2012 Goal Wrap Up!

GOAL #5- The last initial goal for 2012!

As many of you know, the Lenten season in the Anglican/Episcopal church is now upon us.  To me, this means making sacrifices just as Jesus made sacrifices for those 40 days spent in the wilderness.  This year, I've decided to give up all things sweet!  I have a HUGE sweet tooth and generally eat a little something sweet every day.  Well, that won't be the case for the next 40 days.  Technically I can eat whatever I've given up on Sunday's Feast Day but I'd rather not.  I want to make it 40 days without a single cookie, pastry, chunk of chocolate, piece of cake, etc.  I've made it almost a week and I've actually found great substitutes for my sweet tooth: fruit, yogurt, a small spoonful of peanut butter, and Costco trail mix (dried cranberries and cherries, walnuts, almonds, and pistachios- no chocolate) to name a few.  Tom has given up not only sweets but breads and most high-carb items as well.  So that means no more delicious fresh-baked Panera bread will be entering our house anytime soon.  Because he's given up bread, I will essentially be giving it up as well.  I'm not an overly big bread person anyway unless it comes in the form of toast or a vehicle for dipping (hummus and dips) so it shouldn't be too difficult of a feat for me.  Giving up bread and sweets will be MUCH harder for Tom than for me anyhow considering his work environment.  He's doing well so far!  The way that our Lenten sacrifices tie into my final 2012 goal is that I want us to grow our faith in God even stronger than it currently is.

This goal is something that is very personal to me.  I've always grown up in the church, got married in the church, but recently haven't been able to attend church as frequently as I should.  I don't feel this has any bearing on my faith and belief in God or Christianity as that is something I've never doubted; I just want to be closer to God.  I pray multiple times a day, a LOT when I'm running because that's my "me" time where I have no one to really distract me and no dog or house to tend to.  It's a time where I reflect on my day (or morning) and I pray as I run.  I also say my blessings before each meal and I always try to say my bedtime prayers but sometimes sleep encroaches before I can finish.  After we move, I want to become more involved in the church (also part of my overall health and wellness goal).  I want to start singing in the choir again.  I want to be more involved with church functions and events.  Tom has now requested Sundays off so we can start going again every week which I am VERY excited about!  I love listening to our services and sermons and hearing God's message delivered through our clergy!  I know this may sound super cheesy, but I always leave church in a lighter mood and feel as if I've learned something.  And I LOVE that feeling!

In college and for a few years thereafter, I didn't go to church, but still always believed in God.  Now that I'm past the party phase of my life and into the settled-down phase, I want us to get back into our regular church routine.  I want to raise our family in the church and I want to show God's love through our actions.  I want to continue my spiritual growth as I think it as essential part of my overall well-being.  My faith in God always brightens my days and lifts my spirits and I can only hope that I can show God's love to others and especially to our future babies.  

2012 GOAL #4!!!

GOAL #4


This goal is pretty generic so I don't have a lot of specifics about it.  I simply just want to continue on my journey to overall well-being!  This goal encompasses not only health and fitness, but also my mental well-being.  My half marathon and triathlon goals will obviously contribute to the physical fitness aspect, but to me, overall well-being isn't about just the physical being-- it includes your mental health and stability as well.

My mental state of mind is very important to how I react to situations and how I live my everyday life.  If I'm upset, my day is ruined.  If I'm happy, I'm on top of the world!  I want to become a more well-rounded person and start looking for more volunteer opportunities within the community.  When I was younger, I did a lot of volunteer work and community service.  I want to be that person again.  I want to help the community grow and I want to grow as a person.  Community service always made me feel better.  I loved knowing I that whatever I did, I was helping the community and its citizens.  I was helping people less fortunate than me, people who couldn't get by without visiting the food pantry, people with disabilities, people in need of help.  Knowing that I offered just an inkling of help meant a lot to me.

