New Year's Resolution

I can't believe that I have forgotten to share what I have resolved to do for the year 2009.  It was actually pretty darn easy for me this year to decide even though I was in Puerto Rico when my mind was clear of anything related to home.

First, I decided to take better care of myself.  That involves:

-drinking less soda.  That is pretty much the only form of liquid I consume and I don't even drink that much in a day.  While on the trip to Puerto Rico for Grace's wedding (and then to Antigua for our honeymoon), I decided that I wasn't going to have any sodas.  It was pretty easy considering I only like to drink Dr Pepper and neither places had some readily available for me to drink.  By the time we got back to Texas, I wasn't in withdrawals or anything.  Sure, I had that special craving for my favorite carbonated concoction, but it wasn't hard to turn down.  So far, it has been 27 days since my last soda!  I did have a strong urge for one earlier tonight for some reason.  It would be so easy to cave considering that there is one ready to be consumed in the door of our refrigerator AND it has a koozie on it!

-losing 15 pounds.  This one is soooo not easy, but I'm hoping it will help that I'm drinking mostly water these days.  I'm also hoping that this next item will help.

-finish a half marathon.  It's baby steps for me.  I walked/ran a 5k in October last year, so I think this will be the next step.

-take my vitamins.  I'm not good at all at taking any kind of pill, let alone multi-vitamins.  So far, I've been doing okay.  I think I've only forgotten to take 4  days total over the past 2 months!  Yay!

Finally,

-take better care of our house.  Cody and I are happier at home when it's clean, so we're going to work harder at cleaning on a regular basis.

I think that is it.  I think I have set some reasonable goals, some easier than others.  By the way, Happy New Year!

dinner for one

So before I left the house this morning, I was prepared enough to get the beef out of the freezer to thaw so that when I got home, I could throw some rice into the rice cooker with a cup of salsa (for spanish rice) and brown some ground beef to mix it all together.  When I got home, I started the rice and put the meat in the pan to start browning.  After all the meat was in the already hot pan, I noticed that the meat was weird looking.  It wasn't odd colors nor had it gone bad.  It turns out that instead of thawing ground beef, I thawed some beef that was meant for chili.  Ugh!  Well, I tried to make the best of the situation by preparing it as I would normally, but honestly.  It was not that good.  The meat is meant for chili!  Boy was it tough!  The rice turned out well though which made me happy!

I did learn my lesson.  Look at the label on the meat package before thawing!

Time to put the "yummy" leftovers in tupperware so I can enjoy again for lunch tomorrow ;)

can't believe it

Our Christmas tree is still up!  It's one of those pre-lit kinds, not a real one (though it would be nice).  The funny thing is that the tree is the only Christmas decoration we put out this year!  Our first Christmas as a married couple and we put up a pre-lit Christmas tree.  Oh, we didn't even decorate it!!!  It looks really pretty at night when it comes on at 5:45 and goes off at midnight!  I guess it's time to take it down.  Maybe I'll surprise Cody with it when he comes back from his work trip!

I hate it when I do this...

I actually love blogging, but unfortunately, it's not my top priority.  I think about what I'm going to say in blog allllll the time, however, I never actually get around to updating it (as you can tell). I bet you're clamoring to know what Cody and I have been up to since my last late post ;)

First of all, I was asked to re-join the Instant Replay Golf staff!  I was offered a full-time job as the store's bookkeeper.  I loved doing that kind of work before, so I was excited to do it again.  It's a fun atmosphere, with work that I enjoyed doing, casual dress, and the hours are 10-6!  The down side is that I would be getting a significant pay cut.  I thought that my sanity would be worth it and so far, I was right!

The two guys I work with are just like the guys I used to work with.  These guys are goofy.  They just love to goof off when there isn't a customer in the store and it's hilarious!  I love being a fly on the wall in there!  I am actually getting things done after figuring things out on my own to solve some problems with programs we use!  Unfortunately, business is kind of slow right now since we were closed for 6 months due to family issues, but word of mouth has helped and people are stopping by again!  Tell your friends to skip Golfsmith or Golf Galaxy and go to Instant Replay Golf!!

