Merry Christmas!

This makes my heart smile. I love coming home and checking the mailbox and seeing all of the cute Christmas cards. I especially love to display them and I find myself just staring at them throughout the day. We are obviously at a time in our lives when many of our friends are starting families.....I mean look at all those cute cheeks! Besides making me want to just squeeze all those little cheeks, looking at this display makes me so thankful. It is a reminder of so many prayer requests that have been answered, both in our lives and in our dear friends lives.

"Lord, You are my God. I will exalt You, I will praise Your name, for You have done WONDERFUL things!" -Isaiah 25:1

May your greatest Christmas blessing be God's love for you and yours! Yes, I stole borrowed that from a Christmas card. Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!

Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

And since we've no place to go

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

This picture was taken this morning after it snowed all day Sunday. It was our first snow of the winter. I could seriously sit by the window, and the fireplace of course, and watch it snow for hours! After growing up along the Gulf Coast, I love that this is something that happens in Chattanooga more than once every 10 years. It definitely gets you in the Christmas mood seeing everything covered in white.

It's great to be an AUburn Tiger!

Ben and I went to Atlanta this past weekend for the SEC championship game. We were so grateful to have been able to find tickets and take a little weekend getaway. And my Tigers did not disappoint! 56-17! What a season...I am SO proud of our team for getting the opportunity to play for the National Championship on January 10th...history in the making :)

It was a great weekend and we were able to catch up with some good friends who we hadn't seen in a while!

Future Auburn student who sat behind us

 Post-game, back at the hotel...we were exhausted

 But it was SO fun to see the #1 Tigers beat South Carolina!

We stayed at the JW Marriott in Buckhead which was perfect because I had not even started our Christmas shopping! No trip to Atlanta is complete without going shopping! The mall in Chattanooga leaves much to be desired!

The beautiful trees at Phipps....I just love Christmas decorations!

Happy Friday!

Give Thanks...for the Pot-O-Gold

I love the St. Jude commercial which is part of their Thanks and Giving Campaign. Give thanks for the healthy kids in your life and give to those who are not. The message is simple but it always makes me stop and reflect because I think it applies to life in general, not just children. I am so thankful for everything God has done in our lives. We are blessed beyond reason.

We alternate holidays with our families, so this year it was Thanksgiving in Daphne with my family. My mom has a pretty big family so I have lots of cousins. It was so good to see everyone and catch up! We especially enjoyed getting to see Ryan and Adrienne.

We love spending time with them and are looking forward to going to NYC next year and seeing them!

Some of my cousins with their significant others

To get in the Christmas spirit, we went to the Magic Christmas in Lights show at Bellingrath Gardens. No one in my family had ever been even though my mom talks about it every year. The temperatures were in the 70s all week and the night we decided to go on this hour long walking tour it was in the 30s. Needless to say, we were freezing but it was so fun.  

 

The expression on the jack in the box says it all

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

"Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever." 1 Chronicles 16:34

A little too close for comfort

Ever since we have moved in, I have always thought the house across the street was sketchy. There are always lots of cars over there. Ben has talked with the owner before and apparently some of his kids and their kids had moved back in with him, so that explained all the different ages and why there were so many cars....or so we thought.

A few weeks ago a Uhaul showed up and I couldn't help but be ecstatic inside. I immediately called Ben and told him finally now that we are wanting to sell our house, our shady neighbors are moving out. So, this Uhaul stays there for several days. Ben said they were not only moving furniture, but he saw them like scrubbing the garage? Okay that's totally normal? So, we thought just the kids were moving out since the house was never for sale. The police were over there a few weeks ago, but again didn't think a whole lot about it since it wouldn't surprise me if one of them was in trouble with the law. Well, the past week there has been absolutely no activity at the house...other than 2 cars parked there.

Picture of the house from the street...very normal

Notice the Red and Yellow Signs? They appeared this week...I couldn't stop wondering what they said. I mean this is our neighbor, we have a right to know? Last night I made Ben pull in the driveway so we could get a better look. The yellow piece of paper said in bold letters "Order of Quarantine", Ben and I stared at each other and immediately hit our car into reverse. What in the world? I mean what does order of quarantine mean? Why were the neighbors not notified of this? We were comming with all kinds of speculations.

And then a little google search revealed the truth behind our house across the street.  All this time our sketchy neighbors were actually cooking meth. Another picture to show you just how close this little meth lab was to our home...this was taken standing on our front porch.

So many thoughts have gone through our head. The house could have easily exploded. It is amazing that we never had any real problems from them, other than having to look at the used car lot. It is something you see on movies, but I never imagined something like this happening in our neighborhood! So, plans to put our house have been put on hold as I am thinking notices of quarantine on the neighbor's front door would not be a selling feature of our home. Just another weeekend on East Dallas Road.

Cooking and Construction

This is a random post but I've been meaning to share these recipes and haven't gotten around to it until now.

S'more bars :)

How fun are these? I wouldn't even say I'm that crazy about s'mores but I must admit these were really good. I made them for our work Halloween party for our patients. Of course, I saved a few for us to enjoy and Ben even made the comment that they were better than the snickers we had left over {we only had 2 trick-or-treaters so needless to say we consumed our weight in chocolate that weekend}. Anyways, these little bars are so tasty and the best part is they are no bake!

