The Big 3-0

Last week I turned 30 years old. Yes, that's right, 30. I can hardly believe it. My how time flies. I'm not having a hard time being 30 so that's good. At this point it feels the same as 29. And since most of my friends had already turned 30 it helped keep the shock factor away. But since it was a big birthday I decided I wanted to celebrate it. What better way to celebrate than by taking the day off!?! So that's exactly what I did. And lucky for me Josh took the day off too.
First stop, breakfast at Mimi's!

Wouldn't you know that on my birthday Mimi's decided to CHANGE the seasonal muffin. Really? On my birthday? Rude. Lucky for me to baker forgot about the change and made the banana chocolate chip instead. PTL. Breakfast was wonderful and after that we headed to Sephora. I have been "wanting" new perfume but since it's not a "need" I've opted not to get it. I still wanted to smell good on my birthday so I went and got myself a sample of some Escada perfume. It wasn't my favorite but I still really like it.

They give great samples at Sephora! After perfume time we headed to the revenue office to renew my DL. Let me just say that both times I've been to this revenue office I've had great experiences. I think I was in there a total of 5 minutes. It was fabulous. Here's a sneak peek...

Not the best picture. I was going to upload a better one but I'm too lazy

Next stop for the day was to the River Market. I was DYING to try the red velvet cookies from a bakery down there.

Josh and I parked the car and took a stroll through the streets.

I was very disappointed to learn that the bakery ran out of the red velvet cookies, two hours after being open, and had no plans of making more. Hmmm...really? You aren't making any more and you've only been open 2 hours? Instead you're making chocolate chip cookies when you already have a canister full of those? Needless to say I wasn't impressed with their lack of urgency to provide their customers with a best selling cookie. So, since I wasn't going to be getting a birthday treat there I took my business else where. We left the River Market and headed to the Heights.

I decided I wanted to celebrate my birthday with my faithful treat....

They did not disappoint.

Josh and I ate on them through the weekend and they were fabulous. I made sure to share with Josh so I could "watch my portions." :)

After cupcake time we went on a few errands. First we went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to use up the rest of our gift cards. We spent a while there going up and down the aisles trying to decide what we wanted. We ended up getting more fans for our apartment. Good choice because it is H-O-T outside. Next we went to Wal-mart. The best part of the day happened while we were at Wal-mart. I was able to buy my FAVORITE self-tanner!! I was out and had been looking for it everywhere! The others I used DO NOT work like this one. I LOVE IT!

Seriously, it made my birthday. I know that seems silly but it is true! After Wal-mart we headed to Sam's. We got some avocados, Josh a pair of pants and Josh bought this...

It's 2 Salsa music CDs. Ha! After making fun of him for a bit I embraced them! I like all kinds of music so I did enjoy them. Before heading home we made one more stop for some refreshment.

Ahhhhh...

Next it was to the casa to freshen up for dinner and a movie. Later on we went to my parent's house and then headed to YaYa's.

Here we are before we left.

Here we are at the restaurant.

My cute parents

Gnocchi...my favorite!

Baba ganoush....LOVE IT!

Steak and Potatoes

Chocolate Souffle...divine!

After dinner we walked around a little before the movie was supposed to start.

The only time my dad will be taller than Josh. :)

Eventually we went our separate ways because Josh and I were headed to the movie. Only the movie theater forgot to let the internet website know that since SATC2 was out it wasn't going to show Letters to Juliet. :( So instead of a movie we headed home. It ended up being a good thing because I think I was asleep by 9:30.

I had a wonderful birthday! I hope it's a good indication to how this year is going to be.

Birthday Party Round 1

When I arrived at work this morning I was greeted with some fun birthday flowers. Since I'm not going to work tomorrow on my actual birthday my friend, Sharon, brought me flowers today. They are so pretty! Very unique. They are called "Crazy Daisies" so I have a feeling I know why she chose them for me.

Here's one side of the bouquet.

Here's the other. They are so fun and I love them.

Every month at work we have a birthday lunch. After a while we realized the same people were planning all the meals so we decided to put together teams and everyone would rotate. Well today was the May birthday lunch and Team 3 was in charge.

Kathy, Kim (& Jacob, Kim's 24 week old baby), and Jeff

Team 3 did a fabulous job! I shared the fun with Michelle at work because her birthday is May 29th. Michelle and I put in a few suggestions as to what we'd like to have. And by suggestions I mean that we told them exactly what we wanted...and they delivered!

Pizza from Shotgun Dan's. Delicious!!!