Christmas was relaxing.  We stayed here after having such a busy Thanksgiving.  We enjoyed the holiday with Cody's family.  More of Cody's family came into town 2 days after Christmas, so we got together for a nice Chinese dinner at a small place around the corner from mine and Cody's house.  We were afraid they wouldn't be able to accommodate all of us, but they had a secret room that we fit in just fine.  During our meal, we got a call from one of Cody's aunts.  She let us all know in one phone call that his cousin just had her baby!  We saw her on Christmas day and she was looking fantastic.  I hope someday (when it's my turn) that I will look as radiant as she did while she was at the "any day now" stage of the pregnancy!

Ok, that's it for right now.  If I don't post it, it will be another month before the next one!

I know, I know...

...it's been a month. I hope I haven't kept you waiting! A ton has happened or as Cody would say, "a Washing-ton"!

First, we went into the Houston area to go to a surprise birthday party for one of Cody's fraternity brothers. He turned 30! (Cody's is coming up in March). It was a great time. We were able to hang out with the Ellers again as they put us up for the night.  Lots of fun there!

Then, we had a great Thanksgiving. We got to see lots of people from both sides of the family. So that meant that we did a whole bunch more traveling.  We were supposed to go to Abilene, but my mom wasn't feeling well, so we decided to make a trip to Conroe and The Woodlands.  It was a good thing that we decided to go at the last minute.  We were able to visit with Cody's grandpa.  We had lunch with him, his grandma and his parents.  It was fun!  We were worried about his grandpa still, but he was cracking jokes and telling stories.  Luckily we have those good memories because his grandpa passed away that night.  He was 92.  We sure are going to miss him.  They had a viewing for him later that week.  Cody says it was his grandmother's way of getting his grandfather to do something he didn't want to do, even after he died!  So funny!

My company had it's annual Christmas party.  This year it was at The Gary Keller  of Keller Williams' house.  We had a good time mingling with people.  Ask Cody about the fireplaces and he'll be happy to share!

This past weekend we went to Abilene- finally!  We got to hang out with my little sister, Amber as well as Mom & John.  We had fun Christmas shopping for a family with 3 kids that live at the Salvation Army in Abilene.  While the ladies were combing Wal-Mart for great deals so the kids could have some cool clothes and fun toys, the guys were at Lowes shopping for flooring for my parent's house.  I think Cody had a good time telling John all that he knows about floors/flooring and he got to help pick out what they will get in the future.  I foresee another trip to Abilene in our future so we can help them install it!

pictures, pictures!

Do it, ROCKAPELLA!

With our niece and older sister in Tucson.

After the NKOTB concert with Lindsey.  Somehow saw my cousin there.  She has great tastes in shirts, too!

After the Del Castillo concert, with the band and some Keller Wiliams staff.

Finishing my first 5k in 44.04 minutes!

Halloween.  You can figure this one out ;)

Halloween, still - but walking up to the party!

Quick update

So Cody has been gone for a couple weeks this fall. Apparently the power plants need him! It has been great having him home for a couple days so far. He is heading out again on Sunday - not sure what time yet or for how long.

In other news, the mini reunion was great! It was so fun to see some of my closest friends from high school! The two that I hadn't seen in a very long time both are doing great, look great and have great kids! I'm so excited to get to see them again this Friday at our high school's homecoming game. We're going to Chili's before hand just like old times, except this time we're bringing the husbands (and they're getting babysitters!) If you're interested in seeing before/after photos, you should check out Kari's blog. We age well ;)

An update on the guest bath: We just recently purchased a countertop and sink to replace the "pretty" blue one. I can't wait to install it! We also bought some dark bronzy cabinet pulls to put in the bathroom. We'll have to drill holes because there aren't any on the doors right now. It is going to make such a huge difference! As you can tell, Home Depot had an amazing clearance sale. I mean amazing! 40 - 60 % off everything! Go us! After this is done, it's on to a new shower, complete with new tub and tile! Who says home renovation isn't fun?

I will post a few Halloween pictures - it was a blast! I will also just post some random pictures,too. Can someone tell me how to create a photo album for this? I'd really appreciate it!