thoughts + photos = a blog post

You know that commercial for Zyrtec? "Are you muddling through allergy season?" YES, YES I AM! I thought for a few days I was getting bronchitis or strep, and then it hit me. I have allergies. Spring is great and all; but when you literally live in a forest and that forest is begging to turn a lovely shade of puke green with pollen, you then can relate to those allergy commercials.

Today I realized that I really should have taken Mother's Day much more seriously as a kid. Being a mom is no joke and I am pretty sure that what ever I did for my mom for the past 23 years was certainly not enough to thank her for all she did. I guess this is one of those things you learn when you become a mom yourself, along with a lot of other things.

I'm not trying to pat myself on the back (ok, so maybe a little), but I really hit the meal planning out of the park this week. We have had a good meal every night and we haven't had to run to the store once! Hopefully I can do it again next week.

As these pictures depict, every night one the way up to take a bath, Ryan helps Nora climb the stairs. She is getting the hang of it, but I don't think I will have to worry too much about her doing it solo just yet. But she does think it is pretty cool to pull up using my shirt or the end of her changing table. I think she may go straight from crawling to walking.

"I got this dad."

"Um, I have the answer teacher!"

"Do you think we could get some of this installed in my crib?"

7 Questions? Link UP!

So I decided it would be a cool idea to link up for something totally different today with Gentry Lee for the 7 questions link up!


I realized after answering the questions, I am extremely indecisive and so I apologize in advance, but at least you get to see that side of me?

So here go guys! Grab the button, and the questions and join the link up too!


Funny PHOTO!
Yes, this is my dog Sox! He is a regular star around here. Today he makes the funny photo for world's messiest rice eater. Seriously Sox? Do you have to sling rice two feet in the air?

1. It's the first day of August- Are you savoring the Summer or ready to jump into Fall?
This is a tough question. I love summer and soaking up the sun, but sometimes I would rather it NOT be 100 degrees outside, If 'na wa I mean? {that is slang for "if you know what I mean"}. I think I need one more month of pool times!

2. You need a quick and healthy meal, what do you make?
Black Bean Burgers and Baked Sweet Potato Fries! My fav, Fast, and healthy!

3. You're at the mall, how do you shop?
I head straight for my favorite stores and browse. Then find the store with the best picks that season and buy it all! {Gap, Loft, Old Navy}

4. Would you rather buy a new house or renovate an old one?
Oh gosh! I would really want to renovate an old one to get the charm and to be able to put some cool touches to it, but I love some of the new homes too! I guess renovate if I had unlimited $$$!


5. Long hair or short hair?
I like super long hair, or pretty short hair.
I have had both recently because I cut my hair for locks of love.

6. Who is your oldest (not by age) friend?
My oldest friend is actually now my cousin by marriage and is also getting married this Saturday!! WooP WooP!! :) We became best buds when we played basketball together in middle school and we have stuck together ever since!

7. What is your favorite blog- currently?
This is a super tough question, but I guess I am really loving Jennifer over at One43 Blog
She is seriously so sweet, genuine, and I have made every recipe she has posted and they are all fabulous! She also is a really great yard sale shopper! You would be missing out to not be blogging buds with her!

Friday Randoms

Glad you're here!
Glad it's Friday!!
Do you have big plans?
I have been looking forward to the weekend all week!
Oh wait, what is new ;)

I'm coming at you with a post full of random tid bits, some information interesting, some funny, some cool, some not, some sweet, some great, some far off, some present!

So, go on catch up on life around here!  :)



~ Our best and most wonderful friends from Raleigh, Nate and Jenny are coming into town to visit us this weekend and I am about to burst with joy! We havent seen them since their weeding and our other friends weeding which was in July so it is about time!

~ I worked Cow Appreciation Day Today and I am not really appreciating the cow or Chick-Fil-A right now actually. It was the craziest busiest day I have ever worked in my life. I left with a headache of a lumber jack and never want to see a cow again! :) If you dressed like a cow, WE LOVE YOU! It was just a mad house in there!

~ I am convinced that the people who live above us wear those wooden shoes from Holland when the stomp around in their apartment. It shakes our light bulbs!

~ I blogged about the best summer invention ever over here this week! {It involves Ice Cream}

~ Mine and Ryan's 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY is on the 17th! Only a few day's away! He has written me a letter each day! We don't have huge plans, but I think it will be a wonderful anniversary none the less!

~ My best friends wedding is just 3 weeks away!! Cant wait!! :)


So there you have it.
I know there is more.
There always is, but I guess I should go get ready for our friends and spend time with the Hubs!
Have a great weekend friends and I'll try to get some pictures from our weekend!!
xoxo
~C

Happy Saturday Loves

Just wanted to stop in and wish you all a Happy Saturday!!!

