The love of my life...

I cannot believe that we have been married for 3 years! Where does all the time go?! I must say though that I am the luckiest girl in the world to be blessed enough to be married to my best friend.

I am even more blessed that he was brought into my life at such a young age. It's been amazing to be able to learn and grow with him over the years (almost 9!). I think that because God blessed me with him at such a young age, we have been able to shape each other from early on, which I think is a large part of why our relationship is so deep and we get along so well, well that and our relationship and marriage is based on Christ :D

It's nice that John has been there to experience so much with me. We have been through so much over the years and being able to look back and know we were there for each other through it all, is awesome. :D I am excited that he has been a part of so much in my life and I have been a part of so much in his. I love being high school sweet hearts :D

Anyway, it's weird to think back that at this time 3 years ago I was getting married. It still seems surreal to me sometimes that all this has happened! That we are married!, that we live in Miami, that we have a dog! It's so weird to think about sometimes still! I love thinking back to our wedding day and all that we were able to experience together. I wish I could relive that day again! We were blessed enough to be able to get all our friends and family together from all different parts of our lives. We committed to share our lives together forever on that day and to start a family. We were able to celebrate the love we have for each other in front of Christ and all our loved ones. I am one very lucky and blessed girl.

Our wedding day was perfect and I have so many people to thank for that! Our joke was that it "took a village to get us married." It's true though, not only did we have TONS of family and friends help in different areas of the wedding (tooooo many to name!), these people are the ones who raised us, watched us grow up, and helped develop us into the awesome couple we are. For that I will always be grateful :D

Here is a mini re-cap :D
My Groom waiting for me :D

Here comes the bride!!...
Exchanging vows :D
The Kiss!
Mr. and Mrs John Martin <3 So blessed!
Our first dance :D "She's Everything" by Brad Paisley
Our Grand Finale :D one of my favorite pictures :D
Father and Daughter dance :D - danced to "I loved her first" by Heartland
Mama and Son dance- danced to "A Song for Mama" by Boys II Men
The AMAZING NCSU (of course) cake my aunt made for us :D
and in the face!! haha
A little fun on the dance floor! Time FLEW by!
My amazing bridesmaids!
The handsome groomsmen :D
Leaving the wedding :D It was raining so bubbles happened inside :D
Now, three years later I look back at what an amazing life John and I have started together as one. We have started own family together, grown even closer, moved to a completely different state and are exploring together, and got a puppy to extend our family by one. It's been an amazing journey and I couldnt imagine doing all of this without him.

I have an amazing husband and he just becomes even better each day. Over the past few years he has been there for me like no one else ever could have. He has been there to push me to challenge myself, encourage me to educate myself, taught me how to try even though I have been afraid of failing. He has so much confidence in me and has taught me to have the same. He has been there for me and held me as I went through one of the most difficult times in my life. He lifts me up continually. He also makes me laugh like no other and I could never have as much fun with anyone else than I do with him. How could I? He knows me inside and out and there is no one else that I would ever want to share that with. He knows all that and still loves me :D

I honestly cannot believe that I get to spend every day, night, month, and the rest of our years together :D I fall in love more each day and for that I count myself very blessed :D John Martin- I love you more than you could ever know- words will never be able to tell you how much you mean to me :D Happy Anniversary Boo! Here's to another many, many years of exciting adventures together!!

The Apartment/The Weekend

This weekend was SO much fun! (besides taking care of both of these dogs! and cleaning up their messes!!!) I'll be glad when it's just Carter again. He has regressed so much :( Luckily, we will be able to train him back pretty quick, but it's really frustrating. He picked up a lot of habits that we are just not happy with. One of them is listening when he wants to, not when we want him to and he whines a lot now. UGH. This is gunna change quick!

