Be thankful

Happy Thanksgiving Eve ladies!!!

I normally spip right over Thanksgiving and head on to Christmas, but today I thought I would take a moment to meditate on all the things that I am thankful for. So many times I find myself going through the motions of every day life, and I never take the time to stop and thank God for all his blessing. So today I am going to take a moment and just be thankful!

1. First and foremost, I am thankful to be a Christian. I am so grateful that my parents raised me to know and love God, and for living in a country that was founded on Christianity, instead of one that condemns them.

2. My husband and daughter: I can't imagine life without them. They fill my heart with endless amounts of joy every single day. I am so thankful that Clinton is the man that he his. He's sensitive but strong. He's funny, encouraging, and supportive. If it wasn't for him, I could NEVER do all that I do. Presley is truly the most precious person in my life. She makes me want to be a better mother and woman.

3. My job: So many people are not as fortunate as I am to even have a job, and I am lucky enough to not only have a good one, but one that I love as well. I love my bosses, my co-workers, and the agents that Im an account manager for. Ive developed some great friendships with my co-workers, and gone on some wonderful vacations. We get to go to Orlando in a few weeks for our holiday party as well!

4. My family: Mine and Clintons parents and siblings are so important to us. We both are extremely close to our families, as well as our in-laws. They both have been great examples of the type of spouses and parents that we want to be.

5. My friends: I have the MOST wonderful friends ever! I have 3 best friends..Candice, Leigh Anne, and Kelly. I'm thankful for my "dinner club" with Candice, Ashley, Ashley, Erica, and Christin. These girls are amazing, godly women...and just wonderful friends in general. We all went to high school together, and could just sit and talk for hours...and we usually do :) I have so many other wonderful friends Im thankful for too: Leigh, Laura, Betsy, Mishelle, Rebekah...the list really does go on!

6. My home: Clinton and I have been very fortunate to buy our first house at the age of 21, and are now living in our second home. So many times I complain about wanting more space, but we are truly blessed to have all we do.

7. Im thankful for never having to worry about bills. Clinton and I have been very blessed. Even when money is tight, we've never had to worry about a bill being late, or heaven forbid, going unpaid.

8. I'm thankful for paying off all of our credit card debt this year, and finally getting a savings account established.

Now for some other not-so-important IMPORTANT things:

9. Target! Im there every Saturday with bells on! I can't walk out the door w/o spending $50 on absolutely nothing...but all those nothings make me happy!

10. My chi....Lord only knows what my hair would look like w/o it.

11. Splenda...for making my unsweet tea that much better now that I can't have sweet tea :(

12. Email...it gets me through many a day at work!!

13. My trips to NY! It really is one of the most amazing places to go! Ive experiences so many wonderful things in that city, and made some amazing memories!

And while I'm on that topic, I'm thankful that I had a chance to eat at Tavern on the Green while I had a chance. I just found out that its closing down on December 31st and I am so sad! The Crystal room (see pic below) is absolutely breath taking and I hate I wont get a chance to eat there again!


And last but NOT least...I am thankful for my weight loss! I've lost 11.6 lbs in 3 weeks! My loss last night was only 1.2, but its better than nothing! And considering all that went on this week, I have no complaints over this way. My goal for the whole month was 12, and I still have a week left. I am very thankful to have so many encouraging people while I fight this battle.


So take a moment and be thankful!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Weigh-In day and Christmas card!!!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Well first and foremost, I have my weekly weigh-in today. I'm very very nervous about it. As some of you recall, I was really worried about it because I had so much going on this week/weekend and of course it all revolved around food...which I've learned most things do here in the south.

I did my best to make the best choices when choosing my food, and I also made a point to cut back on all my portion sizes, too. But it just still makes me nervous because I ate out more than usual, and had our one of our Thanksgiving get togethers. So tonight the scale will tell, and I will give you guys and update!!

Now on to the Christmas card!! After much deliberation, I went with a card that held three different pics. I was perfectly happy with doing one of just Presley, but my friend Laura informed me they were "family" cards and I needed a "family" picture. Well, for those of you that do not know my husband, he does not smile for pictures...in fact, he usually looks in pain. So we didn't have that many great shots, but I just went with a what we had.

Here is a preview of our card!

