Thankful

Today I am thankful for so many things :)

• A God who provides for and loves me. My joy is complete in Him.
• A wonderful husband who strives to please Him and shows me love in every moment. He makes me laugh, listens to me, and is my best friend.
• A church family that I am excited to grow with -- we are so thankful to have finally found our church home.
• Two crazy pugs who make me laugh all the time.
• A great graduate program that pushes me to my limit so I will be the best speech pathologist I can be.
• A supportive and loving family that I get to see and talk to so often.
• A fantastic school to work for and an amazing supervisor.
• Where God has taken me these past few years.... Five years ago I would have never imagined to be where I am, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
• Wonderful friends that I have, as spread out as we are, that still keep in touch and fill my life with joy.
• A great house that we continue to make more "home-y".
• Again, the love of my Father. He has blessed me so much.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!! 

Balance

This week has been crazy- I started it off with my first wreck, plus work, classes, and then trying to keep up with all the small things. I'd like to think that I'm a laid back person,   but really- it's just me avoiding the fact that there is sooooo much to do, and then when it does pile up, my super-stress compensates for all of the things I was previously ignoring. I think that was a run-on, and I'll be happy if anyone understands me.

Oddly enough, I feel myself on the brink of peace. That's a new feeling for me (being CLOSE to peace), but I know God is trying to calm me before I let all of these meaningless things bother me. And I am trying to listen. Not doing as well as I'd wanted on a midterm = keep pressing on. What good does stressing do? I'm trying to remember that.

It was a wreck...

Literally :( On  my way home from work today, I got in a car accident. It could have been much worse, but I have never felt so shaken up in my life. Right after it happened, my whole body started tingling, and I'm lucky that there were people around to help me and get my car out of the way of traffic.

I won't say much more, other than that I am thanking God for His protection of everyone there. I will go to bed tonight thankful for another day of life.

A quarter of a century! ;)

This weekend has been sooo much fun! I love that my hubs makes me feel so special all the time, but especially on my birthday. While at work on Friday, Russell called me to tell me we had a surprise date. Um, yes!! I love surprises, and I love dates :) We ended up at this cute little place called "Painting with a Twist". You can bring your own wine and you paint a painting with a bunch of other people in a class- it is sooo much fun, and I felt like an artist!

It was so much fun, and now our masterpieces are hanging in our room. What a great memory! I love it :)

On Saturday we went to the Magnolia Pancake Haus, and it was soooo yummy. I wish I had a picture of my yummy "Authentic Munchener Apfel Pfannekuchen".  It was the wonder of a pancake x 100! It was basically like tasting heaven!

That night we went to a comedy club. It was a first-time experience for both of us. We did get a few laughs in, but I can't say we'll do it again. Sometimes it was a little much, but overall we had a fantastic time! I am so lucky to have such a sweet husband. 

Here's to a good 25th year! :-)

Midterms, Schmidterms, and other fun things

Midterms... are... over!! Hallelujah! I am so happy about this. I only spent two weeks not cleaning my house, not doing laundry, etc. - It's time to get it together!! I know there is still a ton to do for school, but I am going to rejoice in this moment- I finished a major portion of this semester. Hopefully I did well!

There are lots of exciting things happening in our lives right now that I really wish I could announce on here, but alas. It shall wait. :) Here's a hint: I'm not pregnant ;) That's for my mom in case the word "announce" happens to cause anyone to jump to conclusions. God has been moving in our lives in ways I never thought would ever happen- I can't say much more, but I will say that His ways are best all the time. I am so thankful to know that the plan is all His! If you read this, please pray for us as we seek to glorify God in the next few steps regarding this decision. I will keep the blog 'posted' ;-)

The Power of the /S/! (A Speech Post)

So today I had a breakthrough moment with one of my articulation kiddos. It. was. awesome!!

I know most of you veteran SLP's out there probably think that articulation is the easiest area of speech, but for me, the easiest area is language, and I attribute that to my being an English major and teacher/tutor. To me, vocabulary, parts of speech, basic concepts, etc. are all fun and easy to plan creatively for my kids. I do not, of course, have a caseload of language kids, but do have quite a few artic kids. This is great, considering I need a wide variety of experience for when I'm no longer an assistant, but actually doing this stuff on my own, making my own decisions.

