High Five for Friday - Week #4

You guys, I'm really enjoying being back in the blogging world now. The five-month break I took was absolutely necessary, for a couple of reasons, but now that I'm back, I'm so glad to be here. I came back excited about writing, and about sharing my life, and reading about your lives. And I came back refreshed from all the silly blog-drama that goes on when thousands upon thousands of girls are all trying to achieve some level of popularity at this little hobby of ours. It's just silliness really. But it feels good to have gotten some perspective on that.

And now I just want to get back to documenting my life, and my interests, in whatever way I want to, without the pressure to conform or perform, or get 30 bajillion page views a day. So that's what I plan on doing. I just wanted to get that all out in the open now that I've been back for about a month now. Anyways, let's move on and get to the fun that is High Five for Friday with Lauren, because I really do like these posts :)

1. I went to a new kick boxing class with a friend from work last night, and it was killer! It's "cardio kick boxing" so it's very high energy. Thursday's is apparently arms day, and so we did a lot of pushups and little weight things too. Then at the end, she made us all go outside and run a lap around the center, which was probably less than half a mile, but it was still rough. I forgot to wear my Polar heart rate monitor, but I feel like I must have burned like 11,000 calories... Going back again next Thursday though!

2. One of the photo prompts this week for the April photo challenge on Instagram was "Hobby." So I took a photo of some of my very favorite books, and I just like it :)

3. My self-designed blog is so super cute, right? And the best part, it completely fit into our budget this month, because it cost a whopping ZERO dollars since I figured it all out myself. Still not perfect, since I need to tweak and fix a few things, but I'm still loving it :)

4. Speaking of the budget, we cut up some credit cards this week at our weekly Financial Peace University class, and that felt great! We completely paid off one of them last week, and now it will never have a balance again! (The other one was Macy's and it had only been used once in like, 2011, just to get 20% off my swimsuit purchase...)

5. I made this amazing SkinnyTaste Macaroni Casserole for dinner the other night, and it was so stinking yummy!! My pictures may not look magazine-worthy, but let me tell you, this was so delicious, and so easy! I modified the recipe a bit though, because I was scared of the whole not-cooking-the-pasta-ahead-of-time thing. So then once I put it all together, I just put it in the oven long enough to melt the cheese, so like 10-15 minutes.

And since more than just five things need high fives this week, here are a few more awesome things I just want to share today...
- Did y'all see the round robin giveaway on Instagram this week? Well, I won a $10 Amazon card from it!
- I printed a whole bunch of pictures last weekend for the house, and I also updated all the frames and stuff in my office, and it's making me happier.
- I've been reconnecting with a lot of my old blog friends this week and it's been a lot of fun.

So that's about it for today now. This weekend is sure to be fun, because it's the opening concert weekend at the new Cascades park! I won four tickets, so we invited two of our friends to meet at our house, then all go together, so we're looking forward to that. Tonight is also a big block party for the FSU spring game, which is tomorrow. And who knows what else the next few days might hold?! Looking forward to it of course :) Hope y'all have a had an equally good week, and wishing you an even better weekend!

Easy Peasy

If you're an old PP&P follower, and are just now seeing this pop up in your BlogLovin feed, make sure to join along with me on my journey again :)

The awesome people at BlogLovin made everything extremely super easy peasy for me, and transferred all of my old Penguins, Pasta & Polka Dots followers over to my new Life in the Sunshine profile. Awesome-sauce indeed! Now I don't have to work quite as hard to market my little bloggy-blog all over again... thank the lord for that small blessing!

Just wanted to get this quick post out there, in order to get a post in  your feed today - at least I'm being honest about that, right? I'll be back either Thursday or Friday with some actual content to read, or at the very least some pictures to look at. Promise. Until then, happy hump day :)

But if you'd like to get caught up on my last few sunny blog posts, check those out here:
--I made Irish food for St. Patrick's Day dinner at home with the hubby
--Recap of last weekend, in true blogger fashion
--High Five for Friday

Sunny Love,
Halie

Back to the Habits of Blogging

Good morning! It has honestly been so long since I've really blogged, I feel like I hardly even know where to begin....But alas, here I am this morning trying to figure out how to get back in the swing of blogging again. I'm trying to get back in to reading all of your blogs again as well too, because I wasn't even doing that for the longest time. I read a few last night as I "followed" them from this new blog, and realized how much I missed some of your lovely blogger faces! I'm excited to reconnect again and get back into this little world :)

I did a lot of "work" for the new blog last night, but mostly it's stuff on my side of things that you won't even notice. I got my settings all set the way I like them, and got the rest of my posts imported from the old blog and published here now. There is still a LOT to be done, and it will probably take me a while to get it all under control, but I'm steady working on it.

