Seriously... new sheets?

Reuben and I got sheets for our wedding....

and they now look like this

AKA they have a HUGE hole in them! Llike a 10 inch hole, no joke. It looks like they are thread barren and not like the cat scratched a hole. How the heck does that happen?!?

I woke up in the middle of the night a few days ago with my foot stuck in the hole. The next morning I thought maybe it was a dream, but nope... I pulled back the blankets and there was a huge hole in the sheets where my feet normally lay. So these 750 thread count $150 sheets now need to be thrown away.

Guess maybe I just need to invest in some cheap sheets from Wally world if they are going to end up like this!!!

Trip to Colorado

This is a bit late (and by bit, I mean WAY late)..... My Mom moved to Colorado Springs a little over a year ago and this has been the first trip out to see her.

We were trying to make it a Labor Day a girls weekend. I invited my 3 sisters... My older sister Beck was the only one able to make it. She came from Idaho, so we kind of met in the middle. We arrived in Denver on Thursday and flew out on Tuesday. So it was like an extended labor day weekend.

Thursday
I scored a $100 Delta voucher for taking a different plane that arrived approximately 8 minutes later than my original flight (not too bad huh?). After my Mom and Step-Dad picked us up from the airport, we headed to Ikea...

They have one in Orlando but I had never been. Wow what an adventure. It was a wee bit exhausting walking around the warehouse - there is just so much to look at it. 

My sister started her working on her MBA this fall so we had to get home so she could do some homework, so after dinner (I think we ate at the black-eyed pea) we just hung out at home. My Mom is renting this cute little townhouse in CO springs. Its a 2 bed with a 2 and 1/2 bath. It is perfect size for them. It would get crowded pretty quick if we all visited at once, but with just the 2 of us there, it was perfect.

Seeings how Mountain time is 2 hours behind my normal time zone, I was crashing by 10 pm everynight.

Friday
The Colorado State Fair was going on in Pueblo, CO (like less than 1 hour from CO springs). We (Me, Mom, Beck, and my Mom's friend Patsy) went there for the day. It was fun. Lots of animals to look at and vendors.

We went to the pig races!

They had some really good vendors. I went and got my wedding ring cleaned. They did such a good job, I bought the stuff... and usually I don't purchase stuff like that.

We went to an Italian restaurant for dinner. Yummy... Italian and Greek are my favorites :)

Saturday

We slept in for a bit. Then went to a tea at Castle Rock. 

It was a chance to dress up and be girly.

After tea, we headed into the mountains - to a little town called Cripple Creek. It is pretty much exactly what you think of when you think of "mountain town." It is 10,000 feet above sea level. The roads heading there are.... interesting. They have wild donkeys that roam freely in this town. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see any. And once a year they have donkey-fest where they actually race them! They did that in July. This town had an old theater so we went and watched one of my favorite musicals Calamity Jane.



Cripple Creek, CO

 Sunday
We slept in (Saturday was a LONG day for us). Mom made us breakfast. We went shopping in the afternoon. We checked out my Mom's favorite grocery store (Whole foods), got coffee, DSW shoes, and a few other places. I fell in love with a winter jacket... then was crushed when Becky told me it was $129. I just can't justify the cost of that for a jacket when I live in Florida. I am going to keep a look out for it here though. :)

Monday
We started out at a HUGE Christian bookstore. *Love it when Mom buys* Checked out her huge Hobby Lobby. We then headed to one of the largest tourist attractions in CO Springs - Garden of the Gods. It was Labor Day and it was PACKED. But we drove around and looked at all the pretty rocks.

We then headed further out of town to Manitou Springs, which is also very touristy.

 They literally had springs throughout the whole city.

Manitou Springs is located at the base of Pike's Peak, one of the tallest mountains in CO (I think its like 35th). There  are lots of touristy shops to look at and such. We then went to the base of the mountain and walked a little ways up the trail. It was fun.

It is a 13 miles hike to the top. My Mom is thinking of doing it. I would love to try... :) 

After that, we headed back into CO Springs where we went thrift store shopping. I got about 5 Christian novels (that I am excited to read), a pair of Banana Re.public pants, and some workout pants. I think I spent less than $10 - SCORE. 

Before leaving town, we went out for dessert - just us girls. Then it was home to pack.

