monday's memory: the one with the return home

ok, it's been awhile. so i'm just jumping back in. and i'm going to use my normal "monday memory" slot to catch up on what's been happening in our lives the past couple of years.

so.

i worked at an amazing inclusive preschool for 4 years. i learned SO.MUCH there about myself, about managing others, about children with needs far beyond what i would have imagined, and about dealing with the drama of working with a staff of 80% females! 

for awhile i could seriously imagine myself doing this forever.

and then it happened.

i realized, as i taught music to the children (ages 6 weeks to 7 years) how much i LOVED and MISSED teaching music.

and so i began daring to dream a little. it was as if God was whispering in my ear to hope.

i had always kept my application current with my former school system, but nothing seemed to materialize. i had applied in other systems as well, but nothing piqued my interest.

and then a friend who taught at the very elementary school i had passed many times on the way to teach piano lessons told me their music teacher was leaving.  it was an elementary school in the one of the most affluent counties, with a great population to work with, unlimited resources and parents who were highly involved.

i interviewed. i realized about midway through the interview that i didn't want to work here. as much as the school was amazing and i would be working with a wonderful group of people...i just did not want that job.

{release}

my current boss called me into her office in the midst of this and told me that i would be able to teach in a classroom in the fall if i wanted.  the open room was the 4 year old room, and i knew it would be challenging but great. and it was what i had truly wanted to do for a couple of years. i accepted, knowing that if i found out anything from the school system i would be able to tell her in plenty of time for her to put a deserving assistant teacher in that role.

{security}

and yet, i felt like i heard the Holy Spirit whispering "keep dreaming..."

in may i attended a conference at a church nearby, and was really encouraged by several of the messages.  but on my way home one night i found myself talking to God...really baring my soul to Him.

i told Him that i knew He placed the desire and talents within me to want to teach middle school, and that He knew my heart was to teach in my former system again. i had been searching daily and there were NO middle school positions, so i was so frustrated so i literally asked Him to release me from this deep desire or to let it materialize.

i wasn't despairing. but i was weary.

and two days later i received a message from a former assistant principal of mine that there was a potential opening in her {middle} school that was 10 minutes away from my house.

through her communication i finally leaped the last hurdle with my application and got the green light for interviews.  the music dept head for the system was incredibly impressed by my credentials and told me that she would be thrilled to have me back.

and i interviewed at the school. and it was fine. and while i was in the interview i got a voice mail from the principal of the school down the road, the one only 3 minutes from my house, the one connected to the greenway that i had literally walked dozens of times and prayed over the school and the people in it.

{talk about sowing into your future!}

and she interviewed me over the phone on a saturday while she was on vacation. and by the end of our conversation she told me i would have an email by day's end on monday with an offer.

i've been there since august.
and no, not every day has been wonderful. not every student has come to me and showered me with praise about what an amazing teacher i am.
[who am i kidding...i teach middle schoolers. they give me major attitude on a daily basis!]

but i am where i belong.
i am doing what i am supposed to be doing.
and i am thrilled.

over a 3 month period, God literally let me have a chance to do the things i thought i wanted. and continued to encourage me to dream bigger.

i'm so glad i took His challenge.

3.28.14

it's my birthday, and i want to write
i want to spill out words all over the page to tell everyone how amazing, how hard, how blessed, how difficult, and how wonderful life has been since the last time i wrote in this place
and at the same time, i feel like it would be ridiculous to
that year (almost) is done
and i feel like even though we did so much living during that time
if i couldn't find the time to chronicle it then, well...there's really no reason to write about it now.

so here's the very short version of life since last july: it happened
i laughed (a lot), cried (not as much) and the majority of the time was amazing.
truly.
i am very blessed to live this life.

i'm not saying i'll never tell you anything from the past few months...in fact there are some posts aching to be written about recent events. but i will have no regrets if i don't get every word out. after all, i was living my life...

but this blog is a part of that life. which is why i'm here.

i do hope that this post will launch me back into blogging. i miss it. i miss the connection across the screen and the way there is really community between posts. i plan to begin the rounds again, visiting blogs i love and have missed almost as much as i've missed writing here. i plan to write here, the good, bad, ugly and beautiful that i have always spilled out in my little corner of the interwebs.

but i know that life, it happens.
i know that i won't be here as much as i'd like. even if i'm here daily.
i know i won't comment on every post that moves me, even when i desire to.

but i'm not done here. by any stretch of the imagination. so if any of you are still reading this little blog, i'm back...in some capacity at least.

