The Pennington Pack

Happy New Year!

2011-12-23T20:26:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year from the Penningtons! We hope it's off to a great start and that you had a fantastic Christmas!

Stationery card

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You're not gonna believe this.....well, maybe you are....

2011-06-08T13:13:00.000-07:00

I decided to AT LEAST check some of my friends blogs today because I've been out of the blog world for forever at this point. The way I remember how to get to my friends blogs is from the links on my blog page. Well, I started to open up my blog page, and I had completely forgotten the web address! How pathetic is that?!! After trying penningtonpack, michaelandallison, etc. etc..... I finally remembered. Duh!

This is just a little blog post to say hi and that I'm still alive.

I will be trying to start checking friends' blogs on a somewhat regular basis though...as long as I can remember how to find my own blog. :)

Love, Allison

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

2010-11-30T17:55:00.000-08:00

Retro Snowflake Bursts Christmas

Shop Shutterfly for elegant custom Christmas photo cards.

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5 years ago today....

2010-06-18T06:55:00.000-07:00

I went on the best first date of my life with now hubby, Michael Pennington!!

He treated me like a princess and has ever since! Thanks babe! Love you!

3 years!?!?!

2010-06-10T08:24:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, Michael and I celebrated our anniversary!! I cannot believe it's been 3 years! Time really flies when you're having fun!

I'm looking forward to many many more years with this guy. Love you babe!

An Ode to Kent

2010-06-08T12:25:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not....I CAN keep a secret!!! In case there are any of you out there who were questioning this. :) I was allowed to tell a few select close friends but that was it.

And today is the big day that I can break the HUGE news to everyone about my brother Kent!!!

Drumroll please.....

Kent is an official medical student at Texas A&M Health Science Center's College of Medicine. What what???!!!!

Congrats bro!! You are living your dream and going to be able to make a living doing what you are passionate about. I am excited to watch you as you begin this journey.....and soaking up time with you before you start studying like a crazy man while enjoying the fact that you are in Dallas for a little bit longer.

So here it is...a little ode to Kent...in pictures...the cutest kid and best brother ever...other than Carter of course. :)

Kent's smile is so adorable here - we had so much fun together as bro and sis back then!

Gotta love these outfits!

Loved having Kent in HS with me - here we are at his first Homecoming

Kent would always appease me by being my dance partner when there was no one else....

Proud sis!

The Aggie sibs (look at that turtle neck! haha)

Singing at my wedding

My favorite picture of my bros and me - such classic expressions on our faces - this is so us!

Kent and his sweet wife Nicki - congrats to her too!! They have worked so hard for this!!

Congrats Doctor!! Love you lots!

Avenue Q on Good Morning Texas

2010-05-26T10:58:00.000-07:00

Avenue Q was on Good Morning Texas today. Check it out below!

Performance

Interview

P.S. Opening night yesterday was incredible!!

On the Road With Kerri: Dallasites - Set Your DVRs to Record

2010-05-25T08:04:00.000-07:00

My broadway star cousin, Kerri Brackin, has finally made her way to Dallas! To say I'm excited is such an understatement!!

I got to see the show in St. Louis about a month ago and now I'm getting to see it more than three times in a span of two weeks. It is truly fantastic!! The cast is incredible.

Set your DVR to record Good Morning Texas on Wednesday morning. The show is on ABC (channel 8) at 9:00 a.m.

Also, if you want to go see Avenue Q at the new AT&T Performing Arts Center's Winspear Opera House in Dallas, click here to find tickets. They are here until June 6th.

About the show:
AVENUE Q is Broadway's smash-hit 2004 Tony Award® winner for BEST MUSICAL, BEST SCORE and BEST BOOK. A hilarious show full of heart and hummable tunes, AVENUE Q is about trying to make it in New York City with big dreams and a tiny bank account. AVENUE Q features a cast of people and puppets who tell the story in a smart, risque and downright entertaining way.

Entertainment Weekly raves, "One of the FUNNIEST shows you're ever likely to see."

Which, may I please add is so true: One of the cast members said she could hear my laugh a.k.a. cackle from behind the set! ha!

And one of many rave reviews for Kerri (this one from Steady Style Chicago in their May Theatre Review):

"A special word for the beautiful and versatile Kerri Brackin" ... "[her] smile practically lights up the stage and [her] skills in puppetry keep a number of plates and puppets spinning simultaneously. Brackin is a real standout here..."

Color Career Counselor

2010-02-23T09:07:00.000-08:00

Thanks Julie for blogging about the Color Career Counselor! Too cool! I took the quick quiz, and I think my results are definitely accurate:

Best Occupational Category
You're a CREATOR

KEYWORDS
Nonconforming, Impulsive, Expressive, Romantic, Intuitive, Sensitive, and Emotional
These original types place a high value on aesthetic qualities and have a great need for self-expression. They enjoy working independently, being creative, using their imagination, and constantly learning something new. Fields of interest are art, drama, music, and writing or places where they can express, assemble, or implement creative ideas.

CREATOR OCCUPATIONS
Suggested careers are Advertising Executive, Architect, Web Designer, Creative Director, Public Relations, Fine or Commercial Artist, Interior Decorator, Lawyer, Librarian, Musician, Reporter, Art Teacher, Broadcaster, Technical Writer, English Teacher, Architect, Photographer, Medical Illustrator, Corporate Trainer, Author, Editor, Landscape Architect, Exhibit Builder, and Package Designer.

CREATOR WORKPLACES
Consider workplaces where you can create and improve beauty and aesthetic qualities. Unstructured, flexible organizations that allow self-expression work best with your free-spirited nature.
Suggested Creator workplaces are advertising, public relations, and interior decorating firms; artistic studios, theaters and concert halls; institutions that teach crafts, universities, music, and dance schools. Other workplaces to consider are art institutes, museums, libraries, and galleries.

2nd Best Occupational Category
You're a PERSUADER

KEYWORDS:
Witty, Competitive, Sociable, Talkative, Ambitious, Argumentative, and Aggressive
These enterprising types sell, persuade, and lead others. Positions of leadership, power, and status are usually their ultimate goal. Persuasive people like to take financial and interpersonal risks and to participate in competitive activities. They enjoy working with others inside organizations to accomplish goals and achieve economic success.

Not that I'm interested in changing my career at this point but I do think I may have missed my calling and should have been a lawyer as many people like to tell me but I'm so done with school!! :)

Take the quiz (it's like 30 seconds) and share your results! I think it's pretty accurate!

Don't Make Me Sing!

2010-02-08T09:02:00.000-08:00

I pretty sure Kristen Wiig's character was inspired by me (though I was not given due credit)!

According to many friends (especially at karaoke parties), I've been told this is how I come across....okay, it's true...it's how I am! :)

Don't make me sing, dance or give me the spotlight in any way. ;)

I Hear Ya Loud and Clear!

2010-02-02T12:30:00.000-08:00

I just got the following message in my gmail inbox from my adorable husband:

Sat night = DATE night

No distractions
No parties
Limited kitties - this is what we call our dogs - strange, I know
Go in or stay out; doesn’t matter
You, me, and Dupree (jk) - this is an inside joke :)

Just give me a budget and I’ll do the rest

LONG overdue

This just makes me laugh out loud!! I usually send him emails throughout the day regarding the plans I make so he has no excuse to say "What?!?! You didn't tell me that ____________ was happening tonight?!?!!". No, honey, but I emailed you about it three times. This is my CYA move to avoid fights. I do admit things have been kinda crazy lately. Both of us are working long hours, our Saturday mornings used to be our favorite time of the week and they are now booked through May due to church commitments and I've been filling our (already little) downtime with plans and tasks. I'm slightly task-oriented. :) :) Oh, and Michael's trying to study for the GMAT which he is taking in one month (that we cannot afford to reschedule AGAIN).

But this is to say: I get it, honey. I understand. I'm all yours Saturday...and forever. I wish I could say we had a budget for a date, but all I can offer you is a Darden's or Carrabba's or AMC gift card. :) But hey, at least we've got that!!

P.S. To all of my loyal blog followers (laugh), blogging more often was obviously not one of my New Year's Resolutions. :) But with my blogiversary coming up this March, I may try to get my blogging back on track. One thing at a time....I've finally figured out Twitter!! :) So follow me!

Jennifer Knapp Karaoke??!!?! Yes PLEASE!!!

2009-12-29T13:00:00.000-08:00

I've been in search of awesome, free karaoke on youtube.com in preparation for our upcoming New Year's party.......and I found Jennifer Knapp karaoke! This rocks!!! Literally!!

Also, this prompted me to type into google "what happened to Jennifer Knapp" and the results that popped up tell me that she's back!!! Listen to her new songs on her official website, follow her on twitter, and check out her tour schedule!

I'm pumped!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

2009-12-24T07:09:00.001-08:00

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Romans 15:13

Wishing you and your family hope, joy and peace in 2010!

Twerson?!

2009-12-23T13:13:00.000-08:00

Twerson definition: Twitter person, member, user.
Synonym: Tweeple

I'm officially a tweeter/twerson!! I am learning so much new twitter language - it's overwhelming!

I started my account on twitter so I would get real-time health updates to my phone from @MattChandler74 and @villagechurchtx but have lately realized the wonderful benefits of this thing called twitter!

First of all, it's just plain fun! It's an awesome way to keep in touch! And for lazy bloggers like me, it keeps people updated without having to sit down at the computer and write a blog entry!

So I invite you to follow me on Twitter (@allipenn or http://twitter.com/allipenn) and join in on the fun! Or at least take a look at my recent tweets on the right side of this blog!

Wishing you a MERRY and BRIGHT day before Christmas Eve!!!!

Christmas Pictures

2009-12-16T09:40:00.000-08:00

My brother's longtime girlfriend Elyse is incredibly talented at photography, and she took our Christmas pictures last weekend.

I will not reveal our official Christmas picture until later, but here are a few of my favorites.

I especially love the two of Kosmo by himself - yawning and one where he has a wrinkled lip - such a silly boy! He's my little Santa Kos!!!

Madeline is worn out from all the picture taking!

Here is a picture of our house at night....I LOVE Christmas lights!!! Sweet Michael got up on the roof this year and put lights on the house.

I hope you're enjoying this Christmas season as much as we are!

Beau Hughes preached last Sunday at The Village Church on the Hope of Advent. Listen here. We have hope that we will be with Christ forever, and He will make all things new!

This Sunday is the 4th Sunday of Advent and the candle represents Peace. The fourth candle reminds us that Jesus comes to bring Peace to both the world and to people's hearts. Without Christ there is no peace in this world.

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6-7

Peace to you and your family this Christmas.....

The Lewis' are back in town!!!!!!!

2009-12-16T09:29:00.000-08:00

My friend, Chelsi, her hubby, Austin and sweet baby girl, Brierley just moved back to DFW from Florida!! To say that I'm excited is such an understatement!!

We welcomed her back with a little party. See her blog for pictures and details of the day!

I so love my friends from high school!

Here is a favorite picture of Chelsi and me in high school. :)

Welcome to the world, Tanner James!!

2009-10-30T09:20:00.000-07:00

Tanner - this message is for you:
When I walked into your parents house 2 days after your arrival and saw more than 15 family members standing around you in adoration, I had many thoughts....
-Yes, there a LOT of us!!!
-Yes, we will love you like this and completely adore you forever!
-Yes, that can be a little smothering sometimes, but I will say you probably will want to get used to it now rather than later, because that's the way it's going to be when you have a big family on both sides who cannot get enough of your cuteness and sweetness!!

Just remember it's all because we love you. :)

Here's a great picture of Tanner and his mom (looking absolutely beautiful I might add)!

I really was in shock when I realized how many people were at Heather and Wade's house on their first day home from the hospital!! They took it in amazing stride too. Michael and I came to visit them and baby Tanner on Saturday, October 3rd.

After seeing all the love and support and excitement in their house and getting over the shock, I decided that's what I want - how fun!!! :)

Here are some pictures from the weekend where we welcomed Tanner ... that turned into a great big family get together!

Michael and Josh (Kristin's husband) with Emery (Josh's daughter)

Me, Kristin, Josh and Emery

Michael and me

Silly Michael and Emery! (Yes, Tanner, this weekend IS all about you - but first of all, we were trying to share you with everyone else, so in a lot of these pictures you're having to share the spotlight already...scroll down to see more pictures of you!)

Heather (Tanner's mom), Tanner James, and me

Me, Michael and Emery

Kristin, Emery, me (Em - I'm going to have to teach you how to pose for the camera!!)

Me, Kristin

Kristin and her Dad (my Uncle Ron - my mom's brother)

Wyatt (Kristin and Josh's son, 4 yrs old) and his "Papa" (my Uncle Ron) - Papa's birthday is 10/6 (October is THE month for Willis birthdays so it seems) and we are celebrating his upcoming birthday and Tanner's arrival with cake! Ron is letting Wyatt have some fun blowing out the candles (Wyatt's birthday is 10/17)

Welcome to the world, Tanner James!! We're so glad you are finally here!!!

Tanner James Willis

2009-10-02T14:08:00.001-07:00

Tanner James was born at 6:03 pm on Thursday, October 1st
8 lbs, 21.25 inches

Tanner joins 2 other Willises that have October 1st birthdays!! My precious Aunt Karen (Kerri's mom) and my awesome bro Carter.

CONGRATULATIONS WADE AND HEATHER!!!!

The Inn at Lake Granbury

2009-10-02T13:50:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, my mom treated all of her kids to a fabulous weekend in Granbury. She found a great place for us to stay - The Inn at Lake Granbury! It was absolutely beautiful. It is part of the select registry of distinguished inns and bed & breakfasts.

Incredible Grounds and Accomodations

Downtown Granbury

There was lots of good food, cheap wine, great conversation and fun had by all of us. It was the perfect getaway to spend time with family, and we were so relaxed when we got home.

The weekend was kicked off by a private dinner served at the Inn right after all of us arrived. The next day, Kent and I held our very own Inn at Lake Granbury bootcamp. Participants included Nicki and Michael and Mom (sort of Mom - she joined us halfway through because she thought we had slept in). We all just traded off picking a workout (Michael picked squats, Nicki picked lunges, Kent picked push-ups, I chose to take everyone on a run around the trail, and so it goes). That was lots of fun. After that we had breakfast at the Inn. Wow! Totally gourmet and delicious! The all-around favorite was the blueberry blintz souffle - tasted just as good as it sounds. It's a good thing we got a workout in!!

We were off on the first adventure after breakfast - geocaching. My mom heard about this from one of her nursing students, so we decided to give it a go since Granbury was supposed to have lots of geocaches. Essentially, geocaching is high tech hide and seek. You use a GPS device to try to find something. Once you do, there is a list where you write your name down, then you put it back for the next person to find. Don't ask me who hides everything and logs it online - I have no idea - people with too much time on their hands I guess. That was fun except for the fact we only found 2 out of 3 things!! Oh well!

My mom had quite the agenda for us on Saturday, and up next was touring the Barking Rocks Winery in Granbury. You can probably guess we had a blast with this!

We then went back to the Inn to hang out at the pool. Later in the afternoon, we headed to downtown Granbury to eat dinner at Stringfellow's. Following dinner, we went to Granbury Live to see a show! What a blast! We had no clue there was so much talent in Granbury! It was a 60's music show called The Beat Goes On....very entertaining and fun....and I even got on stage. I know this won't sound too far-fetched to most of you who know that is always my goal! I could tell they were about to ask for volunteers, so I immediately raised my hand as high as possible and sat up real tall - I raised my hand about 30 seconds before anyone else thought about it, so of course, I got picked! I went up on stage and led the crowd in the twist. :)

Family pictures

The Couples

Shopping before the show - 1 Kappa, 2 Chi-O's and 1 Tridelt (but there were no dolphin or pansy hats so the tridelta took the picture)

More shopping fun

Me - on stage at the show

At the bar after the show - 5 Aggies and 1 Baylor Bear pretending to be an Aggie (cheesy Michael!)

Sunday was our last day at the Inn. We had another wonderful breakfast and then went out by the lake and Kent and Carter led us in some worship songs. It was then time to go.....Inn at Lake Granbury - we will be back for sure!

Some pictures from the practice Jam/Worship Session

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARTER!!!!

2009-10-01T07:52:00.000-07:00

Love you Boyta!! You're the best!! Cannot believe you're already 23 years old - I'm so very proud of you!

Love,
Loyta

In Response to Kristin's Comment

2009-10-01T07:26:00.000-07:00

I personally think you look great in those pictures below, especially since you just had a baby....you are BEAUTIFUL....but I understand so...