One of my kids struggles with making his /S/ sound. Of course he does "th" instead, but for about 8 weeks, I have never been able to help him understand tongue placement, or hear the difference between /s/ and /th/. I was getting discouraged because I heard many people say /S/ is their favorite sound to work with because it is so easy. I've tried using tongue depressors, the "big mouth" as a model, minimal pairs, etc. Well, my supervisor told me that she sometimes had luck when she explained that some people have a false tooth and their S kind of sounds like a loud whistle. Well, I modeled this and it was a huge success! He even heard himself say the /s/ clearly and wanted to look in the mirror so he could make sure his tongue wasn't touching in between his front teeth. He kept wanting to say /s/ words and got them all right multiple times!

Now, this may not be too exciting to many, but it was one of those moments when you know the kid "got it" and it was literally life changing for them. The big smile I got to see when he heard himself say the /S/ sound was the best part of my day. Absolutely priceless :-) I can't wait to see it again!

Neurology & Candied Pecans

So this weekend has been full of studying for my Neuro midterm, in addition to many other important things- like candied pecans! I don't know why, but I was definitely craving them as a mid-study snack tonight. So I got up and put some pecans, cinnamon, and sugar in a pan and wa-la. Yummy :)

Aside from that, I can tell you all about neural development, cerebral spinal fluid, etc., but I'm sure that's not exactly interesting- although it kind of is! ;) I guess I should get back to studying. Maybe I should call this my "October update"! Hopefully I'll get to blog more later in the week. 

Pinky, Pinky and the Brain Brain Brain Brain...

This amazingly funny video brings so much laughter to me because it is just such a cute way to study! Who can watch TOO much Pinky & the Brain?! And if you don't know who Pinky and the Brain are, we might not be able to talk until you watch a few Youtube videos of them. ;)

So, this week has gone by really quick! I think the beauty of being super busy is that long days don't feel as long as they are!In addition to full-time work at the school doing speech therapy (which I love!!), graduate classes started this week. This week was Neurology, and next week is Diagnostics. I should probably go and study for Neurology a bit before I go to bed because, yes, the human brain is very intricate! When I learn about it, I can't help but think of the miracle of life. Even our professor included "And because you are fearfully and wonderfully made..." into her lecture. I love that my professors are so passionate about what they do, and for helping others. It is truly a joy to "see" them via videoconferencing every week.

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Last weekend for labor day weekend, I went to Houston to visit my beautiful friend, Lauren, and her sweet new baby, Lily. It is SO crazy to me that we are all growing up and having BABIES (okay, so maybe I'm not all grown up yet because it may be a couple years!), and it was a true joy to get to meet one of my best friend's daughter. Here are some pics:

Isn't she cute? And she was a joy to be around. Such a sweet baby. Lauren is already a great mother.

Well, I guess I should go study the parts of the brain!! Hippocampus, hypothalamus, etc. Gotta love it! :)

Lovin' the new job

So summer is "over" and school is back in session! I'm sooo excited to be a part of my new school doing speech therapy. We have been doing lots of organizing, paper work, etc. It all sounds mundane, but my kids will start coming next week and I am so excited to meet all of them!

We haven't been doing much lately besides work. Russell is teaching 5th grade and even has a couple of my 4th graders from last year! Crazy, right? I'm so thankful that we both have the opportunity to educate these kids this year.

Can't write too much tonight because it's *gasp*, my bed time! I'm trying to get a lot of sleep and energy before grad school starts back up. Here's a peek at my decorated door for the speech room:

My hallway has a mural of the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree, so I decided to make a jungle theme this year. Can't wait to meet my little toucans ;)

Day 3 - 7 Day Slim Down

I woke up super late this morning (around 10), but still fit a good day in! I'm in no way following the 7 day slim down completely, but each food choice that I make has been a healthy one! I feel like this round of the slim down is more of a kick-start to eating healthy than anything else, but I feel great about it.

