Alright time to catch up with the picture taking.  The first batch is from our annual Memphis Girls Christmas Party.

Huddy and I. He’s getting so big.

Take one and take two.

Love them all.

Angela is the best e-mail friend ever.  (And real life friend too)

Allie, our first mommy of the group.

Grace and I have to get the leg pop picture.

At Dad’s House for Christmas Eve.

Mom’s House for Christmas Day.  You think she’s excited about the “Mommie Dearest” movie poster we got her for her theatre room?  I loved her reaction.  We also got her a “Gone with the Wind” movie poster too.

Lucy laying in the box.  Cozy as can be.

Pretending like I cooked the whole meal.  Hey… I did help!

Mom with her favorite son-in-law.

Seriously… I’m not that heavy, am I?

Merry Christmas y’all!

New Year’s Eve  celebration begins!!!

Matt and Glenna ready to feud it up!

The gals.

The guys discussing their answers to Family Feud.

Happy New Year’s from Chad and Lauren!

Here’s to hoping everyone had a fabulous New Year’s!  I pray many blessings upon each of you during 2010.

I am extremely excited for the year 2010 and see what it has to hold for Chad and I. I can’t wait to see how we continue to grow as husband and wife and as Christ followers. Chad will be graduating with his Masters of Divinity in Applied Apologetics and I’ll continue working as a Registered Nurse in Labor and Delivery. I’ll be starting my new venture in training for my first marathon and starting a new blog for healthy living in the real world. I know we’ll be traveling like crazy probably… mostly due to the fact that ALL of our family is in different states. I’ll be excited to celebrate 4 years of marriage with my sweetheart and continue to dream about our future.

I’m thankful for all of the wonderful family and friends the Lord has blessed us with and it’s been my privilege to keep everyone updated, persay, with our lives (silly stories and important) through this blog. I can only pray that the Lord blesses each one of you and you continue to grow and love through Him. Happy New Year! See you in 2010…

Love, Chad and Lauren

No pictures for this blog.  I was on call from work today so Chad and I ran around town to get some errands accomplished.  The errands focused mainly around me with getting all my marathon training essentials.  I’ll save all the photos from our ventures for my first blog post of the new blog.  I had a great time running around Louisville with Chad.  It seems like it’s been so long since we’ve had a free day to ourselves.  Actually, it has been a while.  It’s been since before December 15th!  Crazy!  Where has the last two weeks gone?  We’ve enjoyed a day of downtime, for sure.  I’m back to work tomorrow (hopefully, if they don’t call me off work again) and then it’s straight to a New Year’s Eve party at a friends house.  I’m making a new recipe called wing dip.  My manager at work gave me the recipe and said it’s an instant hit at any party.  We’ll see how fast it gets gobbled up.  I’ll try to fit in a blog tomorrow before midnight. I hope everyone is relishing the last 2 days of the year 2009.  Until tomorrow…

]]> http://chadandlauren.wordpress.com/2009/12/30/2-more-days/feed/ 2 Lauren @ A Fit Foodie http://chadandlauren.wordpress.com/2009/12/29/5-years-ago-today/ http://chadandlauren.wordpress.com/2009/12/29/5-years-ago-today/#comments Tue, 29 Dec 2009 23:56:26 +0000 Lauren @ A Fit Foodie http://chadandlauren.wordpress.com/2009/12/29/5-years-ago-today/ ]]> Five years ago today I went on the first date with the love of my life. I can’t believe we’ve been together for 5 years! It’s so fun to think back on our dating time and how much we’ve changed and grown together. He’s the absolute best thing that’s ever happened to me and I’m blessed to call him mine.

Here’s a picture of us after we’d been together 3 weeks. We look so different!

Can you believe that I turned in a vacation request for next summer already?! I know I’ll probably blink and June will be here but it just seems weird to turn in a vacation request for next summer when it’s still 2009! It makes me kind of excited about June getting here. What are your plans for vacation next year? Or better yet, what would you like your vacation plans to consist of next year?

Last night I came home to a comfort food meal. Chad used his new panini maker mom bought him for Christmas to grill us some boneless pork loin, sided with Velvetta Mac and Cheese, green beans and garlic bread. Too yummy. So comforting that I fell fast asleep at 9:15 pm. I got a solid 8 1/2 hours of sleep last night. It felt wonderful. I feel like my days are getting fuller and fuller so it was nice to crash out so early.

That’s honestly about it for now. I mainly wanted to get a blog in today to express how fun it’s been for the past 5 years of my life to experience it with Chadwick Watson. I hope everyone had a happy Tuesday!

