Box of Chocolates: August 2013

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Slightly more than halfway through the year...

So, I guess we're a little past halfway through the year, and I haven't done a great job of updating you on my goal status.Soooo... for those of you who don't remember I gave myself a list of 30 goals to complete before the year. You can read that blog here if you want. But see below to see how we're doing here!

Honestly, I have some SERIOUS work to do!

1. ~~Start a blog (check)~~ AND write a post at least once per month (~~January~~, ~~February~~, ~~March~~, ~~April~~, ~~May~~, ~~June~~, ~~July~~, ~~August~~, September, October, November, December)

2. ~~Visit three or more new places~~ - Ha! I visited 7 new STATES nevermind places!

3. Lose at least 15 pounds (I would love to lose 30, but I want to make a realistic goal) - ugh... this goal needs some help

4. Get back in shape or at least become more active by doing some form of exercise frequently - I have gone on a few walks here, AND did a 5k

5. Be specific about doing something kind for someone at least once per month

~~January~~ - I brought my older neighbor's recycling bin out to the curb for her
~~February~~ - I sent a card/gift card to a family who is going through a rough time and needed some encouragement
~~March~~ - Went with my friend to go hang out with her mom, and brought dessert!
~~April~~ - Helped one of my friends out by emptying her dishwasher for her when she wasn't feeling well :(
~~May~~ - Drove to NC to watch my cousin graduate from college
~~June~~ - Made dinner for friends who had their baby! (Chicken Parmesan)
~~July~~ - Prayed for my friend every day while she was on her three week trip to China
August -
September
October
November
December

6. Try six new recipes (Who saw the blog posts about Chicken Delicious, Turkey Breast & Turkey Tetrazzini?, Creamy Italian Chicken - Thing 5, Chicken Parmesan, 5 down only 1 left!!!

7. Make a new friend

8. Watch the sun rise

9. ~~Enjoy a sunset~~ - Totally saw the sunset on our road trip!

10. ~~Swim in the ocean~~ - Totally did this in Sandbridge!!! :)

~~11. Do a charity run or walk~~ - April 6 the SCAN 5k See my Blog Post!

12. Raise money for a charity (Can be combined with number 11)

~~13. Donate to a new charity~~ - I did actually donate to the organization for Sharon to go help orphans in China

14. Get a facial

15. Take a dancing lesson of some sort (salsa, country line, etc.)

16. Go to more than two Flying Squirrels games

17. Go to at LEAST one Hokie football game

18. ~~Participate in a murder mystery dinner~~ - Murder at the Juice Joint was AWESOME!

19. This was re-financing my home loan, but that's not going to work out for this year, nor is it smart... in theory was a good idea, but I probably should hold onto my interest rate while I have it... i~~n place of this I will put - attend a horse race at Colonial Downs~~ Look!

20. Pay off my car?!?! Or at least come close (it will definitely be paid off before the end of the year!)

21. Ride my bicycle more than once

22. ~~Read a non-fiction book (I know this might not be a big deal, but I 100% stick to fiction books)~~I read Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand I would SERIOUSLY suggest it!

23. Build something

24. Go through my house and get rid of things/clothes/etc that I haven't used in the last year (This is partially complete. I went through my closets and got rid of 6 paper grocery bags full of clothes & shoes. I still have more things to get rid of but that is definitely a start!)

25. Organize my basement (especially the workroom)

26. Hang the rest of the pictures, art, and shelves that I haven't hung

27. FINISH UNPACKING from when I moved (yup, that's right folks, there are still boxes in my attic)

28. ~~Volunteer for something~~ I helped with Laura's Church (West End Pres) at their annual Stop Hunger Now event and we packaged 80,000 meals for kids in Haiti

29. ~~Spend some serious time in my backyard weeding, killing weeds, and planting pretty things that don't take much effort to keep up~~ - Totally paid for "16 Man Hours" of labor to do it for me, but it was an amazing change! you can check it out.

30. ~~Have the BEST 30th Birthday party EVER!!! :) (Especially since Laura is planning it!)~~ - Holla! This was REALLY fun! Laura's party planning was A-MAZING! Check out my Birthday Blog!

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Happy Birthday Laura!

Today one of my dear friends, Laura, is celebrating her 30th birthday! Laura is one of those people that is pretty much ALWAYS up for an adventure, which is AWESOME!!! :) I mean, who else could I have asked, 5 days before I was leaving for Florida, if she wanted to take a road trip with me down to Florida for a long weekend and she said yes?!?! Or who else wants to take a CRAZY trip to the midwest just so we could knock some states off our list? Oh, I already had plane tickets to MA for a weekend, but my plans changed? Yup, Laura came with me to Boston, too! Football games at VT? Yes please! Oh hey Laura, want to go to the "Rally Against Fear/Rally to Restore Humanity"? Yup, went to that (with Erica) too! A friend has tickets (the night before) to the Duke vs. VT basketball game, did we want to go?!?! YES (and VT won that game so we got to storm the court!)!! And there are so many more adventures that I didn't list, and so many to come!

So, enjoy these little photos and Happy Birthday to you, my friend! Thank you for keeping my life FUN and full of adventures!

Laura, me and Anna at the Legwarmers!

Hokie Football!!! :)

Anna, Laura and me on our way to the Legwarmers!

Laura and me at the VT vs Duke basketball game!

VT WONNNNNN!

Remember that trip to Florida?!?! Here we are at Disney!

Oh hey... there's a hole in my wall!

Laura's 29th Birthday Legwarmers Concert!

Who else would have planned a "Mustachio Bashio" for Anna's birthday?!?!

Kristi, Laura and me on the cruise - "Beautiful Gorgeous!"

Another cruise photo

Let's go on a zipline!

Laura just chillen with the stingray!

Halloween Party!

Halloween round two!

Just having some fun in the minimal snow we got this year!

Laura, Anna, Kathryn, Sarah and me at the 1920's
murder mystery dinner we had!

Let's CHEER for the Monument Ave 10k!

Did I mention Laura is the best party planner EVER?!?! She planned my
Glee themed (even though she doesn't like Glee) birthday party!

Laura and me at my birthday!

Thanks for a wonderful birthday party!

Oh heyyyy South Dakota!

Badlands... pretty awesome!

Laura and Mount Rushmore!

Minnesoooooota

After repeatedly asking me if I was going to sit on this thing, LAURA was the scared one!
This is in the Willis Tower in Chicago!

Happy Birthday, Laura! :)

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Baby Shower Fun!

Last Saturday Laura and I threw a baby shower for our good friend Kristi! She is due with a baby girl on September 19th and Laura and I were so excited we wanted to throw her a shower. So, in true Laura fashion, we planned a wonderful nautical themed shower for the new little bundle of joy. Laura blogged about this yesterday, and you should definitely read up on her blog for that!

Normally a nautical theme would be for a boy, but not ours, we had navy and bright pink as our shower colors and even used some of the Vineyard Vines whales as images. See below for some pictures of this shower! Thanks to all of you who showed up and showered Kristi with books and gifts and just your presence, I know she, Mike and baby appreciate it!

Please note that some of these photos likely overlap with Laura's blog photos :)