Tuesday
Travel back was exhausting. I bought my ticket out of Pensacola because it is always like 100-200 dollars cheaper. My friend picked me up from the airport at like 8 pm (Pensacola time, 9 pm Tally time). And I visited with her a bit and got to tour her cute new house :). I finally left Pensacola at like 10:30 Tally time and I hauled butt the 200 miles to home. Reubs waited up for me. He had cleaned the whole house - even mopped the floors. It was nice to be home and sleeping in my own bed... the cuddling didn't suck either...

Goals for the New Year - 2012

Clearly, I am a few days late on this post. But seeings how I just got back from vacation, this seems like the "New Year" for me (instead of last week).


I'm very goal-orientated, so I thought for this year, I would make "GOALS for 2012." Sort of like a New Years resolution. Also by making this a blog post and saying these goals out-loud (so to speak), it encourages me to be more diligent about completing them. So here they are:


1. Read the Bible through in a year. I read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation in High school, but I've never done it in a year. So I've downloaded an app on my phone... and I'm going to do it. I also am not going to go straight through. I've picked one that does 2 different books at a time. That way when I'm reading all the laws in Leviticus and Numbers, I will also be reading something in the New Testament. I'm exciting. 


2. Blog more. Even if I have nothing interesting to say or not cute pictures to show because I am terrible about remembering to take pictures. This blog is for me and I want to document this time in my life. I should set a goal and decide that I am going to do it like once a week, but I'm just not sure I can commit to that just yet... We'll see.


3. Save and buy a new roof. We have already begun this process and plan on getting a new roof before summer. But this also leads to my next goal....


4. Pay off 1 more of Reuben's student loans. We are now down to 2 of his. I have not blogged about this at all, but we did start financial peace 2 and 1/2 years ago and have been slowly paying off debt. We stopped paying when we got married (to save for the wedding and honeymoon) and we are also now at a stand still so we can pay cash for the roof. But I still like to make "payoff" goals. :)


5. I'd like to submit and publish 1 primary research article. I have data, I just need to work on analyzing and putting together the publication (mostly analyzing). I also would love to do another review article, but I'm not sure if that will happen. 


6. Work on improving the house. I have some minor projects that I want to do and have been putting them off. Mostly painting. But we have owned the house now for a 1 and 1/2 and I still haven't finished decorating. Sadly, we have also neglected the outside of the house. It needs to be power washed, the yard needs to be raked, and some sort of greenery would be nice outside (or flowers!).


7. I want to put together a calendar next year of 2012. My goal is to take pictures every month, just a couple so that I can put together a photo calendar for next year. Like I said before, I am terrible at documenting my life via pictures and I think this way I will have something to do with the pictures.


8. I am terrible about getting to work late (I'm totally not a morning person). I don't have to clock in or anything, and I don't have a set schedule, so its not like I am in trouble or anything. But I think setting a goal to be here by 9:30/10 is a good idea.


9. Lose 20 lbs. I'm sure this is everyone's goal for 2012. I have done weight watchers on/off since May of 2008. I lost a little over 20 lbs last year doing weight watchers, and I want to actually get to goal weight this year. I need to kick into high gear this year because I actually want to get to goal weight by the 4th of July... I don't want to take a year to lose 20 lbs!!! To help jump start this, I bought a groupon last year to do a 6 wk boot camp. My gym buddy and I have set an official date to begin our 6 wk boot camp - Jan 30th! Wish us luck.

10. Along the same lines... I want to run a 5K this year. I've walked one once before, but I want to RUN one. I started training last summer and then my running partner sprained her ankle really bad, so then I got out of practice. I can still run more than I could when I first started so I don't think we will have to start the 9 week C-2-5K from the beginning. We will probably need to start around week 5. We also plan on beginning that either this week or next. And I'm currently looking for 5K's in the Tally area around the end of March or beginning of April. That way we can do one before it gets hottttt!

11. Reuben and I donate to missions through our church every week, but this year I would like to sponsor a child. I haven't looked into a yet, but it's something that I believe God has put on my heart to do.

12. Visit a city I have never been to before. Preferably, close by. Maybe we will go for our anniversary.


So these are my goals for the New Year. I'm excited to see what God has in store for 2012. I think it is going to be a great year.