Checking off the important things...

It's all about priorities.

We may be doing things out of order, but at least the major things are getting done. We are in the homestretch now and little pieces are s . l . o . w . l . y coming together. It is exciting, but also testing our faith and patience at the same time.

Shred Update: Completed Day 4!!! The soreness in every.single.part of my body is finally starting to go away. When I woke up this morning I couldn't believe it-- Oh my goodness I can almost walk like a normal person. I am already seeing a difference and I'm feeling good. Proud of Mama Grace for sticking with it and finishing Day 4 too!!

Random 1: So sad for Sandra. Seriously, Jesse??

It's so amazing/disgusting/heartbreaking that even men who have such famous, amazing, talented and beautiful wives are still looking for something more. I do not think it's right to cheat on anyone, but how in the world can you cheat on Sandra Bullock?! For that nasty tattoo girl, no less. I would assume his tears during her kind speeches where she called him "my rock" must've been tears of guilt. I hope none of these rumors are true, but it's not looking that way. Seriously????

Random 2: It's a nicer day in NH than in FL!! Is this a joke?! Today's high is 68 and in NH it's sunny and 70. It's 10 degrees below normal today. Where, oh where is the hot sunny Florida weather??

Random 3: Thanks for all your puppy names! We finally agreed on a name and have decided to name her Roxie- cute?? =)

Puppy Love

Meet the newest addition to our Smelly family.....

Our little fur baby.

How cute is she?!?

She is a boxer.

She was born March 1.

We are picking her up May 3rd on our move back to NH.

We are so in love with her and can't wait to meet this adorable furry little lady.

I can't stop smiling.

I might be a bit obsessed and already have her as the wallpaper to my phone and desktop.

There is one problem though...

Mr. B and I can not agree on a name.

Maybe even causing an argument that results in the silent treatment.

Very mature, I am aware.

I am so thankful our kids names are already chosen because

I do not like this game.

I won't even tell you the name I love because it has already been shot down. hard. and. fast. by multiple people. including my husband. regardless of that fact that I love it.

Please send me your suggestions! We need help.

I have looked at a bunch of websites, but nothing has really jumped out, except for the one unmentionable.

Some guidelines:

I like 2 syllable names.

Unique- not very popular.

Could be something Springish, like a flower or something (not Daisy), since we are getting her in May.

Can't be:

Anna, Maggie, Bella or Jasmine those are already family dog names.

Ella, Stella, Layla, Lilah anything close to my {future} daughters' names.

In the running:

Selah {Say-La}

Lola

Gracie (too weird because that's my maiden name??)

Not totally in love with any of those though and I know the perfect name is out there, I just haven't found it yet and maybe YOU know it. Please give us some ideas =)

Thank you!

PS- About to go conquer Day 3!!

Meet The Grace Family...

Edit:

Forgot today was Top 2 Tuesday over at The Undomestic Momma and I wanted to join in on that fun too! Today's topic is celeb styles and my top 2 (there are so many it's hard to choose!) are Carrie Underwood and Jennifer Aniston. Of course this is more than just choosing their styles, it's their whole package-- hair + body included.

1. Carrie Underwood. If I could look like any celebrity it would be her. Love her personality, she is so sweet (like I have talked to her and know her in person), she is gorgeous, love her hair, love her voice, love her.

2. Jennifer Aniston. She is a natural beauty. Her dress up look or casual look, she looks amazing and pulls it off either way. If only it was that easy in real life. Also love her personality (Now her personality I actually know-unlike Carries'- because she hung out with my friends Regis and Kelly yesterday and I was pretty much in the room with them).

Original Post:

The Grace Family....

The Grace Family isn't complete without mentioning the wonderful addition to our family. These lovely ladies moved in with us 6 years ago:

The most awesome family any girl could ask for. I miss this crew so much.

Two weeks from today we will be reunited for Easter. Can't. Wait.

P.S - Day 2 of 30 Day Shred- Complete!! Tomorrow will be my official graduation to Day 3.

I am confident that our love is deep enough that the initial shock and hatred towards me for posting these pics is quickly forgiven. Mom and Sarah, please know this was out of pure love and because you are missed that much ;)

Makeover Monday

My blog had a makeover this weekend and now it is time for my own. This was the perfect-work-together-help-your-marriage project for Mr. B and I. I was in love with him (always am, but there was that extra burst of love) for helping me and fixing the things I couldn't figure out and he felt good, proud, needed and accomplished of himself. Um..Win-Win!

