Happy New Year!

And don't forget to, as we like to say in the South, "eat a mess" of black eyed peas and collard greens!

May it bring you happiness and good fortune in 2009. :)

Happy New Year and GO COCKS!

Do it (please)

Go here and wish a happy birthday to one of the sweetest bloggers I know! :)

Happy Birthday Rebecca Jo!

Breakfast anyone?

One of my favorite Christmas presents that I received was the Biggest Loser cookbook. And in it is a recipe for one of my favorite breakfasts. I actually make this all the time, so I thought I'd share it with ya'll. I'm a big fan of breakfast, and think that everyone should make time for it in the morning! It will keep you fueled throughout the day.

Bacon, Egg and Cheese Breakfast Sandwich

1 strip extra-lean turkey bacon, cut in half crosswise

Olive oil spray1 large egg white1 light multigrain or whole wheat English muffin (8 grams fiber per muffin), toasted

1 (3⁄4-ounce) slice fat-free yellow American cheese

Place a small nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and add the bacon. Cook for two to three minutes per side, or until crisp. Remove from the pan and cover to keep warm.

Spray a 31⁄2" or 4" microwave-safe bowl with the olive oil spray and add the egg white. Microwave for 30 seconds. Continue microwaving in 15-second intervals until it is just set completely.

Assemble the sandwich by placing the bottom half of the warm English muffin, inside up, on a plate. Top with the cheese, the egg, then the bacon. Add the English muffin top and serve.
Makes 1 serving

Per serving: 183 calories, 17 g protein, 25 g carbohydrates, 5 g fat(2 g saturated), 22 mg cholesterol, 8 g fiber, 625 mg sodium

2008 was great, but 2009 is gonna be FINE

And when I say FINE I mean, my bod. After I shed all this weight. (har, har) But oh yes, I am. Together, we can. (Wait...that sounds oddly familiar...)

I joined a new gym yesterday. It's halfway between my house and my work - no excuses right? My old gym (the Y) was great and all, but it's now out of the way and inconvenient. Plus it was old and kinda stinky. Like old sweaty socks. Ewww. This new gym is so new I can hardly stand it. The equipment is awesome. I went yesterday afternoon to join and also work out. I was actually shocked that I was still able to somewhat run on the treadmill. Granted I only ran .25 of a mile and then walked .25 of a mile, and so on. But still. I did that for 2 miles total. I want to work up to running 3 miles without stopping. That's gonna take a lot of work! And some good music on my Ipod (Miley Cyrus has some good treadmill songs...just sayin'). And yes, I am sore today. Pathetic! But it was a start...which I so desperately needed.

I also bought myself the cutest gym bag to motivate myself.

Cute, huh?

My Christmas was nice. Mr. P. had to work Christmas Day (sniff) so he spent the night with me Christmas Eve. We exchanged gifts - he got me the cutest red handbag. I would upload pics, but I'm too lazy right now (and also at work.) I got him a nice new skillet (he loves to cook), an olive oil container (his broke) and a Outdoorsman magazine subscription.

This weekend, he asked me to come with him to put out some feed for the deer out at some property that he hunts (again, sniff) on. Little did I know, that I would soon be riding side saddle on his 1965 tractor with him! OMG! I may live in the South, but I am such a city girl. I said "you want me to do what???" He said "ride on my tractor with me while I scatter the deer corn." Me: Blank Stare. But I did it...and it was hilarious and fun! This city girl might actually have a little farm girl in her afterall. Just.a.little. SO wish I had a picture to show ya'll - had I known what was about to go down, I would have packed ye ole camera. This is what it kind've looked like, except imagine me riding on that side part over the big ole tire holding on for dear life:

Hope everyone had a great Christmas! I'm working on my NY resolutions and will post soon!

A Very Sushi Christmas

A few of my bestest and I went out for sushi last night. Nothing says Merry Christmas like a little spicy tuna, wasabi and wine...

I love these laughing pics....

Merry Christmas to ALL of you!

Indulge me

But isn't he the cutest thing?? (And yes, his necktie is on upside down. Woops!)

Just monkeying around...

