Thursday

Texas is calling and I must go

Tomorrow I'm road tripping to Tyler, TX, my homeland.

Source: flickr.com via Michelle on Pinterest

I haven't been back in Texas since January! I miss it too much to wait for Thanksgiving to go home again so instead of missing it, I will just go home for the weekend and drive back on Monday!

Some things I'm excited for-
Seeing my family!
Seeing my cats!
Eating at Don Juans!!
Going shopping in Canton!
Eating at The Shed in Edom!

I'll give y'all a recap of my journey next week so until then, have yourself a lovely day.

Wednesday

One Step Forward and One Step Back

Monday morning was one of the most productive mornings of my life. I got up, exercised, made breakfast and packed lunches for Matt and myself, hemmed a pair of new pants I wanted to wear that day and made it to work on time! My productive morning turned into a productive day and I was on a roll!

Tuesday morning I was super tired from my extremely productive Monday. All I could do was get up, get ready for work and make pack our lunches like usual.

At lunch time on Tuesday I got this picture from Matt-


Looks like I was more tired than I thought! All I put on his sandwich was a piece of cheese... I was sitting at my desk laughing so hard at what I'd done. I mean isn't that the saddest little sandwich you ever saw?

Look what we did in the Airstream last night!

That's right, we mounted the TV! We do all the most important projects first as you can see. Now as we work in the Airstream we can watch TV, how fun does that sound!?

As we were finishing up our work last night we saw a huge nasty rat like animal also known as an Opossum walking along the fence line. Then he sat on top of the neighbors shed and watched us like he was waiting for us to go inside so he could come check out that TV himself inside the Airstream.

We tried to scare him off but he was totally not bothered one bit so, we sprayed him with the water hose and he scampered away.

I hope you have a great Wednesday!

Tuesday

Airstream Interior!

So, I didn't post Friday or Monday and because of that, I got an awesome comment from Katherine Ebling- "I have checked for a new blog post three times today in between writing papers about teenage pregnancy and tree houses for seminary. Just know that your blog is a source of hope and distraction....also, keep em' coming." This post is for you girrrl!

Check out the inside of our Airstream! We got the walls back in and primed! And we are ready to add the TV!




This is where the TV will go!


Matt!


I may be high on paint fumes or just basking in the work I have done

Doing some yoga, a little side pigeon
In other news, I got these super cute pants!! I love how sailory they look, the buttons are just presh.
For dinner I made roasted asparagus and stuffed flounder, so good!



Lastly, Matt and I went to Lowes to pick out paint for the interior of our Airstream. We individually searched paint samples, and picked our favorites out of those choices. When we got home we realized we picked colors that are super similar to the colors already on our walls at home, we just know what we like.

I hope you have a wonderful Tuesday!!

Thursday

I Believe..


I believe in Love.

I believe in singing loudly when your favorite jam comes on.

I believe in dancing your heart out.

I believe in telling people you love them and they can never hear it enough (I know I can't)!

I believe in the power of laughter and being crazy with your friends.

I believe girl talk is a necessity.

I believe in the magic of Christmas!

I believe the ocean stirs my soul in some way and I need to live near it. If I had my way, I'd live on a boat surrounded by all that beautiful water with a view of the beach.

I believe cats are cute and speak to my heart. I love getting into conversations with other people who also love cats because I see glimpses of that same passion I have for these little critters.

I believe in Texas! This is my home state and I love everything about it.

I believe I have a special ability to eat more chocolate than anybody else and I can never get enough!

I believe in loving people.

I believe actions speak louder than words.

I believe in eating healthy but allowing yourself to splurge sometimes on foods that you love.

I believe that real life does not equal life on Facebook.

Source: weheartit.com via Asia on Pinterest


What do you believe? Today i'm linking up here!!






Wednesday

Random Happenings

Yall, I'm so proud of myself, this week I've gotten out of bed at 7am and gone for a walk. I've been saying I would do this for the past 2 weeks and finally on Monday I did it.

While walking around the neighborhood, I say "hi" and "good morning" to lots of people which is fun. The temps are in the high 50's low 60's this week in the mornings which is really nice.

Yesterday for Matt and my anniversary we had a picnic in our Airstream and then made cookies, it was sweet:)

Two nights ago there was a huge cricket in our living room, guess who had to catch it? Me! Matt wanted me to step on in but crickets are too big to step on, ew so I caught it and screamed the whole time I was running to the front door to throw it outside.

Lastly, I tried to make my own pumpkin spice latte the other morning and it was a fail. It sort of tasted like pumpkin but there was nothing good about it. Later that day I went to Starbucks to leave the pumpkin spice latte making to the pros.