It's so heavy and I'm so mad at myself for eating 2 pieces!! I was full after one and should have stopped. :( We also had a really yummy salad but I forgot to upload the photo. It was great too. And of course, for dessert,

Lemon Icebox Pie

I could seriously eat this entire pie. I just had one piece but I'm not sure I can go the whole day without another taste. I'm praying hard about it. It's just so light and perfect. Surely it has zero calories in it. If you've never had it all it is is

• 
  
  graham cracker crust


• 
  
  lemonade concentrate


• 
  
  can of sweetened condensed milk


• 
  
  and cool whip

You mix the ingredients together, pour in pie crust, and freeze until set. So easy and so good.

So far these birthday celebrations are off to a great start! Tomorrow Josh and I are taking the day off from work to hang out and celebrate my big 3-0. I will share our day of fun soon.

SWEET!!!

About a week and a half ago I had really be struggling with getting back on the diet and to stop eating so much sugar. I really wanted to slow it down but kept thinking it was pointless to try it right then because the next week would be my birthday then Memorial Day weekend so wouldn't it be better to start after that?? I went back and forth about it but then it hit me. There is ALWAYS going to be SOMETHING to keep me from eating right. If it's not a birthday it will be another holiday, or a vacation, or dinner out with friends, whatever. If I wait until the time is right (which means when it will be the easiest for me) then I'll never lose this weight. It actually ended up being perfect timing...or so I thought. Josh would be out of town so I had in my mind I'd buy Lean Cuisine and Smart Ones meals and eat them all week for dinner and it would be simple. I should have known it never works quite like that. Monday morning (day one) I am greeted at work by a co-worker delivering TWO POUND CAKES I had ordered for my mother. I love pound cake especially if it has 5 flavors in it.

Normally this wouldn't be a big deal because I could just drop them off to my mom and not have to see them. Well, it just so happened that I would be staying there ALL WEEK LONG while Josh was away. I did lots of praying and I had many conversations with myself about how I really didn't want it and I certainly didn't need it. So, PTL, I didn't eat one bite. Not one. Not because one bite would have done me in but because I knew there would be more temptations in the week that I'd rather save my "bites" for.

Tuesday I made it through relatively easy except for the occasional glance at the cake. Nothing too tempting though because the hard part was over. It really helps when I have sewing class because I'm in such a rush to get changed, eat dinner, and get to class that I hardly have time to think about eating. And when I get home its bedtime so if I hurry and get in bed then I don't have to think about the fact that I'd really enjoy something sweet.

Wednesday came along and brought 6 new temptations with it. My grandmother sent my mom some ice cream for her birthday from Graeter's.

I had never heard of it before but apparently it's pretty popular. It's such a neat gift! When I got home I wanted to bust open every one of them to sample.

I had actually anticipated their arrival and saved a few points so I could treat myself. Most ice cream I eat (low sugar or not) has around 150ish calories per half cup. Some a little more some a little less. Oh no, not this ice cream. When I looked at the nutrition content I nearly choked.

After lots of praying and soul-searching I decided that I would try it but only a few small bites. And PTL again I only had 3 small bites. I figure just with those 3 small bites I had 150 calories so that was my limit. It was worth it though because ice cream was really good!

Next up, Thursday. Ahhhh...Thursday. I actually knew Thursday was coming and had time to prepare mentally and spiritually for the day. Earlier in the week my mom suggested we go eat at Macaroni Grill. I happen to LOVE that place. One reason I LOVE that place is because they have my favorite dessert of all time, Lemon Passion. I had actually planned to have it for my birthday. So I started thinking about it. I really wanted that dessert and I knew if she and I went while I was staying with them Josh and I probably wouldn't go the next week. So I decided to go for it. I had a plan in mind. I had picked out my entree ahead of time, only 360 calories, and mom and I would split the dessert. Well things worked out beautifully. And the best part is that the piece they brought us was VERY small compared to what it normally is so I ate even less than planned. It was so good but I forgot to take a picture.

Next up, Friday. Some already know this but it has become a tradition at work that on Friday my boss buys us cupcakes from my favorite place. I was thrilled though because my boss was actually out of town on Friday so I thought we'd get away without getting any. No such luck. I get a phone call at my desk and it is my boss, on vacation, calling me and letting me know he still wants to buy us cupcakes. Oh dear. I wanted one so bad! The problem was, I CHOSE lemon passion to be a dessert that week. And to make it worse I was the one going to pick up the cupcakes. It's so hard to say no when you go in and smell their deliciousness. Well I went and picked them up and as always they looked wonderful.

And another Praise is in order because I. Did. Not. Get. One. Oh my word! I still can't believe it. Not only that...do you see the one in the middle with the Reese's cup on top? That's the one I got Josh. Well Josh didn't get home until 10:00pm so I had to look at it ALL DAY LONG. God was good though and gave me the strength to refrain. I'm serious. Without the Lord I'd have no self-control.

Saturday morning came along and I was going to meet Jill for breakfast at Mimi's...home of my favorite muffin. Again I knew this ahead of time and prepared for it. I ordered my breakfast and ate half of everything including the muffin.