i miss you all, and can't wait to visit your lovely blogs soon :-)

so there IS a reason (or two)

i've spent much of the last few months frustrated. with myself, my body, my lack of energy or motivation to do anything at all.  

i've stayed busy, accepting babysitting jobs here and there and teaching a few piano lessons all while working 40+ hours a week. that's true. and i've attempted to make time for friends and family time in all that, but sadly have failed to do that as much as i wanted to.

and i have been tired. and i have been sick for what seems like an extreme amount over the last 10 months or so, but the last couple of months have been especially vicious.

and i've been sooooo frustrated. by being sick and tired. and being tired. and being sick.

so when a mere week after being out of work with a stomach bug that i won't detail here i woke up with a fever of 102.8 (which is pretty high for someone whose norm is 97.5) i was mad. my throat ached, but so did my whole body, and i was freezing. so i was a bit unclear whether i was dealing with strep, flu or the plague, but i knew whatever it was i was not a fan.

and i couldn't leave the bed, until my husband came home after lunch and insisted i call my doctor so that i could go there instead of a walk-in clinic.  he drove me mainly because i was in no condition to drive.

the nurse practitioner who saw me couldn't tell me exactly what was going on because both the flu and strep tests came back negative.  however, she visually diagnosed strep, put me on an antibiotic to deal with that, and told me that this was clearly a mean illness of some sort because "i've never laid eyes on you, but you look like you feel awful".

i did.

and that feeling (and fever) didn't go away for several days, and even when it did, i.was.exhausted.

anthony insisted i call the doctor, who responded "if you still feel this way on tuesday, come in for a mono test".

fast forward to tuesday and the myriad of tests they actually ran...and the following day when i got the call.

not only do i have mono that's been hanging around for an undetermined amount of time, but i also am severely anemic.

well, ok then.

lots of things cleared up with just those words. i'm not being lazy, there are actual medical reasons why i cannot bring myself to work out on a consistent basis even though i desperately want to be moving.

i often fall asleep on the couch these days is because i have reasons to be tired!

i've been taking iron for a week now, and anthony told me yesterday that he can already tell a difference. as for me?  yes, i still fall asleep on the couch once in awhile, but its for 20 minutes, not two hours. yes, i'm still exhausted, but exercising isn't out of the question. i finally am starting to get a tiny bit of "me" back, and for that i'm excited. and grateful.

i'm grateful that the tests she ran for more serious things have not materialized as anything (at least not yet--and i don't expect them to). i'm grateful that for the issues i'm dealing with there is a somewhat simple fix. i'm grateful that i have a co-teacher who is understanding that sometimes i just need to sit for a few minutes (usually with one or five children clamoring to be on my lap...and that's ok). i'm grateful that the acute antibodies weren't present in the mono test, so i CAN work...and that none of my students seem to have caught anything from me.  i'm grateful that when my job description changes in a month or so i should be back to feeling normal again. (i've been interim teaching the pre-k class since april 1, but go back to the admin team and add teaching music to all the classes in mid-august).

it could have been worse.
it could have been different.
and without a case of strep from hell, i would never have discovered that these other things were going on.

so with that said...thank God for a case of strep throat.

xoxo

...mic check...1...2...

what would i say about the months of silence?
well, nothing. 
what would i tell you about the things i haven't said in those months?
well, plenty

i would say that the payment i get in hugs and smiles and oh yeah illnesses ;-) far outweigh any paycheck i could ever receive

i would say that i never imagined that working in a preschool setting would be so rewarding

i would say that A and i are happier when the house is tidy. i would also say that when one of us is sick, it becomes a lot harder to keep tidy. we definitely work as a team around here, and i adore that

i would say that grown adults who know better can be vindictive and attempt to steal your joy because of their own bitterness all while wearing a sugary smile and proclaiming their love for Jesus
{i could write an entire series on the southern facade that i.desperately.hate. just be real for crying out loud. yanks have that one over southerners hands down}

i would say that only you can let someone steal your joy
{in other words, neener-neener, aforementioned person didn't win ;-) }

i would say that car shopping when you HAVE to car shop isn't as exciting as it seems to be
{moment of silence for lora's amazing passat...it finally died last month. and i have shed more than a couple of tears.}

i would say that fresh flowers in the house brighten my mood immensely. fresh flowers that my husband pick out for me just intensify that!

