New Years Eve!

(I took this picture at 3am this morning, before going to sleep. I liked it... so here ya go! Oh and yes, that, under my chin, is a stuffed dog that Rebel chewed the nose off of :( bad dog.)

There are only 11 more hours left in 2011! I just got home from shooting shotguns with my dad :). We're going out with a BANG! I'm excited, tonight Ryan and I are going over to our friend, Brett's, house and "partying" (with five people lol) to bring in the New Year. Filets and Lobster are on the menu, just like every year. We will also get to make sparkler bombs and shoot off some fireworks of our own. What are sparkler bombs you ask? They are a bunch of sparklers wrapped in electrical tape and then... you light one fuse, throw it really far away and run so it doesn't explode in your face. I will try to take pictures of them, as I have not done a very good job at explaining lol. The "dangerous" part is when one doesn't go off, someone has to go check it... Chris, who recently (like 2 weeks ago) got out of the Marines, usually gets nominated for the job lol. There have been a few incidents where he is walking over to check the "dud" and it suddenly goes off. Thankfully, no one has been hurt before... knock on wood. I will try REALLY hard to take pictures as the night goes on, but I am HORRIBLE at remembering to take them! I get to doing something and totally forget, one of the many reasons why I am a horrible blogger lol.

On to New Years Resolutions. Last year my resolution was to start this blog, and I did (note: my resolution wasn't to be good at it lol). Well, this year my resolution is to look, feel and be healthy. Please notice that my goal is NOT to loose weight. I only weigh 117 pounds, so it would be rather dumb of me to say that I want to loose weight. I would much rather worry about my HEALTH than a silly number. So long as I am making healthy choices, everything else will fall in place. Or at least I hope it does lol. My sister and I are going to be joining a gym that is only $12 a month (really excited) and my goal is to work out at least twice a week, hopefully more than that. I want to start eating more fruits and veggies, instead of crap. I want to drink more water and less sweet tea (this one will be really hard, as I love my sweet tea). I want to eat more home cooked meals and less packaged crap. No that does not mean I want gourmet amazing food every day. That means I don't wan't it to come out of a box, with a few exceptions. I am not going to make my own pasta, so that will be packaged. All my meat will be packaged, as I am not nearly good enough with a shotgun to hunt my own, nor do I have the heart do so (yes I'm a wuss and that's ok with me). The occasional boxed meal isn't a big deal, but I don't want the majority of my food to be packaged. Hopefully that means I will have more recipes and such things to post on here!

This isn't really a resolution but I would like to get out and see the city of Dallas and the places around me. I have lived here for 17 years and yet, I haven't done hardly any of they touristy things. I drive down the same roads, eat at the same restaurants, shop at the same malls. I'm really very boring, and I don't want to be. So, this year I want to go DO stuff! I don't know what stuff exactly, but I'll figure it out.

Well that's my Southern Soapbox for the day! What are some of your resolutions? Happy New Year! Kiss someone you love at midnight!

Christmas Day!

So, I realize that I am SUCH a HORRIBLE blogger! It really does make me feel bad that I don't post on here at least every other day. The really sad part is, I'm not actually busy. I'm just busy doing nothing... somewhere else. Lol. Usually I'm watching TV or looking at stuff on Pinterest. Anywho, on to Christmas Day!

Christmas day was SOO BUSY! First of all, I had gotten sick with a really bad sinus infection or something like that. I started feeling bad Wednesday, woke up Thursday and felt HORRIBLE, could barely speak because my throat hurt so bad. I was in the doctors office at 2pm on Thursday so I could get on antibiotics and wouldn't be contagious for Christmas Eve at my sisters' house! I still didn't feel GREAT by Christmas day, but I wasn't contagious and I was going to live. I woke up on Christmas Day around 9:30am (which is early for me lol). I got dressed in my skinny jeans, adorable brown boots, cream sweater and a cute scarf (I'll have to get the pictures later). I put some chocolate covered peanut butter balls, and two different kinds of fudge in a cute Christmas container, put it down on the counter to go get the presents and put them in the car... but I left without the cute container! AND I was supposed to bring the dessert! ERGH! I realized that after I had already gotten to Ryan's apartment. So much for bringing the dessert. We called Ryan's mom and told her what happened, thankfully Ryan's sister in law was also bringing dessert, so it wasn't a big deal lol. Once we got to Ryan's parents house we ate lunch and opened presents. I was disappointed in my gift for Ryan's older nephew. Neither of us know him very well and I just ended up giving him (a 12 year old boy) a gift card to Cabelas :(. I don't like giving gift cards, especially not to kids! Hopefully he can get some good fishing stuff with it though.

