Like American honey...

Last night I went out with some girls from school to the Lady Antebellum concert at the Palace in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

Me, K, R, and S

Would you believe that even though I'm from a small town in Oklahoma, I didn't have anything to wear to a country concert?

BUT!!!!!!!

The good news is twofold.

First, with B's promotion we've finally been able to catch up all of our bills and so when our tax money came in, I was able to use part of it to get something to wear last night.

And secondly, I HAD TO BUY A SIZE DOWN BECAUSE I'VE OFFICIALLY LOST 15 POUNDS Y'ALL!!

And y'all, the buttons near my ta-tas didn't even gap open! That is a big deal for those of us in the Huge Boob Brood. Also, notice the French Bulldog who decided she needed to be in the picture too!

This is what my nails looked like. It's the new Nicki Minaj collection from OPI.

I went with my best gals from law school to see the show. On the way there, we realized that we were going to need cash to park, so S and K hopped out of the car to run to the gas station while we waited to turn into the Palace. K looked like Pamela Anderson, not because of  her bubbies, but because her blonde hair bounced so perfectly in the wind. Ha! We got even with the gas station and started to panic because they still weren't out of there. The police were waving us to go through and cars were honking at the girls as they approached our car, but they finally made it.

Me and my pal K.

We had pretty great seats!

Hilary asked a little girl to come up onto the stage and the little girl started crying because she was so excited. Someday when she's older, she'll wished that she got up on the stage with her, I'm sure.

They were very personable and so grateful for their success!

I think this is when they sang "Sweet Emotion" by Aerosmith. His voice were perfect for that song.

They encored with "I Need You Now." It was amazing.

Now, at this point you're probably feeling bad for B thinking he was all alone last night. But I am here to tell you that B was out on his own guys night! Before we moved up here B was a Detroit Red Wings fan and he told me that one of the things he wanted to do while he was here was see a game. Well last night he got to do just that!

He went with some guys from law school. They're all pals now.

They had 9th row center behind the players! He got the total package and is now forever spoiled on pro seats! (BTW the ticket was totally free! Thanks G!)

They could smell the ice!

B was so pumped because he got to see a good fight too!

B, my B and G and M was taking the picture!

It has been eventful around here this weekend for sure. I think I overdid it just a little too much at the concert because I was hurting pretty bad this morning with my cold. I get so tired when I get sick so it took a ton out of me to go last night, but it was so worth it!

Now me and the Pais are snuggled on the couch waiting for the Oscars to start! We're totally pumped! It's one of my absolute favorite Sunday nights of the year.

Happy Sunday!

Wednesday is "Love" Day.

Love: a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person

This is what I woke up to this morning.

It's okay. I know I win the "I have the best husband" award today.

What can I say? It is REALLY good to be me.

 

Happy Wednesday!

Well alright then.

I finished Couch to 5k on Saturday afternoon. I’ve decided that for the next two weeks, I’ll be running every day save Sunday and I’ll work on my 5k time. Once I hit a certain point in the semester, I can’t justify working out all the time because I need to be studying. So I’ll go down to four days a week.

Yesterday, when I started working on getting my 5k time down, I shattered my mile time.

But on the last mile my tummy started bothering me.

After I got off the elliptical, I ran to the sink so I could puke.

I immediately texted my pals that I know are regular runners to see what I could have done wrong. I came to the conclusion that I got overheated and drank too much water prior to my run.

I tell you this to say that this is a lot like life in that we have to be able to take the good with the bad and say, “Well alright.”

When bad comes along, and it will, we can either stick our head in the sand or figure out what we did wrong and learn from our mistakes.

If I choose to stick my head in the sand, the problem just doesn’t go away. It’s still going to be there when I decide to peak out from my hidey hole. In most cases, the problem has grown too.

If I choose to find out what I did wrong and learn from my mistake, obviously I’ll move forward and do whatever it takes to not act that way again. (And believe me; I’ll do whatever it takes to not puke again. I realize this is an almost impossible achievement, but when a person hates puking like I’ll do, trust me, the effort will not be futile.)