i would say that i fall more in love with texas each time i visit 
{year 2 for going on a missions trip to a children's home in the hill country. heart partially there}

i would say that getting your garden planted two months {two MONTHS} late just means a longer harvest period
{fingers crossed}

i would say that the God-encounters that you allow yourself to be aware of are more amazing that you could ever come up with by any stretch of your imagination

i would say that i have wanted to come type out long versions of each of these snippets and felt a block of some sort.  so for now they are snippets.  fuller versions on request...or as i have the time to tell them

but really, it doesn't matter what i have to say about the months between january and july.  we did a lot of living during those months.  times spent with great friends, playing board games, crashing on the couch to watch movies, having family over and A *finally* getting his youngest sister and i to watch the LOTR trilogy, taking time for a date night or two, celebrating my birthday and hosting gatherings for each of our best friend's birthdays, A speaking for the first time at our church plant...and there were also tears and hurt, and pain, and stress and confusion and wondering if we had made the right decisions about several things.

and that's life.

the next six months will hold much of the same, and i await it all expectantly.

life without pain means you forget to feel.  because of tears, i feel joy more radically.

i'm not going to make any promises i can't keep. but my desire is to be here, to be real, to live life authentically in this tiny blip in the internet where i get to have my real voice.

so for the good, for the bad, for all the lovely moments in between...here i am.

oh, and if you take the time to be sweet and comment please include what you drive and why you love it. did i mention car shopping is a pain?!


xoxo

thursday's ten: in transition (again)

if you follow me on twitter or pinterest, you may have clued in that my job title is switching...again.
after 5 years of nannying full or part time (the last 3.5 being for AMAZING and wonderful families who have loved me and i have adored right back) i'm entering a full-time role in a school setting.


it's SO not what i would have ever seen myself doing.
but it's exciting and just...so unexpected!


so in the form of a list, here's a little bit about what i will (and will not) be doing


i will be working FULL-TIME in one place, while teaching lessons on the side. no more waking up each day and reminding myself which "work" i'm driving to!


i will be following a schedule more true to my body clock (for the first time since...ever).  no more 6:30 am start times...my day will begin at 11:30.


i will not be spending one on one (or two) time with children of just one family. that part makes me quite sad, as i'm quite attached to said families!


but i will be able to invest in the lives of multiple children and families.


i will be a bit out of my comfort zone...my job will be supervisory and i'll be second in command which feels like a huge promotion (that i didn't seek out at ALL)


i will be able to complete grocery shopping, lawn & garden work, and other errands/tasks (including pool time!) before i even go in to work most days.


and i will be able to do all those things and still "sleep in" until 8 am or so (most days)


i will be spending more time at home simply going from 45/50 hours weekly (better than the 60 i was working a couple of months ago!) to 32.


because of the above, i will be able to invest more in my friends and actually visit my girlfriends more often :-)


i will earn paid time off, which means that my husband and i can actually take a vacation and not have to worry about lost income 


so, what am i going to be doing?
well...a few weeks ago i interviewed (after being contacted by them initially) with a preschool that is full-inclusion to "just be a sub a couple of days a week".
a week or so after that interview (in which i was told that i would definitely be hired) they called me and asked me to stop by to "discuss my schedule"
when i went in the next day, i was told about this position and tentatively offered it (with the potential starting of it starting in august)
the next day, i contacted them and told them if they offer was extended it would be accepted
and the next day, i was called and formally offered the job (with the new starting time of JUNE)


i'll be the "afternoon coordinator" at this school, which is why i come it at 11:30 and leave at 6(:05).  i'll be making sure staff is supported and on target, troubleshooting anything that comes up, structuring activities to be learning play time, and popping in classrooms every once in awhile myself to interact with the kids. 


i'm totally excited, quite nervous about the responsibility, and quite overwhelmed that my Papa has once again just handed me a job without me looking for it at.all.


the families i am currently working for are thrilled for me, sad to see me go, but completely blessing this in my life. that has been SUCH a gift. i plan to babysit often and even just visit...clients who have become friends are so precious.


there is so much more to the story, regarding connections from a previous unhealthy work environment that i was placed in for a reason and all sorts of other things...but in the interest of remaining professional and honoring even those who i haven't felt honored by...those stories are just not for this blog.


let me encourage you if you are not in this place of "good news" on the job front or anywhere else...He is still faithful. my story isn't all neat, perfect and pretty (as anyone who has read this blog for any length of time knows well)...but it is Glorious, because He has been the author of every page. this current page that looks so polished is a result of the smudges and dark blots on preceding ones...and i'm not naive enough to think that this page will remain as pretty as it is now :-) life is messy because humans are messy. and God chooses to work through us anyway? what an incredible honor, what lavish love He has for us.

