Weekend Rewind

Friday night I hit the mall on my way home from work. I gave myself  $20 to spend on a new sweater/cardigan/summer shirt. I haven't been to the mall or clothes shopped in months.

I ended up buying a sweater i didn't love. While still at the mall i decided to return it, because a. i knew i prob wouldn't wear it and b. i knew i couldn't really justify spending the money.

I walked back into the store to return the sweater i had purchased minutes earlier with cash (we're Dave Ramsey people remember).

I was told that they did not do refunds, i could only exchange or get store credit. I was pretty upset because i think that is just really dumb. and i had literally JUST bought it. I used all my negotiating and haggling skills i could without raising my voice too high (i don't want to be that person.) The manager refused to budge, and i was way too angry at that point to want to look around the store to find something else. So that's how my weekend started.

We had dinner and went to bed early. It had been a long and busy week.

Saturday we grocery shopped, cleaned, and did our "long" run. We ran 6.3 miles, and i kept my normal pace the whole time. This was Daniel's longest run and he had a pace just below 11 minute miles. I'm jealous and proud at the same time, ha! We both had great runs and felt really good, like we could have done more. Which is great, because next week it's 8!

We're training for the OKC half marathon on May 1st. It's going to be a bit harder training schedule that last time because i'm travelling 3 of the weekends and finding places to run 11 miles or so is hard when you don't know the area. And a huge mental part of the run (for me), is knowing where each mile marker is so i know how much further i need to go and i can judge my time.

After the run we made black bean quesadillas...yum yum! It really is one of our fave meals. We finished the night off by watching Mr. Smith goes to Washington.

Daniel ended up going to bed early and i watched Hoarders. All of the doctors and therapists are so patient and nice with the people, i would end up throwing all their stuff out and telling them they're crazy.

We had church this morning. Did i mention Daniel is teaching a sunday school class? I'm really enjoying it. Well, we both are actually. Daniel has a gifting for teaching, and i don't. It's a win win, hahha!

This afternoon was so lazy and laid back......exactly what we needed.

We're having homemade pizza tonight.

Here's our menu for the week:

Monday: leftover pizza using this
Tuesday: *new* recipe Chicken Curry
Wednesday: leftover chicken curry
Thursday: Salmon, saffron rice, broccoli
Friday: TPW  Drip Beef sandwiches

Also, sidenote....both of our parents are have left us. Daniel's parents went to Hawaii for the week, and mine went on a cruise to the Bahamas. Funny that we weren't invited to come......ha. But we do hope that they have a great time!!

hope your weekend was fun!!

love
laura

For Reals...

I've missed you!!!!! for real though. I've missed not blogging!!! I haven't blogged since last Saturday, which is truly a crime.

Last Saturday after our very-hard-for-some-reason 5 miler, i went to a wedding shower for my friend Carly. Like me and Daniel, Carly met her love overseas. I love Carly! She's someone who will do anything for you and is one of the most sincere people i know.

Here we are:

Opening presents (which totally makes me want to get married all over again! To Daniel, not someone else, ha)

I had SO much fun at the shower. I have to be honest, i was worried, because Kirk and Carly were the only people i knew, and you can't really hog the guests of honor the whole time. But i sat at a great table with a few other girls and one older lady that was a hoot and a half!!!! She kept us roaring with her blunt comments and unabandonded joy.

After running a ton of errands, Daniel and I went out for our Valentine's dinner. We went to a restaurant we'd never been to on the lake. I was SO psyched about being able to watch the sunset over the lake.

Well, we did have a great table,but  it started getting cloudy while we were driving. So we didn't catch the sunset, but it was still fun to just watch the water.

Not sure why i'm deer in the headlights, ah well!

We lived it up by getting an appetizer. While this may look like a lot of food (totally is), we had no problem devouring it!

I ordered the halibut.

Daniel got the trout.

While we love The Biggest Loser- we don't want to be eligible for it, so we did take some of our food home.

Here are some highlights from the week:

Monday, we went to a friends house from church. We had a dessert with fresh blueberries. Now, i'd never had a blueberry before. I'd convinced myself they were gross because whenever you see them in pancakes or muffins, they always look gooey and wet. But to be polite, and because we were guests, i ate all of them!!! And much to my surprise, they were SO good!!! I'm not to the point of wanting to buy them myself yet, but good to know that i can totally eat them.