I did some searching to try to find some pictures to post where you look better than me (very hard to find these! :) j/k) and where you look your best so I can stay on your good side. Here you go!

Heather's Baby Shower

2009-09-30T11:37:00.000-07:00

More than a month ago, I headed up to Tulsa to enjoy time with my cousins and to attend Heather's baby shower.

Heather is my cousin Wade's wife. Wade is my cousin Kristin's brother. Kristin is my cousin/best friend (not the broadway cousin but just as awesome). Are you following now??!?! I'm so lucky to have Kristin and Kerri as cousins and to grow up with them and be so close and so close in age because basically, they are my sisters. And for a girl with only two brothers - that is a big deal!!! :) And now I even have one sis-in-law (thanks Kent!) and one soon-to-be (I hope...Carter - make this happen!!).

Me and Kristin

Also, Wade and I are only one month apart in age so we've always been close too. Heather and I actually met at the Kappa National Convention before she and Wade became an item in college. So I just love having her as a cousin now too!

Wade, Kristin and Me

Julie, Me, Heather, Kristin

Isn't Heather adorable as a pregnant girl?!?!?! You cannot really tell that she's even pregnant here.....well, she is and I can guarantee you that we can all hate her about as much as we hate Chelsi for being such an adorable preggo.

The shower was beautiful and so much fun! They are having a baby boy - Tanner. Tanner is supposed to be arriving very very soon, and I cannot wait to meet him!

Funny story from the shower....
Julie (my other cousin and Kristin's sister, see above pic) and I pretty much had a knock down drag out in front of everyone at the shower when we got in a huge fight about who gets to hold Emery, Kristin's precious daughter, during the shower. Originally, Julie won the fight, but somehow I ended up with Emery five minutes later and held her for the rest of the shower. I was holding her, changing her, showing her off, etc. Then, towards the end of the shower, someone came up to me and said "How old is she?" and I answered back "4 months" like a pro. A few minutes later and several ladies came up to me to "oooo" and "ahhhh" over Emery (because it's impossible not to) and they totally thought she was my daughter from the questions they were asking me. Well, I was just having too much fun with this, so let them think it. They were pretty freaked out though when I walked out the door to leave and left Emery behind....in her car seat. That's when they finally realized she belonged to Kristin! It was so funny!

On The Road With Kerri: Opening Night in Syracuse, NY!

2009-09-29T12:21:00.000-07:00

I'm starting a new blog segment called "On The Road With Kerri" where I will highlight some of the adventures of my cousin, Kerri Brackin as she travels on the national tour of Avenue Q!

Today is a big day since she is kicking off the tour in Syracuse! It's opening night! And this morning, Kerri was on "Bridge Street" - a popular morning TV show in Syracuse. After a brief interview, four of the cast members performed the song "I Wish I Could Go Back To College".

Interview
The videos I had posted earlier were a little too much for my computer, so I am posting links to the show. Check out the interview - click here.

Performance
Check out the performance - click here.

Next stop: Scranton, PA! Hopefully she'll get an opportunity to stop by Dunder Mifflin.

Clean Freak!

2009-09-22T07:54:00.000-07:00

Two blogs in two days....I am on a rollllll!!!!!!

Anyone who knows me well knows I am an absolute freak when it comes to cleaning, germs and the like. I am semi-OCD about it...well, I used to be anyway until my house was invaded by my two dogs, Madeline and Kosmo. Ask anyone, especially Michael and they will tell you I am much more laid back than I used to be!

This summer was the first time I really noticed the shedding getting bad, so I have been searching and searching for cleaning products that make my life easier and hair free! We have hardwood floors throughout the house except for the bedrooms, and I have found them to be very difficult to clean. I was cracking up because a couple of months ago when my housekeepers came to clean, I got home and they were in the middle of vacuuming and mopping our hardwood floors and Adella said to me "hairs, hairs and MORE hairs"....I was cracking up and feeling sorry for her at the same time because it was so true.

After that day, I vowed to vacuum at least once a week but it never happened! First of all, it never happened because vacuuming doesn't really pick up everything and it takes me 30 minutes yet I still don't notice a huge difference on my floors - it basically moves things around. Also, the cord gets in the way, etc. etc.

I have finally found a product that is super easy to use and completely takes care of all of the hairs and messes on my floors!! I am completely OBSESSED!!! It's the swiffer vac! It's cordless and very lightweight...less than $30 (at Walmart)....and not only vacuums effectively but also has a dry cloth that picks up anything that gets left behind. I just go grab the vac (the fact that its so lightweight and cordless is the key to its efficiency), then I start going (it even reaches easily under the couch), and 5 minutes later my floors are literally spotless! If you have the same problem as me, you should really check this out!

My second favorite new cleaning product find is the Fur Fighter Hair Remover from 3M! Its less than $10 for the starter pack and then the refill "hair grabbers" are less than $4!! I use this at least twice weekly to get rid of ALL the dog hair on my couch and couch pillows and quilts, etc. It is absolutely fantastic and even removes embedded hair!! After about two minutes, my entire (big sectional) couch is totally hair free and looks brand new!!!! This is a million times easier than trying to vacuum the couch! A real lifesaver!!

Some Pennington Family Updates!

2009-09-21T15:24:00.001-07:00

Hope you enjoy these....here are some updates of what's been going on with me!

1. Michael turned 28 on September 3rd! We went out and had a blast and crossed off a couple of our "do before baby" wishlist items. :)

2. Madeline turned 2 years old on September 17th! I miss the puppy stage but love this age because everything is so much easier now...though if only she would learn to be calm when we have visitors and not want to jump on them and lick their faces. We are really working on this right now!! I just read this out loud and realized this is major evidence that I need a BABY!!!

3. In my "Tagged" post, one of the things I wrote that I wish I could do was to sing at someone's wedding before I die; well, now I've been asked to sing at someone's baby shower, which is definitely close but something I've not heard of before, so we'll see how this goes. I will try to get it on video and download to the blog! The shower is October 24th. My sweet friend Amy Robinson is going to sing with me for two songs!! She has a beautiful voice and sings harmony so well! We are singing "For Good" from Wicked (she singing Elphaba's part and I'm Glinda - big shocker, I know!) and also "Knees to the Earth" by Watermark.

4. Coming up soon....my Mom has planned a reunion of sorts for our family. We are headed to a bed and breakfast on Lake Granbury for a little R&R. Since it tends to be very difficult to find a time for a getaway weekend that works for everyone, so she sent out adorable "save the dates" for this weekend several months ago and now we are all going to be there. Great idea Mom! It will be my mom, Michael, me, Kent and his wife Nicki, and Carter and his girlfriend Elyse (Elyse is already a completely integral part of our family - we absolutely adore her).

5. On Saturday, my friend Chelsi came to visit Dallas (she lives in Florida but is moving back in the next few months - yay!) and I got to meet her precious daughter Brierley! We had a blast catching up. We got to go to our friend Susan's house to spend time with her and meet her sweet newborn baby girl Carlee. Two of our other high school friends were there as well - Chelsey and Brynn. Girls - I had an absolute blast and always look forward to seeing my HS friends. I love that there are so many of us that live in the DFW area....but we need to get together more often. We (and when I say "we" - I mean everyone but me b/c I'm not the biggest football fan and b/c I was having so much fun with the babies) watched the Tech vs. Texas game and it was very strange because I was the only Aggie there and that is usually NOT the case. I'm used to being part of the majority crowd of Aggies from my HS, so that was nuts. I've been called a 2%-er before though so it's probably not a surprise that it didn't phase me being the only Ag....I don't get into the competitive thing....I just want to have FUN! :)

6. The Village Church (my church) opened up a new campus in Dallas! It's called their Northway campus and it's located at Midway and Walnut Hill. We absolutely love it!!!

7. We are officially obsessed with Dave Ramsey! We are addicted to his show and find it so motivating to hear his wisdom and advice as well as the stories of other people who are striving to live different from most Americans....debt free (including their mortgage!). So recently, we switched to an all cash envelope system which has proved to be the key to the Pennington family spending much less $$!

8. My cousin Kerri ended her national tour with Hairspray and booked yet another national tour - Avenue Q! She is the "Bad Idea Bear Girl" and "Mrs. T" and the understudy for "Lucy the Slut" among others...she is coming to Dallas May 25, 2010 through June 5, 2010. Tickets are not on sale yet, but I cannot tell you how excited I am for her!!! I am soooo proud of her accomplishments! Click here to see an article where she is highlighted in the Norman, OK (her hometown) newspaper. Avenue Q is unlike any musical you will ever or have ever seen - it's truly unique and raunchy and hilarious!! The show is largely inspired by (and is in the style of) Sesame Street; most of the characters in the show are puppets - you have to see it to get it. I will just be laughing hysterically if I get to see Kerri play Lucy the Slut! She will crack me up at that role and all the others for sure! This is special to me too because Avenue Q was the show Kerri and I saw together on my first visit of MANY once she moved to NYC to pursue her dream!

9. I'm currently re-reading Twilight and will also re-read New Moon before the movie comes out 11.20.09. I am sooooo excited!! You will be too when you see this trailer:

Love, Allison "Team Edward thinking about switching to Team Jacob after seeing that trailer!!" Pennington

Happy Anniversary

2009-08-09T17:24:00.001-07:00

....to Michael and me!!!

Okay, so a little late...two months late exactly. Don't worry though, we did celebrate on the actual day, weekend before, weekend after...and the entire time we were in Hawaii....but I'm just now blogging about it.

On June 9, 2009, we celebrated our 2nd year of marriage. In some ways, it feels like 10 years and in others, no more than 2 months. All in all, we've had a lot of fun and grown stronger than we ever imagined.

Every year, we always pull out the photo album and wedding video to look back at our special day and to meditate on our vows. We have such incredible memories of our wedding and especially our wonderful honeymoon!!

Here's a slideshow of some of our favorite pictures from June 2007 - our wedding day and our honeymoon (in Moorea and Bora Bora)!

Since we had already celebrated our anniversary about 5 times during our Hawaiian vacation, we had a fairly low key night, but I got the greatest surprise!! When I came home from work, I walked in to greet my babies - Madeline and Kosmo. But I noticed something strange...there were a bunch of leaves in their gate area. So I walked outside to check things out, and I saw great big, gorgeous 7 foot magnolia tree! I got a little freaked out though because I knew for a fact Michael had not left his office that day. Also, we have a doggie door and a locked backyard, so someone would really have to know the in's and out's of our backyard in order to get the tree back there (or else they would have had to drag it through our house). Also, Michael knew that I was dying for a magnolia tree so I called him immediately and yelled "there is a magnolia tree in our backyard!!!!". He started laughing, so happy that he had truly surprised me. He explained that Carter was his partner-in-crime and had delivered it earlier in the day. This made sense because Carter is only person who knows about our crazy dogs and the gate code, and we trust him completely.

Now, I have this gorgeous tree in my backyard and one of my favorite anniversary stories to tell! Michael was so thoughtful, and it was a great anniversary surprise!! Thanks honey! Here's to many, many more anniversaries to come! Love you Hubby!

My Sweet Cousins!

2009-08-06T10:36:00.000-07:00

Okay - it's time to re-enter the blogging world! Two months is too long for sure! I have missed everyone. (Thanks Mindy for giving me the kick in the pants that I have needed!!)

My first update is about my precious newborn second cousin, Emery. Born to my first cousin and best friend, Kristin. Emery is now 3 months old and had her 3 month pictures taken this week. So adorable!!!! In the cutest outfit ever....given to her by none other than her favorite cousin....me!! :)

Emery

Kristin, Wyatt (3 yrs, 9 mos old), Emery (3 1/2 months old)

Wyatt and Emery

Even more exciting...I get to see Emery this weekend AND next weekend. I am headed to Tulsa for a baby shower for my other cousins' first baby - Wade and Heather. Then, Kristin's whole gang - Emery, Wyatt, and her husband, Josh are coming to visit us in Dallas (all the way from Columbia, Missouri) the following weekend.

More updates to come!!!

Tagged!

2009-06-01T12:10:00.000-07:00

We got back from Hawaii early Thursday morning, and today was the first day I was able to get caught up on everyone's blogs! It was great to hear the updates...and to realize that Mindy tagged me!! Yippee! My first tag. Thanks Mindy! :)

Tag Rules...
1. Mention the person who tagged you.
2. Complete the list of 8's.
3. Tag 8 of your wonderful blog friends!

8 things I look forward to:
1. Celebrating my 2nd wedding anniversary with Michael on June 9th.
2. Meeting my newborn baby cousin, Emery Dawn Lind on June 19th.
3. My 10 year high school reunion (I know - I'm a huge dork - but I have always looked forward to it because I love my high school class and it's really not too far away - makes me feel OLD!)
4. Going to Savannah with Kerri and visiting Paula Deen's restaurant
5. Watching Carter (my baby brother and new grad) start his new life in Austin; I'm so proud of him!!!
6. Growing old with Michael
7. Raising kids with Michael
8. Getting pregnant (I left that in there from Mindy's!)

8 things I did yesterday (Sunday 5/31):
1. Made excuses for not unpacking our 4 suitcases (I'm still in vacation mode!).
2. Made excuses for not doing laundry (we were out of detergent!).
3. Watched some show about the Kiss guy, Gene Simmons (I never do stuff like this, but wanted to spend time on the couch with my dogs who I had missed dearly - the show was pretty funny though).
4. Cuddled with my dogs on the couch while poor Michael worked.
5. Went to Wal-mart and the grocery store so I could say I did something that was slightly productive.
6. Bought some randoms at Wal-mart since Michael wasn't with me to reign me in: American Flag w/ pole, Back door mat that says "Wipe your paws", and a new charcoal grill for $25 since I didn't feel like cleaning our old grill grate.
7. Ate chocolate covered macadamia nuts from Hawaii for lunch.
8. Went to home group and caught up with everyone. It was a great time!

8 things I wish I could do:
1. Sing at someone's wedding before I die
2. Find a better karaoke place in Plano
3. Get back into shape and be able to actually breathe doing so
4. Be a morning person
5. Be an incredible ballroom dancer; I know I personally, could do this (it's my partner who has major issues - sorry babe!)
6. Move to a smaller town
7. Buy a new horse and board it about a mile from my house and have two little car seats on the back of my saddle where Madeline and Kosmo could ride with me
8. Travel more and have more of an interest in places to go that have an interesting history (but it just so happens that all I really care about for now is laying on the beach/swimming in the ocean)

8 shows I watch:
1. The Bachelor/Bachelorette
2. The View
3. 24
4. Good Morning America
5. King of Queens
6. Reba
7. Desperate Housewives
8. American Idol

8 bloggers I tag:
1. Chelsi Lewis
2. Kori Batten
3. Kelly Smith
4. Susan Cheyne
5. Julianne Anderson
6. Julie Rhoden
7. Suzanne Porter
8. Kristin Lind

The last two might be wishful thinking, but they had to be included!!

Time for a Quick Rant!

2009-05-14T10:48:00.000-07:00

I'm definitely super busy trying to get ready to go on vacation - with work, with Carter's graduation, etc. But I decided I needed to take a break for a few minutes today for a quick rant!

So this morning, I heard a commercial for Thomasville furniture. More specifically, the "Thomasville Promise". In other words, they are jumping on the same bandwagon that all the major car companies are:

Hyundai Assurance Plan

Chevrolet Total Confidence

Ford Advantage Plan

Seriously though, call it what you want to call it, but isn't that what part of what got us into this economic crisis?? We want a nice house, so we take out a mortgage we cannot afford. We want a nice car, and heck, if we lose our job, no worries, we're still covered. Same thing goes for furniture now apparently - let's not worry whether or not we'll have a job in 6 months, Thomasville will take care of it! Whatever happened to responsibility and living within our means?!?! I have definitely fallen victim of this from time to time..which is one of the main reasons I'm taking the time to rant. But in this day and age, who hasn't fallen victim to this stuff? It's everywhere. I mean, you want something TODAY at Lowe's? Open a Lowe's card and charge it! Want something at Neiman's? Charge it!

Statistics show that Americans carried approximately $832 billion in credit card debt in 2008 and that number is expected to grow to a projected $1,091 billion by the year 2010. This works out to over $5,000 in credit card debt per cardholder (not household) and that number is expected to increase to nearly $6,200 by 2010.

Probably the main reason I'm so interested in this is because I'm a marketing person. Yes, I'm sure that many of these offers will drive foot traffic into car dealerships, furniture stores, etc. which is exactly what they are trying to do, so good for them. But I'm also a realist, and I'm sure that the fine print for these offers is longer than anyone could imagine! These offers are NOT "no strings attached", whether they make it sound this way or not, you will eventually have to pay for that car!

