This has been a poopie day. I woke up several times during the night with my throat hurting when I swallowed. Then when I woke up this morning, I had chills and a sore throat. I did what every good Southern girl would do and I called my Mama. She prescribed Nyquil which I downed and slept, and slept, and slept. Oh Nyquil, how I love you. Of course, when I woke up around 2, I was so groggy.

I guess it was around 5 when I felt like I had enough energy to take a shower but of course, after that, I had no energy left. Now I'm propped up in my recliner reading blogs while the Hubs watches O'Reilly. I know, rock star exciting.

I do want to share something with ya'll that I'm lovin' these days. Have ya'll tried the Clean & Clear Warming Daily Pore Scrub? It is wonderful. It's one of the last things I do in the shower and my face has thanked me a thousand times. It really is so warm. I wish I knew how they did that! Unfortunately, this isn't a paid endorsement. This is a freebie from me to you.

Weekend in Review

This has been a great weekend. My youngest nephew spent-the-night with us. He's 3 and ADORABLE! When I asked him where he wanted to go eat Friday night he said Chick-A-Lay (Chick-Fil-A) so he could eat Chickit (chicken). Isn't that the cutest? So we went, ate, and he played on the playground.

After we came home, I gave him a bath and put on his cute little pajamas. He loved watching cartoons in bed with me. (Ok, all you Moms - how in he world do you stay sane watching those cartoons???) We made Uncle Jay sleep on the couch and James slept with me. I pretty much got no sleep because that little booger moved ALL.NIGHT.LONG! I must have drifted off at some point though because I woke up to him laying there with his chin propped up on his hand staring at me. I think my heart did a little flip-flop when he said "Hey Aunt Jill". Precious. And then I promptly took the sheets off the bed and put them in the washer when I realized little precious had tee-teed in the bed. Love it.

We had a fun morning. We dyed Easter Eggs and watched more of those terrible cartoons. And then, it was time to take him back to his Mama. I told him we could go through a drive-thru for lunch on the way. You guessed it, he wanted Chick-A-Lay. So of course, Chick-A-Lay is what he got. I love that sweet child!

Since I had little man, I wasn't able to go to Weight Watchers but my scale at home says I lost 1.2 last week which gives me a total of 1.6 which is .4 less that my goal BUT I'm still trying and I know I can do it! I am still commited to 20 Pounds N 20 Weeks! I don't have a picture of my poster because I'm just too lazy to go in there and take one real quick.

And today I have spent a wonderful day with the Hubs. Church, got my car cleaned up, and a little exercise. Wonderful weekend!

Do You Remember Prom?

OK, ya'll. Lately I have been noticing that I've been "forgetting" a few little ole' things. I decided that I might need to blog about some things in my past so that when the day possibly comes where I forget everything... I can just look back and remember how lame great and exciting my life was. It will be like Noah's notebook for Allie. Yeah, it will be just like it.

I couldn't think of a better thing to start with than the Prom. Who doesn't want to remember that??? "What about prom, Blaine?" Ahhh, memories - oh wait that's not my memory. Moving on.

I thought ya'll might a kick out of this pic. This is me in the 8th grade with my date to the B4 High prom. Get it, "Before High School". We were full of some major coolness. B4 High was a... well, I really don't know what it was, but kids from 3 middle schools in our area would get together once a month for a dance. But, let me clarify - I NEVER ONCE got asked to dance in all my years at B4 High. How sad is that? All my friends did. I personally feel responsible for keeping the four walls up.

And since I know you're dying to, let's talk about this pic. It's 1988 in all it's glory.Yes, he has on a white tux. Yes, he has on a gold cumberbund and bowtie. And yes, he has a mullet. What you can't see is that my dress had little gold sparkles and my wrist corsage had gold ribbons. Check out my farmer's tan. The top part of my arms are pasty white. I know what you're thinking - we had it going on!