]]> http://chadandlauren.wordpress.com/2009/12/29/5-years-ago-today/feed/ 1 Lauren @ A Fit Foodie http://chadandlauren.wordpress.com/2009/12/27/i-love-my-bed/ http://chadandlauren.wordpress.com/2009/12/27/i-love-my-bed/#comments Sun, 27 Dec 2009 23:47:56 +0000 Lauren @ A Fit Foodie http://chadandlauren.wordpress.com/2009/12/27/i-love-my-bed/ ]]> After a full day of driving yesterday we finally made it home. There is nothing like being in your own environment and climbing into your own bed. Amen? As much as I love Memphis and the people in it, I was anxious to get home. But before we could start our long drive down I-65N I had to make a stop at Lenny’s Sub Shop. I used to be the marketer to promote Lenny’s in Memphis when I was 18. I started working their as a cashier when I was a tiny 15 year old and got promoted to marketer when I was barely 17. I loved that job and the people I worked with so much. And even after years of working there, I still love the food. I have to say my favorite is their tuna salad on a wheat kaiser roll. So I ate the whole thing which made me feel way full!

We got on the road just in time for me to feel like a sleepy girl after getting my belly full. I was proud of the fact that I didn’t sleep at all on the trip back. I’m such a sleeper that usually I can sleep in the car for a whole trip but I didn’t want to leave Chad hanging. And the fact that I had so much I wanted to chat with him about. I love car rides with him because we have uninterrupted time to talk with each other. We did end up getting a little Michael Bublè listening in. I love his new CD, ‘Crazy Love’. It’s a must to purchase.

Time started flying by when we started to bounce around title ideas for the new blog that is coming January 1st. I hate that I didn’t have an ‘Aha!’ moment about my blogs new name. I was hoping to settle on one last night. I’m on a timeline so I’ve got to pick one in the next few days. Can’t wait to get started on my new blog! I’m super excited about it! Watch out world!!!

Anyway, we got home just in time to unpack, love on our kitty babies, and walk down our hall to spend a couple hours with some friends just hanging out. By the time we got back to our loft and cleaned up, it was time for my new favorite part of the day! Hot chocolate with my husband! I was still satisfied from lunch so I just sipped on 3/4 cup of hot chocolate and a small piece of pound cake that my mom baked and sent home with us. Too delicious. I’m super excited that she sent us home with the whole thing! There is just nothing like my mom’s pound cake. No one can imitate it. After my small piece of sweetness, I settled into bed and was out like a light.

Of course, there’s no time for a long slumber because I was back to work this morning. It was so hard to drag myself out of bed. I just wanted to sleep a tad longer. But the day is finished and I have 5 more to go until the weekend! Can’t wait!  Upon leaving work, I saw snow!  Yippee!  This is a picture of Chad’s car when I walked out of work.  The temperature has now hit below freezing so I’m hoping to wake up to a Winter Wonderland tomorrow.  At least, if anything, we got a light dusting to look at.

I’m off to settle in for the night.  Hope everyone is recovering from their Christmas travels, eating and excitement!

I have had a wonderful time in Memphis but I will sure be glad to be back home in Louisville. Yesterday I woke up to smells of my husband cooking monkey bread in my mom’s kitchen downstairs. Mmm mmm good. I love when Chad makes monkey bread even though it’s oh so not heart healthy with all the dough, sugar, butter, etc. So every once in a while we’ll let it be a special treat. Chad came to get me out of bed so I could taste some of that yummy goodness and found me with this little gal.

Getting out of bed for this was worth it.

I meant to take a picture of my portion but forgot. I really did only eat a small amount because I knew what all sugar and bad carbs were packed into it.

Following our breakfast we retreated to my mom’s media room to watch the movie ‘Julie & Julia’. I loved sitting back and watching a movie at home and really feeling like you’re in a theater. Super fun.

After the movie and watching a little more TV, it was time to get ready to head over to my dad and Julia’s for Christmas celebration. I didn’t get any pictures on my iPhone so I’ll post all my Christmas Eve and Christmas Day pictures after we get back home. We had a nice time spending time with my dad, Julia and my brother. I even got to love on one of my cat’s from childhood, Jenny. I guess my dad took over custody on her persay in the midst of my parents divorce. I’ve missed her little scratchy, hoarse sounding meow. It was good to love on her for a bit.

