Devastating

My heart goes out to those in Alabama who were recently effected by several tornadoes. :(

photo by Marvin Gentry

Above shot: Suburb of Birmingham, AL

So many have been effected by recent storms... The devastation that these violent tornadoes have left is just unbelievable!!

M. and I just caught the nightly news... we sat here in shock watching the damage that these storms have caused. So many are homeless, and hundreds have died...

Last week I took claim after claim for people who were effected here in North Carolina. I am praying for the families, and praying that this crazy weather comes to a halt soon.  :(

Jacksonville, NC April 16

We are now under a tornado watch here... Please pray for us, and for those dealing with the aftermath of these storms.

Random Post. 1,2,3 (:

[WARNING... completely random post just ahead]

...o n e...

A couple of Marines from Camp Lejeune and New River Air Station have made headlines and have even attracted attention from Britney Spears herself.

 Rein 266 and HMLA 169 made this video that has now reached over 2 million views.

It's nice to know that our men and women serving overseas can still have a good time while being in such a CRAPPY place.

Check out the vid below.

OOO RAHHHH!!!

...t w o...
I booked my flight to AR last weekend AND I am so excited to see my family, friends, and most importantly my unborn… hopefully born by the time I leave- baby nephew, Rivre.

My itinerary was  a complicated one to figure out… How in the world do you plan around when someone will go into labor? I want to be there for my sister when it happens, but I realize that  that may not be possible. :( I ended up planning out my trip so that her due date falls in the middle of my 8 day stay. Hopefully lil Rivre will decide to be born while I’m around!!

I definitely plan on giving him a pep talk to come on out into the real world when I get there! He should be able to hear me RIGHT???My plane will drop in at about 08:00... that's when MISSION LABOR INDUCING will begin! We have a few myth-like natural inducers  that we plan on trying out… HOPEFULLY one of them works!! :)

...t h r e e...
Our visitors officially left our pad last Wednesday. Yep, the same visitors that Mike said would be staying for a week or so… more like 3+ weeks. They were nice, but having people you just met stay with you for 3 weeks was a bit much.
 
I did a short happy dance when they left, just because I finally have my privacy back… Oh, how I love and missed you privacy!!!   :)

...f o u r...

This past weekend was a fun and relaxing one. Who knew doing mostly nothing could be so GRAND!We cooked out, napped, relaxed outside, went to the beach, cooked out some more, went shopping, and then went to the beach again! 

 It never gets old goin over this bridge to Topsail.

Mac joined us both days, and behaved amazingly well! We couldn't quit talking about how our baby is growing up, and getting more mature. He's such a cutie!

How are you liking Mike's skimpy "I wanna get my legs tan" shorts? I am thinking of just buying him a speedo, what do you think? Ha, he cracks me up!

The weather was amazing, and surprisingly the ocean wasn’t too cool. I would not have known that last bit if it weren’t for M. calling me a little baby repeatedly for not wanting to get in. Yea… I’m no baby!! I’LL SHOW YOU!!... He knows how to get me every time! 

...f i v e...

What in the world is going on with all of this crazy weather, chaos in foreign countries breaking out left and right, brush fires lighting up everywhere?? Seriously?

 

a n d
...s i x...

Sorry for the awful picture quality lately!! My camera lens broke two weeks ago… and I am not too happy that I have to send it to FREAKIN New York to have it repaired! For the next week or so… phone shots will have to do. :)

Hope all of you are having a good week so far! CIAO 4 now luvs!



NEW Blog Design Debut!!

I am beyond THRILLED about my new blog design!!

A special THANKS goes out to my girlfriend Tami @ Little Moments Like This who turned my jumbled up vision into a reality!! She has some real talent in blog design, don't ya think?!

Take a moment to check out the new style, menu bar, features, buttons, etc....

and DON'T FORGET to grab my button... possibly even post it on your blog if you wish!! ;)

With this new look comes a bit of motivation to blog a little more! Stay tuned!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend!!

a REALLY gOOd workout!!

Yesterday's workout started with a warm up walk/run with my dog Mac. 

Normally I ditch him at the house when I decide to pick up the pace. Running with Mac has never worked out for me. He always tries to bite my butt when I run for some reason... maybe its because it jiggles...  Haha! I don't really know why!?

However, I have FINALLY got him to start walking with me rather than him taking me for a walks... :)  And since he hasn't been dragging me down the road when we walk, I figured I'd try to run with him again to see if he'd run with me while NOT trying to bite my ass in the process!

He did so good!! I was amazed that he didn't try to bite my butt AT ALL!! Maybe its because my butt isn't as jiggly as it was a few months ago, maybe all this body rockin is starting to pay off... MAYBE!! haha...

After our long run we headed inside so I could hurry -n- get the rest of my work out done and OVER WITH!... Before we even made it to our front door Mac decided he was too tired and  plopped down in the middle of our front yard mid-walk. It was so cute. I actually wore him out for once... GO ME! :)

 I got on bodyrock.tv to see what Monday's workout was... Well they hadn't posted a new one.  SO, I decided I'd scroll through some old workouts and find one I had not yet tried.

This one seemed right up my alley... I have had bikinis and beach on my mind quite a bit lately!

Hot Body Beach Workout

I'll admit I was a bit intimidated by this workout... I hate the Commando Push Ups! I have minimum upper body strength, so I really have to push myself to get through those bad boys!

