good things

- only 8.5 weeks until summer

- 4 months of being a wife

- spring break cakeballs

- kate's fish face, duck noise, corn-on-the-cob eating, kiss blowing, new words, etc...

- frozen yogurt available at TWO local spots

- quality time with wonderful grad school friends

- 3 consecutive mornings of starbucks

- when donny pours me a glass of red wine after a long day

- "the green zone", and every other movie where matt damon is a badass. aka every matt damon movie.

- long weekends with family

- delicious, effortless crockpot creations. wedding gifts are the best.

- march madness, despite busted bracket

- my favorite iowans visiting the lone star state

- words with friends. i am so going to kill at my next scrabble match with d

- virginia's broccoli salad recipe

- justin bieber?

hoping for a quick two days, a slow weekend, casey & andrew & lee to stick around on ai, quick healing for the torn calluses on my hands, a reunion with my besties in the not-too-distant future, and the end of widespread hunger and epidemic in developing nations (can't hurt to dream big, right?) 

some days are made for laziness

today was without question one of those days. i stirred when donny left for work, but then slept until he called and woke me up at ten. then, i made the effortful move from bed to couch, where i remained until about 4:00. law and order svu is just made for days like today. as is eating peanut butter from the jar with a spoon. and lets not forget good ol' pajamas. but finally, i changed and went to crossfit at 5 (PR'ed on dead lift, 163 lbs), followed by a delightful trip to spoons with my friend, megan, from work. spoons is the frozen yogurt place here in cs and it pretty much rocks my world.

yesterday, i ate about 5 donuts and a kolache for breakfast from the ever delicious shipleys. have you ever had the feeling that, if you shove one more bite of food down your throat you are going to puke? but you want the food so badly that you do it anyway? i was so there yesterday. i couldn't tell you the last time i felt so sick. but, several hours later i felt well enough to eat 2/3 of a box of girl scout cookies. and then i went to crossfit. almost vomiting twice in one day is not something i'm in a hurry to repeat. oh and then, when i was finally feeling better, donny and i went for mexican at los cucos. 

i know what you must thinking... what the hell is wrong with me and why don't i stop eating like a 400 pound person? well, yesterday marked the first day officially off of the paleo diet. and while i had every intention of continuing many aspects of the diet, my cravings have been so intense and incessant that i at times felt like i might lose my mind. i hated thinking about food constantly. so i figured that maybe allowing myself to eat anything i wanted to that had been off-limits might change my mindset- enter spring break. and then, when i'm feeling sane again, moderation will be key- but not cutting things out completely- that kind of restriction just doesn't work for me.

so days 1 & 2 of spring break have been pretty much as worthless as i had hoped. here's to a bit of productivity on days 3-5... but not much. it IS still spring break, after all :)

5 years

two posts in one day? whoa. i may be going a bit overboard here...

i wanted to start by wishing my sis and brother in law a happy 5 year anniversary! your marriage has created such a wonderful, perfect little girl, and it is truly a miracle of love. kate, erin, and zac, we love you!

i also realized i didn't update the car sitch from the last post. i have my car back, good ol' LaQuisha looks better than she has in years! really glad it wasn't totaled, even though the damage was more extensive than they first estimated. i kinda miss my rental car though.

also, i had to comment on my iphone. i'm not particularly technologically inclined, and might actually be closer to the challenged end of the spectrum. when donny gave me an iphone as a wedding gift i was a bit intimidated, as it wasn't really something i had on my wish list. BUT, no surprise to any of you iphone users out there, i loved it right away!! being able to check my email with one touch, surf the web at any time, navigate in the car, and play new games were the first features that caught my attention. tonight another app won me over. i had used shazam to tag music several times before, mostly listening to the radio in the car with donny. tonight we went to a mongolian grill with my parents (YUM), and an album was playing that we all liked but didn't recognize. as my parents wondered aloud at who it might be, i pulled out my beloved miracle machine and tagged the song. i wasn't very hopeful as the music wasn't loud and there was so much background noise, but SHAZAM- it tagged the song correctly. amazing. there is nothing that phone can't do. i can't believe i was ever satisfied without it.

and finally, bring it on, march madness... i'm totally ready for you to fill the sports void the olympics have left.

spring break!!!

+ i would think the "positive" of this post is pretty obvious.

had a good, although long, week at work. have been crossfitting and mostly following the paleo diet. despite this healthy lifestyle, i have still gained about 5 lbs post-wedding :/ people (especially my sweet husband) keep trying to assure me it is muscle, but i'm pretty sure my love handles are not made of muscle, and that specific area seems to be where all my pants are fitting tighter... boo. but, i feel healthier, and donny thinks i look healthier, so i guess it's all good. and most importantly, i feel stronger than i ever have and am doing things i never really believed i was capable of- push-ups from my toes, kipping pull-ups, consistent double unders (jump roping), and lifting heavy (for me) amounts of weight. it feels good and empowering, and i cannot speak highly enough of the program. 

but on a different and more serious note... married life is great, though right now donny and i are still at a crossroads, on the verge of possible big life changes. which is of course stressful. i'm about to start seriously job hunting, which i have been dreading, and we will soon start looking at houses/apartments too. as excited as we are to hopefully be closer to our families and so many of our friends, we have made some dear friends here who we will hate to leave. i should insert here that we are not certain we are moving yet... but it is looking likely, and it is what we think we really want. and as ready as i am for something new and different, my innate human nature is simultaneously resisting/fearing that change. but i do know that, with donny as my partner, things will work out regardless of specific outcomes and we will be happy. as i vowed months ago, as long as we have each other, there isn't anything else we'll need (sorry to get so sappy, but it's truly relevant here). 

i have to stop for today as we are at the moment packing to head to houston for a long weekend, but i'm going to try to blog more frequently as it is cathartic and helps me to sort through things. but i always say i'm going to attempt that and it typically doesn't happen, so don't be surprised if i'm absent for a while :)