Hot Tamale Train

Today, on top of everything else, I'm thankful for So You Think You Can Dance. Seriously. It makes me so happy as you know. I'm smiling from deep down in my soul after catching up from earlier this week that I had to show you who I put on my very own hot tamale train!

Ashleigh and Jakob's Lyrical Jazz routine:


Kathryn and Legacy's Jazz routine (I have to say.. these two are quickly becoming my favorite):


My absolute favorite of the night.. Noelle and Russell's contemporary! So So So beautiful! Russell is another one of my favorites. For those of you who don't watch this show and have gotten this far in my post about something you're not particularly interested (I love you for that by the way), Russell and Legacy (the one above) have NO actual training. Russell used to do hip hop dancing in tha streets... Legacy was a beat boy. They have been so AH-MAZING that they bring tears to my eyes!


I also though Mollee and Nathan's Can-Can dance was adorable and like the judges said - perfect for their cute little selves!
I'm not very sad to see Karen go... I can do without her, but I am VERRRY happy to see Victor go. Just was not a fan.

I hope everyone is enjoying their Thanksgiving. We have had our turkey and Trey is passed out on the couch as a result!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Can't believe tomorrow is Thanksgiving already! Time seems to by flying by more quickly than ever! I cannot believe I have been living in Oklahoma for 2 months now and am already counting down the days to go back home for Christmas (yay!)

It's my last day at the food bank for the week. We are closed for the rest of the week. I wanted to do something nice for them today for taking me in and immediately treating me like I've been a part of them forever, so I got up early this morning to make some sugar cookies. I actually made the dough last night and regridgerated it overnight. It was the first time I've ever made cookie dough and was pretty excited to see how they came out this morning.. mmm... not so much! It was so sticky that I couldn't do anything with it. I put all the flour I had left into it to fix it the best I could. I mean, they're edible... but they definitely don't resemble a sugar cookie. Nor do they really taste like one. I'm bringing them in anyway, but let's just say that I really hope my apple crisp comes out a lot better tomorrow! The icing on the cake? NOW I have to go to Walmart today to get more flour.. grrrr... wish me luck!

We are spending the holiday by ourselves tomorrow. We do have some friends getting together, but we wanted to take the opportunity to spend it just the two of us. We've never been able to do that and *hopefully* won't be able to again. I'm making a teeny tiny turkey, garlic mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, corn and rolls. Then apple crisp for dessert.

This year I am more than ever thankful for my husband. After spending a rough 7 and 1/2 months without him over the year, I'm soaking up every moment we have together. I miss my family and am verry thankful for the technology that allows us to pretty much stay in every minute of each other's lives. I'm thankful for our friends that I'm more than excited to see next month! And for our friends that we have here.. our little family away from home. I am extremely thankful for all of the soldiers that are fighting over seas that are not able to spend this holiday with their families. I'm thankful for the wine I plan to enjoy at dinner tonight. *okay okay... and the rest of the week*. Very thankful for our cozy little home. And really... I'm thankful for the faith I have in my heart that knows I have all of this because God allows me to.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

I quit!

No more 5K training for me. I'm sitting here laughing at myself thinking about all these "great" ideas I come up with in my head and never follow through with. I always have the best of intentions, but what can I say, I'm a dreamer I guess.

I get so inspired by all of you runners out there. I admire all the dedication you put in to training for marathons. I celebrate each and every met goal with you. My heart bursts with happiness for you when you finally reach your target goal. I get completely sucked in to the whole process and think to myself how great I would feel if I did something like that. So I try. I get all amped up. I print out a training program. Set my little running clothes out. I go to the gym extremely motivated on Day 1. And that's about as far as it goes.

I've tried to enjoy running, but I JUST PLAIN HATE IT. So, I then find myself making up any reason what-so-ever to avoid the gym for the rest of the week. Not good. I let myself off the hook this weekend and realized I don't have to be a runner. It's better for my health and the 5lbs I've gained since moving out here if I just focus on doing the things I love to do. I miss looking forward to going to the gym. Hello elliptical! Get me on that thing and I'm good to go for miles.