These first 3 pics are the ones on the card. The first one is my favorite. Jason

absolutely captured Presley's personality in this picture as well as the rest.

Here are some others from our photo session!

I have a date tonight...

With this lovely man right here!

(And I'm gonna let a few of my favorite ladies tag along, too).

I'm sure I dont have to go into detail about how excited I am! LA is coming in from Nashville just so she can watch it with me and Can! What a true best friend!! My friend/coworker Laura is also going with us, and our other friend Mishelle!


We're gonna grab some dinner at Hueys...which by the way has the BEST food ever. Its a Memphis staple so make sure you grab their World Famous Huey Burger the next time you past through Memphis!


Then off to see NEW MOON!!! This girl I work with has already informed me that its amazing, but who had any doubt?! I am so excited that Im beside myself!!! I can't even pull myself together to do any work around here ha!


I have a busy weekend ahead of me as well...and I'm sure Im going to be faced with a LOT of temptation! We're throwing a shower tomorrow for one of our cousins...shes having a precious little boy very soon! Then our annual Thanksgiving dinner. My mother-in-law always does it the weekend before so we dont have to travel different places on Thanksgiving day. It really helps out a lot!


So Im going to have to be really careful with what I eat this weekend. I'm not going to be discouraged if I dont have as big of a loss as the last two weeks, but I definitely want to do my best!


I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!


GO TEAM EDWARD!!!

Survey #1

I should be receiving my proofs for our family pictures any day now and I'm so excited! I'm ready to get my Christmas cards ordered and mailed off! But first, I wanted to get a few opinions for Christmas cards.

Side note: **Everyone who knows me also knows that I can NOT make a decision on my own. In a few days you're more than likely gonna see another post asking for a vote on the actual picture ha!**

I love this one! This print is one of my favorites and I love this color green!


But I also want to do something kind of fun now that we have a precious little girl that has joined our little world!

There is a precious one with a cute little santa and stockings, but it wouldnt save for some reason:(

Let me know whatcha think!

Merry CHRISTmas!!!

Oh Happy Day!!!

I am having a GREAT morning today!!!

We have a local radio station here in Memphis that plays Christmas music 24 hours a day during the holidays. They use to start on Thanksgiving day, then a few years ago they started the Monday before Thanksgiving.

Well this year they started TODAY!!!!

Thankfully all my co-workers are die hard Christmas fans too so when I told them it was playing, they immediately turned it on!

I don't think that there are that many things in life that bring me as much joy as the holidays, especially Christmas music. So needless to say, I'm a happy camper right now!

I hope that you all have a wonderful day today!! We're almost to the weekend!!

Wishful Wednesday...Movie!

'I wish' .... my life was a movie, and it would be a ROMANTIC COMEDY!

This one was easy for me because I LOVE romantic comedies! If its a chick flick, I'll watch it in a heartbeat! I immediately think of You've Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally (Yes, I love Meg Ryan) and While You Were Sleeping....I'm a sucker for a love story!!

Head over to Kelseys blog at The Seattle Smiths if you would like to play along!

Happy Hump Day!!!

Week 2...woohoo!!

Tonight was my second time to weigh-in since I've started Weight Watchers.

Once again, I was a little anxious because I have not weighed one time since the last weigh-in which made me a little nervous. I felt like I had done really good this week...possibly even better than last week...and well, I was right!

Last week I lost 4.6 lbs...this week was 5.8!!!!

I wish I could even begin to explain how excited I was, but there were no words! 10.4 lbs in 2 weeks!! The leader basically had to pick my mouth up off the ground because I was in such disbelief!!

This week is going to be a LOT tougher! I've been great about cutting back on my portions and cutting out fast food unless absolutely necessary. But this next week will be a challenge. Some girlfriends and I are going out to eat Friday night before New Moon ( so Candice and LA, you have to keep me in check!). Saturday, Clinton's family will be in town for our annual Thanksgiving get together. We are also throwing a shower for one of the cousins. So I'm pretty much going to be around food ALL day. But I've already mapped out a plan and I'm just going to do the best I can at sticking to it!

Well, I can't wait to see where this takes me next week! Thank you for all the sweet and encouraging comments from the last blog. I know that my weigh-in will not always be this successful, but at least I know that I have some good friends to help me along the way.

Hope you all have a wonderful day tomorrow!

Todays the day!

