What a Difference a Year Can Make.....

This week marks a year since R and I went on our first date. I remember us both being pretty nervous that neither one of us were truly ourselves.

I met R through a mutual friend back in February of last year but it was short and sweet. I met him and then he was gone 30 minutes later. In our wonderful world of social media he tracked me down through our mutual friend and sent me a friend request on Facebook. A few short weeks later I was asked out on our first date.

R was pretty fancy for our first date he took me to Houston's in east Memphis. It was absolutely delicious might I add. We enjoyed some conversation and definitely some laughs and then after dinner I was returned home and we said we would get together again. It was a nice and sweet first date but I could tell we were both nervous and both holding back our true personalities. I mean who goes all in on the first date anyway right?

It's always funny about first dates no matter how terrible or good they are you are in a state of limbo if they are going to take off and it blossom into something meaningful. Obviously my story leads to the latter.

Consecutive weeks led to consecutive dates and then they just stopped. We took a two month hiatus from our courtship and went separate ways until one night when R was at the beach he decided to randomly text me.

I wish I would have been on candid camera when that text came through. I was a little surprised, happy, and curious as to why I hadn't heard from this man for two months. In any event we agreed to get together for a date later in the week.

I can say we have pretty much been inseparable since and for the most part a united front. I am so grateful for R and thank my prayers everyday for him. B says at weird moments "you have to kiss a lot of frogs to get a prince mom." I would have to agree with her and I think we are both thankful for our prince.

So a year later after our first date here we are still together and still happy. There is hope out there friends and finding your lobster is a real thing. :)

Ash Wednesday

Today is the official start of Lenten season - 40 days and 40 nights as they say of sacrificing or giving something of yourself as service to the Lord. No matter what religion you are we can all agree that as a society sometimes we become very gluttonus. We all like to indulge in the finer things in life and sometimes take for granted all the blessings we are granted.

This Lenten season I have decided to give up sodas and also cheese. In an effort to purify my body I am cutting out the sodas because they are full of harmful chemicals. The cheese is probably the biggest thing I over indulge in. Please do not put cheese in front of me - it will be gone!!!

I can say that I'm almost a full day in with no sodas and there is definitely a craving here but I am doing good so far. I'm just taking it a little bit at a time and trying my best.

I am also going to try and be much more patient. This is a major thing in my life I have to work on - especially when it comes to Brea. I am going to try my absolute hardest to not get irritated at the small things and rush through life.

I hope to attend church more this year so what better way than to start with Lenten season.

What are you giving up or giving to others?

Countdown to Disney

Happy Monday Friends!!

When I last left you - we were talking Disney preparation.

Today's post leads us to an extensive packing list I have prepared to ensure that you will not forget a thing if you ever take a trip down to Disney!! Of course you can add or subtract any items that you may need or not need - this is just a general listing.


Depending on the time of year you are going you will need to pack either warm or cold clothing - or in our case both. We are traveling to Disney in early March so it will be chilly in the morning and late evening but warm during the day. Our packing list looks like this.....

Clothing:
7 day outfits with shoes and accessories
7 sweaters or light jackets
7 sleep outfits
7-10 pairs of underwear/bras
1 bathing suit for each of us.....just in case we can go swimming
Swimsuit coverup
Socks
Exercise clothes for working out at the hotel gym

We are lucky enough to be staying at a resort where we will have a small refridgerator inside it. For purposes of curbing our spending we will carry snacks and mostly eat breakfasts in the room.

Food:
10 granola bars
10 pop-tarts
10 larabars or zbars
1 box of cheeze-its
Sprite and Coke
Bottled water
2 bottles of wine
Peanut butter crackers
String Cheese
Bread
Peanut Butter
Jelly

Items for the Parks:
Panchos
Small backpack to carry everything in
Park Tickets/Magic Bands
Credit cards/cash
Dining reservations (if inside the park)
Driver's License
Camera


Additional Items:
Hotel reservations
Phone Charger
Camera charger
toys for kids
DVD Player
DVDs
Paper towels
Trash bags
Washcloths

What would you pack on your week long vacation to Disney?

Disney Madness!!

If any of you follow me on any social media outlets then you know I am pretty obsessed with Disney world. I try to go every few years and will be making the trek back to the land of mouse in just 39 days!!

I've been on Disney overdrive for at least the past month - although I'd probably admit to longer than that. I've been planning this vacation for at least a good 4 months now. I decided in the past week that I need an outlet for my madness so I decided I would start over here and see if this fills my void.

I've made a very meticulous spreadsheet used to calculate every possible expense for this trip - this spreadsheet was started 4 months ago too by the way and has only gotten more and more tedious as the months have gone on.

My original spreadsheet called for all the possible travel options there were to get to Disney world. First I started out with the following 4 options:

#1 - Drive to Disney and Stay at Disney resort
This called for calculating gas to and from Orlando, hotel costs, food costs, parking fees for Universal because we are going to spend one day there, spending money, and Universal tickets.

#2 - Drive to Orlando and Stay off Disney property
This called for pretty much all of the same costs of #1 but also parking fees for each day at Disney - unless the resort we stayed at had a shuttle to Disney or Universal then we could cut some parking fees.