Anyway, after we got the okay to pick paint colors and have the painters come and paint, they came literally the next day to start their work! YAY! I dont remember how much I mentioned before, BUT we could only pick 2 colors so we went with White Raisin and Show Stopper. White Raisin is in the entire apartment, except the man room/office. It's a bit much in EVERY room, but it's WAY better than white, so I am content :D We got that painted Show Stopper (red, of course :D) It looks SO GOOD! They are finishing up the apartment today. I will be SO glad to put the apartment back together :D It stresses me out when it's so unorganized and messy! The trim is all white, we were going to paint it another color ourselves since they wont, BUT we really liked the way the white looked with it and decided to keep it. The painters had already painted the living room and hall baseboards White Raisin, so I got them to leave me a bucket of their white and John and I painted them back this weekend.

John and I started to get really excited because out place looks so much more homey now! That and my family will be coming soon, so we really want to get the place looking nice! We made a long to do list before we leave. haha. Anyway, Saturday we ended up going shopping for some knick knacks to go on our shelves in the living room- I still want to change them some, but the decorations are fine for now. We also went and purchased electrical covers for all of the rooms. haha. I doubt the University would and they were driving us crazy! Not only are they different colors, but the painters didnt remove them when they painted- so there is paint all over them. The covers were not expensive (probably shouldnt have spent that money anyway, but oh well). The clean covers make me much happier. haha.

We ended up painting on Saturday night, until pretty late- but I wanted to get it finished so we didnt have to worry about it Sunday.

Our plan on Sunday was to knock a lot of our to do list out. We ended up sleeping in pretty late and went and laid out for a little while. We just went to the volleyball courts since nobody is here. We figured that would save time and we only wanted to be out for a little. This Miami heat is NO JOKE though! We were only out there for 20 minutes and were both very dehydrated and dizzy. It was not good! never again without LOTS of water! haha Or we will just go use the pool (we would have but we have to pay for John). Anyway, we took a shower and hung out some (remembering that this was probably the last day we would have to just chill with just each other before we go home and then during our entire trip) it was really nice.

We also had decided to not go out to dinner for our anniversary since we were going to be spending so much money going home. Not only that, but we had bought some t-bone steaks when they were on sale and were planning on eating those and celebrating our anniversary on our anniversary. We also figured we would be able to get a lot done in the apartment if we didnt go out. WELL, plans change. haha We had a Groupon for a place called Smoke-T Southern Kitchen and Tap. We figured we would go during their happy hour and get a few drinks and an appetizer since we already had the gift certificate. We thought it would be nice to do a little something after all.

WELL, it started POURING!!! We had a small umbrella in the car and John came and got me with it. We only had to go about 20ft, but we both got SO wet. I laughed the whole time. it was so much fun :D We ended up ordering a few drinks and getting an appetizer and then learned that the gift certificate didnt work for drinks during happy hour and since we had to spend all $25 in one trip, we ended up getting a meal to split for later at home :D We ended up playing some pool and Foosball :D We LOVE that place! It's pretty southern for here and has such a great atmosphere! We even drank from mason jars :D It's our new favorite restaurant down here :D And really what is more fitting for John and I to go to a southern restaurant for our anniversary :D LOL! Since we had the gift certificate it didnt end up being that expensive either, so YAY for a cheap, but amazingly fun anniversary date!!! AND we'll still get to celebrate Tuesday :D

We also ended up going across the street to our other favorite bar- Titanic. We got one of our favorite beers and just talked for a long time :D Then we headed home to take care of the pups and watch more True Blood! (yes, we are watching the entire series again before season 4 starts :D) We had such a good time. It was a MUCH needed date for us and I enjoyed it so much :D I am SUCH a lucky woman to have such an amazing husband :D

Needless to say we got NOTHING done around the apartment after all, but that's okay :D Like I said, it was much needed and we had TOO much fun to care :D

Anyway, pictures of the apartment will be up soon! Our last two pieces of furniture should come this week too! YAY! Now we just need to pick art out still. haha

AND, Of course I didnt get many pictures of our date, but here are two!

Our mason jars!
My silly hubby :D

p90x update

Well, this week was awful! I was just NOT feeling it AT ALL. I did a few of the workouts like I am supposed to, but I have been super tired, taking care of two dogs, AND our home is in SUCH disarray because the painters have been here. I couldnt do p90x thurs-sunday anyway because our office is being painted still and the computer was disconnected. So it's not much of a surprise that I only lost .5 lbs. At least its something. And at least I have been losing weight and feel much better about myself.

