So much to do, so little time!

This post's title is in honor of my AWS schedule (alternative work schedule).  In a pay period (2 weeks), I work 8 nine hour days and 1 eight hour day, and I get one Friday off.  Before I started this schedule, I thought my days off would consist of sitting around and watching tv and not doing anything.  Yeah right.  Now my days off are more busy than any other day. I always make myself a to-do list a million miles long.  I actually started my chores tonight because I have so much that needs to get done tomorrow.

My office had a bake sale today to raise money for our annual picnic.  I donated some snickerdoodle pinwheel cookies, but I forgot to take a picture.  I split the batch into 2 plates, and one sold for $6, and the other sold for $5 so I'm glad someone bought them!  I got nervous this morning worrying about if anyone would buy them or not.  There were lots of tasty looking things.  I wanted to buy something, but I knew that if I bought anything, I would eat it all!  Plus I feel stupid buying things that I can make myself, especially because baking is the one kind of cooking that I can actually do! 

Also, I started using MyFitnessPal on Tuesday, and now I'm counting calories.  I was really not aware of how many calories I was eating before.  Really I tried to just ignore that part and eat whatever I wanted.  No longer.  Exercising is not enough, so I am now watching what I eat.  It has been a hard adjustment over the last couple of days though. I am used to eating more, so I am kind of hungry!!  I know that will get better and I need to learn to make better choices on what I eat.  I am trying to make it into a game to see what I can still eat and not go over my calories.  For instance, I have eaten out every night since I started and been able to stay under my goal.  Today I wanted cereal for lunch, so I actually got out the measuring cups and measured how much cereal I was going to eat.  I can promise that was the first time that has happened!  I was actually eating much more than I should be just by filling my cereal bowl all the way up.  I'm doing better about learning how much you should eat, but I'm sure I have a lot more to learn!

I'm hoping to stick with it (I realize it has only been a couple of days) and be at my goal weight by my birthday!

10 things- always playing catch up!

I promise I've been intending to write a post in the last month, I just never got around to it.   Blogging was always on my to-do list, and pretty much never got crossed off.

1. Since my last post, I've been going to the gym pretty regularly.  I usually go to a Zumba class at 9 am on Saturdays, and then 2-3 other times during the week, I go and work out on the machines.  Usually I do the elliptical, but it just depends on what is open and which tv screen I think I can see without my contacts!  :)

2. I'm also taking suggestions for good workout tunes!  I tried to use stuff that I've already got on my phone, but what I think sounds good at home usually hasn't worked out to be good for the gym.

3. I went to volunteer for the Arkansas Rice Depot.  That was a different experience!  Apparently every time you go, the job might be something different.  On my day, it was chiseling (like with a chisel) 1500 pound blocks of frozen rice into family sized servings and packaging it up to go to food banks.  That was crazy.  I've never seen so much rice in my life!  I'm going back to volunteer again in a couple of weeks, and I'm excited to see what job I get then!

4. My church had a family life picnic with an Olympics theme.  There was a cookie/brownie contest, and this was my entry, chocolate chip thumbprints:

The frosting was Nutella.  They were pretty good, if I do say so myself.  However, I didn't win a prize.  I never win anything in the baking competitions at church.  :(

5. This picture is the most ridiculous thing ever.  We were doing a three stooges race at the Olympics. 

Basically, myself and two friends had our legs tied together like a three legged race.  I realize that this picture is not good at all, but that makes it more funny.  Our sandals kept coming off, so we had to run barefooted- which is not something I really like to do.  We won the first race, but lost the second one (really bad!)

6. I went to see a new doctor last week, and I absolutely loved her.  If any of you in Central Arkansas are looking for a new doctor, I'll give you the info.  I did have to wait about 6 months for an appointment though for a new patient.  Apparently it is not that bad for existing patients.  I actually spent about 45 minutes with the doctor, which is rare.

