Temptation calls

This seems to be all I'm seeing lately:

from little girls at my school selling them, tables set up outside of Kroger, Scout troops set up outside Wal Greens.....everywhere!

It is almost tempting, until I realize how long I'll have to run to burn off one of those things, and then they seriously lose their appeal.

In an attempt to be really nice, I did order Tom a box of Samoa's, because I was so sure that was his favorite cookie. Then, he points out that he really loves the peanut butter ones. Oops.

So now I have a box of Samoa's in my kitchen. I'm trying to stay focused on the new strawberries instead :)

Brilliant Thoughts from the Treadmill

I really, really would like to have long, lean legs like these:

Instead, the more I run, I feel like my legs look much more like this:

Ok, not quite that bad :)
I don't mind being barely 5-feet tall most of the time, but I would take some long legs any old day!

Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! Tom and I celebrated last night by eating a delicious dinner at Bonefish.
Bang Bang Shrimp, Rainbow Trout, Creme Brulee....it was great, and worth every calorie.
This is Tom and I before dinner:

I never really thought a lot about it, but we do kind of look like brother and sister. Ha!
Blond haired, light skinned, blue eyed babies in our future??
Ummmm...DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH!! (Check with me in about 200 years on that one). Seriously though, maybe I should check and make sure we aren't related :)

In an attempt to be sweet and all for Valentines Day (not that Tom has time to read my blog), but here are the top things I love about Thomas: (yes, I call him Thomas, though no one else in the world does)

5. He is very passionate about things-big and small. I'm much more of a go-with-the-flow kind of person. I have strong opinions about very few things, but he has very strong feelings about most everything. I think I teach him to chill out, and he teaches me how to believe in things.

4. He has never met a stranger-this is fun and exhausting at the same time. He seriously makes friends everywhere he goes-standing in line at the grocery, the drive thru at Starbucks, the customer service person on the phone...everywhere!

3. He cracks me up every day! He does an impersonation of me that is 100% not me (or so I like to think), but it's hilarious!! Also, he is head-over-heels crazy about my cat. I always told him that once he got in with Mr.Max, he was in with me! Those 2 are like peas in a pod!

2. He loves to take care of me, and gets annoyed with me for not letting him do enough. I'm just used to doing things myself, and I never really think about it. But, honestly nothing makes him happier than helping me with something, which is good since my "love language" is Acts of Service. His is Words of Affirmation, so I guess I'm taking care of that one now :)

1. He is just easy to be around. He thinks everything I do is great (duh!), thinks I look pretty when I look my worst (poor guy), and tells me constantly how lucky he is to have me in his life (double duh!). Seriously though, our personalities are VERY different, but somehow we just mesh really well. We are not googly eyed teenagers-we are very realistic about things, and we make it a point to work at our relationship. It's worth it though, he makes life pretty sweet and lots of fun :)

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Beauty Secrets!

Kelly's Korner is hosting a Show Us Your Life-Beauty Secrets this week, and I've been looking forward to reading all of these for awhile now! I love reading about the great ideas that other people have that I have never heard of before. Though it's still up for debate about whether I'm high maintance or low maintance (Tom thinks it's insane that it takes me longer than 5 minutes to get totally ready to go somewhere, so he would probably vote high maintance. How do guys do that anyways?!?!). Knowing LOTS of girls way worse than me though, I'd say I'm somewhere in the middle.
Though it might take me awhile to get ready each day, one thing I'm pretty laid back about is the brands of the products I use. I'm not a "brand" person with most things, but there are a few things that I feel really strongly about!

Here are few favorites:

Regular Dove Soap! I've washed my face with everything under the sun, and this is by far the best! It's cheap, chemical free, and works great!!!

Since my skin is sensitive, I always have a hard time finding moisterizers that don't break me out. However, this moisterizing night creme from Arbonne is awesome. It takes the redness out of my face, and moisterizes, and never breaks me out at all. Also, the Arbonne FC5 redness reducer powder is great as well. You put it on under your regular powder, and it really evens out your skin. I have some rosasia on my cheeks, so it really tones that down. Arbonne products are natural, so they are very easy to wear. (And if you need someone to buy Arbonne from, I can hook you up with a friend of mine!).