Our friends also broke out the Wii while we were there. At this point in my life, i had NEVER played Wii or been around it. But we played  (Wiied??) bowling, ping pong, and swordfighting. I wasn't really good at the ping pong, i kept hitting the ball way off the table. I didn't really care though, bc i was just excited to make contact with it, ha!

Also, i sword fighted against their 4 year old. 4.years.old. She kicked my tale!!! It was so not even close! But i loved every minute of it!! Not sure if we'd ever think about getting one, because honestly i don't have 5 minutes to read or sit down, so not sure where the Wii would fit into my schedule.

Tuesday: TBL. I was hurling insults at the Black Team the whole time. This whole child/parent dependancy thing kills me. Cut the cord. Make them stand on their own two feet. People who throw weigh ins are immediately added to my "i don't like them" list. Okay, the list might only have people from TBL, but still....

Wednesday: We had church and we are starting new Wednesday night classes. I signed up for a Parenting class. Before you think anything (NO.), i'll tell you the why.

A. I have a lot of respect for the lady who is teaching the class. She has the experience, and i've seen her parent.

B. I don't think i'll have another opportunity like this before we have children and why waste it?

C. I want to be able to interact when i'm around children that aren't my nephews. Sometimes i kind of freeze around them, because it's new territory. So hopefully i can learn from people who've already done this and get some good pointers.

(sidenote: i was just rereading this and realized i bashed the whole parent/child relationship on TBL and then said i'm taking a parenting class...CLEARLY ya'll can see the need right?)

Grantisms:

Grant to Sarah: "Did Auntie Laura learn how to draw hearts in school?"

Grant to Sarah: "Why is mommy's doctors office next to the children's museum?

Sarah: "I don't know, that is just where it is."

Grant: "That is how God must have wanted it to be."

Precious!!!!

Seriously, i'll write more later when i'm not distracted and can focus on what i'm actually writing.

love

laura

Our Week

I had no idea what else to title this.

Monday. It was Valentine's Day. We decided that since we were just coming off of both our birthday's, anniversary, and Christmas, we didn't need to spend any money on gifts. We chose to just have a nice dinner instead. With out crazy weekend last week, we knew Monday was going to be busy, so we decided to celebrate today (Saturday).

We did have a nice meal though, lasagna asparagus, and garlic bread. I know 2 other couples that had asparagus for V day too. I'm now calling it the vegetable of love.

Daniel doing dishes.....

Sarah and i were talking about V day and how almost every married couple we know just stayed home and had a nice dinner. While i would've loved to blow tons of money and do it up big, it's just not realistic. We had a great meal at home and enjoyed our evening together. Even though i'm totally excited about tonight's dinner...we're going to a new restaurant on the lake. I love scenic places to eat.

Daniel's schedule was a bit different this week, so we didn't see each other at all on Tuesday. So I took the opportunity to get in 4 miles.

Last night, we were just supposed to eat dinner, hang out and go to bed early for the busy weekend we had ahead. Then i decided i would do our taxes....because it's easy right??? ummm no.

We're still trying to figure things out, but for some reason we're owing a little under $3000 right now. I was really upset about it last night, because we're really confused and let's just say.... we don't have $3000 just lying around. And with some other things we're trying to do right now, it's not the best timing. After all the confusion and anger subsided, we knew that Father would provide. Somehow. We didn't get a massive check in the mail today or anything, but we trust that He knows our situation, future, and finances. We're going to try and figure things out next week to find out the final number and what the heck went wrong. 

So that kind of put a damper on our already crazy weekend. But i woke up this morning with a pretty good  attitude about it. I think it's partly that i have zero control over this and so at this moment, there's not much i can do. I'm just continuing to pray.

I was going to talk about running, but can't think of much to say. This morning we ran 5 miles. It was a really hard run. I didn't eat anything or drink much before we headed out and i felt it. Lesson learned...hydrate and get some carbs in me first. I was able to keep my pace, but i was ready to walk at mile 1. I kept giving myself little pep talks, so i was able to finish. No matter how bad my runs are, i still love the feeling i get when i finish. The feeling of accomplishment and knowing i just did something good for my body and my health.