Now it's on to my makeover. I have been putting it off "On New Years I'll begin", "The Monday after New Years", "After our weekend away", "Next Monday". I am trying to convince Mr. B that this is completely normal for a girl to have a "tomorrow" diet, he doesn't agree, but I know I am not alone. This time I am serious. For real.

I was feeling all motivated last Wednesday, the sun was shining, I woke up early, I was totally loving not working and looked forward to the many more days I had. Thursday and Friday come around and that whole "Wohoo the sun is shining, I'm on top of the world, I want to wake up early everyday!" attitude quickly died and got buried with the sun. We had crazy rain storms, and I slept in and then positioned myself on the couch and sat there all day. The only thing that even got me (got or jump, one of the two) out of bed was the text from Mr. B saying he was on his way home from lunch. I needed those days to realize I will become a fat blob on the couch if this keeps up. The Lord knew I needed those days of rest and relaxation as well as a warning I can not spend my days like that, and He also knows I can not afford to have any days like that for a while. The sun is out today- thank you Jesus.

So yesterday I finally showered, did my hair, put on a bra, make-up and some real clothes and Mr. B and I went to the store. I did all of my healthy food shopping, which is both expensive (basically our whole budget) and time consuming to clean, cut and make easily accessible (if I don't do this it will never be eaten).

Just like working out, yogurt always sounds good and I think I would enjoy it. Wrong. I try and I will continue to try, but it's really not my thing. I kind of enjoy the whipped yogurt, so that's an improvement.

I also had to purchase some baby spoons because eating yogurt with a regular sized spoon results in some major gaggage. I have a strong gag reflex. A lot of things make me gag and yogurt happens to be one of those things. A baby spoon gives me the perfect amount of yogurt to decrease the gagging desire. I prefer the rubber coated spoons, but as mentioned above, we were already over budget so these will do.

I've recently noticed some new rolls forming on my back and extra love on my handles. I was pretty confident this was my cue that it's time to get myself into gear. It's getting really uncomfortable. Pretty much making laying down flat the only comfortable position. That position isn't the most practical for my day to day life.

So it's back to 30 Day Shred. Jillian Michaels and I have a love hate relationship. Basically, she gets me all pumped up, excited to get shredded, I complete my 20 minutes and then I am unable to walk for 7200 minutes (that's 5 days, I'm not ashamed to say googled that). So Miss Jillian, let me remind you- I live on the 3rd floor, falling down the stairs because my legs won't bend and crawling back up is not exactly ideal, so how am I supposed to continue on for 29 more days and get past level 1 when I can't even sit on the toilet, wash my hair or put on my bra, let alone do 20 squats while lifting weights??

I managed to make it all the way to Day 2 my first time. My second time, after a week of letting my body heal, I was determined to make it at least past Day 2. This my friends is exactly why it's important to set low expectations. I failed. Attempt number 2 at the 30 day shred...2 days completed.

Well not this time! The third time is a charm and I am determined to make it! I have read that the first 5 days are the worst, so once I make it past that I should be golden. Key words: Should be. With the "I'm a Shredhead" and "I'm a Shredder" icon for the side of my blog how could I resist?? I will admit, this may have been a little incentive for me. It obviously makes this whole thing very legit. I told you I was serious this time. If only I could get a t-shirt that says that...

I bought the handy dandy tape measure. Mr. B took all my measurements and I am looking forward to seeing those numbers "shred". I know some of you may be thinking that I have nothing to lose, I am fine etc, trust me-I do. I worked out a lot before the wedding and it paid off, then we got married and a little something called you-do-not-have-the-same-metabolism-as-Mr.B-plus-he-is-a-guy-stop-eating-like-him snuck up on me. I realized my thighs have reunited, they have become best friends and would rather not separate, but stay thisclose and rub together. Lovely.

The most important thing on my agenda is to tone and eat healthier. I don't think I am fat, although I am sure Mr. B would disagree with that statement since I complain about my body about 1,965 times a day. My body looks deceiving with clothes on, but once you see (as if this is something you even wanted to imagine never mind seeing) my belly, my butt and my thighs all with an additional dose of cellulite, you will quickly realize that I can definitely use a little somethin' somethin'. Maybe maybe maybe if I have good results after this you will see my "before" and "after" picture. No promises. Sorry to disappoint.