Spring forward a couple of years. This was my Sophomore year of high school in 1990. I was loving my first and only Jessica McClintock dress. My date - didn't like him so much. I'm not sure why I thought it looked good for my bangs to be completely covering my eyes. I hate that you can't see my mouth full of braces.

1991 - My Junior Prom - By far my favorite one. My date was so.much.fun! I'm rocking a perm, baby! And since my bangs completely covered my eyes the year before, this year I completely pulled them back with a barrette - nice. I loved, loved, loved my purple dress. No farmer's tan this year - I was full-on pasty white.

And last - My Senior Year - 1992 - My date was about 50 feet tall. I'm still pasty white but check out the bangs - they're finally in the right place! Don't even ask, I have no idea why I wore white pantyhose. There's just nothing right about that.

Next week I'm gonna remember my lovely life of sports. Would ya'll be interested in joining me? I'm thinking about doing a Mr. Linky if any of you think you might want to join in. I think it will be fun!

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy

It was such a beautiful day which made it so hard for me to concentrate at work. I wanted to just stare out the window which is pretty sad since my only view is the Dialysis place next door. Also, I'm not facing the window so I have to actually turn sideways to get that good view. But just the sun streaming in makes me feel so happy!

I'm making progress in my attempts to workout for my self-imposed 20 Pounds N 20 Weeks challenge. Tonight when I came home and got ready to do The Shred, I put my pants on backwards, my bra on inside out but thankfully was able to get my shoes on the right feet. (I have no idea where my brain is these days.) In the old days, I would have taken all that as a sign that I didn't need to workout that night but the new and improved me worked out anyway. So proud! I'm thinking this week's weigh-in is going to be much better than last week.

Oh! Thanks so much to those of you who left me some recipe ideas on the last post. But based on some of your comments, several of you are in the same boat as me. So, in response to that, I've decided to find and cook a simple dinner recipe each week and share with ya'll. I'm gonna try to post one each Monday night.

Not a whole lot goin' on

Oh ya'll, I so wish I had something fun and exciting to blog about but I just don't. Today was just a typical workday. A friend did come over tonight to do The 30 Day Shred and oh my word it's so much better doing it with a friend!

Now I'm just chilling with the Hubs watching The Biggest Loser and admiring my newly painted toenails. I just painted them with my new favorite polish. It's a nude color called Bryant Park by NYC. Super cheap and I LOVE it!

I know this is random but do any of you have any quick and easy supper recipes? Please note - I am a below average cook and don't really love doing it. I need to gain some confidence in the kitchen!

A perfect weekend

This has been a wonderful, long weekend! Friday was my sweet Mama's birthday. I took off work for a day of fun with her, Mama Hen, Abbie and James. It was such a great day. The weather was absolutely perfect!

First, was a stop at the Galleria where we watched Abbie try on dresses and pick out a really cute one for Easter. Next, we had lunch at the Olive Garden (where I ate way too much) and she opened her presents.

Then we headed to Old Time Pottery in Pelham which is a huge store of home goods where we could walk around forever. And finally, we hit the Thrift Store in Alabaster, found some bargains and headed home.

All of our men have been gone since Wednesday to South Carolina. They got home around 5:30 Friday and I can't tell you how happy I was to see Jay-Baby! We've had such a good weekend. More great weather yesterday. Now today has been super rainy but I love that too.

If next week is as great as this weekend - I'm gonna be one happy gal!

Not what I hoped for

As promised, I'm reporting in on my 20 Pounds N 20 Weeks challenge.

I went to Weight Watchers this morning and let's jut say, I didn't hear what I wanted to hear. I only lost .4. Yes, you read that right - point 4. 

What?! I'm not gonna lie, I was sad. I failed on Week 1. But, I know the things I did wrong and I will not make the mistakes again this week. Here's what I did wrong:

• I only exercised twice.
• I went over on my points every single day.
• I didn't drink enough water.
• I didn't eat enough fruits and vegetables.

This week I commit to:

• Exercising 5 days.
• Staying in my points each day.
• Drink more water everyday.
• Eat my fruits and vegetables everyday.