#3 - Fly to Orlando and Stay at a Disney resort
This called for calculating airfare, hotel and food costs, transportation to Universal and back to Disney, spending money, and luggage fees.

#4 - Disney world Magic Your Way Package
This option is the "all-included" Disney package - you can have resort, tickets, and airfare all packaged in to one deal for one price.

In the end we made the best financial decision for us to drive to Disney and stay on the property. It seemed like the best deal for us and while we are not particularly looking forward to the 12 hour drive we will be OK too. Our plan is to leave at 3am Memphis time and drive all day long. We should reach our Disney hotel around 4pm, just in time for check-in which is the plan. The last time I took B to Disney I did the drive all night thing and it did not work out well at all. B slept in the car the majority of the time and so when we got to Disney she was ready to go and see. All Mommy wanted to do was go to bed. It got our vacation off to a very tiring start so I learned my lesson. Plus I like to drive during the daytime more anyway so it works out better.

So that is how we plan on tackling our trip - tomorrow I'll post my extensive packing list that I'm going to start on this weekend!!

Life's Teachable Moments

Happy Wacky Wednesday Friends!!

In my last post I talked about wanting to be more involved in being a better mother this year. I've started this by using B's questions about life as teachable moments. I've been doing a lot of reading lately about how children who have open relationships with their parents and good communcation prosper the most.

In just over 2 weeks we have had some pretty weird exciting teachable moments.....come along on our journey.

This week alone Brea has been very interested in all problems women face with that time of the month. At least once a day we have had in depth conversations about it. I figure it will happen to her one day too so why not start answering questions and preparing her now.

We have also had an in depth talk regarding birth control and why women use it. That one was really eye opening for her and almost led to the "Where do babies come from?" chat.

I've noticed in just the two short weeks I have been open and honest in answering any of these life questions that our communcation has improved. What a wonderful thing!!

Sorry to those of you who see my child on a regular basis and have children of your own.....she may have shared the love and knowledge. :)

New Year's Resolutions

Happy Friday friends!! I hope you all have had wonderful weeks and even better NYEve's and Days. I was thinking the other day about New Year's Resolutions and what not. I've decided this year not to so much make a New Year's Resolution that I will most likely not keep but instead set some goals for myself this year that I hope to accomplish. I figure if I put these in writing and publish them out into the world then I'm bound to them.

So without further ado here are my Top 5 goals to accomplish this year:

1. Be a better mother - As I've said before I'm a single mother and it takes a village to raise a child but I'm definitely going to put more effort into lifting up my child and teaching life lessons this year.

2. Be a healthier me - I've slipped somewhere over the past year into old habits and as I get older my body does just not bounce back as fast as it used to. With that being said, I am making an effort to exercise at minimum 3 times a week for no less than 20 minutes and also to eat better and cook more homemade meals.

3. Travel more - The last half of 2012 and most of 2013 were pretty much travel lacking which makes me very sad. I used to be one traveling fool and I miss going on trips and visiting new places. My self fulfilling goal this year is to visit one new place, that should be easily attainable.

4. Relax - If anyone knows me on a personal level they know that I can tend to be a bit high strung in all aspects of my life. This year I am focusing on chilling out more and things just flow the way they are supposed to be. I have no problem admitting that I am somewhat of a control freak and I'm going to try to let go a little more this year.

5. Run a half marathon - I am not a good runner whatsoever so completing this task will be one amazing accomplishment. I'm thinking late summer early fall is when I will try to complete my first half. I'm going to start training for it as soon as the weather is nicer outside and not so cold!

What are you New Year's Goals?

Hustle and Bustle of Christmas

 

 

Happy Monday all my friends! Today on my lunch break I finished all of my Christmas shopping thank goodness!! Let me just tell you traffic and the stores were crazy, lines everywhere you looked.

 

My favorite snag of today was that most of the DVDs at Target were $4.50! I was so excited to see some of my favorite movies there on sale. I snagged a few - one of my personal favorites Love and Other Drugs with Jake Gyllenhall and Anne Hathaway.

 

One of the extremely hard to find items for Miss B this year was a personal fan for her room. In the dead cold of winter!! I went to Wal-Mart and asked for a fan and was greeted with a weird look by every employee I came into contact with. Thanks Miss B I'm that weirdo trying to find a fan in December. Luckily today at good ol' Target I found a perfect fan that will sit on her bedside table and keep her freezing the night away! Woohoo!! I also picked her up a handheld fan for her stocking, so she can take that with her when we go on our Disney trip in March. (Sooooo excited!!)

 

Now that I am finished completely I have to say it feels good. I cut it close every year running around and budgeting for Christmas. This year there were more people to buy for as well with our lovely Ryan and his family coming into our lives. It feels good to give and I hope everyone enjoys their little happy I've gotten them.

 

It's sometimes easy to get into bad spirits with all the running around and financial stress. I know I haven't been in the best spirits the past few weeks. I've had to stop though this past week and take a look at the bigger picture. I'm feeling much better now and thinking the rest of this year will be a great time.

 

Merry Christmas friends if I don't write again!!!