Thursday, February 26

Blog Makeover!

As you can see I did a little bit of a blog makeover this afternoon... I really wish there were more headers on cutestblogontheblock.com, but I guess beggers can't be choosers! Guess this will work for now until I get bored with it again.

Not much to write about over here today. Had a great day at the gym and ran 1.25 miles today! I have to say that I am proud of myself as I never thought I would even hit that mile and now look at me... going to try for 1.5 on Saturday.

Did get some sucky news today and it looks like I will no longer be employed as of May 1. In a way, I can not be more excited as I am so ready to be out of this job. I am bored with it and tired of working from home. I can't wait to be out there interacting with the world again! In other ways, it sucks! I know I am never going to be able to find a job here in East Texas that can pay me what I am making, especially in this economy. I have met some wonderful people while doing this job and I hate to not have to interact with them anymore (even if it is just through email)! So the job hunt is really on now! Anyone out in East Texas world that happens to run across this blog... want to employ me???

I hate the job search process... I know I am capable of doing all of the jobs that I apply for, but you never know what the person reading that resume on the other end is really thinking. Most of the jobs I have applied for so far are jobs with the State of Texas and all resumes have to go through Austin, so you can't even try and get in with someone here! I just wish I could bring my resume to someone at a job I want and they can say YOU'RE HIRED! Ugh but only time will tell... I just have to pray about it and I know when the time is right, what I need will come to me.

So we wait...

Wednesday, February 25

Found some other GREAT Blogs!

Did some searching on Blogher today and found some interesting blogs that I just have to share. This one is just a frugal dinner blog with great $5 dinner meals and other shopping secrets. This one is a de-cluttering and organization blog and she has some great ideas and lives by the 15 minute a day de-cluttering strategy. Just some fun reading material that I have enjoyed.

Also found this one thanks to another friend's blog and she has just been cracking me up all day today!

Had to take a drive out to Keith's office today in order to pick up his truck as he got a company truck yesterday... let me rephrase that... he got what is supposed to be a company truck but is more like a whole bunch of metal welded together with 183,000 miles on it. They have told him he will get the next new truck that comes into the office, but we shall see. But besides that, I wish I would have had my camera with me to record the interesting things that I saw during my 30 minute drive back home.
1.) A man in a truck chasing his run away cow on the side of the highway
2.) A LEMON YELLOW house
3.) A HOT PINK house... even the fence was HOT PINK!
Only in East Texas... seriously it was just too much to handle! I don't even know if a picture could have accurately recorded this though.

Well I think that is it for the evening... till tomorrow!

Tuesday, February 24

A day that is ending with SPRINKLES CUPCAKES!

Happy Mardi Gras to all! I know all my friends in LA are enjoying the festivities but personally all I really want right now is a Meche's King Cake. MMMM!That is definitely the one thing I will always remember about growing up in Lafayette during Mardi Gras... only people from Lafayette really understand it though!

Today I had an eye doctor's appt to get a new prescription for my contacts. I was lucky enough to find a great doctor here, Dr. James Deaton. He spent about an hour with me, asking all kinds of questions concerning how I enjoy wearing contacts and if I have any problems. Since I have been working at home for the past 9 months, I wear my glasses a lot more than I used to, so when I wear contacts it is not fun. My eyes do not enjoy them so I almost am to the point where I dread wearing them. Dr. Deaton did a thorough exam and has decided to order me a different type of contact than what I am currently wearing. He feels it may be lighter on my eye and not cause me as many problems. We will keep our fingers crossed! I was lucky enough to not have too much of a change in my prescription, actually my eyes seemed to have improved!!!

I did a little shopping after my appt and got 2 new shirts at Ann Taylor Loft and a swimsuit cover-up from Old Navy.

Had a great workout at the gym today. I started going to a spinning class on Tuesday's at 12 and I am really enjoying it. The class is actually 30 minutes of spinning and then 30 minutes of foam rolling, but I normally don't get to stay for the second half, but today I did. Foam Rolling is just insane! It hurts so bad while you are doing it but after you just feel great. Here is a video that I found that demonstrates it.







Basically it is like you are doing a deep tissue massage on yourself. I think next time I will just stick with having a professional massage!

As Keith has been working so much lately, I decided to make a little treat for him for when he comes home tonight. My boss had bought me a container of Sprinkles Cupcake mix (yes like the Sprinkles Cupcakes that the stars all eat!) for Christmas and I finally decided to make them. I didn't take any pictures of the HUGE mess I made while trying to make them, but here are some pictures from after. I now understand the real use of that awesome Kitchen-Aid mixer that I have always wanted but never got... I could have really used it today!


Well I think that is it for now... gotta go get dinner started... It's vegetable soup and Grilled cheese sandwich night around here!

