Popping In For an Update

I'm sure we're all grateful that today is Friday, right?! Yes. Just popping in real quick today for a little update on our lives and how things have been this week...

First of all, Jeff and I have both been sick all week long. Mine started last Saturday, and his started around Tuesday. And we can't seem to shake this! It's just a cold or a sinus infection (for him), but it's annoying and it's

P Title's Are Getting Difficult

For a couple of weeks now, or maybe a month or so (I've lost track of time I guess), I've been thinking about changing up my blog. Not like some drastic change where I start doing fashion posts hashtagging my #OOTD photos or anything...not that those are bad, they're just not ME - I'm not a fashion-blogger-kind-of-girl. But I've just been thinking about changing the NAME of my blog. The title.

Peppermint Tea & Christmas Movies

Good morning bloggy ladies :) Have a good weekend? I started getting a little bit sick half-way through my weekend, but that didn't stop me from enjoying a little bit of my two days away from work anyways...

FRIDAY
I know I made buffalo Bleu cheese turkey burgers for dinner, but other than that, I seem to have forgotten the rest of the evening. I assume it involved a Christmas movie and a bit

Pilgrims, Paula Deen Rolls & Potatoes

Good morning ladies, and Happy Monday. Are y'all back at work now after a four-day weekend like me too? It's kind of rough, but instead I'll just focus on being thankful for the time off that I did have, rather than whining about being back today. And so today, I'd of course like to recap my special Thanksgiving holiday with my family!

This year we went to my Aunt Suzanne and Uncle Keith's house

Practicing Gratefulness

I truly do have so much to be thankful for. More than I'm even aware of really - things like life and breath and family are sometimes taken for granted, although those are sometimes the things that deserve the most thanks! God has blessed each and every one of us in so many beautiful and unique ways. And the sad thing is, we often don't even realize it. God loves us enough to place amazing things

Pigskin

So Jeff and I finally got the chance to go to our first Florida State football game of the season. And it was just in time too, because it was the last home game of the year! My mother-in-law's boss had a couple of extra tickets, and he generously gave them to us, for free! So Saturday afternoon, we got dressed in our garnet and gold, and hopped on our bikes. We live less than two miles from the

Pumpkin Pie French Toast

So I forgot to write this post last night like I was planning, because I got too distracted watching the catch-up episodes of "Once Upon A Time" on Hulu. Oopsies! But now we're finally caught up, and we can watch the new episodes when they air each Sunday. So that's exciting!

Anyways, since I'm kind of in a rush, here's a quick weekend recap. It was a pretty chill couple of days, but that's

Pitching Our Tent

We were so very blessed to receive so many awesome gifts and gift cards for our wedding. Seriously. We were so thankful for all the things we were given and were able to buy because of the love of our family and friends. And one of the things we were so excited about was our own tent. We were able to buy a 6-person tent from Target with some of our gift card money (or what we now call, "Imaginary

Primrose Joins the Family

Here I am with my first "real" post back in blog-land, after quite a bit of a hiatus. And I know, I know.... I'm sure you were all hoping that I would jump right in with wedding recaps and what-not, but I just can't dive back into the blog-pool straight into the deep end, before I wade around in the shallow end first. Plus, I haven't actually gotten the professional photographs back yet, so I'll

Procrastinating My Blog-Return

So like three weeks ago, I said I was coming back to blog and coming out of hiding. And look how well that turned out for me..... but a lot has been going on over here in newlywed life, and I've just been so busy! But I officially decided over the weekend that I am finally ready to get back into blogging.

There's so much going on in blog-world that I've been missing out on! There's obviously no

Post-Wedding Report

It's been over a month and a half since my last blog post. LOTS has happened since then, and eventually I DO want to share it all. I want to share it because duh, it's wedding stuff and there are other blogger-girls out there that just live for wedding stuff; but I also want to share it for my own benefit, so that I can chronicle it as a part of our life and journey together!

I'm not quite ready

Paint-Splattered 5K Finisher

YOU GUYS!!! I ran my first 5K last weekend!! I've been training for this for the past nine weeks of the summer, by running "longer" distances three times a week, and just one mile two times a week, meaning I ran at least five days a week. I got up at 6 a.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday in order to follow Hal Higdon's 5K novice training plan, and ran before work three times a week. It was not

Precious Little Turquoise House!!

If y'all haven't noticed, I've been a bit M.I.A. from the blogosphere the last couple of weeks. And it's been quite refreshing. I mean, planning a wedding and moving into a new house takes a lot of time and energy.... and yes, I did just say moving into a new house!! Jeff and I finally found a perfect little rental house for the first year of our marriage, and so I'm here today very quickly to

Pinstagram Summer

I took the last couple of days off from blogging, but I'm still alive and kickin'. It was weird not coming here and writing a post, and still weird throughout the day with no comments to read and emails to respond to, or check on my stats too many times....but it was also good to just breathe a little bit. I'm not here with any sort of writing that would win any prizes, I just want to share a few

Planes, Grains & Automobiles

Monday morning - we meet again.... and this is a seriously exhausted Monday morning at that. This weekend was so crazy busy, I got very little sleep, and I could have definitely used an extra day just to recover from it. So let's just head straight into our normal recap, shall we?

FRIDAY
Jeff's parents took us and the boys to see the new Disney movie, "Planes," and it was really, really cute.

Planning, Dresses & Purple Pens: Some Favorites

I got up this morning (even when I really super didn't want to), and did my early morning run of 2.5 miles. And it felt rough. But at the end, I felt good because I have now completed week 5 of my 5K training, and we're just under a month away from race day! Holy crap that's crazy! But I'm excited and ready and I can't wait to have a blast actually running a race...weird!

Today, in honor of

Plane Tickets for the Honeymoon Have Been Purchased

So for a very abbreviated story real quick - I was cut off BIG TIME in traffic this morning on my way to work, and it infuriated me. I was yelling and laying on my horn like crazy, and my heart was racing. My mama (who was directly in front of me in her car), saw it happen and she said was so livid she wanted to get his tag number and call the police to report his aggressive driving. Suffice it

Preparing to Run a 5K

Despite how exhausted I'm feeling right now (a 2.5-mile early morning run will do that to ya...), I'm still so freaking excited this morning! Why you ask? Well......I'm excited because I finally broke 180, and I'm now into a new weight decade!





Highest starting weight = 227

January starting weight = 217

Last week, July 31 = 181.6

Today, August 7 = 179.4



Sheesh. It feels like it took

Projects for the Wedding Update

Two weeks ago, I posted a list of all the projects that need to be done for the wedding. This morning, I opened up that post hoping I was able to cross a thing or two off the list, and kinda had a freak out when I realized that not one of those things had been done yet. Yikes! Now, that doesn't mean I haven't done anything, but it does mean I haven't done any actual projects.

But that's because

Party, Pool, Pictionary, Pizza & Putt-Putt

Whoa that's a lot of things in one weekend that start with a "P!" Makes naming this post pretty easy :) So, I'm feeling a bit tired today, but (as weird as this sounds) it's a good kind of tired, because I started off my day and my week with a 2.5-mile run this morning! My legs are now tired and sore, but I'm feeling good about it, and definitely glad I got up and did it! Week 5 of 5K training is

Picking A Team Name & Friday's Letters

Dear Friday: Always nice to see you.

Dear Fiance: I just want you to know how freaking excited I am to marry you! We are just over two months away, and I'm more than ready :) I mean, the wedding-planning-part is fun and all, but I think the actual being-married-part is going to be wayyy more awesome. Can hardly wait!

Dear 5K Training: I'm now officially halfway done, and I'm feeling great. This

Posing for Engagement Pictures

So now that our save-the-dates have officially gone out to (almost) everyone - we're still having issues with the Outlook.com account we created - I can finally share our amazing engagement photos! We only ended up using two of the photos for our cards, but I still didn't want to let the cat out of the bag too early, then have none of our family and friends be excited or surprised if they had

Push Harder, I Must

Welp, I had some issues with my alarm again this morning - the issue being that I turned them off in a semi-sleep state, and then proceeded to go back to sleep for far too long. Thus resulting in missing another regularly scheduled day of running before work. Sooo, I'll attempt to do today's run tonight after work, and hopefully I don't pass out from the heat. But let's get to the reason we're

Pulling Myself Out of This Funk

Today is a day to just tell you how I feel..........

I feel really disconnected from this blog lately, and from blogging in general. I think mainly, it's because I have just been sooo legitimately busy the past few weeks. I started a new job back in the beginning of the month, and since then, I really have zero time to read other blogs. I can't even tell you the last time I just sat down and

Putt-Putt On A Friday Night

This Monday morning is kinda off to a rough start (I mean, I just misspelled/mistyped 'Monday' about 5 times...). I was just so dang sleepy this morning! I overslept my early alarms, and by the time I woke up, it was too late for my early morning 5k training run. I felt bad I skipped it, but it might be good I got an extra hour of sleep today. I wish I could have gotten another hour actually! But

Promo's, Proposals & Letters

Dear Weekend: It's so nice to see you. Think you can work out a special deal with Mr. Sun for us here in Florida? It's now rained 21 out of the last 24 days, and that's wayyyy more than enough. Move on. So let's have a nice, bright, warm, blue-skied weekend for once this summer? How does that sound, hmmm?!?