So keep up all that running ladies! I'm living vicariously through you, so keep up the hard work!

New Obsession

Last night, already on cloud 9 as hubs and I make our way out for our date night, I see the little blinking sign I've been waiting to see from the day I moved out here. "Open". I saw that orange signed lit up and just about lost my cool.

Has anyone heard of Orange Tree??? It's only a little slice of heaven here on earth. Day by day I'd drive by the promise of a self-serve frozen yogurt bar, semi-patiently waiting for them to open. They opened at 5:00 yesterday. So after a delish steak quesidilla and one or two margaritas, I couldn't get in the door soon enough. I may have squealed like a 16 year old girl in line for New Moon when I did get in there. Options and options of flavors. It was hard to chose, but I ended up with a mix of strawberry and cheesecake. After you decide on the flavor, you head on over to the topping bar... to DIE for.

Everything from fresh fruit to candy to cereal and more! I just got some fresh bananas. I stay true to form, make friends with the owner, and get a membership card at the cash register. Yup, I'm a member. And it's so cheap! .38 cents an ounce. I got way more than I should have and it was only $3. That was after taking a bite while waiting in line. Trey ever so gently reminded me that I was not allowed to eat it before paying since you pay by weight. Woopsie.

I will not ever again go to Braums to have a full fledged fattie ice cream. Unless of course it's for a rare banana split....

* this is not my yogurt, I googled a picture so you could imagine it's full goodness. And no, I was not paid to do this post. It's really just that good.

We're in for the night, enjoying a lazy Saturday night. It's pretty dern cold outside and Trey isn't feeling well. I have chili going in the crock pot and baked potatoes in the oven. Trey has football on the TV and beer in his hand. It's a happy household.

My Goal: most comments ever

I'm stealing this idea from a few other bloggers! If you've never left me a comment before, today's your day, lucky ones! I'm always surprised by the amount of followers I have and that number has gone up a little in the past few days (welcome!) and while I appreciate the fact that people think my life is interesting enough to "follow", I LOOVVEEEE getting comments from people. Each and every one of them puts a smile on my face... it means a lot for y'all to take time out of your day to let me know what you're thinking. I have 85 followers now (yay!) but on average only see about 10 comments a post... and that's a good day! So today's your day. Let me know you're out there! You can even comment anonymously if you don't have an account. I promise I won't be creeped out (unless I should be)

And this is where my shameless begging for love ends. I'm just curious to see who's really out there...

Semi Interesting ~

I received an award the other day from Ginger at The Neff Family! She is one of my new favorite bloggers :) She is seriously just so sweet and has the cutest family. They are another Army family, have an adorable little girl and another little boy on the way!

Rules are to list 10 interesting things about yourself and tag 7 other friends. I don't know if I'll be able to think of 10 different things, but I'll give it a shot...

1. I've been thinking about going back to school for a while now. I haven't yet because I couldn't decide what to get my degree in. I'm pretty sure I've decided on Social Work. I want to do something in the adoption process. I would love to help families out who are looking to adopt.

2. Speaking of families - I want a baby.. like NOW. I suddenly have baby fever that's crept over me in the last couple of weeks. So we may or may not be TALKING about it. No need for any mothers out there to get excited just yet.

3. I've started reading in my Bible every day. I printed out a guide online that gets you through the entire Bible in a year. I've been doing this only since Nov. 2 and it's already changed me. We're trying a new church this Sunday and I'm pretty excited.

4. I have the widest taste in music ever known to man. For example: my two favorites are The Fray and Lil Wayne, but my all time two favorite songs ever are I Can Only Imagine by Mercy Me

and Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo'Ole


5. I'm really a HUGE nerd at heart. If reading didn't make me sleepy, I would read all day long. And I'm the master at Sudoku. The regular 9x9 grid bores me. I need the big one that mixes 5 grids together.

