November 2nd & 3rd Thankful

Since I'm posting this pretty late in the day I will go ahead and post yesterday's and today's thankful thought.

November 2nd -- I am so so thankful for an amazing Home Group. Ben had been attending the Village Church in Denton prior to us getting married, but I attended a very small church in Dallas. After we were married we started attending The Village in Flower Mound. There are not enough amazing things to say about this church, but it was a little overwhelming for me because I went from attending a church where I know EVERY SINGLE person, so attending a church where I would walk in and out without knowing a soul. Needless to say we were both really wanting to join a smaller group to have a sense of community within the church. Lets just be real honest here....small groups can be hit or miss. We have both had our fair share of interesting/not-so-positive experiences with small groups, but definitely wanted to give it another try. We joined our Home Group right before the summer and could not be happier. It is absolutely the perfect fit and I could not be more thankful for such an amazing group of people to share my life with! Every time we meet this feeling is reinforced and last night was no exception.

November 3rd -- Today I am super thankful for my amazing mother-in-law, Karen! Both her and my father-in-law, Tony, are some of the most generous people you will ever meet and they have been so wonderful to me over the past 3 years. My thankfulness for Karen has just increased over the weekend and week because of her amazing willingness to go out of her way to help me. Thank you so much Karen for all you do! I will never get tired of tortilla soup, thrift store finds, protein bars, starbucks tea or any of your other fabulous gifts!

Karen and me in Grand Cayman!

Be Thankful Challenge

November is such a fabulous month!! For starters it is my birthday month! It is also the month of crisp Fall days, Starbucks Christmas cups, deer hunting (hopefully a trip to Paducah, TX), the Turkey Trot and one of my very favorite holidays and time spent with family...THANKSGIVING!!

Yesterday Tina started the "Be Thankful Challenge" and I'm going to join. I've always been an overly optimistic person my entire life, but ever since I entered the "real world" I have become a little bit pessimistic and I don't like it. Hopefully this challenge will help me to look at all of the things I should be thankful for and turn me back to the super positive person I used to be.

I'll be posting something at the end of each day. I'm a day late, so I'll post something now for November 1st. 

November 1st - After a weekend trip to Austin to run the Run for the Water 10 mile race (recap to coming soon), I am beyond thankful for the legs God gave me to run and run well.

My 1st Half Marathon

Daily Dose of Sweet

I still owe everyone a post on why I've been so preoccupied the past couple of months and I intend to get that up by Sunday. I promise! Right now I'm working on getting all the pictures together from 2 different cameras and 2 different iPhones. We were a little unorganized (still are) during the preoccupation (is this a word?). Just so you know that we (Ben and I) are still alive and well, here's a pic of us at the playoffs of the Grand Prairie Air Hogs reppin' Baylor. The playoffs happened to be the same night Baylor played TCU and they both won at the EXACT same time! It was a fabulous night!!

Sic 'em Bears and Go Airhogs! 

(Sidenote: the Airhogs went on to win the league and are the CHAMPIONS!)

You may be wondering what the heck the title of this post has to do with the above. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! What this post is dedicated to is my sweet and talented sister, Christie. Oh look, there she is now!

Christie and her talented photographer husband, Taylor

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been slammed at work. We have had a few big events that I've been working on, one including 22 people from out of town staying at by boss's house. Can you say Cah-ray-zay?!?! This particular event included making gift bags for each visitor as well as making sure we had a cake for the dinner going on the night they arrived. Lets just be completely honest and say that these two things didn't really get put on my "crucial" list until a couple weeks before the event. With everything else going on, aka trying to figure out where everyone would sleep and arranging how they would get from Indiana to Dallas, the airport to the house, the house to the office and the office to Austin, I just hadn't really thought about it. 

Of course, we wanted to give everyone a big Texas welcome with fabulous gift bags that had a Texas theme. Lets just say that most of the Texas trinkets and gifts out there are a little cheesy and quite frankly, junk. Things were kind of getting down to the wire and I needed something fast. I have no idea how it escaped my mind (oh yes, I do, did you see the list above?!), but I finally thought of cookies in the shape of a boot or Texas. This is where my sister enters the picture --- 

Christie is an amazing baker. You can check out her blog over at dailydoseofsweet.com. Not only does everything she makes taste incredible, she is an absolute perfectionist and everything she does looks incredible too. Immediately, there was no question in my mind, if she could, she was doing the cookies. Thank the good Lord that she is such a sweet sister because with only about a weeks notice, she said YES to doing the cookies (2 each for 24 people) and a cake to feed 50 for the party. SHE IS AMAZING! 

