New Year Calendar & Crazy "Holidays"

So, tonight as I was making my general calendar for my notebook I wanted to add all of the "important" holidays so I looked them up to make sure I did not miss one.  Who knew January had so many crazy holidays?? Not only does January but every other month does as well.  I wonder how many people celebrate these holidays?

This is my wonderful calendar with the holidays that I believe are important either because they are a holiday that people are off work or days that I make references to... such as Friday the 13th:

Now, let's talk about these crazy holidays.  For a full list you can look here.
My top 5 favorite holidays from the list are:

January 3 - Festival of Sleep Day

This day is basically national sleep in day where everyone hits their snooze button and gets a couple more hours of sleep.  Thankfully, I am able to celebrate this day everyday so of course it is one of my favorite!  The only bad part about this "holiday" is that it is the day that my sweet husband goes back to work therefore he is not able to celebrate with me. :( Oh and something to look forward to there is a sleep week in March!!!

January 11 - Step in a Puddle and Splash Your Friend's Day

There is no research that backs up why this day exist but it would be fun I am sure!

January 13 - Blame Someone Else Day

This day just makes me laugh because wouldn't it be so much easier if every mistake you ever made you could blame on someone else?  Well, today this is possible!!

January 13 (again) - Make Your Dreams Come True Day

And once I read the name of this holiday, I automatically start to sing the Disney World theme which makes everyone happy I am sure!

January 17 - Ditch New Years Resolution Day

I am sure we all have this problem at the beginning of the year.  Say we are going to do something new and it either gets old or we forget to start and say that we will put it off until next year.  I will tell you that I am loving these last couple of days of laziness before the resolution begins. 



Obviously I had to cut the favorite of the holidays short because there were so many but hopefully I will be able to think about them as each day passes.  Wouldn't it be fun to "celebrate" each of them! I may have to try it!

I'm not sure if I will get much more done before we leave tomorrow but if I do, of course I will share!





Cleaning = No Fun!!

Since the holidays are over and all of the gifts have been opened, it looks as if my house has become a place where Santa dropped all of his extra paper.  Not only did he leave his extra paper in the living room, he also left a mess in the kitchen from all of the sweets!  I know I shouldn't blame Santa, but I really felt it was better than blaming myself!

  

I am going to call today Day 1 of "After Christmas Cleaning".  

We all want a clean house for the new year but does it really have to be this horrible?  Okay, I admit I hate cleaning but someone out there has to have a way for me to "have fun" while cleaning.  I have not found this while searching through google but I do have a feeling it is out there.  Let me know if you find it! But for now, I have to get back to the dishwasher... 

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Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!!!

I absolutely love snow!!

I do not care when it comes:

November, December, March, July....

Hey, I am from the South what do you expect?

The snow has started to fall here and I am so thankful!

I cannot wait to lock myself in the house tomorrow with some hot cocoa and clean!

(The cleaning part is not a choice I can eliminate or I would)

Let's be real for a second... I am from the South.

This snow might not even be here in the morning. 

Such a tease!!

Enough about snow... let's talk about where I have been.  As some of you may know we have had numerous deaths in our family recently which means funerals, and visitations.  Oh, while we are at it let's add the two Praxis test that I had (I passed them both, thanks for asking), Thanksgiving holidays with both families, observing in classrooms, papers, and adding an extra class to my load and then you just have a mess.  Who do you people think I am??? Superwoman?

There is however good news!!!!

I have started working on a new project that I hope I can share.  I have not completed it yet so I have no idea how it will turn out.  Plus, I have to find a guinea pig to try it out.  Since I do not have any children, I will have to find one lucky mommy that will try it out for me!  I have a mommy in mind but I haven't talked to her yet! Oh best friend, pull through for me! :)

Let's be real...

It is not like it snows here everyday so I am going to go outside and stick my tongue to the sky like a little kid. 

Break Time!!!

Well, I took a little break from blogging.  We have had a family emergency and I was not able to get online.  Since this is an emergency that will not be going away for a while I just wanted to make a little update to let everyone know that I am still here, I am just temporarily disabled. 

I get a whole week, and maybe more off of my workout so that should be interesting.  I may try to fit something in here and there while I am away from home. 

Anyway, until tomorrow or whenever the next time I see you!

:)

Day 3

Day 3 I added another mile to my workout which added up to 4 miles.  Yay!

Well at least we know that I can push myself!

I am very proud of myself as well as my husband for pushing himself.  I have to say we have really worked hard on working out. 

Other than that I do have some other things going on in my life...

Since I am on my blog, I think it is time for me to talk about the things that I believe in. 

