Pinstagram Moments

I took the day off work today in order to enjoy a nice, long four-day weekend. So Jeff and I are running errands and planning and researching all-things-wedding. The original plan for taking the day off was to hit up our favorite beach, but it's cloudy and stormy, so that's not gonna happen. So I'm just popping in real quick today to share some little moments from my life lately, through the lens of an Instagram filter. (Idea inspired by my good bloggy friend, Rachel.)

*Side note: I started using the word "Pinstagram" a long while back in order to make it fit in with my theme of starting each post title with a P. However, my dear friend Nicole told me I wasn't allowed to just make up my own words, but I say pish, posh. I like 'Pinstagram,' so 'Pinstagram' it shall be! :) Haha*

1 // This super colorful umbrella makes rainy days a little bit brighter

2 // I wish I could always gorge on delicious sushi, but that's not a healthy idea...

3 // Still obsessed with making this caprese for myself every chance I get

4 // Love cuddling up on the couch with my man and just reading our own books together

5 // We went through a phase of playing card games every night for about two weeks

6 // Random mani, showcased on top of 'The Hobbit' (which I finally finished on Tuesday, and loved)

7 // Got kinda emotional while writing graduation cards for my high school seniors

8 // Delicious cake tasting appointment at Publix, with the cutest wittle baby cakes around

9 // These beautiful purple flowers are blooming allll over the city, and they're so gorgeous!

I love sharing photos on Instagram, and following along with all of my blog friends as well. So of course I'd love for you to hop over and join me there! My username is HalieRenee88, and you can find me here.

Hope y'all's 4th of July celebrations yesterday were tons of fun! If you had to go back to work today, I'm so sorry about that, but no worries - the weekend is well within your reach. Happy Friday to all, and I'll see ya back here on Monday morning!

Plans, Books, Friends & Twins (Friday's Letters)

F-R-I-D-A-Y. Welcome, so glad you're here. (At first I tried to sing that to the tune of SA-TUR-DAY- HEY!, but obviously there aren't enough letters so it just didn't work out at all. At least no one heard me though...) It seems like it's been a long, rough week, and so of course I'm glad to see it come to a close. It's been a hot minute since I've participated in some Friday's Letters, so I'm hopping aboard that good 'ole train today and writing letters to people and inanimate objects alike. Fun times :)

Dear Blog Friends: You guys were so very sweet and encouraging on Tuesday when I was struggling and not having a great couple of days. So glad to have this little space on the internets where I can be honest and raw, and not fear opening up on here with y'all. Thanks again.

Dear Super Smooth Legs: I've shaved you five days in a row, and that's got to be some kind of record for me. Seriously y'all, I usually hate shaving, so even in the summer it's never this many days in a row.

Dear Jeff: The last two night just snuggled up on the couch, reading side by side has been really sweet and cute, and I like it a lot. Definitely wouldn't mind doing that more often :)

Jeff is reading 'The Count of Monte Cristo' and I'm reading 'The Hobbit.' 

Dear Lacey: I'm glad after two years of missing your birthday, that I finally got to celebrate with you at dinner last night! It's about time I'd say. Hope you had a great birthday! (I forgot my camera cord today, so I can't upload any of the pictures yet unfortunately :( I'll send them to you when I do though!)

Dear Fingernails: It's about to get real 'professional' up in here, because I just got lots of new stuff to practice my nail art hobby. But what I'm most excited about are the Bundle Monster stamping plates that just came in! Definitely looking forward to trying those out. My first attempt with them will most likely be something 4th-of-July related, so hopefully it turns out good!

Dear Twins: The last three weeks with y'all have been super fun! And even though we have to take you back tomorrow, you'll be coming back to visit us again for three more weeks at the end of the summer, and we'll definitely have lots of fun then too. We're already looking forward to it and making plans!

Dear Wedding Planning: For the next few weeks between the boys' visits, it's gonna get crazy again. We are now only 99 days away from the big day, and we've got a LOT to do still. After taking a little hiatus to play with the boys for three weeks, I'm super excited to get back at it again!

Dear White Denim Skirt: I'm real glad I can finally fit into you again, because you're super cute. Now I just need to find some more tops that I like, because I either hate most of the ones I own, or the few that I like are too big now - which I guess is a good problem to have. Looks like it's time to spend some of the gift cards I've been hoarding for wayyy too long!

Dear #OperationNoMoreJiggle: I'm sure we will be put to the test this weekend with all sorts of yummy food opportunities, but we must resist! This weekend we need to make better food choices, and eat healthier than usual weekends. It's time to get serious about this thing, and really start to working on getting rid of all this jiggly junk.

So even though we have to take the boys back tomorrow, we do still have a tiny bit of time with them first. Tonight we'll drive to middle Georgia to spend the night at Jeff's brothers house, so that will be good for us to see them, as well as for the boys to hang out with their cousin Libby. Sunday will be spent at home doing chores and laundry, and hanging out with my parents a little bit, because I've barely seen them in the past three weeks while the boys have been here!

I hope y'all have a good Friday, and definitely a good weekend, and I'll see y'all again same time, same place on Monday!

Much Love,
Halie

Perfume, Pictures & Plans (Currently I'm...)

Thursday. One more day before Friday, and then the weekend. Ahhh it's so close I can almost taste it. Right?! Anyways, I love doing these "currently" posts, and it's been quite a while since I've done one. So guess what? That's exactly what I'm going to do today. (Big surprise right? Not like that was actually hard to guess or anything.)