Speaking of recovery drinks......i love a great glass of chocolate milk right after a run. It's insanely refreshing! Well, I just got addicted to this:

I got it at Central Market last weekend. The problem is that to feed my new addiction i have to drive 3 hours. It's "skim" choc milk but has double the protein and half the sugar. And my fave part is that it tastes like regular whole milk.....yum yum yum!

After breakfast of sausage (the healthy kind) and eggs, we're doing some errands and getting things done. I have a wedding shower this afternoon for a friend, then we're having some pics taken, and then dinner. We're hoping to hit the hay early tonight cos tomorrow is pretty busy too.

Sorry i don't have much else.

Hope everyone is having a great Saturday!!

love

Laura

Crazy Weekend Rewind

Well, we were busy. So let's get to it....

I took Friday off. I'm a firm believer in taking vaca time. If you have it, use it.

Daniel and I were speaking at my dad's churchs' Valentine's Day Banquet about missions. I had extra time so i figured i'd curl my hair. It's in desperate need of a cut, so when it's straight it just looks dry and bad. So i embraced the curl.

I think somewhere deep inside i want to look like Shirley Temple.

We grabbed chick fil a, then hit the road. We made amazing time and were able to hang out with the fam for a bit before going to church. Sarah, Mike, and the boys were in town which made it extra fun. Grant is 4 and says the funniest things. I know most parents always think they have the best kid, but seriously, he really is the funniest kid ever.

And ummm no i was so caught up in the quality time with everyone that i hardly took any pics. Ah well, the memories are in my heart right? ha.

The banquet hall was decorated really nice with tons of flags everywhere. And the food was sooo yummy!!! Mike actually ate my chicken fried rice while i was speaking, so i had to get another one. BIL's.

Oh look my dad's taking a pic of me.

I'm sure ya'll are thankful to be here right now.

There's the happy couple! Can you tell i'm nervous and sweating profusely? no? Good, cos i'm totally not. Cool, calm and collective-that's so me right before public speaking.

The night actually went off without a hitch, except for when i was setting up the next topic we were going to talk about, and then blanked. This is when i look at Daniel, and say "Go ahead." We're such a good team.

We had a great time sharing with people and answering questions. We're pretty passionate about the subject and can talk about it forever.

Saturday morning i was up by 6 so i could go do the 5K with my friend Jen. I did not realize the temp was going to be below freezing when i packed for the weekend. Sooooooo i froze. ah well, you burn more calories when you're cold....right? Don't tell me if that's not true.

It was a beautiful morning for a race!!

Perfect conditions for hypothermia.

Look at me! My curls still look borderline okay!

We walked the 5K (Jen doesn't run). But walking gave us more time to talk and catch up. Since we were there so early, we got a few good hours in to chat. Which with us is barely scraping the surface. We're both quality time and require several hours of chat time when we see each other. It's one thing i love about our friendship.

After the race i headed back to my parents to hang out. It ended up being a BEAUTIFUL day. WOW!!! We sat out on the back porch watching the boys play. This is when Grant asks Uncle Dan to teach him science. He has his paper and marker all ready. Daniel proceeds to tell him about how water is formed and also about chlorophome. After Daniel finishes his lesson, Grant says "Okay, so what do i write down?"
Then he asked him to find him a frog and teach him about it. Easier said than done.

Hanging out on the porch was prob my fave part of the weekend. After being cooped up for a couple weeks indoors, it was amazing to be outside in the sunshine and just watch the boys playing.

The 4 of us young'uns went to Central Market to A. feed my Good Earth tea addiction and B. show Daniel what makes Texas great. hahaah. Seriously, why does Oklahoma not have an HEB or Central Market???? I'm sure i embarass Sarah everytime we go there, because i keep saying things like "Oh my gosh they have a gluten free section!!!" or "Look at the organic foods!!!! Look organic!!! woooooooowwwwww!" Then Sarah always says "you don't have this in Oklahoma?" I roll my eyes and tell her to never take the fresh produce for granted. Seriously, the fresh bread section alone........

