Summer will be here too soon....

I love summer. I love the warm weather, the beach, wearing sundresses, and flip flops. I even like the smell of sunscreen. I know, a little weird? The only thing I am not crazy about-putting on a swimsuit. Now, I know that it is a requirement, but I still don't love the idea of putting on a two piece and strutting my stuff. Like all women, I find flaws with my body everyday, maybe not as many as I did when I was in high school, yet I still do. In the past few months, I have decided to be active and get healthy. On most weeks, I go to the gym at least 3-4 times a week, but not this week. I have been a bum. Anyway, I am rambling because my point of this blog was to show everyone this:



I have always wanted a flatter stomach. Of course, I don't want to work for it, but now I know you have to if you want it. I have been doing this little workout everyday for the month of February. It takes less than 10 minutes and I think I can see results. I have decided I am going to do some type of ab exercise until Summer, so at least I feel better walking in a swimsuit in JAMAICA!

P.S. My husband is a groomsman in a wedding in Jamaica in May, and I get to tag along : ) Woo Hoo! Can't wait!

A sweet friend and a teddy bear....

I have super fun friends. I am fortunate enough to have really great friends. One of those friends is named Anna. We have been friends since freshman year of college. We pledged the same sorority and were roommates our sophomore year. Needless to say, we know each other pretty well.

Anna and I were really close in college, and since graduating, she is one of those friends that I don't talk to everyday, but we always pick up from where we left off. When Anna and I were roommates, we had so much fun. Seriously, we would have dance parties and stay up late talking about everything. She is a very dear friend. Although I could go on for a very long post about my sweet friend Anna, this post is about something we started senior year of college.

One day before college graduation, I was visiting Anna in her room on the sorority floor. I noticed that she had this teddy bear sitting in her room. Not a childhood lovey type of teddy bear, it was a teddy bear with the saying "Ask a question, Save a Life." Of course, I asked Anna about it, and she told me she got it from some Suicide Prevention meeting. She had to go to the meeting for one of the 1,298 organizations she was involved in during college. Well, as I left her room, I didn't think anything else about it. A few days later, the teddy bear paid my room a visit. I walked in from class and there was the teddy bear, sitting on my bed. So, then it was on. Anna and I would go back and forth with the bear. On the day of graduation, Anna and I said our goodbyes and before I pulled away, I put the bear on her car. I thought I would never see the bear again. Boy, I was wrong. A few months later, Mr. Suicide Prevention bear made his apperance at my Knoxville apartment.

Well, the bear has been passed a few more times, and the other day he came all the way from D.C. to sunny Florida. I was laughing when I told Trey the story and opened the box to find the bear (complete with sticky notes that had sayings that the bear would say). I think that it is absolutely hilarious that we have kept it going for over 3 years. I love Anna so much and I am glad that we still share this bear.



P.S. I finished The Hunger Games. Oh my, so good. Do yourself a favor and read them ALL. Can't wait for March 23 to see the movie : )

Not just for middle-schoolers....

I have not always been a reader. In fact, when I was younger, I hated reading. I would have rather taken a beating than read one book. True story. Now that I am older, I love to read. Since this past summer, I have probably read 10 books, which may not be a lot to many people, but that is a ton to me. I have now found a book that I am obsessed with and had to share with you all.

A couple months ago, I was talking with a friend about reading. She had mentioned that she wanted to read The Hunger Games. I had heard of this book, but I figured that it was for middle-schoolers, and I would stick to my Nicholas Sparks and The Help type books for my mindless reading time. Well, I can say I have officially joined the bandwagon. Y'all, go to Barnes and Noble or your local library and get The Hunger Games. It is so good. It is an easy read. I read the first book in 2 days. For real. I am now on Catching Fire and I can't put it down, except to write this blog post and watch the finale of Teen Mom 2. Sidenote: I know that Teen Mom 2* is a little juvenile, but it is so addicting.

Seriously, do yourself a favor and read these books. So good. You are welcome.

Family Visit : )

This past weekend was action packed. Since moving to Florida, we have only had visitors from my side of the family, which we have loved. Yet, we also want Trey's family to enjoy our home and Orlando. So, this past weekend, Trey's family came to Orlando for a visit!

Trey had a commitment in Miami until Friday night, so I entertain the family all day on Friday. Of course, we went to the happiest place on the planet-DisneyWorld! We spent 13 hours at Magic Kingdom. Let's just say we were exhausted and slept GREAT on Friday night. There was not a huge crowd, all rides were super fun, and we even were able to catch the Electrical Parade, which is my favorite! I always make fun of my sister because she is the BIGGEST Disney Fanatic, but I really love Disney too. It is magical for all ages and you always have the best time once you pass through the front gate. I am so thankful that I had a special time with Trey's family at Disney!

On Saturday, we slept in, ate a late breakfast, and headed to Cocoa Beach. One of the greatest things about living in Orlando is being super close to the Beach. We live about one hour away, so we can pack up for the day and enjoy the sunshine. It wasn't too sunny on Saturday, yet we had a blast just hanging out.