6. I'm really excited about the whole moving around the world aspect of the Army. I realize this may change after the 700th move, but for right now, I'm soaking it up. The thought of living in another country thrills me. But I'll be devastated if none of my family ever visits me.

7. I have incredibly unruly hair. I have to straighten it every day now that it's short so in order to even leave the house on a daily basis it takes me at least an hour to get ready including shower. Yuck.

8. I've had the horrible habit of nail biting since I came out of the womb. People say it's disgusting with good reason, but it really doesn't gross me out. I know.. it should...

That's all I have. I'm spending way too much time thinking about this!

Brandi at Excess Baggage
Jenn at First Comes Love Than Comes Marriage
High Heels at High Heels and Combat Boots
Katie at Loves of Life
New Girl at New Girl on Post

That's all I have time for *that takes a lot time to do!!* I'm just breaking all the rules today..

Come on out...

... of Google Reader and check out my new look!! I am in love with it! Just plain ol' giddy.

This is something I've wanted to do for SUCH a long time now, so when Brandi hosted a giveaway to get your blog a makeover, I signed up with pathetically high hopes. I never win anything - until last week :)
I was beyond excited when I got an email from Stephanie at Dirt and Lace Designs. She was great to work with... she has the patience of a saint and that is no exaggeration. I am the most indecisive person alive (it's a fact) and she kept her cool even when I changed my mind for the 500th time. I had no clue what I wanted when I started out, but she was great with helping me figure it out. In short - she's AMmazing!!

Soooo... tell me what you think! And if you're jealous of how fly my blog looks, check in with Brandi often... she promised to do another makeover giveaway soon!

Heeyyyy!

Sorry I've been gone for a few days - I know you've all been crying yourself to sleep without a daily fix of mua... humor me! I will let you know that I've been busy working on a little surprise though. One that I am probably waaayyyy more excited about than any of you will be, but I cannot wait to share :)

I don't have any pictures yet that I promised to share. Hopefully tomorrow.

We had a very relaxing rest of the weekend. Almost lethargic actually, but hubs was so incredibly tired... he needed that! We watched football allll day long Saturday. I watched my Gamecocks ALMOOSTT beat the number one team in the country. Then watched Bama stay ahead at #2!

Sunday involved lots of coffee, Atlanta Bread Company, a tri-weekly trip to Walmart, and ended it off with a heart break from the end of the Patriots game...

I started my 5K training today.. woohooo! Oh, you thought I was starting it last week? Hmmphh.. I did. For a day. Then I skipped out of the gym for the rest of the week. I'm not ashamed. It just happened ok? I also started my 2nd week at the food bank. I'm still loving it and I believe they are loving me! I've already been told that I am not allowed to ever leave. The director also paid me the biggest compliment I believe I've ever received last week. We were talking about something and I said something along the lines of "I try and try to do it like that and it never quite works out for me" I believe we were talking about cooking. She told me she didn't believe me. She said I must not be really trying because she's pretty sure that I will accomplish anything I put my mind to in life. I really wish I could see myself the way others see me!
We had a verrry busy day there today and I.am.pooped. We fed 70 families today and they say this is nothing compared to how it's going to be in the next couple weeks. Incredible. As beat down as I feel right now, nothing beats the feeling of knowing we're putting food in so many people's mouths!

The Perfect Day

Trey had an extra day off yesterday in honor of Veteran's Day. Have I mentioned I LOVE our 3-days??? I dooo! We did the old people's version of sleeping in. You know.. got up at the normal time because it's impossible to actually sleep in and lounged around for hours drinking coffee and bumming.

