Facetime with Corbin

So last night, the Bons and I were facetiming with Corbin and I was cracking up with how often he is moving the camera around that I just had to share.  Imagine that for about 15 minutes, it was like a really long roller coaster ride!  

What a cutie!!!

Wolfpack Reunion

For St. Patrick's day 2012 (or was it 2011?), my friends Anna and Emily went to Savannah with me to meet up with my friend, Allison to celebrate the St. Patrick's day holiday.  If you do not know, Savannah makes a big deal about it.  So we rented a hotel and joined in on the festivities decked out in our green!  Well this was around the time when The Hangover was big and as we were getting ready to make a toast one night, it was myself or someone else that began talking about how it started as just two and then we added more into the group, soooo reminiscent of Alan's wolfpack speech:

(Go ahead, watch it, I'll wait....)

Well it was back then that our wolfpack was born, the four of us wolves running around the deserts together in Savannah looking for fun and green???  Anyway, since Allison lives in South Carolina, we have adopted CJ as our honorary wolfpack member here in Richmond and thus we had a wolfpack reunion (of sorts) in Williamsburg this past weekend, complete with dinner, drinks, snuggling, SATC, and some shopping!  Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I will quit talking and leave you with a few moments of our weekend of fun.

SNOW inside Yankee Candle

Snuggle time!  

All my little G's!!!  

A weekend with my favs

I spent the long weekend in Norfolk visiting my sister, brother in law, and their 3 little boys.  It is always fun to go down there for a little bit and get to see what life would be like with 3 kids--spoiler alert--it's crazy!  

Little Corbin is at suuuuuuuch a cute age now where he picks up everything you say and is on board to do whatever you want, but he is strong-willed!  He is my little buddy and we had fun at the Children's museum, the mall playground, the local fro-yo place and a few other fun things her and there.

Corbin with his dog, Marshall (or the dog formally known as Stella)

I got to spend some time with the babies too, they are also getting to a fun age where their personalities are really starting to shine.  

Garrett is mesmorized

Sitting up in the bumbo

I got the guys some new Valentine's day outfit too, "Most Eligible Bachelor" and "Auntie's #1 Admirer," what is not to love about that?

Too cute for words!

Little Holden was not feeling super great when I was there, so he was being a huge little cuddle bug, look at him here hanging out with Auntie Lala

Those cheeks!!!!

That face....

Even better, this face!  How could I ever say no to these guys?  

One thing we learned this weekend, my sweet little nephews have Auntie Lala wrapped around their little fingers and that is unlikely to change anytime soon.

You have served me well

In May of 2005, I graduated from college and my parents go me the best graduation present in the world...Luggage!  Although I was not as excited about it at the time, little did I know the adventures that I would take with my purple baggage.  It was a 3 piece purple Leisure set and they got it at sears or some other big name store for probably $60 total.  This big suitcase has taken me all over the place, including, but not limited to: Bahamas, St. Thomas, Dominican Republic (twice), Aruba, Curacao, Belize, Jamaica (2, maybe 3 times), Miami, Orlando, basically all of the mid-west, Grand Cayman, Key West, and a handful of other places, most recently Nashville.  It was on this fateful trip--just one state away that my little bag decided it was done traveling.  We pull into the airport on the way home and the handle bar will not pull out (despite many efforts and different people trying) forcing me to carry the 40+ pound bag from the rental car stop to the check in desk.  It was then and there, I decided it best we go our separate ways.  I knew it was starting to reach time when about 2 years ago the front zipper broke, then last year on my cruise, one of the zippers to the big part broke as well.  Well this last fatality was the final straw.  I decided it is time we cut our losses and move onto more adventures with a different bag.  But rest assured little purple bag, you served me well--we have had so many great times together!

So in other news, where do you get the best deals in luggage?

Winter Wonderland (alternate title: My Phone is at it again)

Last night as I got home from Jersey Boys (side note--great play, you should see it).  I checked the weather as I so often do before bed to begin thinking about what to wear to work tomorrow, I know for a fact there was no mention of snow.  Alas, I woke up to this this morning!  What in the world, that is actually a fair amount of snow for the Richmond area (we so rarely get it).  Anyway, it was beautiful and all that, so I captured a few photos, but the beauty of it was short-lived when I got to my car and realized I had a few inches of snow to brush off before heading to work, I always manage to forget that part).  

Anyway, for those of you that did not get any snow, here are some photos for you to enjoy.  And a few where my phone went on ahead and added the snow in there for you (you know so you can get the full effect and all).

I dont know, what do you think 2-3 inches?

Since I started the year with goals in mind about a week late last year, I figured it was only appropriate to give a 2013 overview about a week late this year!  So how did I do?  Well you can see for yourself....

* Get back to my goal weight by my birthday!
* Study and take my Series 65 exam
* Get out of debt!  I am getting there, I hope to have my car paid off in April so hopefully this goal will get accomplished earlier in the year, rather than later!
* Plan and take our 8 states in 7 days trip (or 10 states in 9 days, whatever it turns into) --JUST DO IT!
* Commit to LESS, I always try to do this and last year I actually felt a little bit better, but there is still room for improvement!
* Cook a meal for a friend/family member at least twice a month at my house!

As you can see, I had a 67% accuracy!  Not great, but I made some good progress on committing to less and trying to free up some time.  About a year ago, I rarely had a day free, this year I really pushed for at least 1-2 free nights a week and I think I accomplished that overall.  Although there were still many weeks when I over-extended myself, but I have definitely gotten better.  This free time also allowed me to cook more, eat out less and to make more time to have friends and family over for a meal which is what I really enjoy doing.  As far as the 8 states in 7 days, if you have been following my blog, you notice that we blew that goal out of the water and did 13 states in 10 days!  Feel free to look back in April of last year for some updates, or check out my recap in numbers!

So what is on tap for 2014?  I am not sure.  Definitely trying to work on getting back in shape and continue to cook and spend time with family and friends.  Again I would like to travel some more (this will likely be my goal EVERY YEAR!), but I am not sure I have as many goals this year.  I just want to enjoy life and be present, so I will try to focus on that rather than more specific goals!

What are your new year's resolutions?

#31

So I hit my 31st state today, the great Commonwealth of Kentucky!  I just barely made it in the state, but spent some time walking around the city of Franklin and went into a few antique stores.  The south seems to be famous for antique stores--they are everywhere!

Anyway, it was an exciting day!  Hopefully 2014 will bring a few more new states to my list!

Then obviously I made it back to Tennessee (definitely not a new state--I have been coming here for as long as I could remember since a lot of my dad's family lives here).  However Nashville area is still new territory for me :)

Hope 2014 brings adventure and trips in your life as well :)