thursday's ten or so: in which i attempt to explain my absence

things i have been up to instead of blogging:

transitions. two jobs ending (one naturally because a child goes to school and another by choice to leave a very unhealthy environment) and two jobs beginning in place of them. the quite lovely thing is that i have been working at minimum 60 hours per week for the last...years? i totaled up the hours that i will be working now and it's almost normal--in the 40-50 hours range. i could cry with joy. for serious.

catching up on dvr'd shows. natasha and i have a weekly date to watch some of them, but the others are watched whenever a chance occurs.

pinning. like crazy!

paying it forward. we had so many people who were generous with time and resources during our wedding prep. i have two girlfriends getting married within a month of each other (last weekend and then in june) so i am trying to make myself as available to them as i can!

coming up with some jewelry design ideas. i would like to open my etsy store again, and am trying to come up with some new and different stuff. on that note, anything you would like to see?

organizing. from the pantry to my iPhoto libraries. i love it. but it is a bit time-consuming since, well, i'm me.  :-)

missing writing/blogging. i think about posts often.  they just never seem to materialize.  hopefully as transition continues to a more livable schedule, that will change. i miss this place!

working in the yard. since i actually enjoy mowing, that comes to me most weeks...plus i have a fledgling garden that i'm trying to protect from the neighborhood bunnies. anthony laughs at me constantly for being in battle with a bunny.  ha!

juicing.  i got a free juicer a few months ago and its definitely been appreciated and used! i'll post some of my favorites here soon.  :-)

monday's memory: april 366

366 project
my life in pictures, april

monday's memory: the one with january's photos

this is pretty much a photo dump post, but i said i was going to post my daily photos here, so i'm following through :-)


i have discovered a couple of things through taking these
1- i take a lot of pictures of food
2 - looking back through my photos makes me hungry.  because of #1.


so.  here ya go.  january 2012 in photos

thursday's ten: in order to not be a slug

mid-winter is the worst time physically for me

not only do i want to consume every creamy, savory, carb-loaded thing in sight
i also don't.want.to.move.

and since i sometimes need to say it to (a) realize that i'm already on the right track and (b) to hold myself accountable to keep.doing.it.

today's list is all about things i'm already doing to stay active and mobile even during chilly and dreary days :-)




1.  the occasional 5k.  i'm doing one this saturday, in fact.  now, i've cut WAY back on 5k registrations to save money (i can exercise for free, after all).  but one every 2-3 months is much more reasonable than my old pattern of once a month.  so i'm going to try that this year.  so i need to at LEAST do one by the end of may by those calculations...

2.  dancing.  with the baby in the kitchen while i nanny, by using the "just dance summer party" game i've purchased for the wii, or by attending contra-dancing or even a belly dancing class.  it's FUN, cheap (or free!) and even if i feel silly i'm burning calories!

3.  cleaning.  yes, i know this sounds like a stretch.  but if i tell myself to take a 30 minute break to clean the kitchen i will put it off.  if i remind myself i can put it on my fitness pal as "cleaning, light or moderate effort" i jump to do it.  i know it's weird, but hey.

4.  my fitness pal.  i love the app (and that you can add recipes by scanning the ingredients -- hellooooo user-friendly).  and i get a kick out of tweaking my eating habits so that i'm eating better calories.  but i also get a rush by plugging in all the ways i've exercised during the day and have even been known to find 15 minutes of an activity to do later in the evening so my exercise doesn't show a big fat 0.

i can NOT figure out how to add people outside of emailing them, so if you're on it feel free to look me up.  i'm msmsctchr.
<a href="http://www.myfitnesspal.com"><img src="http://badges.myfitnesspal.com/badges/show/1511/7178/15117178.weight-lost-sm.gif" border="0"></a><p style="text-align: center;width:226px;"><small>MyFitnessPal - Free <a href="http://www.myfitnesspal.com">Calorie Counter</a></small></p>

5.   hiking.  free exercise is good.  amazing girlfriends or a wonderful husband to share it with is even better :-)

6.  little things at work: at my office job, i try to move every hour for at least 5 minutes.  i realize that isn't much but it's way better than sitting at the desk all.morning.long.  and at my nanny job, i carry the baby more, go on stroller walks when it's nice out, use their elliptical even if it's only 5 minutes at a time, and even get on their balance ball while baby g plays (which she finds extremely amusing).