• This morning I did a 30 min jog/walk in my neighborhood and came back and had a protein pancake. I had a lot of batter left over, so tomorrow I'm using it for waffles. Can't wait! ;)
• For meal 2, I had a handful of blackberries. They were SO good.
• Meal 3: Chicken with veggies- yum!
• Meal 4 - accidentally skipped it :(
• Meal 5 - Was going to make a lean ground turkey salad, but my hubby wanted something "good". I ended up making it with whole wheat thin spaghetti in a small portion. I would usually eat 2-3 bowls, and ate a small one instead. 

I'm finding that this is a HUGE mental thing for me. I'm learning that I usually just eat when I feel the slightest bit BORED of all things. So I'm hoping that I'm getting rid of that habit. 

Great day! :-)

Day 2 - 7 Day Slim Down

Today was CRAZY!! I had so much going on from 6:45 AM to now - 1:16 AM. I. am. pooped. And then I remembered I had to blog :)

So I woke up to head over to my parent's for their garage sale. I made a good $3, but also got a $1 Belgian waffle maker. Heck yes! ;)

So I tried a Kombucha drink this morning with an apple sprinkled with Stevia. It was yummy, but not enough! So after 5 hours of garage sale-ing in this Texas heat, I drove home and made a quick salad.

This salad was much better than yesterday's! I sprinkled lemon juice on it instead of balsamic vinegar, Mrs. Dash lemon pepper, tomatoes, onion, and spinach leaves. It was great and I actually caught myself thinking, "Wow, this tastes good! I like healthy food?!" So progress is happening. I loved that.

After my salad, me and the hubs went to my school so I could show him my speech room. It was neat to show him where I will be. He wanted to grab lunch for himself an hour later before we went to his classroom, so I failed to stick to the diet plan completely because I got broccoli & cheese soup and a small sandwich from Quizno's. Big boo boo, but I'm learning that as long as I watch my portions and keep an eye on the ingredients, all that matters is I'm making better choices than the old junk-food loving Krista.

For my final meal, I had honey-glazed chicken with mixed veggies. Overall, I'm pretty proud of myself! I'm excited to be sticking to it.

I didn't do an "official" workout, but I plan on doubling up tomorrow. I did do a lot of moving furniture and stuff today, so that counts for something :-)

Sorry if this is a boring post of my ramblings about healthy eating, but I'm finding that I almost need to do this (even if no one reads it) to keep myself accountable. So...

Dear self,

Please stick to eating healthy tomorrow. Don't give in to breakfast tacos your grandma makes, or non-healthy butter-filled waffles your husband plans on making. Work out, because you know you won't regret it. This time next year, you will hopefully reach your goal of losing 15-20 pounds! :) You won't unless you're consistent. So keep going. :-)

Love,

Your very motivated self

Day 1 - 7 Day Slim Down

So this morning was the start of my 7 Day Slim Down from Tone It Up. It did not go nearly as well as I thought it would.... :(

7:30 A.M. - Wake up, did level 1 of Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. The whole time I was in an angry mood because I was too asleep and wanted to go running outside instead. Unfortunately, I did not feel like it was cool enough outside!

8:00 A.M. - Had an egg white & spinach scramble

8:45 - Headed to work to see my speech room and meet my principal and other co-workers. SO fun! Ended up staying until 3 though :(

3:30- First-time trip to a Farmer's Market. Loved it. Got tempeh thinking it would be good for my salad I wanted to eat sooo bad.

4:00 - Cooked tempeh, ate it, spat it out. Disgusting! I honestly thought it tasted like dog food smells. Sooo I made a protein shake instead with protein powder and almond milk.

6:30 - Dinner- Chicken breast chunks with bell pepper.

7:30 - Beach Bum workout from Tone it Up

8:00 - Chobani Greek yogurt w/cinnamon, black tea.

I felt hungry the whole day and had a loss of energy. My workouts were too simple and I know I'm not pushing myself enough. I reeeeeally want to lose some weight and get toned, but how can it happen if I can't be happy with what I eat? I'm hoping today was just an off day for me. Really hoping.

Here's to a better day tomorrow!

These summer days...