- Wishing: that I didn't have to work today. Jeff took today and tomorrow off to hang out with the boys, and I wish I could have done that too. But I'm OPS (hourly, not salary) so I don't get paid if I'm not working. And I need to get paid...

- Wearing: the pretty pearl necklace my sister gave me as part of my bridesmaid gift last month

- Listening: to Lady Antebellum's newest album 'Golden' on repeat allllll the time. It' so good!

- Missing: my friend, old roommate and bridesmaid, Bridget! She lives in Ohio, so it's not like I see her often, but we have a phone date scheduled for tonight, so I'm excited for that!

- Obsessing: over Gems with Friends on my iPhone. Seriously guys - I think I might actually be obsessed with this game. Get it, and then add me to play: Halez88.

- Craving: sushi again, and I just had it last night. (Not low-carb, I'm aware, but I don't care....) But that's what seems to happen with me though - once I eat it, I crave it again and again and again. Oh, but this was a new place we tried, and liked it a lot. Great prices too, especially for dinner-time sushi. Definitely will visit this place again.

- Planning: a wedding, duh! No but seriously, once the boys go home for 2 weeks, that's 2 weeks full of go-go-go wedding planning time.

- Ignoring: the huge stack of mail that I need to go through. I hate getting junk mail, and I hate having to go through it. I know there's some bills in there though too, so I guess I really do need to get on that.

- Anticipating: Going back to the pool on Saturday for some water and sunshine, and Wild Adventures on Sunday!

- Loving: that the new camera we ordered finally came in last night! We had talked about getting a new one for the honeymoon, and when we saw a great deal on Groupon, we snatched it up real fast. Can't wait to test it out later tonight!

- Reading: 'The Hobbit' and really liking it so far, although I'm only about 50 pages in. I've seen the movie a couple time already though and loved it, so I'm pretty sure I'll like the book too.

- Procrastinating: laundry. I always hate doing laundry. Hate it so much.

- Feeling: dumb because I locked my keys in my car last night, again. This is probably my worst habit - I get to where I'm going, but I'm not ready to get out quite yet. So I turn off the car, and pull the keys halfway out of the ignition. I sit for a minute or two or gather up all my stuff, and then exit the car, lock the doors, and leave the keys still hanging from the ignition. I've got to figure out a way to break that bad habit. (Luckily, I have the greatest fiance ever, and he drove over to my house with his spare before work this morning.)

- Smelling: same as last time I did this in January, my favorite perfume - Versace Bright Crystal

Well that was fun and easy, just like usual. And look at me go - I even had relevant pictures to accompany the post this time. (Granted, I took one of those at my desk this morning just for this post. I'll let you decide which one that was...But still, better than nothing.) We're taking the boys swimming again tonight, at one of their church-friends' houses, so I'm looking forward to that. All I have to do is make it through the rest of the work day first. Blah.

So what are you currently up to? Have any other fun 'ings' to add to my list? Happy Thursday friends :)

Parasites & Pelorosaurus: FFTL Link-Up

Well, most of us are all back at work today after a long, three-day weekend, which makes today feel like a Monday. Which isn't the greatest feeling, until you remember that it IS in fact Tuesday, and we only work four days this week! So then it's not too bad :) And since it's actually Tuesday, and not Monday, that means I'm going to skip my weekend recap for now (maybe it'll happen later this week?), and today we're doing From Firsts to Lasts link-up! And I'm excited because today is the first day we're doing the "lasts" part of this, so I'm excited for a tiny switch-up in things today!

Today's LASTS topics are:

Last book you read

Last movie  you saw in a theater

Last book I read

The last book I read was "The Host" by Stephanie Meyer. I really didn't know anything about the book, but one day Jeff's Granny gave it to me to borrow after she had finished it. She is 85 years old, and I'm 25 years old, and we have the exact same taste in books - we both love the weird, sci-fi/fantasy stuff! I let her borrow The Hunger Games series, and the Divergent/Insurgent books, and she liked those a lot, so now we share books pretty often :) 

So anyways, when I first started reading The Host, it actually took me quite a while to get into it. I had no idea what it was about, and so I was confused at first. But once I found a couple reviews and I got a feel for it, I couldn't put it down! I was constantly trying to sneak in 10 minutes here or 15 minutes there to read just a little bit more. And then once I got near the end, I stayed up till about 2 a.m. one night finishing it! It was really interesting, and I certainly liked it. If you like that kind of genre, then I highly recommend it! I haven't seen the movie yet, but I'm hoping to soon, as it's currently in our "cheap" theater here in town. (They get movies about 2 months after they come out, and it's only $3 a ticket!) But anyways, it's about aliens who call themselves "souls" (although the humans call them "parasites") who have invaded Earth, and taken over 99.9% of the human bodies. Some humans still remain in hiding, and this is about their fight for survival. It's really interesting, and I would like this to have been a series so I could read more of the story!