I hope you have a lovely Wednesday!






Tuesday

2 years!



Happy 2 years of marriage to us!!! What a happy 2 years it's been!

Monday

Riff Ram Bah Zoo!

That strange title is a TCU cheer in case you were wondering. What a great weekend! Matt and I went to Lawrence KS, about 45 minutes from our house, to go to the TCU VS. KU game on Saturday!!
Go Frogs

I was so proud of all the TCU fans for showing up in their boots and hats and of course for our fantastic team for winning the game!
Double Go Frogs

I love that Gary Patterson is still the coach of the Horned Frogs, just like when I was still a student.

Another highlight of the game was seeing our Chancellor at the game! Victor Boschini walked by me at the game and I got so excited! I said, Hi Chancellor! He said Hi back.

It was weird being the visiting team. Matt and I got booed walking from our car to the stadium and I loved talking trash to the booers! Usually I said, hey it's fine, you know we're going to win. Pretty awesome stuff.

During the game it was hilarious when the KU fans were getting mad at their football team for loosing and they started yelling at the TCU fans for having a frog as a mascot. I was like, hey your mascot looks like a parrot! I didn't say that too loud though because there was no need, we won and that's what matters.

Besides a perfect Saturday of football and fall weather, Matt and I worked on our Airstream as usual. The house next door to us is for sale and had an open house on Sunday. We tried to be cool so that a cool young couple would want to move in next door to us!

 
Have a fantastic day! I hope you had a great weekend!

Friday

Friday's Letters!

Dear TCU, I'm so glad you're in The Big 12 and will be playing a game very close to where I live tomorrow!! I'm pumped to bring out my boots for the game because I always wear my boots to TCU games!

Dear Fall weather, you are amazing, I love you!

Fall in North Carolina a few years ago
Dear neighbor, that was so sweet of you to make us cookies! I love our nice neighbors.


Let's get this party started, happy weekend!!


Photobucket

Tuesday

Being a 20 Something

Serious Alert- this post is kind of serious today but I feel compelled to tell you about a good book I'm currently reading!

Remember when you got your first "real job"? I got my first real salaried job that was 40 hours a week about 3 months after I graduated from college. My whole spring semester of my senior year I wanted a job offer. I wanted to know what I would be doing, I wanted to know that I mattered out there in the real world! I felt that until I got a job offer, I was a failure and had to keep at it until I was successful.

My first real job was with Mercy Ships, an amazing international non-profit that has a hospital ship in West Africa that provides surgeries for free to people. I knew this job would be amazing because I would be working for an organization that made a difference  in the world, my co-workers would be super fun, and I got to travel all over the place monthly (I got to go to Africa, France, LA, NY, and all over the US).

The day that I got offered the job I felt relief. I mattered, I did it! Almost immediately after I said yes to this fantastic job, I felt my freedom being stifled. I realized I would get 10 vacation days a year, my paycheck would go toward adult things like healthcare and rent, I'd pay taxes, and I'd be in a office most days from 9-5 and working 40 hours a week.

It was a rude awakening to realize there would be no more naps, no more working out whenever I felt like it, no more hanging out with my buds for hours during the day, no more staying up until 2am and getting up at 10am or later during the week. I had to plan out when I'd use my vacation days. I had to make a budget.

Instead of feeling awesome and happy the day I go my first real job, I felt kind of cheated, like the good life was over until I got to retire someday.

Now that I've been in the working world for a few years now (I had to leave my awesome first job when I got married and moved) I'm used to the working life and I like the structure. I know I'm blessed to have a job, and I know that 9-5 can be really nice compared to the uncertainty that a lot of people have when it comes to working right now.

Do you remember your first job? Did you feel like your freedom was gone? I'm reading The Defining Decade-Why Your Twenties Matter and How to Make the Most of Them Now.

At first I was terrified to read this book. I thought I'd find out that I was doing life all wrong but, so far I've felt encouraged by what the author has to say. She has addressed a lot of my feelings toward work and my worth in this world as a person. If you're a 20 something and need some enlightenment on life, then I highly recommend this book! I'm not done with it yet and will write a review of it when I'm finished but, so far I'm learning some great things.

Monday

My First Pro Football Game

First off, GO FROGS!! Way to win on Saturday! Can't wait to go to next week's game!

This weekend, I got to go to my first NFL game! It was very American and I loved it!

 My husband and I went with some of his work people to the Chiefs vs. Atlanta game. There was a flyover, lots of wild fans, and the weather was perfect fall warm but cool breeze.