7. The other day, when my friend Lyndsey was in town, we went to get frozen yogurt, at my favorite- Orange Leaf.  You must try the cotton candy flavor if you can!  I promise- it sound gross but is super delicious.  Anyway- I went to pick her up, and no joke- I had to wait for 4 geese (does that could as a gaggle???) to walk ever so slowly across the road, stand in the middle of the road to poop, and then walk slowly to the other side.  Keep in mind that this was right smack in the middle of Little Rock.  I felt like I was in the country or something.  ha!

8. My sister turned 8, and I got her this giant balloon.  It was almost as big as she was!

9. I will not be able to ring with the rest of my bell choir at our next performance because I will be on a trip.  So I have been acting as a sub for anyone who is not there that day.  Tonight I played my old bells in the back row, and I had to have moleskin for my hand.  Playing in the front row (where I am now) is turning me into a wuss!  Never ever did I do this when I actually played there every week.

10.  This is the best one.  So yesterday, I went to Sams to get some medicine.  While I was in the checkout line, I saw this giant box of popsicles that have flavors like Root Beer, Dr Pepper, and Hawaiian Punch.  My sister loves the Root Beer ones, and I'm thinking I will like the Dr Pepper ones, so I got a box.  120 popsicles for like $7?  Sold.  Then tonight I was looking at my receipt, and look what it is called on there.

Um yeah.  So who wants some Freezer Barf?

Friday randoms

1.  Today was my Friday off (I have every other Friday off), and I am starting to realize that these 2 extra days off each month are reaking havoc on my bank account.  I usually have a to-do list which involves running errands- which involves shopping of course.  Today's big purchase occurred at The Limited.  However, I did get 3 awesome tops.  Good day.  Ask me when my credit card bill comes in if I'm still feeling that way.

2.  I got a massage yesterday, and I actually have 2 giant bruises on my shoulders/upper back.  Have you ever had that happen?  Is it normal?  I like deep massages, but this was pretty painful!  I've never ever had bruises before after a massage.

3.  A Marshall's store opened yesterday in my town.  I'm not impressed.

4.  I joined a gym today and I'm going to try out a kickboxing class tomorrow with my friend Louisa.  I'll let you know how it goes.  They also have Zumba classes so I'm hoping to check those out too!

5.  I got a big urge to update my resume today.  Maybe a new job is in my future?  haha.  I updated it just in case since I had not updated it since I got my "new" job a year ago.  I'm not actively looking for a job, but I guess you never know when you will hear about an attractive opportunity.

6.  I had a coupon for some free chickn minis today from Chick fil A.  Score!  They were awesome.  I love those things and wish they would sell them all day long!

7.  I may or may not have bought a ton of funfetti cake mix and marshmallows at Target in the Easter clearance...

8.  I bought some new orange nail polish the other day.  I'm still not happy with it. I don't know why I can't find the orange I like in salons at a store.  Anyway I now have orange toenails and purple fingernails.  Is that a fashion disaster?

I think that is probably enough rambling for one day!  I'm off to fold laundry and then go to church to make greeting cards.  Yes, I'm an old lady.  :)

Up From the Grave He Arose!

Y'all- that is my favorite Easter song ever and we did not sing it yesterday!  As a result my sister and I spent about 3 hours yesterday singing it... and I've had it stuck in my head since then.

Completely unrelated to most of this random post.

I made some spinach pea risotto the other day.  It was ok.  I probably won't make it again.

My sister didn't want to eat dinner, so I served it up snack style and it was gone lickety split.

I did not win in my NCAA bracket tournament.  Sad day.  Ohio State- you let me down.

I made a Greek layered dip- similar to a seven layer dip- for a retirement party at the office.  It was also ok.  There have not been very many culinary masterpieces from my kitchen lately.

Some stupid squirrels ate the wires to our air conditioner and it was 90 degrees in my office the other day.  We don't have windows that open, and it was so hot!  It looked like hillbilly nation in there...  I had my pants rolled up like Huckleberry Finn, my hair pulled into a ponytail, and no socks.  The guys with dress shirts on were walking around in undershirts.  It was disturbing.  It's a good thing I didn't have any meetings scheduled that day.

I bought this bird shirt at Old Navy, and I had someone tell me it looked like keys and someone else say it looked like chicken legs.  Random.