So today my hubs had his first day back at work. Kind of stinks. After 70+ days of summer vacation, you kind of get used to waking up whenever you want, lounging around, procrastinating from things you want to do, having no papers to grade, and.... well, you get the picture. Even though I spent most of my summer studying and doing projects for my first semester of grad school, I didn't really have a care in the world! But alas, work is starting again, and we are prepping for another great school year. I'm so thankful that my hubs has a good, solid job as a teacher (as those are hard to come by these days), and I was blessed with a job as a speech pathology assistant. We have so many things to thank the Lord for.

This past weekend, we decided to take a trip to the beach. It was our very first beach trip as a couple, and our very first "family vacation" with our pugs!! Oh boy, they were so cute. Here are some pics:

The pugs were so happy to be on a vacation with us. You could tell they really loved it. Here they are prepping for the beach!

Me and my baby :)

Fishing! 

He wanted to go fishing so bad... it was so fun getting to do that with him :)

Our beautiful morning view from the pier.

It was fun to go, but at the same time, oddly nice to be home? We are getting back into the groove of things, and I'm trying to get everything situated before next week when I start work. 

And now I'm blogging with two snorting pugs wrestling next to me as my hubby plays the piano in the other room. I wouldn't have it any other way :)

Morning Run and other things...

Running was so much better (and fun) this morning because I went to the park/lake by my house. There is something about a nice view to look at as you run that seems to make it a lot more therapeutic. I think the next few days I will be scoping out the perfect place to run because it was THAT much better. I usually just run in my neighborhood, but I don't like that I get to smell car fumes, ward off people's leash-less dogs, and receive awkward stares from people in their garage. A little weird.

These next few days are crazy because my finals are on Tuesday for 2 very tough classes. I will be so relieved when they are over, but I feel like I have a million things going on at once. I always used to say that I didn't have time to work out because I was so busy for school, but I'm finding that I NEED that time to take a breather from school, cleaning, errands, etc. It's just nice, and helps me to calm down for the rest of the day. Thank goodness I have finally found this peace with running, and that it is feeling like less and less of a chore!

Right now I am studying for my Language class, but find myself longing to be running again. Love that. :-)

Kitchen Progress

So our kitchen's new look has been a huge work in progress for the past year or so. We pretty much gave up on it after our first idea did not go as planned. Well, we reeeeally want to get it complete before this school year begins and so we can have the heart of our home back!

Here are some current updates for the kitchen:
--Bought and installed backsplash, just need to grout
--Began painting ugly maple 70's cabinet white, added crown molding to "modernize"
--Russell is now building our new(er) cabinet doors - the same cabinet doors with inset beadboard
--Bought knobs and pulls.... just need to finish painting cabinets

Need to do:
--Finish painting cabinets, install knobs and pulls
--Take down popcorn, texture ceiling
--Paint walls (our "sunrise" yellow color?)
--Grout backsplash
--Spray paint old hinges to match fixtures and knobs (nickel)

Whew! There's still a lot to do! Hopefully we will have this finished by next weekend. Pictures to come!! :-)

Bathroom Remodel... Complete!

I am definitely the luckiest woman alive. Not only is my husband handsome and wonderful to me, but he is talented at remodeling, too! Not that I didn't know this before, but this bathroom remodel definitely restated the fact.

So I'm going to back up and explain the story of our house a little bit. I bought our house two years ago, right before our wedding so that we could have our own house once we got married. I was pretty determined to find a cheap house that we could make look like a million bucks after we worked on it. So, we definitely bought a fixer-upper. Now, it's SO easy to say something when you're a first-time home buyer, but actually doing all the work required... well it takes time, money, and patience. There have been times when we say, "Why didn't we just buy a new home?!," but then we do projects like this and I know we made the right choice. If we had bought a new home, it would be really hard to make it our own like we can with this house. Plus, so much love and pride goes into making your house your own, but especially when it was completely old 70's gunk before! Haha :-)

Well, to give you an idea of our bathroom dilemma, I will replay a conversation between me and Russell that used to take place quite often.
Russell: "I wish we had a bathroom suite."
Krista: "We can always convert the garage and hire a plumber to make us one with a jet-tub, stand-up shower, and double sinks."
Russell: ::Blink:: "That's expensive."
Krista: "Yeah, you're right. What CAN we do to make it feel nicer?"