We crashed inti bed after getting back home and actually slept in until 9 am! Chad and I haven’t slept in that long without waking up in the early morning hours and then falling back asleep in forever. We sometimes will wake up at 6 or 7 and if we stay put in bed long enough we’d nap until 8 or 9. But nope, our bodies must’ve needed some rest because we were dead to the world. After waking up we headed downstairs to open up presents with mom. The reality of my parents divorce can hit me at the most random times and sitting there alone with mom on Christmas morning made it seem much more real. I love my parents dearly and I know there is no undoing what has already been done but sometimes I pray that I could just have amnesia concerning my parents divorce. The reasons behind it, the process, the finalization, and the after. I miss my family being together, I really do. And this year is a year of firsts and newness. First birthdays, first meetings, first Thanksgiving, first Christmas, etc. New family, new houses, new traditions, new expectations, etc. But no matter how hard or how sad, knowing that I have a God that holds me in His arms and wipes my tears away, is all I need. It’s still very easy to revert back to my memory to remember how it used to be and I’m thankful for my memory and pictures like these to preserve the image of a family I once knew.

But thank the Lord for an ultimately wonderful Christmas morning with my mom. She spoils Chad and I absolutely rotten and we like to think we spoil her too. She’s pretty special to us.

I did get a couple of pictures in of the Christmas meal we cooked. Mom had her friend Bill and his son Landon join us and we all ate a huge feast. I ate way more than usual but it’s what your supposed to do on holidays, right?

Here’s our table and my plate of food.

After lunch, of course I had to get some sleep. I took a quick one hour nap and then we were off to continue our annual family tradition of going to see a movie. We went and saw ‘The Blind Side’ and it was excellent. It being based in Memphis made it extra special. I even attended the school it was based around, Briarcrest Christian School. The school is called “Wingate” in the movie I guess because of technicalities. So if you haven’t seen the movie then hop to it! You won’t be disappointed.

I have to slip in a picture of me posing in my new Kate Spade jacket I bought. I. Am. In. Love. You can’t really see the back of it too well but it has a bow made for the back instead of a traditional belt. It had Lauren Watson written all over it so of course I had to get it. It’s a good investment. Every girl needs a classic black trench.

That’s the extent of my festivities on my end. I hope everyone enjoyed spending time with family and friends. I am so thankful to God who gave us His Son, born on this day to be the ultimate sacrifice and die so that we may have life in knowing Him. As I tweeted earlier, Praise the One who paid my debt and raises life up from the dead! I know this man, do you?

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

After running several errands we made our way to mom’s house to drop my bags off and head out again to get a recall on my vehicle fixed. On our way back to mom’s house we drove through the Collierville Town Square and took a few pictures of the Square lit up with all the Christmas lights. Love this part of Christmas in Memphis.

Upon a quick few minutes of being home, I had to get all ready for our annual Memphis Girls Christmas party. These girls are such an important part of my life. I’m thankful to God blessing me with such beautiful friends who are diligent to love and pray for me.

I ate a small spoonful of each food. Chicken spaghetti, chips and rotel, and ceasar salad. Just enough.

For dessert I topped it off with a small piece of fudge, Oreo truffle ball, and sugar cookie. Enough to satisfy my sweet tooth but not go overboard.

I thought our little glass labels were so creative. I had a glass of Sparkling grape juice which was yum yum good. Every year it’s tradition for us to have our sparkling juice to drink.

We all played dirty Santa and I ended up with a Girls Night Out funds jar. Everyone signed it for me which made it extra special.

I took a lot more pictures with my Nikon camera that I’ll post later but I grabbed this picture of us girls with my iPhone. I love these girls so. They are my second family for sure.

Oh, and I got a quick picture of my new daring nail polish. I’ve been wanting to buy some black nail polish and finally did. Chad loves it. I think he likes it because it brings out a little rocker chick in me.

After a late night out laughing, playing games and telling stories, I headed home to a sacked out husband and climbed in bed. It had been a long day. Flying, driving, errands and Girls Christmas party.

Mom and I got up this morning so I could get a haircut and I ended up getting ready to see my dad for lunch and meet his new wife for the first time. Can we say nervous, scared, anxious, sad? We sure can. I thought I was going to vomit every second of the day. I’ve never had anxiety like I had today. Sweaty palms, racing heart, scattered thoughts… Thank the Lord that the “meeting” went okay and it’s over with. My dad got married August 1st so the longer it was going that I hadn’t met her, the worse my anxiety rose. I’m thankful to Christ for pointing me to Scripture in my reading yesterday of the true marks of a Christian. Romans 12:9-21. As hard as it is to portray Christ during this much difficult time, I’m thankful Chist lives in me and gives me daily reminders of my responsibility as a Christ follower. And I am so blessed that my husband is such an amazing leader in our marriage to lead me to be prayerful and gracious even when I see it as impossible. Please continue to pray for my ever changing family dynamic as you think to do so. And thank you to all who have prayed, loved, and encouraged us through this. God is faithful.