After a quick early dinner, we got back in the car to head back to Oklahoma. Daniel's new Sunday School class started this week so we needed to be at our church.

Sunday was also pretty busy.....

Church, grocery shopping, then our church's Valentine's day banquet. oh.my.gosh. amazing!!!!!!!!

The Zambian vocal choir was our entertainment and i loved them!!!! They were funny and so fun to listen to. And i also had my first ever sopapilla. Bless them. Mine had enough cinnamon and sugar to put me into diabetic coma, but waste not :)

That was our weekend!!! Next blog :V day and running. Get ready!!

love

laura

Quick preview

Just a preview of our weekend.......

I took today off. I mean the idea of working more than 3 days a week....sheesh. too much i tell ya.

I spent the morning cleaning and doing odds and ends. Daniel is on his way home and we're going to Dallas for the night. We are the "entertainment" (i use that word very loosely) at the Valentine's Banquet at my dad's church tonight. The youth are fundraising for their summer mission trip, and we were asked to come and speak about missions.

I'm really nervous, but not sure on why. We've both spoken lots of times, but for some reason tonight i'm like uhhhh what are we going to say????

Then, tomorrow i'm getting up EARLY to go meet my friend Jen in Grapevine. We are doing a 5K to raise funds for International Justice Mission, which is an agency that works for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation, and those who are violently oppressed. I'm pretty excited to be a part of this and spend time with Jen. It's really a win-win.

After than i'll head back to my parents to hug, kiss, and play with Grant and Ethan. The whole fam is coming up and i'm excited! Even though Saturday afternoon we have to head back to Oklahoma. It will be short but sweet!!

We need to be back for Sunday, because it's the kickoff for our new Sunday Schools and my one and only, Daniel is teaching a class. He's been preparing for a while, so i'm pretty excited about it. I did tell him he's not allowed to get sick, because if i have to take over a Sunday, we're all going to Ihop, ha!

THEN, Sunday afternoon we'll grocery shop for the week, then go to our own church's Valentine's banquet that the youth are also fundraising for their mission trip.

Then our weekend will be over. While i'm excited about everything we're doing and the opportunities, i know i'll be ready for bed Sunday night.

Have a great weekend!!

love

laura

Weekend rewind and everything else

I know it's Wednesday, but we've been busy. But we're both home today bc of the snow. We only got a few inches, but they were expecting us to get 10 so everything closed just in case. I'm off on Friday so I'm REALLY hoping to be off again tomorrow but it looks doubtful. Doubtful, very doubtful (name that movie!)

Last Friday i got out of the house for the first time in days. Nothing like a shower and make up to make you feel like a woman again, ha!

We went to a friends house to play games with 3 other couples from church. Sadly no pics :(

We played Catchphrase and Apples to Apples. Catchphrase is one of my all times faves, i don't really ever tire of this game. This was also my first time to play the Apples game. We had a great night just hanging out, having fun, and enjoying conversation. Everyone did give me a hard time about blogging/twittering. At one point during the game, our friend Mike stopped the game and asked if i need to go tweet about it. Funny.

Anyways, we did have a great time and enjoyed being out of the house and seeing friends.

Saturday was an interesting day. It was a day where everything went wrong, we were both annoyed, and nothing seemed to go right. We finally seemed to clear things up and get on the same page before going to bed. But the whole day i think we were both just wanting to get back in bed and start all over.

Sunday was church. Because of all the snow we just had big church. That night we went to a friends house to watch the Superbowl. If i haven't mentioned it yet, i am a huge Packer fan. My mom's family is from around there, and all of us have followed the Pack for years. I do have a cheesehead. So we were all pretty excited that they were in the Superbowl.

I made a new dessert and loved it. It was SO easy and yummy! They're called No Bake Smore Brownies. yum yum!

I got the recipe from here.

Here are a few pics of my family in all their gear for the game:

(Sarah, Grant, Ethan, Mike)

Sarah showing off her Packer spirit!

Mom and Dad!

In case you've lost connection with the outside world....we won!