Last movie I saw in a theater

I'm not 100% sure on this one, but I'm thinkin' it was Jurassic Park about a month ago. And we actually saw it one and a half times! We went on a Thursday night, and got over half way through the movie, when the power went off in that entire part of town. So they kicked us out of the theater, but gave us free readmission tickets to come back again. So we went back the very next night, and watched the whole thing from the beginning again! And it was so good - way better than I remembered! I was actually jumpy and squealy at a few parts, like I was 7 years old again! But it was lots of fun :)

If you'd like to join in on this fun link up, check out the super simple 'rules' below, and get to writing! Can't wait to see all the new link ups this week, meet new friends, and read y'all's posts!

1. Write your own post about this week's topics & link up with us!

2. Put the new button on your post or somewhere on your blog

3. Visit some of the other links, and share the love with them on their posts!

4. Spread the word on Twitter and/or Facebook

<center> <a href="http://penguinspastapolkadots.blogspot.com/search/label/From%20Firsts%20to%20Lasts" target="_blank"><img alt="First Things First" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVrwkIAid5vWXfGGkNjq6FQv4vvqZDxLXcMp670eJ2k7tfrfkBrZYiGCr0icOPCsIYvq5MR3qLifCTXPxMVdiq77A56Zq2_nIiRzk2hyphenhyphen1gEmgp6NcoBlX5TNfobmRzpUAjnkoXPjsNXIU/s1600/Firsts+to+Lasts+-+1.jpg"/></a></center>

And if you'd like to prepare for next week's link-up, the two 'first' topics will be:

First blate you went on (or who you would like to meet if you haven't done this yet!)

First blog you visit on your reader, blog roll or RSS feed

Plus-Size Workout Barbie & Other Randoms

I liked writing down my random thoughts last Thursday with no rhyme or reason, and I think most of y'all said that you liked it too. So I'm gonna do it again today and see how it turns out this week!

Tomorrow night my  baby sister graduates from college!! It just seems so weird. Sometimes I hardly feel like I'm old enough to be a college grad, but that was three years ago for me now! And now my "little" sister is graduating too?! Weird. Oh, and so is my cousin! They both go to Florida State University, and we got lucky and their graduations are together! (There are like four different grad times throughout the weekend, so really, we were super lucky to only have to go to one for both of them!) Two more soon-to-be alums in our family!

Oh, and for FSU graduation tomorrow, tonight I'll be painting my fingernails garnet and gold, just to be festive :)

Last night after work, Jeff and I went on a spontaneous bike ride! It had been right over six months since we had ridden - six months people! We used to go on about 4-6 rides a month, and now we hadn't been for half a year. Sheesh. The original plan had been to do an easy, 4-mile joyride, but we ended up doing 7.25 miles, and riding a lot of hills! It felt great though - despite the fact both of our booty's are sore today since we're not used to it anymore!

Also, I told Jeff last night (before we rode bikes and I was still looking good and my makeup wasn't all over my face...) that I felt like I looked like "Plus-Size Workout Barbie." I had on a bright pink tank top with a purple sports bra, purple hair band, pink watch, pink on my shoes, and a high, bouncy, semi-blonde pony tail. That's a lot of pink and purple. Oh, and big boobs. Barbies always have big boobs. Plus-Size Workout Barbie indeed.

After our bike ride last night, I made us dinner and it was delish. Like I said yesterday, for the month of May, I'm avoiding meat, cheese, bread and sweets. And I'm making Jeff do it with me for dinner each night too :) So I found a recipe for Skinny Mexican Quinoa (we subbed a can of diced tomatoes with green chilis, instead of tomatoes and chilis, and also added a can of corn in ours too), and it was so simple and so good! Glad we have leftovers for tonight too!

I cut up an avocado last night with our quinoa as well, and it was so fresh and yummy. I wanted to just eat the whole thing right by itself. It just tasted amazing! I'll be having another one again tonight, and then I think I want to buy a whole bag of them! I love making fresh, homemade guacamole - and that would be a great, healthy snack with some carrots! And plus it's so easy to make!

I finally started making some progress in my book. Last Thursday I was on page 50, and today I'm on page 165. However, there's a total of 829 pages - so I still have a loooong way to go in this one.

On Saturday, my Mama, myself and my Aunt Suzanne are going over to Jacksonville for the day to go shopping. My Mama had previously bought a mother-of-the-bride dress to wear to my sister's wedding, but she's been losing weight too, and now it's too big! So she needs a new one, and we've looked everywhere in Tallahassee. So to Jax we go! I'm also hoping we'll try to sneak in a bridal store or two for me to try on some more dresses again :)

I did day one of Jillian Michaels' 6 Week Six-Pack this morning, and that crap is HARD. She is insane. I could only keep up with her like half of the time, and I still felt like I was dying. Maybe I'll like it more once I get used to it, but this morning I pretty much hated it. I did take some "before" shots though, so I can have some comparisons for "after." Maybe I'll share them someday...for now though, I'll keep that mess to myself.

I bought a workout tank top from Costco the other day, for $13. I only got one since I couldn't try it on, and didn't know how it would feel/work, but I wore it to Zumba on Tuesday, and it was awesome! I'm going back tonight to grab a couple more in different colors :) Feels great, awesome price, bright colors. Sign me up.

I wanted to just keep on writing and writing and writing some more, but I think I'm about out of random stuff for the day now. And also I think this post is long enough... So I guess that wraps this up again today! Maybe I'll just start sharing random thoughts every Thursday? We'll see I suppose. For now though, I hope y'all have a great day!