After we finished at Ryan's parents house we came back to my house for my families Christmas! We ate supper around 5:30pm which was REALLY yummy! AND THENNNNN we went off to open presents!! Our Christmas tree was flooded with presents! That's not even all of them in the picture! Ryan and AJ got, by far, the most presents! Ryan got Battlefield 3, 2 pairs of jeans, 3 shirts, a coffee grinder, coffee filters and coffee (he had a theme going on lol) and my dad got him a whole bunch of tools! I got a necklace, The Sims 3 Pets(yes, I do play The Sims and have since the original Sims), Earmuffs for when my dad and I got shooting(tomorrow!), OH a mechanical hand haha. The mechanical hand is kind of a joke. Last year I was vacuuming and the vacuum wasn't sucking, so I took it apart and found the tube was stopped up by a TON of stuff. I didn't have anything long or skinny enough to fit up there so I called my dad and asked him if he had anything, and he told me to get the mechanical hand out of the toolbox. I opened the bottom drawer of his red tool box and behold!!, the mechanical hand! Basically all it is... is this long, slinky like rod that can bend and maneuver in all different directions, and when you push the end of it, this claw comes out. I used the claw to grab the stuff out of the tube of the vacuum cleaner. Ever since then, it has been a joke that I should get my own because I'm always trying to find a reason to use it lol (I'm a dork, it's ok). Let's see, what else did I get? Oh, I got several cook books and a scarf.. OH my name present! I forgot about those! We did our name gifts on Christmas Eve but I'll go ahead and tell you what I got here. My cousin Austin got my name and he did SOOO WELL (by he, I actually mean Aunt Kathy and Katy lol). "Austin's little elves" got me a Vera Bradley computer bag for my laptop! It's SO PRETTY! I'm so excited about it! I got Uncle Mike's name and I got him a gift card to Cabela's because he LOVES fishing and can always use more fishing stuff. I also got him a big bag of Twizzlers, because he loves them lol. After Christmas Tree presents we, of course, had to open our stockings! In my stocking I got a flashlight, a travel cup with a monkey on it (monkey's are kind of an inside joke and an even longer story than the mechanical hand, so I'll spare you the details lol). I also got BEFF JERKY, sour patch kids and a gift card to Charming Charlies (which I have already used half of lol). All in all, it was a GREAT Christmas filled with people that I love and lots of fun and laughter.

Hopefully next year the WHOLE family will be able to get together!

Well, that's my Southern Soapbox for the day! Hopefully I will be a better blogger.... I will be posting about New Years and all that jazz soon!

Christmas Eve!

'Twas the day before Christmas and all through the house, everyone was frantically running EVERYWHERE! 

... Not how the story goes? Well it does around here! Christmas Eve we are usually making Christmas cookies, fudge etc. We don't have many traditions for Christmas Eve. The main one is that my mom gives me and my sister our Christmas PJs so we can wear them to bed that night. We run and put them on and come back to the Christmas tree where my dad reads the Christmas story from the Bible. We say a prayer (when I was little we would pray that Santa wouldn't get lost and that he would stay warm). 

BUT this year we're doing something new! AND I LIKE IT! We (me, my mom, dad and Ryan) are all going over to my sister, Maegan's, house. My aunt, uncle and two cousins will be meeting us there. We are going to unwrap our "name presents" (read previous post for explanation) eat pot roast and Christmas goodies! We are also going to be watching Christmas movies and play games! I'm really excited and hopefully this will be the beginning of a new family tradition. It's not the same as when the whole family is together, but it will do. Usually when the whole family is together there is a lot more chaos. And in our family chaos = fun! Usually... 

