If you knew me you'd know...

(inspiration from this blog came from Shug in Boots)

...I absolutely, beyond anything else, hate being late.

...I hate anyone else being late just as much. I'm anal about people being on time.

...I love my dog more than almost anything else in my life.

...I brush my teeth when I'm nervous.

...I'm OCD when I'm at work and I'm an organization freak when it comes to paperwork but at home, my messiness comes out. (sorry Mack)

...I have a Lily Pulitzer planner, which I love, but I'm constantly erasing and re-writing things because I can't stand my planner looking messy. 

...I'm a terrible cook.

...though I do the laundry, I hate it, with a passion.

...I drive a car that's manual and though I enjoy it (except in traffic) I do wish for a bigger, more spacious, automatic SUV.

...I love days when I can open my windows and air out my house.

...I'm way too forgiving at times and I tend to give people way too many chances (friends, family, whoever)

...I love to read. 

...My mom is one of my best friends, though she still puts me in my place when needed.

...I love babies. I know my purpose in life is to be a mom and though I can't fulfill that role yet, I'm happy to love on all my tiny babies at work.

...I love my family (both mine and Mack's). I value my relationships will all my family more than anything else. They are who I depend on at the end of the day.

...My life is far from perfect but I try to stay as positive as possible.

...the way to my heart is through chocolate covered strawberries.

...I dislike Valentine's day and therefore buy zero presents for anyone. I only believe in giving cards on this Hallmark holiday.

With Valentine's day fast approaching, I'm sure there's plenty of you who, unlike myself, celebrate all it's wonderfulness and good for you! I hope everyone has a happy Valentine's day!

 

It took me 23 years...

...to find an awesome unbelievable miraculous face product.

Image skin care has some amazing products.

Check it out

I recently took my mom to a spa to get facials for her birthday and the nice woman who did my facial opened my eyes to these new products.

I've struggled for the last 10 years, literally, with my rosacea. It continuously got worse through my high school years and thankfully my mom, who has it too, introduced me to Merl Norman. Merl makes this super awesome face powder that's done wonders for covering the immense amount of redness from my rosacea.

I prefer to not wear make up 24/7 and though it doesn't bother Mack that I have rosacea, whenever I take my make up off I can't help but be self-conscious. Maybe that stems from all the rude remarks in high school about me looking like Rudolph? (Because my nose was always bright red)

Either way, it led me to citrus facial cleansing heaven. I bought this nifty little trial pack from the spa just to see how it worked. This is my SECOND day using the products and my face is lookin' like the bomb, not to brag or anything, it's just taken a while to get something that actually worked.

There's a ton of different lines of facial cleansers/packages you can get for different skin types this one's just the one made for people who have sensitive skin. 

As I research these products more, I realize the larger bottles sell for at least $30 a bottle, per product. I've never been one to believe in paying a ton for things like make up (with the exception of Merl Norman) but I guess when you find something that works this great, it's worth it right? Let's hope so. It looks like I'll be dishin' out at least $90 for the parts of the pack that I really need.

I hope everyone had as great a weekend as I did!

I'm a proud Auntie D...yet again!

My sister is was pregnant.

We've been waiting on Ronan (my nephew) for a week. We thought he might try to come Tuesday since my sister was in so much pain but nope he's a stubborn little man. 

My sister was a trooper. She did the whole process with limited drugs, no epidural and lots of breathing. Even though she's had two other babies, I was never able to be there for their births but they had this birth planned. They had her scheduled to go in at 7:30am Saturday.

When we got there at 10:30am Ronan had hardly moved.

My sister was blessed with a wonderful nurse (your the shiz Janice) who was constantly by her side, making jokes and taking wonderful care of her and the little man.

Ronan refused to have anything to do with his heart monitor and was constantly moving around to avoid the nurses being able to detect him. Brooks (my sister's husband) and I about had a heart attack when we saw the babies heart rate go from 156 to 65, of course we went and got a nurse immediately, leaving my sister to question why the two of us were acting like freaks, and once Janice entered the room she informed us that Ronan was just playing hide and seek with the monitor. 

Thank you Jesus!

(The nurses have their little "station" that holds these huge TV monitors - 9 in a row - that show all 9 patients contractions/heart rates/etc. on the screen)

Once my sister got to 7 centimeters the night seemed to fly by. Ronan was here before we all knew it - weighing in at 8 pounds and 11 ounces.