Possibly My Most Random Blog Post

Simultaneously, there is both nothing going on in my brain today, and also too many things swirling around at once. How does that even happen? What does that even mean? I don't know - but that's how it feels! So today's blog post is going to be one of those rare, fly-by-the-seat of my pants ramblings that I don't know where we'll end up, but it seems like it might be fun....So let's see where this takes us, mmmkay?

So, when I ordered my bridesmaids dress for my sister's wedding, I ordered a size smaller than what I was wearing then, thinking I would definitely be smaller by May. Well, I am indeed smaller (by lots of inches in fact!), but I think their dress sizes are jacked up, because that thing was still too small. Like, couldn't zip it up the whole way. Ugh. So two weeks ago I took it to the tailor, and I'm going today after work to pick it up. I just hope she was able to work some magic and that it still looks beautiful! I'm kinda nervous though...

I've shared my whole weight loss story before, and started sharing my actual weight each Wednesday, but I think I also want to start sharing my measurements. So maybe we'll start today! I've been taking them every couple of weeks since January, but I'll just share my first set, and then the most recent, from last night!

January                                                 April 24

Shoulders - 43.5                              Shoulders - 39.5

Chest (Boobs) - 45                         Chest (Boobs) - 42.5

Upper Arm - 16.5                           Upper Arm - 15

Hips - 52                                         Hips - 46.5

Upper Waist/Ribs - 40                    Upper Waist/Ribs - 36

Upper Thigh - 28                            Upper Thigh - 24.5

Neck - 15                                       Neck - 14

Calf - 17.5                                      Calf - 17.5

Around Chin/Head - 25                  Around Chin/Head - 22.5

So that's kind of embarrassing, but it's also great to see that real, tangible progress in the amount of inches I lost, as well as seeing the number on the scale go down too. Because people, that's a total of 24.5 inches lost since January!! (If I'm doing this whole measurement stuff correctly, that is...) And a total of 27.2 pounds lost. And that's amazing.

One of my goals for the year was to read 24 books, and so I was planning to read two a month. Well at this point I've only read five, when I should be on number eight or so. I still want to meet that goal, so I guess I better get moving! I started reading "The Host" almost two weeks ago, and I'm only on page 50 out of 829. Sheesh. Usually I could have finished the whole book by now! I need to get my bookworm mojo flowin' again. 

I just ordered my little sister's college graduation gift, and I'm excited about it! I hope it gets here before next Friday night! And now I just need to figure out what to get her for her wedding present!?!

Last night Jeff and I went to a new restaurant to try out their sushi. But when we got there, it wasn't on their menu anymore. She said not enough people were ordering it, so they took it off the menu. And so now they're basically just a Chinese take-out kind of place. And since we were already there, we felt bad leaving, so we got some super un-healthy, but super delicious General Tso's chicken to share, and it was sooo good. I mean, at least we shared the meal, right?!

Also, my back is reallllyyy sore today. I think it's from the ab class that I did during my lunch break yesterday, but I can't be positive. My abs aren't sore - just my back. So that's kinda strange. But it's definitely uncomfortable.

I'm having lunch with my sister today, which we almost never get to do, and I'm pretty excited about it!!

Aaaannnddd........I think that's enough randomness for the day! Tomorrow I'll be sharing my first post about some of our wedding stuff, and sharing what I did to ask my bridesmaids, to be my bridesmaids! So come back for that, because it was really super cute :) Hope y'all have a good Thursday today! 

Paris, Pens, Playlist, Planner & Pink

I am 'stealing' this idea from my friend Bri over at Breezy Days. She just did this yesterday, and I thought it was so cute, I had to write it down so I could do it someday myself. But I just couldn't wait and started working on it right away, so that I could just post it today! Plus, I've gotten a ton of new followers from a giveaway I'm participating in, so I figure you newbies might like to learn a little more about me. And besides, we all know how much I love lists, right?! 

Well I decided to add a little spin on things, and also add in a few more categories, so here we go!

Sets of FIVES

Five things you'll find in my purse...

1. There's almost always a bottle or two of nail polish in there

2. Six, colored Sharpie pens, that no one else can write with...

3. Burt's Bees chap stick. Always. 

4. Hand lotion, because I hate it when my hands feel dry

5. Little pouch full of gift cards waiting to be spent until I lose more weight (don't want to buy clothes now, then quickly shrink out of them in the next couple months!)

Five things you'll find in my bedroom...

1. Tons of stuff that doesn't have a 'home' so it just sits around somewhere

2. Stuffed animals, even though I'm 25 years old

3. Almost always or pile or basket of clean clothes I don't feel like dealing with

4. A bookshelf stuffed to the brim, and still piles of books on the floor...

5. Candles on just about every flat surface (bookshelf, vanity, dresser, night stand, knick-knack shelf...)

Five things I've always wanted to do...

1. Get a tattoo!

2. Go to Paris

3. Learn the guitar, although recently I've changed that to ukulele ;)

4. Get married

5. Meet and pet a penguin!!

Five random things I'm currently loving...

1. My beautiful engagement ring :) P.S. - Y'all getting tired of me mentioning that? Hope not, 'cause I prob won't stop...

2. My running playlist I made for myself

3. Veggie burgers - just sans bun for a little while since I'm trying to be super low-carb

4. Blogging. But duh, I always love that. It's just been sooo much fun lately! Thanks to you wonderful peeps :)

5. A lot more pink than usual...Turquoise is supposed to be my favorite, but I've been rockin' a lot of pink lately

Five weird quirks I have...