I really think that a lot of America's problems (and my own) are because we all feel too much entitlement. We are entitled to a nice, new car and brand new furniture. Why? Because that's what we had growing up or that's what we didn't have growing up and deserve it now - either rationalization works here, and I've heard them both. Another big reason for entitlement is "because that's what everyone else has/does". What a difference I think it would make if we all just stopped caring what everyone else did and look to the real standard we should set for our lives - Jesus. I know it would definitely make a big difference in my life and allow me to be more content.

I'm so glad I can see these things, but most importantly, I've got to live them. I don't want to be so leveraged when it comes to finances. I want to be content. I don't want to be like the rest of the world. Christ says not to be, and I'm starting to really understand why.

Here are some verses I want to meditate on to help me guard against these things:

1 John 2:15 (NIV)
15Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

John 16:33 (NIV)
33"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

1 Corinthians 1:27 (NIV)
27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

1 Corinthians 2:12 (NIV)
12We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.

1 Corinthians 7:29-31 (NIV)
29What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; 30those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; 31those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.

1 Timothy 6:7 (NIV)
7For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.

Luke 16:13 (NIV)
13"No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

James 2:5 (NIV)
5Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?

James 4:4 (NIV)
4You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

1 John 2:16 (NIV)
16For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world.

1 John 2:17 (NIV)
17The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

Fashion Forward....Or Not So...

2009-05-08T08:36:00.001-07:00

As I have not been failing to mention, we are headed to Hawaii soon. Well, vacation for Michael and Allison, always means shopping. We both love to get some fun new outfits before we go on vacation. It's one of our "things" and we budget it into the overall cost of the trip.

I have always been a haphazard shopper when it comes to shopping for clothes, and I don't want to be that way anymore. For some reason, I used to morph into the style of whoever I was shopping with and that caused my wardrobe to be very strange and oddly eclectic. Like, if I shopped with my Mom, I would somehow always end up with godawful (sorry Mom!) Harold's or Talbots clothes that are just not me. Granted, Harold's is not all bad though I guess this is a moot point since it's gone now. If I shop with Michael, I end up with way too many trendy, chest baring pieces that aren't 100% me and also some random things like graphic tees (more on this later). Keeping my husband's tastes in mind when I shop though will always be a priority and to be honest, I do like showing off "the girls" from time to time.

Other reasons for my bad fashion issues include, but are not limited to:
-Pine Cove...sorry girls, but we sometimes dressed like idiots and the bandanas that we cut to make into headbands wouldn't even be cute on my dog, Kosmo
-Pine Cove...did I mention, I got a perm before I started working there during the summers because I thought it would be a good idea so that I could just wash my hair and go (this never worked because I cannot force myself to be that kind of girl and not once did I leave the cabin without fully drying and diffusing my horrific permed hair)
-Pine Cove/Texas A&M...for some reason, many of us felt the need to bring our terrible camp fashion sense to school with us and continued doing the headband/bandana thing (I'm not talking the cute headbands that Leighton Meester is constantly wearing on Gossip Girl)
-Texas A&M...anytime I wasn't wearing sweatpants, a t-shirt and my hair in a ponytail, I would get asked by multiple people: "Why are you so dressed up??"

Here are some horrific pictures of me at Pine Cove and at Texas A&M:

Yes, I believe that is a turtleneck that I'm wearing under my t-shirt in the above picture.

So I decided to go on a quest to finally determine my style and be more intentional about what I buy so I don't continue to end up with clothes that stay in my closet WITH TAGS STILL ON for another 10 years. Yes, I still have clothes in my closet after about 12 different moves, from 10 years ago. It's disgusting. One of the worst was my pair of purple corduroy pants from Abercrombie that I kept telling myself I might one day wear with my also unworn granola-ish chunky brown leather clogs. Yeah. I'm serious though. I really did tell myself that for 10 years. There is something wrong with me!!

Here are almost exact replicas of said outfit that was never worn:

And from now, I renounce my old fashion ways! After quizzing several trusted people on what they think my true style is and what looks best on me, I have finally come to my conclusion.

My true, authentic, ME style is not only what I like best but also what I feel most confident wearing...so that I'm wearing it and not the other way around.

My signature style =
-Anything pink
-Anything feminine and girly
-Lots of dresses and skirts
-Anything dramatic and over the top
-Sometimes preppy, sometimes trendy, sometimes classic
-Very Charlotte, sometimes Samantha (hardly ever, if ever Carrie...I'll never be among the first to adopt a trend, that is for sure)
-Limited jean-wearing
-NO graphic tees (sorry, I just hate them and cannot do it, but they probably look cute on you!)
-No neutrals and probably no J. Crew
-Lots of make-up...but in a good way
-Big, Texas-style curled and teased hair (very blonde and long, possibly with clip-in extensions)

So please, if you can help it....if we get together to go out for lunch or something, and I'm wearing a semi-casual "day" dress with flats (or even heels) and some nice or trendy jewelry and my hair done up like I'm about to participate in a beauty pageant, please please please don't ask "Why are you so dressed up?". I will forever thank you because, to be honest, I think there's nothing wrong with looking nice and getting dressed up for no real reason (though I personally do think lunch with a friend is a great reason), and I'm sick of having to answer that question. If I don't wear jeans, I consistently get asked that awful question, but the answer is "I'm just not really a jeans girl, sorry....this is what I'm comfortable and confident wearing and I don't need to explain myself, thank you very much".

And I realize the main reason I get asked the "Why are you so dressed up?" question is because whoever is asking the question is the one who feels insecure because they are wearing jeans and a graphic tee, but don't try to make me feel insecure by asking that question in order to make me feel like I'm too dressed up. Just let us each just be who we are. By the way, I'm not really speaking to anyone in particular here...it's just a general rant about all people because it's something I face every day - at work, at home, at church, etc. :) Yes, I know I go to church at The Village and it's a sin to get dressed up for church....well, I'm a sinner anyway, so I plan to continue dressing up for church as much as I would if I still went to Prestonwood.

Even when I was a little girl, dresses were always my 1st choice:

These guidelines will hopefully help me avoid some of this in the future:

You cannot really tell in this picture, but I am wearing black suede chaps with lots of fringe over some soffee a.k.a. "cheer" shorts. The reason I know this is because I did this all the time. And yes, that is my horse, Chief in my backyard in Emerald Forest. My sweet Dad used to let me have him spend the night in our backyard because I loved it so much!!

No comment

I am color coordinating my soccer ball and pigtail hairbands (socks too if you could see the whole picture: left foot - pink, right foot - black) so they match the team colors...which is pretty much the main reason why I never ended up playing sports.

I actually like this girly outfit and big bow and cute snaggle teeth even though I'm sure this is a fashion faux pas in most people's book

Way too old to be wearing a jumper like this in the 4th grade!

And I plan to carry this better style sense throughout my entire life from now on...when it comes to decorating as well. I've been very haphazard about it....transitional, old world, contemporary, french countryside, traditional...well, no more.

Regardless of my decorating style, here's what I want my home to be:
-Clean and neat
-Orderly and uncluttered
-Peaceful
-Live-able
-Personal
-Welcoming
-Inviting
-Warm
-Elegant but casual
-Tranquil
-Bright
-Timeless

Before I buy things, I'm going to ask myself if it fits into the kind of statement I want my home to make. Essentially, I want it to be a haven for my family where we can live and be authentic while also being a place that is hospitable and inviting for friends and family. First and foremost, it's got to be live-able. My dogs have taught me that without a doubt!! Furniture should be used...not worshipped and not something to stress about when it comes to wear and tear...that defeats the purpose.

One of my favorite places that is the essence of what I love for the home is Ballard Designs! It's sort of a more girly, feminine version of Pottery Barn. Though I definitely like brighter colors than what they used in this season's collection.

Just to be clear:
I'm not dogging you if you are granola or otherwise "fashion-challenged"!! I just want to make that clear. If you are granola (or trendy or preppy, etc.)...just own it, work it...be authentic and be YOU!! I'm all about keeping it real and that's the true meaning behind this post! And I do still like to wear sweatpants, a t-shirt and my hair in a ponytail from time to time as well!

Best day ever...

2009-05-07T14:53:00.001-07:00

Really "best day once I get home from work" day ever!! Not truly the best day ever since that would include NOT working.

Here's what I'm coming home to though (don't be too jealous):
-A clean house (the housekeepers came today)
-Clean sheets (yes, they change our sheets - they are keepers! pardon the pun!)
-Tired doggies (they have been at daycare all day and won't be their usual hyperactive selves)
-Groomed, clean doggies (they got groomed today!!)
-Manicured lawn (we paid someone to mow the lawn today - usually Michael mows but he's been working so much he didn't have time this week)

Then, I'm leaving home once I get home, drop off the dogs and change because I have an appointment with John (the best in Plano...or all of DFW for that matter) to get my nails done.

Yeah...that's a good day...

I like all my home and dog responsibilities being outsourced on the same day.

It's even better when this all happens in sync like this when I'm having company on the weekend...which I am this weekend. Awesome! :)

Okay, I'm done bragging. I just realized how much I'm shelling out to get all of this done!

I'm Baaaack!!!

2009-05-05T07:55:00.000-07:00

# of March blog posts: 21
# of April blog posts: 6

Wow! That is a huge difference!! And I'd like to say I'm going to rectify the situation in May, but I have to be honest...we're going to be in Hawaii for 10 days and blogging will be the furthest thing from my mind. But I will definitely post all about Hawaii when we get back.

In the meantime, I definitely have lots of random updates (about enough to keep you busy for the entire month of May):

1. I have been meaning to tell you for a loong time that some things have changed since my artificial sweetener blog post. I essentially said "read my lips, no more artificial sweeteners" (and included stevia in the mix when I banished all artificial sweeteners from my diet saying I was sure there will be problems with stevia in the future just like how it ended up with splenda, equal, etc.). Well, it turns out I don't like coffee without sweetener, even when I use tons of milk, and I definitely am not going to start using real sugar (gasp)!! First, I just decided to give up coffee. I had no withdrawals when I gave up my daily morning cup because all of my addiction was to the artificial sweeteners. Then, Michael literally forbid me to give up coffee. He said it was "our thing" and one of the quirks about us that makes us the couple that we are....let me elaborate. When Michael and I first met, one of the first things that connected us was our love for coffee, especially Starbucks. We both had built Starbucks into our monthly budget and were each spending upwards of $60 at Starbucks each month ($2 a day for a venti cup of joe adds up quickly....imagine if we were big fans of lattes or something at $4 a pop!). So, Michael put his foot down, and I had to figure out what to do. I wanted to stay true to my words written in the artificial sweetener blog post! I tried agave nectar among many other natural sweeteners, but no dice. I finally realized the taste of stevia is a decent substitute, so I gave it a shot. I really do think it's the best option out there at this point, so for now, I am THAT girl who carries around little packets of stevia in her purse and thinks she's better than all you fools who are using splenda (just kidding...in a pinch, I still reach for splenda if I have to, but that has become very rare). In summary, I'm taking my chances with stevia and making my hubby one happy man!! (P.S. we make our coffee at home now and no longer spend outrageous amounts of money at Starbucks!).

2. I love going to the movie theatre. I don't know what it is...maybe it's just that I cannot watch a movie at home without falling asleep on the couch, and I actually do (regardless of what Michael says) like to watch movies in full and actually finish them. And I love having popcorn for dinner...with layered butter (sorry Chels!). Maybe it's that I usually get to go for free because I use all of our debit card points to order AMC tickets? But I know one of the main reasons is because this is the time in my life to go! No kids, no responsibilities! It's just one of the spontaneous things I like to do during this time in my life!

Here are some of my reviews:

17 Again
Sure, this story has been told before: 13 going on 30, Big (well, that's opposite), Freaky Friday, etc. But how many of them had Zac Efron in it??? How many of them had Melora Hardin and Thomas Lennon in them??? Zac Efron is well....Zac Efron in all of his glory. The storyline between Melora (Jane) and Thomas (Ned) is hilarious and makes the movie worth watching for all guys!! The movie is well-written, sweet, entertaining and will not soon be forgotten!

Melora Hardin and Thomas Lennon (as Jane and Ned in 17 Again)

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
Let me just steal one of Michael's quotes for this review: "I liked it better when it was called 'How to lose a guy in 10 days'". Matthew plays an annoying 30-something who viewers are supposed to feel bad for because he hasn't "found himself" yet and is commitment-phobic even when it comes to the "girl of his dreams", but it's just not charming anymore after the 20th movie, Matthew. Jennifer's character is not developed enough for anyone to even care whether or not they end up together at the end of the movie. This movie was a 100% waste of time and lives up to every cliche possible.

The Watchmen
If you know how the movie ends, let me know, and I'll incorporate your review into this post. I, on the other hand, walked out of this movie after one hour of wanting to commit suicide in the theatre. At least I got my money back.

He's Just Not That Into You
Cliche, cliche, cliche, cliche, boring, unoriginal, bad acting, still hate anything that Drew Barrymore stars in....need I go on??

Slumdog Millionaire
Really???!!!! This won all kinds of awards at the Oscars!!??! My review = "lame-O". One and a half stars. The "Who wants to be a millionaire" plotline was hokey and shameless at best. How annoying was the Regis wannabe constantly saying "Who wants to beee a 'meee-un-eeerre'"?? How incredibly depressing was the story? NO THANK YOU!!!

Role Models
HA-LAR-EEEEE-OUS!!!!!!! Have already seen it twice and ready to watch it again!!! I'm not a big fan of Paul Rudd (though he is the writer, so that probably needs to change), but have always loved Stifler (and his mom)....and Seann William Scott is as great as ever in the movie. The actor who makes this movie worth watching though is Jane Lynch. OMGosh! Where has she been all my life!?!?! She is absolutely hysterical! Ok, so you bs-ed a bs-er! Note to self: Add to "To Do" list - watch every movie Jane Lynch has ever been in.

Jane Lynch

Hannah Montana: The Movie
Review is forthcoming, but I have set a date with Amy to see this movie next Wednesday. I'm sure it will be incredible!!! Yes, for those of you who don't know me, I am 100% serious.

3. I planted 126 pink, purple, and white petunias in my front flower beds, and I am loving it!!! And they are loving all this rain!!

4. Madeline and Kosmo are NOT loving all this rain! They are fed up! They want to go on more walks and have big-time cabin fever. Madeline is reverting to her old bad habits of chewing up shoes and pooping in the house (at least we have wood floors) because the "princess" doesn't like to get her feet wet. She only pees once a day when I carry her outside and hold her by her collar and say "Go potty" a hundred times until she actually goes. Then, she prances back inside and acts mad at me for an hour. Kosmo on the other hand doesn't mind the rain, but just doesn't like that it means less walks and time spent outside. He always sticks his head out of the doggie door to look outside when it's raining. All you see is his little bootie and tail inside the house, while he peers into the backyard. It's so funny!

5. Madeline and Kosmo got groomed for the first time ever!!! I had been priding myself on the fact that I was brushing and bathing my dogs myself more than twice a month (to save $$), but then, I inquired about getting Madeline groomed and shaved a little (even though it's against Cavalier King Charles Spaniel breed standard) because her hair was getting incredibly long, and I felt bad for her getting so hot! Well, I realized that for $80, I can get both Madeline and Kosmo bathed, brushed, groomed, trimmed (hair and nails), conditioned, de-matted, and expressed (anal glands), so grooming is back on the table! The reason I am okay with spending $80 a month on grooming is because we were already spending $60 a month to get both of their glands expressed. They are the annoying dogs that require having that done at least once a month (yuck!), so since it's included in the price of grooming, why not get them groomed at the same time!?! Anyway, they looked beautiful and felt like brand new dogs!!! It's one of my new favorite things and makes me very very happy! They are getting groomed this Thursday, so I will post a picture of them after being groomed later this week. In the meantime, here's a favorite.

6. I bought my plane ticket so I can go visit Kristin and her newborn baby, Emery (and Josh and Wyatt too of course!!). To say I'm excited to meet Emery is the understatement of the year!!!!! I hope June 18th gets here incredibly fast!!! Here is a picture of Wyatt (3 1/2 years old) and his new baby sister, Emery. It will melt your heart!

7. To say I'm obsessed with Adam Lambert is also a huge understatement. He is incredible and by far the best Idol contestant!! He is electrifying and original...and is going to go all the way!!!!! His vocals are out of this world and he has everything it takes!

8. I have found some current music that I'm totally into! I know! This is BIG!! Actually, a current artist in general: Robin Thicke. And not just because he is Alan Thicke's son. I am seriously digging his music big-time!! My favorite is probably "Sidestep".