Initiative 26

I have been very vocal about whether or not I would vote yes or no if I were able to. 

The thing is...

Initiative 26 is not just about abortion.  Their website said so a couple weeks ago before they deleted their Q&A section.  One of their leaders said that they were against birth control (IUD and the Pill) on television today as well as saying that they were against In-Vitro Fertilization.  It is funny to me that the people who are for this initiative take birth control and some have even had in-vitro fertilization. 

Whether you believe what I say or not, if you were to do your research you would see that this is what they want.  You would also learn that Les Riley is a secessionist who tried to form an independent theocratic republic in South Carolina. 

Oh, and for the record.  I am against abortion but this Initiative is not just about abortion. 

Oh and on another note...

I HAVE A BIG 'OL SURPRISE COMING SOON!!! I CAN'T WAIT TO GET IT OUT! I MAY JUST BURST WITH EXCITEMENT!!!

3 Miles on Wednesday

Our three miles today were awesome of course!

Seriously, who heard the sarcasm in that statement???

I am terribly upset that my husband is obviously in better shape than me.

Of course I ran/walked the same three miles but his motivation was seriously way higher than mine.  I think I am going to have to sneak in some day time workouts to get into better shape. 

So next week... I am thinking about expanding and doing more than just walking.  I have no idea what I am going to do but if anyone knows of any workout plans please let me know.  I am on a walk/run cardio plan right now that is for thirty days but I would like to change it up.  Walking or running for an hour is really becoming boring to me.  I think I may need the motivation that my husband has!

Good news is, I only had one bathroom break today and it was a real one.  It was not a bathroom break that was really an excuse to get out of walking for a few seconds. 

That is it for the night.  I have to get back to school work.  I have a huge Classroom Management Plan due Monday and I will be working on it until the time it is due.  

Whew!!!

I need to confess some things about myself!

1. I like to convince myself that I am in great shape. 
2. I am not in great shape. 
3. I said I had to go to the bathroom during my run/walk this morning because I had a fear I would fall off of the treadmill and die. 
4. My bathroom break was my second break from our morning workout. 

Yes, today was me and my husbands first day at the gym. 

SOMEHOW I SURVIVED!!

5 A.M. will come early in the morning so I have got to get my rest and finish my school work.  But, just to keep a little record of how we did today... we ran/walked for 3 miles and it was a little less than an hour.  Since it was our first day I expect to do a little better in the weeks to come. 

Oh and side note... the gym is hot even before you start to work out so wear some shorts and a short sleeve shirt.  Even if it is 30 degrees outside. 

I am sure this is exactly what I looked like this morning.  Specifically 0:35



Thursday!!

Well, today is Thursday which means only one thing... Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice come on! OH MY I just cannot wait! by my clock, I have about an hour before they come on so I will start to work on my school work and of course, do this!

Tonight, we had the most wonderful meal. I just wish I could tell you where I found it! Yes, it was a blog but I am not sure whose blog it was. When I find out I will let you know. We had, Chicken Parmesan Wraps. So... so... good!

This is what our wraps looked like:

Egg roll wraps, baby spinach, chicken, marinara sauce, Parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese. 

We had rice to go along with it but of course it wasn't ready when I decided to take the picture.   

This weekend I get to sit at home and study for my two Praxis test that I have in a couple of weeks.  I am thinking it was not the best decision I have ever made to have them both in one week but, I just really wanted to get it over with! If I could get the certification stress off of my shoulders I would think I would feel so much better! 

School is desperately calling my name.  I have to do lesson plans and finish my Classroom Management Plan so unless you all would like to help me I will have to go finish up! :( 

I am pretty sure I was going to talk about me learning to sew but I haven't uploaded my pictures yet so maybe tomorrow or this weekend I will do that! I need to get it together! 

I am going to find the person who listed this recipe and will give them the credit they deserve! I will edit soon!

Birthday Celebration!!

Since yesterday was officially my birthday we decided to do a little something since we had really already celebrated my birthday the previous weekend and Monday night.

Yesterday afternoon, the husband and I met in the park and shared cupcakes from my favorite place... Cupcake and Co. I have talked about them before but, if you are near me or if you plan on visiting my area you should definitely check them out!!

Here is the link to their facebook page!

After we shared our cupcakes, we decided to go on the Haunted History of the Shoals Ghost Tour. The tour is given by Debra Johnston Glass and is so much fun! Since we are new to the area it was very interesting for us to learn about the history of our new town. I do have to say that I am extremely excited about exploring these places downtown soon!

To learn more about the Haunted History of the Shoals.... go here!!!