John and I went out to dinner yesterday to celebrate our anniversary (I'll post about this later) but I felt SO guilty eating the way I did! Which I guess is good and bad. I shouldnt feel as guilty as I did and worry about getting fat off one meal, but at the same time it keeps me from eating like that a lot! Anyway- here is the break down of what I did do:
Monday – Chest, Shoulders and Triceps- check!
Tuesday– Plyometrics- I HATE THIS ONE! I did about 30 minutes
Wednesday– Back and Biceps- did not do at all. I took a 3 hour nap instead. lol
Thursday– Yoga X- Cardio X instead
Friday – Legs and Back- I ran instead and took the dogs on a LONG walk- so it wasnt lifting weights, but at least it was something.
Sat – Kenpo X- Couldnt do because the office was getting painting (I am sure I could have if I really really wanted to, but meh)
Sun– Rest or X Stretch

I think what I am going to do from now on for the cardio days, is go running instead now. I think I will do the Couch to 5k again, since I still want to run one before my birthday. That way I am not so bored! I also downloaded an ap that tells me how far I have gone, so that will be helpful! :D We'll see how it goes. It definitely wont be the 60 minute work out that I have been doing with p90x, but maybe I'll do part of it too? I dont know. Maybe after our vacation I wont be so bored with it since I get break? I'll keep you posted!

Last Puppy Class!

Carter graduated!! I am so proud of my puppy!! He is the best :D We went to class again this past Monday and finished out kindergarten! It ended up only being two dogs again- Carter and Tulula(What Krystal would call a toy dog. lol LOVE that name! haha).

Since last week Lorainne basically said we were good to move on, she had us practice for the Canine Good Citizen test. John and I are interested in doing it for Carter, Tulula's owners didnt want to, so I felt kinda bad that's what we spent our time doing. oh well!

To get the certificate you have to do the following tests-

Test 1: Accepting a friendly stranger - Carter was of course great with this one because he loves EVERYONE!

Test 2: Sitting politely for petting- Carter had bit of a hard time because he gets so excited, so we need to work on this one some

Test 3: Appearance and grooming- For this one a stranger has to be able to touch his paws and brush him- Carter did good with this one too. We didnt have a brush, so I am afraid he may think it's a toy and want to chew it. So we will need to practice this one too.

Test 4: Out for a walk (walking on a loose lead)- Great at this one (with treats of course!)

Test 5: Walking through a crowd- he did a great job! He looked at me and the treat the whole time (you can treat them during the test too)!!

Test 6: Sit and down on command and Staying in place- Carter has a hard time sitting and staying- he just ends up laying down. lol. We also need to practice staying longer, along with actually sitting the whole time.

Test 7: Coming when called- great at this! he was even this time with distractions!

Test 8: Reaction to another dog- He gets excited and wants to play, but he is never aggressive, so he would pass.

Test 9: Reaction to distraction- Great at this one too. things dont scare him and he doesnt get aggressive either. YAY!

Test 10: Supervised separation- Lorianne held his leash and I walked away and hid behind a car. Other than getting distracted by another dog, he didnt whine or pull for me or anything! So that is great! :D

We have a few things we need to work on to pass, but he is close! :D While we were practicing each of these steps, when we would ask Carter to practice something he would just roll over and he kept doing it and kept doing it. it was SO cute and hilarious. We have been practicing with him at home and apparently he thought that's what we wanted in class. lol

Carter got a certificate at the end saying he graduated! SO PROUD! :D He has improved SO much since being in that class and I am so proud of him!

