Blog Love

One of the blogs I read DAILY is Little Chief Honeybee, written by a lovely lovely girl named Kaelah. If I wasn't in the teaching profession, I would look like her everyday. She has bright red hair, tattoos, and wears dresses and tights daily (ok, so nearly 2/3 of those things already describe me).

I love her writing style, her creativity, her honesty, and her content! She is one of my inspirations as I am continuing to build my blog.

Today she is offering a giveaway for an iPad2. Being the Apple product lover I am, I decided to enter. Mind you, this is the first giveaway I have ever entered in my life. I have no idea what the chances are that I win, but that's ok.

One of the entries to win was to blog about the giveaway and leave a link on her website. So, that is what I'm doing :). You can enter to win, too! Nonetheless, she has a great blog and if you enjoy my blog you would definitely enjoy hers.

Hop on over to Little Chief Honeybee and see what Kaelah is all about!

Happy Anniversary!

Today is my parents' 24th wedding anniversary! I just wanted to take a moment to congratulate them today. My dad proposed after 7 months of dating. Further, he proposed at his Christmas in front of his entire family-- the first time Mom met his whole family.

I hope I can only be as lucky to be in a long and loving relationship like my parents.

Craft Room Envy

This is like... heaven. Oh the things I would make in a room like this.

{via: http://www.craftaholicsanonymous.net}

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year for Thanksgiving I will be headed back home with my fiancé to celebrate with his family, since I just saw my entire extended family a few weeks ago. Thanksgiving is at my best friend's house, which happens to be his cousin. Isn't that fun?

In the spirit of giving thanks, here is what I'm thankful for this year:

Being engaged to my best friend! I have always known I wanted to spend my life with him, and now everyone else knows it, too. I don't think I could have found a better match for me if I tried. I am thankful he makes me laugh uncontrollably everyday, tells me I'm pretty, cuddles me until I fall asleep, takes me on dates, let's me decorate the apartment with my crafts, and tells me he loves me more than anyone ever needs to hear. This week I am especially thankful he has the week off of work and has a BEARD! (He can't have one at work.)

I am thankful to be so close with my mom and talk to her nearly everyday. I am thankful she allows me to be who I am and takes an interest in my life. I am thankful she is a woman who had a career and successfully (though it can be argued my brothers were a success) raised 4 kids.

I am thankful for my dad who tells me I need a cover for the furnace and a carbon monoxide detector, and asks me how my car is running. I am thankful he raised me to be a competitor and to always do my best.

 I am thankful for my 3 siblings. I love being in a big family and having lots of people around at holidays. I look forward to a time when we all have kids and go to "grandma's" (MOM'S!) for the holidays. I am thankful to be the oldest sibling, which pushed me to always set a good example and pursue my dreams.

I am thankful for my very loving grandparents who have set a great example in love for 50 years. I am thankful for phone calls from grandma to check in and see how I'm doing. I'm thankful for zuccini bread, mashed potatoes, peas, and meat loaf. I'm thankful for grandma's catch phrases, such as "Oh for Pete's sake," "You stinker!" and "For $2 tomatoes we'll have to eat the stem and all!" I am so thankful to have 2 very supporting grandparents who came to all my athletic events, invested in my education, sent care packages when I was in college, came to visit every place I ever lived, and made me genuinely happy to be around them.

I am thankful for all the friends I made in college. I'm thankful that we stay in touch and make efforts to see each other. I am thankful for girl talks, karaoke, dancing, sleepovers, fort building, race-running, shopping, movie watching, Italy-traveling, and concert going. Special thanks to my girls Tonia Tessum, Andrea Hrubes, Erin Schmidt, Maddy Strauss, Heather Clark, Rachel Lewis, Stephanie Ewing, Jamie Rathjen, Emily Scholtes, Kristina Strong, and Hannah Peterson

I am thankful to be living in a nicer apartment than I could have imagined, with rent that's cheaper than any of my crappy college apartments

I'm thankful to be living in a new city, with lots of things to do and lots of culture to keep me occupied

I'm thankful for the gift of creativity and the motivation to create new things each week

I'm thankful to be a teacher. I am thankful for every little mind I mold, especially the naughty ones. I am so thankful to be in such a rewarding profession.

I am thankful to have 3 weeks left until I'm an official college graduate!

I am thankful for my health and the health of my family. It's something that I often take for granted, and it's important to realize I'm very fortunate

I am thankful to live in a country where I'm free to believe what I want to believe

I am thankful to be an open-minded, free-thinking individual, accepting of many different walks of life

I am thankful to be celebrating my 23rd birthday in 4 days :)

I am thankful for being cuddled up with my fiancé on the couch, fire burning, about to watch a movie, pop some popcorn, and drink some wine. Life is good.

What are you thankful for?

P.S. I always get a bunch of people on Facebook telling me they like my blog! Some people who I never thought would click my link. I am getting an especially high amount of traffic after posting our engagement. I'm sure there are others out there who frequent my blog and are not telling me :) And that's ok! I'm trying to gauge who my audience is-- if you are a follower, be sure to click the "Join this Site" link at the top left hand corner. That would really make me happy :)

"I Be Up In The Gym, Just Working On My Fitness..."

Welp, it's about that time. I can no longer rely on long nights of lesson planning to interrupt my workouts. All my planning is done during nap time. Soooo it's back to the gym I go!

