Preparing, Procrastinating & Planning

Haven't done a "Currently" post in quite some time, and since it's usually so fun & easy, I'm going for it today!

Listening to: the sound of my own clicking keyboard, and not much else in the super quiet office today...
Craving: Surprisingly nothing, food-wise. But I could definitely stand to go for a bike ride!
Working on: This blog post, duh
Loving: That I've worked out three days this week, and I'm going again tonight! Welcome back motivation!
Reading: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. It is so good! I've got about 50 pages left, and I can't wait to see how it ends!
Writing: My super honest, super long weight-loss journey for the blog. Coming next week.
Feeling: Chilly. Even with a sweater on and blanket worn under my desk, it's still so dang cold in here!
Wearing: New sandals for the first time, that Jeff got me for Christmas, and trying to break them in!
Smelling: My yummy Versace perfume :)
Ignoring: The fact that I do have some actual work I could be doing right now...Eh, I'll get to it soon...
Anticipating: My new blog design from Erin! I've seen the rough draft she's started, and I'm excited!
Watching: Well, not right this minute, but we're working on the latest seasons of Big Bang Theory and New Girl
Thankful: That Jeff is started to recover a bit finally! Still a long road to go, but he's slowly getting there
Wishing: It was Friday already! This has been such super long week, today and tomorrow need to just fly by!
Missing: The sunshine! It's been rainy and dreary here for too long, and I need some sun in my life.
Preparing: To cook this Cool CousCous Salad recipe this weekend, sans chicken, as a part of my Daniel Fast
Procrastinating: Cleaning my room. It's seriously looks like the path of a hurricane, but I can't bear to clean it...
Planning: For my little sister's wedding shower!

And this pic has nothing to do with anything, I just didn't want to not have a picture for this random post...

Presented With an Award!

Yesterday, I was surprised with an exciting Twitter notification, saying I had been tagged by my blog-friend, Ricci, at A Beautiful Mess. So I head over to the Tweet, and simply saw this:

{Inspiring} bit.ly/VIiIL1 @allisondiane16 @rollwithit176 @nbellediaries @halierenee88 @jkthomas87 @saradbverde @heleneinbetween
— ricci (@riccialexis) January 8, 2013

And then when I followed her link to her blog, I discovered that not only had she been given an award, I had been Presented With an Award as well - the "Very Inspiring Blogger Award!" How awesome is that?! So that's now my second blog award (I was given the Liebster a while back), and I can hardly believe it. I went for a long time without anyone in blog-land knowing I existed - just my family and a few friends read my blog. And now I'm finally starting to grow and branch out, and I absolutely love it! I've definitely made some more friends through this blog, and I just love pretty much everything about blogging! So, thank you so much to all of you who read and comment and email, you really do mean so much to me! And thank you again to Ricci, for recognizing me!

So, here are the "rules" that go along with this award:
1. Display the award on your blog to be seen!
2. Announce your win with a post, and a link back to who presented you with the award
3. Present the award to seven other bloggers, with links in your post, and let them know!
4. List seven interesting facts about "the girl behind the blog"

And here are seven super random, "interesting" facts about me:
1. I am currently doing the Daniel Fast, which basically equals fruits, veggies, water and whole grain
2. I avoided the Lord of the Rings movies since they came out, but recently watched all of them, and loved it!
3. I am OCD about random things, but not all things
4. I have a small obsession with cute and pretty lamps. I'd rather not even have to use overhead lighting!
5. I have never lived anywhere but Florida
6. I always, always, always have my toenails painted
7. I am not a huge fan of shaving my legs, and usually stretch it out as long as possible

And here's a super random picture of me, from last week sometime...

Seven bloggers who inspire me:
1. Erin at Love, Fun & Football
2. Lauren at The Crazy Life of LT
3. Aunie at AunieSauce
4. Kerrie at The Williams Post
5. Beka at A Blog by B
6. Ryan at Loved & Lovely
7. Alyssa at All Things Beautiful

I tried to pick bloggers that truly do inspire me. I picked each of these ladies for a reason - they either inspire me in my personal life, or they inspire me in my blog life. Either way, these are some truly amazing ladies I follow, and y'all should definitely check them out.