At lunch I ended up ordering 6 grilled oysters. Pretty tasty if I say so myself.

We came home after our lunch to chill out. It’s hard to find some downtime in Memphis because I want to fit in everyone I want to see and all things I want to do. So I am relishing chilling out and snuggling with my mom’s kitties.

We ordered a pizza for dinner to keep it simple and it just arrived so I’m off to eat some dinner. I vowed to only eat two slices of pizza and two tiny slices of the delectable looking cinnapie. We’ll see if I have the will power to stick with it.

Hope everyone is enjoying their family and remembering that Christ is risen!!!

Then it was home to host Community Group at our house so we could all be together before everyone scattered for the holidays. I was nothing but pooped. I enjoyed talking, eating and laughing but once everyone went home, I crashed.

Friday I worked all day and was so excited to come home to a nice, home cooked dinner prepared by my husband. He told me he had a few surprises up his sleeve for dinner so I was super excited. I came home to grilled flank steak, mashed potatoes, grilled asparagus and my favorite Sister Schubert’s roll. Now talk about a delicious meal! It was fantastic. I was extra excited about the asparagus because I had been begging Chad to make us some and now I think it’s one of my new favorite sides! I was so ready to sit down and enjoy just being with him. I felt like we had a week’s worth of things to talk about.

So Chad let me get snuggled into the couch and prepared me some of our winter nightly tradition, hot chocolate. Just what I needed.

After my small, comforting cup, I started to fade fast but I had things to do! Chad and I had to get packing for Christmas vacation. Chad was packing to leave this morning because he was asked to lead worship at Living Hope this Sunday. I have to work Sunday and Monday so I had to stay behind. But since I’m flying into Little Rock, AR on Tuesday, I needed to pack as much of my things as I could to send with Chad so I didn’t have to worry about checking luggage. Oh, and I’m sure the question is, “If you’re going to Memphis then why are you flying to Little Rock?” Well, Memphis, unfortunately hadn’t jumped on the Southwest Airlines idea yet so I felt I’d rather spend $90 flying one way to Little Rock and have Chad drive 2 1/2 hours to pick me up then pay $250 to fly directly into Memphis. I’m all about good budgetting! So back to it. I totally got a second wind as I started to pack. Chad and I got to laughing and teasing until midnight. Have I mentioned how much I love that man? I’m thankful that my husband and I are also best friends. So upon actually getting into bed, I was out like a light within 10 minutes. It was time for my body to finally get the chance to start repairing itself. I had definitely not had enough sleep this past week.

Upon waking up at 8, Chad was getting ready to load up the car and hit the road. I missed him the second he walked out the door. So I’ve been lounging around and enjoying having a day off to do nothing. It’s rainy and cold so that means no running today and the laundry is all finished and the house is all clean. So I have been catching up on Tivo shows and snuggling with the kitties. Right after Chad left, they both hopped in the bed to do what else but sleep and keep my feet warm.

Nattie’s been my personal foot warmer all day. Pitiful.

After a simple salad and scoop of leftover mashed potatoes for a late lunch, I was all set to enjoy the rest of the day and settle in to watch HGTV. You can never get too many ideas for your home. I do have to say, I am going to miss my hot chocolate nightly tradition while Chad’s gone, on top of a million other things. To satisfy my little sweet craving after my lunch I had one of these. Love them!!

Speaking of food, I’ve done some talking with several people about my new idea of a blog. I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback so I’m pretty sure I’m going to go ahead with the idea. I’m actually getting very excited about it. I still haven’t decided if I’m going to just go ahead and use this existing blog and re-format my posts or make a whole new blog. I just hate for people to try and keep up with two blogs. We’ll see. There is still a little time for the New Year to think about the logistics. So get ready readers for a new Lauren starting in 2010.

Alright it’s time to end this lengthy post. Chad just called me and said he just arrived in Memphis. Glad he got there safely!! Can’t wait for these next few days to fly by so I can see my husband and mom! Christmas is almost here! Yay. Hope everyone stays safe traveling this weekend.