Well today is my second weigh-in...and I'm just a little bit nervous! I feel like I've done good this week, but I haven't weighed so I have no idea where I stand!

The reason I decided not to weigh between meetings is pretty simple...before, I would weigh after a few days, see that I lost a couple lbs, then slack off the rest of the week. The "not knowing" has its benefits. I tend to pass up on temptations because I have no idea what my #'s are looking like for the week. In the past, I would've given in because I knew I had already succeeded some that week.

Another little trick I'm trying is something someone shared with me a long time ago, but I never tried it. For every lb that you lose, find something that weighs that much and put it on your kitchen table. That way you have a daily reminder of your success! In addition to that, you can also "feel" how much you lost. For someone like myself that has a 100 lbs to lose, 2 or 3 lbs doesnt seem like a lot...but when you actually hold 2 or 3 lbs in your hands, you realize its a lot better than you thought! I think this is a great idea for all shapes and sizes! I know I have a few friends that only have 5 or 10 lbs to lose, and a 1 lb weight loss doesnt seem like much to them...but when you see it measured in a stick of butter, it really opens your eyes!!

So those are my tips for the day! Both have really helped me get through these past 2 weeks! Tomorrow I will be blogging about my success!

On a different note, I found out yesterday that I'm going to Orlando in December for a "holiday party" with my company...Clinton gets to go too! We get to stay on a resort, but thats all I know...Lord, I hope its a resort in Disney World!! But, I have some mixed emotions about going. We had originally planned to visit Nashville/Franklin that weekend to see my bf LA and her husband and son. We were going to the Dickens Village in Franklin TN and then doing some shopping! We were also going to see some of our other friends/old neighbors for our yearly Christmas get-together. So I'm pretty bummed about missing all of that. But I feel like I need to go on the trip considering our company is going through some changes.

Well, thats all I have for today! I hope that all of you are having a wonderful week so far. Just think, Thanksgiving is next week...the holidays have officially arrived!!! Can't get much better than that!!!

Merry Christmas to me!

Santa came to see me early this year and I am soooo excited!!

The Nikon D3000!!

I have been wanting a really nice camera since I got pregnant with Presley and I FINALLY got one! Clinton even let me have it a little early so that I can use it during the holidays! I can't wait to try it out and see how I like it.


Tonight we also had a much needed "date" night. We went to eat at Jay Alexanders ... yummy... where I thought I would try the veggie burger since I'm trying to eat better. Now...I have only had one veggie burger before and it was at Back Yard Burger about 10 years ago...it was awful. But I gave it a shot, and I'm so glad I did! It was A-MAZING!!


Afterwards, we picked up my camera and headed to Toys-R-Us to start on some Christmas shopping! We had such a great time! It was so exciting this year because we know her precious little face will light up to see some of her favorite things on Christmas morning! So far we got her a "first" doll house, some learning toys, Llama Llama Red Pajama, and a xylophone that I will surely regret. I still have some more to do, but need to get some more ideas first.


Well, hope y'all are having a great weekend too! Im about to get busy on my Christmas background and songs for the blog!

I smell like Christmas!

Yep I do!

Every Christmas I have to get Winter Candy Apple from Bath and Body Works! I absolutely love it! This morning was my first time to use it this season and it kicked my day off to great start!!!

So of course I started thinking about all my other favorite Christmas smells

and got really really excited!

#1...The Christmas tree of course

A homemade Apple pie!

And when I dont have one of those, I go for the next best thing...Baked Apple Pie candles!



And last but not least, a firewood burning!

Nothing gets me more excited than Christmas and all the wonderful things that come along with it! What are some of your favorite smells at Christmas time??

Now on two the next thing. I had to post a few pics! One of my best friends husbands is a music minister but he does photography on the side...and he's awesome at it! He came in town last weekend and took some family pics for us and I had to share a few. We went to the town square of where we live, and where I was born and raised. So these pictures hold a very special place in my heart!

So here's a little sneak peak! These are the only ones Ive seen, and I cant wait to see the rest!

Thank you Jason for all your hard work! We love you so much!!

Had to post this one first...the two most important people in my life.

Awards!

Thanks to a few of my favorite people, Candice and Leigh, I received the Sugar Doll award! Thanks ladies!!