The best part about asking Christie for help is that I never have to think twice about her work. I knew I would pick everything up and absolutely love it! These are the directions I gave her: 

Cookies: shaped like a boot, decorated like a boot 

Cake: Snickerdoodle to feed 40-50, just write Keller Williams welcomes Southern Indiana, you can just write it. 

And this is what she presented me!

Then, as my boss was eating the leftover cake for breakfast the next morning, she asked me to get a cake for a party they were having the next Thursday at their house. Again, with very little notice, my sister did a fabulous job! 

What can I say?? I love her!! Saves my butt and does amazing work!! Clearly I am no photographer and these are all iPhone pictures, so mosey on over to her blog and check out her fabulous work and her husband's fabulous pictures of it! Love you, Chris! 

Ps - here are a couple of other things she has done. One for a baby shower and the other for our Papaw's 80th birthday party. 

Still Here

I know it's been forever since I've posted, but Ben and I have been a leeetle pre-occupied. My "leeetle" I mean I feel like I haven't had time to breathe in the past month! One day a couple of weeks ago, I even had trouble staying awake on my way home from work (5:30 pm) and immediately took a 10 minute nap when I walked in the door. If you know me, that is super weird!

Since I've been gone for forever I just wanted to drop in and let you know that the blog is still here and I fully intend on catching you up on all the things happening in our lives. We shouldn't be AS pre-occupied in the next couple of weeks. Just so you get your fill of the married and the healthy of this blog I have something to share with you from each.

First the married - I found this quote the other day while browsing pinterest, my unhealthy obsession. I am absolutely in love with it! I must say that I think marriage is probably the greatest thing EVER created! I have had soo much fun over the last year with Ben. I'm not saying things have been perfect at all, because they haven't. We have had our fair share of doozies, but I have learned so much from him. Before I get too sappy, I will just share this quote and let you know that it describes so many things I have learned and am still learning.

"He's not perfect. You aren't either, & the two of you will never be perfect. But if he can make you laugh at least once, causes you to think twice, & if he admits to being human & making mistakes, hold onto him & give him the most you can. He isn't going to quote poetry, he's not thinking about you every moment, but he will give you a part of him that he knows you could break. Don't hurt him, don't change him, & don't expect more than he can give. Don't analyze. Smile when he makes you happy, yell when he makes you mad, & miss him when he's not there. Love hard when there is love to be had. Because perfect guys don't exist, but there's always one guy that is perfect for you."

-Bob Marley 

Oh this just makes me smile! It describes perfectly what I feel like I have learned and am still learning in the last year with Ben. I am still learning a lot, but the one thing this quote portrays that I feel like other girls/ladies/women also struggle with is showing your true emotions in every moment. Ben is an open book and I love getting to watch his expressions in all situations. There is no need to be "mysterious." Love is just so much better when it is honest and pure.

Well that is my shpeal on that...on to the next, health --

I have led an active lifestyle since what feels like I was born. I played many many sports growing up and after graduating from high school and foregoing sports in college, I took up running. I love running, but it's just not something I can do day in and day out. It might be a possibility if I could always run outside in beautiful weather with beautiful scenery, but lets get real, I live in Texas! It's freaking hot right now!

The past couple of months I have struggled with keeping it interesting and fun at the gym and was getting sort of frustrated that my motivation was lacking. That is definitely not a problem now! Gina posted her Summer Shape Up 2011 about a month ago and although I followed it loosely, I loved it. Well, now I'm ready to see some major changes in my body and have started up again from Week 1 and am absolutely thrilled with how I feel. It is 4 weeks long and never gets boring. I am so excited for the next 3 weeks!

See you soon! Can't wait to update you on all that's going on!

7-11

Yes, you do get free slurpees at 7-11 on 7-11, but there is a different reason why I love this day so much....it's my wedding day!! I was hoping to get this post up yesterday, on my actual anniversary, but the day was filled with fun with my hubby (and some work too).

