Hello From the Other Side

Hello from Spring!  Sorry I have neglected this blog.  I think with the warm weather I'm up to being a better blogger.  Here's how the past winter months were spent.

First of all, my brother got married!  Below is Steven with his *new* wife Lisa and her daughter, Audrey.  They had a tiny, sweet courthouse wedding in DC.  Then they traveled to Thailand for their honeymoon and had a wedding ceremony there.

Jaw dropping. 

Aaron and I traveled to Denver to spend President's Day weekend with my college buddies.  It was SO wonderful seeing all my friends again.  I went to a HBCU (historically black college & university) and it was such a great experience.  Not too brag -okay, totally bragging- but the group below features lawyers, doctors, a pharmacist, a pilot and just all around awesome people.  It definitely surprises people when I tell them I loved the diversity of my college...diversity is more than just the color of your skin!

Jon & Amena got ENGAGED! #HUlovestory

 on the lift to go tubing

 with my sweetheart.  so much fun.

some of the slopes

I was really excited to try some of the food in Denver.  We met friends at a restaurant, Acorn.  It was delightful.  I had a pork belly BLT sandwich and the meat was charred perfectly.  Check out the homemade donut below.

 



We spent one weekend at home before we were off traveling again.  We traveled to Lansing, North Carolina and shared a winter cabin with friends.

Aaron splitting wood.

At the beginning of March my siblings and I threw a birthday party for our parents.  They both turned 60 in February!  The party was Motown themed, had a great turnout and steady action on the dance floor.  We actually had to swap out stereos because halfway through the first overheated! It was fun to have all of my parent's friends in one place. 

And then the rest of the month has just been hanging out with my core group :-)

 at our top secret Sunday spot ;-)

 girl's night



Yesterday, just making some St Patty's punch :-)

and unwinding later that evening

So happy to be back on the blog!! 





Superbowl 50

Yes the Carolina Panthers will be there! KEEP POUNDING! #dabonem

Snow Day

It's a snow day in South.  We got a thick layer of ice yesterday topped with a light dusting of snow today.  I dutifully went to store on Thursday to prep, so Aaron and I have been coming up with different ways to the cook pork tendorloin - I braised one yesterday, Aaron has our second one smelling divine in the slow cooker right now.  Speaking of Aaron, his coworkers and him drove 8 hours through the night Thursday to get home before the snow.  They were supposed to fly out Friday but with all flights cancellations there was no other choice.  I'm so happy he made it here in time to get snowed in with me!

This snow has been a great time to relax and catch up on tasks.  Also to sit down and chat with y'all!  Here's what's been on my mind lately ...

I miss my niece's hoverboad.

I also miss bread after giving it up for consecration for our church.  At World Overcomers, we always start the year by giving up something to God for the first 10% of the year, the first 36 days.  I gave up bread and Aaron gave up beer and wine.  The fast ends Superbowl Sunday which works out perfectly!

I laugh everytime I look at this post on when baking a potato goes wrong.  It's reblogged on my tumblr.

Still so impressed by Jamie Foxx!

This post on makeup really got me thinking about how safe are these cosmetics that place on my face every day.  I've already started being mindful of the new products I'm purchasing.  I've been trying a lot of the Tarte products - their foundation, foundation brush, mascara and sunscreen - and honestly I'm loving them so far.  Special shout-outs for their foundation brush and mascara.

That's all for today!  Later this week I am going to share from photos from our post Christmas trip to Asheville.  Take care and stay warm!

New Year's Resolutions

It's that time again!  I looked back and completed about 75% of my goals last year.  Not bad.

2016 Resolutions

1  Be 10 minutes early.
To work, to church, to meetings.  I can do this.

2  Get up when planned, stop snoozing.
I ordered an alarm clock for my bedroom and a radio for my bathroom.  My hope is to exclude my cell phone from my getting ready routine to be more efficient.  No more checking trend topics in the morning.

