I'm a little scared

Today is Friday and currently it is 4:55 pm. That means in 5 minutes I will be getting off work. It is currently not raining, even though it is in the forecast for tonight. No excuses today. When I get off work, I'm throwing on my running shoes and hitting the road for Week 3 of my Couch to 5k challenge. I didn't get to start on my run this week as early as I wanted too. I had class Monday and Tuesday night, Wednesday was my birthday, and Thursday I had to help my best friend pack up to move out of her apartment today.

Boy! Thursday was an emotional low for me. I knew that if I could make it past Thursday I would be okay. I have to admit that I had a hard time walking up the stairs to her apartment for the last time. I will refrain from sharing the story about how Steph was wailing so loudly on the stairs that her ghetto neighbor came outside to see what was going on,hahahaha. I have loved loved loved my best friend being so close to me over the past year, but I almost wish that she had originally gotten a job farther away so that this transition wouldn't be so hard. We already said good-bye after college,and that was very difficult. We didn't want to do it again. But as of today, she is out of her apartments and on her way to a new adventure. I will be seeing her in less than a month. Yay!!

Get ready blog readers, because for my birthday I got a DSLR camera. There are about to be some great pictures on my blog. This is really my only outlet (besides Facebook) to put my pictures. I hope that I have the talent that I think that I will have to picture taking. Maybe not enough to be a professional photographer, but hopefully enough for myself to be proud.

You are about to judge me

I pride myself on being very honest. I am the same no matter where I am at and who I am with. I sometimes (a lot of the time) say things that are possibly inappropriate to others, but at least I'm honest.

Here is something that I am dealing with currently.

My husband is kinda-sorta my best friend. I love him dearly and I tell him everything. We discuss everything together and he is ultimately the person I go to, but....

If I really want to have a conversation and get the reaction that I want then I go to my female best friend. That is how it has always been throughout our relationship. When Hubby and I started dating, I was really close to a group of four or five girls. My theory was that they were there before him and they would probably be there after him. (I didn't expect to marry the person I started dating at 16.) Whenever the group would hang out as friends, at the end of the night Andrew would get frustrated at me because while all of the other couples were cuddling on the couch, I would be sitting and talking to my best girl friend who had a long distance relationship. He would end up sitting by himself. My excuse was that I didn't want Heather to feel lonely because her guy wasn't there. That continued all throughout high school, and then we got to college. I lived with my bestie then, so obviously she would hear about everything. I would tell her my crazy stories and complain to her because she would either be in shock or laugh hysterically at my stories, or offer a comforting word. My husband listens very well and might chuckle or offer food for thought, but when it comes to the reaction that I crave-I go to my female friends.

With my female counterpart moving away, I am faced with a scary thought...Andrew is going to have to take the place of Steph with the reactions. Yeah, I will be able to tell her my stories and hear the reaction over the phone or by Skype, but it is just not the same. I want the cackle that resembles a muppet's laugh. When I wanted to do something fun, I would automatically ask the friend before the husband (that's due to his work schedule, not because I didn't want to be with him). This will be an interesting time for me and our marriage. He will be graduating and hopefully getting a job that will put him at home on the weekends and nights. Then he will become my:
Shopping buddy
My Chickasaw paddleboat partner
My listener
And the Person I throw my jokes too!!

Hot Dog!

This blog really doesn't have anything to do with food, but with a bathing suit.

I love bathing suits. I truly do. They have them in so many different colors, shapes, sizes, styles. They aren't like jeans. I do have a difficult time finding swimsuits because of my body size. But TODAY I have ordered one. I will have to update everyone on how this bathing suit works for me but here's a picture.

Obviously, it is me in the picture. It has underwire and everything!!!!! I can take the straps off and I don't have to worry about cleavage and being immodest if I'm swimming in mixed company. Actually, I don't mind swimming with mixed company, it's creepy mixed company that I worry about. I should get it in a week!!

The world would be a better place if...

My thighs didn't rub together.

Seriously, I think I would be a much better Christian, social worker, wife, and/or friend if my thighs didn't touch each other when I walked, ran, breathed.

Hopefully I got a laugh out of that one,hahaha.

I'm still on Week 2 of the Couch to 5k Plan. I'm not disappointed in my progress, but I do wish that I was on Week 3 or 4 already. My past 2 weeks have been crazy though. I'm very proud of myself. My breathing has gotten better. I'm still huffin' and puffin' like I'm about to die, but my rhythm is better.

