Plentiful Bounty

Yesterday afternoon, I went on a little mini road trip with my Mama, Aunt Suzanne, and Grandmother to Eufaula, Alabama, for my sister's first wedding shower! Most of her fiance's family are all from there, and they wanted to throw her a shower while some more family members from Tennessee were in town during the holidays. So they put together a Christmas-themed shower, and it was quite lovely!

I'd never heard of such a thing before, but she got lots of great things - some might say, she received a Plentiful Bounty! Some of the things she received were: ornaments, dishware, aprons, towels, pillows, cookbooks, frames, a wreath and more! And then next year, their first Christmas as a married couple will be so nice, because she'll have to buy very little in order to make her house festive! I mean - look at this table of all her goodies!

Page View Issues?

Guys. Do y'all ever look at your stats page in Blogger? You know, the one where you can see things like: page views, traffic sources, audience...? Well, I do look at it pretty often, but yesterday I noticed something. I noticed a HUGE spike in overall traffic to my blog. So I went to the stats page to see the top referring URL's, and yesterday a spam site sent me tons of views. Now normally, we all love page views - but I'm not really trying to get them from fake people!

It's from a site I don't want to mention, because I don't want them getting anymore attention than they're already getting from spamming other bloggers as well, I'm sure.  But I did a little research and learned it's not really real. So here's my question - is there a way to block certain websites? I've found where you can always approve certain ones, but not how to block them. Anyone know any tricks? Of course I want a high page view count, but not like this! And, I don't want some random website spamming my blog around... Tips? Tricks? Suggestions? Ideas?

I want to get these people out of here!

Plunge into 2013

It's a new year my friends! January first, twenty-thirteen. Can you guys smell the the new calendars and planners and the change in the air? I think I can. (I think I can...) So without further ado, let's just go ahead and Plunge into 2013. Let's dive right in and see all that this glorious New Year has to offer us! Here's my Goodbye. Hello list for a brand new 2013... (borrowing the idea from a lovely lady I follow, at The Little Lovebirds.)

Source

Goodbye old. Hello new.

Goodbye being a staff member at BFBC. Hello to new opportunities and other open windows.

Goodbye Megan Trammell. Hello Megan Walker.
Goodbye to bitter. Hello to forgiveness.

Goodbye weight-loss laziness. Hello work out motivation.

Goodbye constants. Hello change.

Goodbye to an hourly, OPS State job. Hello (hopefully) to salary and benefits and something new.
Goodbye junk food, sweets & carbs. Hello fruits, veggies and healthier options.
Goodbye to 24. Hello to a quarter-of-a-century old.
Goodbye 2012. Hello 2013!!

And as far as New Year's Resolutions... I don't usually make them, and I'm going to try to stay away from that again this year. "Resolutions" are usually ambiguous like "be healthy" or "be happy," and how in the world do you determine if you've accomplished those things or not?! Instead, I've set 13 specific goals, that are easily quantifiable (big word there, right?!) that I want to accomplish this year. Some are similar to my 25 Before 25 goals, but set a little higher. Or some have been re-set if it wasn't accomplished. And now, here's my 13 goals for the year of 2013!

1. Visit a new state
2. Go to a new town somewhere in Florida (Visited Appalachicola on 3.3.13)
3. Fit into my bridesmaid dress for Meg's wedding (a few alterations, but it still fit! 5.18.13))
4. Weigh 180 pounds, or less if I'm ambitious/motivated enough
5. Throw Megan a beautiful wedding shower & a fun bachelorette party
6. Reach 300 blog followers, with 25,000 page views (now: 170 followers & 15,125 page views) 2.25.13
7. Ride 500 total miles this year on my bike
8. Go to zumba AND go for a run once every. single. week. (So far I'm doing great! as of 6.6.13)
9. Spend more time in The Word
10. Read 24 books (6 of 24 in May)
11. Visit a new restaurant/food truck in town at least once a month (3 of 12 in May)
12. Plan one real date night every month with Jeff (5 of 12 in May)
13.  Do more Pinterest crafts (I was real good at the recipes for my Pledge, but not many crafts...)

I have one month left on my Pledge of 25 Before 25, and I'm doing pretty well with those. And then after my birthday at the end of the month, I can focus more on these things and my new goals for the entire year!

So my friends, Cheers to a new year, and all the lovely things that come with it! If you've made goals and resolutions yourself, I wish you good luck with those, and hope you are successful! If you didn't, I still hope you have a marvelous new year as well.