On a not so good note, we are dog sitting like I mentioned before and where I hoped we would be able to train Carter during this time, he has taken on some of Cliffords characteristics instead:( He has stopped listening as good and has picked up habits like pulling trash out of the cans. We are gunna have to fix this QUICK before we go home. It's very frustrating. They also just play and play and play (at least I think it's playing) and never want to sleep, so we have had to take Clifford home every night, otherwise none of us would sleep. There have been some cute moments,but mostly they are driving me crazy. They are just trained very different, so it makes it really hard to feed, walk, sleep, etc. Clifford also misses his mom really bad and so he sprayed our apartment (UGH, VERY FRUSTRATING!) and he also peed all over hers too :( She also had her apartment painted yesterday and we didnt realize they blocked the dog door and he also pooped all over it and then ran in it and spread it everywhere. Fun times. Anyway, I am glad we could watch him so he didnt have to be alone the whole time she was gone, but I think we are both ready for her to be back. And I am ready to take a vacation!!!!

P90x

Finished the first week! Woooweee! Was I sore again! I started on Monday this week and at the end of the week had not lost any weight :( I see a pattern though- one week I dont and the next I lose a lot! haha. Hopefully, it's a true patter and will contiue for next week :D Anyway, here are workouts-

Monday-Chest, Shoulders and Triceps, Ab Ripper X- completed it and boy did my arms hurt for a few days!!I am still not doing Ab Ripper, just dont have any energy by the time I finish my work outs, but I'll do my best to do it this coming week. I know I need to.

Tuesday– Plyometrics- I have come to HATE this work out. It's hard. I did 45 minutes of it and was still so sore the next day.

Wed– Back and Biceps, Ab Ripper X- Completed Back and Biceps! again- sore after!

Thurs – Yoga X- I did Cardio X instead. But completed it!

Fri– Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X- I only did about 20 minutes of this. My left knee started hurting real bad:( I now have some rehab exercises I need to start so my knee doesnt hurt so much when I work out.

Sat– Kenpo X- Check!

Sun– Rest or X Stretch and of course check! haha

I am starting to get really tired of the same cardio exercises. They are starting to get really boring :( I may have to change up what I am doing somehow so I at least keep working out like this...we'll see after next week :D

A year already?!

Whelp, a year ago on the 13th John and I arrived in Miami and started this crazy journey we have been on for a year so far! Where does the time go? Part of me feels like I have been here FOREVER and the other part wonders how time went by so fast without me realizing it.

I must say though, that the year that we have been here has been pretty amazing. Despite the tragedy of losing my father shortly after moving here and swearing off this place after that happened, I have enjoyed my time here thus far.

This year has been one of many firsts for us. First of all, John and I both packed up all our stuff and moved to a city very far from home! I am SO blessed to have such an amazing husband that is willing to do that with me :D
What else is a first?
-Got my first professional job
-Dealt with the loss of a very close loved one
-Explored a new city together that we know nothing about
-Got our car broken into :/
-Went on a day cruise!
-Traveled to a new island in the Bahamas
-Tried out awesome things like: kayaking, the zoo, seaquarium, the Keys, different Miami beaches, snorkeling around a coral reef, renting a boat, Cirque du Soliel, etc. (the list goes on and on!)



-Rode a Segway!
-Had tons of friends come visit!
-Went to our first professional basketball game- GO HEAT!
-Became Godparents
-Went to and cheered for another college football teams games besides NCSU
-Got my second professional job!
-Moved three times- not that moving is a first for us or anything, but moving 3 times is very significant as it takes up a LOT of time!!
-Paid off our first car
-Got our first puppy!!
I could really keep going but to sum up this year, it’s been amazing. I am beyond blessed that I have been able to go on this journey with a man so wonderful enough to go along with me. We miss our family and friends back home like crazy and I have no doubt in my mind that we will end up back there one day (probably not in the toooo distant future). BUT while we are here we are going to enjoy it the best we can :D Here is to another great year in Miami!

Puppy Class 5 (since we missed 4)

Puppy Class this past Monday was great! :D However, I was really sad because since John works in the evenings now, he wasnt able to come and he wont be able to come to our last class either
:( it was weird getting Carter into the car (which he likes now) by myself and take him to class. It was good though.