But why is it that we're tempted to just hide and act like nothing happened before actually dealing with the problem? (My form of hiding usually comes in the physical form of a nap.)

At some point, I can't handle the bad weighing upon me and I figure out what I need to do to rectify the situation. I don't want to sound like I'm tooting my own horn. I'm really not because when I say I can't handle it. I mean I can't handle it. My mind races a thousand miles a minute when there is something wrong and I think the absolute worst possible outcome. This is a trait I've inherited from my daddio. We affectionately call it the worry wart trait.

I know that when I deal with whatever the problem is I feel better. It happens every time even if I'm the bad guy in the situation. Once, I've worked through the problem, I know that this experience will better me.

But that worry wart part I mentioned? It takes me a LONG LONG LONG LONG time to get past it sometimes.

When so much good is going on around me and for me, I still get stuck on the bad.

I will say that as a side note, I don't struggle with this as much when I am working out like I am now. I think it's a way for me to release my frustrations, worry and stress.

But still, I have my bad days.

Anyone else?

By the way, my best mile time is now 14:41. Told ya I shattered it. 

Happy Tuesday! 

Gettin' some fresh material is always a good idea'r.

One of my pals from law school passed along her current playlist to me because I needed some new inspiration. I thought I'd share it here as well since I know everyone loves a good playlist. 

Dirt Road Anthem Jason Aldean/Ludacris
Lose Yourself Eminem
Good Feeling Flo Rida
We Found Love Rihanna
Stereo Hearts Gym Class Heroes/Adam Levine
Without You David Guetta/Usher
Mr. Know It All Kelly Clarkson
Give Me Everything Pitbull/Ne-yo
Dynamite Taio Cruz
Fly Nicki Minaj
Party Rock Anthem LMFAO
Little Too Much Natasha Bedingfield
Moves Like Jagger Maroon 5
Stronger Kelly Clarkson
F**kin Perfect P!nk
Rolling in the Deep Adele
Firework Katy Perry
I Gotta Feeling The Black Eyed Peas
Crank It Up Hipjoint (feat. Sherry St. Germain)
My Life Would Suck W/O You Kelly Clarkson
Jessie’s Girl Rick Springfield
Last Friday Night Katy Perry

Happy Monday y'all!

Planning for the Lent season that approacheth...

I am Southern Baptist. So realistically, I don't have to do Lent because my denomination doesn't practice it.

However, since I was a teenager I've tried to give up something each year.

This year I'm going to give up my cheat meals. (I let myself cheat on two meals a week.)

I'm sure some of you might think this superficial of me, however, I am trying to take care of my body. I am, according to any physician, obese for my size. I don't want that to sound like I have low self-esteem or I'm down on myself because I'm not. I'm just being real about my situation.

In a few years we'll be heading down the baby road. I know I don't talk about that a lot on here and there's a reason for it.

My first dream of becoming an attorney is being realized currently.

Before this dream came to fruition, I got married first which was another dream of mine.

I didn't have dreams about being a mom until I met and fell in love with Brandon. I just didn't. I honestly didn't know if I wanted kids or not. Obviously that's changed for me. I definitely want children and I want Brandon to be my baby daddy. So my dreams began to change. We began to have dreams for what we wanted our lives to look like together.

Because of what we'd like our children to have some day, we have chosen to get our education out of the way first. So I don't really entertain this conversation all that often because I want to remain focused.

I know that everyone always says, "If you want to hear God laugh, then tell him your plans."

(I almost am afraid to hit publish on this post because then all of my feelings and thoughts will be somewhere other than my brain and this will be real.)

Because now that we're getting close to the end of my educational career, this next part of our dreams--the baby making dreams--will be up to bat.

People always have such a hard time getting pregnant these days and I don't want my weight to be one more thing to hold us back from having babies.