Happy 1 Year Anniversary to my very favorite husband, Ben!! I really wish we could do our wedding and all the days leading up to it all over again. The other day, our pastor at church was relating something to a big wedding that you never want to leave where everyone dances all night and it's like a big reunion and that is exactly how I would describe our wedding day. It was the most fun and best day of my life! 

Getting our dance on!

THRILLER!!

To celebrate one fabulous year as husband and wife, Ben and I had an early morning date to OLD WEST. It's a small cafe with good 'ole home cooking. I honestly just love the place for the atmosphere and I'll occasionally get a seasonal pancake. Ben is more into the food, but I did surprise myself and got something other than egg whites. 

Ben's breakfast quesadilla 

My spinach, onion and mushroom egg white omelette

Holy moly-- that omelette was HUGE!!! I thought going the healthy route they wouldn't make the omelette near as large, but it was ginormous! I maybe ate half of it and my cup of fruit and I was FULL until about 1:30 PM. 

We both had to go to work, but the day absolutely flew by. Before I knew it it was time to race home to get ready for our hot date. I even splurged and bought a new dress on my lunch break! 

Isn't he handsome?!

I had no idea where we were going until we were half way there. Ben surprised me by taking me to the place where we went on our very first "date." He considered it a date....I was really in the mindset that we were just "hanging out," but I fell pretty fast. 

See the Happy Anniversary! at the top?!?!

I still remember Ben asking if I wanted to hang out one night and then texting me, "What's your favorite restaurant?" I replied, "McCormick & Schmick's, but there's no way we're going there." He was pretty good at wooing me and took me there! 

Next on the agenda was our VERY VERY VERY favorite place!!!!

:)

How could you not LOVE a place with that many homemade flavors of ice cream??

We had a fabulous day and night and I am so so thankful to be married to Ben. There is no one in this world I have more fun with and I truly married my best friend. 

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!! ONE YEAR DOWN, 50+ TO GO!! 

So glad we finally starting dating! 

PS- this picture was taken when I still qualified us as "hanging out!"

Light & Summery

Life has been pretty busy lately for Ben and me. Before last week it had been probably a month or so since I was able to cook and we sat down for a meal together at our own place. It's been killing me, (1) because I get real tired of eating out real quick...even if it's at someone else's house...and (2) because I love cooking and trying new things. I made a new rule with Ben that every time I cook something we need to put it on our "keeper" or "eh" list. The keepers I'll write down so it's easier for me to decide what to cook in the future. And so when we have a family, I can put them together in a family cookbook!

Things are finally starting to settle down, so in an effort to get organized and save money, I made myself sit down on Sunday and put together a menu for the week. This made making a grocery list so much easier and helped me stay on track and not make any (ok I made one...ice cream of course) impulse buys. During my lunch break on Monday I was looking over my list and menu and for some reason nothing was jumping out at me to cook. It was such a hot day and I just wanted something light, healthy and summery. So I started googling and this is what I found....

Chicken & Summer Vegetable Tostadas

Not only did this look delicious, it features lots of vegetables! I immediately started re-working my menu to include this recipe. After becoming besties with my cashier at the store, I couldn't get home fast enough to start! 

HUGE SUCCESS!!! Not only was I in love, but Ben love it too! I was a little nervous about him liking it with all the veggies, one being onion which he is not a fan of at all. I guess it didn't matter because he even went back for seconds!! 

Whoops! Took a bite before I remembered the picture!

This is a KEEPER!!!!

Chicken & Summer Vegetable Tostadas

Source: Cooking Light 

Ingredients: 

• 1 tsp ground cumin 
• 1/4 tsp salt 
• 1/4 tsp black pepper 
• 2 tsp canola oil (vegetable oil also works) 
• 12 oz chicken tender breasts 
• 1 cup chopped red onion (about 1) 
• 1 cup fresh corn kernels (about 2 ears) 
• 1 cup chopped zucchini (about 4 oz) 
• 1/2 cup green salsa 
• 3 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro, divided ( I didn't have this on hand, so I used parsley) 
• 4 fat-free flour tortillas (I used whole wheat) 
• Cooking spray 
• 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese 

Directions:

Preheat broiler. 