3  Assume others have the best intentions.
I don't know what's going through other's minds, so why not assume the best?

4  If Aaron and I don't go to church on Sunday, stream the service by Tuesday night.
This was a 2015 goal and not a bad one to carry over.

5  Continue taking care of my body.
Eating less than 25g of sugar a day at least 4 days a week, cutting back on carbs, less processed foods and more whole foods.   As for exercise, at least 2 days a week!

6  Make my mom a wedding photo album.
Sadly another leftover 2015 goal.  It's only been 2.5 years...

7  Make more photo albums in general.  
One for our London and Italy trip, a photo album for every year of my life (past high school)...why not?  There are too many digital photos on my computer.

8  Get my splits by March.
More on this later! :-)

9  Give myself an hour before bed to take care of myself.
Turn off the computer and give myself time to stretch, meditate and wash up before bed.

10  Spend less money on food and material items and focus more on saving.

10 goals, 12 months, let's make it happen!

Glory

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Isaiah 9:6 

Christmas Musings

This year I am loving Christmas.  It wasn't always like that-there were times med school and residency had me so rundown, when the holidays came around I really wanted to cover my head and sleep through it.  Christmas wrappings, anyone?  Thankfully this year isn't anything like that.  The tree is up, the halls are decked.

So far the holidays have included lots of yummy food, seeing old friends, cheering on the Panthers, cuddling on the couch and even a singing Santa.  Thursday we're stepping things up with a holidays lights booze cruise (via party bus).  If anything I wish these days could go by a little slower and not slip by so fast.

Goals Check In

It's December 2nd and a great time to check in on my 2015 goals.

2015 Resolutions

1  Clean the office in my apartment and dispose of unneeded items.

Check - the office is still a mild reservoir of junk, but it's much improved

2  Arrive at places 10 minutes early.

Looking like a 2017 2016 goal.  I accidentally typed 2017 the first time and had to come back and revise this post...is my subconscious trying to tell me something?

3  Focus on being a considerate and caring wife.

Progress - This is a weird goal, because it's kind of like a continual goal.  I think marriage is definitely work and it's important not to slack or take your partner for granted.

4  Focus on one cookbook a month and cook at least 2 recipes from this book a week.

I've only been able to partially do this - with our work schedules finding time for dinner together at home has been hard.  We usually only cook 2-3x a week.  I was able to really focus on some of my recipe books, in particular Thug Kitchen and Southern Cooking Bible.  I didn't really reach this goal though.

5  If Aaron and I do not go to or stream church on Sunday, watch the sermon by Tuesday that week.

Sigh.

6  Finish my South Africa photobook.

Complete. :-)

7  Regularly limit my sugar intake to 25g a day, at least 4 out of 7 days a week.

Check - this is another continual goal but I think I've been really working myself towards it and can consider it achieved.

8  Work out twice a week and weigh myself weekly. 

Check - whenever humanly possible I'm at the gym twice a week.  Weighing myself is still kind of painful though.   

9  Instead of feeling like getting ready for bed is a burden, make it more of spa and pampering experience with music and candles.

Progress - I noticed this goal has been neglected so I've been working on it this week.

10  Work on building a nest egg with Aaron outside of retirement - rainy day funds, future house fund. 

Progress - Aaron and I have gotten better at monitoring our spending so we can tuck away money.  Our nest egg got set back when Aaron's car broke down and we decided to get a new car.  However I think that in general we're wiser about our spending this year.

11  Make my mother a wedding album.

Really need to at least order this by Christmas so I can give her an IOU.

12  Redecorate the bedroom.

Check - pretty happy about that!

5 goals completed.  3 goals in progress.  4 goals that were not really addressed.  Some I'm definitely rolling over into next year - getting places 10 minutes early, streaming the church service by Tuesday.  I'm not really sure what new goals I'll incorporate.  Right now, it's crunch time and I still have time to make some of these happen.