Ugly Christmas Sweaters

The last few days have been interesting to say the least. Chad and I led community group this past Thursday night, as usual and got a wild hair and decided to go to Waffle House for a late night dinner. Seriously? I/we don’t EVER go to Waffle House to eat. But everyone decided it’d be a good idea, so off we went. It was just 6 of us that went and we ended up staying there until after 11 pm eating and talking. It was a great time but I didn’t make the smartest choice in food with eating a hamburger and hashbrowns. That’s what I get for giving into late night cravings. I will have to say this, Thursday nights are hard for me, eating wise. I leave straight from work to head to lead Community Group and every week someone brings a different dessert so dessert is all I usually get for “dinner” on Thursday nights and this past Thursday I was starving even after eating a brownie. So it’s hard not to want to splurge on something that’s not the greatest choice because I’m craving carbs and will eat anything with bread in sight. So I’ve got to figure out a better solution to curb my cravings at night.

Friday was a busy day for us. We had much grocery shopping to get accomplished so we set out to hit Kroger, Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club. Seriously? It took 4 hours to get all of our shopping done. Grocery shopping is one of my guilty pleasures though. I am obsessed with walking down each and every aisle scoping out the best deals for food. Isn’t that ridiculous? Kroger was having a one day 50% off sale for certain items and Chad and I ended up picking up a 5 lb. bag of Idaho potatoes for $1.39! Crazy! I love it!! I was extra excited to go grocery shopping this time because I had mapped out all of our meals for the month of December so I knew we were going to be eating some yummy things in the future so I definitely wanted to find the best deals for all of my 60 ingredients/food to pick up at the store. I feel like we did pretty well. And crazy enough, Chad and I sold our crockpot at our garage sale 2 years ago and haven’t had one since and now of course, since we’re cooking up some good stuff, I need one. So I found a GE crockpot on sale at Wal-Mart and am worried that maybe I shouldn’t have bought the one with the digital timer and display. Is the extra money really worth it?? So I’m keeping it in the box for a few days to think on it. What do you all think??

After our hours of grocery shopping we headed home to get ready for the Ugly Christmas Sweater Party!!! Woo hoo! Chad picked us up some fabulously hideous outfits at K-mart an boy did we have some good laughs trying them on. The sweater vest he picked out for me was so big that even he could fit into it and it was a small!!! We are definitely keeping our good finds in the closet for future use for many years to come hopefully. I even had some handy Christmas earrings and bracelet that Chad’s MeeMaw had bought me two years ago. I kept them around for an occasion such as this. They were a hit. My outfit wouldn’t have been complete without them. Chad cracked me up with his women’s Christmas tree turtle neck and khaki pants. Too funny. And I absolutely love the fact that he had to buy a women’s turtleneck because the men’s section had nothing of the Christmas sweater sort. Here’s several pictures for you to have a good laugh at from last night.

Pre-party.

Fun in our elevator.  Love that we saw people from our building the second the doors opened.

A little bite of everything.

The women…

The men. Don’t you love Chad’s hair style?

I couldn’t keep from laughing.

80’s prom pose.

I hate this one turned out a little blurry.

Gazing. BAHAHAHA.

A for real pose.

Hanging out with Marty.  Of course he starts crying the second we want to take a picture.

Chad and Marty chillin’.

We played a few rounds of some serious Catch Phrase after eating a delicious dinner prepared by Glenna! I had a tad of everything. And surprisingly, this was the first time that I had played Catch Phrase. I really got into it. Maybe a little into it. I was yelling and doing victory dances. Fun times. Unfortunately we had to leave before the party was over due to me having to work today. I crawled out of bed this morning and ended up only working 4 hours because I hit overtime hours and was sent home. Boo. The whole not working as many hours and being patient and at peace about it is hard!!! I want those hours! Especially since I came home to an empty house since Chad had responsibilities to help with a Christmas special at a church about 45 minutes away. And I really can’t go running because I’m still on call until 7 pm so I’d hate to be in the midst of a good run and my phone ring with someone summoning me into work. So I’ll wait until 5 pm or so to head out on a run while the hubs is watching the SEC championship game. I think we’re also headed to go on a random Costco run. As a Norton Hospital employee we got a special pass to go to Costco tonight. The whole store is shut down just for us employees and family members. And since Chad and I were already debating whether to switch from Sam’s to Costco, this will be the perfect opportunity to check it out. What do you all think?