I think the game was very America for several reasons-
The air smelled like grilled food and beer
Many people in the stands were overweight and enjoying lots of beer and french fries
I saw a couple people with mullets
Even though the game was at noon, people were eating at drinking burgers and beer by 10am
I'm not making fun of these things, I just love that it cracks me up when I see them happening. Also, watching the cheerleaders makes me want to be one really bad, it looks so fun.

Besides football, I've been getting back into yoga which I love. I rented a bunch of DVDs from the library. Every time I start back to doing yoga I always feel so good and wonder why I ever took a break in the first place.

Another thing I've been talking about a lot is Paleo and I picked up a few more books to learn some new recipes. I've been eating Paleo for about a week now and I feel firmer and stronger already. Maybe it's just mental but I'm a fan so far. This weekend I ate regular ice cream and had a coke at the  game so I wasn't a die hard all week.


 

A Delish Shredded Chicken Recipe I made in the Crock Pot Sunday Night
We had some pretty awesome weather this weekend that definitely felt like fall! Woohoo!

My husband baked chocolate chip cookies on Friday! Poor guy was tired of me trying new weird Paleo recipes on him and wanted an old favorite without any healthy updates.

Hopefully you had a good weekend where ever you are! Thanks for stopping by today!


Friday

Ice Cream Made With Coconut Milk

Ice cream is my favorite favorite food. I eat it just about everyday but since I'm trying out this Paleo diet, (I've been on it for about 3 days!) I can't eat ice cream because it has milk and sugar. However coconut milk and honey are ok for this diet so, that's what my ice cream this week is made from! Plus cocoa powder because it's not worth eating if it's not chocolate in my book.

 Recipe:
2 cans coconut milk
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup cocoa powder (add more if it needs to be more chocolatey, add less if you want less chocolate)

Mix ingredients together then pour into ice cream maker. Let it do it's thing for 25 minutes! It's best fresh out of the mixer but is still good after freezing, it just takes some thawing to get it back to it's creamier consitancy.



So, ice cream that's made from 3 ingredients that will nourish my body more that regular ice cream is thrilling to me. I'll still eat normal ice cream again, but I'll turn to this for the majority of my ice cream intake since it tastes so good! Surprisingly it doesn't taste like coconut, there is a faint hint of coconut but it's more sweet and chocolatey than coconut flavored.

Have a lovely weekend!! Let me know if you try this ice cream and if you think it tastes as good as I do!

Thursday

Always. Sometimes. Never.

Linking up with some fun/funny bloggers today for Always Sometimes Never!!

I always struggle to get the heck out of bed in the morning which causes me to spend very little time on getting myself ready for the day.

Sometimes I wear my headband like a hippie, I think it's fun.

I'm not trying to look mad here
When I do wear a headband of this caliber there is never a person that can walk by me without commenting on this biznass.

I always want to eat chocolate ice cream after dinner but, I also don't want to get fat. So, sometimes I try to find good alternatives to ice cream that won't make me fat but really I've never found something that was as good as icecream itself. Until this week!! I tried an ice cream recipe using coconut milk instead of milk and it's pretty darn good, I'll tell you more about it later.

Lastly, I found these babies at Sam's yesterday!

They look just like the Reese's Easter Eggs I love so much, now I can eat Reese's Footballs until the Reese's eggs come back out in the spring!

Happy Thursday to you!

Wednesday

Our Polished Airstream



 I have no words, except that, I love the progress we've made on this project. Our Airstream is so shiny!!

Tuesday

Flourless Pancakes

Can we have every Monday off?? A 3 day weekend is the perfect length and I'm more than willing to go back to work tomorrow.

I've been having fun experimenting with some more Paleo recipes over the weekend. I got this cookbook - The Complete Idiot's Guide to Eating Paleo.
It teaches you all about the diet and has lots of recipes. One amazing recipe that I really enjoyed are Almond Banana Pancakes! They look like pancakes and taste pretty much like pancakes only with lots of banana flavor, obviously.

To make you mash up 4 bananas, add 5 tbs of almond butter and 2 eggs. That's it! You cook them like normal on the stove top. Getting the temperature was really tricky and my pancakes didn't turn out pretty but they taste great.

Looks like a legit pancake right?
Some other items on the menu this week are-

More egg muffins, love these! They make for a great quick breakfast.




Salmon Cakes- these are super good!

Spicy Tuna Salad- this is my lunch for the week so I haven't tried it yet, hopefully it's good!

I hope your long weekend was great, we had a good one and again, I loved not getting up and going anywhere on a Monday morning, I need more Mondays off! How about you?