7.  better sleep.  who wants to work out when they're constantly tired?  i've been bad about this for the last 2 weeks or so, but i need to get back in the habit i was in for at least 2-3 months of sleeping 7-8 hours each night with rare exceptions.  yeah...need to go to bed by 11 tonight (self-reminder...)

8.  crunches.  yes, i hate them.  yes, i feel better after doing them.  so right now i at least try to remember to do them 2-3 times a week.  hey, it's a start.

9.  spurts.  when all else fails, i go in spurts.  this works for me if i have guests coming and need to clean the house and everything feels overwhelming.  9 minute tasks, move to the next one and have a rotation system.  i can always come back in the rotation, and if i only have 3 minutes of cleaning left in one room...i feel SO good about finishing it before the timer.  it's amazing how an hour goes by so much faster if you move between several rooms than if you spend the entire hour in a bathroom scrubbing.  and bonus: i'm moving the entire 60 minutes instead of taking a break every 15 or so because i'm exhausted, bored and grouchy.

10.  know thyself.  i have twice in the last three weeks injured my wrist by doing mundane household things.  ri-di-cu-lous, but it's made me realize the value of taking it easy on my wrist while not stopping activity altogether.  sometimes i need to take it easy and take that nap instead of jumping on the elliptical.  but taking a day off doesn't give me permission to take the week off!
(plus, sometimes that nap gives me better energy to clean the house later.  so it's kind of a nice payoff...)

it's a great day to go to birmingham

so.

anthony is a nashville native.  but he went to school in texas.
and while he was there, he developed a love for whataburger.

especially the chocolate malts.

a couple of years ago we drove down to texas for a friends wedding and i had MY first whataburger

and yes, it was very good :-)

fast forward: last year a couple of girlfriends and i went to the beach.  destin, fl.
our hotel? right next to a...whataburger.  which until then, i thought only existed in texas.

this year when natasha and i planned out our trip
i specifically planned in a whataburger run
and asked anthony if he wanted me to bring him back anything
his request?
"if you can find dry ice, could you bring me a malt?"

on the way down there, we noticed something.
from birmingham to florida, there were whataburgers in nearly every city along the way.

whataburger is only 3 hours away from nashville.

anthony had NO idea.
when i brought him his malt, i let him think it was from florida.
he remarked on how well it had traveled
(3 hours in regular ice...but he didn't know that!)

meanwhile, my wheels were turning.

i planned this in freaking AUGUST, people :-)

but long story short, he now knows.
(it took 30 minutes of guessing on his part before he said
"wait...there's a WHATABURGER in BIRMINGHAM?!")

we're heading out this morning and hitting up whataburger for lunch.
followed by a visit to birmingham's zoo
(because we love zoos, and why not?)
and dinner at...whataburger again.

hey, we may as well make the most of the trip down there, right? :-)

have a wonderful day!

thursday's ten: the oops, i forgot editio

well, the time change happened, much to my dismay.

i have been a little off-kilter since sunday. we will blame it on the time change at least ;-)

so at approximately 8.29 am, i realized that i forgot to write today's thursdays ten.

oops.

so today is easy :-) please join me and catch me up on your lives! today is ten things that are going on for you right now, ten things you've done this week, or ten upcoming things that you're excited about :-)

i am choosing the first topic: ten things about my life at this moment. in complete and total randomness!



(1) we have been married over a month! in some ways that doesn't seem possible...but in other ways i think i feel more "right" than i ever have in my life. :-)
(2) we are finishing up this week cleaning out grandpas house (where i lived the months between foreclosure and marriage). there's really not that much left to do, which is why we've been putting it off. ha!
(3) i got back from the honeymoon to find out that the office i had been working 10 hours/week in was asking me to work more hours. this was a huge blessing and gift from God...fulfilling my hearts desire. i now have 24 in-office hours and 5 at home hours per week. yep, my hours tripled!
(4) if i haven't mentioned what i actually DO there, the basic rundown is that it's a non-profit online university that literally gives away (to international students and prisoners in the US) a religious studies degree to those who wouldnt ordinarily be able to afford it. i work in student services/registrar most of those hours, but i also get the privilege of grading prisoners work.
(much more about that in another post!)
(5) i hate colder weather, but i do so love dressing in layers and wearing cute scarves and boots. i guess that keeps me sane this time of year?
(6) if i never have to hear the handy manny toolbox toy that baby g plays with again i will be so happy.
(7) next weeks list will be ten things from pinterest i have actually completed! i would LOVE to see lists from those of you who are similarly addicted... :-)
(8) i love children's books and definitely want to get a couple for the kids i nanny for as part of their christmas. do you have any recommendations? (they are 3 and 1)
(9) we have found a church that we LOVE. it's nearly an hour from our house. i have lots of time to apply my makeup and clip each weeks coupons though...
(10) about a month ago, i told A that i was taking him on an "adventure" this saturday--a one day trip out of state. he finally decided this past sunday night that he wanted to know what it was. so we played a (very long) guessing game until he got it. he's really excited about it, and i can't wait to share with you what it is! it's small...but it's one of those little things i can do for him that'll make him happy :-)