I found out that you can regrow green onions by putting the white part in water in a window and it can grow indefinitely.  I figured that it couldn't hurt.  This picture was about 3 days in.  Now they are about 3 times that tall!

I got this creepy fortune at a Chinese buffet that now is affectionally called the Magic Trees.  It looks to me that the restaurant had some random concrete support posts in the dining area, and just turned them into random trees inside the building.  It is weird.  But whatever.

It was a busy weekend.  Friday after work I got to see my friend Lyndsey and her family.  We took Graham for a walk and had a nice little chat.  Saturday morning was the Easter children's festival at my church.  It was fun and then I went to lunch and Walmart with my dad and stepmom. haha!  Exciting stuff.  Then I went to my grandmother's house for Easter dinner with my mom's side of the family.  My favorite thing to eat there was asparagus casserole.  yum!  Sunday morning we played handbells (5 songs) in two services and then I had to hurry home to finish the Twix cake I was making to take to lunch at my other grandmother's house.  The Twix cake was also just ok.  I think it was just too much.  The crust was shortbread cookies, then a brownie layer, then a caramel layer, and then a chocolate layer.  I came home and went to bed at 4:45 pm!  I was worn out!  Also a family at my church bought an Easter lily in honor of me.  That was so sweet and I definitely was not expecting that!  It's the little things that mean the most.  :)

The second half of March

I have been a bad blogger.  :)

I've just been so busy that I haven't even had time to blog.

This is partly caused by this little thing called March Madness.... I'm actually in 2nd place (with the potential to win) in my little tournament pool.  I'm super excited- even though I don't know a lot about any team other than the Razorbacks and all my preparation for my bracket consisted of was watching College Gameday for like 2 hours!  Anyway- I've been watching all the games and cheering as hard as I can for my picks, and I'm pretty sure it's helping. Ha!  Anyway, all the sitting in front of the tv watching basketball put me behind in all the other things that needed to be done, and so I was staying up way past my bedtime!

I was a committed fan.  I even watched the games while I had my oil changed and ate lunch.  :)

I posted this pic on my facebook to ask for advice- and I thought I'd try here as well.  I have kind of wavy hair naturally, but when I dry it with the hairdryer, it gets mostly straight.  Anyway, this was a day when I kind of let it do its own thing.  Any suggestions from the blog world?  I was mainly looking for styling tips or product suggestions.

I finally got some of the new Toms ballet flats- and even in the pattern I wanted!  I tried to order them online but they were sold out of my size in this pattern.  Then on a whim I went to a local store that sells mainly outdoor clothing items and they had some- although turns out I needed a different size than I originally thought.  I have had a lot of pairs of Toms in the past, so I thought for sure I knew what size. ha!  I'm glad I got them in the store instead of online so I didn't have to worry about the hassle of returning them to get the correct size!

I've been on a hunt to get a whole new wardrobe.  Unfortunately, that has not worked out...  I went to practically every store in Little Rock.  I only ended up with those shoes above,  a pair of capris from Old Navy, a shirt from Dress Barn, a bra and sunglasses from Target, a shirt from Limited, and a headband from Forever 21.    Hardly a whole new wardrobe.

This past weekend was crazy busy.  First off- this pollen is crazy.  I went on a walk/ short run through my neighborhood on Saturday morning and my lungs felt like they were on fire.  I haven't sneezed and blown my nose so many times in as long as I can remember when I wasn't sick.  I went to 2 baby showers on Saturday afternoon and evening- one for my sorority sister Elizabeth and baby Granger and another for my friend Ashley and baby Avery.  Sunday we celebrated my dad's birthday- which was actually a few weeks ago.  This is becoming a bad habit of late birthday celebrating...

I can't wait for the rest of these basketball games to see what happens!

No Gas?

Today I took some leftover food (crockpot chicken tacos) over to my mom's house so my brother, mom and grandmother could help me finish them off.  I'm just not really into eating the same dish for a million meals in a row, and I'm also not very good at cooking for just one.  So the leftovers must be shared!