Dear Nike Running: Looks like your GPS was pretty accurate this morning - finally. And I

Prints, Twins, Paychecks & Jeans

Here comes another random blog post of some of my ramblings and musings on this pretty Thursday morning... :)

I get to wear jeans to work today for special "disaster relief" recognition, and that makes me happy. Here's the thing though - I'm down to one pair of jeans that "fit" and actually they don't really fit at all, because their to BIG! I need to go grab a new pair in a smaller size that

Plan for Success

No beating around the bush today, because I'm kinda in a hurry here before work starts. Plus y'all know what Wednesday's are all about around this part of the internets...





Highest starting weight = 227

January starting weight = 217

Last week, July 17 = 182.2

Today, July 24 = 181.4



And that puts me at a loss of .8 for the past week. Small, but still gladly welcomed. Total, that means

Projects for the Wedding

As of yesterday, we're exactly two months and two weeks away from our wedding day! Holy crap. I just about had a little panic attack there - because we still have soooo much left to do! For serious. I'm trying to stay on the ball with things, but it's just a lot. Right now, we're focusing on figuring out the flowers. I'm going to use the same florist my sister did for her wedding (so that part

People Watching & Weekend Happenings

This Monday morning seems to be going a little rough so far... nothing specific has really happened, but it just seems like one of those morning's that are a little bit off, a little bit blah. And so I just feel kinda out of it right now. And I'm also kinda in a hurry today to get this blog post out, so we're going with the ever-so-popular, picture-heavy, light-on-words kind of post today to

Plants, Lotions, Chipotle & Letters

Dear Friday: It's so, so, so good to see you again this week. I've been waiting for you since Monday. (So what if I stole that off a someEcard?) And just for good measure, here's another one. Sadly, I couldn't find the one I was actually talking about, but this one is good too...




Dear Wedding Dress: I'm coming to pick you up TOMORROW!!!! And obviously I'm beyond excited about that. I mean, we

Piano Guys, Pentatonix & Other Cool Stuffs

Well my fiance has always loved watching all sorts of random videos on YouTube, but I've just never really been quite as into it as he is. He has watched probably thousands and thousands of videos over the last five or so years, where I've probably only watched a couple hundred, max. But there definitely are some videos that are just way too awesome not to share.

So today, I'm doing Things I

Peanut Butter Cup Shake: Weigh-In Day

Good morning friends and bloggers! Again, I'm immediately drawn back to remembering that silly commercial with the camel who's so dang excited it's hump day - and I guess I'm pretty excited myself actually! We've gotten two days down so far this week, and by lunch time today, we'll be on the downhill slide towards the weekend. And who doesn't love the weekend?! And since it's hump day, that means

Planning For Our Save-the-Dates

Literally just popping in really quick to say wedding planning is sometimes lots of fun, and sometimes lots of work. I mean, I guess some parts can definitely be both, but last night we dealt with some serious work and stress. We set up an email account with Outlook.com the other day specifically for use concerning wedding stuff. Last night we spent hourrrrrrrsssss adding in all of our contacts

Pitaria Weekend Happenings

Good morning Monday, and blog, and bloggy friends. Have a good weekend? I did. Although, let's talk about how going from a four-day weekend, back to just a two-day weekend, is a little rough and I wasn't a huge fan of that. When can we work out another super long holiday weekend? Anyone with me on that?

Well anyways, despite it's seemingly short length, it was still pretty great, and it of

Promotions, Peaches & Things That Make Me Happy

Sooo, it's Friday! Duh. Us bloggers always like to point that out though don't we? Now, for those of you that have seen this appear in the form of a guest post lately, so sorry about that...my brain needed a little break, and that break came in the form of just editing a saved draft post I already had :)

But anyways.... I love trying to take the time to recognize and appreciate some of the small

Position With Benefits

GUYS!!!! Anyone know what happens tomorrow? Well, probably not because I haven't actually mentioned it yet here on the bloggy-blog, buuuuttt....I START MY NEW POSITION TOMORROW! And obviously I'm quite a bit excited about it. Can't you tell? At least a little bit?

Anyways, I currently work for the State of Florida, doing assistant/clerical kind of work, which I've been doing for two years and

Packed It On During the Holiday Weekend

Ladies, you know what really stinks? Having to learn a lesson the hard way - multiple times. I've learned this particular one many times in this weight loss journey, but for some stupid reason, it's the one I struggle the most with. FOOD MATTERS. I've preached before about not eating back all the calories you exercise away, and not eating the stuff that you know is super bad for you - and yet, I

Peppers & Tacos: 2-for-1 Recipe

Good morning lovely blog friends! Hopefully we've all recovered by now from our long weekends. I know yesterday was still kinda rough for me, being that it was a Monday, and the first day back from a long holiday. But I feel a little better today and I'm ready to get this thing going! Yesterday, I shared a picture of the stuffed peppers we made last week, and today I'm sharing the simple and

Pleasant & Patriotic 4-Day Weekend

Well, I've been out of work and out of the blogging routine for the past four days, and it's been great. I mean seriously - super long holiday weekends are amazing, and definitely necessary for your sanity, and I enjoyed every single bit of it. What about y'all? And since I had such a long amazing weekend, there's a ton to catch up on, so today's post will once again be very picture heavy,

Pinstagram Moments

I took the day off work today in order to enjoy a nice, long four-day weekend. So Jeff and I are running errands and planning and researching all-things-wedding. The original plan for taking the day off was to hit up our favorite beach, but it's cloudy and stormy, so that's not gonna happen. So I'm just popping in real quick today to share some little moments from my life lately, through the lens

Patriotic Festivities

"It's Independence Dayyyyyy!" (Pleas sing to the tune of the classic Martina McBride song from 1994. That's such a great song, and don't you even try to deny that.) You know what else, it's also my super sweet Granddaddy's birthday today as well. Yes, he shares his birthday every year with our country's birthday as well. And so every year, we get to celebrate a national holiday, and a family

Progress - One Pound at a Time

It's been pretty rainy, sticky and gross here in Florida for the past few days, and I for one am done with it. Especially since tomorrow is the 4th of July, and anything but bright, beautiful sunshine is just unacceptable for holiday festivities. So I'm going to need the rain clouds to empty themselves quickly and then move on outta here, so tomorrow can be spent soaking up the sun, and sporting

Pounding the Pavement

Yesterday was the first of the month, and I missed a prime opportunity to share some of my goals for the month of July. But that's alright, because today is still a great day to talk about some upcoming goals. June was a crazy busy month because Jeff's twin boys were here for most of the month. And while I was able to accomplish a small number of things, mostly my time was spent enjoying our time

Peaches, Purses & Parties - Weekend Recap

Well first of all, I'm pretty irrated with Google/Blogger/the internets right now...I had this post about 80% done, with pictures placed in and everything formatted the way I wanted it, and then something freaked out, and the whole dadgum thing got deleted. Not cool Blogger, not cool at all.



So since I'm annoyed at this point, we're gonna let the pictures handle everything again this Monday (

Plans, Books, Friends & Twins (Friday's Letters)

F-R-I-D-A-Y. Welcome, so glad you're here. (At first I tried to sing that to the tune of SA-TUR-DAY- HEY!, but obviously there aren't enough letters so it just didn't work out at all. At least no one heard me though...) It seems like it's been a long, rough week, and so of course I'm glad to see it come to a close. It's been a hot minute since I've participated in some Friday's Letters, so I'm

Personalized Weight Loss Hashtag

As some of you know, whenever I run or workout or something, I always make a little collage of photos to post on my Instagram. (SorryI'mNotSorry I do that pretty much every time...) Well yesterday, I decided I wanted to throw in a little motivational quote in there as well. So I searched "fitspiration quotes" on Pinterest for about ten minutes, and ended up saving about 20 pictures to my phone

Pistachio Shake: Weigh-In Day

I for one am glad it's Wednesday. Anyone seen that Geico commercial with the camel walking around the office asking everyone what day it is? Jeff's brother first told us about it a month or so ago, and then we finally saw it last night, and it is actually pretty funny! Well then this morning, some of my co-workers were going around reenacting it, and it was quite an entertaining way to start off

Part of the Youth Group No More

I've been going back and forth about whether or not I want to or should write about this, but I think I've finally come to the conclusion that I just want to get it off my chest. So even though I'm still a little hesitant and reluctant to do so, I'm going for it anyways, and hopefully I feel OK about it in the end...