Honestly, that’s about it on our end. I’ve got to get geared up for my P90X leg and ab workout! Oh yeah, and there’s this little game on called the SEC Championship that I’m watching with the hubs. It’s a first for me. I’m not one to sit down and voluntarily watch a football game but he’s been begging me so how can I say no? I do it for love. But I will say, ROLL TIDE ROLL!!! Go Alabama! Roll over those Gators!!!

Ollie is ready to watch the game.  He’s a Roll Tide kitty!

Productivity

My productivity level was 110% today. It was insane how much I accomplished today. At 5 a.m. I received a phone call from work telling me they were putting me on call. So I slept until 9 (felt so great), woke up, made peanut butter cookies from scratch for Scarlett’s baby shower, got ready to head to her shower (which is conveniently located at our hospital since she’s a fellow nurse), spent great time celebrating the upcoming arrival of her baby girl, Gleason, came back home and cleaned the house from top to bottom for 3 hours, went on a 40 minute run, worked out with Plyometrics on P90X, cooked dinner, ate dinner and that brings us to now. I’m not normally one that appreciates needing to stay at home and be on call from work because I enjoy getting my hours in but I’m becoming more at peace about not being able to work as many hours. I know it sounds crazy to everyone that I enjoy working 60 hours a week but I know I won’t do it forever and I don’t have children yet so why not? Chad’s in school everyday so most days I’d just be bored at home. Might as well be productive. Sooo… I am learning to be less restless and more at peace about working less. It actually feels pretty good. Alright, onto the day.

I had my first attempt at making the homemade peanut butter cookies Chad usually makes. It’s not hard but I wanted them to be just as good as Chad’s. I also might have had a little spoonful of raw leftovers when I was finished. Raw or cooked, this stuff is good!

Pre-baking.

I headed to my good friends, Scarlett, baby shower. She’s due January 11th and we are all so excited for her at work! She’s got the sweetest, most adorable 26 month old at home named Cooper. Little Miss Gleason will complete their current family of three by making it a family of four. It’s always so fun to celebrate these occasions with your sweet friends.

Scarlett and I. Love the 35 week baby bump.

Yay for baby Gleason!

Linda and I. She’s our unit secretary and trust me, she makes our world keep going around on our unit. Don’t know what we’d do without her.

We had a delicious buffet which I grabbed a tiny bit of everything. I forgot to snap a picture in the midst of all the visiting. Oops. Scarlett got some great gifts and thoroughly enjoyed her shower. I’m so excited for Gleason to arrive!!! Yay for tiny little miracles.

I got back home around 12:45 and cleaned for 3 whole hours. No pictures of the cleaning process. I was way too focused on the task at hand. I cleaned our loft from one end to the next. Chad was pretty impressed when he got home from school. I do love when I go into a cleaning frenzy. It’s always nice to look around at a clean space. Not just decent looking but CLEAN! P.S. Can I just say how addicted I am to The Coffee House Sirius channel we have with Dish Network. I have listened to it all day. It’s so refreshing just listening to acoustic, calm music.

Chad got home a little after 5 so I decided to head out for a run. I haven’t gone for a run in over 2 months! I know, shame on me. But marathon training starts this month so I’ve got to get serious if I want to train properly and avoid injuries (hopefully). So I put on some warm winter running clothes, grabbed my iPod, iPhone, and set out to just run and not worry about running my fastest but keeping it slow and steady. (Sidenote: I listened to Sojourn’s CD, Over the Grave, and time went by super fast. Their CD is now available on iTunes. Go check it out. I promise you won’t be disappointed) I have to admit, I was quite nervous about two things before I walked out the door. 1: That since I hadn’t ran in over 2 months, I’d have to take walking breaks frequently and 2: It’d feel so cold that I would quit training before I even started because of the temperature. Well, I’m very happy to report that a: I ran the entire 40 minutes and b: I actually loved running in the winter cold air! I was so shocked to feel so good running. I ran at a steady pace and before I knew it I had arrived at St. James Court which was my destination of choice. I’ve talked a lot about St. James Court on my blog because Chad and I enjoy taking walks there in the spring, summer, and fall. It’s the most gorgeous little place in Old Louisville. The houses are breathtakingly gorgeous and most are from the late 1800’s. I wouldn’t mind owning one of those one day. Despite the 40 something degree weather, I actually got a little toasty with my North Face jacket being on but I’m still glad I over layered, just in case. So I’ve proven to myself that I really will be able to train and complete this marathon. I remembered how much I’ve missed running and how exhilarating it is! Can’t wait to keep on going!! 26.2 miles, watch out! Here comes Lauren!