And then I proceed to look on Pinterest for ideas. Well, I definitely LOVED this picture I found a couple weeks ago:

I knew Russell could definitely do it because, well, like I said earlier, he's amazing. ;)

So as soon as I saw it, I told Russell, "Doesn't this just look GREAT?" (Or something like that...)

And then we started scheming....

Well, let me just cut to the chase and show you the before and after:

Okay, so sorry about me being in the first pic. Not flattering, but oh well! Look at how not flattering the bathroom is! Icky 70's... EVERYTHING! The old wood cabinets, the weird wanna-be marble counter top, the giant egg-like sink. Plus a huge mirror that takes up way too much space, and a tacky light fixture. Can you feel my frustration? 

Then I'm taken to heavenly bliss when I see the After Picture :-) 

I love the way everything ended up flowing together so well. Most importantly, we did it on a budget. Go Russell & Krista. 

Here are some close-ups:

We got our vessel sink off of E-bay after searching for the perfect one. All I wanted:  An oil-rubbed bronze faucet. Thank you E-bay for such a great deal! :)

Here's a close-up view from one angle. The counter-top is a nice looking piece of wood Russell got from Lowe's. He stained and poly'd it to make it water resistant. Nice!

I got the light-fixture from Home Depot. Again, all I cared about: oil-rubbed bronze. I like it! 

The mirror is one that we already had, but also purchased from Lowe's a while back. As I was walking out to go pick out a mirror, I told Russell, "Do you think this mirror will work? Nah, it may be too big." 

We definitely saved money when we discovered it fit perfectly, and keeps with the oil-rubbed bronze look! Could life get better? I submit that it cannot. (Who knows that comedian?)

I got the hardware from Lowe's and it wasn't bad at all. It totally transforms the look of everything and I am definitely pleased.

Well, this is one long post all about my bathroom. I have definitely done my share of bragging, but I just can't help it!! I'm even BLOGGING in front of the bathroom. Sheesh :-) What do you think of it?

Time flies....

...when you're on summer vacation! So much is going on- it's crazy!! Okay, so our life may not be *crazy*, but it does feel like it sometimes. I'm finishing up my last 3 weeks of 1/7 semesters, and I am soooo ready to be finished! So far my grades have been good and I have no complaints. In the next three weeks, I have to complete quite a few things though, and I know it will get done. Just gotta do it! Maybe I'm writing this to motivate myself?

While I'm doing school work, Russell has been busy remodeling our bathroom. I'm so excited that he has come so far with it. We now have a new vanity area, a unique version of wains cotting (sp?), new light fixtures and hardware, crown molding, and a vessel sink! Wow- that is a lot. I didn't realize how much it was until I type it out.

I'm excited to post a picture of the end result. Hopefully by tomorrow that will happen....

Just wanted to give a quick update while I had "time". I just finished taking a quiz and now I have to complete a brochure and finish reading some articles. Not too shabby! :)

Crown Molding!

So Russell and his dad decided that they wanted to buy crown molding and test it out in the bathroom. I'm soooo ready to have it in the rest of the house!!

I know it's not the best picture, but it is soooo much better. I should have definitely taken a before picture, but imagine tacky 70's wall paper, cracks between the ceiling and the wall, and popcorn ceilings. Yuck! This is my favorite bathroom now :) Hopefully more crown will be put up this summer. There's still so much to do.

Our vanity is the next step for this bathroom.Take a look at this darling:

I know it's not tidy right now, but that's because I hate that bathroom. I find that when I hate the way a room looks, I have no intention of trying to cover it up by making it look very tidy like I would a nicer room. To me, that's like putting a dress on a pig. :-) But, alas. I know I DO need to organize it a little.

Below is a picture we are using for inspiration.

(Picture from theletteredcottage.net)

 Russell says he can build the shelves to match it perfectly, and that the rest wouldn't be hard to emulate at all. It would bring the "rustic" part of our house into the bathroom, which is nice.

We may do something different with the bottom portion. Russell has said that instead of a curtain, we can make it more like a cabinet, which I would prefer. Can't wait!