I read somewhere that if you go into your kitchen and break one dish, are you going to break every single dish that you own? No, You Crazy Pants! Dieting is the same way. Just because you aren't able to exercise like you want to one week, that doesn't mean that you can't do it the next week. So, while on some days I haven't been able to run due to work and classes, I drank only water, have eaten more salads, and done sit-ups. I have to admit that I haven't lost any weight, but my legs are ROCKIN'!!

These aren't really my legs, but I can tell that my calves are stronger and my thighs (while still touching) look better. I noticed this morning that my stomach was flatter too!! My breasticles (boobs) are still gargantuan, but progress is progress, Baby!

I have a plan. I'm going to be visiting my bestie in Baton Rouge at the end of May. I will have to be in a bathing suit during that time (Drat!) but I want her to really be able to notice how much better I'm looking at that time. I'm not planning on losing 30 lbs in one month, but I do want to look like I have made progress.

You have to stay in shape. My Grandmother, she started walking 5 miles a day when she was 60. She's 97 today and we don't know where the hell she is" -- Ellen Degeneres

Never Too Late?

One of the classes that I have been taking this semester is called Policy and Advocacy. Basically the point of this class is to teach you about what is going on in TN with different policies. We were assigned to a group and a topic. My group was assigned Adoption and Foster Care, which I love and really have a heart for. We were supposed to then find out what was going on that either needed to be changed or needed to be implemented. One of my fabulous group leaders found an article about a project that was started in MN and MO that helped older teenagers become adopted. We decided that that was what we were going to do our presentation about. We found all sorts of statistics about how once children reached the age of 14, they pretty much gave up the hope of being adopted. We did our first presentation about how it was important to have programs such as the ones established in MN and MO in TN because they were beneficial.
The 2nd part of our presentation is what my group is working on now. We actually have to go through the steps to make our plans a reality. Our teacher really doesn't expect us to start this great adoption program, which we call Never Too Late, but he does want us to see and find what steps would need to be taken to begin this program.


Wellll.....


One of my group members was talking with a DCS (Department of Children Services) Regional Advisor about his internship for next year. He happened to mention our project in passing to see what she thought about teenagers struggling to becoming adopted. The RA LOOVED our idea and actually requested that I do my internship there as well so that we could actually get this program started in TN. We would be the starters of the program. We would be interviewing teenagers in foster care to see what their thoughts would be and we would even be in charge of getting the grant money. I really wanted to do my internship with Drug and Alcohol rehab services, but this is such a great opportunity for us.

I'm going to email the lady who is in charge of finding internships for me and tell her about this opportunity. I'm still in shock!

Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.1 Timothy 4:12 NIV

Motorcycle Babe

I did it!

I rode on the back of Andrew's motorcycle. I thought that I would like it because I do enjoy a good jet ski ride. I wish I could have taken a picture of my face before we took off. I was excited and scared all at the same time. I have to admit I also squealed when we accelerated. I had a blast!!! I am going to take motorcycle lessons and maybe one day I will have my own motorcycle to enjoy.

By Golly, I Still Like Him!!

With Andrew being on an Educational leave of absence from work, we have had the best time together. It's amazing that after being together almost eight years, that I still like him as a person.

Yeah, I love him and all that, but it is good to be reminded that if I randomly met Andrew on the street, I would still want to get to know him and make him my friend. This might sound weird to some people, but you have to realize that we don't get much time to hang out and be together. If you are married, please don't take for granted having your husband home every night and being able to spend time together on a regular basis. With Andrew and I working opposite schedules, him going to school full time, and I have classes on his 2 nights off we really don't get to have that much quality time together.

Here is what we have done:

Here is our Magnolia tree that sits in the very center of our front yard. I love trees, and I like this one, but it kills any grass or life around it.

We (Andrew) built a retaining wall around our tree and planted hosta and those pretty plants (I can't remember their names) around our tree. There will hopefully be a picture of it later. We filled in the wall with top soil and it looks so good!! The wall and the plants cover up some of the bare areas in our yard, and we also bought grass seed that should grow in shade areas.

Here is our work of art!! The left side of the front of our house has holly bushes. I hate holly bushes, especially these. They are bare in the middle of the bushes and they have sharp leaves. The right side of our house had nothing but clover. We killed the grass and clover, put the weed smotherer material over it, planted our flowers, and then mulched it. And oh yes, that is an edger and a curve you see. They are going to put me on curb appeal. My mom was so proud of us that she has been showing everyone the pictures I sent her. In our new flower beds, we planted Knock-Out Roses, Day Lilies, Azalea bush, something I can't remember at this time, petunias, and we transplanted a rose bush that was at the side of the house to the front. I also have hanging plants on the front of the house too.