1. I always have multiple water glasses in my room, because I can't drink it again once it gets dusty overnight

2. I'm OCD about really random things (bed sheets, labels, my planner, placement of things)

3. I get creeped out easily and get the heebie-jeebies from the most random stuff. Like, a LOT.

4. I can kind of imitate Mickey Mouse, especially when I say, "Oh boy!" and sometimes when I laugh

5. My toenails must always, always be painted. Otherwise, ew.... I hate it.

Five random songs from my running playlist...

1. 22 by Taylor Swift

2. What Goes Around Comes Around by Justin Timberlake

3. Thrift Shop by Macklemore

4. Keep Holding On by the Glee cast

5. Babel by Mumford & Sons

That was fun, and easy! Just my favorite kind of blog post :) You guys should play along too if you want, because I always like learning more about my blog friends! So what are some random things about you??

Pulse, Plans, Pinterest & Pink

Dear Blog Friends: There are still more and more of you here each day, and it makes me wanna turn in circles and squeal a little bit. I'm resisting though, and trying to act mature about it. But really, it makes me so super excited when new people come and join me here! So, Welcome!!

Dear Edgar Sawtelle: You are a seriously giant book. In fact, you are 562 pages long! Now I've read big books before so it's not uncommon or anything, but you just seem gigantic. I'm only about 65 pages in, so I still have a long way to go. You're interesting enough so far, but I'm gonna need you to pick it up in order to make through almost 500 more pages... I've got faith though, because you were an Oprah's book club selection, so that's a good sign. The last one I read from her book club turned out really great, so I'm sure you've got great potential too! (I just recently joined Goodreads, so come check it out with me if you're a fellow bookworm like myself!)

Dear Running: Things are still going great between us this week! I've done a mile each day on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday. And I hope to be able to do it again today! It may not be very long runs yet, but I'm doing it, and I'm sticking to it. And besides, I've noticed that my average pace is getting quicker, and I'm shaving off time with each run! I think that's a great sign :)

Dear Fingernails: I want to do something really cute and pink and red and girly and glittery for Valentine's Day, but I'm not sure what to do exactly. I'm thinking a dive into Pinterest is in order so I can do some 'research' and get some ideas! Are any of you painting something cute and exciting on your nails for next week?

Dear Mother Nature: Have you lost your mind? I had an at-the-wrong-time, unexpected visit from you just a week and a half ago, and now you're back again today. Unacceptable. I'll go back to my regular once-a-month visit please and thank you. 

Dear Boyfriend: I'm sorry I've been forgetting to wear the new heart-rate monitor watch you got me for my birthday! I don't even know why, because I was so excited about it in the first place! Not to worry though, I've got it with me today, and I plan on using it for my short run after work this afternoon! Can't wait to start tracking another element of my fitness journey! And thanks for such a good birthday present!

Fitness Guru's: From what I've read really quickly about heart-rate, this is a pretty good at-rest number, right?!

Dear Weekend: I'm so excited you're almost here! I really don't even have anything specific planned yet, but it doesn't matter. As long as I'm away from my desk and not staring at a computer for two straight days, it will make me a happy camper! I'm thinking I'll get in a run and/or a trail hike, do some grocery shopping, some movie watching, and spend some time with family, friends and boyfriend. And then Sunday is our 1 year and 6 month anniversary, so I think I have a Living Social deal to an Italian restaurant that would be perfect for Sunday night :)

Dear Boyfriend: Is it kind of crazy that it's been a year and a half already?! Yes, it is kind of crazy. But it's also really awesome. We've had some great times in the past year and a half! You are an amazing boyfriend and I love you so so much! So glad OkCupid brought us together two summers ago!

I hope y'all have a good Friday today, and even even better weekend! What are y'all's plans? Anything fun and exciting to share? I'd love to hear about it! Oh and also, I got some good suggestions yesterday for my running playlist, but I still need some more - so feel free to leave song ideas again today!

And I'm linking up as usual with Ashley at The Sweet Season, so go check her out, and see some other letters too!

Promises - My 30 Before 30 List!!

As of yesterday, I'm officially a quarter-of-a-century old. That's a big deal, right? Maybe, but also maybe not ;) Either way, I'm excited about it! Most of you should know, that for the past six months, I've been working on my list of goals for 25 Before 25, and I've had so much fun! Some were easy, some were hard, some were quick, some took longer, but all were enjoyed. (You can read my final recap in case you want to see how I did on those goals.) One of the things on my previous 25 Before 25 list, was to create a brand new list of 30 Before 30!!

Sent this to a few family members yesterday, just for some fun :)

And of course I've done just that. I haven't written it down and made it look pretty yet like I did with the last one, but I will definitely be doing that soon, so that I can display it as a constant reminder! So without further ado, here's my list of goals for the next five years!