I'm hoping to find at least one organization to work with and be an advocate.  I've got a few ideas rolling around in my head.  The thing I would really love to do but know if I could handle it would be to work with the local pound or animal shelter. I would LOVE to play with the furbabies but I don't know if I could make it one day without bringing home a brother or sister for little Maxwell.  And Tom would kill me.  I'd also be really sad to see the animals that don't get adopted.  I think I would get too attached to my favorites and cry when they don't get adopted or if they were there for awhile, I'd bring them home.  And again.  Tom would kill me.  So I went to my next thought: a local food pantry.  When I was in high school, I volunteered at the food pantry every week, usually two nights a week.  I helped them organize their food, pack up families' requests, unload new loads of foods, the list goes on.  (I also reconnected with an old friend when I volunteered there so it contributed to my social life as well.)  I'm also thinking about doing some sort of community service (if it exists) to advocate addiction awareness and education.  Because of Tom and what I've learned about addiction, I want to share with others the knowledge I've gained to help them in living with an addict.  I want to start by going to Al-Anon meetings.  I should have started going a long time ago, but better late than never, right?  I want to find a mentor to help me continue to grow and is someone I can turn to when I feel overwhelmed.  I then want to locate an organization in the area to join, if one exists.  If not, I will continue with further educating myself about addiction to be able to offer the necessary support for Tom.  These are my starting points for community service and hopefully those will lead to even more opportunities.

In addition to community service, I want to look into joining local community organizations.  I want to look into joining Kiwanis, a Rotary Club, or possibly the Chamber of Commerce.  I want to network with more people and become a more active figure within the community.  I want to be someone that is viewed positively within the community, someone that can help make an impact.  I'm hoping that by the end of 2012, I'm involved in at least one volunteer organization and one community organization!  Wish me luck!

Happy Friday!

Britt!

2012 GOAL #3!!

GOAL #3!!

I want my fitness goals for 2012 to be realistic but ambitious.  I'm no longer in the "losing weight" mentality but rather in the "let's get in even better shape" mentality.  If I happen to slim down while toning more, so be it, but I'm not really trying to lose additional weight.  I'm at a very healthy weight for my height and I'd rather weigh a little bit more and have more defined muscle. It's all about how your clothes fit anyhow, right?!

That being said, my next fitness goal for 2012 is to train for and complete a sprint triathlon.  A triathlon consists of three parts: swimming, cycling, and running.  However, I didn't know until doing a little bit of research into triathlons that there are different types of triathlons because they vary in distance.  The longest is an Ultra Distance Triathlon (3.8 km swim, 180 km bike ride, and a marathon run), which is more commonly referred to as the Ironman Triathlon- no thank you.  It involves running a full marathon and maybe one day I'll do a marathon (let's be realistic though- I doubt I'll ever have the desire to do a full marathon), but at this juncture in my life, I have ZERO desire to run a full marathon.  Next we have the Long Course Triathlon which consists of 1.9 km swim, 90 km bike ride, and a half marathon- still no thank you.  The Intermediate/Standard Triathlon, more commonly known as an Olympic Triathlon, consists of a 1.5 km swim, 40 km bike ride, 10K run.  This is doable in the future but I'm talking baby steps here.  Then we have the Sprint Triathlon which is more my style for 2012.  It consists of a 750 m swim, 20 km bike ride, and a 5K.  Assuming I do well on that and don't feel like dying when it's over, I may consider pushing myself a little more and do the "Olympic" Triathlon.