Sidenote: Dad fell last week on the ice and landed on his back. He refused to go to the dr's. Sunday night he felt something pop in his ribs that started spasming. He ended up in the ER on Monday for a couple of fractured ribs. They put him on muscle relaxers (to stop the spasming) and pain killers. I'm glad he's okay but i did give him a lecture about not being so stubborn and going to the dr's when you're in pain!

Yesterday was supposed to be Day 1 of half marathon training. But it looks like this outside.

I haven't ran at all this month. I'm hoping to get a Sunday afternoon run in and then hopefully find some consistency once the snow finally goes away.

Monday night we made TPW's Beef with Snow Peas. We loved it!!!! I would've cut back a little on the soy sauce, but other than that, i will def make this again!

I'm currently reading Laura Bush's Spoken from the Heart. She writes a little differently so sometimes it's hard to follow, but i have learned more about the 9-11 attacks that ever. She has so many good stories of people reaching out and so much more detail that you hear on the news. I'm hoping to finish it today.

We watched TBL last night. Arthur....what were you thinking?!?!?!!?!? He is just plain crazy And i think he needs to buck up and start losing the weight and stop making excuses over and over. Also, i felt really bad for Q's wife after all those promises he made to her last week. I totally think he deserved to go home, but i felt bad for her that he didn't keep up his end of the bargain.

Also, i think i've gotten spoiled with all this time off from work. By the time i got home monday night, fixed dinner, cleaned up the house and stuff, it was time for bed. I was annoyed that i didn't have a few hours to read, ha! It felt so weird to go from reading every day and having time to catch up on things, to be rushed again and trying to get it all done!

We're having chicken tortilla soup for dinner, and i can't wait! Now off to find something to eat for lunch!!

Did you watch the superbowl?? do you have snow??

love

laura



Snow Day-take 4

Finally, something to talk about other than snow. But p.s. it's snowing right now, and expected Sun, Mon, and Wed of next week. I'm convinced i'll never work or run outside again. Although tomorrow the high is warm enough for me to run, not sure how navigating the neighborhood streets will be???

So, yesterday Daniel went to work and i stayed home. Cleaned out my closets and caught up on my reading.

I thought i would probably be working today (Fri), so wanted to cook again last night. Have mercy the food was uber delish!!!

I made oven fried parmesan chicken, roasted potatoes, and steamed broccoli.

Look at that chicken!!!

I ended up pounding my chicken a little bit to make it cook faster...about 40 minutes on 375. The garlic/butter drizzle on top made it SO moist!! yum yum yum!! AND those potatoes...while pretty basic was my first time to make them, and the red pepper flakes were an excellent choice.

I might've patted myself on the back after dinner. I was mostly proud because i just looked in our pantry to see what we had and ended up cooking this, AND i always love finding new recipes that we both enjoy so much.

Anyways...the true hi-light of my day, was this!

I got the Nook Color for my birthday, and wanted to find the perfect cover for it that would protect it and also be pretty. Enter Oberon Designs!! 

I LOVE this cover. I love that when my nook is inside, it really looks like a journal, so less likely to be stolen?? Anyways, love. love. love.

(the shirt reflection on the Nook is for you- TPG :) )

Daniel and i played Scrabble last night while watching The Princess Bride. He won. Moving on.....

This morning i chose this for my coffee cup...you do what ya can, ha!

Happy Friday!!

love
laura

Nothing new

This might be a boring post. I don't know many times you can say "hey we've got snow and we're sitting at home" and it still be interesting.

But here goes.....

I found out early Tues afternoon that i would be home again on Wednesday. Not too shocking because nothing had changed and no one could get out if they tried. Daniel was off work too. There might've been a few times yesterday when i would look straight into his gorgeous blue eyes and say "I hope you have work tomorrow." ha! kidding. It has been fun to be home and just really relax.

I had cleaned really good over the weekend, so other than a few laundry loads and making dinner we didn't have a ton to do. We did spent a lot of time watching from our window the crazies trying to get out. Car after car would try and get out of the parking lot, and just end up spinning their tires or get stuck half way and have to leave their car. Crazies......

We did watch Jaws 2 last night. The whole Jaws series is one of my faves. Just classic TV i tell ya. We almost watched Groundhog Day, because unlike most people, we both actually really like that movie.