So much to be thankful for

So many good things are happening and I am blessed. The Lord has provided so many good things these past couple months and Russell and I are so thankful. I was recently informed that I will definitely be doing speech therapy come August for a job with an income and this is a huge answer to prayer. For a while, everything was up in the air and we didn't know how we were going to get me through grad school without a job. The Lord is faithful! Russell also got his contract renewed with his school, which is a big answer to prayer because of the budget crisis in Texas right now. I am so thankful for all that we have and couldn't be more happy. We in no way deserve all of this.

A couple weeks ago, I attended "Kick-Off" week in Denton for my graduate program. My friend Mariana and I were roommates and we got to relive the college experience! For me, I felt like I was immersed in an amazing program with wonderful professors. I learned so much in one week. We had class M-TH from 8-5:30-ish and on Friday we had all of our exams. It was definitely an experience to remember, but I made it out, and passed all of my exams! I am now back at home taking classes through our ESC and studying, studying, studying. I'm  also doing my summer practicum at an ESY program for a couple weeks and working with some amazing kiddos! I was a little nervous before going into this because I have never worked with children who had sever disorders or disabilities. These children have already touched my life so much and I get to help them communicate better. I know that speech pathology is the career for me and am so excited to be a part of this outstanding profession. I can't wait to learn more and work with more people.

Other than that, we are definitely soaking up summer vacation. Even though I have school, it is nice to have my husband home all day and do whatever we want. We're knocking out a lot of our summer projects for the house and hope to get it cleaned up. Today Russell textured a lot of walls and ceilings. We are trying to get rid of all the popcorn ceilings and we're making a lot of progress. One step at a time :) I am so thankful my husband is so handy.

Now I am blogging and sipping on a strawberry shake. It doesn't get much better.

Master Bedroom Progress

So unfortunately, we've lived here for almost two years, and I'm just now getting around to making the master bedroom pretty. At least I hope I'm making it pretty. I've been attracted to a "french" theme for that room for a while and have tried working a few of Russell's family antiques into that room. I've had to do some mixing and matching (more mixing) to the best of my abilities, and have found little help on the web. My last post about my refinished dresser was kind of an introduction to the master bedroom. It's hard for me to really imagine what else I can do with this room without making it feel to feminine. The furniture I'm refinishing is, after all, a "little girl's" set. So, here's a picture of what the bed area currently looks like:

There's still a lot of work to do. I keep questioning everything I've done. "Is the dark brown wall okay?....Ugh, are mismatched nightstands totally ugly? Wait, one's not even a nightstand. Gosh Krista. Call your mom and tell her to come help!!" 

I don't want to give in and fall trap to a "matchy matchy" bedroom set, but at the same time, I don't want the room to look completely ugly. I've also yet to get art or wall decor for this room. Right now, there's an old mirror from college with my wedding veil on it above the bed. I know it's too small, but I like it better than a bare wall. 

I think I've watched too much HGTV because now that I know how much there is to do, I can't decide. Master bedroom updates will definitely be coming in the future...

My beautiful refinished masterpiece! (Could I be less braggy?)

So I tackled my first refinishing project this past weekend and this was the beauty. It seemed that I was the only one who saw its hidden beauty, because Russell was a little hesitant when we went to go pick it up from a Craigslist seller.... But here she is:

I knew it had potential and so I digged online for similar refinishing projects and got a few ideas. I got different tips from everyone, and went out to Lowe's to get my materials. I bought:

1. Sand paper
2. Primer
3. White Paint
4. Rustoleum Metallic Black Spray Paint
5. Various paint brushes - I recommend mini foam rollers or foam brushes

I had last Friday off and got straight to work! First step: Take the knobs off and spray paint them :) The fun part, which is why it was my first step :-)

Afterwards, I sanded the drawers and the dresser itself. This was the most time consuming, but so worth it! After that, the rest was easy. I primed the drawers and dresser, painted, and then let everything dry.

I'm pleased with the results after putting it all back together:

What a beauty :-) I did the nightstand and bookshelf on Sunday (pics to come), and all I have left is the desk! Did I mention I got all 3 pieces for $100? Yes. Amazing. Love!