These 2 products are great for moisterizing as well! Once you have tried Burts Bee's lip balm, you will never be satisfied with any other kind. It's a few dollars a tube, but totally worth it. I have them in my purse, by my bed, on my desk at work, etc. I can't live without this stuff. Also, Gold Bond Ultimate Healing Cream is the best thing I've found for dry hands. It's a miracle worker!

My BEST "beauty secret" is this stuff:

Johnson's Baby Powder-Pure Cornstarch
I use this daily as a dry shampoo, and it's awesome! As someone with oily hair, I've tried all kinds of dry shampoos, expensive and cheap, and this works better than ANY I've tried. It's cheap and you can pick it up anywhere, so that's even better. I sprinkle some in my hands, rub them together, and then rub it through my hair after I dry it (focus on the root area). It sucks up oil and gives your hair a lot of body. I use it daily, whether I've washed my hair that day or not, since it keeps hair looking full all day. This is probably best for girls with blond hair-dark hair might turn a little gray! I have found the cornstarch kind works better than regular baby powder.

Snow 2011 Take 2

Well, we have been out of school again due to the snow! School was actually out last Friday for snow too, but I missed it while we were in TX visiting. We got lots of snow yesterday, so my guess is that we will be out until Monday. Next week it's supposed to be in the 60's, so maybe this will be the last snow of the year (but who knows anymore!!).
Yesterday, this is what my world looked like:

With all of the snow, yesterday was a perfect day to make this yummy soup:

Tom taught me about this soup, and it's become almost a weekly staple. I used to make it with ground turkey, but since then I've convinced Tom that it doesn't really need meat, so now I can leave that part out.

Here's the recipe:
2 cans stewed tomatoes
1 can rotel
1 package Williams chili mix (Tom thinks I'm an alien because I had never had this before!)
Then you can add any beans you want-I like dark kidney beans, black beans, chili beans, black eyed peas, golden hominy

You open all the cans, dump the whole thing (do not drain anything) into the crockpot, stir it all together with the whole packet of chili mix, and cook on low all day long. It's that simple and healthy, and seriously GOOD!

With all of this snow and hot soup weather we've been having-I've been dreaming of Spring! I cannot stand being hot, so I'm not really the hugest fan of Summer (except for having a lot of time off work!), but I do love cool Spring days with lots of sunshine. My favorite part might be the beginning of sundress and sandals season! Here's what I'm dreaming of wearing right now:

(Dear Kate Spade, please send in a size 8 a.s.a.p.!!)

I'm burning this AWESOME candle right now too, which really, really makes me long for Spring!

If you ever are lucky enough to run across anything at Bath & Body Works in this scent,
GRAB IT! It's hard to find, but 1,000% worth the purchase!!

Tired but good!

Life has been seriously BUSY lately...I can't even tell you exactly what I've been up to, but I feel like I haven't stopped in forever. I feel like I am playing catch up in about every area of life, and it's exhausting me!!! I have so much admiration for teachers who are also mothers...I cannot figure out how they do it all. It's all I can do to take care of myself! When I get home at night, I am WORN out! I can't complain though, being busy means I'm taking care of myself, taking care of people I care about, have a job that keeps me (way) more than occupied, I have a house to live in that needs cleaning, etc.
I don't have a lot to complain about, but I could seriously use a nap :)

Mainly what I'm looking forward to though, is spending a few days with this precious face:
Perri! She's as smart, hilarious, and sweet as she is cute and beautiful! She has our entire family wrapped around her finger-we are a bit more than crazy about her!
(And getting to see her mom and dad, and my brother and Lauren, spend a few days with my parents, and even Emma the Angel Dog, who deserves an award for all she puts up with from this little girl!)

Here comes Auntie "Seduh!"