For the life of us, we couldn't take a good, non-blurry picture last night... 

Happy 2013 y'all!!

Pitiful Guy & Precious Twins

Just as I suspected, my weekend was really chill and easy. Here's what happened...

Jeff had surgery on Friday night, so I spent the majority of my night in the OR waiting room, reading a really good book, and then in his recovery room. Then Saturday morning I went over to his house and played with the boys and watched some Spiderman cartoons, and packed the car, and then I rode with Jeff's mama to take the boys back to their mom. We spent the night halfway there, at Jeff's brothers house, and watched Ratatouille with the twins' little cousin Libby. Sunday morning we got Dunkin Donuts and went the rest of the way to meet their mom. Then we drove back the 5+ hours and got back around 7:30. I got Jeff some dinner, and helped make his foot more comfy, and then we watched "Free Willy." (Which is quite good if you don't remember!)

So that's that. Easy peasy, sort of. Jeff's still not feeling good at all. His foot is in a lot of pain, and the pain meds don't seem to be offering much relief. He already had to go back on Saturday and get them to re-wrap it, because it just wasn't quite right, and was making it all worse. He has to take off work and be laying down with his foot propped up for two full weeks! And then for two weeks after that, he still can't walk or put any pressure on it. And then it will be another month or two before he can run or ride a bike or anything like that... :( Holy moly. This is a big deal folks. He's usually so active and just going all the time, so this will be a huge adjustment for him. Pray for his healing and recovery, but also for his sanity!

Friday night - reading "Room" and waiting on this pitiful guy to wake up more from his anesthesia.

Saturday & Sunday - traveling with these precious little sillies.

For tomorrow, I've got a fun post planned all about Goodbye's to 2012 and Hello's to 2013. That one should be a bit more exciting than this one, or at least more interesting to read! Sorry there's not much else happening here today...

However, I would like to say Welcome to quite a few new followers that joined over the weekend! I'm so glad to have you here! Won't you take of your shoes and stay a while? :) And make sure you say Hi, so that I can say hi back to you! Love to all my followers though - new and "old." I'm so glad all of you are here!

Happy New Year's Eve my friends!!

Pandemonium

Last Friday of the year, last Friday's Letters of the year, last full day of work for the year - holy moly! 2013 will be here in just a few more days! And I don't know about you, but I'm excited and ready for it. Oh, and that is a completely pointless title - I just couldn't think of anything that actually made any sense, so I just went with a random, fun word. So just go with it, OK?! :)

Dear Boyfriend: It really really sucks that you broke you foot. I hate this just about as much as you do. I'm praying that surgery today will go smoothly, and that you will be relieved of the pain and recover very quickly! Until then though, I will do whatever I can to take care of you and help make you comfy!

Dear Surgeon: Please be extra super careful and do everything perfectly, and just be an awesome surgeon for my boy today. Take good care of him please. And get his foot all fixed up!

Dear Twins: We're so glad ya'll could come down to Florida to visit for a few days! We of course wish it could be longer, but we're already looking forward to the next time you come, for your spring break! Y'all are just seriously the cutest, and have been so sweet and cuddly these past few days. We love you so much!

Dear Christmas: You came and went so fast! Now we've got to take down all the decorations, and put away our presents, and get ready to move on with our regular lives. But January holds something exciting - and that's my 25th birthday!! Now if only I can accomplish some more of my 25 Before 25 goals, I'll be ready!

Dear 2012: You've been fun and all, but it's time to skedattle. We've got a big year coming up in 2013, so let's get a move on! I'm of course anxious and excited to see what a new year will bring. So let's get this new year rollin'!

Dear 30-Day Shred: We're starting over again on Monday morning. So get ready. I am so ready to get shredded! And dear Jillian - I know you're going to try to kill me, but I'm determined not to let you and your spunky back-up exercisers get the best of me this time. We. Will. Finish!

And here's a totally unnecessary "selfie" for you today from this past week -- because it's really the only picture I've got that you haven't already seen...

Hope y'all have had a great week, and that you have an even better weekend! Mine will be pretty chill, due to the boyfriend having surgery later today, and then I'm riding with Jeff's mama to take the boys back to their mom. That will be sad to see them go so quickly, but we are so glad they could come at least for a bit! Then I go to work on Monday for a little bit, and then I get another day off for New Year's Day! Hooray! Happy Friday my friends :)