To help this process along, I'm going to be strict about counting my calories and working out for the next 40 days.

It's going to be hard because during this 40 days I'll be at the end of another semester and I am a classic stress-eater.

I think it is an honorable sacrifice for the future of our family. If you don't, then please do me a favor and don't rain on my parade.

Happy Friday!

Wednesday is "Competition" Day.

Competition: match-up; face-off

Some friends of ours that go to school with me are currently in a competition with B to lose weight. Basically there are five guys total and the first one to lose 25 pounds and keep it off for the remainder of the semester wins $50 from each loser. It's a pretty decent pot.

They were doing pretty well, but some of them fell off to the side and I'm now close to the amount that my husband has lost. I know that it is going to be hard for me to come from behind and beat these boys. I still want to try.

I just do better and thrive when I have some competition. So even though the boys don't know that I've entered into the race, I have.

And I hope to kick their butts.

Happy Wednesday.

I grew up blaring The Beach Boys in my daddy's 1964 Buick Riviera in the summertime at Sonic.

The title of this post has nothing to do with my blog content. It's just something that I tweeted last night and I thought it would be an awesome blog title if I had a good nostalgic story to share. At this point, I've got nothing that would go with it. Maybe I'll come back to it at some point. I know I've mentioned recently that I hope my kids read this at some point, and I do. But since, my Grannie died as a result of complications from Alzheimer's, I really have decided to write more about my childhood here and there just because I really do want a place for all of it. Just in case, I am diagnosed with it as well.

Oh, I guess I should add that I tweeted it during the Grammy's last night because they had a Beach Boys Reunion with Maroon 5 and Foster the People. And it was awesome!!! It was so good to see the Beach Boys and to listen to sounds of my childhood.

ANYWAYS.

My mind is kinda all over the place and I was really struggling for a topic to write about today so I guess I'll blog through it.

RUNNING

Nikki from The Pink Growl asked last Friday what my mile time is now and what my goal time for running is.

When I mentioned that I was down 5 minutes, it was a guestimation.

However, thanks to my History in my Nike+ app, I actually have shaved 10 minutes and 10 seconds off my mile time!!!!!!!

I should also add that I'm using the Couch to 5k app. I'm in Week 8 of that app.

My original mile time was 26:17 and now my mile time is 16:07.  That's pretty stinkin' cool huh!!!

My goal time? Gosh, I'd really like to run a 10 minute mile, but I have bad knees from softball, plus I'm still pretty heavy so it may be a long shot.  I'm still going to give it my best shot.

Still on the running subject, have any of you ever had a foot fall asleep while you run? Is there something I'm doing wrong or could change about my form?

HAIR

I am OBSESSED with this hair cut. Think I could pull it off?

BEDROOM DECOR

 

This is the color and pattern of the bedspread in our room....and we're in need of an update. We have some tax money coming in so I want to add some color to our bedroom. So far I've been told a yellow mustard would be a good match and I agree. I kinda want another color though because we have white walls in our bedroom. (We live in an apartment and I don't feel like painting the walls back when we get ready to move out in a year and a half.)

So thoughts?

Happy Monday!

Babs, it's time for you to go.

The past week everyone has been a buzz about Mimi Alford aka the Monica Lewinsky of the JFK administration. If you've read my blog for any amount of time, you know that I am a huge admirer of JFK and also an avid student of that period in history. I received a ton of text messages and phone calls from people back home telling me about her interview with Meredith Viera.

I remember reading about her in Robert Lepak's "An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy 1917-1963." I also remember reading about several other women that JFK slept with throughout the years. I remember her releasing her press release and reading a small blurb about it in the NY Times and then she basically disappeared. I don't agree with the many affairs JFK had, including this one, by any means. Never have and never will.

So I of course tuned in Wednesday night to see what she had to say. I wanted to see if she seemed genuine or if this was just someone trying to cash in. I thought that for the content of the book and the vivid details that are in there, Meredith conducted the interview quite gracefully. She was respectful of the position that Mimi was coming from and never once treated this woman like she was trash.