Well lets not drag this out any longer..... I got my butt handed to me during this workout!!

Right when I was about to quit with 2 more intervals left... this song came blasting through my headphones.

I love how music can really give you that extra boost of motivation when you need it most !!

I normally keep a long of my workouts under my bodyrock tab... However, I know a lot of you are trying to get bikini ready... so I thought I'd share this one with you all on my main page.

Try it out and share your scores if you do.

Mine were:

Side Lunge Left: 20, 20, 17, 17
Side Lunge Right: 21,19,18,19
Happy Monkey: 6, 6 1/2, 5 1/2, 6
Commando Push-up + Mtn. Climber: 9, 7 1/2, 6
Jump Lunge: 23,15,15,19,16,14
Diamond Runner Push-up: 7,6,5,5,5,6

In case you were wondering, I am only a follower of bodyrock.tv... I am not affiliated with them in any other way. 

xox 

LITTLE bit OF THIS -N- THAT

When you buy expensive sunglasses do you seem to lose them, or brake them, or does SOMETHING crazy happen to them within a few months of purchase?…. I can keep my cheapos 4 ever… I mean years!! But the moment I get designer shades poof something happens!

So I lost my Ray Bans that I just bought last month this past weekend!  [Sniff, sniff] I know I probably sound so materialistic right now, but I LOVED those sunglasses! ): ehhh,  life goes on right?
 

R.I.P Ray's

As for an update on all things recently…


-I finally told my boss that I got in to the Dental Hygiene Program, and that I would not be able to work full time- if any come August. I knew they would appreciate me letting them know months in advance, and they did.

I am glad I went ahead and told them! Things seem a bit more REAL now… like, I am really not going to have to work in the insurance biz for much longer!!!!…. THAT IS SOMETHING TO CELEBRATE ABOUT!

 

loving this clipart I found!^^^

Now I just have to get CPR certified, get a million vaccinations, and get a physical. Then I’ll be all set to start this new chapter of my life! August couldn’t come sooner!

...I AM SUPER EXCITED...

that my girlfriend Tami is helping me re-design my blog!! She has gained quite a bit of experience in designing her own blog in the past year, and I think we have similar taste so I CANT wait to see what she has up her sleeve. We should be debuting the new look within the next few weeks!! Check out Tami and her cute blog here… 

    ...SURPRISINGLY...

I dont think I have mentioned here that I am going to be an Aunt come next month!!! My little sister Chloe is having a baby boy! Little Rivre (pronounced River) is due May 26th!! I have bought a few random things here and there for the lil man, but I wanted to get Chloe something that I knew she wouldn’t go out and buy herself. Something that would make a new mom's life a bit easier. There are so many cool gadgets out there that do just that, its a bit overwhelming!! I finally came to a decision to get her one of these….

Summer Infant Video Monitor

She starts school in August and will be doing online classes at night. I figure with this thing she will be able to get some work done, and still keep a close eye on her lil man while he sleeps! Ahh, can’t wait for him to get here ALREADY!

Here is Chloe at 7 1/2 months! Isnt she cute?

I am using her as my ginny pig for when we have kids... I imagine that our pregnancies will be somewhat similar. Mike and I dont plan on having any little ones in the near future but sooner than later its going to happen!

...AS 4 THIS PAST WEEKEND...

A crew of us went out to The Azelea Festival in Wilmington.

it was packed!!

so we stopped to have a drink on the balcony of Fat Tony's...

at night fall, the fireworks display took place... we had a perfect view!

 

 Hope all of you are having a good week!

xox

Savannah FUN

 "Oh my gosh, that's SOOO cute!" "Wow, that is beautiful!" "Awww CUTE!!!" "Gorgeous!" "This is amazing!" "Thats so CUTE!" "Oh my gosh, this is beautiful" "AMAZING, BEAUTIFUL, CCCCUUUUUTTTTEEE!!!"

I think our dialog consisted of only cute, beautiful, and amazing all weekend long. Can you imagine how annoyed you would have been if you were with us? HA!! I couldn't help it! Savannah's southern charm captivated me!

I could not believe how clean and beautiful this place was. We literately walked for hours, stopping every few seconds for various shots of anything and everything.

......

Without any further adieu, here are some shots from the weekend.

As you can probably see, we all decided to be models for the weekend as well... lol. TOO MUCH FUN!

The Band of Horses concert was GREAT! They are even better live!

All night I was determined to get back stage... before the concert I ran around asking everyone how I could score backstage passes... I was directed to "the dude"... you know the dude that can pull all of the strings to make things happen. Yea, he was not so cool... he told me he wouldn't let me back stage cause I was married. I was like, "ARE YOU KIDDING? I just want a pic with the band" AHHH RIDICULOUS!! 

So after the show I walked straight thru security by simply telling them that they didn't see me :)... I was like WOW, this is SOO easy! And what do you know???..."the dude" is backstage... Luckily he was cool, and was a bit surprised that we somehow made it backstage without him. SUCKER! He made the band sound sleezy which they are far from... all of them are crazy nice family men! Here is us with the lead guitarist, Tyler.

and 4 those of you that have never heard of these guys... here is a little sample.



Now its back to work time... BOOO!! :)

Hope you all are having a great week... sorry for the lack of postage lately!! Busy days.

xox