This morning I completed Day 1. I had a little bowl of Raisin Bran (so hard not to add in a scoop of sugar!) and I worked out to Day 1 Level 1 while watching Regis and Kelly (thanks to Jagged Little Life for that helpful tip). It was SO much easier this way. I am not saying by any means that it was no longer hard, because I was certainly huffing and puffing, sweating and shaking, but it made it go by faster and kept me distracted.

I'm still shaking and I am dreading the soreness that is bound to happen in the morning. But I did it. Day 1- Complete.

Be sure to check out Mama Laughlin, she is a great inspiration and looks amazing. She went way more extreme than I am willing to go (I love my food too much), but it has definitely paid off!

It's Alright By Me

I love having family in town for many reasons, but one reason in particular is because it gives me something to blog about. It relieves some of the stress that goes into this whole blog, yes, this fun little hobby can be a little stressful when it comes to the minor details such as writing a post. When family is visiting I don't have to pull a post out of my butt decide on which one of the every day exciting (the sunset, grocery shopping, overeating...) adventures to post about. Such a sense of freedom. This particular event I'm posting about took place last weekend (another added bonus of family visiting- it may create enough material for more than one post, in my case 3 post!). I would hate to bore you make you jealous with Mr. B and I's Saturday extravaganza that consisted of sitting around all day. a-l-l. d-a-y. Not to brag but, minus moving two feet to move our butt to the breakfast bar for lunch and an occasional bathroom trip, we sat on the couch from approximately 10:30 AM to 12:00AM (pre-time change). An exciting Saturday at it's finest. Are you understanding the dilemma in trying to choose which adventure I would like to expound upon in my next post??

Clearly, that's about as much as I can post about our Saturday so I will take you back to last weekend.

We spent the beautiful sunny day by the pool. The weather has been perfect, it's warm with a slight breeze and no humidity so it's never too hot.

This can create some mental/skin confusion due to the fact that the sun is still hot, and can in fact burn your skin regardless of the cool breeze and your lack of sweat. Mama Grace and Auntie Liz had to learn this the hard way therefore Mama Grace spent the next day fully covered with her back to the sun. She is a little camera shy so you will not be given the privilege to see just how burnt she was, but to give you an idea she was this red. Lesson learned: Even when it's not hot out...wear sunblock. Obviously had she been wearing our 4spf oil it would never have been this bad.

I learned my own lesson: Take sun glasses off right away. Apparently that first hour of sun was really strong, enough so to give me raccoon eyes. Awesome. It's a little hard to tell in this picture, but trust me, it was very apparent. Lesson number two: When tanning keep head up at all times in order to allow the sun to reach your neck.

We had enough sun lessons for the weekend and we made our way over to the 75th Annual Strawberry Festival.

What? Something wrong with the exposure?

Mr. B said it was fine even without a flash? What??

The highlight:

De.lish.

Darius Rucker.

"It's alright by me" are lyrics to one of the four songs that we knew of his, hence the title of this post. I couldn't think of anything creative and it's alright by me, I hope it's alright by you too. He put on a good show, we were a little concerned that we only knew a few of his songs, turns out he only has a few songs and likes to sing other people's songs, "songs I wish I wrote" as he put it. I wonder how it made him feel when everyone sang those songs louder than his own....Oh well, it was a good idea and a lot of fun.

Next weekend Mr. B's parents are visiting so this week so I hope you won't be too disappointed to find out there will only be 5 days of posting misc. happenings of my new housewife life. Or maybe that is a relief. It might be an understatement to say my days are not the most exciting, so consider this a warning--there may be posts about Regis and Kelly, Melissa Rycroft, Ellen America's Next Top Model, my new healthy lifestyle and my dry heels that are driving me nuts. Anything is possible.

Ornithophobia

It was as if he was an Olympic athlete striving to just cross that finish line. Keeping his eye on the prize, he persevered using everything in his strength to reach his destination. Unfortunately, this youthful creature did not practice hard enough for the goal set before him. Just feet from that victorious arrival, weakness prevailed. The finish line that was once the tree quickly became my head!