Here's a video of Robin performing "Sidestep" (before watching, just scroll down to the bottom of my blog real quick and press pause on my playlist):

8. Lifetime has been playing re-runs of "Reba", and Michael and I have been reminded of how much we absolutely love Melissa Peterman a.k.a. Barbra Jean on the show. She is absolutely hysterical!! Plus, we are big fans of DVR-ing re-runs of some of our favorite shows like: King of Queens, Friends, Seinfeld, Growing Pains, Full House, Who's the Boss, and Reba of course. If you have never watched an episode of Reba, it is worth it simply because of Barbra Jean....and Van!

9. I've hired the best babysitter and housesitter around to take care of things during our trip to Hawaii...and he's a college grad I might add!!! My brother, Carter will be holding down the fort while we're gone. I'm so thankful he's going to be doing this for us...and so are Madeline and Kosmo. I started writing the manual for him to refer to during his babysitting/housesitting about two weeks ago (and I apologize in advance)! But I don't feel too bad for him because I am paying him a pretty penny...just not quite as much as I would be paying Petsmart for the double private suite and daily daycamp.

I love my Carter!! Here are some fun/random pictures of him!

10. Kosmo's birthday presents are already starting to roll in! He's turning 1 on May 15th, and he's already received cards from Petsmart, G.W. Little, and an invitation to Nicki Cochran's (my SIL) graduation from Dallas Theological Seminary on May 9th! He is quite the popular dude!

So there's the update! I apologize for my shameless and self-indulgent excuses to exploit two of my favorite guys in the world on this post - Carter and Kosmo (Michael is #1 favorite guy by the way!).

Miss My Hubby!!

2009-04-16T11:03:00.000-07:00

I'm having an off week...or two weeks (if you cannot tell by my lack of blogging).

Basically, work has been busier than usual, and we've been out of town so much that any and all downtime is no longer spent blogging, but catching up on things I haven't been able to do on the weekends because I've been out of town or had company at my house since that's how it's been the past 5 weekends out of 6....and I'm about to be out of town again this weekend....and without my hubby. :(

This was one of the trips I was really looking forward to because my baby brother, Carter, is getting his Aggie ring.....WHOOP!!!!

I'm still really looking forward to all of it, but really wish Michael could be there for the festivities. Mainly because he really wanted to come, and also because he has gotten to where he's given in to the fact that he married into a 100% Aggie family and is really starting to enjoy the craziness. He's never been to campus on Ring Day though nor has he been to an Aggie Men's Club Parent's Weekend "Branquet"...so we were both pumped for him to be able to take it all in.

But with the way this week at work for him is going, there is a slim to none chance that he will be there at all. That'd be fine any normal week because I know I'd still have fun and would enjoy everything, but this week is not normal...I'm really missing Michael and normal human interaction. I think I've seen Michael (not including sleeping) for a total of 4 hours in the past 4 days. He's been working until 10:30pm and then getting home around 11pm...then, showering and going to bed.

It's funny how it works because if somehow his boss could give me fair warning that a week is going to be like this, I'd love it, because then, I'd set up a bunch of dates with friends and not really notice so much. But coming home to an empty house (besides Madeline & Kosmo of course!) and the house staying empty of other humans until bedtime is so weird. I pretty much only interact with my computer at work, so needless to say, this is getting old, and I'm losing patience.

I am a HUGE people person and HATE being alone....for anything. I mean, I want Michael to stay in the bathroom when I'm in the shower so he can keep me company. I want him to sit next to me on the couch when we're watching TV and not get up for anything. I want my girlfriends to go to the bathroom with me when I need to go. I want to go shopping with them because I need their opinion. I hate eating alone. I NEED PEOPLE!!! My love language is "quality time" which is probably no surprise to anyone who knows me well.

With my lack of planning to spend time with people...not knowing this week would play out like this, here's how its gone:

Tuesday night
-Make Miso Salmon (because Michael and I are trying to eat healthier; see previous "health" post). And don't get me wrong, if I liked fish in the least, I'm sure this would have been awesome.
-Have no one to cheer me on to eat it, so I pick at it and take two bites and decide I hate it...I just spent an hour cooking and its all going to waste
-Pour some wine and decide that will be my dinner
-Realize that's not enough, so I proceed to eat almost the entire pan of stir-fry veggies I made to go with the salmon
-Turn on a movie because there's nothing else to do...for some reason, I watched "A Walk in the Clouds"...much too serious for a night like this.
-The neighbor's dogs destroy a fence post because our sprinklers are on and they don't like water. This causes a debacle as Madeline tries to "defend our territory" and make sure no intruders hurt me in any way.
-Michael gets home at 11pm, realizes he has to wake up at 7am for a dentist appointment and make sure to leave enough time to fix the fence in the morning (not good!); shaves, showers, we get in bed

Wednesday night
-I take the train home at 6pm
-Tan
-Get home at 7:20pm
-Neighbor knocks on the front door the second I walk in the door (no time to change, eat anything, etc.). He is here to fix the fence.
-I get the grill started. I'm making Michael's favorite healthy burgers: Grass-fed beef with Ezekiel 4:9 buns and my favorite salad: Butter lettuce, strawberries, mandarin oranges with slivered almonds and poppyseed dressing.
-Other neighbor knocks on the front door...the 12 year old kid of these neighbors. By this time it's 8:15pm and dinner needs to get going, so I tell him to give me 5 minutes, and I'll come outside with the dogs.
-I go outside in 5 minutes....He wants us to hire him to walk the dogs. Any normal person would love this or at least be normal about it, but not me. I'm wayyyy too protective of my dogs and considering the fact that my nutty, fun-loving, full of energy dogs have both finagled themselves off the leash and/or out of their harness on more than one walk, the answer is definitely no. I try to tell him this in the nicest, most honest way possible and somehow end up saying "it's not you, it's me". (Did I just say those words???) Oops sorry kid - but that's not the last time you'll hear that!
-I finally sit down to eat at 9:15pm. I fast forward through Idol to see who got kicked off....no one did...interesting...
-I clean house, do laundry, do dishes...essentially, just try to get the house in perfect order before I leave town again Friday (I cannot leave town unless the house is perfect).
-Finish cleaning and take a shower at 10:15pm
-Michael gets home at 11pm; shaves, showers, we go to bed

Thursday
-Michael and I carpool to work
-I ask him if he thinks he'll be at home for dinner (wishful thinking!)
-He reminds me has a work event at Hotel Palomar which is why we're driving to work and not riding the train
-I ask him if he thinks he'll have to work this weekend...the answer is yes...or at least be in town and available to work
-At lunchtime, I get to see him for 15 minutes and we get Potbelly's to go

The great thing is that weeks like this for Michael really are few and far between, but they do happen. The incredible thing is that Michael is an employed and recently promoted investment banker who rarely has to work these kind of hours (by the way, these kind of hours are the typical hours of most investment bankers, so we are super lucky), so I am extremely thankful for him and his wonderful career and ability to provide for his family. On the other hand, because this type of week is so unusual, I really don't like it and start to miss him a lot!!!

Sorry that this post was mostly about me. I know this week hasn't been easy on Michael either. It cannot be easy to be working 24/7, so let me just finish the post by saying how much I appreciate how hard Michael works! He is such a hard worker and never complains! I support him in his career completely and during weeks like these, I'm happy to take care of his every need, so he can simply focus on finishing his work and getting enough sleep.

Message to my hubby and Madeline's daddy:
We love you!!! Come home soon!!!

Proudly Announcing......

2009-04-13T19:30:00.000-07:00

Emery Dawn Lind

Born today, April 13, 2009, at 11:35 a.m.
to proud parents, Kristin and Josh Lind (my wonderful cousins)!!!

She is 7 lbs, 20 inches.

I love and adore her already!!!! :)

I Got To Meet Ron and Denver!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-04-07T10:53:00.000-07:00

The girls from work and I are always talking about what books we read, and three of us had read Same Kind Of Different As Me - the book I reviewed in my most recent post.

Well, one of them found out that the authors (and main characters) of the book, Ron Hall and Denver Moore, were hosting a charity event and speaking at the Belo Mansion which is next door to our building downtown (the Trammell Crow Center).

In about a split second, all three of us jumped up out of our seats and ran over to the Belo Mansion. We walked in, and I immediately spotted Denver signing books and taking pictures. Darn! I soo wish I had my camera!!

But I did buy a book and they both signed it for me!! I was so pumped to be able to meet them. These guys are awesome!!!!

Here are some pictures of them (not from yesterday, though I wish they were!):

Denver Moore

Ron Hall

Book Review: Same Kind of Different As Me

2009-04-03T08:20:00.000-07:00

Let me start by simply showing you a few of the reader comments I found on the book's website.

To God be the Glory, great things he hath done! My heart is so full. What a reminder that we serve an amazing faithful God. He is about every detail in our lives. I am continually in awe of His goodness through the heartache and pain. He is steadfast and sovereign. Ron and Denver: We are committed to pray for you both and the ministry God has given you. Debbie's words and wisdom too will always be a great reminder to love unconditionally. This story has engulfed my heart and poured the passion of our Lord in every corner. He cares so very much for us. What a day it will be when we all see him face to face. Until then~ continue to serve with great Joy!! Because He Lives, Shannon
- Shannon K. Williamsburg, Michigan

This is absolutely the best book I have ever read. I could feel the power of God through the pages! It is an awesome example of how God works in our lives and we don't even realize it right away. God doesn't do anything for nothing. There's a reason for everything that happens in our lives, and you never know how God is going to work something out or who He uses to touch people. This book reinforced to me that God is almighty! He can use whomever he chooses, and who would've thought there would be a connection with a slave from Louisiana and a wealthy white man from Texas? God is working on our behalf when we don't even know it. I thank God for the opportunity to read this book. It put me on a spiritual high and I will recommend it to everyone I know. God Bless.....
- Kimberly P., Kansas City, Missouri

Am so thankful God is using your story for His glory. I love the way the book is written, as well as its content. It reaches into the soul and leaves an indelible, life-changing imprint. Thank you for sharing and for sacrificing your privacy. May we all learn to hear God and respond to His voice, so He can shine through us the way He did through Debbie.
- Marinell T. Dallas, TX

This incredible story of faith in action and selflessness truely opened my eyes to see how incredibly self absorbed I am. Spending so much time and energy focusing on me and my poor problems! I vow to be different. I commit to focusing on others with the single purpose of showing them the love of Jesus.
- Debbra L. Arlington, Texas

I read the first 225 pages of this book in two days, but couldn't bring myself to finish the last twenty for another week or so. Like a wonderful journey you didn't want to end, so was the "experience" of having read this book. Simply put, I believe it to be one of the greatest pieces of literature ever gifted to man. It's a promise for the future and a blessing for the day. See you all on the other side.
- Ned N. Chattanooga, TN

Allison's Review:
I have not yet completely finished the book, but only have a few pages left. I agree with everything the readers above commented on about the book. It is the most incredible book I've ever read. At this point, it tops Redeeming Love and Twilight for me and that is saying a whole heck of a lot.

Also, please know that I'm not a big reader. I'm not always reading a book. It takes a really incredible book to get me interested, so know that if I'm giving a book a great review...it's a great book.

Last night, I was sitting on the couch reading while Michael was watching TV (and pouting because The Office and 30 Rock weren't on), and I was continually laughing hysterically, crying (really, I was bawling...and I'm not a cryer), and then laughing and crying at the SAME time. The book evokes so much emotion.

Not only that, but the book has really taught me a lot about my selfishness and caused me to change the way I think. It has without a doubt made me realize that life is short and that my relationship with the Lord and love for others is ALL that matters.

What makes the story even better is that it's true! See below for the authors (and main characters) of the book posing with the Bushes. Barbara Bush wrote a review on the back cover.

Why would you not read a book that tells the story of God's love and also takes you on a gripping, emotional journey?? Just do it! You will LOVE it!

Landscaping Before and After

2009-04-02T11:24:00.001-07:00

As promised, here are some before and after pictures of our hard work in the yard this past weekend. Michael mowed, edged, and weed-eated while I planted 9 shrubs and 2 hibiscus plants.

BEFORE

We spent $110 on our shrubs and hibiscus plants at Lowe's - not bad at all!!

In the above picture, you can tell we seriously need to add some shrubs!! The green stalks are the remnants of my daffodils. They were gorgeous while they lasted!

AFTER

Above: After planting, mulching, mowing, etc. this is our finished product!

Above: We planted Boxwoods (back row) and Indian Hawthorne (front row of shrubs with pink blooms). My Dad says they will double in size after just one season if I load them up with Triple 13 fertilizer. Can't wait to see them get as big as the rest of our Indian Hawthorne shrubs.

Above: We planted this Nandina shrub on the right side of the flower beds by the tree (it's hard to tell in the pictures but I planted it close to the ADT sign if that helps).

Above: I LOVE hibiscus, especially pink ones like this!

I want to plant petunias in the flower beds next, so be looking for an updated "after" picture when that gets done!

And let me just say that planting shrubs may seem easy, but it was really, really hard work! My quads, hamstrings and arms were sooo sore for 4 days after planting! It's really hard work!!!

MY THREE HELPERS:

No yard project is complete without documenting the hard work of my helpers.

Thank goodness for my awesome helpers!! I couldn't have done it without you!!!

Last Night at the Circus

2009-04-01T08:18:00.000-07:00

I've got some storytelling to do along with my concert review, so hang with me here.

Last night when 7:00 p.m. rolled around, I was ready to go! I headed down the Texas autobahn a.k.a. the Dallas North Tollway. When I exited Harry Hines, I was not happy with the traffic pileup, so I proceeded to cut to the front of the line. I have the biggest car, so I always win. I felt kind of rude doing that, so I decided to play by the rules from there on out. Well, then I got in the middle of some gridlock. I saw an opening where I could pull out and get out of everyone's way in the gridlock. That's good, right? Stop blocking the intersection for the people who have the green light now. It would be, but I pulled in front of the wrong car. I pulled in front of THAT car, you know, the one that tries to teach you a lesson for pulling in front of them and attempts to inch up so close on your car that you back down, say your sorry, and just let them go ahead. That's all well and good, but do they know who they are dealing with!??!! (I was so glad Michael was not in the car at this point). The two girls in THAT car, a Neon, proceeded to flip (is it flip or flick??) me off and roll the window down to cuss me out. I ignore them as I fixate on how to win this "car off". I keep inching forward so they cannot get through...I. MUST. WIN. As I am "inching", I proceed to bump the car in front of me. Oops! I start praying "Please be a man driving that car, please please please". It's so much easier for me to get off the hook with men (which is why after my Freshman year in college, I never took a single class from a woman professor, which is also probably why I graduated with a 4.0 major GPA). Yes! It's two guys in the car!!! I stick my head out of the door and in my sweetest voice say "I'm so sorry y'all. I didn't mean to do that. Is everything ok???". Yes! Everything is ok. Of course it is! I only bumped them...and we are all ready to get to Britney, so no one is going to make a big deal out of a tiny scratch at this point.

Bad part is, I was on the phone with Michael during this debacle and for some stupid reason, I said to him "Oops! I just hit a car, I may have to call you back". Well, when I pick him up in front of some Victory Park bar, I proceed to get the Michael wrath.

I have to say that both my Dad and Michael are incredibly nice/gracious/forgiving to me when it comes to my driving. Michael is nice to me when I hit poles and when I run into his car on accident but he definitely gets annoyed when I hit someone else's car or get a speeding ticket. I do feel for Michael though because he will have to deal with me as a driver for a lot longer than my Dad did. My Dad was off the hook after 10 years (from age 15 with my permit to age 25 when I got married). And it ain't easy. This month alone, I've run into a pole and backed into Michael's car. Over the past 12 months, I've gotten 2 speeding tickets and have been pulled over for speeding 4 times. Yet I happen to be the best SUV parallel parker there is! Not sure how that happened.

So Michael and I make up. I realize he's only mad at me because he loves me and gets very frustrated when I do stupid, defiant things I should not.

Then, I try to bring my camera in and Michael tells me the tickets say "NO CAMERAS" on them so I immediately try to figure out how to sneak mine in. No dice. Michael is a strict rule follower, unlike me, but this is one of the reasons he's perfect for me - because he keeps me out of trouble and balances me out. I decided not to argue over the camera issue at that point. Let me just say though that pretty much every single person in the AA center had a camera, and I'm not losing that fight next time, babe.