If any of you are interested in ghost and would like to see pictures of the ghost here in The Shoals, you can go to their wordpress site. Click HERE to go to their wordpress site.

I only have a couple of pictures of our afternoon in the park. I decided not to take pictures on the tour although I probably should have. Here are our pictures!

Cupcakes in the park! We had: White Chocolate, Red Velvet, German Chocolate, and Chocolate with Cream Cheese! Yum!!

Seriously... how cute are we in the park??

I absolutely love the fountain in Wilson Park!

This has to be my favorite entrance into the park. So beautiful!

This is our last picture before the tour began. How fun! Of course, we only took this picture to see how our new phones worked in the dark! Such dorks!

I hope you all enjoyed the things I shared from my birthday! We did buy two books from the author who gave the ghost tour! I will let you all know how the books are after I finish them! Hopefully before Halloween!!

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

Well, obviously by the title it is my birthday but there are so many other things that I need to cover! I think we can all tell that I have been away for a while and believe me, there is very good reasoning behind this.

1.) In a couple of weeks I will be taking my Praxis exams for Mississippi and Alabama. Obviously the two states need to get together and have the same testing requirements but, of course that would be too easy and a lot cheaper for us poor college students. I am sure, the point of this was to make us spend all of our money and force us into a profession. Regardless, these things have to be done and this is where I am in my life.

2.) School is taking over my life. Besides the papers that I am having to write, working in my groups, observing in the classroom, and actually participating in class, I am still expected to clean house and take care of myself and my husband. It is a lot of work sometimes but I am learning to deal with it.

3.) My mom gave me a sewing machine for my birthday so she came and spent the weekend with me and taught me how to sew. I will talk about that in another post. Yes, I do have pictures and I am excited to show what I learned to do.

4.) Oh, did I mention I have been sick? I have been living off of oatmeal, soup, and sprite for the past month. I just started eating normal meals last week. I lost twenty pounds over the past month so now I plan on getting myself in really good shape. :) That is the plan... we will see how that goes!

5.) Since I am up here away from everyone I know I have had my share of company lately. I have been so excited that my friends and family have come to see me! The spare time that I did have to write I have filled with people that I love!

Although saying that here is my plan...

I plan on trying to write back on my blog again. It is a new year in my life and I have a lot of stuff that I need to get out. Have you ever been so busy that you just didn't know what to do with yourself?? Well, I have gotten myself organized with a wonderful planner that I have and hopefully will find myself so free time to do things that I love to do... like this. Yes, believe it or not I love talking about myself!!

I hope you all enjoy and the next time we meet, maybe there will be a little more color to the page!

Beach Weekend!!

This weekend my friend Stephanie and I went to Florida to have a little get away. Oh it was so much fun!! If you didn't see how much fun we had, you should check out my previous post with our video.

Who wouldn't want to sit and look at this all day?

Seriously... I'm wanting to go back right now!

I'm a little interested in why I have my phone in my hand in the ocean but, hey! It was fun!

This really gets me to thinking...

How many cell phones do you think the ocean has acquired over the past 10 years?

Oh and good news! I'm a little more tan than I was in this picture! Woohoo!!

Can you tell??

Have you ever used the wrong kitchen utensil to get a job done?

This week, my friend Stephanie and I took a little girl's weekend to the beach. Oh, it was so nice and relaxing! When we first arrived, we went grocery shopping so we did not have to eat out every meal and since my grandmother and great-aunt were there we decided we would do something nice for them. Since they are both diabetic we decided to buy Sugar Free cake mix and make them a cake, which turned into cupcakes as well.

Of course, when you are staying at a condo you have issues with finding all of the necessary utensils so... we had to make do. Here is me, stirring the cake mix with an egg beater. (Actually, I think it is an egg beater I am not really sure, ha!) Luckily, my friend Stephanie decided to video this.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE!!!!

It is hard to tell what I am saying but if you pay attention to my hands you can tell that I am having a really hard time mixing up this cake mix!

The end result was wonderful and I have actually found that I am a huge fan of sugar free cake! It sounds healthy to me, why not make it like this all of the time! It could just be that a lot of love was put into making this specific cake!

Have you ever used the wrong kitchen utensil to get a job done?

Late Night Chitter Chatter

I obviously cannot sleep no matter what I try to do! I have gained a major headache in this adventure of attempting sleep and now it has become harder to fall. So... What's happening blogger world?

I have always had this sleep issue and I'm not really sure why or how it started. I always blame it on working night shift for so long but the hubby seems to sleep fine and he worked it longer than me. I can't complain too much, it's not like I have to wake up early or anything.