Most of you probably don't know, because I haven't talked about it in over six

Python, Water Park, Beach & Pool

It feels like I'm still halfway sleeping, so instead of words (basically any words at all), I'm just gonna flood y'all with a ton of pictures from our incredibly busy but extremely fun weekend...Ready, set, GO!

FRIDAY
Took the afternoon off to go to the beach with Jeff and the boys. And we lucked out with perfect weather.




















SATURDAY
Pool day with lots of friends for us and lots

Pumped For the Weekend

And on this gorgeous Friday morning, we will have yet again another random blog post day. I actually just really like writing whatever happens to come to my little noggin' and then calling it "blog-worthy." I mean, it's nothing that's winning me any writing awards or anything like that, but it'll do for this little space of mine on the internets, right?!

So first of all, how awesome is it that

Perfume, Pictures & Plans (Currently I'm...)

Thursday. One more day before Friday, and then the weekend. Ahhh it's so close I can almost taste it. Right?! Anyways, I love doing these "currently" posts, and it's been quite a while since I've done one. So guess what? That's exactly what I'm going to do today. (Big surprise right? Not like that was actually hard to guess or anything.)

- Wishing: that I didn't have to work today. Jeff took

Pushing Myself Harder

Another Wednesday, another weigh-in. No beating around the bush today, let's get straight to it...





Highest starting weight = 227

January starting weight = 217

Last week, June 12 = 185.4

Today, June 19 = 185.6

The exact same, basically. I'm not considering those 2 ounces a gain, because that just seems silly to me. So I'm still sitting at the same spot on the scale this week. I'm

Patio Dining & Sunshine: Reasons I Love Florida

I'm feeling a little tiny bit creative today, coupled with a feeling of just really loving where I live. So I've decided I want to come up with a list of the reasons why I love living in Florida. It won't be anything fancy, but ya know, it'll do :) So the following is a quick list of some of my favorite things about Florida.




+ It's nickname is "The Sunshine State," and that right there is

Pool-Crashers & Water-Splashers

Good morning lovely ladies! Hopefully your Monday's are off to a decent start. Mine seems to be good so far. I'm in quite a nice mood, and I don't really even know why. But you certainly don't hear me complaining about it! I think it might be because I got more sleep last night than I have in the past like 10 days - so that's definitely a good thing. And it was necessary for sure after the fun

Pudding Mix, Games & Randomness

And thankfully, another Friday rolls around again to grace us with it's presence. This week has been fun, but exhausting, and that makes me so glad it's the weekend, where I can rest and play and recharge myself a little bit. And since this week has been a bit crazy, I have no specific topic for today's post, so I'm just gonna wing it. But these random thoughts posts always end up being really

Pinnacle Moment for a Bride-To-Be

Although I'm (obviously) not going to share a picture of the wedding dress I've chosen before the big day, I do at least want to write a little story about the process of finding it! I think that making the decision on my wedding dress was the one thing that really made me feel like a bride. Creating a Pinterest board or looking at pretty wedding cakes we want is super exciting and fun. But every

Pie for Breakfast

Yesterday afternoon, I posted this as my status on Facebook, "I'm hoping for an awesome weigh-in tomorrow, so I'm planning to kill it tonight at Zumba!" And that's just what I did folks. My friend Lacey met me there early, and we did our usual mile. We walked a little bit too much and so I didn't set a new PR or anything, but we still did good. And then at Zumba, we continued to push ourselves

Picking A Wedding Venue - The Final Part

So our first option was a beach house. Then that was gonna cost an arm and a leg, so we nixed that idea and decided to look for outdoor venue options around town. Our next choice was Maclay Gardens State Park - and we loved it. But we weren't quick enough and it was already booked for our original October 12th date, and the whole rest of the month too. Then our next option was The Dogwood House.

Pool, Hot Tub, Slip-N-Slide, Games & Girlfriends

I don't mean to rub it in or anything, but I'm pretty sure my weekend was better than yours. Actually, I'm quite positive it was better than yours. I got to spend it with seven of my bestest girlfriends, at a farm house in the country, playing games and having fun and slip-n-sliding and laughing a lot, and just having the most awesome time. Because this past weekend was our second annual KAG

Peppy

It's Friday! It's Friday! It's Friday! And I'm feeling extremely Peppy = zippy, energetic, vigorous, lively. And this level of energy and excitement is not just for any 'ole Friday - although I do love me a Friday. But today's excitement is because it's the 2nd annual girls weekend with all of my friends from St. Augustine, at one of the girls' farm house in the country. Last year was sooo much

Party for the Bachelorette

Well my sister finally found her camera that we thought had just up and disappeared! Turns out, it was buried deeeeeep  in the cushions of their reclining love seat. So even though three or four of us had dug around in there, it wasn't actually discovered until Megan sat in it and reclined it all the way back. She then heard something hit the floor (and after freaking out for a second, thinking

Picking A Wedding Venue, Part 2

I feel like I start off every single post with a "Good Morning blah blah," or a "Welcome to ___day" and everything always sounds the same. So today, we're skipping right over that. (But are we really since I still mentioned it?) Anyways, I'm having a tough time getting back into my exercise routine after Meg's wedding craziness, but yesterday I finally made it back to zumba, and I ran a mile

Precedent Has Been Set - FFTL Link-Up

Welcome to another Tuesday morning around the blogosphere, ladies! I'm sure there's a lot going on in terms of other link-ups, and giveaways and who even knows what else. But this girl is just excited about this little link-up here with y'all! I love reading y'all's posts every week, and seeing your answers to some of our firsts. This has been a fun link-up to host, and I'm still having fun

Parties, Wedding Dresses & a Fish Fry

And of course, Monday morning rolls around again, just like it always does. And this week will be the first full 5-day work week for me, after so much wedding stuff and a holiday last week, so obviously I'm not looking forward to that... What I am looking forward to though, is another week full of wedding planning before Jeff's twins arrive on Saturday! And of course I'm looking forward to them

Pastors, Pizza & Patriotic Fruit - H54F

It's a little ridiculous how excited I am that it's Friday now, considering I only worked four days this week. But who cares - it's still Friday, and I'm still excited! It's been a pretty crazy busy week, and the weekend will be just as crazy. We've been trying to get in a ton of wedding planning before June 8, because that's when Jeff's boys get here, and they'll be here for three full weeks!

Put It All in The Crockpot

Good morning my dear blog friends! It's been a while since I've shared a recipe with y'all, so that's what I've got planned for you today! We had planned to go to a movie on Tuesday night, but that morning I just wasn't feeling it. I wanted to just stay home and rest a bit. So I decided I would cook dinner for us since we would be staying in. So I ran to Publix on my lunch break to grab some

Picking A Wedding Venue

My week is still feeling all crazy and weird. Monday felt like the longest day ever somehow, Tuesday felt like Monday, and now today just feels strange. I guess the whole week is gonna feel a little off, until we get to the weekend and everything gets reset back to normal. And to make it even weirder, I'm not doing my typical weigh-in Wednesday post today. Sure, I'm still going to share what the

Pair of Shoes for You - Giveaway!

It's been a while since I've participated in a group giveaway like this, but today I'm bringing you a pretty great one! It's a chance to win a $90 gift card to Zappos.com! I for one wish I could win this myself, but since I can't, I'd at least like for one of you lovely ladies to be the one to win it! So head on down below, and enter your little hearts out for a chance to grab a cute new pair of

Parasites & Pelorosaurus: FFTL Link-Up

Well, most of us are all back at work today after a long, three-day weekend, which makes today feel like a Monday. Which isn't the greatest feeling, until you remember that it IS in fact Tuesday, and we only work four days this week! So then it's not too bad :) And since it's actually Tuesday, and not Monday, that means I'm going to skip my weekend recap for now (maybe it'll happen later this

Preview of the Reception

She had a lot of cute ideas and things for her reception, and everything ended up looking really cute. We did a pretty great job doing all of the decorating and everything ourselves, and we were very pleased with how it all turned out for her big day! And once again, I can't wait to get all the professional photos back and see all of those! We ourselves didn't even get pictures of everything

Puzzles & Parks - My Summer Bucket List!