3 tbsp. unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pan

1 cup graham cracker crumb
¾ cup sweetened condensed milk

1 1/3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1½ tsp. vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

1 cup mini marshmallows

2 whole graham crackers

Line an 8 x 8-inch baking dish with aluminum foil. Lightly butter the foil. Place the butter in a heatproof bowl and microwave until melted. Mix in the graham cracker crumbs and stir with a fork until the crumbs are evenly moistened. Pour the crumb mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan and press firmly into an even layer on the bottom of the pan.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the condensed milk and chocolate chips. Heat, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Off the heat, stir in the vanilla and salt. Pour the chocolate mixture over the graham cracker base. Working quickly, spread the chocolate into an even layer and smooth with a spatula. Sprinkle the marshmallows over the top of the chocolate. Gently press down so that the marshmallows become partly embedded in the chocolate. Break the whole graham crackers into small pieces and stick into the chocolate mixture between the marshmallows.

Cover and refrigerate the bars until firm, about 4 hours. Use the foil to lift the bars out of the pan and transfer to a cutting board. Use a large sharp knife to cut into squares or rectangles. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Homemade Salsa

Am I the only person who has never tried to make their own salsa? I'm seriously wondering why it took me so long.... especially given the fact that we go through a thing of salsa like weekly. I think I was slightly intimidated. So, I had some extra time one night and decided to try my own version. It was actually really good and I just loved knowing all of the ingredients were fresh. I don't think I will make it weekly but I do plan on making it again soon!

 3 large tomatoes, diced

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

2 tablespoons chopped red onion

1/2 small white onion, chopped

1 small bell pepper, chopped

1/2 cup green chiles, drained

3 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tbsp olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

Salt & Pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, stir to combine. Cover and chill until served.

In other news, our downstairs is officially a construction zone! They have been working on the shower this week and also closed in the entry way to the old formal living room/new 4th bedroom!

After this weekend we will  be professional painters, got to love being married to a DIY kind-of-person! We also have to pick out a new vanity, mirror, and light for the bathroom. Estimated completion date is the week of Thanksgiving. This is a huge answer to a prayer as we have a potential showing for Thanksgiving weekend, so we would really like for the house to be presentable by then!

Hope everyone has a great weekend! War Eagle :)

"Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever." Psalm 136:26

Pure Barre

I've debated about whether I should devote an entire post to this. But then I decided since this blog is intended to be an account of our lives, Pure Barre must be mentioned since it has become a big part of my life. So, here goes...

I love the idea of being a runner but when it actually comes down to me standing outside on the sidewalk it is just torture for me. I've tried the gym thing but I just can't ever stay motivated past a week or two. When I signed up for bootcamp the month before our wedding, I thought I was going to die. I clearly remember looking at my friend when we were running with a jump rope and stating that I pray I never got really big and had to actually do this to lose weight. I know that is absolutely awful to say but that is how much I despised working out. It's hard to be in my profession though and know all of the benefits of exercising and yet not do it. It wasn't until I got married and saw how easy it is to gain weight when you are cooking and keeping a full pantry that I realized that I had to do something...no excuses any more. Enter Pure Barre.

I found out about this new workout craze from my friend Amanda. She had started going in Charlotte and had been telling me how much I would like it {we danced together at Samford but you don't have to have a dance background to enjoy it!}. At that time we didn't have a studio in Chattanooga so I couldn't get too excited about it. So, a few weeks go by and I decide to look on-line to find out more about this thing called Pure Barre. Much to my surprise I came across this article. I really couldn't believe it, Chattanooga is never on the up-and-coming!

September 9th I took my first class. Thankfully, I was able to recruit a friend who had also heard about it so I didn't have to go by myself! I could barely walk the next 2 days so I knew I had worked something. The next week I took another class to make sure I liked it before I committed to a month unlimited {which was the new client special}. September 20th I bought the month unlimited package and I guess the rest is history. I've been going an average of 4-5 times/week ever since.

I guess I can officially say that I am obsessed. The days I don't go, I miss not being there. I mean that is a huge statement for me! I could write a whole post just on the benefits (mentally, physically, etc.) but for the sake of boring you to tears I will just say the results have been amazing. I am a better person {read better wife} when I come home after class. I will warn you though, it is not the cheapest option that is out there. I still struggle with the price but Ben has been so supportive which means so much to me. I am dedicated to going and he sees the results so he feels like it is worth it. At some point I have to tell myself that you can't put a price tag on your health. If it works for you, then do it.

So, if anyone is even still reading at the this point...you are probably asking what is it? what do you do?  I know because I asked the same questions. It is very hard to explain but this video I think does a good job. It basically targets the areas that women typically struggle with {triceps, abs, thighs, and seats} but it's a very intense full body workout. It goes by really fast which I love and I love all of the stretching. I am so relaxed and feel very refreshed when I leave.

I really wish I had some great before and after pictures but truth is I haven't taken many pictures in the last few months because I am so grossed out every time I see one. I wish I had taken my measurements before I started but to be honest I never imagined I would a) like it as much as I do to keep going long enough to see results and b) actually see dramatic changes in my body like I have. My clothes are fitting differently and the scale is showing a number that I am happy with, so that is all I need to keep me motivated! Just wait for bathing suit season :)