I've always enjoyed swimming.  I used to swim competitively back in the day (middle school era, ha) and dabbled into water polo when I lived in California in my early high school years.  It's a great way to stay in shape and is one of the hardest sports out there.  I haven't done any swimming for fitness though since I lived in Jacksonville, FL which means I haven't swam for fitness since 2008 (we moved to Atlanta in March 2009 and that is still too cold to be in an outdoor pool in Florida).  The next feat would be getting past the bike ride.  Ever since I fell off my bike on a camping trip summer before 4th grade, I haven't really had much of a desire to hop back on the bike!  I know I can still ride a bicycle thanks to my parents owning them and I decided one day to ride the bike down the driveway and around the cul-de-sac.  Keep in mind this was probably in summer of 2009 after they moved back to Atlanta so it's been a few years since I've ridden a bike.  The running part will be no problem because as you all know, I have been running consistently for about a year and a half, so I'm not worried about that.

I think the part of the triathlon about which I'm most concerned is the biking.  I almost have this irrational fear of falling off my bike again like I did when I was 8.  That little spill resulted in 14ish stitches and a nasty scar on my left leg (thank goodness it's faded a lot over the past 19 years).  I wasn't hurt too badly but to this day, it has left an impact on my feelings toward riding a bike.  I don't want to get an injury so I've just always stayed off the bicycle unless it's stationary.  It'd be pretty difficult to fall off of a stationary bike!  To conquer this fear, I am going to start by working on the stationary bike (I plan on looking into a spin class) then I can take that training onto the open road!  Let's hope it helps me get past this little bicycle issue I've had for almost two decades!

I will more than likely put off the training for this until summer so that I can complete the triathlon in early/mid fall as I don't want it to be too hot come race day.  I also need to buy a onesie bathing suit (or a competitive swimming 2-piecer which I think I'd prefer).  Another area of concern is the "transition area" between the triathlon components because I have NO idea how to effectively change from a bathing suit to bike clothes then bike gear to running gear.  I guess I'll learn that when I start a training program as I definitely do not want everyone and their mother seeing all my goodies!  I'm not necessarily worried about how quickly I can finish (even though I am ULTRA competitive and want to be the best at everything I do); I just want the self-satisfaction that I have completed a triathlon, a new milestone in my fitness journey.  If anyone has ANY experience in triathlon training, I welcome any advice!!  I'm looking forward to training for it though!  It will certainly be  tough, but I welcome it!  Just as with the half marathon, I can't wait to say I'm a TRIATHLETE!

More to come when training is underway!!

All my love,

Britt!

2012 GOAL #2!!

Goal #2: Run a Half Marathon


So for those of you that know me, I'm already a runner.  I started running in August 2010.  I never EVER would have thought way back when that I would become a legitimate runner.  I am by no means an Elite runner and never plan to be an Elite runner.  They can run a mile in 5-7 minutes and MAINTAIN that pace throughout an entire race.  That blows.my.mind!  I'm happy with  my 8 minute miles!  That being said, when I started running, my goal was just to simply complete a mile.  I started in baby steps.  I remember the very first time I ran when Tom and I were out on a walk.  We ran the last half mile back to my parents' house (yes, we lived with my parents for a period of time when I lost my job until I found a job and we could get back on our feet) and I.was.dying!  I could not believe how out of shape I had become.  I'd been walking for a few months and I STILL was really out of shape!  But because I was starting to plateau with walking, I wasn't feeling like I was getting in a good workout.  When I'm at the gym or out on a run, I like to sweat.  And I sweat a LOT when I'm running (my trainer makes digs at me because of how I sweat more than a leaky faucet).  A good sweat makes me feel like I've actually done something.  Anyhow, from my half mile running venture, I added small increments of distance (quarter mile to half a mile) every 1-2 weeks, depending on how I felt after completing the current week's distance.  Unfortunately, I didn't know about the Couch to 5K (C25K) program, but I made my own C25K program.  I ran my first 5K on Thanksgiving 2010, Henry's Huffin' for Stuffin'.  I finished in a little over half hour (33ish mins I think), so about a 10 minute mile.  I continued to run my little heart out and build more distance.  My next 5K was the Sacred Journey Hospice St. Patty's Day 5K.  My goal was to finish in under 30 minutes and I did!  Barely.  But I did.  I finished in 29 minutes and some change.  After that, I ran the Kaiser Permanente Corporate 5K in September 2010 and finished in 27 mins and some change.  The same weekend (KP 5K was on a Thursday), I ran the Vinings Downhill 5K and finished in 26:42, 23rd in my age bracket (out of 104) and  89th in the women's division (out of 529).  I don't know though how I did overall as the results weren't broken down that way.  In October 2011, I ran the Spooktacular Chase 5K and finished in 27:34, 74th out of 311 overall and 5th out of 28 in my age bracket.  Because I am entirely too competitive with myself, I wanted to beat my previous 5K time, but I was happy with my results for one reason only: I'd been sick as a dog the entire week prior and it was 28 degrees outside when I ran this.  It probably wasn't my smartest decision to run in those kinds of temps, but I'd already paid for it and I wanted my long-sleeved technical shirt!