Well that's my Southern Soapbox. I'm off to put on my Christmas jammies and head over to my sister's house! Merry Christmas Eve y'all! I hope you enjoy spending time with your family and friends! 

Happy Birthday

On December 16th, 2010 Andrew Dixon Withers, JR came into our lives. We knew he would change our worlds, but we never imagined that he would turn it completely upside down.

At about 9:30pm December 15th Maegan started having contractions. Her husband, Andrew, took her to the hospital. Although she wasn't really in the active parts of labor, her doctor decided to admit her because her blood pressure was above normal. At about 12:30am my mom came in my room and told me that Maegan was at the hospital, in labor. I FREAKED!!! I took a shower so I would be ready to go to the hospital the second he was born. I think my mom and I got like 2 hours of sleep that night. I spent the night texting my sister, she spent the night watching reruns of ER and Criminal Minds lol. All day we sat around waiting. At about 5pm we got a text that she was about to start pushing!! And an hour and a half later, at 6:27pm on December 16th, 2010, the world was a brighter place. We rushed to the hospital and joined Andrews family to admire the new addition to our family. So, now with that back story, here comes my "real post". I saw someone that wrote a letter to their munchkin on their first birthday for them to read when they get older, so I am going to do the same thing (except it's for my nephew, and on a blog lol).

Dear AJ,

You are a blessing to this world and to our family. I can't imagine life with out you in it. You are the happiest baby I have ever seen. Every time I see you, you always run up to me squawking and flapping your arms like a little bird. You love to meet new people and always greet them with a smile. This first year of your life has been amazing to witness. You were trying to hold your head up, and doing a pretty good job at it, the day after you were born! Such a strong little man, and an over achiever! You started crawling at about 6 months old and walking at about 10 months! You are so strong willed, even at the young age of one year old. Keep being the energetic, fun loving, sweet little man that we all love.

You are surrounded  by people who love you. Remember to be kind to others and love them. Play hard but remember that hard work is also important. Enjoy your youth because you will only be a kid once. Remember that your family is your biggest fan and we are ALWAYS looking out for you. Your mommy and daddy are not trying to ruin your life, they love you and are trying to protect you. Even if that means not giving you what you want. You are never alone in this world. Not only do you have a family that loves you, you also have a God that loves you. He created you, just the way you are. Perfect. He loves you more than you could ever imagine, more than any human could. He has a plan for you, a wonderful plan. I cannot wait to see that plan unfold.

Love with all my heart,

Your Aunt Julie

Christmas break!

Christmas break is officially here! For those of you who know me personally, you know that I LOVE Christmas! Really, I love any holiday but Christmas especially. In my family we go ALL OUT for this fantastic holiday! Because there are so many of us, we draw names. Whomever you get, is who you buy for as far as the extended family goes. So for example if I draw Aunt Sue's name (there is no one in my family named Sue so that is NOT who I got! lol) then I will buy things for Aunt Sue's Christmas, but that doesn't mean I don't buy for other people. I still get my parents and sister a gift too. And usually I will get my grandparents something too. I will admit, my favorite person to shop for is my Aunt Kathy. I got her name last year and had a BLAST! She loves jewelry so I got to spend a lot of time at Charming Charlie, which I LOVE!!!! Haha. It's really fun buying things and figuring out what they like. Gift cards are a total bore and I hate them! I like putting thought into the gifts that I'm giving. No, they aren't always serious gifts or things that you need. They are, however, always gifts that I put a lot of thought into. My favorite presents are the kind that MEAN something to me and that person. Anywho...

Another of my favorite traditions for Christmas is putting up our Christmas tree (which we haven't done. Well, that's not true. The tree is up, in the wrong room... and it's not decorated lol.). Hopefully we will get it moved into our TV room/den/whatever you want to call that room and have it decorated by the end of tomorrow... fingers crossed. Me, my mom, my dad and my sister used to all gather around the tree and arrange the ornaments just so. You can't leave any "holes" or mom will yell at you lol. We usually decorate the tree while we listen to Christmas music and try not to step on the dogs, and keep the cat from scaling the tree (which is a very feeble attempt, but we try).