Thank you so much to all of you who left me encouraging comments last week. I REALLY appreciate it. And, a special thank you to Amy for becoming my accountability partner. (Although, she may want to rethink that now that I didn't meet my first week goal!) Speaking of Amy, she's having an awesome giveaway right now so head on over!

This week, it's On like Donkey Kong and Ping-Pong and anything else you can think of that rhymes!

Daddy's Birthday

Saturday was my Daddy's 6oth birthday. We had a surprise party for him at the bowling alley and it was so much fun! Here's a few pics.

Dad loved his gift cards

Mama, Daddy and the Grandkids

Everybody knows it's impossible to blow out the candles without help! (If you've never had strawberry on strawberry cupcakes from Edgar's, you haven't lived.)

Mama and Daddy

Mama Hen, me and my bro

Just wondering... is your bootie sore after you bowl? I feel like I've done a million squats.

20 is my Number

What a weekend! It has been full of birthdays and fun that I'll be blogging about later in the week, but tonight I need talk to you about me and a goal I've set for myself. It's called:

 20 pounds -n- 20 weeks

Here's the deal. Jay and I are going to Hawaii August 21st and I can't even begin to try to explain to you how excited I am! Here's what I'm not excited about - the fact that I'm 20 pounds overweight. So, I made myself a plan. I have 20 weeks between now and the end of July and I am determined to lose this weight. In theory, it shouldn't be hard to lose a pound a week but I've been on this weight loss journey for a few years now and I know it won't be easy.

I started Weight Watchers a couple of years ago with a goal to lose 10 pounds. I did it fairly quickly and made Life Time. But then like an idiot, I quit going and gained it all back - plus 10. I've started back and weighed in Saturday morning. Ya'll, it was 155.0.

I know that as women, we tend to NEVER reveal our weight and I almost can't believe I just did it, but I need to. I need you to help me meet my goal. Will you? Will you keep me accountable?

I made this poster and hung it in my bathroom.

I'm going to report in to you each weekend after I weigh in. I'm hoping that ya'll will encourage me and really help me to do this. Thanks ya'll!!!

May all your weeds be wildflowers!

Jay's parents took us and my Sis-in-law and Bro-in-law to Rising Fawn, GA for the weekend. It was so beautiful and we had so much fun. It was just one night but we ate enough food for about a week. I feel like I'm going to explode.

This morning we had brunch at a place in Mentone called The Wildflower Cafe & Country Store. It was the cutest place. None of us were hungry (we had already had breakfast) and thought we would just look around at the store. Of course, after we got in and heard the brunch special, we had to stay. They had an appetizer called Sweet Potato Biscuits which I have to say, was OUT OF THIS WORLD!

We had just gotten seated by the sweetest girl when we realized we knew each other! It turns out we went to high school together and she and her husband now own the place! How crazy is that!? We were even entertained with live music.

Ya'll totally need to check out Laura's website http://www.mentonewildflower.com/. Make sure to peruse the lunch and dinner menus. You'll be wishing you were in Mentone!

And the winner is....

Me! I can hardly believe it but I have received The Beautiful Blogger Award from Stephanie at Still Waters and Stacy from Random Musings of a Single Gal. Thank you SOOOOO much!

I'm supposed to pass this on to 7 beautiful bloggers, and list 7 random things about me.

Here goes!

1. I am completely and totally fascinated with people's lives. If I meet you, I'll probably ask you a million questions. The crazy thing is - the people don't even have to be real. I can read a book or watch a movie and I find myself wondering about the characters way past the point of normalcy.
2. I'm pretty much an open book. What you see is what you get. I have very few secrets - mainly because it's hard for me to keep one.
3. I opened every single Christmas present under the tree for years when I was growing up. I perfected the art of unwrapping and rewrapping without leaving a trace. Don't worry, I confessed this to my Mama years ago.
4. I have very long, skinny fingers and toes (too bad the rest of my body isn't). My brother says I have chimpanzee hands and feet.
5. If I could only have one dessert for the rest of my life, it would be blackberry cobbler with vanilla bean ice cream.
6. I am the middle child of the two best parents in the world.
7. I'm the happiest I've ever been in my entire life. God is SO GOOD!