There ended up being only 2 puppies in class- Carter and Tulula (a tiny little dog). So we got a lot of individual attention and were able to really practice everything with a lot of distractions around (even though there was only 1 other puppy in our class, there were other classes going on close by AND 1 other puppy is enough to keep Carter distracted. lol).

So in class we practiced a loose leash with distractions and he did REALLY well! When I walk him some mornings I forget treats because I am not fully awake yet, and I get frustrated because he isnt listening to me. BUT that's my fault because he still needs the treats while he is a puppy.

We also worked on recall while playing with the other puppy. He was not so good at this, so it's something we definitely need to work on. Clifford will be staying with us for the next two weeks, so we will have plenty of time to practice with another dog around! We are hoping with Clifford here that we can teach Carter a lot:D

I also talked to our trainer about Carter jumping on people when he sees them. I hate when he does this and we need to change it. She told me that we need to tell people ahead of time that if they approach us, they need to ignore Carter until he sits- not get him more excited and pet him while he jumps. Then every time he jumps, to ignore him again. This also includes us for when we get home from work. I LOVE when he comes running to me when I get home, but I understand the need for him to sit before he greets people. This will be hard to teach him! But definitely a goal.

Lorianne also said that we were ready for class 1 (the next level class for dogs). Carter has to be 6 months old though. We are going home soon anyway, so by the time we get back he will be old enough to take it. It's a lot more focused too, so I am sure that's why he needs to be a bit more mature. She also told us about getting dogs Canine Good Citizen Certified. He is not ready for this yet- it's 10 different things that dogs have to do or be able to do- but it's something we want to get him certified for! :D

Other than that, here a few other Carter updates:
-He has not had an accident in the house in a LONG time! I am starting to think we are passed the potty training stage- FINALLY! :D We have also started to put down some of our rugs again. lol :D YAY!

-He has started using his doggy door so much better! We leave his crate door open when he sleeps at night (he doesnt leave it, because he loves it :D) and so when he has to go to the bathroom now- he doesnt wake us up anymore! :D He just goes out his doggy door :D However, for some reason he doesnt like to come back in without our permission, so then he wakes us up. lol BUT for the first time today, he used it to go out AND come back in! AND went straight back into his crate! :D I was such a proud mommy! haha.

-Most of his itching is gone! Something bites him on his legs still- but not like before at all! It's probably something in the grass or mulch, it's really not enough to worry too much about. He does have two pretty big sores that he got from somewhere, but they seem to be healing if he will stop licking them! He may get the cone again :(

-He is getting SO big! and is still such the best cuddler ever :D We are still working on tricks, but mostly training him with distractions. He's such a smarty pants :D and I love him more each day:D

p90x update

YAY! the first month is DONE! :D I cant believe it. Time seems to have flown by. However, I am still sore. lol I would have thought it would be getting easier? haha oh well. So last week I weighed in and I lost.....

3.4 lbs!!! WOW! I was SO happy!! What a motivation!! :D I have now lost a total of 16lbs from when I originally wanted to start losing weight and 9lbs since I started p90x. Hopefully, this trend will continue! I am trying so hard! :D I keep telling myself I just want to be done "losing weight" and just worry about maintaining and staying in shape. I cant wait for that day!

Last week, week 4, was what p90x calls recovery week. I did most of it. haha, but I did change around a few things because I HATE yoga and it was on there twice! yikes!

Breakdown:
Sunday– Yoga X- did not do :(
Monday – Core Synergistics- this was HARD! I could only get through 30 minutes of it and my core hurt ALL week.
Tuesday– Kenpo X- completed :D
Wednesday – X Stretch- I didnt do this either. lol
Thursday – I did CardioX instead. My intention was to do both or at least part of Core Synergistics, but I was so tired. lol
Friday– CardioX again, in place of stupid yoga :D
Saturday– Rest- and REST I did! :D

So I wasnt not as go go go as previous weeks, but I did exercise a lot still! :D

Now on to Phase 2!

25 things to do update....