Since that last race, I've continued my running journey and I'll be running the upcoming Chattahoochee Road Runners 10K on March 3.  My goal is to complete it less than an hour, which is definitely doable!  Right now, I'm maintaining around 8 min miles (range is from 7:30 on some miles and up to 8:20 on some miles, depending on terrain and how I'm feeling that day).  Even though I'm just now "starting" a training program for a half marathon, I'm planning to run the Publix Half Marathon in Atlanta on March 18 (assuming we're still in Georgia and assuming it isn't too expensive by the time I'm able to register).  I've compared a few training programs and even though I haven't been following a training program exactly to the tee, what I've been doing for the past 6 weeks is pretty close to both training programs (running 4-6 miles on each run).  I'm going to start following it more closely but starting in week 7.  That means I will have an 8 mile run ahead of me on Saturday and it will only go up from there!  I can't WAIT until the day I can say I've completed a Half!!  I have a consistent runner's high now but I'm sure I will be on a cloud in Heaven when I finish my first half marathon!  It will be a huge accomplishment for me considering how out of shape I was a few short years ago!!

Running for me has become a catharsis, an outlet for me to relieve stress, anger, frustrations, etc.  I never in a million years thought I would enjoy running but it just makes me feel so much better about myself.  Living a healthy lifestyle in general makes me feel better about myself!  So for me to go from being inactive a few years ago to where I am today is already a HUGE accomplishment in and of itself!  I love setting new fitness and running goals for myself so the completion of my half marathon will be an even bigger accomplishment for me!  I will let y'all know how I do in the Chattahoochee Road Runners 10K in a few weeks!  I'm very excited to run my first "official" 10K!  I've run 10Ks on my own in the past, but never in an organized event, so I'm looking forward to having an official 10K time!!!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day!!  Updates to follow!!

Love and Laughter,

Britt!

2012 GOALS!!

So as I've already said, I'm done setting New Years Resolutions.  For the past few years (and for the first time EVER), I've actually stuck with my New Years Resolutions (to get healthy and get back into shape) so I think it's time to start goal-setting.  Because I have multiple goals, you will get to read multiple posts!

Goal #1: Start and Maintain a Blog and/or Write My Book

So as you can see, I've already completed part of this goal.  I've started my blog.  Now I just have to maintain it, but I don't foresee that being an issue.  Just in writing this post, I get excited about keeping a blog!  It's such a great way for me to focus my thoughts and get them written without having to go at a snail's pace of manually writing in a journal.  I enjoy being able to document my life through words.  Although Tom did mention that he wasn't a huge fan of being mentioned in my blog.  I told him that because he's involved in 99% of everything I do, he has to be involved and pretty much didn't have a choice.  I reassured him that I'm not putting our entire lives on display, just the major events!

I'm writing this blog with the intention of sharing life's trials and tribulations, our joys and happiness, the blessings bestowed upon us, basically the milestones of my life.  It is a fun way for me to document my experiences and share them with my readers.  I also am trying to reinvent recipes to make them  healthier.  I want to share any of my health and fitness tips as that has become such a huge part of my life.  I'm looking forward to maintaining my blog and welcoming readers into my life.  Thank you for your support!