We get inside the AA center, and I have to buy a shirt. Remember "Been there, Done that, Bought the t-shirt??" Michael points to one and asks if I like it. I say "Oh gosh no - No cheesy 'concert-y' shirts with Britney's face on them and the tour dates on the back. Its bad enough I'm actually buying a t-shirt". Then, the five girls in front of me buy that shirt. Sorry, I didn't mean it!! I go with a cute red, babydoll tee with no pictures of Britney on it. And yes, it was outrageously priced. I paid $40. What I really wanted was the juicy-type of black velour suit with gaudy Britney/Circus logos all over it (for $150). I'm serious, but again, no dice. Oh well, the red tee will do just fine.

Then, we head up to the suite. It looks like the Pussycat Dolls are almost done, so I'm getting excited!

Around 9:00 p.m., IT'S. SHOW. TIME.

ACT ONE: CIRCUS
Circus
Piece of Me
Radar

Allison's Review: Awesome start to the show! I felt like I was at a circus...well, because I was. So much drama! Awesome dancers, contortionists, tight rope walkers, trapeze artists...you get the picture. Then, Britney, in all her glory, is slowly descending from the big top in her red conducter outfit. I don't think she was tied in or anything so I was really worried about her! It was awesome though and she looked incredible...her hot, Britney self! She is back, baby!

ACT TWO: HOUSE OF FUN
Ooh Ooh Baby / Hot As Ice
Boys
If You Seek Amy
Me Against the Music
Everytime

Allison's Review: One of my favorite acts. Great stunts and songs... and fabulous costumes. There were two different parts of this act where the stage was transformed into trendy, sexy Asian styling (like Ra Sushi in Plano or Buddakan in NYC) and then transformed again into something like the set of a Bollywood movie with Bollywood dancing and all.

ACT THREE: FREAKSHOW
Freakshow
Get Naked
Breathe On Me / Touch of My Hand

Allison's Review: A little too much for me. Everyone felt like they just had sex with Britney after this act. Britney, fyi, you are already sexy, you don't have to mimic sex on stage to keep your sex symbol status. There are kids here for goodness sake!

ACT FOUR: ELECTRO CIRC
Do Something
I’m A Slave 4 U
Toxic
…Baby One More Time

Allison's Review: I loved this act. She brought back Baby One More Time. Also, there was also an illusionist who put on a great show!

ACT FIVE: ENCORE
Womanizer
Circus - reprise

Allison's Review: Womanizer was a crowd pleaser for sure. The cop outfits and dancing with bare-chested men was annoying. I mean, I get why, but it was a little boring. And I missed the reprise because we left immediately after Womanizer.

Do I love Britney? YES! Did I ever stop loving Britney during the last two years? NO! Was her concert incredibly entertaining and about the most amazing show I've ever seen? YES! Do I like concerts? NO! Will I be eager to go to the next Britney tour? NO! Does this mean I don't like Britney now? NO! (It just means I'm not big into concerts..never have been).

For those of you who don't know me well, I'm not excited about Brit's comeback because I feel for her and think her life needs to get better. I'm just crazy about her. I think she's extremely talented and not given enough credit for her talent. I just love her and the stupid things she does and will always love and support her. I'm not a fairweather Britney fan...nor am I a 2%-er Britney fan (like I am with the Aggies). Nope. It's full-fledged. I just love her and that's that. It's my thing, okay. Let me have this one thing!

Now a word from the Christian me who didn't enjoy the concert as much as I could have without the Holy Spirit. As Michael and I were talking after the show, we agreed that we cannot even fathom the day Jesus comes back if people are really going this nuts over Britney. I mean, Jesus is THE famous one. It's going to be insane and so exciting! Which saddens me that we go so crazy over a human. No wonder she's had so many problems though...she is a god to so many people.

It also saddened me how inappropriate this concert was for children and teens, yet they were the largest part of the audience. It saddens me that parents take their teens and tweens to concerts like this. It saddens me the clothes that parents allowed their kids to wear to the concert. We saw hundreds of 12 year old sluts. It saddens me that people are not making a big deal about the fact that Britney was humping a couch on stage wearing lingerie. When did this become something that doesn't make us cringe?? When did wearing lingerie in front of anyone but your husband become a non-event/non-issue???

Which brings me to my point. I'm glad that many of the things I saw last night make me cringe. I'm glad I've pretty much learned at this point in my life to live in this world but not be "of this world". I'm glad that though those things are true that I can still let loose and have fun at a Britney Spears' concert and just not take things I cannot control too seriously.

Hit Me Baby One More Time!

2009-03-31T10:35:00.000-07:00

Guess where I will be tonight at 8:00 p.m.??? At the American Airlines Center for....

To say I'm excited is an understatement!! I'm even more excited that I am going for free and get to be in a box suite. I'm not a big fan of going to concerts because I don't enjoy the whole standing up to try to see the stage, etc. Really, I don't enjoy standing in any type of stadium whatsoever (which is why I only went to half of 3 Aggie games in my entire Aggie career). I'd rather be front and center, cheerleading...but those days are gone. What can I say? I'm a girl who needs the spotlight!! But tonight it's ALL about Britney's big come back!! You go girl!

Okay, now it's time for me to stop blogging (I've pretty much been reading blogs all morning)!! Madeline, Kosmo, and I are going to go run some errands and then do some yard work and then....get all dressed up for Britney! I'm going to be wearing my Britney-licious extensions and maybe even a circus conducter costume, who knows?? (ok, I'm joking about the costume).

Just Call Me Mrs. Schultz

2009-03-31T08:19:00.001-07:00

I just have to share the story of the AWESOME thing that happened to us Saturday night...

Michael and I LOVE date night and it was set for Saturday, so here's how it was going to go down:
5:00 p.m. - Church (we wanted to sit with our home group at this service)
7:50 p.m. - Studio Movie Grill (we had free tickets) to see Duplicity, have dinner and drinks

Here's how it went down:
4:58 p.m. - Get to The Village Church (yes, we were sort of late because of me), see the sign at the entrance of the parking lot that says "Service is Full".
5:03 p.m. - I sit silent in the car trying to avoid Michael as much as possible so I am not on the receiving end of his wrath because we didn't make it to church.
5:05 p.m. - Me: "What do you want to do, babe? We can just go to dinner around here and then back to church at 7:00 p.m."
Michael: "No, its ok, I know this is just one of the frustrating things about going to the awesome church that we do. I was really looking forward to our date. Let's just check movie times." (no wrath - yes!!!)
5:08 p.m. - We head to Frisco to Stonebriar Centre to see Duplicity. It starts in 15 minutes.

5:22 p.m. - We try to use coupons to pay for Duplicity and they say they cannot take our coupon for the "special event that is Duplicity". Great! I hate paying for movies if you cannot tell!
5:25 p.m. - I want popcorn. We try to decide: Should we get Diet Coke or Coke to go with it?? Diet Coke has formaldehyde a.k.a. aspartame and Coke has high fructose corn syrup. See our artificial sweetener post if you are lost. Well, both are pretty bad, so we go for the coke. Yes, yes, I know, they do sell water bottles at the movie theatre, but like I said in my sweetener post - we're not turning into health nuts! Just trying a little harder to not put processed and chemical stuff in our bodies (date night doesn't count!!)...
7:55 p.m. - The movie is over. I hate it. After complaining about what a let down it was, Michael finally agrees it was a worthless, horrible waste of time and money. (It was supposed to be a twisty turny, action, romance - how can you beat that for date night?? Well, it was not good.)
8:00 p.m. - We are realizing date night is not as magical tonight as it usually is and things just really aren't going our way. Not able to decide on a restaurant, we just go to Cheesecake Factory in the mall.

8:02 p.m. - We walk into Cheesecake Factory and it is a ZOO!! (I thought everyone in Frisco had kids and didn't stay out so late?!?!) I tell Michael if the wait is over an hour, we are leaving. The wait is 70 minutes.
8:03 p.m. - Mrs. Schultz walks up to me and says "My husband and I have been waiting for about 50 minutes, but our movie is starting now, so we are about to leave. Do you want our buzzer??"
8:04 p.m. - I am shell shocked! This makes up for everything that didn't go our way tonight!! This is the best!!!!!!!!! I've never had this happen to me before and especially not at such perfect timing!
8:05 p.m. - I ask Mrs. Schultz "what movie are you going to see?" (trying to make sure she is not seeing Duplicity; she said "I Love You, Man"; I said "Yeah, that's the one we should have seen - we saw Duplicity and it was no good. Have fun and thank you SOOOO much - you're the best!!!!"
8:06 p.m. - Mr. and Mrs. Schultz are about our age and are on their date night and are so adorable. We shouldn't have let them walk away so quickly, we would have loved to have dinner with them!
8:10 p.m. - Michael orders drinks at the bar - a Mojito for me and Vodka tonic for him....BUT, I get carded....AND, I'm not carrying my purse. Booo!! So sweet Michael walks all the way to our car parked at Sears to get my ID, but he cannot find it, so he is forced to carry my huge, fake Louis Vitton purse into the mall with him (he is mortified), but I find my ID and we are in business! (Sorry Michael!)
8:15 p.m. - I walk up to the hostess stand to ask how much longer until we get seated. The hostess says "What's your name?". I say "Mrs. Schultz". The hostess says "We'll be seating you shortly in the next few minutes". YES!!!!
8:20 p.m. - We get seated. THANK YOU MR.& MRS. SCHULTZ!!!!!
Dinner was awesome! We shared the Chicken Madeira and got cheesecake to go! What a great date night!!! Did I mention I had 3 mojitos!?!?! YUM!!

My Growing Boy!

2009-03-30T08:12:00.000-07:00

Oh my Baby Boy Kosmo - how I truly love thee!!! He is the biggest sweetheart in the world!!! He is so super loving to his mommy and he makes me really want to have boys...especially a momma's boy!

When I get home from work, I yell "couch time" and the dogs get so excited...they follow me to the couch and then jump on me and give me big hugs!! Kosmo does what I like to call the two jump pounce hug. As I'm sitting down, he jumps on the couch, and then does another BIG jump and makes it to me. He puts his little paws around my neck and gives me a real hug. It's the most precious thing!!

Here are some pictures of my precious growing boy!!

We adopted him at 12 weeks and he has been our baby for 7 months now and he is one of the best things that's ever happened to the Pennington household! We are HUGE fans of owning TWO dogs. It made such a difference for Madeline when we adopted her brother. She (and we) are much happier now. Everything is better from walks to cuddly naptimes to ball throwing/fetching to bone chewing to treat time...you get the picture.

His first birthday is coming up on May 15th and in preparation for him becoming a "big boy", we are switching to adult food this week. Mostly because Madeline is getting fat and needs to be done with puppy food. But we had to keep her on the puppy food because there was no way to regulate the dogs eating two different types of food and it was more important for Kosmo to be on the puppy food.

Not only are we going from puppy to adult food but from free feeding the dogs to only feeding them two meals a day (to help them with weight control). At first, they didn't really understand what was going on and didn't eat their food. After an hour, I put the food up to try to teach them the new drill. Finally, they got hungry enough and figured out that when it's mealtime...it's time to eat! Plus, we have a buzzword for dinner now and they are learning the meaning of it. They are so good at learning their buzzwords and we have signals to go with each buzzword that they know very well too!!
-Sit
-Stay
-Come
-Drop it
-Give it
-Leave it
-Watch me
-Kisses
-Down
-Touchdown (for a high five trick)
-Room (to go in their big gate)
-Bed (to go in their small gate and lay in their beds at night)
-and now: Dinner (to eat their meal)

The only one they are not consistent on is the "off" command....only the most important one!! This is probably my fault (I like picking them up and they will jump on me to get me to hold them - big babies!)...so we have some work to do.

Anyway, back to eating...we are still working on the transition. It hasn't been the smoothest one ever. Kosmo is a much slower eater than Madeline and fatty Madeline will try to eat Kosmo's food when she finishes hers! But to get Kosmo to be more interested in his food, all I have to do is dump the food from the bowl and scatter it on the floor. He is nuts!! You put his food on the floor and all of a sudden his interest level skyrockets!! So crazy!!

Here are some pictures of the dynamic duo that is Madeline and Kosmo:

This is where they hang during the day while I'm at the office 4 days/week:

Big gate with access to the backyard through the doggie door

Nice, quiet place to rest

Wedding Vows and Married Life

2009-03-27T13:00:00.001-07:00

We attended the second wedding of the season this past weekend. The wedding of Grant Graham to Britany Eaves in Kingwood, Texas.

Are they not absolutely precious!?!

The Cochran family (my maiden name) goes way back with the Graham family, so it was super special to see Grant get married. We probably don't go back as far as some of the Graham's other friends, like the Terrals, but they were some of our first friends we really bonded with when we moved to College Station in 1991. We became friends with them through our church - Central Baptist Church in Bryan, Texas.

We spent several weekends in the summers with the Grahams and other families from Central Baptist at Lake Belton. We would bring our pop-up camper and boat and it was never ending fun! We also went on a couple of ski trips with them. And two years ago, we went on a cruise to Cozumel.

I cannot even begin to describe my heart's desire in wanting to find that type of relationship with several families at this point in my life. To do life with them and choose to walk with them because of our partnership in the Gospel. What a bond that type of partnership creates! Michael and I are learning how incredibly important it is to be surrounded by a community of believers to walk with for the support and sharpening of our marriage and family and salvation. It's amazing to see some of the incredible relationships that the Graham family has formed over the years. It was so obvious by seeing the faces I saw at their wedding. I hope to do the exact same thing.

Also, the weddings Michael and I have attended recently have been such incredible reminders of where we were almost 2 years ago...on our wedding day - June 9, 2007.

Not only did we enter into a covenant with each other, but with our God and Savior Jesus Christ. What we are commanded to do in marriage in Ephesians 5:22-32 is much easier said than done.

Wives and Husbands
Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing[b] her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church — for we are members of his body. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."[c] This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

And our vows:
I take you, Michael, to be my husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death parts us. This is my solemn vow.

We went with traditional vows because I am a very very traditional woman who loves traditions and formalities. I am an etiquette freak and love formal, traditional ways of doing things. I loved our vows. So solemn and all-encompassing. But the last two weddings had incredible, personal vows. At Chris' wedding, what stood out the most was the part when they vowed:
"To walk through the refining fire of marriage" with their spouse.

Wow! Refining fire it is! You cannot hide in marriage. Getting married is the best way to become sanctified and its T-O-U-G-H!!

When I get weary in my marriage and the sanctification process, this "refining fire" is something I am going to remember. As Michael consistently reminds me - what a glorious day it's going to be when we sit at the banquet table with Christ and He tells us that His work in us is complete and we are at home in heaven. And as my great grandmother used to say (sing with me!) "When we allllll get to heav-en, What a day of rejoicing that will be! When we all see Jesus, We’ll sing and shout the victory! (men in their deep voices: shout the victoryyyyyy!)".

Looking back, I'm sure I was so naive and optimistic and "in love" on my wedding day and now having "lived" marriage for almost 2 years, so much has changed...for the GOOD! I'm probably more of a realist now and have learned a lot (though still not nearly enough) about how to make marriage work and what the vows REALLY mean. Because of this, the vows means SO much more to me now. Also, I've learned so much about what love means. I have really started to grasp what it means that Michael and I are a team. We are in this for life. Why spend one moment not living together as one. I'm learning how to seek peace, fight fair and how to submit. To say Michael and I have grown in love is an understatement. To think of the profound meaningful love we have for each other now amazes me, and I just have to think I'm going to be so much more amazed after 10 and then 20 and then 30 years! I cannot wait!!

My wedding day was definitely one of the best days of my life but even better are the days when Michael and I overcome something in our marriage that makes our marriage better and us both all the better for it. That is what keeps me going and that is what strengthens our love and our vows.

What a beautiful, Christ honoring wedding it was for Grant and Britany. Thanks for reminding me of the incredible seriousness of the covenant made when you say those vows. Here are a few pictures of my family enjoying their wedding celebration.

My youngest brother Carter and his sweet girlfriend Elyse

My middle brother Kent and his wife Nicki (home safely from Israel!!)

My Mom (Kathryn), Nicki, and Me

Michael was there too!!

Happy House Day!!

2009-03-27T11:12:00.000-07:00

We closed on our house one year ago today, so I'm celebrating our house anniversary!

I love our sweet little house. It is so perfect for us (and the puppies)! The great thing is that it's perfect for us right now, and I think it will be 10 years too!

We have had such a fun year making memories in our first house together, during our second year of marriage.

The below picture was taken at Christmastime after we got our brand new roof! (The original roof was badly damaged during a hailstorm/tornado that hit our neighborhood 5 days after we moved in!)

We are going to be working in the yard this weekend (weather permitting) to add some shrubs and flowers. So hopefully I will be able to add some "after" pictures soon!