Apparently the thing to do around blog-world this summer is make a summer bucket list. So of course, y'all know I just had to jump on that bandwagon! I mean, hello? Summer is my absolute favorite season. (Thanks Florida for basically an 8-month summer!) And obviously I'm a sucker for a good list or two, or three, or forty-five... And so the two together? Summer and a list? I just had to! And now

Peek of the Ceremony

Obviously I wasn't taking any pictures of my own during the ceremony, so I only have a couple that I was able to swipe from a couple other people. The majority of these come from our friend Allison, who is also the mama to the precious flower girl and adorable ring bearer. And then a good amount also come from my sweet fiance who set up some video cameras (unbeknownst to us!) and was taking

Pampering the Bride

Saturday morning, the day of my baby sister's wedding, we grabbed all our bags of clothes and cosmetics and extras, and headed out. We stopped for some coffee of course, and made it to the church by 9 a.m. Megan had asked Kaley (her brother-in-law's girlfriend) to do her hair, and so she arrived early too. After the tears had dried from reading letters from Bo, my mama, and myself, I did her

Post-Wedding Weigh-In

Wednesday means we're half way through the week, and only two more work days before we reach a  3-day weekend! That makes me a very happy girl. And since today is Wednesday, we all know that means I hopped on that scale this morning, and snapped a quick picture to share. Today's Weigh-In Wednesday post will once again actually be pretty quick and easy, because there's not too much to share. And

Practice for The Big Day

(If you missed it, I already shared about the Bridesmaids Luncheon yesterday.) So on Friday night, we all did the usual rehearsal and rehearsal dinner all together. A very long time ago, Megan and Bo had asked me and Zach (Bo's brother) to sing a song together during the ceremony. So Friday night, we got there early to practice one more time and run a sound check. Then once everyone else was

Princeton, NYC & Elizabethton - FFTL Link-Up

Yesterday I took the day off work for an extra day of wedding recovery. It was much needed, and definitely a good thing for me, but I really wish I could have taken another day or two still! I'm back at work today, but absolutely wishing I was still at home. At least this coming weekend is a long one! I am excited to be back in the blog-world though, because I really haven't been since this time

Party Chicken for the Bridesmaids

I'm back from a crazy wedding weekend for Megan! It was exhausting and fun and crazy and amazing. And I can't wait to share it! Since so many things have happened over the last five or so days, I'll be recapping all of my sister's wedding events in a couple of posts over the next few days. So today we'll start with the bridesmaids luncheon from Thursday!

My Aunt Suzanne hosted it at her house,

Pace is So Crazy, Race is So Worth It

It's incredibly strange and weird and amazing and fantastic that today is my little sister's wedding day!! While putting this video together, I had so much fun looking through these old pictures, but then balled like a baby when I put the music in and then watched the whole thing as an actual video. It was extremely emotion, and it definitely got to me!

I really wish I would have had time to go

Prompt #17 - Favorite Photo & Why

Day 17 - A favorite photo of yourself and why...











Well first of all, I'm cheating and including two pictures, because I love them both so much. These photos are both from our engagement session last month (with the amazing Phil Pullen Photography!) and I just love them both so much. 



A few reasons why: 

One - my sweet fiance is adorably cute, so of course I like that :) 

Two -

Paleontology to Plantation

Last week, my blog-friend Kristen posted about using Wikipedia as a boredom-buster game. She suggested you start on one page, and click through to five different links, reading a bit about each one as you go, and just see where you end up! Well that's fun, but I play that game a little differently. I was first introduced to this my some of the kids in my youth group over two years ago, and I even

Party Time is Almost Here!

Well today is just three short days before my sister's wedding, and Party Time is Almost Here!! So I'm super busy today doing wedding stuff and helping her move some things into her new house! So today's weigh-in post is going to be short and sweet, with just the minimum info :) And as usual, of course I'm linking up with Erin & Alex!





Initial starting weight = 227

January starting weight =

Public Relations - FFTL Link-Up

Guys, I'm usually super on the ball with this link-up, but things at work yesterday were crazy busy, and also - it's wedding week for my sister, so we've been doing all sorts of stuff to finish getting everything ready! So it's comin' at y'all a bit later than normal today, but that's alright. The link-up stays open for an entire week anyways, so we've got plenty of time to all get this one done!

Particularly Good Weekend

Good Morning! It's Monday. And HO. LY. CRAP people - this is the week my little sister gets married!! I woke up this morning almost as excited as if it was my own wedding and not hers. We still have a lot to do, but it's almost here and we're definitely all ready for it! I'm only working today and tomorrow, then Wednesday is slam-packed full of stuff, Thursday is all sorts of luncheons and

Pizza, Presents & Purple Flowers

FRIDAY! Hooray :) I'm so glad it's here. It hasn't been a particularly rough week or anything, but I've been feeling exhausted this whole week. I think it is still stemming from super early mornings last weekend, followed by super full days. And I just never was able to catch up after that! I think I get to sleep in a little bit tomorrow, so that will be oh so lovely. Hopefully at least. Anyways,

Prompt #9 - Moment

I just went to lunch with my girl Angie for our very first blate! We both work downtown, so we chose a restaurant downtown to meet at, and we both ended up walking to the restaurant from our offices. We had a great time, it was a beautiful day, and I also got a few photos from my walk!







I used my RunKeeper app to track my walk (just because I was curious about how far it actually was), and

Pinterest Cupcake Success

Thursday is finally here, which means that thankfully, tomorrow is Friday! This has been a long week, and I have been exhausted pretty much the whole time. I need some rest and a break. Not sure much "rest" will happen this weekend, but I'm gonna try at least! Today however, I'm excited to be linking up with Katie at Keep Calm & Carry On and her blog-bestie Stephanie at A Beautiful Mess for "Saw

Prompt #8 - Advice

Sooo....I've kinda failed already at these "Blog Every Day in May" prompts, but I knew that would happen from the very beginning. My goal was just to do them when I can, rather than kill myself to do it every day, and so I'm doing my second one today, on day eight of the challenge.

Today's prompt is to give advice - anything at all. One of my dear blog-friends, Emily @ Be Blessed, Y'all, did her

Punch it Into High Gear

I was trying to think of a "different" way to start off this post today, because I feel like I always start each Wednesday post in exactly the same way. So I racked my brain forever a few minutes, and still could come up with nothing. Apparently it's tough to be creative when posting my Weigh-In Wednesday results to link up with Alex & Erin...





Initial Starting Weight = 227

January Starting

Puzzle Piece

Today is my fiance's 32nd birthday! So I couldn't let that just get ignored, now could I? Nope, absolutely not. And of course he's so special, he get's his very own post :) And so that's why there are two posts today! The first one from earlier today is here. I just want to share a few of the reasons why I love him so much, and why I'm so thankful for him...



Today at VooDoo Dog for his

Produce Aisle First - FFTL Link Up

Hello friends and bloggers and readers! I'm so excited today, because today Hallie and I are re-starting our weekly link-up, with just a slightly spiced-up version, From Firsts to Lasts! In case you missed the 'big announcement' from last week, you can read all about it back here for more information of what's going on with the changes. Today though, let's just jump right into our 'first' topics!

Peeps Be Graduated!

This title was for my family, specifically my dad, who has been wanting me to use "peeps" in one of my post titles ;)

Good Morning lovely ladies, and Happy Monday! A couple of weeks ago, I decided to have a positive attitude on Monday morning, no matter what, in order to hopefully create a better day for myself. And it worked! So I'm trying that again today, and forcing myself to have a positive

Places To Go & Things To Do

I haven't shared a good "About Me" style post in a couple of months now, and my blog has definitely grown a lot since then. So today I've decided to give y'all a little more insight into my life! I've seen this in blog-land before, so I can't take credit for it, but I have no idea who came up with it to give them credit....Oh well. It's gonna be fun anyways :) So here's a reverse pyramid of

Plus-Size Workout Barbie & Other Randoms

I liked writing down my random thoughts last Thursday with no rhyme or reason, and I think most of y'all said that you liked it too. So I'm gonna do it again today and see how it turns out this week!

Tomorrow night my  baby sister graduates from college!! It just seems so weird. Sometimes I hardly feel like I'm old enough to be a college grad, but that was three years ago for me now! And now my

Prompt 1 - My Life in 250 Words

Back with a second post today (my weigh-in was posted earlier this morning), because I want to share my super quick auto-biography, in 250 words or less. (Mine turned out to be 249! Bam.) I just found this fun idea today, and I can't wait to join in the rest of the month. I doubt I'll be able to do every single prompt, but I'll do what I can, when I can. If you want to join in on the challenge

Portion Control of the Proper Foods

Let's not waste time, y'all know what's happening today...I'm linking up with Erin & Alex for Weigh-In Wednesday!








Initial Starting Weight = 227

January Starting Weight = 217

Last Week, April 24 = 190.4

Today, May 1 = 191.4


And so now that's another gain this past week, of exactly one pound. And now that means I've been toying around with these same two-ish pounds for about a month

Partners in Co-Hosting

Good morning my lovely ladies! Normally today, we would be doing our First Things First link-up, and y'all would be here to read my answers, and link-up your own as well. But today is a little different, because Hallie (from Life: Oceanside) and I are sharing an announcement about some changes to our fun link-up! Let me start by saying though, how excited I am that Hallie is officially back here

Panera, Shopping, Po'Boys & Games

I'm freezing in my office, my back is sore for some reason, I'm not quite awake yet, and it's Monday morning. I'm feelin' kinda rough right now....I had a great weekend though, so of course in typical blogger fashion, I'll be sharing all about the weekend on the blog this morning. I mean, what else would you expect?