Usually, a few days before Christmas we all pile in the car, with cokes and popcorn, and go look at Christmas lights! I LOVE looking at Christmas lights!!! We hit up the fire station because they do a show and then head over to one of the "rich" neighborhoods to see the lights they have put up (or have paid to have put up, but w/e they're pretty). Then we head on over to Frisco Square for another light show!

You thought this was a lot? I haven't even told you about Christmas Eve or Christmas Day! Haha.. stay tuned to see what we do on Christmas Eve and day!

That's my Southern Christmas Soapbox! Good night y'all!

Wonky and Woot-tastic Wednesday

Yes, it's a little late.. but better late than never! So here it goes!

Woot-tastic:

- I only have one day left for the semester! My last final is Friday! So excited to get the Christmas break STARTED!!!!
- The Vampire Diaries is totally woot-tastic. I'm sorry.. but it is. And even more woot-tastic is that I've gotten my mom AND sister addicted to it! My mom and I are going to watch season 3 tomorrow (well.. technically it's today but ya...) and yes, I'm kind of obsessed..
- The love of my life... we spend most of the day together today :). Even after four years I still get excited when I know I'm going to get to see him. I hope I never loose that feeling.

Wonky:

This picture.... yes, that's a desktop.. in a coffee shop (Saxbys is AMAZEBALLS!) One of the guys that works there brought his desktop to work to play games on lol. Apparently laptops aren't good enough for him

If you will notice all the critters featured in this picture. Rebel, the giant grey dog at the top of the picture. Next to him is George, the cat, and then there is Martin, the little dog at the bottom of the picture. They were all laying in my bed when I went to go to sleep last night. Normally, Martin doesn't sleep with me but since it has been so cold he has been bunking with me, Rebel and George. My bed gets crowded at night.



- So, according to my mother "In 1692 Columbus sailed the ocean blue". That is exactly what she said... she's close, only missing it by 2 centuries.

Well, that's my Southern Soapbox for the night. Hopefully will post something tomorrow.

Finals week

I know, I didn't do wonky and woot-tastic Wednesday. Sorry I was busy. I'll do it this coming week!

Anywho, it's finals week this coming week! I'm excited because that means it's the end of the semester. I'm also dreading it because I hate finals lol. They should be pretty easy though. Anywho, on with what I've been up to...

I've been busy getting ready for Christmas. Whose tree is that to the left you may ask? Is it a little girl that thinks she's a princess? Nope... it's Ryans... my 23 year old BOYfriend lol. To make it more "manly" (although he did not mind the pink, at all) he put his x-box controller on the tree and at the top, for the tree topper is a little Daschund ornament lol. We got into a small "fight" over the tree though. Not really a fight, and it was really over the tree. I was really excited that I had found it and he totally ruined my fun. I got pretty annoyed with him and even considered taking it back to the store. But in the end he apologized and, even if he doesn't care, he's pretending to LOVE the tree lol. On the plus side, if we ever have a daughter, we already have her tree lol.

While I was on my Christmas decorating kick my mom and I went to Hobby Lobby and I was looking at the little signs that they have. The ones you hang out the wall. I found one that I really really like (hint hint Christmas present hint hint).. anywho it says "Love is patient. Love is kind. Love never fails." I don't know why I like it so much, but I do. It would be really cute on the wall between Ryan's living room and kitchen :D (the wall you see in the tree picture lol). Anywho, it's pretty and I like it lol.


Fibro update: The night before last I had a really bad flare up. I woke up at about 1am hurting so bad that I had to sleep at Ryan's because I couldn't drive home. By the time I woke up at about 10am I wasn't hurting as much but have still been achy, even today. We have a big cold front coming through (there may even be snow *groans*) it's going to be GREAT (note sarcasm).

Well, that's my Southern Soapbox for the day :) have a good one! BE FESTIVE!

Wonky and Woot-tastic Wednesday!

