Hockey

I have always enjoyed going to hockey games. I mean, I've gone to at least one game each season since the Nashville Predators have been around. I'm not some hockey junky, but I do love to see a good fight. With the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs in full swing, I've found myself wanting to do nothing but watch hockey. Get home from work, workout, cook dinner (aka, warm something up really quick) and get on the couch with my hubby and the dog dog to watch hockey. Yes, all three of us on a little couch watching hockey. It's all cozy and perfect.... until the dog decides to climb all over us trying to catch her own tail. Silly dog.

passion.

I bleed green. Not literally, but I am a lifetime member of Girl Scouts and have always proudly and loudly declared that I'm a Girl Scout. GSUSA (Girl Scouts of the USA) is going through some major changes and I'm glad to be the go-to person at our council with this information.

Tonight I was presenting the new material to some of our volunteers and I started crying.
YES.
Crying in the middle of my presentation.

Why? Well, I'm not pregnant... I'm passionate. I want every girl involved in Girl Scouts to experience some of the things I did and to be PROUD to be a Girl Scout. I was trying to get our volunteers to realize that if a mom holds her daughters hand through Girl Scouts, then the girl isn't getting the true Girl Scout experience. A girl is supposed to gain courage, confidence and character through her Girl Scouting experience. I could give a laundry list of things that I have been a part of due to my Girl Scouting experiences, but what I really want to do is help girls gain the skills they need to be independent, graceful, and self aware of their abilities.

So, tonight I cried. Not a blubbery cry, but a teary eyed "What in the world is going on with me!!"

And I got in the car to come home and I felt GREAT about my job. I am where I need to be. I feel like I am at "home" and helping make a difference.

this is our life right now.

Tuesday night.

Pretty Little Liars and White Collar.

Lots of puppy time.

Oh yeah... I'm painting my toes. The dog is not a fan. Why? I'm not playing with her.

Ignore the messy house. Company is coming Friday night... I'll clean Friday.

1 year later.

Steven and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary at the beach! We had a great time and really enjoyed looking back at our wedding photos and video... 

and we had a wonderful cupcake from the Cupcake Collection.

And one year later...

This was one of the best cupcakes yet. Can't wait for many more :)

long time, no see.

The past 7 months have been a whirl wind of activities. 

In January, we celebrated the new year and stayed home just the two of us. I also painted the laundry room and moved the cabinets all round.

In February, I made one of the hardest decisions I've had to make. I decided to leave my job and start something new. I just didn't know what that something was. I realized that I was putting Steven and myself in a finincally tough spot, but it was a decision I needed to make. So, three weeks later I began a new career path at Girl Scouts. Girl Scouts is in my blood. I'm a lifetime member, so this was an easy decision to make. 

I'm the second from the top left. This was the weekend at Fall Creek Falls that we spent with our tent tied to the trees because of tornadoes. Best trip ever.

March was another hard month. I said goodbye to my sweet Grand. She had taken a turn for the worse, so my family had about week to prepare for her funeral. My dad and I (with lots of help from my mom) put together a slideshow for the funeral. As my dad said, "I hate those things that have the waterfall pictures and crap. Grand deserves better."

Grand is on the far right, she was always the tallest. Grand loved strolling in downtown Franklin.

April was full of more surprises. Steven and I came home with our puppy, Mia. Needless to say, shes full of energy and LOVES to play. 

She's a black lab mix. And she's already outgrown this collar and harness.

May began the house repairs. Let me be specific. We replaced all of the siding and windows on the house. 

Before. 

During.

Before the actual siding went up.

June was full of painting. In the hot, hot weather.

 Umm.. do you like our redneck scaffolding?

Did I mention it was hot? We ending up painting at night. Almost every night.

And now, we are in July. We had a great 4th of July weekend and FINALLY finished paiting the house. Painting finale photos to come!

Resolutions.

I always seem to have the traditional yearly resolutions.... work out more, eat better and lose weight.

I've thought hard about what I want to do in 2011 and here are my resolutions for this year...

1. Workout 5 days a week for at least 20 minutes each time. This one started today with my hubby. We each have a goal of losing 30 pounds... we both have clothes that no longer fit.
2. Keep my bathroom clean. This one starts on Monday, after I give it a thorough scrub down.
3. Home Repairs. First on the list is to replace the siding on the back of our house and the windows and then paint the trim.
4. Be paitent. I want so badly to jump right in and work on all kinds of projects, but I need to be patient and realize that I have all kinds of time to work on stuff.
5. Start using coupons. I do use them... occassionallly. I need to start using them more frequently and really watch what I spend money on.

Christmas.

Christmas has come and gone and the new year is just around the corner. Literally... like 2.5 hours away.

Here's the recap in pictures:

9th Annual Gingerbread Decorating Party.

 2nd Annual trip to Opryland Hotel Visit (with dinner at iHop).

Trip to Atlanta with Steven's Mom (where we picked up an art easel for Reanna)... 

followed by LOTS of present wrapping.

 Christmas Eve at Steven's parents... there were lots of presents for the kiddos.

 Opening presents with each other on Christmas day at 12:30 am.

Snow Day!!!

Jay in his funny face protector and with my glove off, it looks like I'm missing a limb... here ya go Mom, the picture you asked for :)

The Maupins :)

Steven and I just got back from 4 days at Fall Creek Falls with his ENTIRE family... all 75 or so of us.

 The bottom of the falls were COVERED in ice and snow. It was gorgeous!

Needless to say, the past couple of weeks have been super busy wrapping up last minute shopping and making sure to squeeze in visits with friends who were in town. I'm ready to ring in the new year and see what 2011 has to offer!