This is a video clip I took this morning of the view of the river from my back porch right now. (click here to see the way it looked back in the Fall)

Nearby is the zoo. If you fast forward to about 30 seconds into it (take some dramamine first though...I didn't do a great job with the camera), you'll hear what I hear every.single.day.




Gotta love it! :)

I don't know

My thoughts and emotions are all jumbled right now but I feel frustration, sadness, hurt and confusion. I don't know where things stand with Mr. P. right now. And that's the biggest problem of all - that statement "I don't know" about sums up our relationship. I still to this day have no confirmation of where things are headed with us. A lot of this is my fault because I've never forced the conversation with him. I know men hate it when you start talking about "feelings" and such, so I've laid off. I've been that girl that is easy going, go with the flow, doesn't ask the hard questions. Thinking that eventually we'd get there - he'd get there. I don't know if he has or not. But that has led me to here - 4 months later and I'm still saying "I don't know."

Last night brought this all on. I thought we were going to do something but we didn't. I called him around 4, and he was about to go take a nap (he works odd hours) and then he was gonna go work out and said he'd call me later. Well about 8 PM I tried to call him again and no answer. Then 11 PM I text him "is everything ok?" (That's a loaded question, I know) He finally called. Gave me a bunch of reasons from "sorry he slept til after 8, blah, blah, thought I'd be upset because he overslept and we didn't make plans, blah blah, so he went and worked out, blah blah, but now wishes he'd done something with me, blah blah"

Every now and then he does this. Pushes me away. It always makes me feel hurt and confused. If you are in a relationship with someone, you should want to lean on them and talk to them about what is going on. But yet, he doesn't. Which in turn makes me questions our relationship. I need trust, and honesty. I need comfort and love. (Yea, no L word still has ever been said.)

So I think tonight - IF we do anything - some hard questions and topics are going to be discussed. Whether or not it goes the way I want it to or not, it needs to be discussed. I need to know. I'm tired of saying "I don't know" when friends ask me if things are getting serious or going good in our relationships. Most of the time, yes. We have lots of fun together - we laugh, and seem to fit together great. But times like yesterday? Well. I don't know. I'm tired of not knowing. I need to know whether I am moving on with him or I'm just plain moving on.


'

I should be used to this by now BUT

Here I am, getting ready for a work trip this week to Charleston. I'm thinking about all the cute outfit possibilities...boots, tights, this cute new trench I just got recently. I mean, it's a little over kill, but then again it has been a little cold here lately. Nothing crazy, mind you. But for us, brrr.

And then I checked the weather forecast.

Tomorrow's high: 78 degrees

Seriously???? It's almost a week til Christmas! Gimme a break. Sigh.

All the single ladies!

If only I had known that all I had to do was walk around with a stuffed animal, I'd have snatched me a man a LONG time ago...

Listen up girls...

Friday night boredom + work camera =

Appreciating the life we have

If you are feeling down and out (like I have lately) and need a little reminder of why you (me) should appreciate the things in your life - please take a few moments and visit this blog. I've been reading it for a while now (I think I got the link from Deb's blog maybe?)

Life is too short and precious to worry about things like my size 14 pants being snug.

Every time the cat knocks a ball off the tree, an angel gets his wings...

Too bad that ain't true, cause there'd be an awful lot of winged angels flying around! My kitties are having a field day! I finally got my tree up and unlike me, it's very skinny...hehe. It's ok though, it's still purdy :) Now I just need to put some presents underneath it! If you look closely, you can see one of the fur kids underneath.

Also, here are a few pictures I took last week when we went to Hilton Head for the day. I went with my boss and another lady to scope out a possible site for our conference next year. The weather was stunning that day!

There's nothin' finer than Christmas in Carolina! (although a little speckle of snow on Christmas would be nice...is that asking too much????)

Last but not least...thanks to my Spring Training girls for the extra motivation....I am feeling WAY better about things. Together, I know we can do this! Heart ya'll :)

Forgive me...