It's Wednesday again! Today was crazy. Ryan and I went to his parents house to have Thanksgiving a day early with his family. Instead of turkey, his brother smoked a brisket, which was AMAZEBALLS! Loved it! We also got to meet Ryan's nephew for the first time :)! Alright, on to wonky and woot-tastic

Wonky (things that are weird or that I just don't like):
- I don't know if anyone else has this problem but... when I go to bed, I get all tucked in with Rebel and George in bed next to me, turn off the light and start to relax... then my eyes pop open because I have to pee! It drives me nuts! I get all comfy and cozy in my bed then I have to drag myself out of bed, disturbing the animals(God forbid) and go to the bathroom. So annoying!

- Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 1... ugh, don't get me started. So yes, the books were GREAT and I loved them but seriously, the movies are TERRIBLE! They are beyond cheesy. The acting is terrible which I have decided is, in part, due to poor directing. The whole series has been HORRIBLE! And yet... I will still go see part 2... shoot me now.

- Saturday night I laid down in bed(then got up because I realized I had to pee...) and made sure my alarm was set for 8:45am, that way I could be up in time to go to work in the morning. I promise you it was set, but it didn't go off. Thankfully my internal clock is only slightly off and I woke up at 9:15. I was late to work but I still made it so that's good.

Woot-tastic (things that make me go WOOT!):
- THANKSGIVING! Who doesn't like Thanksgiving? It is an amazing holiday. Food, family, friends... it doesn't get much better! I walked into my house this evening and, already, it smells like Thanksgiving. I can't wait until tomorrow!

- Our new ceiling! We had a leak in our roof and it messed up our ceiling in the living room and we finally got around to fixing it! It still needs to be textured and painted but it looks much better than it did! Thank you dad and Andrew (my sisters hubby)

- My Pumpkin Pie Bites! I am so in love with those things! They are YUMM. Going to have some tomorrow!

- Lol, so I wasn't sure whether or not this belongs in woot-tastic or wonky but it made me laugh really hard so here it goes.... I ran into my door. HARD. face first. I had gone to the bathroom (after having gotten all comfy in my bed -.-) and it was dark... my door is usually open but apparently it closed behind me when I went to the bathroom so when I went to walk through the door way, my face was greeted by the door. I laughed SO HARD. It was hilarious! I'm glad I can laugh at myself lol.

Well that's my Southern Soapbox for Wonky and Woot-tastic Wednesday. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Gobble Gobble!

Pumpkin Pie Bites

Here we go! I told y'all I would take pictures of every step so here it is! I made these today and took pictures as I went. (This recipe is for 24 pumpkin pie bites)

Here are your ingredients (the Monster was for me, not the bites lol)

2 refrigerated ready-to roll pie crusts (these are found by the cookie dough at Kroger)

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1.5 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
3 3/4 inch cookie cutter 

1. Grease your muffin pan!

                                 2. Unroll your pie crust  

3. Cut your circles out! I also rolled the circles out a little flatter after I had cut them out.

4. Put your pie crust in the muffin pans. Make sure to put the crusts in every other spot so they don't stick together.

 Don't worry too much about all the excess, just stuff it down in there. Make sure the crust isn't too thin, you don't want any breaks!

It doesn't have to look pretty (I know what you're thinking "YES IT DOES!".. but really, it doesn't). Just shove it down there!

5. Take one of your eggs and separate the whites from the yolk. Take your finger and spread the whites on the edges of your pie crust.

6. Go ahead and preheat your oven to 350. Then mix your sugar, cream cheese, 2 eggs, vanilla, pumpkin and pumpkin spice together.  (make sure you soften the cream cheese. and by soften i mean SOFTTTTTT! otherwise it will be all lumpy and ewww. and if it is lumpy and ew, just stick your whole mix in the microwave for about 30 seconds at a time until it's not lumpy)

this one is actually a little low on filling

7. Scoop the filling into the crusts. I used a cookie dough scoop and it worked perfectly! Scoop enough to fill the crust.

8. Pop them into the oven. The site I got this from, Bakerella, says to bake them for 12-15 minutes but I ended up doing it for about 20. I suggest starting with 12 minutes and add more as you go along. To check for "doneness" take a toothpick and stick it in the middle of one of your bites. If it comes out clean, it's finished, if not, add another 5 minutes.