We finally got off of our rears around noon and headed out for OKC. Can I just say that I adore the fact that this city is an hour away from us! Unlike last time, I made sure to wear comfy shoes :)
We went straight to the Oklahoma City Memorial. I don't really know how to put into words how this place made me feel. It was very overwhelming. I don't remember much about this day (other than I was in Disney World at the time) so I learned a lot. I'm ashamed to say that I didn't even know why the bombing took place or how McVeigh did it. I did take a few pictures outside, which I will post later, but they didn't allow cameras inside.
I was fighting back the tears from the moment it started. You walk out of that elevator and feel like you are there. There are pictures everywhere of what was going on that morning, I know what the weather was like and what the forecast was for the rest of the day, the background noises playing of what you may have heard as you walked into work that day... it put you right there at the scene. From there we walked through a few different exhibits into a room where we heard a recording of a meeting that was going on when the bomb went off. They had to record all these meetings and that tape was recovered. You hear them talking, hear the bomb go off, hear all the confusion and chaos that follows. It was awful. It broke my heart to think about what this city and everyone else who was affected went through... all because of two men. It made me think a lot about 9/11 and the Ft. Hood incident. It just pisses me off that people can be so selfish and careless. How can you NOT be concerned about taking even ONE person's life away from them... never mind hundreds or thousands. How does that NOT affect you? What is the difference between their hearts and minds and ours that doesn't give them that compassion?

From there we made the short drive to Bricktown, which I am in love with. We parked the car, walked around a bit, then stopped in this little bar (with all intentions of having 1 drink) called Tapwerks. It wasn't our fault that we stayed way longer than intended... over 100 beers on tap.. come on. AND they had sanitizer for the toilets!!! My kind of bar :) Our plan was to go to Toby Keith's I Love This Bar for dinner then head home. Imagine my surprise when hubs suggests we get a hotel room right in the heart of Bricktown so we could drink as much as we wanted have a little more fun without having to worry about driving home! Something I would normally think to do, of course. Him? Let's just say he's normally not the spontaneous one of the bunch. To that I smiled ear to ear and ordered another blueberry flavored wheat beer.

Toby Keith's place was pretty cool. I was floored because they offer active duty soldiers a free meal. A big, fat cheeseburger and fries which Trey was going to order anyways. I stayed true to form and got a little emotional over that. It's hard enough to even get a military discount anywhere... here he got a free meal! You can only get it once, but still...

So we had a great night - and it's only still Saturday :)
My Gamecocks are on.. sporting their camo. Highly unlikely we'll beat Florida, but you know I'm hopeful! For the first 3 minutes at least...

Thankful

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of the veterans along with the today's soldiers that are fighting for our freedom. Words cannot express the gratitude we feel towards you all!

'Tis the time of the month

I have been soooo emotional today! I'm debating going to bed so nothing else makes me cry, but then I wouldn't be able to watch SYTYCD. So help me God, if there's any routines like last week's fear routine, I'm turning it off and crawling under the sheets!

example #1
I was trained on the phones today at the food bank. I loved doing that, but did hear one story that just broke my heart. I don't want to get into the full story, but it was a mother who was trying her best just to be the mom we all want and expect to be. While telling me her story I could hear her voice start to crack as she fought the tears, but she lost all control as the flood gates opened. It was all could do not to sit there and cry with her.

example #2
I called my mom afterwards wanting to talk about it, but she couldn't talk at the moment. That is all. I still didn't cry at that moment but was pathetically pretty dern close. *don't feel bad mum. you clearly did nothing to bring that on... i blame it on my insanity* But she did call back 5 minutes later so all was good until....

example #3
I got home and watched the coverage on the Ft. Hood memorial. OH.My.God. I don't remember the last time I cried so hard. Between the last roll call and hearing the silence after every other soldier's name was called, hearing Taps being played, and seeing the families barely able to walk through their grief as they said their goodbyes... i couldn't contain myself. I just pray and pray for them.. that they are comforted as much as possible.

There have been other little things, but I already can't remember what they are. I'm sure they were very silly reasons. Off to go enjoy one of those Betty Crocker Warm Delight things. The chocolate fudge cookie one. With Vanilla Ice Cream on top. Full fledged fatty girl version of everything. Mmmhmmmm... judge me. I don't care.

