book list

I know that I'm behind the times by saying this but did ya'll know that you can create a "wish list" on amazon.com? Oh yeah, me too...as of a few weeks ago. Well here are some of the items on my list:

1. Barron's 500 Flash Cards of American Sign Language
2. Signing Illustrated
3. Churched
4. Angry Conversations with God: A Snarky but Authentic Spiritual Memoir
5. A Million Miles in A Thousand Years by my boy, Donald Miller!
6. Food Inc.
7. Committed

Oh yeah by the way, I'm attempting to learn sign language. A few of our clients are deaf or non-verbal so sign is a great way to communicate :)

i love you in sign
(photo courtesy of google search)

lately...

In the past week I have contracted some disgusting sickness that has claimed my voice and ability to sleep through the night. Ok, ok, I have a cold. But I don't get sick very often and I don't like it when I do! Its slowin my roll and I don't appreciate it! I couldn't get off of the couch last Sunday (when the sickness appeared at our house), Monday I worked from home and sounded like a sketchy man and the other days I worked, volunteered, ran errands and came home to pass out. I hate when your body just feels exhausted...grrrr. Doesn't my immune system know that I just started a new job and I have to finish putting Christmas decor in storage?!

On a brighter note, I'm officially in full swing with my new job! And...drum roll please....I LOVE IT! How long has it been since I can say that I love my job?? Too long, that's the answer. God has seriously blessed me and I am so very thankful. Unfortunately due to HIPAA violations, I won't be able to tell ya'll a lot about my day to day tasks. But I can tell you that my clients are awesome and I love working with them. I'm daily reminded of simple happiness and how seemingly small goals that are attained can be SO huge. Yay! :)

sweet potato fries

These are yummmmmy:

Sweet Potato Fries

• 1 1/2 pounds of sweet potatoes (about 2 medium potatoes)
• 1 tbsp. canola oil
• 1/2 tsp. salt, plus more to taste
• cooking spray

Preheat the oven to 450 F. Cut the potatoes lengthwise into 1/4-inch thick matchsticks, and toss with the oil and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Arrange the potatoes in a single layer on the baking sheet and bake until the fries are tender and crisp, about 30 minutes. Season with additional salt, to taste. Serve immediately.

(much thanks to Ellie Krieger for the recipe and foodnetwork.com for the pic)

babies, babies everywhere

To keep ya'll updated (for those of you who are scared to stalk the blogs that I have listed to the right) here are some pics of my fave preggy ladies:

Pregnant Callie (due in 4 weeks):

Pregnant Emily:

As some of ya'll may know, Callie is pregnant with twin GIRLS! Yay! And Emily just found out a couple of days ago that she also has a baby GIRL growing in her belly!!! Precious Alice Harper will be here in early June :) Callie's girls are currently named Baby A and Baby B, their beautiful names will be revealed when they come into this world! Please keep both of these women in your prayers, they are both very dear to me as are their precious girls. Love ya'll, you're beautiful!!

(photos courtesy of their blogs...hope that's ok)

new years!

Happy (way) Belated New Years everyone! I hope that ya'll had a great New Years! As many of you may know, I am not a big fan of New Years, its quite depressing to me...Christmas is over and yet another year has past...sigh...oh well. However, this New Years was great because my fam came up to celebrate Christmas! So we had two Christmases and virtually no New Years, wahoo! Well, I pretended that New Years didn't exist :) Sorry if you like New Years and it may bug you that I don't...well, it is what it is. Anywho, it was great to have the fam (plus Andre) up here! They even got to see lots of snow! Thanks for the gifts ya'll, they were great! We pretty much just lounged around, played Wii, the guys watched bowl games (yawn), some went sledding (you know I wasn't included), and we went to an eleven story Macy's downtown! Wow, now that's a big stinkin store! I will say that we had T minus one hour to go through all 11 stories, I'm pretty sure we just hit up 4. Apparently Macy's closes at 6 pm on Saturdays downtown...who knew? Anyway, it was great and I'm so thankful for their presence and all of the presents! I love ya'll so much, thank you for making the trek up here! :)

he loves me, he loves me not

No, he definitely loves me! I came home to this little surprise around Thanksgiving! Love him :)

home improvement

These are wayyyyyy overdue:

(bathroom before)

(bathroom after)

(bathroom after 2...john haggled that mirror from $100 to $10, yes I love him!)

Yes, we finished this project in August and I'm just now posting it. John ripped up the nasty tile and replaced it with lovely stone tiles. I painted and refinished the tub (nope, I never thought I would be able to say that I refinished a tub but I sure did it and I may have lost some brain cells in the process). John installed the hardware and voila! We have a gorgeous bathroom! No more Finding Nemo tiles :)