I'm passing this award on to:

Mama Hen

Janna

Amy

Becky

Meg

Lois

Again, thank you so much Stacy and Stephanie!!!!

It's like Christmas all over again

I got a wild hair after work today and went and got my nails done. I keep them short because I type all day and I have to admit that I haven't been doing a good job of making sure they're prettyfied. It had been several months and they were in BAD shape. I had all kinds of hang-nails and my cuticles were out of control. I was super excited when I got there because I was the only customer and I didn't have to wait. Oddly enough, I was the only customer the entire time I was there. Hmmm...

I think I zoned out for a while as the Chinese chatter almost lulled me to sleep. Just about the time she started putting on the polish, the door opened and a young lady (and I use that term loosely) came in and started telling them that she had been in there last night and left her money by the nail dryer. The girl that wasn't doing my nails started looking around the dryer and said she didn't see any money. The "lady" just kept saying over and over that she left her money there last night. FINALLY, she left.

About 2 minutes later, the door flew open again and she came back in behind another girl who can only be described as a tornado in a woman's body. Let me try to paint you a picture.

1. Her acrylics looked about 2 inches long
2. They were alternating colors of red, green, and orange.) I don't even have the words to describe the craziness that went on from there.
3. She had on fleece pajama pants that had pictures of the Grinch on them
4. Her hair matched her shoes and they were gold.

Basically, there was a HUGE fight and half of it was in Chinese and half of it was in Jive. I pretty much had no clue what they were saying but I was loving every.second.of.it!!! And then, it seemed my mouth had a life of its own and I yelled as loud as I could, "How much money was it?" Tornado whipped her head around and screamed, "NINE DOLLARS!" What! Are you kidding me? All of this for nine dollars! (Don't get me wrong - I don't take nine dollars for granted, but for the love! There's no telling how much she forks out every month on her nails and hair alone.)

Anyway, after the Chinese girl heard it was only nine dollars she walked over to the register, took out the money and handed it to Tornado. There were a lot of "Umm, hmm - that's what I thought" and they were out the door. I personally feel like I should be given some kind of peace-keeping award.

For those of you who know me well, this was the equivalent of being a kid on Christmas morning and getting everything you asked for. I wish this for all of you the next time you get your nails done.

I fought the clay, and the clay won

I did something Saturday that I've never done before. I made pottery in a real studio! I know!!!

The lovely, Rachel invited a few local bloggers to Earthborn Pottery in Leeds for a few hours. This place is awesome! It's a huge warehouse where artist's can rent studio space and where regular people like me can go and feed their creative beast. Check out these beautiful pieces. These are the kind of things they sell.

It was so great! Tena Payne owns the studio and she was so sweet to teach us how to use the wheel and hand-form. Yes, you read that right. I used a pottery wheel. Not only did I use it, but I took a piece of clay and created a masterpiece. OK, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but it was a masterpiece to me. IT IS SO MUCH HARDER THAN IT LOOKS!

Tena gave us a demonstration on the wheel and made it look like a breeze.

And then.... I tried it. For some reason, mine didn't work exactly like Tena's. I don't think the clay was supposed to jump right off the wheel.

This was me after Tena told me my piece of clay was beyond repair and went to get me another one.

Never fear, I eventually wound up with my masterpiece and I was MUCH better at hand-forming. This is Mama Hen and me getting started.

I can't even begin to tell you how much fun I had at my very first blogger's event. I met some great girls and did something I've always wanted to do. We won't be able to pick up the pieces we made for 4 to 5 weeks because they have to be fired and glazed. I can't wait to see how they turn out. Oh, and don't worry, you all will see them too. And when you see them, you'll get to see the great piece Tena gave me for a GIVEAWAY!!! You'll love it, and you'll want to win it!

And, just in case you're wondering, it was NOTHING like Ghost.