When you first take them out of the oven they will be all puffed up. I wish they would have stayed that way, but sadly, they flattened out.

You can either serve them hot, or refrigerate them and serve them cold. Personally, my family thought they were better cold. Let me know what you think!

That's my Southern Soapbox for the day! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Gobble Gobble!

It's Crunch Month!

You know that month? The last month of the semester, students, you know what I'm talking about. That time of year where your professors ALL decide to give you the most extensive complicated, long essays and projects of the entire year. Not only do they give you projects and papers, they also give you tests, quizzes and expect you to still study for your final exam. CRAZY! So that is what I have been doing, papers, papers, project. It's CRAZY!

On a brighter note, I am officially on Thanksgiving break (not that it means anything because I have 3 papers to write, a speech to do, a project and some research I have to do)! I am really excited thought because I made Pumpkin Pie Bites for dessert the other night and they were GREAT! Everyone liked them and my brother in law, Andrew, said they're even better cold! I am going to be taking them to Ryan's parents house on Wednesday. Run down of the week: baking and cleaning tomorrow, Wednesday Ryan and I are having lunch with his family and then Thursday we are having lunch with my family then dinner with a friend of ours :). It's going to be a CRAZY week!

George, helping me read -.-

This past week I finally finished reading the new The Vampire Diaries book, The Hunter: Phantom! It took me a couple of days which, for me, is pretty long. It was pretty good and I am looking forward to the next book! I have to start reading the latest House Of Night book too, Destined. I have to hurry up and get all caught up because my new Stephanie Plum book come out TODAY! (I just Googled to check the date, didn't realize it was TODAY... crap...) Oh well, I might have to read it first lol. BTW if you have never read The Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evonovich GO READ THEM NOW!




Well, that's my Southern Soapbox for the day. Tomorrow (Tuesday) I am going to post a picture of what I am wearing to Ryan's parents house on Wednesday and will also post more details about my Pumpkin Pie Bites, as I will be baking them tomorrow :). Have a good night!

Wonky and Woot-tastic Wednesday!

It's time for our second Wonky and Woot-tastic Wednesday! So, here we go!

Wonky (things that are weird, awkward or that I just don't like in general lol)
- the picture posted above.... Mom and I did a "photo shoot" today because my outfit was cute and we decided to do "action shots" of me jumping. Mostly I just looked like.... well like I was jumping. Supposedly there is a way to jump gracefully in pictures. I tried, I can't.

- so I walked into the bathroom at Macaroni Grill. i went to the bathroom and was going to wash my hands when I saw a sign that said "mens" on the back of the door. I TOTALLY freaked out and ran out of the bathroom. Then I remembered that they do that on purpose to screw with poor innocent women's minds... so uncool.
- haha so I was walking through WalMart(ugh walmart) with my mother and suddenly decided to start speaking with a British accent. By British I mean British/Australian/Scottish. It was pretty funny. I started t get a lot better at it the more I did it. The lady at the check out counter asked if I was practicing for a play or something.... nope, I'm not that normal.
- I know a lot of game lingo, and it disturbs me. Ryan will be talking about some weird thing about his online game and I will know exactly what he is talking about. I can't really think of an example but when I think of one, I'll be sure to share it with you lol
- the cold... ugh I hate it! It makes my joints hurt



Woot-tastic (thanks that make me go WOOT!)

- getting 2 new books to read. I'm always looking for something good to read. I prefer series because I like the development of the characters and to see what happens next. I'm always REALLY sad when I finish a series. Like I'm loosing friends (I know, I'm weird)
- a book that is so well written that you feel like you are there. I love it when I can loose myself in a book and it become, for a short time, my reality. Does anyone else do this or am I a freak? lol (well, I know I'm a freak.. you know what I mean)
- ONE WEEK TO THANKSGIVING! And after that only 2 weeks until the end of the semester! I'm really excited but am surprisingly sad that my Communications class is coming to an end :(.
- Seeing my friend Chris. He has been in Afghanistan for nine months. A lot of things happened to him over there but I am really glad that he is home, safe with his wifey :).

A random weekend (LOTS of pictures!)