All dressed and ready to run. I definitely won’t rum without my fleece headband in the winter. My ears usually get so cold that they hurt. Not condusive to running long distances.

St. James Court at dusk. Love that people are putting up Christmas decorations. Makes my runs more scenic.

After my run I came home, got dinner in the oven and hit P90X. Tonight was Plyometrics. I actually like this workout. It involves many squats and jumps. Keeps that heart rate going!!

Yup, it’s me leaping mid-air. I guess I’m too fast for the camera.

A little better.

I know I’m glistening a bit post workout but I wanted to show you all how excited I am about getting in shape! I really do think strength traing has helped me have the endurance I need for lengthy runs. I’m all about it.

Alright, yes, I’m the one that actually cooked dinner tonight. Shocker, I know. But the hubs is super busy with finals that I figured I’d take the load off a little bit so he can focus on making it through these next two days. I made honey chicken that turned out pretty well. I was disappointed that I didn’t have any green to add to our plate so corn had to work for the moment.

It’s ridiculous how much water I’m consuming but my body is totally craving it! I need to keep well hydrated! Can’t believe how little soda I drink these days. I used to never, and I mean never, drink water and now that’s what I mostly drink. Water is necessary for repair and I’m definitely repairing!

I did have a little treat after dinner. A perfect small peanut butter cookie left over from the baby shower. Much deserved after my run and workout I think.

Time for winding down for bed. Hope everyone had an awesome first day of December! Can’t believe it’s December already! My how this year has flown by!

Whew…

I feel like there is lots to catch up on from the weekend. Chad and I honestly didn’t do too much, we just enjoyed resting and being with each other but we did get a few good meals in there. And let me preface by saying, I know that I run, workout, bike and love me some exercise but I’m definitely don’t consider myself a “healthy” eater. Would I like to be? Yes. But I’m not. I have absolutely no self control when it comes to carbohydrates and sweets. They win every single time. I tried a 2 week fruit and vegetable diet this past May and made it 4 days before I broke down and ate up some yummy carbs. I have a friend of whose blog I follow daily, and I really wish my eating and running habits were more like hers but they, for sure, are not. Having a husband who allows me to follow my food temptations doesn’t help matters much. He’s all about me wanting some pizza and chocolate. BUT… the good thing is, I’m not a person looking to lose weight so I’m all about eating foods that I crave… in moderation. I like to often say, “I workout so I CAN eat whatever I want”. So that’s just a little preface before I keep posting all these pictures of foods we eat. Some are healthier than others but they definitely won’t all be so there’s a fair warning.

Alright, onto the activities of the weekend. Friday evening hubby and I did have some delicious grilled salmon for dinner. I’m quite pleased with these salmon fillets we purchased at Sam’s Club. I love salmon so very much and could eat it any night of the week. These fillets aren’t too buttery, they are seasoned and marinated just right.

Even Nattie baby loved the skin of it! He’s such a stinker and oh so spoiled.

Saturday I was still voiceless so I honestly layed low much of the day trying to rest my voice. I needed it to come back before Monday so I could go to work and not have to use sign language to communicate with my patients. Chad found it quite amusing that I was unable to talk. I’m thinking he could’ve enjoyed it a little too much with me having to be so silent. If you know me very well, or at all, you know I love to talk and communicate so it was hard on me not being able to carry a conversation or even answer questions. For example, I was in our bathroom getting ready so we could go grab something to eat and Chad was in the living room. He asked me a question and there was silence (of course) so he instructed me to snap my fingers once if the answer was yes. So here I was, this is what it had come to, I was snapping my fingers to answer questions. When one is without voice, improv comes into play big time! Last night we were planning on heading to Seviche for Chad’s late birthday dinner and since I had no voice we decided to once again, postpone until next weekend. I didn’t think it’d be very fun to sit across from my husband for a romantic dinner and not being able to chat. So we decided we’d head on over to Five Guys for a yummy burger and fries dinner. And a great choice it ended up being. We both left feeling full and satisfied.