Anyway- on the way home I was like, oh man I'm almost out of gas!  I'll stop at this Shell station right by my house on the way home.  So I get there, and all the pumps say out of order.  I was like ok, well that's weird.  And then I went to the next (and only one before I get to my house) gas station, Phillips 66.  So they have signs on all the pumps that say "No Gas."   What the heck?  I called my dad (who watches the news) and apparently a valve on the pipeline broke and there is a shortage in central Arkansas.  I finally found some gas at a Kroger a little ways down the road, but I had to wait for ever.  Remember how I was running low on gas... yeah.  I had to turn the car off because there were so many people there.  I waited forever in my strategic spot.  This lady had been there a little while ahead of me, and we were facing each other both waiting for a chance to get gas.  She was giving me the evil eye the whole time like "Don't you steal my gas!!"  I mean, do I look like a line jumper to you?  I was patiently waiting my turn with no intention of dashing in front of her, especially since my car was OFF.  And then she put on her blinker, I guess in case I was confused on why she was sitting there??  :) haha  Anyway I finally got some gas and they say we should get the supply replenished by tomorrow afternoon.  I think this is the first time I've gone to a gas station where they were completely out of gas, and I know it is the first time that I've had to go to three different stations to get gas!

A few randoms and a wedding

I have become addicted to pinterest.  It's my new favorite place to find recipes.  I found this one where you shape cinnamon rolls like hearts before you bake them.  Mine could have used a more distinct point at the bottom, but they still tasted great.

Thursday night before Cherry's wedding, there was a storm and the power went out.  I went out and wandered around Target (because- you know, they have a light in their bathroom and all that) and when I couldn't find anything else to look at, I drove through Chick-fil-A and got dinner.  A smart person would have stayed at the restaurant and eaten their dinner where they could actually see their food, but I didn't think about that until I was already at home.  So- I had a romantic candlelight/flashlight dinner by myself in the floor of my bedroom.  Ha!  And if you know me at all, you know that I like to eat with operating room style lighting- I like to see what I'm eating, so this was not super awesome for me.

Friday night we had the wedding rehearsal.  The actual wedding wasn't until Sunday but someone else was getting married on Saturday so we couldn't have the room then obviously.  I made Cherry a ridiculously tacky rehearsal bouquet.  She asked me if the white thing was a loofah.   Seriously- who puts a loofah in a bow bouquet?  It was made of all bows from her shower and bachelorette party presents, along with a plate and napkin from her shower.

Since her wedding colors were red and gold, we had a hard time coming up with something blue for her to wear.  I found this cute idea on pinterest, and one of the other bridesmaids did this for her on the day of the wedding when we were getting ready.

I saw lots of old friends!  And I didn't get to take a lot of pictures because I was busy running around doing miscellaneous things, so I can't wait to see the pictures that the photographer took!

She had a wardrobe change halfway through the reception (of course when I was finally trying to eat some cake) and I snapped this picture of us in the hotel room.

I caught the bouquet.  Funny story.  So all the girls were so hesitant to try to catch the bouquet.  We practically had to drag everyone up there.  And then I was telling people- I'm gonna fight for this bouquet so get ready!  haha!  So she throws it and it goes really high in the air.  I tried to jump and catch it and totally missed and it hit me right in the face!  I hope the photographer got a picture of that and doesn't think I would be offended because I think that is so funny and totally something that would happen to me.  AND- then the do the garter thing, and guess who catches it- my ex-boyfriend who was the best man.  I was the maid of honor and I told her that whenever I get married, I'm having all of her ex-boyfriends in my wedding party.  :)

This is me and my friend Louisa re-enacting the bouquet toss.  And I look like I have zombie eyes and she was totally trying to hit me in the face.  We had a crazy time- and all I had to drink was Coke and sparkling white grape juice (not together- that is gross).

Here's me with the newlyweds!

  And the messy cake table- not sure how we got it so dirty!

We had a fun time and everything went perfectly.  Well- except that my face was twitching the whole time from when I started walking down the aisle until the wedding was over.  I hope I don't look crazy in all the pictures!!