Now about my book.  I have a concept for my book and I have ideas.  I just have to get them organized and in writing.  SO.  Here's the background behind my hopeful book.  For those that know me, I used to be VERY overweight (like 80+ lbs over the heavier end of a healthy weight range for my height).  Until recently, I've been heavy essentially my entire life.  I've battled weight loss, done the crash and fad diets, tried to change my life, was always too busy, blah blah blah, excuses, excuses, excuses. I was never overly concerned (I've always been self-conscious, just not over-the-top) about my actual weight until I stepped on the scale in October 2008 at the lady doc and saw the number.  It.was.TERRIFYING!  It was probably the first time I'd stepped on a scale since I graduated college on Cindo de Mayo '07.  I'm still ashamed of that number, ashamed I let myself gain that much weight and get so big.  Fortunately for me though, I am 5'10" so I could hide my weight pretty well.  But still.  I wasn't thin nor did anything about me appear thin.  I didn't truly realize my size until I stepped on that scale on that fateful Autumn day.  In hindsight, I should've applied for one of my fave shows ever, The Biggest Loser, but I'm proud of myself for what I've accomplished on my own.  Now that you know a little bit about my lifelong weight battle, here's a brief update: I'm now 100+ lbs lighter (never thought I could accomplish that), 6 sizes smaller, I am in the best shape of my life, I've never felt better physically, mentally, or emotionally, and I'm still living a healthy lifestyle! I want my book to go through the journey of growing up heavy and what I've done to change my life.  I want it to expose my vulnerabilities and offer insight to others of what it's like to grow up heavy.  Sadly, I hated myself for being fat and was envious of skinny people.  Of course I never let those emotions show but instead decided to harbor those feelings; I didn't want to appear vulnerable and unhappy.  Over my weight loss journey, I have cried and had emotional breakdowns but I kept going; I was NOT going to lose this battle again!  I learned discipline and self-control.  I retaught myself how to eat healthy (portion control played a HUGE factor).  I started working out 5+ days a week for at least an hour a day.  I completely changed the way I was living.  Before this journey, I could barely run half a mile.  Now, I run 4-6 miles at a time EVERY time I put on my running gear.  I can do military-style push ups as well as other, more difficult types of push ups, something I was never able to do growing up.  I LOVE being so much healthier and feel SO much better about myself!  I want my book to expose everything about my journey from childhood to present in dealing with my body image, self esteem, weight loss, etc.  And if it ends up being a manuscript that never gets published, at least I can say I wrote a book.  I will say that I have already started it.  So far, I've completed the title page, Acknowledgments, and Introduction and I've started Chapter 1.  It will be a year-long process as books simply don't get written overnight.  I will keep you updated as I go!  I'm very excited about the idea of being a "novelist" and publishing a book.  I hope I have enough content to make this dream become a reality!

I will post more goals in subsequent posts, so be on the look out!

Hasta la pasta!

xoxo
Britt!

Weekend Escape to the Woods

I'm not going to be a daily blogger because even though I think my life is fascinating, it's probably not as entertaining to everyone else.  Initially though, I will post for a few days consecutively as I want to go into my 2012 goals (no resolutions anymore, just yearly goals).  First though, I want to go into our winter camping extravaganza last weekend.

So last weekend was a very fun weekend for The Piper Household!  It started off Friday (Jan 27) with the Blake Shelton concert.  Now I'm not an overly big fan of country music (although I LOVE older country music circa Brooks and Dunn era) but during and after that concert, I started becoming more of a fan!  Blake Shelton put on one AWESOME show!!!  He was energetic and interactive with the crowd!  It was SUCH a fun time!  We went with one of Tom's coworkers and his girlfriend (after many attempts for the four of us to hang out, it finally happened) and even though we got stuck in a ton of traffic, we still had a fun time enjoying good company.  Blake Shelton put on one of the best shows I've seen and I would definitely buy tickets for another one!

