What I'm Loving Wednesday

I am jumping on and participating in another new link up for me at least...What I'm Loving Wednesday over at Jamie's blog. A couple of my friends Molly and Tracy participate and I thought it looked like fun!

I'm loving that we just started our chick unit in class and the kids couldn't be more excited! I'm crossing my fingers we have at least 1 egg hatch. It makes me happy seeing them excited about school!

I'm loving that my sweet sometimes not so sweet little critters will be moving on to 1st grade soon. (which really means SUMMER!!!) I'm sure I'll be balling like a baby on the last day of school, I really do love my class...even with all the craziness!

I'm loving that I'm going to see a Royals game with a bunch of my best friends on Friday! A great way to end the week.

I'm loving that I get to watch my sister row again this weekend and I may make it my small group activity for the month. Will see if the girls want to road trip it with me to K.C. on Saturday!

I'm loving Water for Elephants! I have about 100 pages left in the book, literally spent most of Easter Sunday reading it. Can't wait to see the movie!  

I'm also loving these new purchases from my trip to Sephora this past weekend!!

I have never had my eye makeup last ALL day....and I am here to tell ya'll that it is 9:30 p.m. and my eyes still kicking! I was skeptical and may or may not have walked around the store for a good 30 minutes thinking over the purchase, but I'm glad I did it. I will definitely be buying this item again. 

I am loving this SO far.....will see how I feel in a couple days.  I feel like this product works better than others that I've tried in the past. I only bought the travel size just to see if I liked it. (I love when they have the travel or smaller size option, considering how pricey the regular size is.)

I have been wanting this stuff for awhile now....last time I went to Sephora they were sold out. This time they had it and it was the first thing a put in my basket. The smell is delish! I am definitely loving this item.

That's all for now! I hope everyone has a great Wednesday!!

Target Tuesday's

This is my FIRST time participating in Target Tuesday's over at Tara's blog, and I'm very excited!! What girl doesn't LOVE Target! I spend entirely too much time in that store and especially at the Dollar Spot! I sucks me in EVERY time!! I always find something I "have" to have for my classroom or home. Anyways, I've been searching on the website/ remembering the items that caught my eye the last time I was in the store. These are just a couple things I've come up with, I had to narrow my list down or this post would have gone on way too long!

I love this little bench! I have been trying to picture what my future house will look like, and this definitely needs to be in it!

I couldn't find a larger picture of this adorable Springy dish set.  I think they would be great for BBQ's in the summer!!

Awww!!! Pajama pants are my weakness! It takes me no time at all to jump in them when I get home from work! They look so comfy!

I have the hardest time finding brown flats that A. fit right & B. are cute. I have black flats coming out my ears. I will be trying these on the next time I go into the store. They are super cute and would go with a ton of outfits. 

White Sandals are a must this summer, I have bought a ton of summer dresses that need these sandals! I will be purchasing these Asap!

This is a definite WANT.....but I have had the hardest time bringing myself to spend the money on one of these. I can't justify spending $14 on 1 sports bra. They do come in some great colors that I would love to have!

I Will Wait For You

So one of my bestest friends in the world Ashlee posted this video on my facebook wall. We both haven't found our Mr. Right's yet and she knew this would speak to me like it spoke to her. This chick is legit/amazing with words. She speaks so much truth! I love how real and raw she is....I had to share! Check it out!! It's good stuff!

Mix'n It Up....5K, Rowing, Spain and Easter

So I have again failed at keeping up to date on my blogging. I feel like the last couple weeks have flown by so fast! I need to do a bit of a recap! 

Last weekend I did my first ever 5K!! I started running at the end of January with my friend Melisa and have been working towards this race for awhile. I FINISHED!! (which is not that hard to do I guess...but it was my first race ever and I was a little nervous someone was going to have to pick me up on  golf cart mid race.) I stopped a total of twice to walk towards the end of the race because I really thought I was going to die, this mental side of running gets the best of me sometimes. A little fun fact I found out this past week though about the race....They had us go the wrong way and we ran a extra half mile. haha This explains the strong sense of me wanting to die during the end!! Either way it was a great experience and I can't wait to do another one and try to beat my time. I'm doing another 5K for sure in June with one of my best friends Tracy! I can't wait!!!


This past Saturday I spent pretty much all day in Kansas City watching my sister Row! My sisters boat won.....Which was SO exciting and special for her since it was Senior Day. I can't believe both the girls are seniors this year it makes me feel old. It was a wonderful Saturday!! The whole family came out to support Liss....I'm talking aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmas, grandpa, friends, sisters and parents! The Works! I'll post pictures of the day soon! My cousin took the pictures and hasn't posted them yet. 

A potential adventure/ exciting news!!! I may or may not be going to SPAIN this summer! I am still weighing the financial cost and what the "Right" thing to do is, but I am leaning toward Spain! My aunt, her bf and my cousin are going in July and she asked if I wanted to join. I've been thinking about it all week and have been debating back and forth. (side note: I'm currently in the saving process to buy a house.) So option 1 is stay here, save money and buy a house this summer. Or option 2 go to Spain come home and rent. As great as being a home owner at 24 would be I'm leaning towards the adventure/travel option. I mean you only live once right?? When am I really going to have this opportunity again?? My cousin plans to run with the bulls again so I would get to partake/ observe this madness!

I would most definitely be observing from one of those balconies!

This running business is no joke!

I will update you on my final decision once I've made it! Easter is today and church service was absolutely wonderful! All of the little girls looked adorable in their Easter dresses!! Pastor delivered a beautiful Easter message and the music team led amazing worship that left me in tears and gave me chills. 