I wanted the whole thing but I made myself stop. Normally if I had saved it I would have eaten it later that afternoon. Instead, praise Him, I gave it to my mom. Glory. I felt so proud of myself.

In all seriousness last week was a HUGE victory for me. My biggest battles with food have to do with me not watching my portions and eating whatever I want when "I'm off my diet." I can do really well and follow my diet to a "t" and then when I get a meal off or a day off I just eat without any thought to it. I eat what I want because it's my "cheat" day. That is so opposite of how it should be. It shouldn't matter if its a special occasion, holiday, vacation, meal out with friends, there's never a good reason to indulge so much that our fleshly desires are quenched and we;re left feeling gross and guilty. I say all this not because I've perfected it but because this is something the Lord is teaching me. I'm still working on it and I'll be working on it for the rest of my life. This week is going to be a struggle too. Wednesday is lemon ice box pie at work and Thursday is red velvet cookies and chocolate souffle. Lord, please help!

Weekend Recap

I'm a bad blogger. I didn't take hardly any pictures of my weekend. So sad. I hope you forgive me. I had a great weekend though so here's a recap.

Friday after work I was LAZY and it was great. After hanging out with my parents I went to my place where I stayed on the couch watching Dateline most of the night. It was great. In fact it's one of my favorite things to do on a Friday night. I know, I'm old. I was anxiously waiting for Josh to come home since he had been gone ALL week for a seminary class in Ft. Worth.

Saturday morning Josh and I both got up and ready for the day. He and I both had busy days planned doing very different things. He headed to our church where he would spend the rest of the day on the roof working. I headed to meet my friend Jill for breakfast. When I sat down I told her I could not forget to get our picture since I did the last time. Well wouldn't ya know, after a great breakfast and great conversation we said our goodbyes and I forgot to get a picture. Luckily I remembered as I was getting into my car so I ran over to her (scared her actually) and took a picture.

Sweet Jill

Jill is hilarious and I really enjoy getting to spend time with her. If it weren't for Twitter, Blogs, and Beth Moore we might never have met. Next time we get together I'm going to BE SURE to get our picture.

After breakfast I ran a ton of errands and got lots of things done. I went to Lifeway, Hobby Lobby, Target, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Kohls, back to Bed, Bath & Beyond, Charming Charlie, and then I headed home. It was great! I bought birthday gifts, wedding shower gifts, and spent some more gift card money Josh and I received when we got married. We were so blessed to get SO MANY gift cards that we're still using them. Our plan is to have them all used by this summer. When I got home I took a little nap and waited for my hubby to get home so we could go out.

Eventually we made our way out to eat Greek food at Taziki's. It was really good!

The picture coloring isn't that great because sometimes I get embarrassed taking pictures of my food in restaurants so I turn off the flash. :) My dinner was so yummy! And I confess, I had a little piece of Baklava for dessert. Delicious.

And no evening out is complete without a trip to Wal-mart. After dinner Josh and I did our weekend grocery shopping then headed home.

Sunday was a busy day as well. First we had church. It was my week to keep the bed babies in the nursery. I love keeping the nursery especially when there's a baby in there who will let me hold them and love on them. It was great! After church we had a short afternoon break until it was time to be back at church for a wedding shower. Our children's minister is getting married this summer so it was important that BOTH Josh and I attend the shower. Josh was one of 5 guys that were there.

I'm surprised he was able to get his big fingers in the punch cup. Doesn't he look dainty? :)

Over all we had a great weekend!! I'm really looking forward to next weekend because it's a long one. No work next Monday. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Bullets Are Back

• Apparently when constructing a garment that is reversible you can't use your sewing machine to sew on the buttons. You must sew them on yourself, by hand. Had I known this I would have picked something that didn't require 8 buttons. I wasn't good at sewing on buttons before but I'm pretty good at it now.
• If you go to www.daveramsey.com you can enter to win a $1000 drawing that takes place every day. There's a grand prize drawing of $10,000 on May 27th. I'm praying I win it on my 30th birthday. If you enter and win its only right that you share some with me since without me you might not have heard of it. Just sayin.
• I started a Bible study about Ruth by Kelly Minter a while ago and I'm still doing it. It is sooooo good. I love it! I just read that Beth Moore is going to use it for her online blog Bible study this summer. You should so get involved. For details go here. You will be blessed by it.
• Lately I've REALLY been craving diet cokes and diet dr peppers. I haven't had a diet beverage since January. At first it didn't bother me but lately I just want to buy a two liter and never come up for air. I know if I take one sip I'll want another sip and another sip and another sip. It just isn't worth it to me...at this point.
• I'm really into buying my sewing patters on Etsy. I find myself searching through them all the time. I just love all the cute things I find. And most of them are really affordable. I have a few I'm eyeing right now so as soon as I get some extra moola I'm going to snag them.
• I'm really sad about all the oil in the Gulf. I've been so looking foward to our family vacation this summer and it sickens me to think we might not be able to go. Please Lord, clear the oil! I love going to Orange Beach. It's like a second home to me. There's no other place on the planet that soothes my soul like it does.
• Allergies, PLEASE GO AWAY!!! You are no longer welcome! I thought you would have gotten bored with me by now and left but you keep hanging around. You're rather annoying and I don't do annoying.
• Why does money have to stress me out SO MUCH?? With crazy dentist bills, and seminary, and car payments I'm just stressing all the time. It's ridiculous. Sure money might be tight but there's real poverty out there and I need to get a grip. I hate thinking about it all.the.time. God will provide. HE ALWAYS DOES!
• I'm really trying to cut back on all the "crime scene" shows I watch. Since we don't have cable the only channels we get are local ones and we all know those are full of the crime scenes. I love to watch them but they scare me. Especially Criminal Minds. I refused to watch it last night. Serial killer gets his targets from Facebook and Twitter. No thank you!
• It's going to be warm and sunny next week. That's great but I guess that means we're going to have to get our AC cranking. As of now I think we've only turned it on a couple of days. Summer is here so I need to get used to it.