Okay, the rules are quite easy. I have to list 10 interesting facts about myself {...these im sure wont be as interesting as they are RANDOM}. Then Ill pass this award on to the 10 wonderful bloggers. So enjoy.....

1. I am absolutely, without-a-doubt, terrified of spiders. I check under my sheets, in between my sheets and comforter, and under my pillow every night before bed. I shake out my shoes every time before I put them on. And if I wake up during the night with my mouth open, I immediately close it because I believe that the "myth" that you will eat "8 spiders in your lifetime while sleeping with your mouth open" is true!

2. I do not like people to touch me. I have gotten a LOT better about this. Its not that I dont love a good hug or handshake every now and then, but I have just a tad bit of OCD when it comes to someone touching me...and this is why...I cant stand for someone to touch me in one place and not the other. For example, if they pat me on one arm, I have to touch the other. I could literally do entire blog about how this has affected my life, but I'm trying to get over it, so I wont.

3. I love making to-do lists...or any list for that matter. I have a little spiral binder in my purse thats full of different things...places I wanna go, my favorite songs and movies, even ideas for Preselys birthday. You name it, and I probably have a list for. I even have a list for all the songs I want to put on my Ipod. FYI...I dont have an Ipod.

4. My husband is an avid deer hunter, and I have actually gone deer hunting with him...and I really enjoy it. And yes I killed a deer, too... but I have mixed emotions about this.

5. I have someone ask me ALL THE TIME if I named my daughter Presley after Elvis...especially since I live in Memphis. Its so bad, that I have contemplated changing her name.

6. I was extremely sick during my first pregnancy and it scares me to death to think about doing it again. I threw up till the day I delivered her. In the beginning, I was throwing up every 30 minutes to an hour...around the clock. I actually lost 25 lbs in 2 weeks because I was sick. Oh and I lived off watermelon, jello, and Popsicles for about 3 months.

7. I hate my name. I dont know what it is about how I say it, but not one can ever understand me. In fact, I have had hundreds of people comment back and call me "Tina"....Really?? Tina???

8. I LOOOOOOOOOVE Christmas and every aspect of the season!!! I have spent hundreds, probably thousands, on Christmas related items but I can't stop myself from buying them. I usually start listening to Christmas music in September, and Home Alone is usually the first Christmas movie I watch each year...mainly because its 4 months before Christmas when I pop it in, and it doesnt make me feel crazy hah! My all time fave Christmas movie is Christmas Vacation, and my favorite song is O Holy Night... oh and The Christmas Song....Nat King Coles version of course.

9. I worked at tanning salons for about 7 years but hardly ever tanned...and still dont. People use to ask me what beds I used, which I assumed was to make sure they avoided them at all costs since I had no tan haha!

10. I LOVE Robert Pattinson and the whole Twilight Series! Its hands down the best books I have ever read and I'm totally obsessed!

OK Now that you know too much unimportant stuff about me, I also want to thank Kelly at the Kegley Family for giving me this award too! Shes got such a cute blog so go check her out!

Since a lot of my favorite blogs have already been tagged with awards today, I'll just leave yall with a list of my favorites! Happy Hump Day!!

My real life bff's:

My Beautiful Life

Go East Memphis Mama

Emma and Ava

La Bella Vita

And my blogging friends:

Sweet Melissa

Our Blessed Life

This Years Love

The Kegley Family

The Seattle Smiths

Not Your Typical, Average, Ordinary College Girl

The Pioneer Woman

Simply Smithwick

Then I Got to Thinking

Wishful Wednesday...Chore!

'I wish' .... I never had to do laundry again!

I think this was just about the easiest Wishful Wednesday for me!

I absolutely LOATHE folding clothes.

You can pretty much guarantee that any day of the week you can come to my house, you will find 16 loads of clothes on the bed in our guest room. It just continues to pile up waiting patiently for Clinton (cough, cough), I mean myself, to fold them. I don't mind washing them and throwing them in the dryer...I'd be more than happy to do that allll day long. I just hate folding them! I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that its a never ending process. How in the world two adults and a baby go through so many clothes is beyond me.

So, I hate to break the news to Clinton, but this will probably be a battle that he will have to fight for the rest of our lives :)

Happy Hump day ladies! Please visit Kelsey at Seattle Smiths if you would like to play along!

Week 1 down...hundreds to go!

