Glitter

So the other day I went to wal-mart with my mother in law because she needed to get some prescriptions filled.  She doesn't much like driving herself to places so she elected me to be her chauffeur.  After the prescriptions were filled and we turned around to leave she saw the Christmas decorations (insert heavenly music).  This woman LOVES decorations for everything.  In fact, I don't know anyone who has more decorations than her and yet she continues to buy more every year.  So of course we had to look at them.  She wanted to buy all new ornaments for her tree, but I reminded her that she did so last year and so instead she just bought a few new ones.  As we were in line buying our things I told the checker that I would bag the ornaments because she wanted it done a particular way.  Several of the ornaments had glitter on them and they were all on the more fragile side.  As I was bagging the ornaments I looked up to see the checker guy brushing the glitter off of his shirt so I started laughing and said to him, 
What?  You don't want to have glitter on you all day?  and he looked at me and was like, 
"Only if it's from you."  
And I was like Oh, uhh HAVE A NICE DAY! 
hahaha It was so weird to get hit on because it's been soooo long since anyone besides Jared has done that.  I don't know, I guess being married I just don't think about stuff like that.  I notice if a guys cute, but I don't check them out like I used to and I don't ever expect anyone to hit on me.  But if was funny.  When I told Jared about it he said I probably flirted with the guy first because he was a milk chocolate black guy and anyone that knows me knows that I love me a black man, hahaha.  Well, at least this means that I still got it goin' on right? hahaha I just couldn't believe that he hit on me right in front of my mother in law!  And the funny part of that?  She had no idea what had just happened, haha I love that woman!

The Challege

I had the opportunity to take a last minute trip back to STL a couple of weeks ago.  My dad just called out of the blue and told me "We want everybody to come home this weekend for some family pictures, so get a flight and I'll reimburse you." (or something along those lines.)  Um, hells yeah!  Who says no to a free trip?  So I found a flight and flew out on Friday morning.  My brother and Grandma Pope flew in the next day and it was just a fun filled family weekend. :)  Friday I just hung out with my family, we went up to my dads office and I helped clean it and then we went home and watched a movie and my dad bought a 50 chicken nugget meal at McDonalds.  Yes.  They have a 50 piece chicken nugget meal.  WTH?  It comes with the chicken nuggets, 2 large fries and 2 large drinks.  It's so much food!!!  But I was very amused that they actually sold something like that.
On Saturday I went shopping with Jason, my mom and my Grandma for something to wear in the family pictures.  We found some really cute sweaters at Old Navy that won us over and took forever decided on which colors to get for who.  I never knew buying a sweater could be so difficult!  But we all looked super cute in our pictures. :)  
We went to Dewey's for dinner that night.  Dewey's is this little pizza joint that has the BEST pizza on this planet.  My favorite is called the Dr. Dre.  It has ranch dressing, cheese, chicken, jalepenos, green peppers and fresh tomatoes.  Delicious!  I absolutely have to have it every time I go home to visit.  After dinner we headed down to the lake house that my parents bought a few years back.  I've never been there during the summer/fall, only winter so I was really excited that I got to see the lake all pretty and everything green.  On Sunday we took more family pictures and then my brother had to leave.  :(  So sad he only got to be with us for one day, but I'll take one day over none!  Monday everyone went to work so I hung out with Kristin and my Grandma.  We walked around downtown Kirkwood and had lunch and did some window shopping.  Then Tuesday I came back home!  

OH!  Hold on!


I totally just left out one of the funnest parts of my trip.  On Monday night for FHE we had dinner out by the pool and swam, which was really fun b/c I haven't swam in that pool since before I was married.  KP, Alyssa and I were acting dumb and goofing around and when we were done swimming we decided to all take a bubble bath in my mom and dad's jacuzzi tub.  :)  BEST IDEA EVER!  Alyssa filled up the tub with water and added some bubbles and we were kind of bummed b/c the bubbles weren't that high.  Well, I decided to turn on the jets for fun and all around us the bubbles started growing.  They were taller than our heads! haha it was so awesome! :)  I just loved being able to act like a kid again and play with my sisters because I really don't ever get to do that.