One thing i think is weird (and maybe i'm just uninformed), but people in Texas, even South Texas are losing power or having rolling power outages. It's weird because our temps are actually much lower and our lights haven't flickered once. Is it bc there are more people in Texas? Seriously, i'm asking...it's confusing.

I'm off work again today. Again, not shocking because nothing is melting and we still have tons of snow. Daniel went to work and it took him 25 minutes just to get out of our apartment complex. He said the roads were still pretty bad and worse than he expected. I'm hoping that means i'm off again tomorrow. He has a big car (suv? truck? what do you call a Durango?) and mine is little, so if he had problems, that means i should just stay put :)

Here are pics from this morning....

I was talking to Sarah this morning and said "Ok, well i need to get dressed and ready... and by that i mean i need to change into a fresh long sleeve shirt." These are the huge decisions i've been making lately...black sweat pants with blue long sleeve? Grey sweats with grey hoodie?? ohhh the options are endless!

I have no clue what i'm going to do today. I'm currently reading Laura Bush's Spoken from the Heart. I just started it, but so far it's pretty good.

I've gotten addicted to the Good Earth Red Tea...which they don't sell in Oklahoma. Luckily my mom loves me and volunteers to feed my addiction by visiting Central Market for me in the great state of Texas.

It's like Christmas in a cup. And with all the snow...it's pretty much perfect.

I also got this text from Sarah yesterday:

(Grant is supposed to be napping.)

Grant: I'm scared wasps and bees will come into the house and sting me.

Sarah: No Grant, they won't come in.

Grant: Can you pray for it? (Bless him for turning to prayer!!! love it!!)

Sarah: Dear Lord, I pray no wasps and bees come into our house.

Grant: You forgot to pray that they won't sting me!!!

Priceless.......

Sorry this post is lame and random....but I haven't left the house in 3 days, you work with what you have :)

love

Laura

Snow Day-Take 1

Yes. My prayers have been answered. I am happy. All because there is snow on the ground, and i'm at home with a day off!

Let's recap shall we?

Monday night we had blackened tilapia, orzo pasta, and green/red peppers. oh my.

We finished our night by watching Day After Tomorrow. We thought it was fitting, ha!

We found out yesterday that we both wouldn't have to go to work today. Some of us wanted to sleep in. Some of us wanted to rest on our day off. Somewhere among the confusion and excitement of the snow day, Daniel missed that memo. He was out of bed by 6:30, and i grudgingly followed close to 8. I really wanted to sleep in because i was so tired, but i was also really worried about losing electricity, so i kept waking up in the middle of the night to listen to see if our humidifier was still on. Not sure what i would've done if the power had gone out, but still.

The temp's were in the single digits all day with wind chills staying right at 15 below. yes, 15 BELOW zero. I'm so thankful for our heat. I prayed a lot last night.

Here is what we woke up to:

What's weird is that bc it was so windy, the sidewalks were actually pretty clear and in some parts you could see the grass. All 77 counties were considered a state of emergency. Everything on the news is calling this the big Blizzard of 2011. We offically got about 10 inches of snow. Some of the snow drifts are a few feet high.

Here's my lunch: grilled cheese, orange, and 2 cookies.

It's so hard not to eat ourselves out of house and home. We're not used to being home so much so we have to be really careful. I kept reminding myself today that if i wouldn't eat 'something' on a normal day at work, then i didn't need to eat it today either. And i calorie count like a crazy person.  I'm pretty impressed with our self control so far. But again, the night is young ha!!!

Here are a few more pics of the snow:

Daniel ventured out to take a few pics....

The snow is actually up to his knees here.

Can ya'll see how high the snow drifts are??

We pretty much spent the day watching the news and making fun of the people trying to get out and drive. You'd be amazed. Daniel also taught me how to tie a butterfly knot. I'm officially cool now.

( yes i am my wearing old gross sweats.)

Dinner tonight was Zuppa Toscana....totally hit the spot!

And guess what? We're off again tomorrow. I think we'll end up working Thursday but we'll see.

Tonight's agenda? Watch TBL. that's it. I'll prob shower tomorrow. Notice there are no pics of me on here. :)



love

laura