A-ma-zing!

So today I decided to look on Craigslist again for a "french provincial dresser", which is the style I want for our bedroom. Lo and behold, I found one!! It was a "little girl's set" but it can totally work once we refinish it. The ultimate goal is something like this:

We got a dresser, a nightstand, and a desk for $100 and it is high-quality furniture in that it was built sturdy. Now, the general color (cream) is not that great, but that will be easily fixed when I paint it white!

To complete the look, I want to get this bed from Ikea:

It is very "shabby chic" and I love it. I think it'd go great with a nice, white duvet cover and a red or blue blanket. Way excited. I need to get some mirrors also to start a "mirror wall".

I will have to keep you posted on the progress of the master bedroom. I love cheap finds that will look amazing!

Behold, the diffuser

So at my last visit to the hair salon, I think the stylist was so fed up with spending SOOO much time drying and straightening my hair, that she casually told me about a diffuser and some fun curly stuff. Well, that was about 5 weeks ago, and today I finally gave in and bought one. Who wants to spend an hour on their hair?

I'm pleased to say that I like the natural, curly look! Why have I wasted so much time straightening?? Here's a horrible pic, but a pic nonetheless:

I really like the curls! I may have made a mistake by doing them right before bed, but it was so simple, I can wake up and do them again if I need to. Plus, I'm not sure if I did the diffuser right by doing this, but I loved massaging my scalp as I "diffused" my hair. So nice.

Okay, now, that's the end of my most random post ever.

Oh loverly weekends....!!

So this weekend was amazing. I have done..... nothing. Okay, so maybe I did some laundry. But beyond that- absolutely nothing!! I loved it. It wasn't the wisest thing to do, but I needed it. I have been sick with some wacky allergy for about 3 weeks and can finally see myself getting over it.

We had to get a new television this week because ours just stopped turning on! Even my dad, who knows tv's inside out, said it was dead. So we went a few days without one (which was fine, just not fun when we got a new Netflix dvd), but finally got one this weekend thanks to the sale at Target. Now Russell and I are back to our Sunday night routine of watching HGTV and DIY network together.

So not wanting to go back to work tomorrow, but alas. There are only 8 more Mondays of work, so I can handle it ;) This is actually my last year as a teacher, which is inSANE, and is really starting to freak me out. The graduate program I'm in requires me to work as a SLPA (speech pathology assistant) while in the program and be sponsored by a school district. Well, I got sponsored, but am still looking for the work. We are definitely praying about this, but I'm trusting that God has everything worked out. So many of the students in the program are concerned about this, because I don't think one of us has been "hired". If you can keep me in your prayers as I seek a job with pay, I would appreciate it.

Not much else is going on! We're getting a deck soon! So exciting. We hope to have our official "house warming" party after that.... two years in the making!!

Spring Break is ending... :-(

So, as soon as I finish this blog post, I will consider spring break to be over. Can you see how much I am trying to make sure it never ends? I guess the best thing I can do is just look forward to the fact that summer is almost here. Cant wait!!

So this spring break we had a very ambitious goal for the house. Finish the guest room, paint some more walls, install a new toilet.... and paint the house. I definitely wanted to have "paint the house" at the top of our list as it looked like this:

The garage was just screaming, "Look at meeeee!!" and the rest of the house didn't care. What a boring house! So, we thought about the color scheme for about a year (I know, I know...) and I decided that I couldn't live without a red door or a sage green exterior. It sounded very "Christmas-y," but I just knew it would work.

Well, here's the finished product:

I know these aren't the best pictures, but oh. em. gee. I like the way it turned out. Sometimes I can't stop looking at it when I'm outside. Sheesh.

So now, every time I come home from work, I will see this new color scheme and smile. And even though my husband never reads this blog, thanks babe :-)

Spring Break

Spring Break has been amazing. My suspicion of knowing what I wanted to do with my life was confirmed as I spent 22 hours observing speech therapy sessions at a local clinic. It was probably one of the best experiences of my life! I'm so excited to get started with school and my new career. The patience and love that these therapists have for these children was so amazing. I'll begin my classes and clinicals this summer, which is beyond crazy to me! I feel like I'm ready to get started with therapy though.