We also got a new mailbox and created a flowerbed with petunias and day lilies around it too. I planted zinnias in our flower bed beside the house. I am really excited about the zinnias. They are the only ones that I planted from seeds so hopefully we will see them growing before long.

I met one of our neighbors while we were working on our yard. She told me that she has lived on that street for 32 years and no one had ever tried to make our front yard look good. That meant a lot to me that she noticed right away the work we were doing. The front of our house really does look a lot different now. Hopefully we won't kill anything to quickly, but I do have a plant that i have had since before Andrew and I got married and it is still living. Hopefully that is a testament to my gardening skills!.

Step-on-me

Did anyone else catch the Full House reference in the title?

Growing up, I always had a large group of friends. If you asked someone if they knew Dana their answer would probably be,"Oh yeah, I know her. She's really nice." In this large group of friends, I only had a select handful that I would call my best friends, but it wasn't until my sophomore year at college when I met Stephanie that I knew what true friendship and sisterhood really was. I love this picture of us because it was taken during the BCM Banquet that year. I have several thoughts about me in this picture:

1. Wow! My hair was blonde from highlights then. I didn't realize how blonde I really was.

2. Who wears a huge Vera Bradley purse with such a nice dress?

3. Dang! I was skinny!!

Anyways, my roomie was my date for the evening because Andrew didn't know any of those folks and hates the unknown.

Steph and I barely knew each other at all when we decided to live together. I was supposed to live with Rebecca and something happened (which I don't remember at this time) and I ended up living with Steph. I was really scared and nervous about living with her because I didn't think that I was going to be able to be myself. The summer before we moved in together, I drove to Clarksville so that we could get to know each other better. I remember 2 things from that trip:

1. I was really sick and I didn't want to tell her.

2. While I was sick with a fever, Steph insisted on going through the entire Alphabet and wanted to share with me which letters she liked to write in cursive. She had a lot of opinions on the last names of guys that she could possibly marry because of what their last names started with. I was miserable!

Our sides of the room were completely different. Hers' was yellow and black. Mine was bright pinks and purples and I tend to leave my cereal bowls everywhere and my milk would sour. Oops, sorry Steph. I was really messy and she tried to be neat and would even make her bed.

I couldn't have had a better roommate.

Our friendship was different than any other friendships that I had had. Not only did we have fun together and laugh all of the time, but I learned what it was like to really be encouraging to someone and to have someone keep you accountable. I had never had a friend that cared about my walk with Christ before. We talked about things more honestly than the friends I thought were the best friends that I had ever had did.

We lived together for three years and I wouldn't trade them for anything. The summer after we graduated, I had already gotten a job in Bolivar. Stephanie left for Summer Conference and knew that when she returned my things would be moved out of our apartment. I don't think either one of us had cried that hard in a while. One of my favorite things that Stephanie has ever said was,"Towards the end of our friendship..." What she meant was towards the end of us living together, but it was even more funny because it was just a different step in our friendship, not the end.

Luckily (I think it was a God thing) Steph got a job in Jackson. There were many weeks when we saw each other 3 times a week, and talked on the phone at least 20 times. Luckily I have a husband that understands how important it is for me to talk to Stephanie.

Before Ms. Ryan got the job in Jackson, she had big dreams of moving to far away places. She was ready to move to Alaska, California, or even Hawaii if she got the chance. Now it's time for her to take that step towards those far away states, and it's time for her to move to Baton Rouge, LA.

I'm in denial about how far away she is going to be. I am already planning a trip to visit her in May. It won't be long now before I will be logging into her facebook account to see who she is talking about. She is going to be meeting all these fascinating people that I won't know or be able to meet.

I am so proud of my best friend and I can't wait for her to show those people what passion and love for the news looks like.

I haven't cried yet, but I can feel the tears starting to come. I guess I better end this thing and change her ringtone to Callin' Baton Rouge by Garth Brooks. I knew I always liked that song!

Random Post...Like Always!

I went on the Women's Retreat with my church ladies. This time it was really fun because my mom got to come. I love love LOVE the older ladies that come to my church. They are the spunkiest women I have ever met and I hope that I am like that when I am their age.