I figured since it was still too early to go home and hit the hay that we should stop by the wonderful Red Box and pick up a movie. We haven’t rented a movie in quite a while and some nights it’s just nice to sit on the couch and veg out in front of the TV. We ended up renting The Ugly Truth because I had heard it was hilarious and it actually did turn out to be quite funny. It’s always a bummer when you rent a movie that you think is going to be funny and it turns out to be a dud. I love Katherine Heigl and her movies are usually pretty good at getting the giggles going. Another plus is that I get to curl up in a blanket and wind down for the night.

Our Sunday has been a pretty lazy one as well. Chad is getting geared up to wind down for the semester so he’s been immersed in books and studying which has given me a chance to catch up with some girlie movies I DVR’ed. I watched Hairspray today. It was pretty cute for a movie musical. But most of my morning was spent making a menu of dinners for the whole month of December. I have not made a menu for meals in two years. I used to make a monthly menu when we lived in Alabama because I was cooking every night but stopped when we moved to Louisville because Chad started cooking. I never ever thought Chad would ask me to make a menu again but he did. Chad, I know, has been desperate for some variety other than chicken in our daily meals so I got to it. I went through a ton of my cookbooks and got all of my recipes together. The shopshop application on my iPhone is now quite lengthy with all of the things I need to pick up at the grocery store this next week. I am actually super excited about having permission from Chad to be OCD with my menus again. I really do enjoy planning ahead and feeling like I know what we’re eating for the next month. Is that weird? Yeah, probably. I never said I wasn’t obsessive about some things. Thankfully, Chad has agreed that if I get the menu and ingredients together that he’ll be glad to still hold the “chef” title in our household. Thank goodness. If I didn’t work until 7 pm each night I would be more than happy to cook nightly again but it’s just too much to fit into my day. So I’m pretty excited! I’m thinking our food is going to have more variety, be tastier, look prettier, etc. So I’ll definitely be posting some pictures of our new creations! If any of y’all of any recipes out there then feel free to let me know. I’m always up for new ideas!

Tonight Chad and I enjoyed a night of worship at Sojourn. This is the first Sunday of Advent, can you believe it?! I’m so thankful for our church and the teaching pastors we have. Chad and I have been extremely spoiled by great music and awesome teaching at Sojourn. If and when we are called to serve at another church, it will be a bittersweet day. We are relishing the time we have with our church and the beautiful people in it. Anyway, not to get off on a tangent… we had a moment of weakness and decided to go eat at Impellizzeri’s Pizza. We hadn’t been there before so I was glad to say that we made a good choice. Their pizza was yummy yummy good. I think I need to learn to make pizza at home since we love it so much. I could eat pizza any night of the week. It’s so delicious. Chad’s excited that we had leftovers so he’ll have a delectable lunch tomorrow waiting on him.

All in all, it was a great weekend. Even if I was without a voice for most of the weekend. Thank goodness my voice started coming back today! Woo hoo! No more sign language for now. I can go to work tomorrow being able to speak to my patients! I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. I know a lot of people are traveling back to their home today from visiting friends or family for Thanksgiving! Be safe and enjoy the week! Chad, the kitties and I love you!!

I’ll leave you with a picture of the Louisville skyline I took on our way back from Five Guys Saturday night.  Man, I love this city!!!

Laryngitis

Let me start off by saying, working the past 14 1/2 hours with barely a whisper was real fun. Having to talk to patients, count instruments, call doctors, call report, etc is quite the challenge when you’re needing to be heard and you can barely squeak anything out. Not a fun way to start off the weekend. Hopefully with me resting my voice tonight I’ll be good to go pretty soon. It’s hard, especially for me, to be quiet. I love to talk so I want to get better soon!!!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday! I, as you know, had to work this Thanksgiving so it was pretty uneventful on our end.

Hi ho, off to work I go at 6:30 a.m.

They did serve us a Thanksgiving employee meal at work which wasn’t so bad. I think I must have enjoyed it more than most.

Scarlett and I loved our free meal! She’s eating for two… Almost 34 weeks preggers.