I love random weekends! They're so much fun and keep me on my toes. So Friday my mom made a random Christmas decoration. They are Christmas tree balls with magnets stuck to the back, "hanging" on the refrigerator. Random, right? And then we have a picture of my hair! I finally went and got it cut and colored by my all time FAVORITE hair stylist EVER, Preston. He's awesome and I love him lol.

Saturday was fun! Mom and I woke up and went to Mom's church to do crafts with a great friend of ours, Melanie (she's also mentioned in the post about the pink, paper hat). Well, they did crafts, I talked. It was nice spending some time with the ladies! At about 1:30 Ryan came and picked me up and we went and had lunch with Meagan and her hubby (also one of Ryan's good friends), Chris. We went to Red Robin (yumm). It was, indeed, YUMM, although I didn't eat lol. So we went back to Ryan's apartment after that and hung out. The guys, of course, played video games, because what else do guys do?? It was a nice quiet day with great friends.

Sunday was BUSY and productive! I woke up and went to work, where I got to hold the most precious little baby girl EVER! She was SO sweet! After that I had to go over to a group meeting for a group project we are doing in my communications class. We got A LOT done so I am really excited. Our topic is awesome. We are doing miss-communication between men and women, which I find really fascinating. The picture of the book with all the tabs is one of the books my group member bought and let me borrow. I haven't even gotten half way through it and I already have all of those tabs LOL! And the ADORABLE puppy is Sammy! She is my other group members Great Dane (there are 4 people in my group, including myself). Isn't she (to dog) pretty?! I thought so. I spent a good deal of time playing tug of war. I'm pretty sure I lost, considering she was dragging me across the floor lol.

Sunday, before heading to my second job and after my group meeting, I decided to go for a walk with Rebel. We walked two miles, which is usually about how far I normally walk (by normally, I mean once every few months lol). Anywho, I saw this tree and loved the mixture of red and green leaves so I stopped and took a picture... or two. There was also a duck crossing sign which I thought was cute, so I took a picture of that too lol.

Quack Quack!

CAUTION POSSIBLE HARRY POTTER SPOILERS!

Oh, the last thing I did for the weekend was family movie night! We FINALLY watched the last Harry Potter movie!!! It was really good! So sad that it's all over though. I wonder if they are considering doing something with the kids of the people that survived? Not sure? I think it would be interesting. I want to know who the headmaster is now.... Any thoughts?

A random picture of my mother. She "decorated" for Christmas by putting Christmas tree balls on her glasses. She's weird, I know, it's genetic...

We were walking through WalMart(ugh) and I pointed out that she had her glasses neutered.

 Today, Monday, Mom and I went to Macaroni Grill and split their Chicken Marsala. It was SO good! While we were there we talked about how we want to organize her craft room. If you've ever been to Mac. Grill, you know that they have paper on the tables and you draw on them, so I took advantage of this. The little "sketch" to the far left is a bookshelf, I know, you already knew that didn't you? I bet you can't guess what you call the crazy girl in the middle. It's CLOTHES HANGER GIRL! And to the right we have a desk with a bookshelf above it. I know, I'm a fantastic artist.... *rolls eyes*.. stop laughing at my drawings please.

Now for the end of my day today. We had loaded potatoes for supper (yum!). I ate in my bed with a book :). I am reading The Vampire Diaries The Hunters Vol 1: Phantom. Yup, I am a Vampire Diaries fanatic, sue me.... or point and laugh.. whatever.

Well, that's my Southern Soapbox for the night. Going back to my book :) I have lots of homework to do tomorrow :(. Night y'all!

Wonky and Woot-tastic Wednesday

So I have decided to start doing Wonky and Woot-tastic Wednesday. What is that you ask? Well I am so glad that you did! Basically, every Wednesday (or at least, I hope, every Wednesday) I will post somethings that were wonky (or weird, or awkward) that have happened in the past week, as well as a few things that were woot-tastic (things that make me say "Woot!" credit for the creation of this word goes to my sister, Maegan. Thank you saster.) I kind of stole this idea from one of my new favorite blogs The Daybook. She does awkward/awesome Thursday, so it's basically the same thing just on a different day and I am using alliteration, because I'm just that much of a dork lol. So let's begin our first Wonky and Woot-tastic Wednesday!