I also was able to hang out with our new music minister's fiancee, Amy. He is from TX and she is from Jackson. I asked them how they met and she shared with me that they met on eHarmony!!!!! How cool is that? They both had difficulty finding anyone that they wanted to be with and SHAZAM they found each other online. Amy told me that they considered not telling anyone how they met because they were afraid that they would be judged, but they got over that. She was telling me about the conversation she had with her mom explaining that she had met someone on eHarmony and was going to TEXAS to visit with him. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall for that conversation.

Andrew is now on an official 2 week educational leave from work. Yay!!! Hopefully he will be able to complete all of his papers and I am so excited that he will be at home every night. That hasn't happened since our Honeymoon and I couldn't be happier. He really is a wonderful husband.

We also had our BIG Dinner and Auction Saturday night! My mom and my besties came. That meant so much to me because I work so hard at my job and I loved being able to show them how important it was to have the donations. We were even able to sit with the mayor at our table,haha. A big thank you to Steph and Laura for even buying several auction items. I myself won my birthday present-A MASSAGE!!!!!! I am so excited!

Last night in class, we watched the video Super Size Me. I really recommend you watch it if you haven't. If you click on my link, it will take you to Hulu. Recently, I haven't been cooking as much as I should, but I try not to eat too much fast food. I will get a veggie plate from the local mom and pop stores around here. Right before we watched this video in class, I had gone to Chik-fil-a. Luckily I had gotten a chicken salad sandwich, or I might have thrown everything up right in class. This video really opened my eyes and made me sick. I doubt that I will be eating at McDonald's for a while. The premise of this documentary is this guy, who was in really really good shape, eats EVERY meal at McDonald's for 30 days. He has to have at least one of everything on the menu within that time. It was very interesting!!

Here is my Couch to 5k update:
Unfortunately, I have to do my 2nd week over again. Due to Dinner and Auction last week, I never made it home before it was dark and I was exhausted. I am also taking an elective this semester which cuts out my running during the afternoons on Mondays and Tuesdays. I can still get my running done during the rest of the week. I had planned on getting up at 6:00am this morning to run, just so I could get one in today, but my phone died during the night and my alarm didn't go off.

Birthdays and Easter

Andrew's birthday was wonderful and he had a wonderful time.





What made is so wonderful to him was not where we stayed (which was fun) and not where we ate (which was good) but the fact that he was able to have intelligent or some not so intelligent conversations with some of his nearest and dearest friends.





There is something about Andrew's life that I don't understand. Where he works, he doesn't have friends. He works all night and comes home to an empty house to sleep all day. When does he get to laugh? When does he hear or tell crazy stories to someone other than his wife?





The truth is is that he doesn't get too. He doesn't have much in common with anyone that he works with and they don't have much of a desire to get to know him because he actually has goals and his job is a temporary job, not his career.





So for Andrew's birthday, he was able to laugh and joke and act stupid. He was able to talk to his best friends and then even make some new friends.

His Fun Meter had soared through the roof. I did have a good time as well and I loved that I was able to spend time with my husband, but the most important fact was that he was able to have conversations with people who loved him and enjoyed being around him.

Running and Birthdays

I have officially completed the first week of the Couch to 5k program. Yipee!! Today I even ventured to take the dog with me. She loves to run, but I didn't do a very good job at training her to stay beside me on her leash. She runs to the left and then to the right and I'm constantly switching the hand that holds the leash. She was a mess, but she had a blast.

Tomorrow is Andrew's 25th birthday! This is the 8th birthday that we have spent together. It's been fun doing the birthday thing as a married couple. Andrew's family really didn't make big deals over birthdays. They always made a yellow cake with chocolate frosting and they might have had gifts. My family always had family get togethers and presents from everyone. Last year for his birthday, I hung a big banner across the dining room so he saw it when he was on his dinner break at 2:30am.

This year, I am making yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting. He told me not to get him anything because he had been getting so many things for his new motorcycle, but there's nothing better than surprising the unsurprisable. I got him a small duffel bag, because he doesn't have one and a CD for his new 12 disc CD player in the truck. I'm going to try to be tough and not let him convince me to open up his present a day early. STAY STRONG, DANA, STAY STRONG!!!

On his actual birthday, we are going to the zoo. Andrew hasn't been to the zoo in forever, especially not the Memphis zoo, so we are meeting good friends Dan and his wife Sara. We are also going to be meeting our other friend Chris and his new girlfriend Rachel tomorrow night. I have a feeling I will be getting an ab workout from all the laughter that will be occurring.

I can't wait, but now it's time to find the Paula Deen in me and cook these cupcakes. I have never made cupcakes before, so let the fun begin!!