Chad and I had the less traditional Thanksgiving. We’ll be celebrating Christmas soon enough so we can hold out for our favorites.

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All in all, it was a good day. I am not a Black Friday shopper so I worked today as well. I even came in 2 hours early so one of the night shift nurses could go grab a trampoline for her kids. So I am excited to say that my day is done and I can relax at home. Lord knows my body and voice needs it. We shall see what the weekend brings…

Happy Thanksgiving!

This won’t be too long of a post but I just wanted to slip in a “Happy Thanksgiving” out there to all my readers!  Since my career is in the wonderful world of nursing it means…. yup, you guessed it!  I have to work Thanksgiving!  Oh well.  I’m very thankful that I am off for Christmas Eve and Christmas to be able to go to Memphis and spend time with family.  Chad and I don’t have big plans for tonight.  I do believe we’ll be just chilling and spend time being thankful for each other.  This post would never end if I rattled off all the things I’m thankful for but I will say this, I am most (and forever) thankful for being a sinner saved by grace.  I am so undeserving of His mercy and grace. 

I hope and pray all of you out there have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving holiday!  Don’t stuff yourselves too full of turkey and dressing… wait, who am I kidding?!  I love holidays because we get to over indulge!  Have a great time eating your hearts out!  Peace be with all of you…

Birthday Blessings

As I listen to the coffee house channel on our Sirius radio, tears come to my eyes as I think about my husband. How can I even begin to write a blog that describes in words how much love I have in my heart for Chad Watson? He’s the best thing that has ever happened to me. God knew what He was doing when He placed us together to become one flesh. My husband is one of the most God fearing, talented, kind-hearted, humble, gorgeous human being I’ll ever have the privilege to know. And the fact the Lord set Chad Watson aside to be my help mate in life is unbelievable to me. What did I do to deserve someone has great as him? He never ceases to amaze me. As he led worship at Sojourn tonight, I stood in awe of the gift that has been given to him through music. But even more than that, the Lord really did instill the gift of leadership in my husband. It’s part of who he is and I’m forever grateful that I have a husband who is not afraid to lead his wife. He’s all I will ever need and more in a partner. I’ve been severely blessed to be able to experience life with him during these last 5 years. And I absolutely cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store for our lives. Publically, I wanted to announce and express how crazy blessed I am to be living life side by side with this brilliant man. If you’ve ever had the opportunity to know him, then you know exactly what I’m talking about. So join in and wish my man the best birthday he can ever imagine. I love you with every ounce of who I am, Chadwick Fields Watson. Thank you for loving me back.

Considering I have a few minutes until Chad gets home from leading worship, I figured I wouldn’t only take this time to write a love letter to my husband on my blog but to fill you in on the rest of the weekend. Last night we gathered for a sweet time of saying farewell to a dear family that is leaving in a little over a week to be a part of a church plant in Houston, Texas. The Mullins’ have been faithful friends and are like our family. We have a deep love and appreciation for their presence in our lives. Following our goodbyes, we were able to spend some beautiful time catching up with some dear friends, Maggie and Dave, that were in town for the weekend for a friends wedding. They moved to Houston, Texas to also be a part of the church plant mentioned above back in August and we have missed them so. They were actually our Community Group leaders for 18 months before their move and we’re the ones that took over the Community Group leadership role for them. We were excited to spend a couple of hours with them and a group of our friends, celebrating life and enjoying fellowship. I especially enjoyed spending a few quality moments with their 7 month old son, Shepherd.

Happy Boy.

He’s gotten way too big and I hate missing seeing him grow up in person but at least I got to steal a few kisses and smiles last night. We also had the pleasure of getting to spend time with our friends, Brandon and Bethan, daughter. Jane is so extremely feminine and petite. I love it! I’m so proud of my man loving on this little sweet lovely.

Precious babe.

Tiny feetsies.

He’s such a natural. I’m thankful to Christ for nights such as these to where we can spend time and celebrate our friendships. You realize how blessed you are so quickly.

Today, Chad’s actually birthday, has been pretty lazy. I wasn’t feeling quite myself this morning so I decided to make myself a bowl of blueberry oatmeal and a couple pieces of toast.

Yum Yum breakfast.