My sister and I are 15 years apart which always seemed to make our relationship a little more difficult. We're not always the closest and just like all other sisters we fight. But, I can tell you that in all my twenty three years of life, I have never been more proud of my sister than I was yesterday. Seeing my nephew born was a blessing and I won't ever be able to thank my sister enough for letting me share in the experience with her. I have no other siblings/women figures that I'm close to in the same way and I know in my heart that this was the only experience I'll have seeing a life brought into the world before I have my own babies one day (in the far future). 

So thank you Stacy for letting me be there for you - more so than I ever have before. It meant the world to me.

Pack Pride!

Today was the beginning of my spring semester.

As I was sitting in my English class this morning, taught by a teacher from Scotland who has the best accent ever, I realized a year from today I'll be student teaching...

scary

The fact that I "should have" graduated in May (had I not gotten my associates degree first)...

annoying

but, whatever - I probably wouldn't have gotten where I am now had I not taken the time to really focus on my education.  

Anyway, I've been sick with some kind of yucky cold lately so I've been putting off buying my books until today (the second day of the semester, which also happens to be the day in which everyone has finally gone to at least one session of all of their classes).

big mistake

When I walked in the door to the bookstore all I saw was a line...a HUGE line full of students who were buying their books at the last minute, just like me. So after 10-20 minutes of waiting in line, which wasn't too bad because they had all these brand new binders, mittens, scarfs, and what not surround the area around the line, we finally got to the desk to check out. 

 8 books for one English class - 5 for the other

 Not many teaching books required this year - I guess my English teachers are makin' up for that.

Even though I have an overwhelming amount of books to read, at least I got this awesome binder and notebook to motivate myself this semester!

I'm happy to be back with the PACK! 

Read, Read, Read...

 For all you other readers out there check these two books out...

1. Get ready and bring on the tissues because this one will bring you to tears! It is a phenomenal book about a little Caucasian girl who was brought to work and live with slaves in the kitchen house of a very wealthy captain in the South. It's an easy read - if you liked The Help, you'll love this book too!

2. My mom read this book first and then filled me in on how I absolutely had to read it. It's a fairly good sized book and I read it in three days. It delves into the life of a woman named Olivia Mackenzie who is going after her father, a very wealthy business man, to take down his company. The story line is full of surprise and romance all the way through. You won't be able to put this book down!

Have y'all read anything interesting lately? If so, let me know, I'm always looking for a good book!

A lot of dirt for many awards!

My other half spends half of his life doing this...

 If you've never been to one of these races you can't quite grasp the amount of danger that comes with these bikes but Mack loves it, danger or not, it's his passion. Not only is it his passion but he's quite good at what he does.

His racing takes us to different cities all over North Carolina but yesterday we were attending the awards banquet in South Carolina which meant quite a drive for us but Mack got a free ride day if we got there early enough. We got to SC about 10:45am thanks to Gene and boy was there a lot to see.

After he took the bike out for a couple of hours, I was so proud to be able to attend the AMA District 29 (which handles all riders from North and South Carolina) championship banquet with him and Gene.

 Of course, Gene bought TONS of raffles tickets in hopes that it was our "lucky day."

We did end up wining some t-shirts, new grips, and Mack got a free week worth of training at South of the Border (a $400 value) so I think we got pretty lucky!

 Mack not only placed third in his first class but he placed first in his second class!

I'm so proud of all the things he's accomplished, all that he's overcome, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for 921!

Lily Pulitizer and her bomb diggity planners

As most of my close friends and family will tell you I'm an organizational freak when it comes to planners. I usually start out with the blue sky one's from target at the beginning of the semester and by the end I'm on my third or forth planner (crazy I know). After all was said and done I probably spend around $30 on planners a semester...until I found Lily. 

I saw mine online right before my birthday and my best friend was kind enough to give it to me as a gift since I wasn't sure I was ready to pay the hefty $26 + tax + shipping (even though I'd already been payin' that every semester for planners anyway). 

Let me introduce you to my wonderfully alligator Lily...

 

It provides you with a little stretchy band that goes all the way around it so all your junk doesn't fall out!

There are these AWESOME stickers provided

Lily gives you a reason to feel the need to party!

It offers great pictures, like the one above, to get your month started.

Then you're given a "monthly view" - my personal favorite so I can keep my procrastination down to minimum

Lastly, you're given large day to day blocks to fill in with all your happenin's

The BEST thing about these planners is they have now been reduced to $16 (instead of $26) and they're offering free shipping!

Lily Pulitzer Planners

I hope you all love yours as much as I love mine!