It's 100 degrees here today so we are trying to stay cool and I hope you are too!!

Have fun!!!

We have some fun stuff coming at you this week!

A Home Tour

My Famous Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe!!!

Ryan the Duck Whisperer

AND MORE!!!! 

Silly, Quirky Confessions

So I was thinking that you might like to get to know me even better!
And what better way is there to do that than for me to "confess" to you some little secrets.
They are mostly funny and some well slightly embarrassing but I trust that you enjoy these that is why I share.

~/~

I am obsessed with HGTV.
I will watch every show on that channel even yard crashers {even though I think it is silly}.
My favorite show is house hunters. Sometimes I will watch it back to back to back... oops

I can't spell!

Every time I type recipe, I spell it recipie!

I used to spell does, dose. Yeah, pretty bad right?

Ever since our friends threw an end of the year dance party I have been hooked on Dubstep.
{If you haven't heard of it, it is basically top 20 songs remixed with a better beat and some cool sounds!!}
I also have regular solo dance parties to this music while I am cooking, driving, getting ready, etc... do you have a mental picture yet?

My running shoes... THEY SMELL.

I have to soak them in Oxy Clean regularly to get the smell out. 
I don't know why they smell, but everything I have tried does not work.

I have an obsession with vacuuming.
When we lived in an apartment with carpet, I would vacuum anywhere from 3-5 times a week!
I just love to see the canister full of dirt! Then I know my floors are super clean!

I talk to other drivers. 

I tell them what they are doing wrong,

 how little I think of their skills, and sometimes I ask them if they got their license at K-Mart. 

 sorry if that was every you ... ;)

I am semi-repulsed/grossed out by the movies ever since I read an article about what scientists found when they did a culture of the seats. {YUCK!} 

Now I will only go to really expensive fancy ones. 

Bummer right? 

I am a terrible story teller. 

If it weren't for my husband, my jokes would make no sense, my stories would leave people completely confused, and well I would probably still be trying to tell stories. 

So those are just a few of my quirky confessions. 

I hope you don't judge me, just find me all the more interesting. Right? 

Ok, so maybe not but lets hope.

We all have those things that makes us uniquely you!

What are your quirky confessions?

Weekend Review and the Countdown Begins!

It's about time we get a little positivity around here right?
It sure seems like I have been miss Debbie Downer lately and for that I apologize.
School work has sure gotten the best of me, but I think it is about time to take the changes to look at things on the bright side.

So, we are going to do a Countdown and Weekend Review to get this LAST WEEK OF COLLEGE CLASSES EVER started off on the right foot!

{Weekend Review}

Lets start with the food!
You may have read my previous post where I talk about eating a preservative free, all natural diet. {check it out here} Well Ryan and I have decided after much research to eat a more plant based diet. We are not going to be considered vegans, but lacto-ovo vegetarians. That means you don't eat meat, but you do eat dairy and egg products.  We will see how this goes, but we are very certain that there are many health benefits from eating a more plant based diet.

So with that said, we cooked a pretty tasty meal on Saturday Night!

Basmatti Rice, Balsamic Mushrooms, and Broccoli with Parmesan

All Natural Pear Pastry with Maple Syrup, Oats, Nutmeg, and homemade pie dough!

Ok so maybe the food was the highlight of my weekend really.
I spent most of my time at the library on Saturday and Sunday, but....

DRUM ROLL PLEASE!

I can't wait!

All that stands in the way are:

One 30 minute presentation on the company Caterpillar

One Paper

Several 90 second speeches for the Innovation Showcase

One hour long presentation to our client for the practicum

A Networking Dinner

A final in purchasing

and...

I AM DONE

I am going to cross them off as I do them!!!!

Happy Monday Y'all!

Pictures + Thoughts = Randomness

So thankful to see Thursday come this week. Usually I am not one to wish weeks away but I sure am glad to see some relief from this sickness.

Mean while there has been some fun, like last night when Ryan and I got soft served ice cream cones from Dairy Queen! Yum!

And how about today when I was walking on campus and ran into this hanging mess of inch worms! There where inch worms having everywhere! I had them all on me! (ick)

What is a week with out an up date from the pup if the family? Sox is doing fabulous! He is sporting some pearly whites from his latest dental cleaning and has been into squirrel and bird chasing these past few weeks.

Oh and I'll admit it, I am into The Hunger Games now. A little late I will also admit but just in time to finish the book before I see the movie with my Mom in Saturday! My mom also gave me a book all about dog stories which I live because I love dogs (as if you hadn't noticed haha).

Happy almost Weekend!