Update:
I also cried when I tried bring all 10000 bags of groceries in by myself and one of the bags split.. the jar of spaghetti sauce crashes below and all of a sudden there's broken glass everywhere (I totally just rapped that like P.Diddy) and sauce splattered all over me.
The End.

My first day

3 hours and 45 minutes just about did me in. I'm exhausted. My head is killing me. My feet and back hurt. And I was starving. But don't let all that bitchen fool you. I really enjoy it. Basically all I did today was learn things like what size families get how much food, what to put in certain bags, make sure you are giving the cart of food to the right person because that family of 1will sure enough will take a family of 5's cart if you let them (I made a 1 family women very happy today.. grrr). So yeah.. day number one I found out that people are extremely greedy and aren't always appreciative of what they get... even when they have nothing. They will seriously tell you that they don't like brown rice can they please have mac and cheese instead.. seriously?? I also learned that I better eat a good lunch before I go. Staring at food all day does a number on my appetite! Can't wait to see what Day 2 holds for me...

We had a pretty low key weekend. Friday night's dinner was Steak, potato casserole* and a salad. And possibly peach cobbler for dessert :) We watched a movie and for the life of me I can't remember now what it was called or even what it was about! It wasn't that bad either... that's pretty sad!
Saturday we got up early and went on a horrendously long, puke inducing delightful jog to work off all those calories from the night before. Went to a friends house early afternoon. Celebrated Jimmy's 1-year birthday. Wish I had some pictures.. he's the cutest thing ever... but I failed to bring my camera once again... and watched the Alabama football game. I was reminded once again of why I DO NOT start drinking at noon when I was asleep by 8:30. Nice.
Sunday involved a pointless trip to Wichita Falls where we got NOTHING accomplished.
Now it's back to the grind for Trey. It's his last week of real training for BOLC II. We don't have much - or any - contact with each other this week, but I'm thankful it's a short one. He has Friday off to celebrate Veteran's Day :) Yay for 3-days!!!

* Potato Caserole
1-2lb bag of hashbrowns
6oz sour cream
1 can of cream of celery soup (I think I'll try cream of chicken next time)
5oz sharp cheddar cheese, grated (hell yes this wifey freshly grated that cheese!)
1/2 cup margarine, melted
Topping:
2 cups crushed ritz crackers
1/2 cup margarine, melted

combine all casserole ingrediants and spoon into lightly greased casserole dish.
combine cracker crumbs and melted margarine and sprinkle over the top
Bake at 350 till bubble, about 40 minutes

Tragic Day

My heart is broken over today's events at Ft. Hood. I am thinking constantly and praying about everyone there. How it must have felt to be on lock down. How families were/are grieving when they found out their loved one was one of the 12 dead or 31 injured. It literally makes my stomach turn to think about those soldiers who were either coming home from a deployment or getting ready to leave for one, but yet died at the hand of a fellow soldier. It's just about the most unnatural thing I can think of. These men have put their lives on the line in a foreign country, most more than once, and were breathing sighs of relief to be home and safe. It's just sickening. Being part of this community, I can say that being on post makes you feel safe. A lot of families chose to live on post, knowing that a possibility of a deployment will arise and being behind those gates surrounded by other soldiers and their families, just makes you feel much more secure. He took that away from us today.
I have to say that I'm glad he is alive. Everyone wants answers from him and I'm glad he's around to face the consequences of his horrible acts. I'm glad he wasn't able to take the cowardly way out.

200

This is my 200th post. Holla! Who'da thunk it?

That is all. Have a great day.

My favorite show

2 posts in one day ~ What? I wanted to save this special subject for it's own post. For my favorite show. You know... So You Think You Can Dance. Yes, friends, it's that time again. Let's discuss...