FRIDAY
Although not technically considered the weekend yet, at lunch, I went

Proposing To My Bridesmaids!

Happy Friday lovely ladies! I'm real glad to see Friday, and even more glad that you pretties have joined me today in my little part of blog-world! :) Because today, for the first time, I'll be sharing some of our wedding planning stuff with y'all! And I'm just so dang excited about it!

I'm sure we've all seen those cutesy things on Pinterest that have become so popular these days right? About

Possibly My Most Random Blog Post

Simultaneously, there is both nothing going on in my brain today, and also too many things swirling around at once. How does that even happen? What does that even mean? I don't know - but that's how it feels! So today's blog post is going to be one of those rare, fly-by-the-seat of my pants ramblings that I don't know where we'll end up, but it seems like it might be fun....So let's see where

PR'd Again Yesterday!

Good morning all you lovely ladies (and a few guys) on this Wednesday morning! Let's jump straight into the usual post for each and every hump day, and link up with Erin & Alex for Weigh-In Wednesday!







Initial Starting Weight = 227

January Starting Weight = 217

Last Week, April 17 = 192.4

Today, April 24 = 190.4


If y'all don't remember, last week at 192.4 was a gain, because the week

Payments, News & Pouting - FTF & An Announcement!

Happy Tuesday morning my lovely ladies! I just went back and counted, and today is Week 16 of our First Things First link-up. Wow! That's four months of fun link-ups and posts and meeting some of you girlies that were new around these parts! It's been great hosting my first link-up series, and I've really enjoyed the past four months. And to round out these past four months, we've got an exciting

Puddles & Pictures & Play Time

So far this Monday morning is off to a pretty great start (despite my lack of sleep), because I'm still coming down off my high from an amazing weekend!! Jeff and I drove over to St. Augustine for the weekend, and we were able to spend some amazing time with my wonderful friends from college, but we were also able to finally take some engagement pictures!!!

FRIDAY
Left right after work and Jeff

Potato Chips & Veggie Chips from Green Giant

Guys, I gotta be honest here - one of the things I love about blogging, is there are definitely some perks that go along with it. Well I've found a new (to me) perk, that I'm loving after only my first go-round of it. I'm now a BzzAgent! This means that they send me things to try out and review, and then I give my honest opinion of the product to people in my real life via word-of-mouth (and by

Practicing the Ukulele - H54F

It's Friday!! And today Jeff and I are driving over to St. Augustine for the weekend! And we're getting our engagement pictures taken finally! And clearly I'm pretty stoked for the day and the weekend :) But there are also some things from this past week that I'm pretty happy about too! So I'm joining Lauren formerly at From My Grey Desk now at Lauren Elizabeth for High Five for Friday!




1.

Possibilities of When I Grow Up

When I grow up, there are many things I want to do, to be and to try. Some are totally realistic, some are just completely ridiculous dreams, that will probably never become a reality. And that's OK with me! Those things are just as fun and exciting to dream about too :) But there are definitely many things I want to do and be and see and experience that are completely attainable. Hopefully, if

Previous PR Blown Out of the Water

Good Morning and Happy Wednesday friends! My day is off to a good start so far, for no reason in particular, but that's A-OK with me. Let's just jump straight to the point though, shall we? It's Weigh-In Wednesday today, and so of course I'm linking up with Alex and Erin just like usual!





Initial Starting Weight = 227

January Starting Weight = 217

Last Week, April 10 = 190

Today, April 17

Parents, Sports & Injuries - First Things First

Happy Tuesday ladies! I usually try not to wish away the weekdays by only looking forward to Friday, but it's hard this week. Because this weekend I'm going to St. Augustine! I get to see some of my very bestest friends, and also take our engagement pictures! So of course I'm super excited for that!! And so it's hard to pretend I'm not happy that we're another day closer to Friday :) But first,

Post Office, Beach, Planning & Gifts

Today is harder for me to start off as positively as last Monday - and all because of a bad "commute" to work. What usually takes me ten minutes, took me 20 because of an accident and a million police cars. And then an idiot pulled out in front of me, making me slam on my brakes and my horn. Then he proceeds to drive about 15 in a 35. Sooo frustrating. I know I need to just brush it off an move

Popcorn, Friends, Shells & Sand - H54F

I, for one, am glad to see Friday arrive. This week has kind of been stressful at times, and I'm ready for a couple of days to hopefully relax. I'm hoping to go to the beach tomorrow, so I really would love for that to work out. And I want to work on a few wedding-related things as well this weekend. But other than that, we have no other plans, and that's good. Because last weekend was crazy busy

Pinterest Tutorial - Written by Me!

Most of you've probably read by now, but my little sister is getting married in mid-May, and I'm her Maid of Honor. And as such, one of my goals was to throw her a beautiful wedding shower. And last Saturday that happened! I shared some about the shower and some pictures back on Monday, but today I want to talk about the centerpieces that my Mama and I made for it. And I am also linking up today

Pulled Off the Surprise

(This was actually scheduled to post on Thursday, but then I remembered I wanted to share a tutorial about the centerpieces I made for my sister's wedding shower so that I could link up for "Saw it. Pinned it. Did it."  So tomorrow will be the tutorial for SPD. And so now I'm posting twice in one day :) Enjoy!)

Earlier this week, like way back on Monday, my fiance called me on my office phone at

Purchasing A New Gym Bag!!

Hello friends and readers and loves and family and weigh-in-linkers and whoever-else-might-have-stumbled-here-today peoples! It's Wednesday. How have y'all's weeks been going so far? Has the extra positivity from Monday helped shape a better week for you? I think it did for me! I will definitely be trying that out again next week, and greeting Monday with a positive outlook, in order to create a

Pantene, Pandora & Pinterest - First Things First

Happy Tuesday lovies! Today is of course one of my favorite blogging days, because it's my weekly First Things First link-up! And today as usual we have some great new co-hosts for the week as well! Today's co-hosts are Rachel at Postcards from Rachel and Tasha at A Lott to Love. Rachel is one of my good blog-friends, and I feel like we bonded over our love for books and reading. (Hopefully she

Positivity on a Monday

Good morning and Happy Monday my loves! One of my friends on Facebook today posed an interesting theory, and I'm going to try it out. She said, what if we were as excited about Monday as we are Friday, would we have a better day today? If we have a positive attitude, maybe the whole day will be more positive! So I'm going to give that a try and we'll see how it goes! :) I mean, I did after all

Packed Full of Fun Times - H54F

It's Friday! And I'm only working a half day today! Hooray! I'm taking off work at noon, so that I can go spend a few more hours with the twins before Jeff has to take them back this afternoon. So that's sad that they're leaving, but I'm excited to spend a bit more time with this today! And even though we were only able to have them down here for a week, we've definitely made sure that this week

Pre-Registration is Open!

I am so excited! And it's for something I never thought I would get excited about. Because this is something I've always hated and simply would NOT do before. But that was before I decided it was time to get myself healthy. And now, I'm excited about running. About running a 5K that is! Who is this girl I'm becoming?! I think some people might say I'm becoming a "runner...." And who thought that

Path of Determination

Half-way through another week. That is a good thing, because we're closer to the weekend; but also a not-so-good thing, because that means that our week with Jeff's twins is just flying by too quickly! But our time with them so far has been great and we've had lots of fun. We even had the marriage/engaged talk with them last night, and it went well! They did have some questions, but we think they

Place to Call My Own - First Things First

Guys, I'm normally super on the ball with this link-up stuff, but this week - not so much. If you didn't notice, this is getting posted much later than it usually does, and I'm sorry about that! I actually felt a little frantic all morning trying to get it together, and then I was like, "Hey Halez, chill out already. It's not like they'll hate you if it's up two hours later than normal. If anyone

"Pesach" is Hebrew for Passover, which is Easter!

Let me begin by explaining my post title, because I just want to drop some knowledge for y'all, to help educate ourselves a tiny bit. "Pesach" is Hebrew for what is known in English as "Passover," which commemorates the story of Exodus. Today, most English-speaking nations call this "Easter," but pretty much everywhere else in the world, this holiday is known as "Pasha," or something derived from

PR, Passion & Puppy - H54F

Good morning my dear friends and readers! Today is Friday! And I know we must all be excited about that. The weekend is finally supposed to warm up, and get us back into the upper 70's, and I'm just really crossing my fingers that it actually happens. I'm ready to put away my sweaters for the year!