  1. Buy a DSLR for myself, and really learn how to use it
  2. Bake homemade bread, all from scratch
  3. Visit Bridget, wherever she happens to be living at the time!
  4. Read and watch "Gone with the Wind"
  5. Take a cooking class or a painting class - or maybe both!
  6. Get married! (October 5, 2013!!!)
  7. See another Broadway play, or go to any Cirque du Soleil performance
  8. Meet a blog friend IRL (in real life) DONE 5.9.13 with Angie
  9. Complete a 5K (Did The Color Run on 9/7/13)
10. Be healthy! (Hesitant to set specifics, but I'm thinking I want to weigh 150...)
11. Host a dinner party at my own house, cooked all by myself
12. Watch at least 50 of AFI's top 100 films, from 2007 list. (At time of posting, I've already seen 21)
13. Fly on a plane again! (October 6, 2013 - to Cancun on the honeymoon!)
14. Read at least 50 books
15. Visit a state I've never been to before
16. Be in a job or career that I love
17. Eat something I've never had before - maybe something a little bit weird and different?!
18. Travel outside of the country (October 6, 2013 - to Cancun on the honeymoon!)
19. Triple my blog followers, blog posts & number of page views (Today: 298 followers, 262 posts & 19740 views)
20. Completely pay off my student loans
21. Be a part of a flash mob
22. Learn how to drive a stick shift, flawlessly and without stalling
23. Live in my own place (with my husband maybe?!) and decorate it just the way I want it
24. Attend a renaissance fair
25. Go back to New York City again
26. Go to the Epcot Food & Wine Festival to taste all the yummy foreign foods!
27. Have a pet of my own (adopted Primrose 11/9/13)
28. Figure out how to start putting away money for retirement, and do it
29. Go on a spontaneous weekend trip/vacation, without pre-planning anything!
30. Celebrate my 30th birthday in style!!

So, a few of these things are very similar or exact repeats of my 25 Before 25 list, and that's because I didn't do them before, but I would still really like to accomplish, i.e. complete a 5K. But for the most part, I tried to dream bigger and broader than I did with my first list, because now I have five full years to complete these, instead of only six short months.

I really believe that these are things that I will enjoy doing, as well as actually be able to accomplish. However, I will say this: I have no idea where in my life I'll be in two or three or four and half years - so if some of these need to be tweaked or re-worked or deleted with new add-ins, then I'm giving myself permission up front to do that. I mean hello? Five years is kind of a long way off to plan for. So I'm just going to be flexible on these if need be. Because honestly, I'm the only one truly worrying if these are all accomplished anyways!

And besides, the main purpose of this kind of list for me is simply to experience more, travel more, expose myself to more, love more, learn more, treat myself more... LIVE more. And that's exactly what I plan on doing. I plan on living a great life, and enjoying every day that God blesses me with! And while doing that, I plan on doing some awesome things over the next five years :)

Have y'all made any lists like this before? What kinds goals and dreams are on your lists? I'd love to hear more ideas!

Oh, and P.S. - Here's my super short Weigh In Wednesday -- I only lost a pound this last week, putting me at 204 today. I'm blaming that on the very untimely woman issues and some extra bloating because of that... ugh.

Post-Pledge: The Final Recap

As of this morning, I'm considering my 25 Before 25 Pledge list officially over. Tomorrow I will be 25 years old, and it's time to move on! I have created a new list of 30 Before 30, which is full of all sorts of things. Some are small, some are quite huge, but I'm excited about them all. (Those will be posted later this week.) But for this post, I want to do a recap of how things went for my 25 Before 25 goals!

Puzzling Letters

The One Where all of my letters end in a random question...

Dear Week: I'm glad you're coming to an end in just a few more hours. Why do four-day work weeks always end up feeling incredibly long? I don't get it...?

Dear Exercise: I did pretty awesome again this last week. In the past four days I: hiked on Monday, did an at-home training circuit & weights on Tuesday, did the 30-Day Shred on Wednesday, and went to zumba on Thursday. Four days in a row again. I'm taking today off I think, but I'll be sure to do something Saturday and Sunday still! Should I attempt a short run in the morning, maybe?

Dear Boyfriend: After four longs weeks of bed rest, on Monday, you go back for your last post-surgery appointment! And you will hopefully get an air boot/walking boot thingy to wear for a couple of weeks. If so, that means we can start going out and about a little more often! I so hope this happens, and that you're foot is healing up just perfectly! Are you officially stir crazy yet? 

Dear Bedroom: The sheets are freshly washed and made up, the twinkle lights are put back up again after falling down, the yummiest vanilla cappuccino candle has been burning every night, and you have just felt so nice and cozy this week. It's been lovely reading in there every night before bed, even if it's freezing and I have to add an extra blanket and a robe on top of me :) Although, I wonder how much it would cost to get custom-made blinds to replace those kind of awful pink ones?

Dear Veronica Roth: I read your first two books in about 7 days total. And now the third one's not even out yet, so I have to wait forever until it's finally finished and released. I'm not sure I can be patient enough! I mean, you left us with kind of a big cliffhanger, and I'm so so curious to see where this takes us in the final book of the trilogy! How long are you going to make me wait??

Dear Fringe: You are crazy, but you are awesome. It's just so weird and entertaining and we are loving it! We're just a couple of episodes into the second season now, but I'm sure we'll get a chance to watch quite a few more episodes over the weekend! I'm wondering though, with the series finale being tonight, why am I just now watching this for the first time?

Dear New Blog Followers: Welcome! This baby is growing rapidly lately, and I can hardly stand it I'm just so excited! It makes me humbled and happy to know that y'all actually like what I write and want to keep coming back here! Seriously, so glad to have each and every one of y'all here now. So sit back and stay a while, won't you?