Pink Enough Now, Amy??

2009-03-26T08:58:00.000-07:00

I've been told by my good friend Amy that my blog wasn't pink enough for me.

I'm OBSESSED with the color pink!! And I really couldn't agree more, Amy!

I need more pink in my life...if that's possible!

I think I like this one. It's growing on me, but I will probably keep searching for a really really really pink one....or just make my own! But this will do for now.

Hope you like it!

It's Wine in a Box!

2009-03-26T08:07:00.000-07:00

It's wine in a box, yeaahhhh

1 - Buy some wine in a box
2 - Pour that wine from the box
3 - You'll love that wine in a box

That's the way we do it....It's wine in a box!!

I have a new obsession. The wine in a box from Target. And please...don't judge me until you try it.

Here are my reasons for loving my new wine favorite:
1. The cabernet sauvignon and shiraz blend is fabulous!
2. The box costs $16.99 and is equal to 4 bottles of wine! What a deal!
3. The box lasts up to 4 weeks and stays fresh!!
4. The box has a spout - so easy!! Gone are the days of corkscrews, etc.
5. You just put the box on your pantry shelf (unless you like white wine, and then you should store it in the refrigerator) and voila! its easily accessible for daily cooking and drinking!
6. I often cook with red wine (sauteed mushrooms, spaghetti sauce, etc.) and its nice to not have to open an entire bottle of wine if I only need to use 1 cup of red wine.
7. You feel like you have an excuse to have a glass every night because the spout is calling you!

Enjoy!! (and make sure to thank me later!)

P.S. If you are so out of it that you do not know what song I am imitating at the beginning of this post, then please click here!!! And once again, enjoy...and you can thank me later!! (The link is PG-13...or R rated maybe, so don't look at it at work and get the kids out of the room first, but its really not too dirty - its Justin Timberlake on SNL and sooo funny!)

Forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest..

2009-03-23T14:05:00.000-07:00

Is there anyone out there who has yet to read the Twilight saga?!?!

Anyone???

?
?
?
?
?

Anyone???

Bueller??

Ok, I just have to know! I realize there are some crazy people in this world who have not yet read it, but I hope that doesn't include any of my friends.

I cannot tell you how annoyed I am by all the people who have come up to me today and said "I saw the Twilight movie over the weekend!!". They were thinking I would be proud or something!!?? The reason I'm NOT proud is because these are the SAME people that I have been telling for months that they have to drop everything and START READING!! Yet, they have not yet read the books.

Please....I beg of you....if you have NOT read the books yet, which already puts you on my s&*$ list, please do not opt to watch the movie in lieu of reading the books. I BEG OF YOU!!!

The movie doesn't even compare to the books. Its fun to watch the movie once you've read the books, but they simply do not compare. The true enjoyment and love of this story comes from reading the books. They are such an easy read and are truly spellbinding. I have talked over 12 people into reading the books (ages 23 through 60 - whoever started categorizing the books as "teen" or "tween" books is an idiot...this story spans all genders and ages) and they have all thanked me time and time again for encouraging them to read the books!! I'm not kidding you!!

Ok - I'm done with my Twilight rant!

P.S. I'm an Alice - click on this link and tell me who you are!!!!

P.P.S. I apologize for my ubiquitous use of words like "idiot" and "moron" in this and my last post.

Rude Awakening!

2009-03-23T13:37:00.000-07:00

I am a freakishly heavy sleeper. I can pretty much fall asleep anywhere, at any time, and sleep very soundly. I mean, the lights can be on, TV or music can be on, people can be talking, etc. An infant that I saw sleeping soundly near the dance floor and DJ at a wedding this past weekend, reminded me of...me!

So, what does it take for me to wake up in the middle of the night when I am sleeping soundly in my super comfy bed??! Pretty much only two things:
1. My dogs making any noise at all (this is where my maternal instincts kick in - I can hear them above any other noise and wake up instantly to make sure they are ok)
2. Someone BANGING on our front door

Yes - someone was BANGING on our front door at 4:00 a.m. this past Friday night. I jumped out of bed and yelled to Michael "Someone is banging on our front door!!! Turn on the lights!!".

I grabbed my cell phone, dialed 9-1-1 and had my finger ready to press send. All the while, Michael was still trying to figure out exactly what happened. Somehow, Michael will wake up at even the slightest noise and get bothered by the TV being on in the bedroom, yet he did not hear this banging!! Crazy!

I ran to the front door, looked out the peephole and saw a woman laying on the ground in the middle of our walkway, and a man standing beside her. So I banged on the door and yelled "WHO IS IT???!?!?!" Hey - it seemed like the best thing to do at the time. I couldn't open the door because I was not fully dressed AND the alarm would have started going off.

Well, no one answered me, so I ran around to the study window to look out to see if I could get a better view. All the while, my finger is still on the send button and Michael is still trying to figure out what is going on and why I am not acting scared, but am wanting to confront the morons banging on our door at 4:00 a.m. This is very unlike me. Typically, when I get scared in the middle of the night, I stay in bed while I make Michael walk around the house carrying a flashlight, checking all the closets and behind all the doors, all the while he's yelling intermittently (at my request) "Everything looks fine...just a couple more rooms to check. It's ok, don't be scared".

Finally, after getting a better view, I realize its the idiots that live across the street!!! We don't like them because one time they were mean to us when we were unloading a u-haul at midnight and barely blocking their driveway. But that is a whole other story!!

They have not lived in the house across the street for very long. They are renting it while the owners are living overseas for a short time. Its a very strange living situation: an older man, his 30-something daughter, her 12 year old son, and the daughter's boyfriend....well, sort of, I think he just spends the night a lot.

From what I can tell looking out the window, the girl is messed up - we're talking drunk, high or something! She is rolling around on the ground outside of our house!! The boyfriend is YELLING at her and trying to get her out of our yard. Apparently, they must have been in a huge fight and she ran to our house to bang on the front door (yeah, that makes sense????). Essentially, its undoubtedly a really bad domestic dispute.

Anyway, not scared at all at this point and wanting to figure out what the heck they are doing BANGING on our door, I yell at Michael to go get dressed and ask these punks what the h*$# is going on while I go turn off the burglar alarm and calm down the dogs.

Michael is STILL utterly confused and moving VERY slowly. By the time he is dressed, I yell at him to run out the door and confront these morons. I realize I should not have been yelling at Michael, but its hard for me to stay calm!!

Well, the girl must have been inside already at that time...and the boyfriend was driving out of the driveway so fast that his tires were screeching as Michael was running outside.

I have a feeling we'll never know what really happened and that totally irks me!! As Michael would imitate me saying like I always do "How rude!!!".

Featured in Health magazine!

2009-03-18T07:24:00.000-07:00

Ok, well not really "featured"...but I was quoted! You know, I gotta try to exaggerate a little bit - it's the way I am!

Quoted about what? Sex...orgasms specifically. And I am NOT going to tell you what the quote is on this blog because some of the readers may really NOT want to know. (You know who you are).
*Since I first posted this story, I have had so many curious george's calling me to ask what I said and now I have been talked into posting my quote within the comments section of this post. So go there if you WANT to know what I said. LOL - I have no shame!

Anyway, it's kind of cool. After my quote, it says "Allison, 27 years old, Plano, TX".

But if you want to see it, there's not much time left since the March issue will be replaced with the April issue very soon.

How did such a thing happen to me? (This is the first question I've been getting asked, so I will explain). I get tons of junk mail in my gmail inbox, and I recently got something from Health magazine that listed articles, etc. One of the things listed in the email said "Take our sex quiz!". So of course, I take the quiz! ha! Then, when I was finished with the quiz, there was a question at the end that asked for my name and email address and if the magazine can contact me for further comments...again, I said yes. And one of the writers working on the sex article for the March issue contacted me by email, asked me some questions, and one of my answers to one of the questions actually ended up in the magazine. Crazy!

I have decided after "starring" on The View last May (okay, okay, "being given only one line to say" on The View), I have decided to make it my goal to try to make it in some type of national media each year. Yes, I realize this is a goal only I would make! But heck, I made it on Chelsi's blog yesterday, so maybe I am on my way!

One wedding down...5 more to go!

2009-03-17T15:09:00.001-07:00

Well folks, wedding season is truly upon us!

I'm very excited about the fact that I will get to witness the 6 couples whose weddings that I will be attending this spring and summer get hitched! It's a beautiful thing!

This past weekend, we attended the first wedding of the season. Chris Snapp, a childhood friend of Michael's was married to Erika Walter. Chris is Michael's best friend, Mike Snapp's brother.

From left to right: Mike Snapp, Chris Snapp, and Michael (in high school)

Their ceremony was incredibly Christ honoring and beautiful. Not to mention that we had a great time celebrating with a favorite couple of ours who go to our church. We had no idea they would even be there - a nice surprise. They are family friends with Erika - what a small world! Also, I was able to meet several friends of Michael's from his childhood and really enjoyed getting to know everyone.

Sorry I don't have any pictures of the event! I will try to take more at the next 5 weddings!

No more artificial sweeteners!?

2009-03-16T08:53:00.000-07:00

I'm giving up artificial sweeteners?!!

Ok, the reason there is a question mark behind that sentence is because I've realized how difficult it is to give them up. Not only because they are RAMPANT but because the withdrawal effects are killer. So essentially, I am TRYING to give up artificial sweeteners as much as possible. I started this quest on February 16th.

First, I will tell you what artificial sweeteners I am talking about and then I'll tell you why!

Artificial Sweeteners:
Equal a.k.a. Aspartame, Nutrasweet

Splenda a.k.a. Sucralose

Sweet 'n' Low a.k.a. Sacchrin

Now I am really not a huge health freak by any means and believe that moderation is key for everything including food and alcohol, but I have recently starting having issues with the ridiculousness of the American food industry and the lies that many of us have given into. Some people would argue that its not even food but "food-like" substances that we are eating these days! I love Michael Bleecker's blog post on this and his attempt to better his family's health. I mean, I am sick to death of looking at ANY packaged food and seeing "high fructose corn syrup" on the ingredient list. I'm sick of not being able to pronounce half of the ingredients on the list. I'm mad to hear about how the beef that I love to eat so much is wrought with hormones and is from cows who stand on the pavement all day and are fed corn-based grain diets when God intended cows to be wandering in a field eating GRASS. And America seriously wonders why we are all getting so unhealthy and fat?! It makes absolutely no sense why we wonder why we are fat when its obvious we are being stuffed to the brim with modified corn products, artificial everything, and "food-like" substances that our bodies are unable to digest. Not to mention the fact that many Americans eat dairy at every single meal and I could go on and on about this one from my past "vegan" days.

Here's an example that really irked me: I was sick last week and my doctor told me to eat only bananas, rice, crackers, and applesauce for several days, so I went to buy some crackers. I bought Wheat Thin Multi-grain crackers. Heck, they had that little green "Smart Spot" checkmark/stamp of approval that says "Smart Choices Made Easy"! But even they contained a long list of ingredients that are hard to pronounce and included cornstarch and high fructose corn syrup on the list of ingredients! We are truly being deceived by the American food industry when it comes to listings like "Smart Spot" and "All Natural" and "No Added Sugar" and "Whole Grain".

Ingredients: WHOLE GRAIN WHEAT FLOUR, ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE {VITAMIN B1}, RIBOFLAVIN {VITAMIN B2}, FOLIC ACID), WHOLE GRAIN BARLEY FLAKES, SOYBEAN OIL, SUGAR, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, WHOLE GRAIN MILLET, WHOLE GRAIN RYE, WHOLE GRAIN TRITICALE, MOLASSES, SALT, WHOLE WHEAT, LEAVENING (CALCIUM PHOSPHATE AND/OR BAKING SODA), ROLLED WHOLE GRAIN OATS, MONOGLYCERIDES, ONION POWDER, SOY LECITHIN (EMULSIFIER), CORNSTARCH. CONTAINS: WHEAT, SOY.

I wanted the focus of this post to be the artificial sweeteners, but here are some other changes I am going to try to make as well:
-eating only organic "grass-fed" beef with no hormones added (this is tough! even Whole Foods has the tiniest section of this type of beef but its so worth it)
-not eating dairy at every meal
-when I drink milk, to only drink organic, pasteurized milk and NOT homogenized
-eating "cage free" eggs and "free range" chicken without hormones only
-trying to eat some fish from time to time (I hate fish, but will try this and the only fish that are on my list are "wild caught" fish; NO "farmed" fish and no shellfish because they are the trash cans of the sea)
-staying away from artificial sweeteners
-staying away from high fructose corn syrup, genetically modified corn ANYTHING

Obviously, this can't be 100% of the time. I am still going to go out to eat and cannot control everything I eat, but I can make of the change of better grocery shopping and choosing to put things in my body that God intended as much as possible.

Some facts about Aspartame:
Upon ingestion, aspartame breaks down into natural residual components, including aspartic acid, phenylalanine, methanol, and further breakdown products including formaldehyde, formic acid, and a diketopiperazine. It can also cause brain damage as well as insulin resistance which could lead to type II diabetes.

Some facts about Splenda:
Bottom line, splenda is made up of a molecule that contains chlorine. When digested, chlorine is cancer causing. Duh! Not to mention the fact that many reports show that Splenda is indigestible and absorbed by fat which increases your fat cells and makes you fatter! I have researched many sources and studies regarding the mal effects of Splenda and the best in my opinion include tuberose.com as well as Dr. Mercola's article.

Facts about Sacchrin:
I didn't even research it since its the most studied and research artificial sweetener of all and we've all heard the bad reports about it for years.

The newcomer - Stevia:
Stevia, also known as Truvia is the new kid on the block as far as artificial sweeteners go. Its supposed to be all natural and is already FDA approved, so I know many people who are switching to Stevia. I just feel like it's got to be in the same ballpark as other artificial sweeteners and that in the future, we'll find out some reason or another it could kill us, so I'm not switching to this one either...just in case anyone was wondering.

There’s overwhelming evidence that consuming artificial sweeteners will likely wreak havoc on your body. Previous news has centered mainly around artificial sweeteners’ ability to impair your appetite regulation and leading to weight gain. In reality, these diet foods and drinks can cause serious distortions in your biochemistry and ruin your body's ability to control calories. As a matter of fact, it’s been shown that diet soft drinks can double your risk of obesity! Nearly a decade ago, studies were already revealing that artificial sweeteners can:

-Stimulate your appetite
-Increase carbohydrate cravings
-Stimulate fat storage and weight gain

No thank you!

So have you decided to stop using artificial sweeteners yet? If so, withdrawal effects are a whole other ballgame and get ready! As far as withdrawal effects go, I think sucralose or "Splenda" causes the worst withdrawal effects. I'm pretty sure of this since sucralose was what I used the most because I had it in my coffee every morning. And my headaches for the first 3 weeks of giving it up were killer! I had to give in several times and have a little Splenda. It was AWFUL! I've never had a migraine, but I imagine it feels similar to how I felt when I was in withdrawal of Splenda. I felt completely incapacitated, couldn't read, think or function normally at all.

So now that I'm eliminating artificial sweeteners, here is the list of things I will stay away from(the crazy thing is that the majority of these foods are those I have taught myself are the "healthy choices" but now I know in truth, they are the most worthless, chemical, processed foods of all):

ANYTHING that says "sugar free" or "reduced sugar" or "low sugar"
Crystal Light
Diet Coke
sugar free yogurts
sugar free ice cream
any "diet" drink

So don't worry, I'm not turning into a huge health nut but I know I can do better for myself and for my family by refusing to give in to the American way of eating. Yes, I have to pay a little more now to get better foods, but I have to wonder - Will it save me big money on doctors and prescriptions in the future??

Big News!!

2009-03-12T08:52:00.000-07:00

No...we're not pregnant! ;)

Michael got PROMOTED!! Needless to say, he has a VERY VERY proud wife!

For those of you who don't know, Michael is an investment banker. In these trying financial times and especially in his industry, many of his colleagues don't feel job security or are getting laid off. We are just so in awe of the Lord's provision and thankful for this blessing!

Go Michael!! You deserve it! You are incredibly hard working and wonderful!! What a great provider for our family! LOVE YOU!

Some pics of my hottie hubby:

Wow! He is the hottest and cutest! Love you Babe!

Trip to Israel

2009-03-11T19:00:00.001-07:00

Kent and Nicki are in Israel! They headed that way last Friday and are getting back on March 18th!

Kent is my brother, and Nicki is his precious wife of almost 3 years now.

They are so adventurous and quite the world travelers! I am in awe of them and some of the places they have been! Of course, I would probably be too scared to take a trip to Israel right now, so to be honest, I've done lots of worrying about them while they are gone. So if you think of it, please lift them up.