This afternoon after work, Jeff and I are heading up to middle Georgia to spend the night at his

Pasta, Pizza & Bread Should Have Zero Calories

Tuesday there was a fun link up floating around, but I didn't participate because that's also the day that I host my own link up. But it was so much fun reading everyone else's responses, that I figured I'd just jump in a couple of days late and join in as well. So today I'll be participating in Holly & Jake's "Finish the Sentence" link up! They're having a small contest for the funniest ones,

Process of Getting Healthy

OK. Florida is cold again today. And I'm more than over it folks. It's almost April and it's currently in the 30's! Not OK with me. Let's warm it on up, shall we please?! Despite the cold though, I'm feeling in a pretty good mood today, and that's probably due to my teeny tiny weight loss I get to report this week :) So let's get going and link up with Erin and Alex, for Weigh In Wednesday like

Ponce Hall, Roommates & College Days - First Things First

It's another cold day down here in Florida, and they said on the radio this morning that it's actually 15-20 degrees colder this year than our usual averages for this time of year. That's not cool! Where did my glorious spring weather go? Not that I can complain too much, because half of the country just got half a foot of snow or more, including one of my lovely co-hosts... More importantly

Ponytails, Popcorn, Presents & Puddles

This Monday morning in Florida is unnecessarily cold, and that doesn't really make me too happy, but at least it's not raining! It rained a LOT here over the past couple of days. There are still places with giant puddles of standing water everywhere this morning. Ready for a couple of dry days now! But even though it was raining, that didn't stop me from having a good weekend!

Friday after work,

Peppier Than Ever - H54F

Last week was the first time I joined in on the very popular High Five for Friday, and it was lots of fun, so I'm doing it again! So I'll be linking up again today with Lauren from At My Grey Desk. You can should us too!




1. Last week I told you that I ran my fastest mile ever - well I beat that again and set a new PR for myself on Wednesday. Last week's mile was at 13:04, and this week was at

Pizza: My Skinnier Recipe Options

First of all, we all know by now that I'm on a weight loss journey to become more fit and more healthy. And I'm really loving how hard I've been pushing myself and all that I've accomplished so far. (In case you're new around here, you can read my entire weight loss story up 'til January HERE, and read all my weight loss posts in general HERE.)

But despite all of that, and how healthy I try to

Pump Up the Weight Loss

Here we are - halfway through another work week. And of course that makes me happy! And of course that makes today another Weigh In Wednesday post with Alex and Erin. So let's get straight to it!





Initial Starting Weight = 227

January Starting Weight = 217

Last Week, March 13 = 197.5

Today, March 20 = 194.5


So "technically" since last Wednesday, that's a loss of three pounds. However,

Post, Comment & Friend #1 - First Things First

Hello to y'all on this Tuesday morning! Like I've said before, Tuesday's are always fun for me here in blog-land, because Tuesday's always mean the First Things First link up! This is actually our 11th week of this link up, and the third week of awesome co-hosts. And of course today's co-host's are no exception. Today's co-hosts are Jenna @ Life is Sweet and Kristyn @ Carolina Fireflies! I feel

Professional Style Spring Break

So, many of us have moved past our fun college days, right? I have at least. Sadly. (College was seriously so much more fun than the "grown-up world!") And I'm extremely jealous of those of you that still get to go away for a week and live it up on the beach, while I'm just slaving away at my office desk, under bad fluorescent lighting. So, when my blog-friend Veronica @ Passion, Pink & Pearls

Patty's, Pizza & (Green) Polka Dots

Happy Monday loves! Did we all have a great weekend? I did, and I certainly would rather it still be the weekend. But instead of complaining about it, I'll just reminisce on the last couple of days, and share with y'all as well, of course :)

Friday, I went for a run right after work. I went to the local high school, and did two miles. My first mile was in exactly the same time as my fastest one

Pointless Title Because I'm not Feeling Creative Today...

(Hey, at least it still starts with a "P," so that's gotta count for something right?!)

Happy Friday my lovely ladies! Before I get into my regular post, I have some "housekeeping" stuff. With all the hoopla over Google Reader and GFC lately, here is just some quick information for y'all... First of all, GFC isn't actually going away (yet), so stop freaking out about that. The two things are

Penguins Made Me Run Faster

First of all, this is post #300 for me! Hooray! It's been two-and-a-half years of blogging, 300 posts, 502 followers, 28,300+ page views, hundreds of photos, funny posts, serious posts, brave posts great new friends, amazing connections, fun link-ups, lots of support and encouragement...I sure do love this blogging community! :)

But anyways, normally I don't really have any sort of posting "

Pace is Getting Faster

It is now time for your regularly scheduled, Weigh In Wednesday link up post, hosted by Erin and Alex, and brought to you by ME, of course! :) Today's news is nowhere near as exciting as last week's, but let's just jump right into it, shall we? Because even though the weigh in part isn't that great, I do actually have some great non-scale-victory-news to share.





Initial Starting Weight = 227

Pretty Jewelry & Magazines - First Things First

Hello again loves! Today is of course another Tuesday, and that of course means another round of First Things First. I'm still having sooo much fun with this link up, and I'm loving the new girls that join in and link up each week! And I'm also really loving having awesome new co-hosts every week, and this week is of course no exception. (Did I really just say "of course" three separate times in

Prepping for Springtime

Happy Monday ladies! This is my second post of the day so far, but the first one was simply pictures for the Ten on Ten link up that happens every month. This post is for the usual blogger-weekend-recap, of course!

Friday right after work, I went to the local high school track, and ran/walked two miles! And I think I did an excellent job. My routine is run/walk every other lap for the first mile

Pink Flowers & Posey's Cafe

Today's first post (yes, that means there will be two today!), is simply my Ten on Ten post to join in with A Bit of Sunshine for this monthly link up post, as a way to remember the smaller moments in our every day, regular lives.

































10 am: Helping teach 3rd grade Sunday school with my Mama

11 am: 'Big church' and singing old hymns

12 noon: So many beautiful 

Price Tags, Workouts, Shopping & Food

Dear Body: We're about to step it up again, and really get to working out 5-6 days a week. We took off about 10 days to recover from feeling like death, but that's over now, and it's time to get movin' again. We're feeling a little sore from doing the 30 Day Shred for the first time in about a month, but that's a good sign. And you did great running a mile and going to zumba last night! And today

Planning Our Wedding on a Budget

Ladies! My wedding planning adventures are starting to get underway. And of course it's so super exciting!! But I'm not gonna lie though, it's also a little bit daunting with everything that comes along with it. There are about a million things to think about, and people to include, and ways to do every little thing - and a lot of that is swirling around in my head. But the biggest issue for me??

Progression

Good morning blog world. I'm slowly starting to actually get better now. I'm still all congested and I'm coughing pretty nasty in the mornings, but overall I don't feel like absolute crap anymore. That's a praise at least! Maybe I'll finally kick this thing in the next few days... Until then though, I'm carrying on as usual and of course that means today is Weigh In Wednesday, and I'm linking up

Pride, Accidents & the Fridge - First Things First

Good morning and happy Tuesday blog world and friends! I don't know if y'all have noticed or not, but I'm always super happy and peppy and excited on Tuesdays. And that's because I'm reeeeally loving our First Things First link up! Last week's link up however, was rough you guys. Why? Because it made me sooo hungry and crave such unhealthy things! I read each and every one of your posts that

Peg-leg Pirates, Percy & Planning

Well folks, we're back here again on another Monday morning. And I'm still sick. And I've even been taking my Z-pack for four days now. This is just ridiculous. I'm more than ready to be over this mess. Luckily though, even though I felt like crap for the majority of the weekend, I still managed to have a great couple of days, and enjoy myself despite how crappy I felt most of the time... prepare

Pinwheels & a Polar Watch

Dear March: You kinda came out of nowhere there, didn't ya? As long ago as January seems now, it also feels like February really just started, and then you came along and just bumped that out of the way. But now I've got a cute new printout calendar for my desk at work, with happy little pinwheels to stare at me for the next 31 days.







Dear Polar Watch: I just ordered you last night, and

P-cubed: Say My Name

Yesterday, lots of ladies around the blogosphere participated in a link up (with Amber @ Brunch with Amber) to share why they picked that particular name for their blog name. Well I was doing Weigh In Wednesday, so I missed it yesterday, but I decided to join in and link up just a day late :) So here's a simple story about why I picked my blog name, P-cubed/P-to-the-third, or better known as:

"

Pounds Lost, Even When Sick...

Good morning blog world. Yesterday I actually took a sick day off of work, and today I'm still feeling pretty crappy. It's just a cold so I can't complain too much, but still -- it's just not fun. I'm drinking a cup of Emergen-C and a cup of hot tea right now, and waiting on my meds to kick in. My nose is stuffy and my throat hurts, and my head feels kinda heavy. Ugh. So gross. Hopefully I'll

Pinterest Re-Pin it Party & Link Up!

Your Host:

Agape Love Designs



Co-Hosts:

 A Royal Daughter

A Proverbs 31 Wife

Penguins, Pasta & Polka Dots

We all know what a wonderful and helpful tool Pinterest can be to bring traffic to our blogs! So today Agape Love Designs, myself and several other awesome ladies have come together to host a Spread the LOVE Pinterest re-pin it party! If you have a fabulous blog post or item from

Pomegranate Tea - First Things First

Hello Lovers! I am sooo super excited for this link up today, because even though I'll miss my dear Hallie, today is the first day of all my new co-hosts! While Hallie is busy preparing for all sorts of wedding stuff, I have some awesome blogger friends that are helping me co-host this fun link up every week for the next couple of months. And today is the first week of that! Hooray! 