Well I have not accomplished as much as I would have hoped on this list so far, BUT I still have plenty of time! I do think now that looking back some of them may not be realistic to complete, but such is life :D Here is a quick update them...

1. Run a 5K- currently doing p90x so I have not been training for it, but I will after I finish p90x. Also, even if I am not fully ready, I will still make myself run one in honor of my father :D
2. Read 15 books- I have read about 5. This summer is when I plan to put a large dent in this!
3. Be able to do 5 unassisted pull ups -working on it via p90x. We shall see...lol
4. Lose 45ish lbs- also working on this! I think I can, I think I can! :D I am determined!! I now have about 35 to go! :D
5. Go Skydiving- this may be one of the unrealistic ones. Even though this is our huge "we lose all the weight we want goal" money may be an issue here...it's expensive! BUT I am keeping my eye out for a groupon :D
6. Learn how to speak enough Spanish to communicate with Spanish speaking people- Have not done anything here. HOWEVER, one of my coworkers has Rosetta Stone and is going to let me borrow it!
7. Finish scrapbooking my wedding- All of it's done but the reception! I also want to do our honeymoon :D
8. Create a family tree- still need to start this one :(
9. See a waterfall- I saw a fake one at the zoo. lol does that count? ;D
10. Deeply study part of the Bible- Working on the gospels. That is also one of the books I am in the middle of reading :D
11. Go paint balling-bought a living social deal for this the other day! WHOOP! SO Excited!
12. Travel to at least 5 different places in Florida- We have done 2 so far- Key Largo and Orlando. This may turn into exploring small towns near us instead of large trips (since we are poor! lol) But exploring small towns is always fun too!
13. Try yoga-I gave it 4 tries and I hate it. but at least I can say I've tried it now. lol
14. Learn how to sail a sailboat- still need to do...this is also one of those iffy ones..lol
15. Watch a rocket launch- We have tried to go to a few, but the date keeps changing :( This one may turn unrealistic too since the last launch is during our vacation to Raleigh :(
16. Do 25 random things with/or for John-in progress :D
17. Make a difference in someone’s life- luckily I work with students so it makes it easy to accomplish this one. I will share the story of Janna at a later date, but I know I have at least made a difference in 1 person's life this year! :D
18. Watch 25 movie classics- I have done 8 so far. I forgot to mention they all had to be movies I have never seen (A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Sound of Music, Crocodile Dundee 1 &2, Friday the 13th, Risky Business, Big, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail)
19. Learn to play the guitar-I had my first lesson this week!!! Seth Reder, a coworker and good friend is teaching me! My finger tips hurt like woah. A different type of pain I have never experienced. But I learned a few chords and am practicing those so far! :D YAY! Here is me practicing :D Seth is great and is letting me borrow one of his guitars!

20. Learn racquetball-This one may be hard too since we cancelled our gym membership, but not totally out yet
21. Read a book on a subject I’ve never have thought of reading- Check! Never thought about reading about dogs! I have read a few of those so far!
22. Learn how to sing (carry a tune ) ;)- Seth is also going to teach me how to do this! BUT guitar lessons are first :D
23. Volunteer in Miami or the surrounding area- Still need to do this
24. Get life insurance- Still need to do this
25. Learn all the words to a rap song- having a hard time picking a song...any suggestions? :D

Like I said, some of them may not happen, but I have come to terms with it if I cannot either fund it or I am not in complete control of it. Everything else- there is no excuse! :D Here's to meeting my goals :D

Life updates...

VACATION IS COMING! haha...if you cant tell, I am SUPER excited about our vacation coming up! Everything worked out JUST the way we wanted it to and even better than we planned!

We are on vacation from June 25-July 10! We will be in Raleigh from the 25th until July 5th.We will be driving up and then on the 5th we will drive home with my mom, sister, and brother! :D They will be here until the 9th. While they are here my mom is going to show us where she grew up and places around Miami that she remembers. I am SO excited :D I dont think my mom has had a vacation in YEARS! I am sad that my dad cannot be here, but very happy for my mom because she needs a vacation! lol.