Yes, I realize the week before Thanksgiving and the start of the holidays is not the best time to start working out again. But, I was motivated so here I am. The 7 mile Living History Farms race was the push I needed to get my butt back in gear!

Mom, Me, Tonia, Kevin, Dad (yes, dad ran the race though he is substantially less muddy than the rest of us)

Working out is not a chore for me. I actually enjoy it, once I get there. I thought I would put together a little list to share what motivates me to work out. I was inspired by this blog post.

• I think about the feeling I get when I LEAVE the gym. I will never leave with regret. However, I will regret not going in the first place.
• I make a playlist of songs that reflect my mood-- when I have a lot of energy, I listen to upbeat music, when I just need to relax, I slow it down.
• Think about working out as a reward-- I get to zone out for an hour and listen to music. It's my "me" time.
• When I have 5 minutes left in my run and I feel like I'm going to die, I just picture the parts of my body that I'm not so happy with and how those parts will look if I keep putting in the work 
• Set a goal for myself to reach a certain weight, change a pant size, work out everyday, etc. Example: I will get my tattoo when I lose 10 lbs, I will allow myself to go wedding dress shopping when I hit a goal weight (yes, that last one is an actual goal) :)
• Pick a good time to start. For me, this is usually on a Monday, or after a certain period of time (end of the school year, moved to a new apartment, etc.)
• Dedicate certain days to certain areas of your body so you are not overwhelmed. Don't kill yourself to work everything everyday. I shoot for working out 4 days a week. This allows some flexibility if I'm just not feeling it some night, I can move my day. Here is my current "plan"
• Day 1: Cardio, Abs
• Day 2: Cardio, Legs, Abs
• Day 3: Cardio, Arms, Abs
• Day 4: Full body toning
• EAT RIGHT! One of the most important things I stressed when I taught fitness classes is you CANNOT lose weight or get a six-pack if you don't change your eating habits. I use myfitnesspal to help me stay on track. I know I have blogged about this site before, but I really love it. It's very personalized and easy to use. Enter your current weight, your goal weight, how much you expect to exercise, and how quickly you want to lose weight. It will give you the amount of calories you should take in each day. I find it helpful planning meals in advance to stay on track. 
• Finally, don't do it alone. Find a buddy to keep you motivated and accountable. I am always looking for a fitness buddy if anyone is interested :) whether it be working out together or checking in on each other on myfitnesspal, I would love a buddy.

Here are some (slightly depressing) pictures to help motivate you!

Good luck!

P.S. I always get a bunch of people on Facebook telling me they like my blog! Some people who I never thought would click my link. I am getting an especially high amount of traffic after posting our engagement. I'm sure there are others out there who frequent my blog and are not telling me :) And that's ok! I'm trying to gauge who my audience is-- if you are a follower, be sure to click the "Join this Site" link at the top left hand corner. That would really make me happy :)

Eek!

Better start saving :)

Wedding Inspiration: Mason Jars

And let the wedding posts commence!

Holy cow! I had 370 views on my blog yesterday! I never thought so many people would care to hear my engagement story, but it makes me happy. However, it kind of makes me rethink my decision to post the picture of me in my towel, wet hair, post-crying, no make up picture! Oh well... I figure it's my personal blog and captured the moment well. I told my pre-k students today that my boyfriend asked me to marry him. Their first reaction was to turn red and smile so big! Then, they turned back into 5 years old and in unison yelled, "YUCKYYYY!!!!!!" Then the rest of the day was spent in marriage proposals. Mostly forced marriage proposals. "I'm going to marry you!" Most were also male to male proposals :)

Anyway.. I thought I'd share some of the preliminary ideas we had to keep my all new readers interested. As my faithful readers know, Kevin and I started collecting mason jars even before we got engaged. While in Amana this weekend, we went to an antique store and got a bunch of mason jars for $1. Our plan is to use them as drinking glasses at our wedding for all our guests to drink out of. When we told the store owner, he replied, "What is it a hillbilly theme?" HAH! Not quite. But close. We haven't set a theme yet, as we have awhile to worry about that! Now, I will be collecting all the ideas I love to find inspiration for an eventual theme. Today: Mason Jars Inspiration.

This is my most re-pinned pin on Pinterest

 I like the simplicity of these flower displays 

 I like the aqua/yellow combination.. this would be a cool idea to get the pop of yellow

 Doesn't this just make you want to drink? Maybe? We wouldn't put the chalkboard paint on them because we figure it's something we can get our money back on by selling them, and I like the original look

 Another way to incorporate them

 I thought this was a cute idea as a save the date

One of the ideas I'm most excited about is having a kids' table. I'm ridiculously excited about it.

{note: all images found via Pinterest}

I feel like that was an obnoxious amount of mason jars. I don't anticipate our wedding to be overwhelmed by it. I'm sure we will probably only come up with enough mason jars for our guests to drink from, but it would certainly be a fun theme to run with!

If you or anyone you know has an excessive amount (or any for that matter!) of mason jars, LET US KNOW!!!!!! We have been paying $1-$2 for each jar, but FREE sounds even better :) Any sizes or colors are welcome. The blue ones are especially welcomed. :)

P.S. I always get a bunch of people on Facebook telling me they like my blog! Some people who I never thought would click my link. I am getting an especially high amount of traffic after posting our engagement. I'm sure there are others out there who frequent my blog and are not telling me :) And that's ok! I'm trying to gauge who my audience is-- if you are a follower, be sure to click the "Join this Site" link at the top left hand corner. That would really make me happy :)