Today,

Princess & Pirate Party and Precipitation

Hello Monday. And hello blog friends. I'm not feeling as chipper and cheerful this morning as I usually am, but that's OK. Someday's you just feel kind of BLAH, ya know? I'm super tired still, and my throat hurts, and I feel  like I might be at the onset of a cold, and just overall kind of icky today... So first thing this morning, I'm drinking a big mug of hot tea, and even though I'm trying to

Puffy Eyes & Tea Time Letters

Dear Friday: I'm like, really super ultra glad you're here. It's been a long week. And I know we say this over and over again, just about every Friday, but that doesn't make it any less true...I'm so glad to see you.



Dear Fiance: This is my first letter to you!! Well, at least the first one as 'fiance!' :) I'm looking forward to our little road trip today for your niece's birthday party this

Paris, Pens, Playlist, Planner & Pink

I am 'stealing' this idea from my friend Bri over at Breezy Days. She just did this yesterday, and I thought it was so cute, I had to write it down so I could do it someday myself. But I just couldn't wait and started working on it right away, so that I could just post it today! Plus, I've gotten a ton of new followers from a giveaway I'm participating in, so I figure you newbies might like to

Protein and Fiber

Today is Hump Day. Which means we've made it halfway through another work-week! It also means today is another Weigh-In Wednesday, and I'm linking up with Erin & Alex as usual. So, let's just get right to it...




Looks familiar doesn't it? That's because it's identical to last week...


Total starting weight = 227

January starting weight = 217

Last week, February 13 = 201

Today, February 20

PayPal Cash Anyone?!

If you just so happened to stop in today, you are in luck! Today, myself and 19 other lovely sponsors of Allie at Tales of a Twenty Something have a giveaway planned. I'm sure you are wondering what is up for grabs....





First, let me introduce you to the wonderful ladies involved and then we will get to the part you've been waiting for!








1  // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7// 8 // 9 // 10/

Personal Trainer, Email & Dates - First Things First

Hello and happy Tuesday everyone! Today is the seventh week of our First Things First link up, and obviously I'm excited about it! We are loving this link up, and every week we're getting a few more people to join in with us! I'm definitely already anticipating some new link-uppers for this week as well!

However, some slightly sad news to announce, is that Hallie won't be co-hosting this with me

Putting Myself on Bloglovin'

Hey there ladies, again! I'm finally jumping on the Bloglovin' band wagon. If you want to follow me on there, I'm finally 'claiming' my blog, so head over and join me!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Palmolive Fresh Infusions

Soooo, this post has been neglected for far too long, and it's finally time I get myself in gear to write this review! Remember a couple months ago when I received my first VoxBox from Influenster? Well, I was sent my second box not too long after that, and received some dish washing soaps to try out and review! I was sent a box of three bottles of Palmolive Fresh Infusions dish soap!



At first

Pictionary, Pitch Perfect & Pizza Recap

Hello Monday morning! Hello blog friends! It's freezing here in Florida today - which always makes for an interesting day for us 'natives.' I mean it was 27 degrees when I woke up today - that is just not normal here! It's 'warmed up' a bit since then, but the high is still only in the 60's for today. (I know I probably should not be complaining because my blog friends up there in Minnesota would

Proposal on Valentine's Day!

So earlier today, I couldn't hardly wait to share some big news with y'all, and so without much detail or specifics, I made the announcement that I am now engaged!!! But now I've finally gotten all my stuff together, and am going to write out all the fun details from last night :) Prepare yourselves though, because I'm warning you now - there will be lots of pictures (I did at least put most of

Penmanship - Round 2

Remember a couple months ago when I found a super cute blog (Something Charming) with a super cute idea (Write It Down & Link It Up)? Well I jumped at the chance then to do her first Write It Down post, and I loved it! So when I saw she was doing one for Valentine's Day as well, of course I had to jump at that one too! So go to her post here to check out her beautiful handwriting, as well as a

Preview of My Special Night!!!

Guys, I have some HUGE news to share!!! I'll eventually be writing everything out (obviously), but I feel like it might take me all day, and I can't wait that long to post the news, so here's a quick Preview of My Special Night!!!







I'll definitely be back (sometime later in the day hopefully) with all the details and excitement and of course a ton more pictures! Just wanted to present a

Proof He Knows & Loves Me

Happy Valentine's Day blog-world! Like a ton of other girls out there, I really do like Valentine's Day a lot. And it's not just because I have a boyfriend. I've always liked it even when I was single. My roommates and I used to decorate our college dorm room, even when none of us were dating anyone. It's just a fun holiday filled with so much 'happy love!' (As my friend and former roomie Emily

Plummeting

Today is Weigh-In Wednesday again friends, and of course that means I'm linking up with Alex and Erin! And today I've finally got some good news to share with y'all after a blah weigh-in last week...






Initial starting weight = 227

January starting weight = 217

Last week, February 6 = 204

Today, February 13 = 201



Holy awesomeness! That's three pounds down from last week people! My

Prom, Mornings & Heart Break - First Things First

Good morning my friends! Today is week 6 of our First Things First link-up with myself and Hallie from Life: Oceanside! Here's the deal - we give  you the topics every week, you write your post, put our button on your post, link-up with us, and spread the word! Then of course visit the other links to see their posts as well!

First, we have some exciting news -- we'd like some of you lovely

Peter Pan, Post Office & Po'Boys

Not to brag or anything, but I had a great weekend! It's not that anything super terrific or crazy happened, it was just one of those weekends, ya know? I was able to get a few things done, ran lots of errands, ran 2 miles, spent time with family, friends and boyfriend, went to church and just had a good time. I love weekends like this that are somewhat busy and full, but also full of relaxation

Pink All Over the Place

Ten on Ten. With Bits of Sunshine.



Ten pictures, on the tenth of the month, capturing the little, every day moments of our lives.







































8-9 am: Shower time before church

9-10 am: Bananas I wanted for breakfast, but weren't quite ripe enough for my liking

10-11 am: Teaching 3rd grade Sunday school, and making crafts for the lesson

11-noon: 'Big church' Bible

Pulse, Plans, Pinterest & Pink

Dear Blog Friends: There are still more and more of you here each day, and it makes me wanna turn in circles and squeal a little bit. I'm resisting though, and trying to act mature about it. But really, it makes me so super excited when new people come and join me here! So, Welcome!!



Dear Edgar Sawtelle: You are a seriously giant book. In fact, you are 562 pages long! Now I've read big books

Playlists and Randoms

I'm feeling pretty random here today guys. Sooo...you're going to get a random splattering of all the things that might be rolling around in this little noggin of mine so far this morning! Get ready, because here we go ;)



Alright first of all, after reporting yesterday that I had hit a plateau with my weight loss, I need to announce some updates. I took all my measurements again last night,

Plateau

Today is another Weigh In Wednesday, so I'm linking up with Alex & Erin. My weigh in this week is anything short of exciting. And honestly, I'm quite frustrated with it. So I'm jumping straight into the numbers, so then I can rant a little bit...Oh, and I forgot to take a picture of my actual scale this morning. Oopsie.



Initial starting weight = 227

Starting in January = 217

January 23 = 205

Purchases, Trips & Cooking - First Things First edition

Hello there ladies, on this slightly dreary Tuesday morning. It's cold and rainy here, and I'm super tired today. Not the best start to my day. But I just gotta suck it up and move on of course. I'm going to tell myself that today WILL be a good day, and then I'll make it a good day. Simple as that, right?! Anyways, today is week five of our First Things First link up with my girl Hallie at Life

Pound Cake, Workouts & Other Happenings

Morning ladies! For a chilly Monday morning, I'm in a pretty good mood. Don't know why exactly - since I overslept and my back and neck were sore when I woke up - but I'll take it! Maybe it's because I'm back here in blog-land, and blogging always seems to make me happy. Last week was fun with all my special birthday posts like: a recap of my 25 Before 25 list, my new 30 Before 30 goals, a fun

Planking in February

Dear Followers: In case you missed it yesterday, I'm doing a simple little 'My Favorite Things' style giveaway. All you have to do to enter is comment on yesterday's post! So go here and check it out :) And thanks to those of y'all who already have! Also, thanks for all the great birthday wishes I've been getting this week - it's been so much fun!




Dear Family: Thanks so much for such a great

Porch Dining, and My First Giveaway!!

Hello there my lovelies! I've been having a great week so far, and the greatness is not even close to over! Here's why:



1. There's something fun happening at the end of this post....

2. We get to wear jeans to work today (even though it's Thursday)

3. I have my family birthday dinner at my house tonight, with just my smaller, immediate family

4. Tomorrow night is my whole family dinner at

Promises - My 30 Before 30 List!!