Christmas

I am so excited that Christmas is just around the corner! I have spent hours looking for the perfect gifts and then wrapping those babies. I have spent hours making (yes, making!) decorations for over the fireplace. I have baked until I can bake no more.. that's a lie. I can always bake more.

BUT, the one thing I really want to do is paint. I want to paint my entire house. I want to decorate and my it my home. I want to hang new curtains and fill in all the little holes in the walls. I want to caulk the space between the bookcase and the ceiling.

I guess what I really want for Christmas is time to do all of this :)

homeowners

I've been hesitant to post anything about what Steven and I have really been up to for the past couple of months. There's been some family drama in the past, but tonight I can officially say that Steven and I are homeowners!!!

I've rented the house my grandmother owns for the past 3 years. She fell and broke her hip 3 years ago and had to move into an assited living home, but to keep insurance on her house, someone had to live there. So, my two roomates and I rented the house. Then when Steven and I got married, we continued to rent.

After a couple of months of marriage we began working with a mortgage company to see what we could afford and it turns out that we were able to purchase this home.

While today was a very exciting day, we were REALLY disappointed that TTU sent Steven more revisions on his Masters Thesis. It's due tomorrow and he stayed up till 2:30am last night(this morning) to finish it because we knew we would be closing on the house today and had tickets to the Titans game tonight.

Turns out that the graduate office didn't send him all the revisions and we weren't able to go to the game tonight, but since the grad office didn't call until 5:30 and we had dinner reservations (thanks to the attorney who did the closing for us!) we couldn't find anyone to take the tickets... we are at home watching the game and Steven is killing himself to finish this thing so he can graduate this winter.

Sidenote - He originally turned the thesis in 2 weeks ago and the grad office didn't send it back to him until Tuesday... so he worked all night to finish it.... and the grad office is contridicting itself on the rules of formatting. Boo.

House.

We are this close to being homeowners. And I could just do cart wheels right now. I am excited to start a new chapter in our lives. I'm ecstatic because we've rented for so long. I'm ready to start decorating MY house... and here's something I fell in love with over at The Brick Cottage. 

holidays.

It's hard to believe we are SO close to Thanksgiving! I have been extremely busy the past couple of weeks... dealing with the mortgage company and trying to get a contract executed for the house we are trying to purchase. It also complicated things that I was out of town this past week presenting at a conference for social media. Yes, I presented and it went so well!

Today Steven and I went with his family on a walk to Radnor Lake. Afterwards, he went with his uncles to go rock climbing and I went with mom to visit our neighbors lake house. It was gorgeous! They just finished rennovating and it was stunning.

I am really excited about this coming weekend. We'll be celebrating Thanksgiving with both of our fmilies and then we'll head to Gatlinburg with his family for the weekend.

So ready for a break :)

Working Out.

I have never been the girl to voluntarily work out. NEVER. My dad likes to remind me that when I played soccer in 3rd grade, I played mid-field. I stood in the middle of the field and watched the game. Don't get me wrong. I love to play sports. I played tennis all through high school and was pretty darn good, but I hated (I mean loathed, I mean with all my heart avoided) conditioning.

Fast forward to my sophomore year of college when I was a walk-on for the tennis team. First day of fall practice... run a mile. I about DIED. I was the last girl to finish and I'm sure the coach was thinking "What I have done!" But, over the entire year I worked really hard. I was determined not to be the last girl to finish. By that winter I was running 4 miles... and only have to walk every now and then. By the end of that year I could run 4 miles really easily and was stoked. I didn't continue to play after that year, but man was I in shape. Too bad I didn't keep up with it.

I've never been the skinny girl, but always the athletic tall girl. I am 5'9" and always loved to eat. Last Janurary, I made it a goal to work out at least 5 days a week and get in shape for the wedding. I even lost 3 inches off my waist!!! Then, wedding time came and I was way too busy and dropped the workouts. And then post-wedding time came and I was eating whatever and not working out.

Well, this past Monday I decided to start working out again. Just to get back in shape... and to lose the muffin top over my jeans :)

I'm really proud of myself. I've worked out my 5 days this week!!! I need to focus on eating a little better, but my goal was to start working out and I did it!

Now, let's just see how long it takes for Steven to join me.

Where have I been?

TOO BUSY. That's where I've been.

On a Friday night, I just woke up from a 2 1/2 hour nap. We came home from work, worked out ate dinner and I CRASHED on the couch.

Steven is excited... He has to defend his thesis this coming Thursday for his Master's. Why is he excited and not stressed? Oh, he's stressed. BUT, it also means that he is this close to finishing and getting a raise! And I'm excited because he can't use it as an excuse to get out of stuff :)

Ok, I promise myself I'll start doing better... but for now. A chick flick awaits.

It's Been a While...

It's been several weeks since my last blog and here's why:

A weekend in New Orleans and Biloxi to visit Cage and Sarah. 

He's in the Army Guard and in Air Force school right now.

A little project for Steven... I tried to give him a "manly" house decoration.

A puppy sitting night.

We've decided we are going to wait to get our own :)

 Trying to figure out where they are.

 We had to pull the blinds up because Jethro thought he could climb out... 

and he was messing them up.

 We had to pull the chairs away from the kitchen table because Jethro climbed on top of it... 

trying to escape.

 Jethro finally wore himself out. He fell asleep like this and snored. LOUD.

 Jozy fell asleep at my feet and softly barked in her sleep.

This was at 6am the next morning. Ready to play!

Ben's 2nd Birthday!