Nicki will be graduating from Dallas Theological Seminary in May and had the awesome opportunity to go on the official DTS trip to Israel so she and Kent jumped at the chance.

I can't wait for them to get back and hear all about it!

Baby Shower

2009-03-10T10:34:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday, I had the privilege of throwing my wonderful cousin, Kristin a baby shower! Kristin is so special to me, and I couldn't be more thrilled that she is having a baby GIRL!!

Kristin lives in Columbia, Missouri, home of the University of Missouri...such a cute college town that sort of reminds me of College Station. I found a cute little private room in a local coffee house to throw the shower and it was just perfect.

See below for some pictures of the shower.

All PINK decorations

The best baby shower cake ever! (Thanks to my cousin Kerri for helping me pick out this awesome cake.)
*Money saving tip: We had the bottom tier of the cake created as a faux base, which gave the cake a dramatic look but since it is just iced cardboard, it's huge savings!

The spread (thanks to my wonderful friend Dana for letting me borrow her awesome Arthur Court serving set to use at the shower. You cannot tell from the pictures really but it made for a beautiful spread and everyone loved it!)

Cute pregger girl (8 months!)

Kristin and me

Kristin's mother-in-law Treina, Kristin, Kristin's mom

Tatiana is BACK!

2009-03-05T14:19:00.001-08:00

Enough said!

What my Momma taught me...

2009-03-05T14:18:00.001-08:00

I am a daddy's girl for sure and gave him major props in my recent post, but that doesn't mean I don't love my momma!

I just wanted to give her a shout out too and mention some of the things she taught me that I am specifically thankful for.

She taught me....

...to be resilient and overcome any obstacles I ever face.

...to not be afraid of failing at anything.

...to be strong by being the strongest woman in the world herself.

...not to care what other people think.

...to be comfortable when I am going to a dark movie theatre rather than worry about getting too dressed up.

...persistence.

...about Jesus and His love for me.

...God's word.

...selfless love.

...family values passed down from her amazing grandmothers.

...to view things in light of eternity.

...that I'm supposed to be different than the rest of the world.

...faithfulness.

...how to be still. And know that He is God.

...that others look at the outward appearance but that God looks at the heart.

...to seek wisdom.

...how to listen.

...good grammar. Specifically, to not say "Me and 'so and so' are going to the mall", etc.

...how to show genuine care for other people and how to invest in their lives.

...frugality.

...to be realistic.

...how to be a good homemaker.

...all the things a germaphobe needs to know to keep the germs away!

...that I don't have to wash my hair every. single. day.

...how to have mercy on others.

...what it means to be meek.

...how to serve others.

That's why it's definitely God's plan for every child to have TWO parents. I'm thankful my parents at least stayed together through my high school and college years because the lessons I learned from each of them truly balanced me out.

Baby Mania!!!

2009-03-04T08:25:00.000-08:00

Sorry for being post happy today, but I am going out of town on Friday and won't be posting much in the next few days and seem to have a lot to say today.

I'm headed to Columbia, Missouri to host my cousin Kristin Lind's baby shower. She is having her 2nd child and it's a GIRL! Needless to say, I am thrilled and completely living vicariously through her at the moment. :) I've been working hard and hoping that her shower will be a great success! I will be sure to post many pictures as soon as I'm back on Monday, March 9th.

Precious newborn baby Wyatt and me holding him for the first time!

Kristin and her son, Wyatt (he was almost 2 in this picture)

Josh and Kristin

Also, last night I found out that my cousin Wade (Kristin's brother) and his wife Heather are pregnant! I am so excited for them! I cannot put into words how happy I am that they are having a little one! They are so incredibly special to me, and I am excited to see them during this next stage of their lives.

Left to right: Wade, Heather, Me, my brother Carter (in Cabo for Wade and Heather's wedding)

Left to right: Kristin, Heather, Me
P.S. I realize you can see the outline of my bra in this picture, but you're just going to have to get over it! I did! But I don't make the same mistake twice, that's for sure!

Other than my excitement for them, I have some other emotions about all of this: I can't help but feel a little left behind. I'm so embarrassed to say that and feel so selfish saying it, but let me explain. Wade and I have done EVERYTHING at the same time in life and because of that, I feel he and I have a really special bond. Here's what I mean:
-We were born one month apart
-We graduated high school on the same day
-We got engaged a month apart and the ring he picked out for Heather just so happened to be identical to my engagement ring without either of us knowing anything about each other's rings
-We got married a month apart and Heather's wedding ring just so happened to be the same design as mine without us knowing...once again
-We got our first dog within a month of each other
-We purchased our first houses within a month of each other
-We got our second dog within a month of each other

So I guess I always thought we'd be having a baby...within a month of each other. WRONG!

Wrong because I know I'm not pregnant right now, and wrong because I know I'm not ready. Not that I'm not ready to be a mother...I already am a mother to two puppies that needs lots of love and nurturing! Really though, I'm SO ready to be a mother! And not that I'm waiting for the PERFECT timing to have a child...I know there is no such thing as being 100% "ready"...especially financially. And my dad's dad's advice to my dad (does that make sense?) was "if you wait until you are financially ready to have a baby, you'll never have a baby". And I take that to heart, so that's definitely not it.

I do feel I need to be SOMEWHAT financially... AND physically, emotionally and spiritually ready to have a child. I definitely have some things I want to work on before having a child, namely:
-Financially: going from two salaries to one salary isn't going to be easy! All of the wise advice we received before getting married "if you plan to stay at home with your children, then make sure to only live on one paycheck from day one, and save the rest" went out the window almost immediately. I like my paycheck and I like spending it. Also, we use it to help pay for home improvement, debt, student loans, etc. which has got to be a good thing, right? Obviously, we've got to figure this part out. I'd rather live in a shack than have to work when I have kids. That's just me because I'm overly protective and controlling (ask my brothers if you don't believe me)...I just know I wouldn't be able to go back to work at first. I mean, I am incredibly picky about where I board my dogs and freak out about having to leave them so much that I almost cry anytime we go out of town.
-Physically: I definitely want to get in better shape before having a baby. The past two years have held major health issues for me with asthma re-appearing out of nowhere. The doctors drugged me up pretty good. I was taking two daily steroid medications and being injected with prednisone weekly just so that I could BREATHE. And that wasn't good for the scale...nor was not being able to workout good for my health and fitness. I feel like I have a long ways to go, but things are much better now. I have been on allergy shots for a year and they are making a difference...enough of a difference that I am off my steroid medication and don't ever need prednisone anymore (PTL!!!).
-Spiritually: There are so many ways I'd like to mature in my faith and in my walk with the Lord before having a baby. I could go on and on. I want to trust in His plan and His timing...and so much more (see below too).
-Emotionally: I want to be a better wife. I want to be more loving and sensitive. I want to learn how/what a gentle and quiet spirit is. I want to learn how to be more devoted and thoughtful and submissive. This all sort of goes under spiritual too I guess. I believe all of these things come from a heart transformed by Jesus. They are not something I can control and "white knuckle" on my own, so I'm not going to, but I am praying for change and growth when it comes to these issues.

Am I the only person that seems to be surrounded by family and friends who are all pregnant!?! Maybe contributing to the problem is that many bloggers (at least the blogs I read) are mom's already or are currently pregnant.

It just seems like there is some real baby mania right now. And it makes it hard for a girl to be content. Not that it's wrong for me to desire to have a child and start my family - not at all! God put that desire in me...that is the way He made me, and I'm so thankful for that! But I need to put my trust and hope in Him and His will for me and have patience. I want to learn how to do that. I want to be more dependent on Him. I want my faith to be increased. I want for my ultimate desires to be to glorify Him in everything. I know He wants to teach me this.

Also, I've only been married for one year, 8 months, and 28 days (but who's counting??) I want to enjoy this stage of my life and have fun being a young newlywed! I truly do...and I am most of the time! But it can be difficult for me.

Looking to the future and what Michael "fondly" refers to as "Allison's next big thing" (as he rolls his eyes) has always been so hard for me to reign in. I am always so focused on my future and reaching my goals that its almost impossible for me to enjoy the here and now and relish in my present circumstances. When I was in high school, I couldn't wait for college, when I was in college, I couldn't wait to get married, after I got married, I couldn't wait to buy my first house, after I bought the house...well, you already know! I can't wait to have my kiddos! The funny thing about this futuristic side of me is that it works. Meaning, my life has played out exactly the way I thought it would, and I have gotten everything I've ever wanted...even the downright silly things like wanting to have a 4.0 for my major GPA in college. If I set a goal, I'm probably going to reach it. Even though all of this is so true, luckily, I am still able to be very spontaneous and not too rigid for the most part. Thank Goodness!

Not to disgress, but I always have to wonder if "my next big thing" is genetic. I mean, I am my dad's daughter without a doubt (we are SO much alike), and this is the man who is a successful surgeon with a private practice yet also became a rancher in 1995 and decided to go to law school in 2001 and has always been extremely entrepreneurial...heck, he is basically an architect and home builder as well. And by the way, yes, I did say law school...he is unreal!!! I think constantly challenging yourself and trying new things are so important though, and I thank my dad for teaching me to not be complacent or apathetic. He instilled in me confidence, self-assurance, intelligence, competition, work ethic, incredible family values and integrity. He taught me to chase my dreams and never take no for an answer. I am PROUD to be his daughter!! He is amazing in so many ways. Without the unconditional love and support of my daddy, I would absolutely not be the person I am today. I am realizing I probably need a separate post for this topic because I could go on and on and on. But Dads being there for their daughters can make all the difference in the world, and I cannot wait to see what an amazing Daddy that Michael is going to be!

Some favorite pictures of my Dad and me on my favorite day!

I hope this post wasn't too boring. Lots of words and not too funny. :) Just the real Allison. These are my struggles and thoughts and hopes and dreams...

Just like a circus...

2009-03-04T08:12:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I never intended my blog to be about so much pop culture, especially since I am usually so out of it when it comes to pop culture, so I truly apologize and promise to try to keep it at a minimum....BUT I have to post how excited I am about the fact that I am going to the Britney concert when she comes to Dallas.

I feel I really deserve to go since I stuck by her through everything she's gone through in the past couple of years...I, unlike some people, was not wishy washy but stayed true to the fact that I still loved her and probably always will (don't judge me!).

Fans are saying that her Circus concert is one of the best yet! And I get to go!! And did I say how I'm getting to go for free?!?! Yeah, and watching from a private box in the AA center. Even better!

Here's the article that got me so excited:

Dressed as a sexy ringmaster and directing a colorful cast that included jugglers, acrobats and martial arts dancers, Britney Spears delivered a tightly choreographed, if perfunctory performance Tuesday night as she kicked off her first concert tour in five years.

The 27-year-old pop superstar’s “Circus” tour kicked off in her home state of Louisiana at the New Orleans Arena before a nearly sold-out crowd that cheered on their idol as she gyrated and slithered across the stage while singing some of her biggest hits, from the recent “Womanizer” to her first and now classic song, “Baby One More Time.”

Spears started the show with the title track to her new CD, “Circus,” then went right into “Piece of Me,” which she performed largely from a cage, part of the elaborate, grandiose stage backdrops.

Acrobats twirled from suspended fabric as Spears sang and danced, showing off her toned body with flirty, seductive moves. She got frisky with two male dancers as she performed “Touch of My Hand” while sporting a blindfold.

When Spears slowed down the show for “Everytime,” the audience could be heard singing the lyrics — “everytime I try to fly I fall, without my wings I feel so small” — along with her.

Her “Circus” CD, released in December, has already sold more than 1.3 million copies, and she’s had two hits off the CD, the No. 1 “Womanizer” and the top five “Circus.”

Bring it on Brit! March 31 cannot get here soon enough! :)

Idol Picks and List of Favorites

2009-03-04T07:26:00.000-08:00

After last night, there is no question about two people from the last group who will make it to the top 12:

Scott MacIntyre (LOVE him and LOVED Mandolin Rain!!!)

Lil Rounds (who doesn't LOVE Lil!?)

I truly have NO idea who the 3rd person is going to be! It could be anyone from Von to Felisha to Ju'not to Jorge. If I had to pick, I would say Felisha.

Is anyone else going to completely quit watching the show if Nathaniel makes it to the top 12!? He is so annoying!

Now for my favorites so far this season:

Adam Lambert
By far my absolute favorite...don't know what it is, but I LOVE him!!! I love his look...don't change a thing Adam!

Scott MacIntyre
He is precious! I loved seeing him sing and play the piano. I hope he goes far!

Anoop Desai
Who doesn't LOVE Anoop! He rocks!

Danny Gokey
Seems so sweet and is very talented...a very likeable guy. I think he'll go far.

Allison Iraheta
Not just because she has the same name as me! She is truly incredible! I'm was SO impressed with her awesome song choice - Heart's "Alone". She rocked it!

Kristen MacNamara
Not just because she has the same name as one of my favorite cousins! I think she's good! And I'm SO glad she got rid of her pink hair! I see why the judges are wishy washy on her, but for some reason she is one of my favorites though I'm not sure exactly why. Maybe because she's a karaoke hostess and that is on my short list of dream jobs???

Michael Sarver
I don't want to like him just because I feel sorry for him and think he's a sweet family man and wish he could stop working the oil rigs and make money from singing (and because he's from Texas)...but that's why. And probably not good enough reasons...

This is the first season of American Idol where I've truly been a dedicated watcher. Mostly because this is the first season I've owned a DVR. But obviously, I've jumped on the bandwagon! Yay for American Idol. :)

How desperate can you be, Molly!!??!?

2009-03-03T09:11:00.000-08:00

Apparently, she's VERY desperate!

After watching Jason propose to Melissa during "one of the most dramatic Bachelor moments ever", how could Molly decide she wanted to be with Jason so quickly?

Personally, I don't know. I mean, all it took her was one commercial break to decide?!?! And all in the name of love? That is not LOVE. Jason does not even know what love is! Don't even get me started on this topic! He has quickly become one of the most disappointing bachelors of all time in my mind.

And when you think about it, all these girls have spent the entire bachelor "journey" trying to prove themselves to Jason and how they are worthy of him...but really, what is there to be worthy of? Jason's not said or done one thing that has impressed me all season. It seems everyone is so impressed because he loves his kid so much and that is phenomenal, but I'm not so sure about his character.

Anyway - major disappointment on top of the fact that we all already knew this was going to happen because of the rumors flying around. All I have to say is I'm glad I opted to watch 24 first and then speed through The Bachelor Finale and After the Final Rose.

But I cannot end this incredibly negative (sorry!!) blog post without giving a shout out to Melissa! Girl - good job standing up for yourself and telling Jason off! Melissa expressed that she was so sad that Jason took away the sacredness of an engagement and proposal for her since she only wanted it to happen once in her life. I really feel for her on this point.

On a positive note, I think the 2 hour 24 special on Monday night was TRULY "one of the most dramatic moments in 24 history"!! Take that ABC!!!

Now for the big question...am I done watching The Bachelor?? Absolutely not! Keep 'em coming! (Don't worry - I realize this is so pathetic!) I just needed to a place to vent, but still don't know what I'd do without my Bachelor Mondays.

P.S. Did anyone else feel like they were watching Jerry Springer last night?!

$300 Room Makeover!

2009-02-28T09:45:00.000-08:00

For the first 3 months living in our new house, the dining room was where we stored boxes we had yet to unpack. For the next 4 months, our dining room was completely empty. Then, I just couldn't take it anymore and told Michael we HAD to do something about it. He said "ok, see what you can do with $300". If you know me at all, you have to know I felt very defeated. I'm not so good at being frugal and finding bargains. Usually, if I need a new dress, I simply go to Nordstrom, avoid the sale rack and lay down however much it costs for the dress that I like the most. If I need a new piece of furniture, I go to a place like Haverty's a buy it. Well, not anymore! We are officially ON A BUDGET in the hopes of one day having a baby and me becoming a stay-at-home mommy. So I can live with being on a budget for that reason. :)

So there I was with $300 and feeling blue....I started searching Craig's List and could not believe my eyes when I found a dining room table, 6 chairs, and a china hutch for sale for $100!! I immmediately put in a bid for $125! :) And got a call later that day. The lady said I was one of 12 bidders within the hour that she posted and because I had the highest bid, she called me first. Yay!!

Now the dining room set is not the best, but it fills up the room and provides me a great setting for hosting dinner parties! Also, I now have a place to store my Great Grandma Willis' china set.