Life has been pretty mundane since arriving back in town after our quick Birmingham trip this past weekend. Chad and I had a great time at the holiday party one of the doctors at our hospital threw. It’s always fun to see your co-workers in a more relaxed, laid back setting. It gives you a chance to let your hair down and not worry about work responsibilities. By the time we got home from the party, we were pooped! It had been a long day of traveling, unpacking and getting things tidied around the house.

All of the Labor and Delivery staff that came to the party.

I know my post is titled ‘New Ideas’ and this is why. I was talking with Chad the other night and I expressed my love for blogging and I really would love to start a new blog dedicated to my strength and marathon training as well as showing the meals I eat throughout the day. I want to show people that you can be fit and healthy even eating regular food. You don’t have to necessarily eat just 1000 calories a day, eat all organic, workout for 3 hours a day, etc. I used to be that girl that was obsessed with my meals, how many calories I was consuming a day, how many calories I was working off, what the scale said each morning and night, etc. I even went to the extreme of attempting the raw fruit and vegetable diet for two weeks just because I wanted my scale to read a certain number. CRAZY!!! I can’t live my life that way. And we all shouldn’t have to live that way. We shouldn’t have to beat ourselves up for tasting something with sugar in it, splurging on a piece of bread, loving our mom’s fried chicken and mashed potatoes, or having to worry about what you’re going to eat when you go out to eat with your friends because you’re on the “no sugar, no carbs, no meat” diet. Let’s live a real life and make wise food choices while doing it. And I truly feel this doesn’t have to be a hard thing to do. It can be a way of life and you won’t have to miss out on all the “good” stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I do love eating healthy foods too! But I want to show people that you can have your cake and eat it too! So I’m still chewing on (no pun intended) the idea of my new blog. I will keep this blog to blog about mine and Chad’s lovely, un-interesting life, of course. Who knows…. we’ll see if this blog really does come alive. If I do decide to start a new blog, it will hopefully be up and running at the first of the new year. What better way to kick off 2010 with a new blog?! So let me know your feedback! Is this silly or something that really could be beneficial? Either way, I’m pretty excited about the idea!

Alright, moving on… I’ve still been biking to work in this frigid weather. Today might have been my last for a while though. I feel as if there is something seriously wrong with my bike. I don’t really feel like it’s ever been the same since I had my bike accident back in July and this morning I felt like I was truly trudging through mud to get to work. I was dying! My legs were burning, I felt like I would be able to walk faster than my bike was going, and I thought I would never make it. I thanked the Lord when my bike rolled right into the biking rack. Whew. It was a tough morning. So Chad picked me up from work and loaded my bike up and he’s going to go get it checked out tomorrow. I want it to be in tip top condition! Not only to be able to bike well, but to keep it in good condition because I think I’m going to sell my bike next spring and upgrade to a road bike. We shall see but I want to keep my options open as far as continuing to bike through the rest of the winter and early spring. So little Marin goes to get a check up tomorrow.

I came home to hit up some P90X chest, back and abs. I was getting my ab exercises out of the way while Chad was cooking our dinner and look who decided to join me.

Ollie boy at my feet.

Both the boys being moral support for their momma.

They love ab exercises… they have a six pack but it’s hidden by a little layer of cat food. They are truly my workout buddies. They’re always so curious on what we’re doing when we’re running around doing our crazy poses and exercises. Speaking of we, Chad even worked out with me tonight. Woo hoo! He absolutely hates exercising and it’s like pulling teeth to get him to workout with me even though he just started the program again last week. Oh well. It’s his body, not mine. But he did great getting down with push-ups and getting up with pull-ups. Way to go honey!!!

P.S. Look at this stinker stealing my workout chair. I hated to move him so I did my seated back fly’s on another chair.

We ate a fun meal of Sloppy Joe’s tonight. Yuuuummmmyyyy. Reminds me of childhood. I loved when my mom would make sloppy joe’s for dinner when I was little. So every once in a blue moon, I’ll get a hankering for some sloppy mess. And boy was it good tonight! Sometimes you just need a good sandwich with potato chips. Can I hear an Amen?

So we finished our workout and I settled in to write this blog while Chad fixed me a delicious cup of hot chocolate. This has become our nightly treat since last week when we had our first cup of the season. It makes me so happy knowing that I can spend each night looking forward to my husband and I settling down for the night with a soothing cup of hot chocolate. And I even got to use my new mug for the first time that my beautiful friend, Mandy, gave me as a Christmas happy the other night when we met for a coffee date. I absolutely LOVE it!

That’s it on my end. It’s time for bed… early morning is quickly approaching. Don’t forget to provide me with some advice or feedback on the new blog idea. Goodnight readers.