We were so close to the stage!  Blake Shelton and all of his beauty

Saturday morning, Tom and I woke up and prepared for the next 3 days.  We were spending the weekend in the woods at Red Top Mountain State Park.  This is BY FAR my favorite Georgia State Park!  The campgrounds are nestled right next to Lake Allatoona with miles and miles of hiking trails, beautiful lake views, and plenty of trees for shaded summer camping trips (not that it really makes a huge difference in Georgia- summers here can be unbearably humid).  After packing everything and running around like crazy people, we finally hit the road and got to Red Top early afternoon.  Now Tom and I have specific responsibilities when it comes to camping trips.  We unload the car as soon as we pick our site (this trip, it was right next to the bathroom because I was NOT making a long hike to the ladies' room in the middle of the night in sub-freezing temps).  After we unload and pitch the tent, Tom goes off for firewood and I organize everything, make the bed (thank goodness for air mattresses), situate everything in the tent, organize the foods stuff, basically make sure everything can be easily found, especially in the dark.  We each understand our camping duties and get right to work!  Our system works very well as I am VERY Type A so I have to have things organized my way and he loves to search for firewood.  We never argue over who has to do what; we just do it.  It has been this way since the very first time he and I went camping together.  It makes for an easy set up and breakdown!

Our site this past weekend, tent all set up and ready!

Tom's absolute favorite part about camping is hunting for firewood and chopping it up with his oh-so-big camping axe!  On many occasions, I have been enjoying a good book by the fire, Tom disappears and returns 30 minutes later with huge logs, ready to let his inner Paul Bunyan shine and do his job.  So when I say it's Tom's absolute favorite part about camping, I'm serious.  So after we got the tent up, Tom disappears in the Jeep in search of firewood.  As always, he comes back with the entire back filled with logs, branches and limbs, kindling, pine cones, basically anything he could find that would burn.  This exact scenario played out a few times on our trip-- it was too cold to let that fire die!

Hubs works so hard to get the firewood chopped

Once we got our fire going, it didn't go out the entire weekend.  Sure, it died down a little overnight since we couldn't tend to it, but Tom built the BEST fire we've ever had that literally burned for days!  The rest of the weekend was so incredibly relaxing!  It was great time for Tom and me to escape the city and civilization for a few days, spend time with each other and Max without the everyday distractions such as TV and internet.  It was wonderful to just sit by a fire, roast 'mallows, make s'mores, talk and enjoy each other's company all weekend!  Max wasn't on the same page as us though...  He was FREEZING!  And when I say freezing, I mean his little 15 pound body was convulsing with shivers.  We did have an electric heater in the tent so when he couldn't stay warm after the sun started to drop, we put him in his crate to enjoy the heater blowing directly into his pop-up crate.  He survived, but wasn't too thrilled with the chilly mornings and nights.  Sunday night though, we did spend more time with him in the tent so that he could be warm and not in his crate.  He DID enjoy that!  

One of my favorite parts about camping is definitely the scenery!  I usually get really great views when I go running as I run throughout the entire park.  This weekend was different because I took the entire weekend off from running.  It was just too cold to take off the layers (I was in at least 2 layers of clothing at all times- running compression tights, fleece pants, tshirt, long-sleeved compression shirt, one of Tom's long-sleeved tshirt, sweatshirt, my heavy North Face with the fleece zipped in at night.  At bedtime, I swapped out the sweatshirt and fleece pants for my fleece footie pajamas- best.idea.ever).  Even though I didn't go running like usual, I was able to enjoy God's beauty in our surroundings.