Combine first 3 ingredients, stirring well. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the spice mix evenly over chicken. Add chicken to pan and saute. Add onion, corn and zucchini to pan and continue to saute until the chicken is done. Stir in the salsa and 2 Tbsp cilantro. Cook until the liquid almost evaporates, stirring frequently. 

Arrange tortillas in a single layer on a baking sheet and lightly coat with cooking spray. Broil 3 minutes or until lightly brown. Spoon about 3/4 cup chicken mixture in the center of each tortilla. Sprinkle with 1/4 of cheese and continue to broil until the cheese melts. (I skipped this) Repeat with remaining tortillas. Sprinkle each serving with about 3/4 tsp of cilantro and serve. 

YUMMMMMM!!!!! :) 

Splish Splash

....I was taken a bath!! Does this song remind anyone else of "You've Got Mail?" Gosh I love that movie!

Anywho - I hope everyone had a fabulous Memorial Day weekend! Quite frankly, I didn't really want to come back after our weekend. We took off for a much needed weekend with college friends and I had a blast!

Ben's roommate, Cale, makin' his move ;)

We (me, Ben, Brenda & Landon) took off after work on Friday to meet 7 of our closest friends at Lake Granbury. Colby, another one of Ben's roommates, has a lake house that we frequently visited while at Baylor and has a special place in my heart. This is where Ben and I really first hung out (not dating) and where we went while we were on our way to dating and then, where we officially started dating. Needless to say, a lot of flirting went down at this lake house!! 

The lake house is somewhere it's pretty hard to get a workout in, but I was determined to stay on track. So after hanging out 'til 2 AM on Friday, I got up around 8 AM and headed out for a run. I didn't really know where I was going and actually got lost at one point, so it wasn't the hardest run I've ever done, but it was a good 30 minute workout and I was shweaty since it was about 101....ok maybe just 85 degrees outside. 

This is what I walked in on when I thought I was going to bed on Friday night. Two hours later my bed was finally ready for me! 

Unfortunately, the lake was super rough and we didn't get to do any tubing (my absolute favorite). We all soaked up plenty of sun and cooked out on Saturday night before the boys got into an intense game of poker. The girls decided to rent a movie, but the sun totally sucked all the energy out of us and we all ended up falling asleep about 1/4 of the way through. 

Ben at the beginning of the game....

Ben in the middle of the game! P-p-p-poker face!

I woke up around 8:30 AM on Saturday for a 45 minute hike filled with lots and lots of hills. I noticed many times while out on the lake how totally ok I am with just laying around. Something I am definitely not ok with at home, so it felt good to get in a good sweat every morning. Here are some fun pics from another day spent soaking up the sun...."I'm gonna soak up the sun. I got my (12) on so I can rock on!"

I love my boo

Ladies - he is single and he's got dance moves!

So she didn't go to Baylor, but I met her while in college and I love her like I love my college friends!

Kappa Sigma true love

And after this, disaster struck....while we were packing up the boat to head back, all the girls piled into the front while the guys got things in order in the back. Because we just love each other so much, we all just stayed in the front for the ride back to the house...bad idea. I was on the edge of the seat and was holding onto the gap in the windshield. Like I said, the water was super rough. We hadn't been driving too long when we hit a bump (aka wave) and with my back to it, the lose flap of the windshield flew shut and found my hand as it landed. OUCH! 

This doesn't really do it justice, but this was the day after. 

I was in a whole lot of pain the rest of the night, but I tried not to let it show because we were heading over to Colby's parents' new house for a wonderful dinner. The homemade ice cream with chocolate sprinkles made it all (for the night) better. 

I took another hike, this time for a little over an hour, on Monday morning before getting back to the lake house to pack up and head home. To add to the exciting weekend, I almost stepped on a snake on my hike. For about the 2 seconds I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking, I missed the fact that a snake was in the road. I literally came inches from it and my body froze before I decided I would just carefully walk about it and hope it didn't follow me. Thank goodness it didn't!

 Although it was a bit of an uncomfortable ride home, my hand kept swelling and falling asleep, it was a FABULOUS weekend! I can't tell you how much I've missed these sweet sweet friends. For some reason there's just nothing like the friends you make in college. I'm not saying that we haven't made wonderful friends after Baylor, we have, but these particular friends just know me like no one else. Definitely a much needed friend love fest for Ben and me!! 

Sic 'em Bears and thank you Baylor for the wonderful friends!!