(look for a post on it saturday...and i will post pictures next week)

that's not all that's going on, but it covers some serious ground! what about you??

what i'm loving wednesday (11.2)

i'm loving that today is national *deviled egg* day!  naturally i made my favorite recipe last night :-)  i'm bringing some of them in to share with my office at lunch.  so what if they don't go with my tabouli and spanakopita?  ;-)

i'm loving this handsome guy.  among other things, it's so lovely to know that at the end of each day we end up in the same bed.

(photo taken at rock city on our honeymoon)

i'm loving all our wedding photos!  we're going to have a lot to choose from.  if you're interested in watching, there's a slideshow here.  i can direct you to the purchasing site if you want to see all 460+!  ;-)

i'm loving that my jobs are varied but wonderful.  one day i get snuggles from a sniffly baby girl, the next i'm invited to a wedding in rwanda.  and there are so many other wonderful moments in between!

speaking of work, i'm loving that i'm working more than full time now.  steady and secure.  that was one of the best wedding presents--finding out that my hours were first doubled, then tripled!

and on that note, i'm loving that God has so amazingly proven His faithfulness in our lives time and time again.  He's good, so good.  so many testimonies to that!

i'm loving that emi has (a) finally figured out that anthony lives here now and (b) prefers to be in the same room as us when we get home in the evening.

 (and don't you DARE close her out when you're taking a nap.  she opened the door right after this photo was taken!)

i'm loving all the new recipes i've found and tried the last few weeks.  i'll be posting one on friday.

i'm loving that i finally have time to blog more regularly.  maybe i'll churn out 30 posts in november after all!

i'm loving my amazing friends both locally and at more of a distance than i'd like.  you're all amazing!!

it's a great day to reappear

if i posted a wordle today it would look very much like my last post
because that was 2 weeks ago!

i cannot believe that i've been married for 2 weeks
it's been wonderful
in some ways feels longer than 2 weeks
in others, shorter

i get to share life with the most wonderful man...forever.  it's amazing, terrifying, wonderful and crazy all at once.  :-)

i'll post a few pictures and then sign off for the weekend, but i promise i'll give you details soon...in stages.  no overwhelming posts!

during the ceremony -- it was the perfect weather, perfect day.  which i kept telling people would happen -- Papa and i had an agreement! :D

individual pics

after THE kiss

our photographer was amazing.  you'll see as i post all the details of the day...seriously!

 my girls and i (minus one who fell sick the day before :( )

 the guys -- one take wonders here!

 us with our crazy wacky wonderful wedding party

and ONE of my favorites of the two of us

have a wonderful weekend!

what i'm loving wednesday (8.10.11)

i'm loving that my schedule is getting ready to switch up for the FINAL time this year.  i'm going to have a 'normal' weekly schedule which means it will be SO much easier to actually schedule in a life ;-)

i'm loving fresh tomatoes from my garden (and from my dad's since i brought home an entire box last weekend!)

i'm loving the lifestyle changes that this diet has brought.  in my future i see stevia-flavored sweet tea, lower carb menus (at least 2-3 days per week with very few or no carbs), different approaches to cooking in general, and more balance between protein and veggies/fruits

i'm loving getting into a more realistic sleep schedule

i'm loving that we had a fantastic trip to indiana last weekend -- saw people i hadn't seen in years, some great friends, and ended up spending an impromptu evening with some great friends

i'm loving already meal planning with my future hubby.  i think we've come up with a system that will work so that we incorporate favorite recipes, have easy dinner nights, try out new recipes, and not get bored.  oh, and eat out once in awhile too :-)  our 'practice' month will be september

i'm loving our save the dates that we finally emailed a couple of weeks ago.  (feel free to visit our website if you so choose)