Bead Party

My friend Shara's aunt has a bead party once a month and this evening I finally got to go to one! It was so much fun and I could not believe how much cheaper it is to make your own jewelry. I bought a bracelet at Target a couple of months ago and absolutely love it and have wanted more like it. So tonight I made two for the price that I paid for just that one at Target!
I'm so happy with how they turned out! And I can't wait 'til the next party--I think these bead parties are going to be my new favorite thing! Thanks for inviting me Shara!

Surprise Date 2 and more...

The last two days have been crazy. I had a test yesterday and two tests today so I've been freaking out and studying like a crazy person. But it's all over now and the tests went well... we'll just have to see HOW well next week.

Last night we had fish tacos (my sister-in-law Jessica's fabulous recipe). We've had it a couple of times since Eric has been living with us, but last night for whatever reason he had a crazy allergic reaction to them! The poor guy's lips and left side of his face got really swollen and he couldn't feel his tongue. I felt bad, but it was kind of funny.

The picture doesn't do it too much justice... it got worse. He and James eventually went to the store and got some Benadryl so he's fine now.

I was recently called to be an Activity Days leader at church and got to go to my first activity this afternoon. These are two of the girls with the other leader's daughter in the middle. For their activity they took these rocks/marbles and pasted the six "Be's" on them. They were supposed to be Mod Podged on, but it kept taking the ink off, so they just taped them on. It was fun and the girls are really sweet. I'm excited to spend more time with them!

In celebration of my tests being over we had a surprise date tonight! James took me to Red Robin... not usually a favorite of mine, but I've been wanting Fish and Chips lately (I don't know why because I've never ordered it in my life!) and I was able to get it there. It was good, and I was just happy to not have to cook.

ABC's... too funny!

I just had to add... We were all just sitting down eating lunch and Houston started singing his ABC's. When he finished James was like, "Good job buddy! Now sing it backwards", while looking at Houston all serious like singing the ABC's backwards would be the real test of a three-year-old's skill. So Houston turns himself around backwards in his seat and sings the ABC's again! It took us a minute to figure out that by him turning around backwards in his seat he was meaning to sing the ABC's "backwards." He's such a clever little boy.

Happy Birthday James!

Today is James' 25th birthday! But we've kind of been celebrating all weekend. Friday James' boss took his team at work to see "Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightening Thief." All I can say about that movie is it was so CHEESY. But James enjoyed it. Then Saturday morning Eric and Houston made breakfast for James--skinny pancakes and bacon. In the afternoon we went to Tucano's with some friends. The wait was ridiculously long (I don't know why I didn't think to make reservations), but while waiting we were able to find James a new interviewing suit at Jos. A Bank--one of his graduation gifts from his dad.

He was really excited to see his friend Nero.

This picture cracks me up! While James was being fitted, Houston danced and sang to himself in these mirrors for like 15 minutes! It was hilarious!

And then last night and this morning James got his gifts: "Tombstone" (his favorite movie), a new iPhone case (he's been coveting mine since I got it)-- these two in addition to the tennis raquet and jammer he got a couple of weeks ago to train for his Ironman, and then Eric gave him NCAA 2010 (yay another video game! not. ).

Hopefully he had, and is still having, a fun birthday. He was very nervous about 25--he thinks it's old! We'll just have to see what he says about 25 in ten to twenty years.

Happy Birthday James! I love you!

President's Day

Loved that I didn't have school today. Didn't love that I had to spend some of my free time studying for my first midterm on Wednesday. But I did get to go to the gym and catch up with my best friend, Beth, on the phone for a couple of hours :)

I also made a lasagna, and Sean, Alexa, and Hattie came over for dinner. It was a new recipe and I was really pleased with how it turned out.
Alexa made some delicious and festive figure-friendly cupcakes for us!
I got to watch a little of the Olympics today, too. And I've decided that cross-country skiing is the type of skiing for me--since you don't have to go down any scary hills (I HATE skiing, FYI). It also burns more calories per hour than any other sport! But hopefully we won't be around snow after this year and I'll never have to worry about being pressured to ski again!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Since Valentine's Day is on Sunday this year, we celebrated yesterday. I actually thought we were going to do it today, but yesterday when James came home from work I walked into the living room to find this! And what made it even better was that each balloon was filled with a little prize inside!

So I went ahead and gave James his little gifts. I made pink-sprinkled Oreo balls (our new favorite treat) to give him, some "manly" shampoo/conditioner, and a card.

After getting our gifts we went to the mall and then to Olive Garden. I had wanted to get home in time to watch the Opening Ceremonies for the Oplympics, but we had to run by Wal-Mart so we didn't make it.

This afternoon we were going to go see "Valentine's Day", but since it got such horrible reviews we decided to not to. Instead we went to lunch with a bunch of friends.

Us; Sean, Alexa, and Hattie; Shane, Shara, Kaylee, and Kennady; Ben, Vanessa, and Chloe; Ryan and Halie; and Eric.

Kennady

Kaylee and me

Happy Valentine's Day!

Dinner Tonight

I've been doing Weight Watchers for a year-and-a-half, and two of my favorite places to get Weight Watchers recipes are here and here. Each Monday I try to plan a dinner menu for the week, and this week I came across a recipe for Gumbo Vegetable Soup that I am making tonight. It is SO easy, really good, and only 8.5 points for the whole pot! It's just:

1 bag gumbo vegetables (I used one bag of frozen okra and one bag of seaoning veggies-onion, celery, bell peppers)

1 bag Morningstar Crumbles (this is meatless meat, you could use ground beef but it would affect the points value)

1 can carrots

1 can potatoes

1 large can tomatoes

1 can tomato sauce

And then whatever seasonings. I used garlic, garlic salt, salt, pepper, and red pepper. Just throw it all in a pot and cook until tender. So easy! And perfect for a night like tonight when I have to go back to school at six for a midterm review!