Unsanitized

I feel like being back in Oklahoma, I've run out of funny stories and cool pictures to blog about. There is nothing unique or ordinary about going to work every day and spending the weekends catching up on sleep and re-charging. There are no more donkey carts driving by the windows or crazy things that happen to me anymore. But it dawned on me the other day...I live in America now! Sure, life is boring, but I don't have to sanitize all of my blogs anymore. The most important part of who I am is my walk with the Lord and I have the freedom to talk about that now. It's funny how I had to train myself to speak in "code". "M" or "worker" for my job. "Homegroup" or "club was the place that I gathered with my fellow believers in Oklahoma. "Father" was my Heavenly Father. Now I have to untrain myself. I don't think I'll ever be ever be able to use the "M" word liberally anymore, but I'm so thankful that I live in a country where I can freely talk about my relationship with God, even on the internet. So, since clever, funny things don't really happen to me anymore, I'll try to be better about blogging some of the things that I am learning, which is really the most important thing anyways!

Going Green

I don't usually do New Year's resolutions, but I do try to deny myself things for certain periods of time. I figure the practice of discipline is a good thing! So, Blake and I have decided to go off caffeine for a year. So far it's been a breeze, and we figure it will save us a fortune in eating out money if we always get water!

However, this month I'm doing an additional challenge. I have gone organic. I've been kind of stalled on my weight loss for a while, and even gained some on the holidays so I'm eating healthy, hard core. It's been challenging, but I'm on day six of twenty eight. Basically, my rule of thumb is that it has to be something that directly came from nature. Nothing processed, no sodium, so sugar. So pasta is out, cookies are out. It's been tough, but not as bad as I thought it would be. I can usually eat constantly throughout the day if I stick to the fruits and veggies. So far, seven pounds! Yay!

I'm coupling the eating with running. Excersize is something I enjoy but rarely make the time to do consitently. I still try to do stuff, I just am not good at sticking to plans. So, Blake and are doing a six week running plan. (I usually stick to stuff longer if I can do it in four to six week chunks). This involves running in the cold evenings when I get home, but so far it hasn't been too bad. I've really enjoyed the last couple of runs. I used to run 5 miles at a time, so it's good to be making progress towards that.

So, anyways, that is taking alot of mental energy, but so far it's worth it!

It's a baby (shower)!

A couple of weeks ago, I went to my friend Megan's shower. I cannot take credit for the great decor, but I can take credit for these pictures. I'm learning from Blake how to get low and get good angles, but I wanted to show off some of my good ones from the occaission. I'm glad they worked out because I became the official picture-taker of the gathering! =) Congrats to Rickey and Megan and we're so excited to meet Isaiah!

Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! I hope that amongst the business of the holiday season, we all have a chance to reflect on the miracle of Christ's birth. He is the only gift worth getting. Thanks for everyone's prayers and support this year.

Best.Gift.Ever.

So, on Thanskgiving afternoon, I was minding my own business when my Meme (my Mom's mom) came in and said she had something to show us. We all went in the bedroom and she had laid out this quilt on the bed. After several minutes of ooing and ahing, she handed me a note stating that she had started working on this quilt in 199? (she thinks it was about 18 years ago) because she wanted me to learn U.S. geography. She has been working on it ever since. It is an incredible gift! She spent 18 years on this thing! Wow! She did it all by hand and it is incredible. Each square has a different state: the outline of the state, the state bird and the state flower. And there are buttons for the state capitols which all came out of my great-grandmothers' button boxes.

Needless to say, I have a new treasure. It's going to be the first think I grab if there's ever a fire, that's for sure! Thanks, Meme for the amazing gift!

Merry Thanksgiving!

Well, this is a little bit of a late post, but still worth doing. We spent Thanksgiving at my parents' house with my sisters and mom and dad. Thanksgiving morning started in the traditional way of my sisters being dragged out of bed, but this time it wasn't me! It was Robert C. dropping by wearing his shorts and boots to tell us Happy Thanksgiving! I will take hugs from that guy any day of the year. =)

Later on Thanksgiving day, my Meme and Papa came up as well as my Aunt Joyce and my parents' best friends Curtis and Marie. It was a HUGE spread and one big giant table that we got to sit and chat around. It was so wonderful to all be together. Big kudos to my Mom for the amazing dinner she prepared. It was a perfect Thanksgiving!

P.S. Check out my Dad's sweet goatee!

Franklin

When we were in Tennessee, we had a morning with no wedding events, so Blake and I headed to Franklin, Tennessee, USA to enjoy the fall colors and the really cute main street. We had been there before (when we were engaged!) so it was fun to see it again. We really enjoyed strolling and looking in all the little shops. It was beautiful and the day could not have been any more relaxing!