Weekend Fun

Josh and I had a great weekend!! We started it off by meeting some of our favorite friends, Todd and Jenny, at PF Chang's. We were there to start celebrating Jenny's 30th birthday a day early. We had a great time. Josh and I always like hanging out with these two. Since Todd is a minister and Jenny is a minister's wife Josh and I have lots in common with them. Not to mention Jenny and I have been friends since I moved to Little Rock in 1995 (probably really became friends in 1996 but who's counting) so I enjoy hanging out with her regardless.

Todd and Josh. Jenny and I sure have handsome husbands. Thank you, Lord!

Jenny and I. Our husbands sure do have lovely wives. :)

After our delicious dinner and good conversation Josh and I headed home by way of Maggie Moos. Yes, I fell of the diet wagon this weekend. I had a feeling this might happen. BUT tomorrow is a new day and so far all of my clothes still fit. Ha. It's frozen entrees all week for me. Glory. Anyway, we eventually made it home and went to bed early. We were both exhausted and we had lots to accomplish the next day.

Saturday morning we woke up early (like 7am), went to breakfast, then grocery shopping at Wal-Mart and then I met up with Jenny again to REALLY celebrate her birthday. In honor of her b-day we went to a hair bow making class. It was a lot of fun!

Jenny wasn't thrilled about having her photo taken, especially at 10:30 in the morning. But I insisted and helped her understand "it's for the blog."

Here's the ribbon I chose. I had two very specific things in mind I needed to make bows for so it helped narrow down the options. The hair bow making process is very easy. Mine are still a little rusty but the more I do it the easier they are and the better they look. My first two creations are a little rough.

I wish I had taken pictures of Jenny's bows because they were so cute!

After class I went to Hobby Lobby, did a few other random errands and then it was home to nap. I guess the bows wore me out. After my nap was over I got in the car and headed for a little treat...

Frappuccino Happy Hour. Yum-O! I LOVE fraps. Normally I get "light" but I didn't this time. I got the caramel with extra coffee. Fabulous. I knew I'd need some extra caffeine for the rest of the evening. After my snack I got out the sewing/embroider machine and went to town on a few things. I can't show you what I made just yet but here's a little of what I had to work with.

I'm pleased with how my items turned out and they were a lot of fun to make. I ended up staying until after midnight, which is sooooo unlike me, just to get them finished. I will show you the finished product as soon as I can.

This morning Josh and I got up, went to church, helped with our Graduate recognition luncheon, and then headed to the apartment. We had a full weekend but a wonderful one. Now it's back to work tomorrow. Sad times. Oh well, at least I have a job. For that, I'm thankful! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend.

Family and Flowers

Yesterday after work I headed to my parents house because my aunt and uncle from Kansas City were in town. When I arrived everyone was outside. Apparently my mom thought that since she had some free labor sheds use it i.e. them for yard work. They had gone and bought lots of flowers and dirt and they were all hard at work.

What a mess!

Dad was supervising! And getting his game face on for the grilling he was about to do.

My mom, the instigator of this whole thing.

Some flowers...

Trees and more flowers....

Look, more flowers, although not sure what these are...

And last but not least, flowers.

They aren't finished with all the planting and of course they have more flowers than the ones shown. My mother sure is happy to have all these blooming things. Let's just hope they cooperate and live a long time. And thanks for visiting, Aunt Vicki and Uncle Danny. I hate that you'll never want to come back and stay again.

In other news I'm looking forward to a fun but busy weekend. Josh and I are having dinner with friends tonight, I have my hair bow making class tomorrow, I need to work on a few projects (pictures to come) and do some laundry. I hope everyone has a great weekend!!