As of yesterday, I'm officially a quarter-of-a-century old. That's a big deal, right? Maybe, but also maybe not ;) Either way, I'm excited about it! Most of you should know, that for the past six months, I've been working on my list of goals for 25 Before 25, and I've had so much fun! Some were easy, some were hard, some were quick, some took longer, but all were enjoyed. (You can read my final

Pre-Teen Obsessions - First Things First edition

Hello there again lovelies, for my second post of the day! This post is for week #4 of our First Things First link-up, with my good blog-friend Hallie at Life: Oceanside! Every week we have specific "first" topics that we share with y'all, and we want to hear your answers as well. So read our posts, write your own, grab our button, then come link up your post with us! This weeks "Firsts" are:

Popcorn Must be Eaten at the Theater

Today is my 25th birthday!!! Hooray! For some reason, I've always really loved my own birthday. I know some people tend to shy away to avoid the spotlight or extra attention, but I tend to bask in it. I don't know if that's "selfish" or not, but honestly, I don't really care - because celebrating my birthday is just always so much fun! And I mean, come on, it IS your special day after all! So why

Post-Pledge: The Final Recap

As of this morning, I'm considering my 25 Before 25 Pledge list officially over. Tomorrow I will be 25 years old, and it's time to move on! I have created a new list of 30 Before 30, which is full of all sorts of things. Some are small, some are quite huge, but I'm excited about them all. (Those will be posted later this week.) But for this post, I want to do a recap of how things went for my 25

Puzzling Letters

The One Where all of my letters end in a random question...

Dear Week: I'm glad you're coming to an end in just a few more hours. Why do four-day work weeks always end up feeling incredibly long? I don't get it...?



Dear Exercise: I did pretty awesome again this last week. In the past four days I: hiked on Monday, did an at-home training circuit & weights on Tuesday, did the 30-Day Shred on

Providing the Facts of Halie

On Tuesday, Whitney at I Wore Yoga Pants posted a fun link-up for us to join. I however already had two posts for Tuesday (a weekend recap & First Things First week 3) and a weigh in post yesterday, so I've been waiting for today to come, so I could finally participate as well! There are about a zillion other bloggers who have already joined in, but I just had to jump on the bandwagon too. And

Positive Weigh In Results

Last week, after I posted my super long weight loss journey in it's entirety, and I got such amazing responses back from all of you. One response told me about a weekly "Weigh In Wednesday" link up, and so I checked it out. It's other ladies like myself, who are all struggling with this weight issue too. I checked out a lot of their blogs, found some I really connected with, and was inspired by a

Pajamas & Pets - First Things First edition

Hello there my lovelies! Here comes my second post of the day (which is kind of unheard of around here), but it's to welcome you back for week three of our First Things First link up series with myself, and Hallie from Life: Oceanside! We've loved reading y'all's posts over the last couple of weeks, and we're looking forward to reading more about this round of topics as well! So this week is:

Papaya, Park Hike & Publix again!

Good morning dear blog friends! I don't know if y'all had a three-day weekend like I did, but mine was great! And I'm in a great mood this morning :) Feels good to start off not only the day, but the entire week the right way! Here's some quick recaps of my weekend activities, accompanied by a few pictures, of course!



Friday night I couldn't think of anything "special" for the boyfriend and I

Productive Things, Fun Things & Exercise Things

Dear Weight Loss: It's still going great, and I'm feeling awesome. Today I'm down another 1.5 pounds, which means I'm weighing in at 208.5 pounds now! And I gotta still keep pushing. So I'm not going to take the weekend off like I did last week. The goal is to exercise twice over the three-day weekend. Which leads me to....



Dear Bicycle: I miss you! I haven't ridden you since our crazy epic

Prophet's Fasting Plan

So yesterday, I shared a super long honest post about my entire weight loss journey. And let me tell y'all something, I was terrified to put all of that out there. I mean, it's one thing to mention you want to lose weight and exercise and blah, blah, blah. But it's something entirely different to list out your actual weight and all the ups and downs you've seen on the scale. But you know what? I

Pursuing a Healthier Me

This is going to be a hard post for me to write, I can feel it already. Not because I don’t know what to say, but because I’m going to be completely raw and honest and open about my weight loss journey and struggle. I've shared on my blog plenty of times my goals for exercising and eating. I've shared when I've felt both defeats and victories along the way. But through it all, I've been kind of

Planes, Jobs and CDs - First Things First edition

Today is Round 2 of our new link up, "First Things First," with myself and Hallie from Life: Oceanside! Last week we got a good amount of participation, but we're definitely looking to grow and expand some more this week! Thank you to those of y'all who joined us last week, and welcome to those who are new! We look forward to reading y'alls posts, and getting to learn more about some of your

Pedometer On Steroids

Ladies! Today I'm posting my very first giveaway on this blog, as a contributor for an awesome prize. However, now that I'm reading more about this special little gadget, I'm wishing I wouldn't have contributed, so that I could enter to win instead, because this looks so dang awesome! Was one of your new years resolutions to lose some weight or just be healthier?  Could you use a little help

Publix Was the Highlight

Guys, this was another super chill weekend. I guess that's just how it's going to be as long as Jeff is still in recovery mode from his broken foot and surgery. He is finally getting better, but we still have two more weeks of bed rest and foot propping...And then after that, he'll be in a walking boot, so we'll still have to take it pretty easy. He does seem to be getting better though, so at

Purple Polka Dots

Dear Friday: Seriously - WHAT took you so long to get here? That was just ridiculous. This week has felt all weird and long and I hardly ever knew what day it actually was. That was just unacceptable. Please be faster next week, OK? Great, thanks.

Dear Boyfriend: I'm so glad you finally got your stitches out of your foot! However, we still have at least two more weeks to go of wearing the splint

Preparing, Procrastinating & Planning

Haven't done a "Currently" post in quite some time, and since it's usually so fun & easy, I'm going for it today!

Listening to: the sound of my own clicking keyboard, and not much else in the super quiet office today...
Craving: Surprisingly nothing, food-wise. But I could definitely stand to go for a bike ride!
Working on: This blog post, duh
Loving: That I've worked out three days this week,

Presented With an Award!

Yesterday, I was surprised with an exciting Twitter notification, saying I had been tagged by my blog-friend, Ricci, at A Beautiful Mess. So I head over to the Tweet, and simply saw this:


{Inspiring} bit.ly/VIiIL1 @allisondiane16 @rollwithit176 @nbellediaries @halierenee88 @jkthomas87 @saradbverde @heleneinbetween
— ricci (@riccialexis) January 8, 2013


And then when I followed her link to her

Pumped About Sharing our Firsts!

Hello lovelies! I'm so excited this morning, because today is finally the day mine and Hallie's link-up starts! We've been talking about it since the middle of December or so, and I've been pumped ever since then! So here's the deal - and it's an easy deal, so don't be worried: every Tuesday for a couple of weeks or so, we're going to do a First Things First link-up!

We'll do different "firsts"

Plain Jane Weekend

I wish I could start writing a post of all the amazing, fun, awesome things I did this weekend, however, it just isn't so. It just wasn't one of those weekends! I mean don't get me wrong, it was still a good weekend, it was just really chill and simple. It was kinda one of those Plain Jane Weekends -- but those are usually the most relaxing and enjoyable :)

Friday night I went to my friend

Pizza Hut & Redbox & Letters

Dear 2013: So glad to have you here! Thanks for coming :)  I'd say we're off to a good start already. Now let's just make sure we stay wonderful all year, and be good to me, OK?! And also be good to my boyfriend, friends and family while we're at it. I've got a lot of goals and plans for the year, and I'm excited about all of them. Help me keep up my motivation and determination to make a great

Plentiful Bounty

Yesterday afternoon, I went on a little mini road trip with my Mama, Aunt Suzanne, and Grandmother to Eufaula, Alabama, for my sister's first wedding shower! Most of her fiance's family are all from there, and they wanted to throw her a shower while some more family members from Tennessee were in town during the holidays. So they put together a Christmas-themed shower, and it was quite lovely!

Page View Issues?

Guys. Do y'all ever look at your stats page in Blogger? You know, the one where you can see things like: page views, traffic sources, audience...? Well, I do look at it pretty often, but yesterday I noticed something. I noticed a HUGE spike in overall traffic to my blog. So I went to the stats page to see the top referring URL's, and yesterday a spam site sent me tons of views. Now normally, we

Plunge into 2013

It's a new year my friends! January first, twenty-thirteen. Can you guys smell the the new calendars and planners and the change in the air? I think I can. (I think I can...) So without further ado, let's just go ahead and Plunge into 2013. Let's dive right in and see all that this glorious New Year has to offer us! Here's my Goodbye. Hello list for a brand new 2013... (borrowing the idea from a