Dear "Old" Blog Followers: Thanks for sticking around with me. The friendships I'm forming with some of y'all are so fun and awesome, and it's my favorite part of blogging. It's just amazing to see where our blogging community can take us! I'm having a blast with all of this lately :) What's your favorite part of this blog-world?

Happy Friday to everyone! I am looking forward to another chill, but fun weekend spent with friends, boyfriend and family. I hope y'all have a great weekend too! What plans do y'all have for this weekend?

P.S. - Bonus point to anyone who gets the reference in my first statement up there in italics ;)

Papaya, Park Hike & Publix again!

Good morning dear blog friends! I don't know if y'all had a three-day weekend like I did, but mine was great! And I'm in a great mood this morning :) Feels good to start off not only the day, but the entire week the right way! Here's some quick recaps of my weekend activities, accompanied by a few pictures, of course!

Friday night I couldn't think of anything "special" for the boyfriend and I to do at home. But that ended up being OK, because he wanted to try to venture out of the house anyways! So we got crazy and went to Costco and Target. Of course at both stores he had to ride in his old lady cart, but it was good to get out of the house. I got "Insurgent" at Target, and I'm over halfway through it already. It's going to be hard to wait until the third book comes out sometime later this year! Oh, and his mom made delicious vegetable soup for us on the Daniel Fast, so I ate two bowls for dinner after shopping. Yum-o.

Saturday morning I went shopping with my Mama and Grandmother to look for dresses for them for my sister's wedding and some showers. We only ended up with one dress for my Mama, but it's so pretty, and I feel special because I'm the one that picked it out! :) Then I went over to Jeff's house for the afternoon, and we just hung out and started watching the first season of "Fringe" on his Roku. And that show is crazy awesome people! If you like sci-fy stuff, you should definitely check it out.

Sunday morning I helped my parents teach their 3rd grade Sunday school class. And it was a good thing I was there because they had to combine the 1st graders in, because their teacher was out - and those kids were crazy! Cute, but still crazy. But it was fun. Then we went to big church, and lunch, and then home. Later I went to Jeff's house and surprise! we watched some more of "Fringe" and just took it easy for the day. 

Productive Things, Fun Things & Exercise Things

Dear Weight Loss: It's still going great, and I'm feeling awesome. Today I'm down another 1.5 pounds, which means I'm weighing in at 208.5 pounds now! And I gotta still keep pushing. So I'm not going to take the weekend off like I did last week. The goal is to exercise twice over the three-day weekend. Which leads me to....

Dear Bicycle: I miss you! I haven't ridden you since our crazy epic Talloween alley cat back in mid-October! This weekend though, I think it's time to get you back in gear. Maybe a ride with Sarah sometime this weekend?

Dear New Followers: Holy stinkin' moly there are a lot of you guys! So glad you're here now! I'm assuming 95% of you probably came from the awesome FitBit One giveaway, and I know I got a few from the Weigh-in Wednesday link-up. No matter how you got here,  I'm really hoping you'll stick around and get to know me, so that I can get to know you!! And in case you want to read more about me, check out a few of these past blog posts you've missed: 

currently, hello 2013, inspiring, weight loss journey, 25 Before 25, about me and my beliefs.

Dear Florida Weather: You are seriously bi-polar. Earlier this week it was 81 degrees and quite lovely. Today however, it was 43 when I left my house, and the high is only 63. That's kind of a drastic change in just three short days, don't ya think, Florida?!

Dear Fellow Bookworms: If any of you liked "The Hunger Games," then you should probably read "Divergent" by Veronica Roth. I finished this nearly-500 page book in just four days! Yes, there are some similarities between the two series, but Divergent is still really good, and so entertaining. I am going to rush to Target immediately after work to get book number two, "Insurgent." Y'all have any book suggestions for me after that? I'm in need of some new ideas here peeps!

P.S. - This is book number six I've read since writing my 25 Before 25, so that's another thing I get to cross off my list! With just a week and a half to go, I gotta squeeze in all I can!

Dear Boyfriend: Since you're still on bed-rest, I'm trying to plan us some sort of fun/different/unique at-home date night for tonight, but haven't really come up with much yet... I'll figure something out though, don't you worry! Any ideas girls?!

This has been a pretty awesome week for me guys. And I'm still so glad I laid everything out there and shared my entire weight loss journey, because the response I've gotten from it has been incredible! I am of course looking forward to a fun three-day weekend, and will try to spend it doing productive things, as well as fun things, and also some exercise things. Maybe I should also try a craft or a new recipe? I haven't shared one of those kinds of posts in a while....so, yes! I think it's time I do a craft or cook something new! I'll jump on that :) 

I hope y'all have a great weekend too! What are some of your plans? Anything exciting? Anything I'll be jealous of?! Can't wait to hear all about it! Happy Friday, my friends!

Purple Polka Dots

Dear Friday: Seriously - WHAT took you so long to get here? That was just ridiculous. This week has felt all weird and long and I hardly ever knew what day it actually was. That was just unacceptable. Please be faster next week, OK? Great, thanks.

Dear Boyfriend: I'm so glad you finally got your stitches out of your foot! However, we still have at least two more weeks to go of wearing the splint and propping up your foot, and basically not doing anything. Sheesh. Redbox, here I come again! But at least you're starting to feel a little bit better :)

Dear Erin: I love my new blog design! You rocked it, and you were so easy to work with. Thanks for all you did! I'm loving my Purple Polka Dots and the pretty flowers everywhere and my new header!