Yesterday, we enjoyed on the many parks in Orlando and the farmer's market. It was a fun day to enjoy the sunshine and spend time with Trey's family. After a stroll in the park, we headed to Winter Park to eat dinner. Winter Park is super sweet. It reminds me a lot of my hometown's little downtown square with cute shops and restaurants. We go to WInter Park every Saturday night to eat dinner. We just love it.

We had a sweet visit with family and we were sad to see them leave. I am so sad because I have no pictures of the weekend. I have promised to start taking more pictures as a New Year's Resolution. I am apparently not doing very well at this resolution.

Have a wonderful Monday : )

Happy Valentine's Day : )

Happy Valentine's Day to all my lovely friends! I hope this day of love has found you feeling very special and very loved. I am not a big Valentine's kinda girl. I mean, it is a fun day to celebrate, but I don't feel like I get caught up in the whole flowers, dinner, and chocolate theme. I just love spending time with those that I love, especially my husband.

Trey and I have been together for six Valentine's day. Crazy. Although we don't do the fancy dinners and flowers, we do like to celebrate, and celebrate we did tonight. Please be warned that we got CRAZY tonight. I almost feel bad for people who don't have this much excitement in their life.

First, we picked up dinner from the BBQ place in Orlando called Four Rivers. Y'all, I am not a BBQ kinda of girl, but Four Rivers is the bomb. You get so much good food and the banana pudding is almost as good as my Nannie's, not quite but very close.

After dinner, we rented the movie, Horrible Bosses. Quite vulgar, yet still funny. I would not call it one of my top 100 movies, but still okay for a date night. Disclaimer: I did try to be romantic today and go buy Along Came Polly at Target. Along Came Polly was the movie we watched on our first Valentine's Day in the fraternity house. Also, the movie we watched right before our first kiss. (Insert all ahhhhs and ooohhhs here.) But, since that movie came out forever ago, they didn't have it. Boo on you, Target.

Well, that was the extent of our Valentine's Day. I know you were all on the edge of your seats for the play by play. Yet, in all seriousness, I wouldn't want to spend my day with anyone else in any other way. I truly do love him with all my heart and am so glad he is my forever Valentine.

So, happy Valentine's Day to all of you. Hold tight to the ones you love and give them some extra love today. I saw this on a friend's Facebook status today and wanted to share because it is so very true: "We love because He first loved us." 1 John 4:19

Have a happy and blessed day : ) Love to you all!

Tennessee Rednecks stuck in Florida

So, you all know that my husband and I have relocated to the Sunshine state. We love it on most days. Especially on days like today. For all of you who have had a winter, I am sure you are tired of snow, ice, and pure coldness. Well, we have not had any cold weather, not even a little coolness in the air. Trust me, I have loved it. Yet, I have kinda missed the cold weather, and being able to wear my Uggs : )

Well, this morning, I woke up to my husband snuggled close, my duvet cover over my head wrapped tightly, and our thermostat on 58. Yes, FIFTY-EIGHT. I was frozen as I climbed out of bed, rushing to get dressed for church. Since the high for the day was 54 in Orlando, Trey and I decided to make chili and have a campfire. Yes, a campfire in our tropical backyard. The previous owner of our house left us with an awesome firepit, so we pulled it out and put some wood in, and VOILA, a campfire! We laughed so hard because we had a total redneck campfire in our driveway, eating chili, wrapped in blankets, and sitting in beach chairs. Yes, beach chairs because they are the only lawn furniture we own at the moment. I just had to take a picture to document our redneck campfire set-up.



Although we totally looked Busch league, it was such a fun way to spend a lazy Sunday with my favorite person : ) Plus, it kinda felt like we were back in Tennessee on a fall night!

Nothing like a Mama's love...

Last week, I had a very special visitor. She traveled on a plane all the way from a little town in Tennessee. She came with one bag and stayed for 7 days. This special vistor was my mom.

If you are like me, nothing is better than knowing your parents love and care for you. It makes my heart happy to know that they love me so very much. So much that when I called my mom in December to come stay for a week in Florida in February with me, while Trey was gone, she jumped at the chance to spend time with me. I absolutely love that all my family is in one place. It makes me smile to think of the sweet time they get to spend together. Yet, sometimes, that ugly jealousy bone makes me sad and depressed that I live so far away. So when family comes to visit. I LOVE IT.

Well, it just so happen that my mom came to Central Florida the week of her birthday. It was super fun to spend her birthday with her. On her actual birthday we went to Cocoa Beach for the day. If you know my mom, you know that she loves sweet tea, her grandbabies, and the BEACH. So, it was the absolute perfect day! Along with shopping, eating, and walking about 100 miles, we had the absolute best week. Thank you so much for coming to hang out, Mom! I love you more each and every day! Happy Happy Birthday : )