Ups and Downs and All Arounds

I can barely believe that another week is coming to an end so soon already.

This week has not been as amazing as last week, but when I look back on it there have been some pretty funny highlights and interesting events.

Yesterday Sox had had his teeth cleaned, which is much more of a fiasco for a dog than for a human. It was an all day event. He was put to sleep and everything, which makes for a quite comical dog. When he came home he staged a sit in at the dog bowls because he was so hungry, and doctors orders were to only give him 1/2 his usual amount of food, which he was not crazy about. He also was a slobber drool baby and could not figure out where to lay down. I think he getting back to his normal self today, thank goodness! Still a little sleepy, but what is new!

I gave a presentation in a class this morning with some other classmates, and despite a rather large misunderstanding, our professor still gave us a 92! I was quite alright with that!

In other good news, Ryan is moving on to the final round with his job opportunity! We are so thankful and are praying for good outcomes!

The down of the week has most certainly been my unrelenting migraine that has now been around for 4 days. If had time to just sleep and take medicine for one whole day then I might have gotten over it in 1 or 2 days, but life goes on and so the migraine lingers. I am just praying that it goes away soon because I can't take it much more. If you have ever had one before you know what I am talking about.

I am really excited about this weekend because Ryan and I are going to a Theological Development Seminar at our church Vintage 21 this Saturday morning which should be really good. The topic is on marriage and I am always eager to learn as much as possible to make our marriage the best possible. After the seminar we might even get to go get a special lunch!

I am going to try to get lots of homework done with weekend so that graduation will come even faster and maybe we will do something fun with some friends!

Oh and the Wolfpack play on Friday! GO STATE!

Read my Ramblings

Words cannot begin to express how ready for the weekend I am!

This week has been insanity!
I would go into detail, but you too may experience some level of pain just reading all that this week has consisted of.

As for the bright side:

Today I got to get lunch with a dear friend of mine, Ellen!
She is such an encouragement!
We ate and just shared about all that we have going on in our lives right now.
We are going to try to start a running plan to encourage each other and do one long run a week together!
Sounds fun, right?
I  am very excited!

When I got home, I inevitably got on Pinterest...
and found this:

Which made me think about how lunch with Ellen was my something good in my not so good day.

I guess my last little highlight to the day was that Ryan and I finished buying Nate and Jenny's wedding gift for Jenny's shower this weekend {which I am really excited about}.

I would say what we got them, but if Jenny were to read this, it may spoil the fun.

As for excitement to look forward to for this weekend?

I get to see my grandparents tomorrow night!
Hopefully we will get a cute picture at dinner or something so I can share it with you!
Their Wedding Shower on Saturday
And planning for Sacrificial Spring Break on Sunday!
{I can't wait to share all about that in March!}

I am looking forward to family, friends, relaxation, running, quite time, sleep, and of course some good food!

Happy Thursday Night!

My Random Thoughts on this FRIDAY Night

Wow! I thought it would never come.

I was actually walking the dog on Wednesday afternoon thinking about how at every point in our lives we feel like there is some point that seems like it will never come.

Some times it is Friday which is only 3 days away and others it is July which may be 3 months away!

I thought I'd just talk about some random stuff today.

I mean RANDOM!

First off!

ONLY 100 DAYS

until our best couple friends get married!!

Nate and Jenny are the best 2 people you will ever meet!

We are so excited to be celebrating with them in May 

{and I have the honor of making their wedding cake}

We love y'all!

Ryan had to work tonight :(

So my awesome brother and I went to eat together and got some fro-yo after! 

He is so great!

{Should have take the pic before it began to get soft}

This is a really "Pinteresting" Picture of my favorite meal these days.

{Just thought I'd share}

Maybe I should pin it!

Avocados and Feta cheese, can't go wrong!

So I was in target on Thursday night

{Real Shocker I know!}

And I so happened to stumble upon the marshmallow section.

The advancements in this area are phenomenal!

Let me list just a few of the types you can now buy: german chocolate marshmallows, mint chocolate swirl marshmallows, cinnamon bun marshmallows, falt marshmallows {for smores}, Jumbo marshmallows, Marshmallow bits, NEED I SAY MORE?}

Finally I wanted to display my wonderful, awesome, thoughtful Valentine's Day gift from my Hubby.

When I got it, it has super uplifting Bible verses all tucked in spots and hanging from the necklace hooks. 

So thoughtful!

One more thing!

I GOT A BUTTON!

Grab one if you would like!

<center><a href="http://happylifeyounglove.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src=" http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/q615/ClaraHodgin/button120x120.jpg"/></a></center>
Random Right?

I hope everyone you had a good week! 

I am read for a relaxing weekend, and I know you are!