Dear Ghengis Grill: You are delicious. Glad I could make Daniel-Fast appropriate choices at lunch today, while still eating out with my friends. Oh, and my friends enjoyed your food too :)

Dear Fellow Bookworms: In the last three weeks, I've read "Room" and "Gone Girl" and thoroughly enjoyed both of them! I would definitely recommend both of them if you're looking for a new book to read. But I need more suggestions too! What have y'all be reading recently? Is it good? What would you recommend?

Dear Exercising: I kicked your butt this week! I did zumba twice, and the 30-Day Shred twice, and I plans to do the 30-Day Shred again today after work. (That is if my cramps will just chill the crap out already...) When in the world was the last time I exercised FIVE days in a row?! Probably high school, when I was still cheering. Sooo, it's been a while, to say the least...

Dear Mother Nature: Why must you be so cruel? I get that it has to happen, but why does it have to be painful? Are you with me, girls??

Anywho...I think that's enough random letters for the day. I for one am so glad that it's not only Friday, but more importantly that my work day is almost over! Over about two more hours to go, and then I'm bustin' out of here faster than ..... well I don't even know what. Just fast. I hope y'all have a great weekend, and I am already looking forward to blogging again on Monday with weekend recaps and updates, and reading about y'alls as well!

Happy Weekend Friends :)

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...

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!!

Presents, Puppies & Podiatry

BLOG FRIENDS! I feel like I've been away for sooo long. And I've really missed blogging!  A LOT has happened since I last wrote a post almost a week ago last Friday (although there was also a Christmas-themed scheduled post in there), so there's no way I can do a good old fashioned recap post. I am however going to attempt a quick catch-up of sorts, since there has definitely been some news to share over the last 6 days or so...

OK - first of all, we went to see The Hobbit on Friday night, and it was sooo good! I've seriously been sucked into the world of The Lord of the Rings, and I'm actually loving it. I've now watched all of LOTR, and am also reading a ton about the characters and their worlds online. Nerd alert right?! Whatever, it's fascinating.

Then Saturday morning I went to praise band practice for about three hours, had lunch with my fam, went home and started wrapping presents, only to get a text from my boyfriend saying he just got out of the ambulance and was at the ER!! WHAT?! After a few phone calls to his parents, I found out what happened and headed up there as well. Here's a brief synopsis: he was cleaning the roof, and had just finished up and was heading down the ladder. He had just put his second foot on the ladder, when it slid out from under him. He landed mainly on his right foot, then bounced onto his tailbone - all of this happened on his stone driveway. Ouch.

Long story short - he's been in severe pain since then, with only a temporary splint from the ER. Since it was Christmas, the foot doctor was closed, and we just went yesterday. Now he has pre-op today, and surgery tomorrow evening, around 5 pm. He has two broken bones, one of which will get a pin in it, and then he can't put any pressure on it for at least 4 weeks. Sheesh. It has been a rough couple of days for him, and I'm sure it's only going to be a little rougher after surgery. Please keep him in your prayers, so that he can recover quickly!

Then there were some adorable puppies visiting at his house when we got home, because his Granny is getting a precious little Yorkie puppy! We're just waiting until the puppy is old enough to leave her mama, and then this little girl comes home to Jeff's house!

Packages of Books

Alright firstly, I want you to go check out the blog Mary in Marriedland, because she has been doing a series called "City in 5 Photos," and today my photos are featured! Yay! It's so weird and also so cool seeing my photos on someone else's blog. Mary is also a pretty cool gal, and I think you'll probably like her too :) And second, now onto our regularly scheduled broadcast...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Over a month ago I signed up to participate in a book swap with other bloggers. We got to sign up, select the styles of books we like, and then we got matched with a girl to send a book to, and another one to receive a book from. Then we all sent Packages of Books all over the country! And today is finally the tell-all and link-up! Thank you to the following ladies for organizing the whole thing, and giving us this fun swap! Can't wait to do it again!

MK at From the Guest Room and Kaylee at All Things Bright and Beautiful

So... my book came all the way from Arizona, from Jessa at Life of A Sport's Wife! She sent me "Daring to Dream" by Nora Roberts. It's a super easy read, and I flew through it pretty quickly. I've never read anything by Nora Roberts before, but it was pretty decent. I probably wouldn't have picked this book for myself (only because I've never ready her before), but I did actually end up enjoying it! However, it was book one of a three-book trilogy series. I haven't yet decided if I am going to read the rest of the trilogy, or if I will simply pretend like that was the end of it all... But this marks book number 2 of my 6 before my 25th birthday. Guess I better get scootin' and read a little faster, huh?!

Anywho, here's some pictures of my book and the cute and sweet little card Jessa sent me!

And I sent my books all the way up to Vermont to Kathleen at Espresso Yourself. I sent her two of my favorites off of my own Top 10 List. I sent her "The Mermaid Chair" as well as "The Secret History" because they're both so great. I hope she enjoyed them as much as I do! I also sent her a cute, tiny calendar I got at the Dollar Tree, and picked up one for myself as well. :) Check out her blog for her reveal and to see if she did in fact enjoy the books!

I made this cute little twine bow! Wouldn't it look perfect on a brown-paper package?!

And I'm linking up today with Aunie for "Just Because Fridays" over at her blog, AunieSauce!