As many of you know, I have been struggling with my weight for years. As time has gone by, I have continued to get heavier and heavier. Well a few weeks ago I came across Kassandra's blog and she was such a huge inspiration.

I have finally come to realize that I have to stop putting my weight on the back burner...but more importantly, me health. I have a list a mile long of all the reasons I want to lose weight...they range from wearing cute maxi dresses and skinny jeans, to being able to run a half marathon one day.

So after some soul searching, I decided that I couldn't put it off any longer and went ahead and joined Weight Watchers... for the 436th time. But I really worked hard this past week. I really took the time to plan out my food and to make sure I stayed within my points. And the truth of the matter is, it wasn't that hard. After the first couple of days, I realized that this was very attainable as far as the amount of food I can eat. The hard part is going to be keeping focus, staying motivated, and most of all, being patient.

So tonight I went for my first weigh-in....I lost 4.6 lbs!!!! Needless to say, I was thrilled to see that number. It proved that my hard work paid off!

Anyways, I didn't blog tonight just because I had a good weight loss this week. I wanted to share this because I figured I could use the extra encouragement and accountability. I have a long journey ahead of me. My main goal is 100 lbs! But I figured that if I took the time to share this with y'all, that it would just be that much more motivation to keep me going.

So I would love for any feedback that you ladies might have! Any words of wisdom or advice is welcomed...and greatly appreciated! I look forward to sharing this with y'all for weeks and months to come!

Have a great night and thanks for reading!

'I wish' .... I could re-live Presley's delivery over and over again!!!

Some of y'all are probably thinking I'm crazy...who would wanna go through all that pain again??? Well...I would! First, because I had no pain at all...hence the reason I want to do it all over again....I DO NOT REMEMBER A THING!!!!

I went in the night before to have a cervidil done and was in sooo much pain. I had horrible back labor pains. Well they gave me some pain and sleeping meds so that I could get some rest that night. The next day I was so groggy. Then when I got my epidural, I was pretty much dead to the world again. I couldnt keep my eyes open to save my life!!! In fact...brace yourselves...they would have to wake me up just to push hahaha! I am not even kidding either! My contractions slowed down so much after I started pushing, that I was going sometimes ten minutes or more without contractions. So I would just fall right back to sleep hahah!

Needless to say, I don't remember anything at all. After I finally delivered her, I was also so shaky from the epidural that I couldnt hold her for about an hour. I literally was scared to death I would drop her from shaking so bad.

So that is why I would love to relive that moment over and over again!

Here are a few pics from that precious day :) I put one of my pregnant on the way to the hospital because I would also love to relive the feeling of her kicking and moving around inside me all the time. Its the best feeling in the world!

Head over to Seattle Smiths if you wanna play along! Happy hump day!

Halloween wrap-up!

Well Presley's first trick-or-treat experience was a hit! She absolutely LOVED it and it took her no time to figure out her little routine!

Friday night we did a little "test run." This shopping center near our house was having a little trick-or-treat night among all the stores. There were quite a few people there despite the cold, rainy weather. All the stores were decorated and the employees dressed up....it was really cute.

Afterwards, we had dinner with my parents and Candice. Then she came over and we watched Hocus Pocus...which by the way was my first time. And I LOVED it!!

Saturday we first went to Trunk-or-Treat at our church. It was my first time to attend one and I kind of had mixed emotions. I think it will be more fun when she gets a little bit bigger. I definitely like the fact that there are games and bouncy things for the kids to play on. But I was not a fan of standing in single file line going from one car to the next...it just didnt seem like trick-or-treating. I guess Im just traditional that way.

Here is my farmer and sweet little pig!

After Trunk-or-Treat and dinner, we met up with some of our neighbors/friends to go around the neighborhood. That was when the fun really kicked in. Presley LOVES "nandy"....candy....and she would run right on up to the front door, put it in her bag, then back to the wagon and start all over again!

It was such a precious site to watch her have such a good time doing something I remember loving so much. I guess this was really the first experience we had with her enjoying something that we could remember loving, too. I can't wait till she develops a love for the other things that mean so much to us...Christmas, vacations, holidays, traditions...the list goes on.

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!

Next stop...Thanksgiving and Christmas! In the words of Andy Williams....Its the most wonderful time of the year!!!!!!