So onto the reason why this post is entitled 'the challenge'.  While I was visiting my mother and I were talking about how we've both gained weight that we want to lose.  So I challenged her.  Whoever loses the most weight by Christmas wins.  But we had to make this interesting so that we would actually adhere to the plan.  In years past we've done little losing weight 'contests' but we always lose interest and forget about it quickly after we start.  So the 'entry fee' if you will is $200 and whoever loses the most weight wins the pot.  My dad decided to join in so the pot is at $600.  So I'm excited b/c if I win that means I have an extra $400 bucks in my pocket!  But at the same time, if I don't win, I don't really care b/c either way I'll still have lost a bunch of weight.
So here it is, 11 weeks until Christmas.  I want to lose 10-15 pounds.  I think I can do it... wish me luck!

Ice-mares

Last night we had the missionaries over for dinner so I made my yummy pulled pork enchiladas with mexican rice, corn and homemade guacamole with tortilla chips.  They (of course) loved it and I have two more checks on the list of people who love my enchiladas.  Seriously, I have yet to come across one person who doesn't love them. :)  Since we had company over I thought it would be fun to get an array of ice creams to choose from for dessert.  So I got double chocolate chunk brownie, mint chip, cookie dough and cookies and cream.  Mmmm, just thinking about the ice cream is making me want to go get some... good thing I'm at work where I can't get at it!  Well, we all had a bowl, they left and Jared and I went on a walk and just kind of chilled out for the rest of the night.  We watched Community... SO glad that show is back on!  It's so funny!  Anyway, we were both really tired so we decided to hit the hay a little early.  I got ready for bed around 9 and we were both in bed by 9:30.  While I was getting ready for bed, I had to walk by the kitchen.... where the ice cream was... sitting nicely all frozen in that freezer... and I couldn't help it, I had a couple of bits of the Mint Chip.  (Hey!  It's my favorite and I don't ever get to have it because Jared doesn't like it, but he wasn't with me when I bought the ice cream, thus it's now in the freezer.)  It was soooo good!

Big Mistake.

I had bad dreams all night last night and woke up like a gazillion times.  I was talking to Jared about it this morning and apparently I had him up all last night as well.  He told me that I was talking in my sleep ALL NIGHT LONG.  Oops!  Sorry Jared!  

I guess that's the last time I'll be having ice cream right before bed! :(

New Directions

A little over a month ago I gave my notice at the job I had worked at for 4 years.  I loved the girls that I worked with so this was a hard thing for me to do.  4 weeks later I had my last day. 

Today I have been at my new job for about a week and I absolutely love it.  I now work for my mother-in-law at the business she owns that is located about a mile from my house. :)  I love that it takes me 2 minutes to get to work as opposed to the 40 min. drive that I used to have.  I love that I don't have to be to work until 8:00 am (instead of 7:30) which gives me time to workout in the morning, eat breakfast with my husband, and make him his lunch.  I love that I am done with work at 3:30 (instead of 4:30) so that I can do my grocery shopping or clean the house or water my flowers or do whatever I want and still have time to get dinner on the table between 5 and 5:30, which, I might add, Jared also loves.  I think I have cooked more in the past 2 weeks than I have in the past 2 months!  How sad is that?  

I don't think I ever realized how much stress I carried around with me from my job when I worked at Subaru.  I complained a lot, I didn't play around very much, and when I got home at night I would become this fixture on the couch that didn't move.  I just felt exhausted all of the time.  Now, I feel like a completely new me now.  Jared says I'm happier and that I joke more and that I'm just all around more fun to be around.  I love that.  I am all for this new direction that I am going. 

Shiny

When Jared and I married a little over 4 years ago we bought this little fridge from the sears outlet for our little apartment.  It's a pretty fridge and we got it for a really good deal because it had damage to the top back corner which we didn't care about since it would be hidden.  The fridge stands about as tall as me with a freezer section on the top and the fridge portion on the bottom.  I love this fridge because it's the one that we started with, plus the stainless steel and black matches our other appliances in the kitchen.  On the other hand I absolutely hate that I can't fit very much food in it and we have to kneel or crouch down to get stuff in/out.  Plus we have to do ice the old fashioned way in the trays. 
WELLLLL... this weekend I got to buy a brand new fridge.  A beautiful Kenmore Elite with french doors and a bottom freezer.  A splendid fridge indeed.  We ordered it on Saturday and will go pick it up on Thursday.  On thursday I will have a fridge with space galore.  I will squat no longer to find something I need.  No more will I have to fill those blasted ice trays in order to have a cold drink.  We will still keep our old trusty fridge though.  It's going to go out next to the chest freezer, so I can no longer EVER complain about not having enough room to put things.  :)  I can't wait!