Wonky:
- sitting at a red light with the windows down singing "Do you wanna touch, do you wanna touch me now" As loud as I can and then realizing that the people in the car next to me were also enjoying the nice weather, with their windows down..... and certainly did not look like they wanted to touch me. The seemed more like I had the plague. I can't help it, I'm addicted to the Glee soundtrack and sing along to ALL of their songs! Close your mouths people

- when there are two red lights right in front of the other, and the one further from you turns green and you, too busy singing to Glee and DESPERATE to get away from the people that are staring at you, don't realize that it wasn't you light that turned, and you go... thankfully there were no cars coming and there were no cops.

- burning your moms butt while trying to burn of an unraveling string from her pants. Although, I might also argue that this one is also woot-tastic....

- the fact that people are selling the bed that Michael Jackson slept AND died in. Seriously, people would buy that bed? Are THEY going to sleep in it? EWW...

- when I posted on Facebook that my life would never be the same without adoption and people started thinking I was adopted... guess I should have clarified.. opps

Woot-tastic:
- National Adoption Month! I am so grateful for people that adopt. Adoption has brought so many wonderful people into my life, my cousin being one of them. I love you Mollie!

- just chilling with Ryan at his apartment. Sitting on the couch watching movies, and not needing to go out and spend money to be happy.

- my Aunt Kathy getting to go home Friday! She has been truly blessed by a lot of people through her liver transplant. God has really provided for her!

- when I reached my hand into A.J.'s car seat and he wouldn't let go of my finger. It so made my heart melt! I love my nephew so much!! I can't imagine how much I'm going to love my own kids some day, kind of scary to think of.

- hard boiled eggs! I don't know why, but I have been really into hard boiled eggs lately! Add a little bit of salt and pepper and they are the perfect snack!


Well that's it for Wonky and Woot-tastic Wednesday! What were some of your wonky and woot- tastic moments of the week?

That's it for my Southern Soapbox for the night! Have a good night!

Father Son Bonding...

 Ryan came over and was messing with his laptop. Jixer and Rebel wanted to help and got right in the middle of everything to help their daddy. Well, they thought they were helping anyways (it's the thought that counts right?) Of course when Jixer started getting attention my giant grey beast, Rebel had to get involved too. So there they sat, Jixer, Rebel and Ryan on the floor playing with a laptop. My three little nerds. Oh and the top right
picture you can see George, my cat, licking himself. It's a lovely family photo, isn't it? (say yes.... thank you.) So that was fun lol.

Before the family bonding my mom cooked a REALLY yummy meal! Pork chops (which my dad burned lol) lemon butter asparagus, butter glazed carrots, and green bean casserole(one of my FAVORITES!). It was so yummy!






Well, that's my Southern Soapbox of the day. Have a good night! Oh, and I worked out tonight! Go me! Good night.

Sweet baby

Oh Monday, how I hate you! I really do hate Mondays. One good thing that came out of yesterday was I got to see my sweet AJ. He is teething so he was a little bit whiny. I put my hand over in his car seat and he grabbed my finger. My poor little man didn't feel good at all :( every time I would try to take my hand away he would cry and reach out to me so I would give it gave to him and he would go back to sleep. So sweet :).

Me, Mom, Maegan and AJ ran some errands. We went to gymboree and michaels and then came back to mine and Mom's house for supper. Originally, we were going to pork chops and asparagus but then we decided we should have Panda Express instead and do the pork chops the next day (which is today). 

I am still trying to eat healthy. My "healthy food diet" (which isn't really a diet... just eating healthy) got interrupted by our Murphy's Law Weekend so I am trying to get back on track. I did my workout last night and then had a little snack. Ryan and I are going walking tonight. Wish me luck :)

Random picture of my cat George. Apparently we need to get him more toys because he is playing with a pink feather boa. Poor kitty.

Well, that is my Southern Soapbox for now. I will be posting pictures of our meal tonight. We are planning to cook some new stuff :). Have a good Tuesday!