Honest Scrap...

Katie from the Adventures of Katie and Josh tagged me for a blog award. Check it out:




Thanks Katie!

Here's the rules:

1. List 10 honest things about yourself that your blogging friends do not know about you.

2. Give the award away to 7 bloggers.

3. Let them know they've received the award.


Here's my ten things...

1. I'm an incredibly messy cook. After I get done making a meal the kitchen looks less than pristine...a lot less. I am quick though. If you're hungry you will be with tasty meal in no time.

2. I never got my wisdom teeth. Is that normal? I thought everyone got them to eventually get them removed.

3. My husband has no jealousy of my past boyfriends...that's because I don't have any. I didn't date in high school and in college prior to meeting John during my sophomore year, I just went on dates here and there...nothing serious.

4. Here's one for my newer blogging buddies...I am really really scared of cats. I don't like them and they don't like me. I blame my fear of cats on the stray ones in my neighborhood when I was growing up (they were scary) and my sister in law's cats...they've done things to me nobody should have to go through.

5. I become a huge fan of sitcoms when they are cancelled. I'm currently watching the King of Queens. I never saw an episode until it started getting shown on CW and TBS.

6. I have a movie purse. This purse successfully carries popcorn, sodas and other treats for us to take to the movie.

7. I am somewhat a believer in astrology. I think I'm a true blue Cancer.

8. I don't know how to do the Heimlich. I need to get on that.

9. I also don't know how to use an eyelash curler. I have one but it scares me.

10. I do things in even numbers. Couple of examples: When I'm on the treadmill and I'm getting close to finishing up, I won't stop until the minutes and calories are both even numbers. When I'm packing John's and my lunch, I will either put in two or four napkins...NEVER one or three.

I tag my brother (AJ) at I Told You So, seven times.

People aren't perfect...

This past weekend I was flipping through one of my People's and started reading this article about Dead Poets Society. I LOVE that movie and for many many years afterwards I had a huge crush on Josh Charles. He played Knox.

Well, I did a complete double take when I looked at his pictures from then and now. The two pictures look like different people. Why do you think that is People Magazine? Because the picture used for Josh Charles from the movie was actually a picture of Charlie played by Gale Hansen (I had to google his name).




I guess they look kind of similar but their noses are completely different. Here's a picture of Knox (Josh Charles) from the movie...




I'm sure I'm not the only person who has noticed this but I still think I should get an award...made out of chocolate.

Damn it Neil, the name is Nuwanda!

Top 10 Monday...

Hi Everybody. I hope you had a fabulous weekend. Mine was fun but the next two weekends will be even better. This coming weekend I turn 32 (July 4th) and then the weekend after that we'll be in Maui...it's getting so close!

So I'm a total sucker for a good chic flick. Here's my top 10 favorite ones.

10. Beaches

9. Say Anything

8. The House Bunny

7. While you Were Sleeping

6. 13 Going On 30

5. Pretty Woman

4. Sleepless in Seattle

3. P.S. I Love You

2. Under the Tuscan Sun

1. Steel Magnolias

Did I leave off any good ones?

Fit Friday

Thanks for your tips yesterday to help me at least look like I got my tan on. I've definitely ruled out the tanning bed so it will either be a self tanner, getting sprayed or continue to embrace my natural lack of color.

Yesterday was a bum day huh? I'm definitely sad about Farrah Fawcett but Michael Jackson has hit me kind of hard. I turned the Today Show on this morning and I could only watch it for about five minutes and then had to turn the channel. My mind keeps going back to my Michael memories. There's a lot, especially in childhood.

This is Fit Friday so I'll start talking fit...

Along with my regular workouts I also do silly moving around throughout the day (when I'm at home).

Like if I've been on the computer for at least 30 minutes I'll get up and just start jumping around. It makes me feel better after sitting for so long but I'm sure if someone other than my husband or dog were around they would think me very strange. I will also put music on and do the wiggle.

