $ here) but then thought...I don't have a husband...wonder why she thought I did.

Then at work last week I was giving a campus tour to an interview candidate and he asked so how many kids do you have? I jokingly answered oh a couple hundred (referring to the students I work with)

I guess I just don't feel like a grown up or feel like I look like a grown up at all. I think sometimes I still feel 17 years old for example I can not wait to go "home" for Christmas and just hang out with my mom.

Will there ever be a day that I feel "grown up"? I obviously am 26 years old can have a husband and children just don't even feel remotely ready for either of those things right now in life?

Has anyone else felt that way?? Is there a day, a moment, an occasion where you start to feel "grown up"?

Outfit Failure

I have always loved getting dressed up for Christmas Eve for church and then for our family gathering at my Grandma's . I think my mom always forced a dress on me so now I am cursed for life lol. Well I was so excited because I had this whole freakin cute outfit planned out. I had bought a cute pocketed black skirt this summer from Old Navy and then found a cute cardigan online (during Old Navy's BOGO Sale whoo hoo) so I bought some black tights to go with it.

Well after a what felt like a million days my Old Navy package came and I tore into it like a kid at Christmas to try on my awesome holiday outfit. Well, outfit was an epic failure :(
I look absolutely ridiculous in tights..you know its bad when our boyfriend says "you look like you about to go teach"I personally thought I looked older and like a nun ugh!

the sweater and skirt look cute without the tights but hello I live in OHIO, it's December and it's beyond cold out.

So change of plans......outfit left to be determined.

I love the cardigan and it looks good with black pants so I guess that's an option but I really wanted to jump on the tights bandwagon and look super cute for the holiday.

Hope you are having a good Saturday!

One of the best moments in my life

I am finding more and more as I get older to appreciate the smaller things and moments in life and have definitely begun to value things a lot differently. As you all know my little sister Lauren is 5 years old and is just hilarious. She is obsessed with Tay*lor SwiFt which is funny cause I too at 26 years old am a big fan. Well Josh bought me her new CD several weeks ago so last time I visited the kids (Thanksgiving week, to be there for Austin's final leg surgery) I told Lauren that I was gonna put Taylor's new CD on her Itunes *yes she has her own Itunes playlist* So I ran out to my car and put the songs on her play list. There is a song on the album titled "Never Grow Up" and from the first moment I listened to it I immediately thought of her so she climbed up in my lap and I played the song for her. (You can find it on youtube but lovely blogger wouldn't let me load it :( )

Part of me knows she doesn't really get things 100% but while I was playing the song she just grabbed my hand and looked at me and smiled and I swear it was the most incredible bonding moment ever. I know a lot of 26 year olds would much rather be doing 1000 different things but there is no where else I would ever want to be than to be part of her life. I know we may be 20 years apart but we will always have an unbreakable bond that I will cherish forever.

How can you not love her???

After we listened to some other songs, we watched a movie and she fell asleep holding my hand so I scooped her up and put her to bed....PRICELESS!!

Checkin in

So I thought it would be a good time to check in on my new year's resolutions. There were only three. 1. Take better care of myself 2. Save money 3. Do more things for charity/ volunteering





I must say that looking back over the past year (and how is it that is is already over???) I am incredibly proud of some of the things I have accomplished.





Taking better care of myself was a huge one for me. I honestly feel like I had just "let myself go" throughout college and especially in graduate school and just sorta got comfortable and stopped caring so this summer I committed to Weight Watchers and was determined to lose weight. My mom had done Weight Watchers before so I just used all of the materials she had and didn't attend meetings because I think they are really expensive.

So here it is...the before and after. I have lost 25 lbs and I am so happy with my progress. The before picture was take 2 years ago Christmas day in Belize on our 1st cruise and the after was this summer when we went to the Outer Banks, NC.





You might not be able to see it but I am down 2 jean sizes and 1 shirt size. I still want to lose some more but am incredibly happy so far. :)

Saving money has not been as successful :( but it will continue to be a resolution into 2011. This year was especially rough since Josh was out of work until May. So we will continue to try this again.

Giving back and volunteering has always been important to me but I wanted to make it a higher priority this year and really for the rest of my life. I have been volunteering with the local chapter of Delta Zeta (the sorority I am part of) and I sat on the planning committee for the Toledo Give Thanks. Walk in November which all proceeds go to St Jude Research Hospital. The walk was a huge success and raised a great deal of money for the hospital.

I think I want to continue with all three of these "goals" for 2011 and possibly add some new ones but that will be a post coming later.

How did YOU do with your new year's resolutions???