Then during a break from class yesterday morning, I saw twitter exploding with tweet after tweet about how the ladies from the View blasted Ms. Alford for writing this book all these years later. I immediately knew that it was most likely Barbara Walters who was doing the blasting.

I have been saying for years that I do not like Barbara Walters. While I respect that she is a major contributor to raising the glass ceiling, she is one of the rudest people I've ever seen on television. I am not going to pretend to know what it was like for her to fight to get to where she is today, but I think she is forgetting her own story because she too had affairs and in fact, ( GASP! SHOCK! THE HORROR!!) wrote a book about it and made a lot of money from it as well.

So I want to know where she gets off treating this woman like she is the scum of the earth. At this point, everyone knows that JFK is a prime example of the Great Man Theory-in short, great men have great flaws-and his flaw was his philandering ways. This is not something that is new. The difference between JFK and Bill Clinton is the breakdown in the media and distrust in government that happened during the Nixon administration.

I am just flat out appalled by this interview and by Barbara Walters. It is absolutely obvious that Walters was pissed more about the fact that she didn't get the big interview and Meredith Viera did then about the fact that Mimi Alford wrote this book.

Barbara Walters has sat down with Angelina Jolie before and never once did she ask her such calculating questions as to why she broke up Jennifer Anniston and Brad Pitt's marriage. I mean if she's gonna drag one mistress through the mud, at least be consistent with her treatment.

That to me is why it is obvious that Barbara Walters was rude, impolite, crude, distasteful, tacky, and classless in this interview. Bottom line, Babs was pissed because she didn't get the interview.

Gee, I wonder why.

By the way, I thought Ms. Alford handled herself very well.

What do y'all think about this? (I'm kinda afraid to ask to be honest.)

That's all I've got this morning. Just thought I'd throw in a little politics to help live up to my tagline up a little. You know gotta be consistent.

Happy Saturday!
P.S. Yes, I ordered this book.

I'm about to burst from all the warm fuzzies going on around here.

• I have officially lost 10.2 pounds. 
• I love the cranberry and aqua glass found in this article.Makes me think of my Grannie's house.
• Just got an email (while in class) that my husband got a promotion at his job after being there only 2 and a half months!! YAY B!!!!!
• I have shaved off almost five minutes on my mile time. 
• I'm going for a mani/pedi today with my best pals from school. I LOVE this group of girls.
• The Academy Awards are two weeks away!

What is giving you the warm fuzzies?

Happy Friday y'all!!

Open Letters

Dear God,

So far you've blessed us with wonderful friends here in Michigan. It will be super hard to leave them when we come back to Oklahoma. However, I've got one tiny thing to ask of you on the friends front. When we move back to Oklahoma, I'd like to find some friends that have some balance. People who love Jesus, but also know how to have fun and let loose once in awhile. I don't want to have to be afraid to be us. I know I've asked a lot already in this department, but I know you're faithful. 

Love,

Sam

Dear Nike/Coach/Vera Bradley,

I really love seeing all the shoes, purses and gear in your emails you send me, but aren't y'all tired yet? I get an email a day from one of y'all at least. 

Just wondering,

Sam

Rude people,

I want to know how you got to where you are that you're just that cranky to the world on a regular basis. It has got to be exhausting.

Sam

Dear Husband,

I love you and the way you love me. It makes me all kinds of sappy,

Love your sappy, mushy gushy loving wife,

Samantha

Dear Samantha,
Yes, you're writing to yourself. Yes it's awkward and all kinds of weird when someone writes in third person, but deal. At some point, when you start shedding some weight and your clothes will start to fit well again, and then you'll need new clothes....please don't be lame and buy just a bunch more sweats. Try to be at least a  little bit trendy. You'll be glad you did. 

Love,

Me

Happy Thursday!