That was am excerpt from a narrative essay I wrote in one of my writing classes, I was going to just copy and paste the whole thing (yes, it's that good of a story it qualified as a college paper), but it's a bit too formal for this little blog of mine. Not sure if that's a good thing or not, but we will pretend it is. Anyways, this "youthful creature" was a baby bird, more specifically it appeared to be a baby owl. I don't know if that is true or even possible because it was in the day, I always thought it looked like it and in order to make the story that much more exciting we will stick to the fact that this was indeed a baby owl.

I was about 7 years old and I had just come out of the lake. My hair may have looked something like this, but add in the wet look.

This was taken on our honeymoon, in the bird's defense this particular "hairstyle" does give the appearance of a rat's bird's nest. I am very thankful I never experienced this again because clearly, as seen in this picture, I didn't learn my lesson on the importance of maintaining beautiful hair in the presence of birds.

Anyways, I got out of the lake, wrapped myself up in my towel and sat next to my mom and her friend. Everyone sitting by the lake saw this helpful little bird fly from one side of the lake to the other. As he was approaching land he seemed to be flying a little on the low side, low enough that we all had to duck our heads. Turns out I didn't duck my head low enough and there was some bird confusion between a nest and crazy wet hair. Everyone lifted their head and laughed at how close the bird was, lo and behold I am screaming trying to swat the bird off my head. As the tears were coming and I was beyond freaked, I wouldn't have expected anyone to do anything other than what they were doing to help the situation....point and laugh. Can you say scarred for life? Talk about a tragic childhood, right? As time goes on, and my memory fades becomes stronger, this story seems to get more dramatic. In fact, it may have been a vulture that landed on my head that day, only God knows.

So I share this very personal, life changing event with you to bring you to the second part of this post. I give you permission to laugh at the story above (if you haven't already, thank you for being so kind). I can laugh about it now, but that doesn't change my Ornithophobia- just discovered this word and feeling pretty cool right now.

Two years ago, when I was a live-in nanny, I took the kids to go feed the ducks. It was a beautiful, sunny day and I had some bread that was getting old, so I packed the kids up in the car (Mr. B came along too- thank you Lord!) and we headed over to the lake. Where I come from ducks found at the pond look like this:

Well, welcome to Florida, through migration they morph into these big guys:

They must change in bird types too because these are actually geese not ducks so it's a complete morph package. These birds are nothing like the sweet little ducks I fed in my childhood. These birds attack. These birds are huge. Apparently these birds are starving. Besides the fact that the kids (and possibly me) were crying because we kept getting bit due to the fact that we were standing on a bunch of fire ant hills (another thing we don't have up north), we were getting attacked by these geese. We were running around the parking lot (safety first) and I dropped the bag of bread, grabbed the kids and bolted to the car. Remember, birds scare me. Why did I think this would be a good idea?? It played out way different in my head. Sorry kids, Ms J is having an anxiety attack because she's scared of birds, get in the car, we are going home. Because.

These geese became a special attraction for my visitors. My friend was visiting for my birthday and knowing she is not too fond of birds herself, I knew exactly where to take her. After all, it was my birthday so she had very little say on what we did that day. To us, this video is priceless and will always make us laugh. To you, it will most likely not be the same experience, but feel free to give it a shot just in case. I would hate for you to miss out. Disclosure: I think a baby could video tape better than I did, although please note I was running away. If you get motion sickness, I apologize, you may want to take some Dramamine or just close your eyes and make up your own illustration based on the sound effects. You may want to try and tune out my laugh as well. As mentioned, I now like to bring people here (the experience is different when you know what to expect), I am still petrified of the birds, but their reaction trumps my fear. Kind of.

When my mom and sister visited in October, I was so excited to bring them and see how my sister would react. We only had a few pieces of bread, but they would still be able to experience the attack of the geese.This was quickly destroyed when Mr. B gave each geese a whole piece of bread. Someone needs lessons on how to feed the birds, not to point fingers, but it's not me. He completely killed this experience. The bread was gone. I'm still trying to get over this disappointment.

Mr. B learned his lesson and didn't touch the bread this time around with our new visitors. This past weekend my grammie was the innocent victim.

This is how our friends greet us when they catch a glimpse of the bread bag.

Again, excuse my obnoxious hyena laugh, I didn't learn from the first video.