Thanks again to Ricci for this! And thanks again to y'all as well! I really do love this little space here on the internet that's all my own, and I love the friendships I'm making here. Thanks for being a part of my silly adventures on this life journey!

Pumped About Sharing our Firsts!

Hello lovelies! I'm so excited this morning, because today is finally the day mine and Hallie's link-up starts! We've been talking about it since the middle of December or so, and I've been pumped ever since then! So here's the deal - and it's an easy deal, so don't be worried: every Tuesday for a couple of weeks or so, we're going to do a First Things First link-up!

We'll do different "firsts" every week, and we want y'all to write posts about that week's "firsts", and then link-up with us, obviously! (Your links will appear on both of our blogs.) All we ask is that you follow both of our blogs, add our button to your post or blog somewhere, and visit some other blogs from the link-up to share some love! We're looking forward to meeting new friends and reading y'alls posts. This should be fun!

This week is: First Job, First Car and First Date!

Plain Jane Weekend

I wish I could start writing a post of all the amazing, fun, awesome things I did this weekend, however, it just isn't so. It just wasn't one of those weekends! I mean don't get me wrong, it was still a good weekend, it was just really chill and simple. It was kinda one of those Plain Jane Weekends -- but those are usually the most relaxing and enjoyable :)

Friday night I went to my friend Lacey's house for a simple girls night, with just three of us. We made homemade pizza, and just talked - a lot. Then I went over to Jeff's house, and we probably watched a movie, although now I can't remember which one, then I went home... And if you want our famous pizza recipe, I blogged it before, back here.

Pizza Hut & Redbox & Letters

Dear 2013: So glad to have you here! Thanks for coming :)  I'd say we're off to a good start already. Now let's just make sure we stay wonderful all year, and be good to me, OK?! And also be good to my boyfriend, friends and family while we're at it. I've got a lot of goals and plans for the year, and I'm excited about all of them. Help me keep up my motivation and determination to make a great life for myself this year!

Dear Bubble Necklace: This is my first time ever wearing you, so I hope I don't look ridiculous. I'm not usually even a necklace girl at all, so it just feels weird to be wearing one, much less a big huge one!But so far, I think I love you!

Dear Zumba: Thanks for welcoming me back with open arms yesterday. I was nervous since I had neglected you for approximately six months or so, but I made it through the whole class, and actually felt great afterwards! I'm excited to get back in the habit of going twice a week, and to keep working on my fitness :)

Dear Erin: I'm so freaking excited you're going to do my blog design for me!! I am seriously freaking out a little bit here, and just can hardly wait. I think it's finally time I pay for a lovely design, now that I've been blogging for almost 2.5 years! And I think you're just the one to do my first paid blog design :)

Dear RedBox: Thanks for sending me a list of your favorite movies of 2012. I rented five of them this week for my bum-foot-boyfriend and I, and we've liked all of them! Might need to look into getting a few more for the weekend :) And in case you're wondering, the five we've watched this week were: Lawless, The Amazing Spiderman, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Savages, and The Words. All very good. Check them out if you're in need of some cuddling and movie rest time!

Edit: "The Words" is not actually that good. When I first wrote this, we still had about 30-40 minutes left in the movie. What I didn't see coming was a horrible ending. It made the whole movie not worth, so stay away from this one. It's just no good...

Dear Sister: I'm quite excited to do some cake tasting with you tomorrow! I mean, it's not so good for my diet, but I'm sure it's going to be delicious anyways! Yum!

Dear Hallie: I'm glad our link-up collaboration is finally going to happen next week! I'm real excited about this, and about working with you! So get ready folks, for a link up that's fun and easy next week with myself, and Life: Oceanside.

Dear Weekend: I'm glad you're here! Because even though I only worked four days this week, it's just been so long and drawn out, and I'm over it. Let's speed on through the day 'til 5 pm, so I can go make dinner with some girlfriends tonight, and then watch another movie or two this weekend with my bed-rested boyfriend :)