My days are pretty boring so it's not like I am eager to jump out of the bed in the morning. I do things like...

Go buy cupcakes from Cupcake & Co. :) My new favorite place in town.

Take pictures of myself riding down the road. By the way this is my new hair color! :)

Buy more cupcakes from Cupcake & Co. AND....

Eat my lemonade cupcake! :) yum!

Other than the previous, I sit at home and wait for things like this:

Yes those would be my free samples from Wal-Mart along with my coupons to purchase the products. I am excited to try the two products for me! Woohoo!

I'm going to give this whole sleep thing another try! Talk to you soon!! :) - jess

Couponing!!

So, I haven't been here lately but I guess I will make up for it now! Since I have nothing to do I decided I would at least try to save some money for my little family so we started couponing. I thought I would share with you what all I have gotten in the past two weeks. Of course I am not a professional and I wouldn't even say that I am close to being like the people that you hear about or see on television but for two weeks I would say that I have done pretty good.

2 Five Star One Subject, 1 pkg. Ten Count Papermate Pens, 2 Eight Count Mechanical Pencils, Soft Scrub Total, Nivea Body Wash, 55 yds of Oral-B Dental Floss, 2 Four Packs of Activia, 1 jar of Skippy Crunchy Peanut Butter

Original Price: 23.87 Saved: 15.40
Spent: $8.47

I am thinking that is pretty good since it is my first time to use coupons! :) Now the second week I didn't do so good at least I do not think so but maybe that is only because I spent more than $10.

1 Gillette Body Wash, 1 Tide Detergent Single, 3 Baby Wipes, 2 Bottles Suave Deodorant, 1 pkg Bic Razors, 1 pkg Energizer Battery, 1 pkg Activia, 4 Johnson & Johnson First Aid Package, Colgate Total, Colgate Max + Toothbrush, 2 Four Packs of Expo Dry-Erase Markers, 2 Bottles Gain Dishwashing Soap, 1 Bottle Dawn Dishwashing Soap, 2 80 Count Splenda Essentials, 1 All You Magazine

Original Price: $56.55 Saved: 26.98
Spent: $29.57

So here is my couponing for the past two weeks! I am pretty proud of myself! :) Maybe I will do just as well next week! Oh and if you are wondering where all of my groceries are, we haven't bought groceries in almost three weeks. Somehow we are living on the food that we have and every night we are able to pick out a wonderful meal! I guess we did good our first grocery shopping trip! :)

New month, New town... What else is new?

Well we are finally moved in and today was Shannons first day of work in his new job. Maybe I should rephrase that to orientation he has not seen any new patients yet. For me... Today was probably my most productive day ever! Do you know that having the Internet at your home allows you to procrastinate even more than you normally would? Take for instance my school work. I would normally wait until bed time to finish it but since I do not have the Internet I had to go to the library which closes at 7. (A post about the library will come at some time i am amazed at the library! It has a tree inside!) I guess you can forget procrastination this week! We are suppose to be getting Internet, Cable, and Phone tomorrow so... Woohoo!! I can go back to my procrastinating ways. Actually I think I'm going to stick with what I have been doing, it is nice to have nights free! :)

But anyway... Let's get down to the real reason for this post. Our apartment is all fixed up so I'm posting some pictures. Duh!

This is our new living room with our new furniture! I love it! I'm glad I changed the curtains that were down here to these lighter ones. The original curtains are now in our bedroom. See next picture...

The master bedroom with the curtains originally bought for the living room. That is when I thought we bought a green couch. I guess I am color blind.

Our new kitchen table! Our should I say our first kitchen table!! Either way it sounds amazing! And yes, our freezer is in the kitchen. I preferred it here rather than sitting outside in the weather. If you think that's crazy I would ask that you come find a better place! :)

If you do not know what this is I am not explaining it! Yes I do have pictures of all of the bathrooms, inside closets, the laundry room... Etc. But I'm not really interested in sharing. Although they are very neatly organized! Don't believe me, i know someone who received every picture!

Maybe tomorrow I will have something a little more interesting to talk about. Maybe I will do better at this whole blogging thing soon!!

Wasting Time

As I sit in front of my computer waiting on 2am to arrive so I can turn in my school work that is due tomorrow I decide to come to my blog and write about how interesting my life is. Well, it's not interesting it's actually quite boring but I guess I can waste some time!

I have been on and off with my blog for a while but I am pretty sure I have told you all that we will be moving. Because of this move I have the priviledge of packing the house into tiny boxes. Oh joy!! What fun!!