While we are in Raleigh, of course we have tons of plans :D We are planning right now to potentially go camping with Johns family, attend one of Brad's shows, go to an American Aquarium concert (EEEEEEEEE!), celebrate 4th of July with both my family and John's (hopefully in Fayetteville!), meet Jennie's sweet baby, visit with our good friends, and eat at all our favorite places! I AM SO EXCITED!

What made it even better than we planned is that Krystal and Josh are going to come visit too!! They decided to come down for the weekend and come see us! They will go with us to Brads concert. I am also SO excited because Carter will get to meet Bailey!!! :D

I want this trip to be TOMORROW! Patience....lol

Other updates include: that we have finally purchased all the furniture for our apartment! I went shopping with the lady at the university who gets it all for us and we finally finished the furniture. We got TV stand for the living room and another chair for the living room. We still have to purchase art for the walls and some decorative stuff, hopefully we will actually be done soon. lol. I would like for it all to be done before my family gets here in July, but we'll see if that actually happens. They are also going to let us paint our walls! Or rather, let us pick out colors and they will paint! (Even better in my book!) We are going to stick to 2 or 3 colors and will probably paint the trim ourselves, because I dont think they will do that. The entire living room, dining room, entryway will all have to be 1 color because the room isnt broken up at all. I'll post the colors once we decide what we are doing, and of course will post pictures when it's all done! :D

On another note! John took a temporary job! Its not something that he will be doing for a long time or even something he really cares to do now, but it's something! I am so very proud of him :D He will be working afternoon/evenings, so it will be weird for me coming home and him not being there! I will keep you posted on the job search! He was also able to negotiate taking the vacation time we already had planned! So thank you job for being flexible! I would have cried!

We made the mistake of giving Carter bubble wrap and styrophoam to play with. We give him cardboard sometimes and he loves it, but after giving him the other, now he thinks he can shred anything like that...RIP Sports Illustrated. lol. We have to correct that fast! It was funny to watch him get the bubble wrap and styrophoam though! He made a MESS! haha. When I went to clean it up with the broom, he attached the broom. I was messing with him with the broom and now he's scared of it. haha
attacking the broom..

Shredding the bubble wrap and stuff
what a mess! lol
Well I think that's all for now :D

MUFASA!

The other night John and I found the cutest little kitten! We were walking Carter around UM's lake and on the walk we saw what we thought was a possum. Well around the corner we heard a sad little meow. It was SO loud! We spent forever trying to find him. Finally, I saw him and grabbed him. he was TINY. He fit in the palm of one of my hands. He is all black with white paws and a nose. too cute :D We looked for a mom some, but didnt see anyone or anything nearby so we took him home with us.

He meowed the whole way home. When we got home we had to lock Carter out of the room because the kitten did not like him- or us really at first. We got him warm and tried to feed him some water, but he wouldnt drink any. Since it was so late, we couldnt go get formula or anything. We held him for a long time and he started to fall asleep in my arms. :D We got a box and put a towel in it and made it his temporary home. John did some googling and found that it would be good to put a water bottle with hot water in the box with him, to help keep him warm. Since we decided it was a boy, we named him Mufasa. AWESOME! :D he was such a scaredy cat, so it was funny :D We let Carter finally sniff him out and Mufasa swatted at his face. Carter kept coming back for more. lol

We decided that the next morning since John had to drive up to Ft. Lauderdale anyway to get someone from the airport, he would take Mufasa to the rescue we got Carter from. Well they were not open when he left, so as soon as they opened I called them. Unfortunately, they were full :( So John had to bring Mufasa back. The rescue did tell me to feed it sugar water and since it was so little we had to get a wet cotton ball and rub his little bathroom parts to stimulate him to go. He peed A LOT when John did it!! Poor kitty. The things you learn. haha.

Anyway, I emailed my co workers and found out that apparently there are a lot of kittens on campus that are being cared for by volunteers. We got a hold of one and she took him. I cried. I knew we couldnt keep him for a few reasons- 1) we are allergic...lol 2) we dont have the resources to take care of another animal. Carter is already expensive!. But it still made me sad.