Hope everyone had a great Easter Sunday and was able to spend it with loved ones!

Missions Trip 2012!!!!

So this is going to be another short and sweet post until I get home from work...but I am too excited to wait!  A missionary couple came and spoke to our church yesterday to talk about the work they do in Kenya with M.A.N.N.A Worldwide. God has placed missions on my heart a while ago and I am very excited and nervous about what he is going to do to my heart over the next year. It's obviously too late to go on a trip this summer, but I plan to start saving immediately! So were looking at Summer 2012, and possibly Kenya!!! Seriously CANNOT WAIT! 

Happy Monday to you all!!

Weight Loss Challenge!!

So I have decided to jump on the Weight Loss Challenge hosted by Lindsey at Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Rachel at Running Backwards in Heigh Heels. My great friend Molly is participating and I thought it was a wonderful idea as well!


I have never been one to consistently workout for an extended period of time, I usually go through the New Years fad of working out and it drops off around March. I have never been a size 1 and have tried in the past to loose weight...but always seem to get discouraged when the weight doesn't melt away quickly. (I'm a little impatient) I'll watch Biggest Loser and think how the crap do these people shed the weight!! I have a hard time remembering that they spend all day working out....if my "job" was the treadmill I'd probably look the same way too! haha I know that I'm never going to be a 00, but I would love to loose 20-30 lbs. eventually, I look at pictures of myself freshmen year in college and think I was really that much smaller???...and goodness I have a ways to go!


More recently though...In January I started running 3-4 times a week in the morning with my friend Melisa. I'm actually running my FIRST 5K next weekend and couldn't be more excited! I have always wanted to run a race but was never confident enough to....I might not running the entire time BUT I'm okay with it. I wish that I would have taken a before photo of myself before I started working out consistently. I may not look a whole lot different but my clothes are fitting more loosely and I feel SO GREAT..(which is the important part right?) My goals for myself are so stay this active and not fall off the wagon, I feel like I have been pushing through and now it's April. I've made it over the March hump. At some point in my life I would LOVE to run a half or even whole marathon. Let's just start simple at get through the 5K next week. haha

This was August of 2004....Freshmen year of college

December of this year

I think August of this past year....disgusting much.

Recent....Last weekend

Happy health and fitness to everyone! I'm excited to read your stories and share this experience together...I think it's going to be a great journey!

Short and Sweet

Short and sweet today! I was driving to work yesterday morning listening to K-LOVE.....which usually leaves me with puffy red eyes as I walk into work. The stories on that station get me every time and since I'm a crier it's only natural that I ball my eyes out. Anyways, moving on from me being super emotional....The right song came on at the right time yesterday (as is does most days). I love how God is so sweet like that and always knows exactly what we need. 

Hope every one has a wonderful Thursday! Weekend is almost here! Holla!

Weekend Update and Some Extras

Sorry for being MIA for the past week...It's been a little busy lately and I haven't been on top of my game. So I'm back and have a ton of stuff on my mind and laying heavy on my heart. This weekend was great! We had Girls Makeover Night for the youth group girls, it was a success! We had about 15-20 middle/ high school girls come and get Beautified! We had a Chocolate fountain (YUM.....I enjoyed this part a little too much), the girls went shopping through a TON of donated clothes...and then we did nails, makeup and hair. Watched a few runway walks with the new looks and some sweet dance parties! It was a good night! I had a great time observing all the action in between doing nails. Here are some pics of our festivities....

Saturday was another busy day! Melissa had a regatta in Kansas City, it was a BEAUTIFUL day for it! I feel like every time she races in K.C. it is always crappy weather, so I was very excited about the non snowing or raining or freezing weather conditions! Both KU and Texas busted out some Pink gear and Raced for the Cure....both teams looked fantastic!

This always give me chills....Alma Mater and the Rock Chalk Chant!

Sisters!

The whole family!

Here's Liss being all buff! Get it Girl!

The girls Rock Chalk'n It!

One of my all time besties was in town this weekend! Lynsay came in from New York and it was SO good to see her. I was a little sick of just hearing her voice or seeing her face through the computer screen. I wanted a REAL LIFE HUG! I definitely was in need of some serious Lynsay time and we had a nice low key Saturday night laying on the couch talking. I miss so much living life together! We have been best friends since 7th grade and I'm not a big fan of this whole long distance business. Even though I think what she is doing is awesome and I am so very proud of her, my heart still misses and wishes she was here! These pictures are oldies but goodies!

Enter----->God....he always has a funny way of slapping you in the face right when you need it. I was laying down before bed praying/reading/ journaling and came across this verse I had in my journal.

"No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing; forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead." - Philippians 3:13

I'm thinking I need to keep the past in the past and let some things go that I have been holding onto for a while!

Then I came to this section from a devotional I did this past summer and the heading was....Life In The Bod. I had these bullet points underneath:
- Being transparent before God.
- Giving up control, gives you more freedom.
- Put Hope in the Lord.
- Are we on the throne or is Christ on the throne of our hearts?
- "And the most important piece of clothing you must wear is love. Love is what binds us all together in perfect harmony." Colossians 3:14
-" Let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise." Colossians 3:16

I feel as though the Lord is telling me to love more fully and put my whole heart into him. It's easy to put yourself up on the throne and not even realize it, as embarrassing as that sounds. My goal this week is to really live life in the bod...and let Christ do some serious work on my heart. More to come later on this...It's getting late and 5:00 am sounds pretty awful right about now!
Happy Tuesday/ Wednesday to you all!