Note to self: Restrain laugh for as long as possible.

My grammie loves birds so she was the perfect candidate for the comedic attack of the geese experience. She was totally oblivious to what we set her up for. We were prepared for some laughs...

She didn't let us down.

Today is actually her 65th birthday! Happy Birthday Grammie!! So glad you were able to visit this past weekend; you were such a good sport when feeding those vicious creatures! She doesn't read this (she's not the most internet savvy), it's the thought that counts, right? :)

I am aware that these are most likely "you had to be there" stories, similar to when you are telling someone about a crazy dream you had and it only makes sense to you and no one else cares. So I am sorry I wasted moments of your life, but I appreciate your time.

Happy Friday!!!!!!!

Welcome new followers =)

Celebration

I realize this is almost a week late, but I have been way too busy stuffing my face at restaurants and soaking in the sun that I have had absolutely no time to write about my days. Now no one is here to keep me company, it's pouring outside, it's 10:30 in the morning, I am eating cheese and crackers, watching Regis and Kelly and I might still be in bed, so I think I can find some time to update.

Friday night was my last day of work. Yip-EEE! I was kind of stressing because I wasn't sure if we were going to hug good-bye or if I was just going to leave like normal. This thought was kind of taking over my day. Do you hug when it's a mutual dislike?? When she doesn't even day "hi" or "bye" to me?? The answer is yes. I went with the flow, followed her body language and went for it. Not only was there a hug, there were tears. From her, not me. Which makes the whole situation quite comical, I think. Clearly it was not because she will miss me, she will miss everything I do for her. This is the second employer I've had that has done this to me. Newsflash: If you treated me better I wouldn't be leaving- it's your own fault. As she was shedding tears, we were out celebrating. I know, that sounds really mean, but there's freedom in being released from a bad position, sorry. We went to a delicious restaurant right across from our place called The Grill Smith.

"Cheers to no more work while in Florida!"

My wonderful visitors, Grammie, Auntie Liz and Mama Grace

The melt in your mouth filet mignon (note: Mama Grace was paying it would be wrong to choose a cheap meal. She might think differently.)

Smiles of pure happiness.

I'm beyond happy to be done.

He is beyond happy that he won't have to hear me complain every.single.day.

Although I am quite confident it won't take long for me to find something else to complain about.

We will pretend all complaints were left behind with the job.

The next day we drove to Winter Haven to visit the snow birds, Rudy (my great-grandfather) and his girlfriend. Yes, he has a girlfriend. Yes, they met online. Yes, that qualifies them as being "hip". They both lost their spouses and found each other through the internet, they have been great for each other and have been "dating" for years.

This past Christmas while watching Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, I realized for the very first time, that Rudolph's girlfriend's name is Clarice....ummm..that's Rudy's girlfriend's name! How funny is that?? That discovery pretty much made my Christmas season.

As I mentioned in this post, Rudy enjoys going to Hooters with "the guys". Proof that I was not lying--not that you wanted any proof because personally it is a tad disturbing to think about--here is the sign up list. We were given a tour of his retirement community and in the clubhouse there was a sign up sheet for various activities. A van filled with elderly men on a field trip to Hooters= "Delightfully Tacky". Hmm good choice of words.

Please take note of the last signature on the list. Lee really looks forward to this outing.

I really need to figure out how to put arrows and text, can someone comment and teach me please??

We went out for lunch at a new little diner down the street. Little did we know "Chat-A-Whyle" was not only the name of the diner, but a huge hint of what we had to look forward to.

We waited for our food for at least an hour. Thanks for the simple suggestion and apparently fair warning to chat awhile.

Apparently it takes a long time to make a ridiculously-tall-entirely-too-big-to-fit-in-any-normal-size-mouth sandwich. Customers love waiting that long for their food only to find they need to disassemble their sandwich so they can at least get one part of their mouth over the top.

We went back to Rudy's house and celebrated my Grammie's 65th birthday a little early while she was in town. He made his famous apple pie and it was delicious.

The end of our day consisted of Grammie, some bread, this big guy and a bunch of his friends.

I am going to pull a LOST moment on you and leave you hanging.

This story involves a video and deserves it very own post.

Don't be too overwhelmed with the suspense, feel free to use your imagination and stay tuned.