My husband doesn't do the jumping around or the wiggle dance but he does do random pull ups. He'll announce it that way whenever he does them. "Random pull up time!"

What are some random body moving you do during the day?

Please help this white girl...

Do you notice something about me in this picture? Besides that I look a little nervous that the puppy is going to scratch me and the bigger dog is going to eat my face? I totally blend in with the cool decking.



I normally embrace my complete lack of color but I think it would be nice when I am running around Hawaii in shorts and bathing suits to have a little color on me besides cool decking pale or lobster red.

What can I do? I have almost two weeks to get the sun kissed look before our trip. Is there a sunless tanner out there that won't turn me orange? Would going to a tanning bed work for me even though I can't get tanned by the sun? Has anyone ever gone to a place where they spray stuff on you?

I will be forever grateful to anyone who knows what could possibly help my ghostiness.

It's almost here...

Two weeks from today John and I will be living it up in Hawaii. I'm so excited. Both of us feel like little kids whenever we start thinking about it.

We have a lot of activities planned for the trip like snorkeling, beaching it up every day, riding bikes down a volcano (still pretty nervous about that one), doing some zip lines...

There's other things I want to do just because I've seen them in movies and tv. We're signed up to have people greet us and put leis on us when we arrive. I know that's so touristy but I don't care. I also really want to drink a big, colorful cocktail with an umbrella in it at an open bar on the beach.




We're going to Maui so if you've been there and have suggestions for anything else we've gotta do while we're there please let me know.

Hawaii countdown begins...

Top 10 Monday

Today's list is the top 10 most embarrassing things I've done fashionably (or not so fashionably) throughout my life.

10. My freshman year in college I let my hair stylist do this to my hair...



Of course I didn't pull it off as well as Jennifer Aniston and I think at some point I even had bangs with this style. I liked it then but I think anyone could look at pictures of me with that style and say,"Yep, definitely taken in the 90's."

9. Big bangs...80's. I had a rather pathetic attempt at big bangs.

8. Banana clips...my mom did that to me in elementary school.



7. Shirts with ribbons and rhinestones sewn on...sexy.

6. Vests. In middle school I had several. I looked equally dorky in all of them.

5. High waisted pants. Nobody looks good in these.

4. Rolling of the jeans. That was the trend but I was never able to do it right.

3. Pajama bottoms out in public. Tacky.

2. Layered socks.

1. Big red glasses.



Before my big red glasses I had big purple glasses. I thought I was cool.

What are your embarrassing fashion trends?

Fit Friday

It's Friday...woo hoo for Friday!!!!!!

Workout outfits...do you have workout outfits? Back in my younger days I did have some pretty cute workout clothes but now I stick to exercise shorts (not spandex) and somewhat fitted t-shirts. The only reason for the fittedness of the shirt is that it's easier for me to move around in than big and loose shirts.

I do need to invest in some new running shoes. I've had mine since before we moved here and we moved here in June of 2005. However, they really didn't start being used regularly until December of 2007. Right now I have Saucony's. Any suggestions for what kind I should get?

I think Michael Cera's running clothes in Juno are my favorite...




Hope you're having a fun Friday...

Vintage picture tour continued...

I narrowed down a handful of pictures to five random oldies but goodies.

We'll start with the most vintage of them all. This is a picture of my dad, grandfather (Papa T.) and my Uncle Bob from way way back in the day...



I love that I somehow ended up with this. They all look very serious...and long legged.

The next two pictures I think are the sweetest of them all...





The first of the sweet pictures is John on his 3rd birthday. I've always loved this picture. He just looks like such a little sweetie.

The second sweet picture is of me with my brother and sister in our Tech clothes my dad had just brought home from Lubbock. I love our old pictures because in most of them it looks like we've been laughing or we're going to bust out laughing soon.

This next picture is evidence of when I first started drinking beer...



Just kidding. The bottles are empty and they're root beer bottles...yeah...root beer...