I hate to admit, but I stayed in bed most of the day after that. I had planned on staying there longer until our buildings fire alarm went off. So it was up and at ‘em to get dressed and go outside with everyone else. Thank goodness it went off fairly quickly. Following our false fire alarm, it was time to get ready for church. And that brings me to the present. Chad led worship, heard a great sermon from the book of Daniel, concluded and I was off the the grocery store. Chad had no idea but I had picked up things to make a home cooked meal, Tuna Noodle Casserole and Crescent Rolls.

My array of pots, pans, ingredients and cookbook.

Can’t beat some home cookin’!

I also had to slip a sweet treat surprise in there so I ran by Dairy Queen and picked up a Reese’s Cup Blizzard Cake.

I feel my arteries clogging as I type.

He’s been asking for one for years and I finally had the time to surprise him with him still being at church. He was pretty excited about a yummy home cooked meal and definitely stoked about the DQ cake! I think I did pretty well if I do say so myself. He wasn’t suspecting a thing. Next Saturday we’re celebrating with his absolute favorite Louisville restaurant, Seviche! I’m excited too! I love love love Seviche. You can never go wrong with going there. So that’s about it with us! I know Chad has had a great birthday weekend and he appreciates all the calls and Facebook messages he’s received! Thank you all so much for being a part of our lives and loving us. We love you!

I’ll leave you with a picture of Chad leading worship tonight.  Thankful for having been able to worship with my husband on his 29th birthday.  God is so good!

Vampires, Werewolves and Birthdays

Last night was the night of “New Moon”! Woo hoo. A great time was had by watching Edward and Jacob battle it out for Bella’s heart. I tried to explain the plot to Chad today and he promptly asked me why I was telling him this. I guess he’s not too interested in this fictional story. The movie theater was packed with people. And I had an easier time staying awake until 3 a.m. then I thought I would. I did end up sleeping until noon because I got bed so late.

Here’s the movie theater 20 minutes before the movie began.

Lindsay and I waiting anxiously.

Lindsay, me, Stacey and Kellie.

All in all, it was a great movie and it made me even more anxious for “Eclipse” and “Breaking Dawn” to come out! I do have to say for the record, I’m definitely on Team Edward! Love me some Jacob but Edward’s got him beat by a long shot.

Upon my noon awakening, Chad suggested we grab some lunch since it’s his birthday weekend (we usually try and eat at home). Of course we’re going for one of our classic favorite Louisville restaurants, Toast on Market. If you live in Louisville and haven’t been then you are definitely missing out on some consistent yummy goodness. Everything they make is made from scratch and nothing is priced over $9.00. You can’t beat that. Their service is always impeccable and we never get tired of the Michael Bublè music they play. I always order their ham and cheese on ciabotta bread with carmelized onions and apple marmalade with a cup of their delicious pasta salad on the side. It was a perfect way to start our Saturday afternoon and an even more perfect way to start Chad’s birthday celebration weekend!

I love the atmosphere.

I don’t know why I even bother with the menu. I always know what I want.

My super good ham and cheese with pasta salad. It never fails to satisfy.

Outside. I love to sit on the front patio when it’s warm outside.

My birthday groom and I in the car. Obsessed.

We’ve been pretty boring for the remainder of the afternoon. We’re now headed to say our farewells to a very special family, the Mullins, before they move to Houston, TX to be a part of a church plant. They are amazing, God fearing people that we will be forever grateful for their friendship. I’ll post more about tonight later! Hope everyone’s had a nice Saturday!

Anticipation

I have two more hours until I head to meet the girls to go see “New Moon”! I’m pretty excited about it if you can’t tell. Let me tell you, I boycotted “Twilight” because I figured it was silly teenage fiction. My bestie, Kellie convinced me to read the series and lent me the whole series. Once I started, I simply could not stop. Was I really getting into this? I couldn’t believe it. I got just as sucked in as anybody else with the whole Edward, Bella and Jacob drama. What can I say, I’m a sucker for love stories. Whether they’re fiction or non-fiction. So blah, blah, blah. I know I could go on forever about the series but I’ll get on with my lovely day today.