Lake Allatoona shoreline

The barren winter woods along Lake Allatoona

Sunset in the woods

While these scenes may not seem beautiful to everyone, they are to me!  God's beauty is something to always be enjoyed and Mother Nature is a fine example of His wonderful creations!  To sit back and enjoy nature and the outdoors was so serene and relaxing for us.  For those who know me well, you know I would rather be outdoors on any given day!  Florescent lighting and recirculated air isn't my idea of a great setting unless it involves being at work.

Our weekend fortunately got to extend into Monday!  I took the day off so that we could finish our weekend off with a day of relaxation and that is exactly how it ended!  We unpacked the car, took showers (we smelled like our fire pit and I hadn't washed my hair since Thursday night thanks to the cold- I didn't want to get sick), and parked ourselves on the couch and hung out the rest of the day!  It was a perfect ending to a fabulous weekend!  I can't WAIT until our next weekend venture into the woods!  That will probably be in California somewhere so I hope the camping and outdoor scene is great there, too!

This weekend means cleaning up for us!  We are getting rid of things, listing items for sale on Craigs List, going through things and packing things up!  Well, that's the plan anyway.  We'll see how much actually gets done!  Hope y'all have a great weekend and thanks for reading!  Be back soon!

All My Love, 

Britt

xoxo

Welcome to My Life!

For about a year, I've been wanting to start a blog.  I thought it was silly because although I love to write, I don't really consider myself a writer.  I want to start my blog by saying this is a way for me to FINALLY keep a written (and more accurate) account of my life and its big events without actually having to write it down (I type MUCH faster).  I have goals for 2012 (which I will get into later).  For the first time in my life, I have kept my New Years Resolutions (for 2 years solid now).  I can't say that I make resolutions anymore rather than setting attainable goals for myself.  One of those attainable goals was to start writing again.  I thought the best way to finally do that was to start a blog about my life journeys!


I will start by telling y'all a little bit about myself.  My name is Brittany Piper and I turned 27 years old NYE '11. I have an amazing husband who I love more than anything in this world.  He has been my constant source of support and encouragement.  He's my shoulder to cry on when I have a ridiculous emotional breakdown (thank you estrogen!).  He loves me unconditionally.  He accepts me (and all of my flaws) for who I am without judgment and because of him, I am a stronger and more capable woman.

Cheesin' it up at work one day!

We have a Manchester Terrier named Max.  He is crazy.  But I love him.  For the many nights when Tom was closing at the restaurant, Max was the only thing that kept me busy at home.  Other than catching up on movies and shows of course.  

One of my fave pics of this sweet little boy!  He has crazy eyes going!

Our small family currently lives in the lovely Vinings community of Georgia (Smyrna if you're looking for a post office).  My parents moved to Visalia, CA thanks to Daddy's job and we are hoping to relocate there as well as soon as we can find jobs.  I will keep you updated on that because that is one VERY frustrating experience!


I love to spend time with my family and friends.  I love to get crafty and make things for our home!  I am a VERY avid reader (I carry a book in my purse always unless my purse is too small).  I love music.  I love being outdoors!  The past 3 years have been crazy in my life.  I married my best friend.  I've lost over 100 pounds (victory is mine!) and still working out at least 3-4 times a week to get in even better shape!  I discovered my love for running and working out (it's now my catharsis when I'm stressed).  Tom and I quit drinking (exceptionally hard for Tom who battles his addiction to alcohol every.single.day, hence why we live "one day at a time") so even though our social lives took a ding, living a life of sobriety has done worlds for our lives!  We have moved 3 times, hoping the move to California will be the last for awhile.  We've both changed jobs.  I battled the unemployment line for 3 months (THAT. was a nightmare!).  The list goes on!  Had I started this blog a long time ago, I would have documented that already.  But since I didn't, we're starting on Groundhog's Day 2012!  I'm hoping Punxsutawney Phil is wrong about the weather prediction: I don't want 6 more weeks of winter!!!  I'm ready for warm weather!


I can't WAIT to chronicle life's adventures!  I will start with this introduction and go from there!  Happy Thursday kids!  Be back very soon!