Now for the last one. I don't know how this one wasn't in our wedding album to document this particular moment of our big day. My mom grabbed John and me while we were in the buffet line because she wanted to take us to our table. Our photographer caught me directing my sister as to what to load on my plate.



I know my brother will appreciate this picture because he has always teased me for being an eater. I do like food.

I found a really funny picture of my cousin C sitting by our pool when she was itty bitty. I didn't post it because she's naked and pretending to pee in the pool. At least I hope she was pretending.

I hope you enjoyed the stroll down old school lane with me...

Little people...big heads

Ok, so I'm the only one in this picture with an abnormally large head for a little person. If you didn't know me back then I'm one of the two girls and I have the much bigger head than the other. Did you spot me?



I love this picture. We look very well behaved in it. It's one of the old school pictures I found this week that I thought was blog worthy. From left to right:

My brother AJ (normal sized head), my cousin Brandon (normal sized head), my cousin Amy (normal sized head) and me...freakishly large head. I grew into it though...kind of.

Don't we look sweet in our dress up clothes? I wonder how the four of us ended up being in this picture together without the rest of the kiddos...we all have siblings missing from it. I guess my dad wanted to take a picture of the four cutest. Haha. That was for Jen and Janet's benefit.

I love old pictures.

On Thursday I'll end my stroll down funny old picture lane. I can't decide which one I want to do so it might be a montage.

Hope you're having a fabulous week so far...

Say Cheese...

My dance team from high school has started a group on facebook so I was trying to find old pictures to possibly upload.

As I was looking through my old pictures I found some blasts from the past to say the least. I did find some old dance team pictures which are pretty funny but I found some others that I'm going to post this week on my blog.

First up, our engagement pictures...they are the worst engagement pictures EVER taken. They've been hidden away for almost nine years because they are so bad. We may keep them out now for some giggles.

I posted the top 4 cheesiest.

Back to back...



Love stare...



Power stare...



Casual encounter...



What's your vote for the cheesiest picture? Mine is the first one.

Top 10 Monday

Maybe everyone does this, I don't know...but in addition to enjoying movies and tv shows because of the movie or the show, I like to watch them for the decorating. Decorating you say? Yes, decorating. I like the warm and cozy places the most. Here's my top 10 movie/tv sets...

10. Blast From the Past-Alicia Silverstone's house.

9. There's Something About Mary-Cameron Diaz's apartment.

8. Friends-The purple apartment.

7. Gilmore Girls...Lorelai's place.



6. Will and Grace's apartment on...Will and Grace of course.

5. Bruce Almighty-Jim Carrey and Jennifer Aniston's place.

4. P.S. I Love You-Hilary Swank's apartment.

3. Under the Tuscan Sun.

2. The Holiday...Kate Winslet's place.

1. The house in The Family Stone.



Their house is definitely nice but not flashy or decadent. I love it because it feels like a home, with history and love. I think that's what every home should feel like...especially the real ones =).

Side note: I wrote this post on Saturday while I was re-watching Marley and Me. I was a complete mess 90% of this movie. It's so real. I love it. I was definitely correct in putting it as one of my top ten movies that make me cry.

Please don't tell me I'm alone here...which tv/movie sets do you like a lot?

Annoyed....

There's some young guys renting the house across the street from us with a questionable amount of people living there. I think there's three that live there all the time and then more who are in and out.

One of them is cleaning out his car with the stereo so loud you would think the current song,"Smooth Criminal" by Alien Ant Farm was playing on our stereo.

Stupid boys. I don't really want to be listening to their music right now. I have my own thank you. Notice how I said I instead of we? The other half of we is currently in the Seattle area for work. Stupid Seattle area. I miss my other half of we. He'll be home soon though.

Here's John on his birthday. He's listening to our niece Nicole sing him the Happy Birthday song. I think AJ and Adriana should teach her to sing, "cha cha cha" at the end.



Hope you're having a fun Saturday!