Technically, I have today through Monday off from work. Well, we’ll rephrase. I have off from working on the floor. I had a meeting this morning, came home, ate lunch with Chad, napped, went back to the hospital for a two hour mandatory class, returned home, ate a fabulous healthy meal for dinner and now I’m just waiting to meet up with the girls for dessert at The Melting Pot and then off to see “New Moon”! Whew. Busy day. I do have Saturday and Sunday to stay away from the hospital but Monday I have to go in for another class that lasts 4 hours. So technically, I don’t really have a full 4 days off. I can’t complain because I’m blessed with having a rewarding, steady job.

Oh, I forgot to mention why this weekend is so special. It’s Chad’s birthday on Sunday. The big 2-9. Yay for birthday’s! I’ll be updating throughout the weekend to share with everyone the festivities.

I’ll leave you with the good two meals Chad cooked today. The first being breakfast for lunch.

Yum yum pancakes and eggs.

Yummy salad with dinner.

Baked salmon, sauteed mushrooms, green beans, and of course, a Sister Schubert’s roll.

Thanksgiving at Work

Every year at work we have a Thanksgiving gathering the week before Thanksgiving. It’s always fun to get together and fellowship. It’s nice to let down the hair and have people that you work with see the more “normal, real-life” you. There is always an abundance of food and laughter. I brought a veggie tray. I felt very domestic in buying my own veggies and preparing it myself. I was also so excited because I was able to use my Gail Pittman serving tray! I received many compliments on it. Yay! Upon finishing stuffing my face, I got called into work. Good thing I was only a few steps away. So I shed my street clothes to don some surgery scrubs and to work I went. I never mind getting called in because it equals extra hours on the paycheck and Chad’s usually at school during my day shift hours so I’m not missing out on anything.

I’m hitting the sack in a bit. Following my shift, I had a unit staff meeting to attend and so I’m pretty pooped. Not to mention I have meetings in the morning and a class to attend late tomorrow afternoon. Busy day and an exciting night planned with the girls to see “New Moon” at midnight tomorrow following dessert at The Melting Pot. So I have to rest up because Lord knows my eyes automatically shut at 10 o’clock at night. Me being out past 2 a.m. will be pushing it! Anyway. Enough about that, I shall be blogging soon enough about my girls night. Woo hoo for “New Moon”!!!! Yay Team Edward!

Oh, you know I can’t leave you without a couple of pictures.

Here’s my adorable veggie tray made by me!

Part of the food spread.

Laughter

What a great couple of days it has been. Chad and I have been meaning to start cooking with more variety. Sometimes grilled chicken and veggies gets a little boring. So we set out this past Friday in hopes of putting a little variety in our diet. And boy did we. Chad made this excellent turkey breast roast last night with potatoes, mushrooms, celery, carrots and onions all added in. He was pretty impressed with the dish, as was I. Our tastebuds and stomachs were very pleased. I’m honestly starting to think about going back to planning out our dinners day by day like I used to. I’m thinking it will make grocery shopping easier and it will be easier to balance our meals out to include more variety.

Here’s a peek of what my plate looked like last night. We even had more than enough for leftovers! Can’t beat that.

Not to be too ADD and jump around but I just have to say, the main reason for this post was to talk about a little laughter. For about the last 30 minutes at work tonight, several of us were sitting at the desk and chatting. We got to laughing about numerous issues and it was so great. I know that sometimes I can forget how great my co-workers are. I forget how much it can feel like family. It’s not too often that we all get to laughing together like we did tonight due to being so busy all the time so I truly relished it. I forget how easily I allow myself to get stressed and not enjoy living in the moment. I’m so thankful for our staff. With me not living near family, I often say that my co-workers are my second family and they truly are. I know they’d be there for me if I ever needed them. Today was a good and much needed reminder of how fortunate I am to work with such great people. And it’s even more of a bonus that I work with two of my best friends!! I love it. My day just ended so well. I’m so blessed.

Speaking of best friend’s, here’s Kellie channeling her inner bicyclist. She is constantly trying to get me to retire the biking until it’s light outside. But I think she secretly wishes she didn’t live so far so she could bike to work too. Ha. Yeah right. She’s such a stinker.

That’s about it for today. I’m pretty sure I’ll be sleeping in less than 60 seconds once I post this. I’m pretty whooped from doing chest, back, and abs with P90X. Not to mention being a little overproductive after eating supper with cleaning up around the house. Good thing is that everything is clean and put in its place. Until next time…