Monday, February 23

A GREAT day at the gym!

I had a big accomplishment at the gym today that I just had to share!

I have been working on trying to increase my endurance in order to be able to start running long distances for about 4 months now and just have never been able to make to much progress. Well today, was a different story! For the first time after 4 months of training I finally hit that 1 mile marker! It was a VERY slow mile, 12 1/2 minutes to be exact, but that doesn't matter, I DID IT!


I bought these shoes awhile back (well except with green instead of pink) and they have really helped my running and with them I am yet to have shin splints which I used to have really big problems with.


My brother who is a physical therapist has also told me to really stretch my caves before and after which I have noticed really helps so I have really been trying to do that. Later this week I will try to run at least 1.25 miles and if I am feeling really good maybe I will make 1.5!

Tomorrow I am lucky enough to have the day off for MARDI GRAS! That is one of the benefits of working on a program stationed in Louisiana. My boss said it was pretty bare in the office today... Mardi Gras is probably bigger than Christmas in that office! I have an eye doctor's appt tomorrow morning which should be interesting. I am hoping my eyes haven't gotten too bad since my last appointment 2 years ago.

Will probably blog more tomorrow since I really won't have anything else to do... maybe I will tackle that bookshelf!

Oh also need to throw in a prayer request for my Aunt Linda. She is going through chemo treatments for a brain tumor that they caught about 6 months ago. The tumor is better, but the chemo is really hard on her. So if you are reading this, please pray for her and her family.

The Blog is now PRETTY!

Well it took me quite awhile to figure out, but I finally have done it and really customized this blog. So now I can really make a blog post!

So this weekend was one of doing the usual weekend stuff of running errands and cleaning up around the house. We got new furniture last week, so we had to do some rearranging in our office in order to fit the old love seat in there. Here are some pictures of the new furniture!


Here is the love seat... and yes it has 2 recliners... a must for Keith


Here is the Sofa which has a pull out bed... most of the time its mainly just a junk collector unless we have company.

Here is the section piece, though right now we don't have room for it, so I had to just sit it in the corner :(


Basically the house was a disaster with junk from the office all over the place, the computer unplugged and wires just floating around! So I took the time on Saturday and tried to do as much organizing in there as possible...

As you can see, Saban now thinks the computer desk is his personal jungle gym!


Unfortunately after awhile I just gave up and I still have the bookshelf to take care of (that has been an ongoing process since the day we moved in!). I took a picture of the nonsense, but decided my disaster would probably be better not shown!

Saturday night we went to a wonderful Italian place called Mario's! We had passed by it around Christmas and the place was packed, so we finally decided to try it. We were beyond impressed. You could just tell that everything was homemade! I had a sampler plate which had Manicotti, and Veal and Spinach Cannelloni, an artichoke ravioli, and a lobster ravioli! It was wonderful! Of course I couldn't pass up the handmade Tiramisu, which was just great!

Sunday of course we went to church. The church we have joined since we moved here is Our Saviour's Lutheran Church. http://www.oslutherantyler.org/ It reminds me so much of my church in Lafayette and the people there have just been so friendly and have welcomed us with open arms! There are not many young couples there, but we have made friends with one, Karin and Blaine, and have been to dinner with them before and had a great time! I have also joined a bible study on Thursday nights at the church. We are currently studying the book of Romans and I have really enjoyed it. The leader, Barry Parrington, has been leading Bible Studies for over 30 years and you can really tell. He knows so much about the bible and always has a reference to another chapter which I love. We are taking a break from the study until after Lent as our church has Wednesday night services which I think I will start attending. Maybe I can even get Keith to come with me.

Last night I decided that I was going to make Chicken Parmigiano. I figured I have watched enough Food Network to branch out, and I was definitely right! Keith said it was wonderful and to get that from him is rather hard. I wish I would have taken a picture just to show my masterpeice! We are trying to eat healthier, so I served it without pasta, but it really was just a treat for us. I have really been trying to expand my culinary skills, and have been trying to use a lot more fresh cheeses and have been grating them myself. I really love to cook, so I figure the more I practice and the more receipes I try the better I can become!

Well that is it for now. I really have enjoyed doing this! HaHa! Now I must go get myself ready and get over to the gym! Only way to stay in shape is to get my butt over there!

Very new to this... No CLUE what i am doing!

Well... I have been very inspired by other people's blogs and following them that I have decided to start one of my own. I don't have an exciting life and not much goes on in it, but I figure it would be fun and help me to keep a record of our life together and the journey that myself and my husband take. I know I will never be one of those awesome bloggers that always has her camera and always has things to talk about on there blog, but why not try something new! Of course, Keith would probably make lots of fun of me for doing this, but why not, what else is there to really do!

So, here it is, my first blog entry.