Before we picked up the table, we had some work to do. I wanted to paint the room with a faux finish called "ragging". After we picked out our base color and glaze color for the top coat at Lowe's, we were ready to paint! Please note: if you are ever going to paint a room red, make SURE you start with a great primer! We took this advice and are so glad we did! We did one coat of primer, two coats of the base red color and then one top coat of the glaze applied using the ragging method.

Drumroll please.....the Before and After pictures!

BEFORE

AFTER

FINAL PRODUCT - $300 Room Makeover!!!

We still need to paint or re-finish the table, chairs and hutch; add a rug; get new, longer drapes; and find something to add as the table centerpiece, but I think we're off to a great start!

I'm hoping this is just the first of MANY home improvement projects I will post to my blog. Working on the house is one of my favorite things to do! And with the help of my friend Christine (Interior Design & More), when I have some money to spend, I'm hoping to get things looking great. She is a FABULOUS interior designer!

These are a few of my favorite...PUPPY things!

2009-02-27T11:57:00.001-08:00

I realize I JUST finished posting a comment in my below birthday post regarding how frugal I was (and proud of myself for being so frugal) with my birthday cake! Not to take away from that, but when it comes to my dogs, I am the first one to admit I am somewhat frivolous....but within reason. They don't wear clothes or shoes, but boy are they set when it comes to walks and car rides. They have the best of the best harnesses and car seats!

These harnesses are the BEST and last forever...not to mention, you can get them monogrammed! They are from G.W. Little.

And the car seats are awesome - also from G.W. Little! I LOVE taking my dogs to places like the Starbucks drive through, Lowe's, and anyplace that will allow it. There is truly nothing Madeline loves more than the wind in her hair and these car seats are the ticket! The harnesses, shown above, strap onto seatbelt, which holds the car seat in. The seats are crash tested and proven very safe for dogs. And now, they don't have to be transported in the covered carriers, which they hate and are so boring!

The seats are expensive, so I had not yet purchased one for Kosmo and he was getting super jealous of Madeline! But I received some birthday money and decided to get him the herringbone monogrammed car seat and its arriving next week!

Also on the list of favorite things are pet ID tags from Boomerang Tags. They have a wide variety of tags, but my favorite are the very durable plastic (a.k.a. quiet) tags that come in many different shapes and colors. The tags can be printed on both sides so you're able to provide tons of information. We have three phone numbers, our address, our names, the dog's name, and the message "Reward!" written on our dog's tags.

Last, but not least, if you have the same problem I do with strong chewers and have spent exorbitant amounts of money on toys only to have them chewed up 5 minutes later, the answer to your problems is the nylabone! It's the ONLY toy I will buy my dogs because it lasts and they LOVE it. Its got to be super strong, because they are able to chew up the "extreme" Kong toys, but not these. The chicken flavor nylabone, shown below, is the strongest of them all.

My dogs are quite the pair!! They are my babies and I LOVE LOVE LOVE them!!!!

I especially love this picture of Madeline chewing her nylabone with her tongue sticking out. Kosmo is a baby in this picture and isn't quite sure what to do with Madeline dominating all the toys!

Happy Birthday to ME!

2009-02-26T17:11:00.001-08:00

I am officially 27 years old!! My birthday was on a Saturday this year, so we took full advantage and had a very fun celebration!! First was dinner and drinks at Ra Sushi followed by karaoke at D'Vine Wine! I actually think everyone had as much fun as I did!!

Thank you to everyone for the incredible outpouring of love on my birthday this year and for celebrating with me! You all definitely made it a birthday to remember...even those of you who couldn't make it.

See the slideshow below for some of the pictures from the night.

Sad to see you go, Tatiana!!

2009-02-19T15:09:00.001-08:00

Let's be honest...who didn't LOVE the entertainment that Tatiana del Toro, the infamous American Idol contestant from Puerto Rico provided during every single show?!?!

Anytime Tatiana was on camera, she provided great entertainment. For me anyway, it was constant laughs trying to figure out what she was going to do next!!

The really hilarious thing about Tatiana is that Michael actually compares me to her in my "over the top-ness" and thinks if I were ever to go on American Idol that I would provide the same dramatics and entertainment value. Really?!! What do you think!?!

Even though I'm sad to see her go, I was not surprised by the contestants that made it to the top 12. Although I wish it could have been three guys and no girl because I would have loved for Danny, Michael and Anoop to all make it!

For the first time, I feel....WICKED!

2009-02-19T15:05:00.001-08:00

I LOVE musicals....always have! Some of my favorites are Annie, Sound of Music, Legally Blonde, Oklahoma, Gypsy, Footloose. But in my mind, nothing compares to Wicked.

Much of my love for musicals is thanks to my cousin, Kerri. We were born only 3 months apart and she is like a sister to me. We have literally spent our entire lives singing together and she always makes sure I know what songs I need to learn when it comes to musical theatre.

Kerri is an amazingly talented singer and actress. She recently completed the national broadway tour of Hairspray!

Right now, she is in Sarasota, Florida (a great city with a major theatre culture) and is starring in "Hula Hoop Sha-Boop" (she is on the left below).

Back to Wicked...
A couple of weekends ago, Michael and I were in the mood for karaoke, so we searched for places in Plano and came across D'Vine Wine. They had just started up karaoke on Saturday nights, so not many people knew about it yet. We were there with friends, Drew and Amy, and not more than 6 other people were there! So what does this mean? It means I can pretty much sing as much as I want to without having to wait on the DJ to call my name. Not only that, but we were able to bring in our own CDs and sing whatever we wanted. Very quickly, Amy and I realized we were gonna have to bring out the Wicked soundtrack! We sang Popular and Defying Gravity together and had so much fun!

Then, "As Long As You're Mine" came on. This is the love song that is performed by Elphaba and Fiyero. Anytime I'm performing Wicked for Michael, I make him sing this love song with me. :) So of course, he had to sing this one with me for karaoke! I just love the things he will do to make me happy!!!

Happy Valentine's Day to my Husband!!

2009-02-14T11:15:00.001-08:00

Year Round Valentine

I love you all through February,
Not just on Valentine’s Day;
I cherish you when flowers of spring
Appear in the midst of May.

I adore you in the summer,
When the air is filled with heat;
Without you in my life each day,
I wouldn’t be complete.

I treasure you in fall,
When leaves are turning gold;
I loved you when you were younger;
I’ll love you when you’re old.

I prize you in the winter,
When colder days are here;
I love you, love you all the time,
Every minute of the year.

So I’ll give to you this Valentine,
But I want to let you know,
It’s not just today, but always,
That I will love you so.

Little Houses

2009-02-13T13:02:00.000-08:00

This is one of my all-time favorite songs (by one of my all-time favorite artists, Doug Stone)! It's extra special to me right now since it really echoes my desires for my marriage and family. The lyrics are a great reminder of appreciating the simple things in life and not getting caught up with "keeping up with the Joneses". I am slowly learning this since I have always wanted to BE the "Joneses". :) ha! There is no such thing as having it all.

"A little white house, in the heart of town,
On a little sad street, just a little run down,
Became a home, for Bill and Sue,
Two newlyweds, who did the best that they could do.
And when they brush each other, passin' in the hall,
Sue would smile and say: "This place is pretty small.
But you know, love grows best in little houses,
With fewer walls to separate,
Where you eat and sleep so close together.
You can't help but communicate,
Oh, and if we had more room between us, think of all we'd miss.
Love grows best, in houses just like this.

Before too long, Sue and Bill,
Were makin' plans, for Jack and Jill.
Oh, happy day, when the news came in
But what to do, when they found out Sue was having twins.
When they could not pass each other in the hall,
Well, Sue would smile and say: "This place is really, really small.
But you know, love grows best in little houses,
With fewer walls to separate,
Where you eat and sleep so close together.
You can't help but communicate,
Oh, and if we had more room between us, think of all we'd miss.
Love grows best, in houses just like this.

That little white frame house still keeps them warm,
Though it's been thirty-two years, since the kids were born,
And when they look back now, they hold each other tight,
And whisper in each other's ears: "You know you were right.
Because love grows best in little houses,
With fewer walls to separate,
Where you eat and sleep so close together.
You can't help but communicate,
Oh, and if we had more room between us,
think of all we'd miss.
Love grows best, in houses just like this.

Yeah, love grows best, in houses just like this."

Reviving New Year's Resolutions

2009-02-12T09:14:00.000-08:00

40 to 45% of American adult make one or more resolutions each year.

And the latest statistics are in: 30% of all resolutions are broken within the first week. The rest of them are out the window in less than a month. Not very encouraging for those of us working toward positive change!

I don't normally make "New Year's resolutions" for the New Year, but instead try to make them throughout the year.

My latest "resolution" is to save $30 a day by doing the following (Michael and me both... and yes, he is aware that this is his new resolution! haha):
1) RIDE THE TRAIN TO WORK
This is a $12 savings from not parking downtown and on gas (its 30 miles less driving)

2) TAKE MY LUNCH TO WORK
This is a $10 to $20 savings (depending on where Michael and I eat)

If I could make myself do this EVERY day, that saves me anywhere from $350 to $500 a month!!! And for a person like me where logic appeals me to very well, why don't I do this?!?!

1) Some days I do! Approx. 50% of the time right now
2) It takes 30 minutes longer to get to work when I ride the train
3) It takes 15 minutes longer to get ready in the morning when I have to make our lunches
4) Sometimes I just don't feel like having the same salad as usual (or last night's leftovers for lunch)...I'm not very creative in making lunches.
5) I like LEAVING the office during lunch!! I'm here long enough!
6) I love Potbelly's, Mi Cocina, Pei Wei, Chipolte
7) I am ok with riding the train in the morning, because I get to sit next to Michael but really hate sitting next to a stranger on the way home from work (I know, this is so petty)
8) Unlike Michael's work building, my building is not 10 feet from the train stop, it is several blocks, so if it's cold or raining, my walk is REALLY not fun at all
9) When we drive to work, we get to ride in the HOV lane
10) My car has seat heaters, the train does not

Okay, okay, ENOUGH excuses.....I've got to focus on that $500...it is completely within my reach!!! I've got to think of all the things I could do with that money! Or at the very least, I could save it. :) Plus, unlike most people, I only have to commute to work 4 days each week since I work from home one day a week.

Now that I have put this in writing, maybe I can do it. I'll let you know!

Why I am a nerd...

2009-02-12T07:33:00.000-08:00

There has always been a big part of me that screams "nerd" and it seems to be getting worse every day. Here are some things that confirm my nerd-ness:

1. I am not ashamed that I started a blog.
2. I only have a blog...no facebook, myspace or any other website like that.
3. I am always a "late adopter" when it comes to technology. Some examples of this are that I don't have an iPhone (could think of so many other things to spend money on - like fixing my garage or planting spring flowers), I don't have any new TVs in my house and see no reason why I should (sorry Michael!), I still can't figure out how to use my iPod mini.

4. I listen to NO current music (except Britney Spears of course) and have no shame for still loving Sandi Patty. I could literally not name 2 songs that are popular right now.

5. I actually think minivans are cool and would like to have one when I have kids.

6. I wear those backless tennis shoe clog things to work because I have to walk several blocks from my car to the train and from the train stop downtown to my office. I keep 2 pairs of work shoes in my desk drawer and switch off between those every day.

7. I perform concerts for Michael with set lists and everything (I have been doing this for anyone who will watch since I was 2 years old).

8. I make Michael watch dances that I choreograph on the fly.
9. I didn't start wearing jeans until the 7th grade. Really because I felt I had to...before that, I wore jumpers and skirts and dresses to school. I never thought jeans were comfortable or looked cute and I liked dressing as girly as possible.
10. I still don't like jeans.
11. My favorite pair of jeans I ever had were my "rockies".

12. Recently, I had a work lunch at Stephan Pyles downtown. As I was walking in the door, I slipped and fell flat on the floor face down. Things like this happen all the time.

13. I am totally uncoordinated unless I am dancing.
14. I like to DVR old shows. I get on random kicks where I will record Three's Company, Brady Bunch, I Love Lucy, Leave it to Beaver, Who's the Boss, etc. The latest old show I've been watching DAILY is Growing Pains!

16. I love Dance Dance Revolution! I own the serious DDR metal dance pads and pretty much have a room in my house devoted to DDR. The only problem is that I prefer to play DDR at an arcade so that people gather around to see my amazingness!

17. I use a rolling bag for my laptop to get to and from work and at the end of the day, I load it up with my purse, lunchbox and coat. All these things inevitably fall during my trek to the train, but I keep trying to make it work anyway.
18. I'm so obsessed with the brickbreaker game on BlackBerry that even though my cell phone is a pink Razr, I carry around (and keep charged) a BlackBerry that I use for the sole purpose of playing brickbreaker.
19. I love High School Musical, Hannah Montana, The Jonas Brothers, and pretty much anything else in the tween category.

20. As you can see from my previous 24 post, I love action movies, BUT...I also love tween movies like Princess Diaries, The Prince and Me, and 13 Going on 30.

#1 Rule to Live By: Never Question Jack's Authority

2009-02-11T07:12:00.001-08:00

There truly are only two kinds of people in this world:
1) People who love the show 24
2) People who have never seen the show 24

For those of you who don't know yet, Jack is back! Season 7 of 24 kicked off on Sunday, January 11th. In the spirit of the return of the show, here are a few of my favorite things about Jack Bauer (in no particular order):

Jack Bauer once stepped into quicksand. The quicksand couldn't escape and nearly drowned.

There are two hands that can beat a royal flush. Jack Bauer's right hand and Jack Bauer's left hand.

The city of Los Angeles once named a street after Jack Bauer in gratitude for his saving the city several times. They had to rename it after people kept dying when they tried to cross the street. No one crosses Jack Bauer and lives.

Most people would need months to recover from 20 months of Chinese interrogation. Jack Bauer needs a shower, a shave and a change of clothes.

When a convicted terrorist was sentenced to face Jack Bauer, he appealed to have the sentence reduced to death.

On Jack Bauer's Tax Returns, he has to claim the entire world as his dependents.

Jack Bauer definitely loves his daughter; he wouldn't let anyone else who made that many stupid decisions live.

Jack Bauer always tests positive for steroids. Not that he uses steroids. It's because steroids are made from Jack Bauer.

When Jack Bauer ran out of ammo, he caught 3 bullets in his chest and used them to reload.

When Kim Bauer lost her virginity, Jack Bauer found it and put it back.

The state of California plans to reduce violent crime by changing the method of capital punishment from lethal injection to Jack Bauer.

Mission Impossible is just another way of saying Mission Without Jack Bauer.

You can tell how much Jack Bauer likes you by how far above your kneecap he shoots you.

Jack Bauer can torture you into giving up information you do not possess.

If Jack Bauer was in a room with Hitler, Stalin, and Nina Meyers, and he had a gun with 2 bullets, he'd shoot Nina twice.

If you wake up in the morning, it's because Jack Bauer spared your life.

Superman wears Jack Bauer pajamas.

Jack Bauer once forgot where he put his keys. He then spent the next half-hour torturing himself until he gave up the location of the keys.

Jack Bauer was never addicted to heroin. Heroin was addicted to Jack Bauer.

Jack Bauer played Russian Roulette with a fully loaded gun and won.

Jack Bauer once won a game of Connect 4 in 3 moves.

When the boogie man goes to sleep, he checks his closet for Jack Bauer.

In kindergarten, Jack Bauer killed a terrorist for Show and Tell.

What color is Jack Bauer's blood? Trick question. Jack Bauer does not bleed.

Jack Bauer has been to Mars. That's why there's no life on Mars.

Superman's only weakness is Kryptonite. Jack Bauer laughs at Superman for having a weakness.

It took Jack Bauer two minutes to beat a confession out of OJ.

Our Babies

2009-02-10T12:52:00.000-08:00

Right now, our "babies" are two wonderfully adorable and fun Cavalier King Charles Spaniels...that is why we are "The Pennington Pack"!

Madeline Isabelle Pennington
Our first born
Birthday: 09/17/2007
Adopted: 11/17/2007

Kosmo Kramer Pennington
The baby
Birthday: 05/15/2008
Adopted: 08/30/2008

(yes, Michael named him after Kramer on Seinfeld, but that's ok, because I love Seinfeld too!)

Official Blogger!

2009-02-06T11:12:00.001-08:00

I'm done being only a blog stalker!! I'm now officially a blog stalker...and blogger. In my book, that definitely makes it better. :)

Blogging is something I kept telling myself I'd wait to do until I have kiddos, but I really already do (my dogs, Madeline and Kosmo), so why wait any longer?!

So here I go...blogging away. I hope you enjoy it and if not, I'm excited to have my posts to look back on so can more easily document my life, memories and pictures!