Fit Friday

Fitness partners. Do you have one? Fitness partners are great because you can motivate each other and keep each other on track. I'm lucky in that John was up for being my fitness partner from the very beginning.

The healthy food part of it is a whole other story. He's been very challenging. Sorry babe, you have been. So for the last year and a half to keep his sanity we've taken the healthy food plan from the Biggest Loser club website and modified it to keep him happy.

Well the modified version has run its course and his body isn't responding anymore. He's not gaining weight but he's hit a wall...for months.

So last week John said something that was music to my ears. He told me he's ready to do what he needs to do to lose the rest of his weight and he'll eat whatever and how much I give him.

I said, "So you won't complain about the portion sizes anymore?" He said,"Oh no I'll still complain but I'll do it." So I opened him a new Biggest Loser Club account and followed the nutrition recommendations to a t. He also followed the fitness plan to a t.

Do you think John complained at all? If you said yes then you're right. He complained A LOT. He even used the word torture a couple of times. He was very dramatic all week. He told me,"This is not enough food for a man to survive."

Don't worry you guys, it really was plenty. He weighs himself every Saturday morning and I was just keeping my fingers crossed that he met his goal for the week so that he would see the justification of his new plan. He met and exceeded his goal! John now weighs the least he's weighed since he started trying to lose weight. I would tell you how much he's lost but he gets embarrassed.

I'm very excited for him! He's worked so hard to be at the point he's at right now.

Has anyone started doing Jillian Michael's Shred? So many people have been talking about it but I don't really know much about it. Have you or anyone you know started doing it? Does Jillian kick your butt?

Six things...

Annie from Chapters of Our Life tagged me. I love being tagged! Here's the tagging rules:

• Share six unimportant things that make you happy
• Mention who tagged you
• Tag six fellow bloggy buddies

Here are my six things...

1. When House Beautiful magazine comes. I love it because I love looking at any and all decorating magazine and it's free. We steal it from our neighbors. Just kidding. We bought our house a couple of years ago and our real estate agent has it sent to us as a thank you. Our last one comes in August. I will be very sad.

2. Nights with good programming. During the main season of network television our nights are Tuesday and Thursday. (All NBC)

3. Evening snack time. Evening snack time is the most delicious snack time of my day. That's when I eat things like fat free chocolate pudding and a peach. (The reason I didn't put calorie day on my list is because calorie day is very important.)

4. Going into Kirkland's. It smells good and I always leave with something cool like my frog with the crown.

5. When the bra comes off. I know that was way too much information. I apologize but I don't take it back. The girls love their freedom.

6. When funny movies come out. I just saw The Hangover and I'm really excited for Year One. (Disclaimer: The Hangover may not be appropriate for anyone under the age of 17 or my mom.)

So if you're reading this and are thinking,"Hey, I know of six unimportant things that make me happy..." then consider yourself tagged Baby!

I reveal to you, the wiggle

The video turned out kind of dark but you can still see the wiggleness. So sit back and enjoy (or mock) 20 seconds of me busting out my moves while drinking a mini Dr. Pepper and chowing down on some Raisinettes.

Self Portrait Picture Taker...

On Saturday John took a video of me doing the wiggle (that's what he calls my dancing) to T.I. and Rihanna. If I get brave I'll post it here. It's kind of embarrassing. You will definitely laugh at me.

I am notorious for taking self portraits. So after my dance and John ran off for a second, I tried to take my picture. I think it would have been kind of good if I had remembered to put it back on picture mode...



My picture with John was more successful.



Taking self portraits is like a tic for me. I almost never like the end result but every time I have the camera I just have to take one. They're usually the most unflattering pictures...that's why I don't post them. Believe me, if they were actually good they would be all over this post so I could demonstrate my skills.

Is there a trick to taking a good one?

There was cake...

I believe in the idea that everyone should have a birthday cake on their birthday. Except if you're like my mom and would prefer pie...cake shouldn't be forced on a person.