For my last few days of Spring Break, I am cleaning house as Russell paints the outside. It is looking wonderful. Next month we will finally be getting our privacy fence and french doors. Pics to come :)

Busy, busy, busy

Well, a lot has been going on lately. I have found myself coming home, falling to sleep, and not waking up until it's time to go to work! Yesterday morning I woke up thinking it was a Saturday (horrible feeling), and last night I woke up at 7:49 P.M., thinking it was 7:49 A.M. on a Friday. How did that happen? I frantically hopped out of bed, worried because Russell was still in his work clothes, thinking "How could you let me sleep in?!?" He calmly told me it was Friday night. Sheesh. I really must be tired, right? Well, today I'm hoping to knock a few things out that I didn't do yesterday: run, actually make dinner, and get a lot of homework out of the way. I won't be doing it in that order.... I know you've enjoyed reading my very interesting post.... haha :)

Little Things I Tell Myself

So, before I knew of my acceptance to the program, I was constantly using the excuse, "I could never have time" when it came to working out and eating right. Well, for the past week, I realized that the next two years are going to be full of potential for that one excuse, and I've decided to start tackling my workout problem now :-)

This week I started running again. For the week so far, I've ran 5.5 miles. I'm going to try to increase my runs by .5 mile each week until I get to at least 5 miles a day. I think once I'm there, I will feel like I can call myself an official runner. Right now I just feel silly logging my 1-2 mile runs. But hey, at least I'm not sitting at home making excuses. That was the old me. :-)

I've also been keeping track of my calorie intake with each meal and have decided to eat healthier. This is huge for me, because lately, I have been indulging in whatever I felt like eating. Not okay. So now I'm on the right road. For breakfast this week, I've had my Organic Blueberry Waffles, or a yogurt. For lunch, it's been lean microwavable food, like Lean Cuisines. For dinner, I've gone all about the veggies. Squash, bell peppers, YUM! Chicken has been my primary meat of choice, too.

I'll be signing up for Tone It Up soon to help me create a plan to stick to. If I can eat junk food, I can eat healthy food. So, here's to a healthier life!! :-)

Oh and I also re-designed the look of the blog :-)

It's official!

I'm going to be a Speech Pathologist! I've officially been accepted into graduate school at Texas Woman's Univeristy for the TETN Cycle 6 program. I cannot explain how excited/relieved/anxious I am about this. God is gracious and good. Here's to a great 2 years of graduate school! :-)

We live, We love

Sometimes, when you are consumed by all the "things" you need to check off of your to-do list, you get caught up in your own bubble. At least I do. This week, I was reminded of just how important it is to get out of that and make sure you are taking advantage of the opportunities the Lord places in front of you.

"Today we remember to live and to love"

This past week I have heard the stories of a few of my students. I have heard words from their lips describing a life I would not wish upon anyone, but especially a child. My heart has broken for them. I have cried for them at night. At the end of this week, I have felt so burdened for them in a way I have never felt burdened for someone before. Friday evening, I got home and parked in my driveway. I couldn't stop crying because of what I know the kids are feeling. I walked in the house and just cried with Russell. I thought I had experienced feeling someone else's pain during their trial, but this pain is much stronger. As I spoke to my students this week about everything they are going through, I struggled with holding back the name of Jesus. I could feel His words speaking through me as I tried to encourage my students, but I desperately wanted to tell them about the love of their Savior. In almost all of my other jobs with children, I have been in a church setting, so this feeling was new to me. There have been times when I'm teaching when my students will ask me about my beliefs and I can tell them, but outside of that I am not "legally allowed" to discuss it. I offered my students a listening ear and what I am hoping was loving, encouraging words for them. I can only hope that they will feel God's love through me.

My heart is heavy. Please pray for the children in our schools, but specifically, my students. The painful stories that they have to tell are hard to listen to from their mouths. They are just children. Please pray that I will have the right words to say when they can't handle the world around them.

"Tragedy is a reminder to take off the blinders, And wake up and live the life we're supposed to take up. Moving forward with all our heads up, Cause life is worth living."