I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to do much commenting on many blogs this week. Rest assured I AM reading them...and I will be doing a lot of catching up this weekend. This week has been kind've busy - I was out of town briefly (I'll post a few pics later tonight) and then yesterday I got a migraine and just now finally came out of the darkness. Excedrin Migraine is some GOOOOOD stuff, ya'll.

Anyways...I'm going to go catch up on some housework, and hopefully do some decorating for Christmas.

Here is the recipe for the Crock Pot Mac and Cheese that I promised. One note though: Paula Deen would disagree, but I really didn't think it needed the butter. It all bubbled up to the top and it was too much. Also, people tend to get seconds of this, so if you are cooking for more than 6 people I would double the recipe.

CROCK POT MACARONI & CHEESE

8 oz. macaroni cooked
1 lg. pkg. cheese (Cheddar extra Sharp)
1 lg. can evaporated milk
1 1/2 c. water
3 eggs, beaten (I only used 2)
1 stick butter
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

To macaroni, add butter, salt, pepper and milk; mix well. Add water; stir in eggs and cheese. Put mixture in crock pot. Do not stir again. Cook 1 hour on low, then 1 hour on high until sufficiently cooked.

"Girl...let's make love all night long..."

Thanks to my friend J for sending this to me.

Laugh.Out.Pee.In.Your.Pants.Funny.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before….

My diet and exercise plans are defunct right now. I disgust myself lately. Pigging out constantly. Coming home from work and sitting my fat *ss on the couch and doing nothing. I don’t know what my problem is. It’s like I have no motivation these days to do anything.

Sorry to whine, but this blog is my outlet and my way of expressing my frustration. I’m mainly talking for my own benefit here. I know I need to get up…move…do something…etc. etc. But those of you in this with me know that it’s 90 % mental. And my mind is just not in it lately.

I’m not going to give up. No matter how bad, I never give up. That’s one thing about me, I’m one determined chick. I just need to figure out how to get my mind focused again.

I’m also thinking about buying a treadmill again. I’ve been getting the itch to start running lately. I used to run occasionally at the YMCA track and the treadmill occasionally, and I really enjoy it. I’m too afraid to run in my neighborhood after dark (not that it’s scary but it’s not well lit).

Another option is to run in my parent’s neighborhood, but it’s SO hilly. Which yes, is a good thing but when you are just starting out it’s a little intimidating. And there are no paths, so you have to watch out for cars.

Ramble, ramble…that’s me today. My mind is a whirlwind. I feel so blah. If I can just exercise today…I will feel better. Maybe today, December 3rd will be a turnaround day for me. Why not? I always did like Hump Day. :)

On a happier note, here's a picture of crazy. You'd never know she was crazy by just looking at her. But she's certifiable. I think I posted about that not too long ago. She makes me happy though!

And now for some drool-worthy news...

Move over Mark Richt! There's a new hottie in the SEC! And he's got you beat by a landslide.

Welcome aboard Tennessee Head Coach Lane Kiffin...

hubba. hubba.

Goooooooood ole Rocky Top! ;)

Life is for living

My mom is famous for taking in "strays" at Thanksgiving. If there's a poor soul out there that doesn't have a place to go for Thanksgiving dinner, they are eating with us. She won't take no for an answer.

This year, it happened to be her friend, we'll call her Janice. You see, Janice is a dear sweet, 73 year old woman who's been married for 30 plus years to her husband, we'll call him John.

Unbeknownst to everyone who knew them, John has had 2 affairs over the years. Janice just found out recently about affair number 3 and that was the straw that finally broke the camel's back. At 73 years old, she left him.

Imagine that for a minute. Leaving your husband after that many years and at that age. Heartbreaking. Life can be cruel.

So of course, mom insisted she joined us for Thanksgiving lunch. I could see the sadness in her eyes but she seemed to enjoy herself regardless. And thanks to my mom, she left with a belly fully of turkey!

Here's my mom taking her frustrations out on the turkey:

Here's my partially eaten crock pot macaroni and cheese that I made. It doesn't look that appetizing but trust me. There were NO leftovers cause we finished it off. Mmmmmmm.














And here's my dad sneaking some turkey out to the cats...(I get it honest, don't ya think?)