One of the most exciting things about moving is that I finally have an excuse to watch all of the movies and shows that I have recorded on the DVR. That's right, I have spent the past two days watching reruns and old movies just because I can! Tonight, I have watched a lot of Cold Case. (Which if you did not know is one of my favorite television shows! I have it recorded on every channel and as of today I have 37 new episodes which changed from 0 from last week!!)

I decided to have a break from Cold Case so I am now watching Marley and Me. I love this movie!!

Since I am bored... I will tell you some of the things that I am interested in right now. When I say interested I mean obsessed...

Hanging With Friends - I try not to play too many games because I get addicted easily but this has to be a favorite!

Pinterest -I love pinterest for all the right reasons but I need an invite badly!! If you are interested in sending me an invite my email address is jessieirvin@gmail.com

That picture was obviously not the best but I think you get it!

AllRecipes - I am not the best cook but I am desperately trying to get better!

I have to admit that I do pay each month so that I can use the menu feature that they added recently. I have found a lot of great recipes and almost all of them have turned out amazing! I say almost all of them because the Bar-B-Que that we had tonight was great but it was tough! But that was probably our fault, I think we got the wrong meat. Once again... I would like to emphasize that I am new to this!

Last but not least I would like to say that I am obsessed with my school!! University of Phoenix I have had some people say things (not nice things) about my school. Of course they want to know why I don't go to school at a traditional college since I do not have a job and if I think that I am getting a high quality education. Well yes, I do believe that I am getting an amazing education. I get the same education that you do at your traditional college except I have to research more and write more papers as well as doing the same observations and student teaching that you do. Where you have to have two concentration areas I have to have all four. So my question to you is... are you getting a high quality education? Oh and I did not answer the first part! I am moving in two weeks and I do not have to change colleges. Does your college pack up and move with you? I think not!

I think I will discontinue my rant and say what I was trying to say in the first place!!

I LOVE MY SCHOOL!!!

:)

I hope you all have a great Thursday! I only have 20 more minutes until I can turn in my Thursday assignment on Thursday (I don't want to look like too much of an overachiever) so I guess I better double check my work!

Sleep!!! I need it!

I have a little time before I have to wake up but to be honest 3:30am just comes a little early for me!

This was me last Friday morning at 4am. Why so many early mornings you ask? Well... I guess I could explain that and my blogging absence in one picture and a few words.

That's right... We are moving! But hey... At least I'm going to live by big, large, scary bridges!! Like this one of course!

And get to look at water all the time woohoo!!

Obviously I'm not very good at pictures going down the road but you get the point. We are moving and I'm a little excited. But only just a little because everybody else has to stay behind! :( like these two sweet babies.

Yes! I snuck in a wedding picture! :)

Bye!!

Sunday's In The Kitchen

Well I think we all know that I am not the best in the kitchen but I am really working on it! We had sandwiches tonight so, I couldn't really mess that up! Matter of fact I think they were pretty good! But, obviously our BLT's are not what this blog is about! Those don't sound like fun huh?

Well, I am trying to incorporate some of the gifts we received for the wedding into our every day life so tonight we decided to use one of our gifts that we love!

These are the ingredients that we used. (Well actually we used more but this is what all I put out to take a picture of... this is my first time to really talk about making something food wise so give me some credit!)

Well... can you guess what we made yet??
If you guessed ice cream you would be correct... Butter Pecan to be correct!

We got our recipe from here
.

Here are some pictures from us having fun in the kitchen!!

Well... maybe you have noticed now that I am not exactly the one who is hard at work but at least I got pictures! To be honest most of the hard work was done by Shannon.

This ice cream maker is working extra hard tonight!! :)

The final product before it went in the freezer! And now I am about to cuddle up in my blanket and eat our butter pecan ice cream and drink my coffee and of course do school work.

Thanks for reading about our Sunday in the Kitchen! \
Sorry no wedding pictures today...

One Month Anniversary and Father's Day

Since tomorrow will be busy and I will have no time to get online and talk about how insanely awesome my day has been I will just go ahead and make this post for today and tomorrow!!

I know it isn't a year or anything but a month is a month, right? Anyway... Happy One Month Anniversary to us!! At least we got a good laugh when the lady we paid for our supper gave me a sucker because she thought I was his child. But hey, at least she told him Happy Father's Day! haha!! :)

Oh my goodness!! It is the first wedding photo I have posted to my blog! I can't just give them to you all at once! That would just spoil the fun! So, over the next couple of... well, however long it takes me to finish going through them all... I will add a picture from the wedding.

Since this is the first time I decided to post anything about this, I guess I can give you just one more!

Happy Father's Day Daddy! I love you!