My favorite dance - by far - of the night was Kathryn and Legacy's contemporary dance.. one of my favorite styles. This one was about her conquering her fear (him portraying the fear). It reminded me a lot of Mia Michaels' dance from last year about addiction. Here's the link. It's worth your time, promise. *I still haven't figured out how to embed videos. It never works for me*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31Hqa9YJAmQ

My 2nd favorite would have to be Karen and Kevin's hip hop routine. It was pretty sick if I do say so myself. They were even put on the hot tamale train for it.. wooot wooooooot!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED88F7jD5gw

Molly and Nathan did a great job with the Bollywood.. that is quickly becoming a favorite also. I can't find a video for this one, so you are spared.
They are all so good this season, it's going to be heartbreaking to see a lot of them go. I was pretty pleased with the results last night though. If only the Phillies would hurry up and end baseball season, in their favor of course so we can get back to two shows a week... that would be lovely!

Right where I'm meant to be

My meeting this morning at the food bank could not have gone any better! I feel like after a month and 1/2 of being here that I finally found my purpose. I left there today with no doubt that I'm right where I'm supposed to be.
I walk in and meet with the director and we immediately start talking about football when I tell her I'm from SC. They've always lived in OK but her and her son are big Gamecock and SEC fans in general. Hmm.. sign number 1.
She tells me that their biggest need for help right now is in the clerical area. Hello, I'm your girl. That's MY area. When she showed me all the paperwork, files that need to be kept up with, and data entry that needs to be done everyday - my heart started fluttering. Sign number 2. I am going to learn every bit of how everything works first though because I'm curious like that.. and that way I'll be able to jump in and help in other areas when needed.
This was a HUGE eye opener for me today. I thought they could only give away non-perishable items.. but they do the whole shabang. They feed, on average, 50 families a day and that only rises as the holidays get closer. They also will take furniture, clothing... anything. She doesn't want to turn anything down that people want to give because you just never know what someone might need. Some of their customers are sleeping on the floor every night.

My heart could just NOT be anymore content and full than it is right now. It's so sad to see the conditions some people are living in and I'm extremely thankful that I can make a difference in some of their lives. I think this opportunity is really going to make me see how much I have to be thankful for. We're all so quick to want more and more, but never really stopping to remember that we're lucky to even have the income to have a roof over our heads. I can't wait to start there... which is Monday by the way... I'm sure you'll here all about it!

On another note - I may try and do a 5K next month. One of the volunteers is heading it up I guess and told me briefly about it. I've been doing more running than usual, so I'm thinking about kicking up the training for it and giving it a shot... what do you runners think? A little over a month enough time to get ready?

On a serious note...

I've been doing a lot of soul searching since I've come out here. What else am I supposed to do with all this time?? We are lucky enough in our lives right now that I don't NEED to get a full time job while we're out here... great because there haven't been too many options open for me. I've been thoroughly enjoying my life as a housewife for the most part. I stay busy most of the time. I love for Trey to be able to come home to a clean house and dinner being cooked for him. I love that I can run all kinds of errands I need or he needs while he is away, so after spending a full week in the field he can come home and JUST BE. He doesn't have to worry about helping with the laundry or getting the bills paid. But there are times when I have NOTHING to do, and deep down I've known that I want/need to get out there and do something good for other people.

I've always had a huge spot in my heart for families that are less fortunate and can't afford to put a meal on the table every night and for the homeless. I know there are those out there that give people in that category a bad name, but not all the homeless are out there begging for money so they can buy alcohol or drugs. Not all of them got there because they did horrible things in life. You never know what hand someone has been dealt in life, and really, most of us are only one paycheck away from being out in the streets. Scary thought.
I've been looking around for different places where I could possibly volunteer for awhile now and yesterday I contacted the local food bank out here. The Executive Director got back in touch with me today and we are meeting tomorrow morning to see where I'd fit best. I'm really really excited about this. I've always known I wanted to be able do something like this and am very thankful that I have the time now. I'm just hoping it goes well and they'll have something for me to do... anything... wish me luck!