The volunteer fed the kitten and apparently he ate A LOT. and they found the mom cat and the mom cat accepted the kitten back. So at least the kitten is happy and with his mom! :D Here are a few pictures. He really is the cutest kitten I have ever seen!!

So small!!
He meowed a lot, but had the prettiest blue eyes!

<3

I dont even really like cats, but he was cute. I couldnt believe how little he was! he REALLY like John. He snuggled up really good next to him and would purr. Too bad John broke out because of it. haha Good thing I have a sweet husband and he was willing to take care of the kitty anyway :D

SUMMER IS HERE!!

Again, I know I am late on all these posts. haha but at least I am writing them now! :D

I AM SO HAPPY IT'S THE SUMMER! :D Everyone is gone from the school year and it is just wonderful! This summer I am working summer conferences, so we still have people living in the building, just not many. Not only that, but we function differently in the summer too. I have 5 Conference Hosts that take care of most of the conference type stuff. I am in charge of billing, placing students in rooms, ordering linens, that type of stuff. Never worked summer conferences, but I am enjoying it so far (I do have one camp that is driving me insane, but other than that it's pretty quiet). I REALLY enjoy there being hardly anyone on campus! :D

Since it's the summer the dining hall is closed :( BUT that means I get to cook! I have been having lots of fun trying to figure out ways to cook healthy, quick, cheap meals. Those 3 things dont usually go together, but I am trying my best to make them! haha. I need to bust out my crock pot and utilize it more. I think that will be on my list next week :D Anyway, here are two of the meals John and I made

Shish Kabobs-

A YUMMY salad- it's most veggies all in it because I know salads can get unhealthy quick. BUT i did cook some bacon and put some of that and croutons on it. I also made twice baked potatoes with this meal. It was very good and not too many calories!

Aside from cooking, my goal this summer is to really try and enjoy the summer. I dont feel tons of pressure like I do during the year. It's also really strange that this is my first official summer with no summer break! The real world sucks! haha :D Making the best of it though!

p90x update week 3

DONE! (Sorry I am a week late with the update) haha :D I didnt lose any weight this week though! I was SO upset. It's so discouraging when that happens. :( I worked really hard! I do feel my clothes fitting differently, so maybe I am gaining muscle? Hopefully next week I see some numbers change to encourage me again.

I have still been cutting the soda out of the diet, cutting back on most sweets, and working really hard at the workouts. I have also been cooking pretty healthy foods too! :D I forgot how much I love to cook.

Here's this weeks update:

Sunday: Chest and Back- Did not do on this day. haha I did do it Monday though! I rocked this out! I was able to increase push ups in EVERY category! :D They have all been girl style- so I think after this next week I will start transitioning into regular push-ups.

Monday: Plyometrics- I DID THE WHOLE THING! I ROCKED IT! I also did Chest and Back from Sunday. I decided that I would continue with the girl push ups through this week and transition to regular ones next time. I completed both of the work outs completely! Man was a sore the next day!!

Tuesday: Shoulders and Arms- I switched this with Wednesdays work out since I did so many push ups the day before and my arms hurt so bad. So I did Cardio X this day! :D

Wednesday: Cardio X & Shoulders and Arms- Since I did CardioX on Tuesday I did Shoulders and Arms this day.

Thursday: Legs and Back- did not end up doing.- I left work not feeling well and ended up sleeping pretty much the entire day!

Friday- Kenpo X- I also had this day off and didnt do anything :( BUT I did Kenpo on Saturday to make up for it. Fridays just dont seem to work out with me exercising! haha

Saturday: Kenpo X- (supposed to be Friday) finished it all like a rock star! :D

My knees still hurt some but the sleeve does work to cut down on that. I really hope losing weight helps my knees not make so many noises! I am TOO young for noisy knees!

I cant believe Week 3 is already done! Next week is "Recovery Week" so there is not much lifting, mostly cardio and resting. I also have not been doing the ab ripper x, so when I start week 5, I will be adding that to each work out too.