John's gelato cake...



As it turns out gelato cake was a better idea than it was cake. It was very VERY rich. We think maybe that's why they give you those itty bitty stick spoons to use while eating gelato...

Top 10 Monday...

Today's top 10 list consists of the ten songs that always make me think of a very specific time in my life...

10. You oughta know by Alanis Morissette. It makes me think of my freshman year at Texas Tech. It was very big that year.

9. Bizarre Love Triangle by New Order. It's an 80's song but they used to play it a lot at the dance clubs (again in college). It was one of those,"I have to dance to this song!"

8. Sex and Candy by Marcy Playground. This makes me think of driving around Austin with John and his brother's girlfriend circa 1998.

7. Any Man of Mine by Shania Twain. I am sooooooo not a fan of country music but my freshman year at Tech, my friends and I would blast this song in the dorm and dance to it. We even had somewhat of a routine to it.

6. Dreams by the Cranberries. This was the song for my graduating class back in high school. I love this song. I guess I just love this song because it definitely doesn't take me back to the days of high school. I'm happy those days are gone!

5. Papa Don't Preach by Madonna. For some reason when I think of this song I think of eating Chico's tacos while this was playing in the background. I loved it. I don't think it was too appropriate for a nine year old to know all it's lyrics though...

4. Any song by Olivia Newton John. I remember busting out the record player and singing along dramatically to songs like Xanadu. Funny side note: When my sister was little she thought Olivia Newton John was actually three people: Olivia, Luke and John.

3. Any song by the Judds makes me think of going on a trip in the Taurus station wagon.

2. Coheed and Cambria's third album. John and I listened to it (many many times) while we painted our bedroom when we lived in the duplex in El Paso.

1. Crush by Dave Matthew's Band. John and I didn't seek out a song to be "our song". The first time we heard it we loved it and danced like dorks to it even though there were lots of people around. We had so much fun so then it did become our song. We danced to Crush for our first dance at our wedding.

What are your nostalgic songs?

It's John's Happy Birthday...

This is for you Johnny...

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Fit Friday

To take a quote from Jillian Michaels,"If you fail to plan you plan to fail." A little harsh there Jillian. Well, for me this is so very very true especially in regards to food. I need to plan out what I'm going to be eating and have all of my food supplies.

I always always have my snacks prepared and with me. This is because if I let myself get too hungry I'm more likely to want to eat a meal like this...

Rather than a meal like this...

John would probably like it if I failed to plan this week. We're both on food lock down right now.

Our afternoon snacks of Southbeach diet granola bars (they are so good they taste like a treat...especially the Smore ones) have been replaced this week by snacks like celery sticks and peanut butter.

He'll thank me when he's able to wear tight shirts and skinny jeans. That's just a joke...I think he'd rather go naked.

Well, last week I let you know that my summer goal is to have arms like Jillian Michaels. So here's my update on that:

• Started a new strength training regimen
• I've also been doing periodic push ups against the couch throughout the day
• Arms feel tighter
• They're a little sore
• They do not yet resemble Jillian's
• I think it's going to take awhile

Tomorrow is John's birthday. There will be cake...Gelato cake...Toblerone Gelato with chocolate cake...mmmmmmmm...it makes celery sticks and small portions totally worth it.

I hope your week is ending well and that you have big, wonderful plans for the weekend...

I left my energy in the hill country...

Ever since we've been back from our trip (Sunday) I haven't been wanting to do much of anything. Everything I do seems to take so much effort. I even needed to sit down this morning while I was putting creamer and splenda in our coffee.

Hibernating until August is sounding pretty good right now.



Ditsy moment: While we were eating breakfast and watching the news this morning, they were showing a field reporter with this in the background...



It was at a distance but you could still see it pretty well. I looked up and said,"Hey, she's in Vegas!" John laughed and said,"Uh, she's in Egypt." I'd like to say that John was wrong and she actually was in Vegas but no...she was in Cairo, Egypt.