Question though -- I'm trying to get a BlogLovin' set up for this new blog, and I have NO IDEA how!? Anyone have any tips or instructions for that? I don't remember even the smallest thing about how I did it before...

I also have to figure out my commenting/reply-back business, because I think now that my Google+ account is associated with my Blogger, I'm one of those dreaded no-reply bloggers. And I definitely don't want to stay like that for too long! Tips or suggestions on this issue folks??

Also, now that I have a new blog, I freaking cannot WAIT to share lots of stuff from the wedding and honeymoon! I have 16 drafts currently just sitting there, waiting to be published full of pictures and luncheons and all sorts of lovely wedding-y things :) So once things are more in swing around here, I'll start publishing some of those!

That's really all I have for today, I just want to try to get myself back in the habit of writing and posting regularly. So cheerio for now lovelies ;)

Sunny Love,
Halie

Returning From My Blog Hiatus!!

I'm back in the blog world again!!! Well technically, I've had to start all over again (almost) from scratch, but I'm still back! I'm back with a new title, which I'm loving so far, and I'm back with my desire to blog again. Things look pretty plain and simple around here for now, but hopefully soon I can get a customized blog design going on. I think my husband and I are going to attempt that ourselves, so we'll see how that goes! For now though, I'm just trying to get everything in order....

Here's the deal, back when I first signed up for Blogger it was in 2009 as part of a photojournalism class. We kept a blog, and "turned in" our assignments each week by posting them in a blog. So that's how this was originally born. Then I created Penguins, Pasta & Polka Dots under that same account in 2010, and it flourished for a long while. I eventually got tired of the name and started trying to update... The issue here is that meanwhile, I got my first Gmail account with my new married new, and decided I wanted to combine and streamline all of my Google accounts.... But my blog was set up on an old account, and the only way I could accomplish getting it under my new Gmail address, was to export it from the old blog, and import it to this new one. So I was (thankfully!!) able to transfer all of my posts and photos (actually, I think it's still transferring as I'm writing this), but none of my old stats or followers were transferred...

So I'm back to zero page views total, and zero page views on any of the individual posts, and zero followers on BlogLovin' or via GFC. So I'm starting at the very beginning again, and I guess some would say that's a very good place to start. :) So anyways, if you're here because you've hopped over from PP&P, I'm seriously SO GLAD you've come to join me here! And if you're brand new to my blog for the first time, then Welcome, and I'm SO GLAD you're here too!

Things will continue to change and evolve here over the next few weeks until I can get everything functioning properly, so just bear with me for a while, will ya? In other words, this is my official "Please Pardon Our Dust While Renovating" sign.

In case you forgot though, you can find me being much more active over on Instagram, because honestly I have a slight obsession with IG... :)

I'm soooo looking forward to getting back in the swing of things here in blog land! Glad to be back!

Sunny Love,
Halie

P Title's Are Getting Difficult

For a couple of weeks now, or maybe a month or so (I've lost track of time I guess), I've been thinking about changing up my blog. Not like some drastic change where I start doing fashion posts hashtagging my #OOTD photos or anything...not that those are bad, they're just not ME - I'm not a fashion-blogger-kind-of-girl. But I've just been thinking about changing the NAME of my blog. The title. The header. The name. But it seems like such a big deal to change it, after blogging for over three years under Penguins, Pasta & Polka Dots...

I just feel like I'm tired of that title now, and I'm ready for something new. I'm also realllyyyyy tired of trying to come up with titles for each and every blog post so that they all start with a P. (I bet some of you didn't even realize that before I just pointed it out to you, huh?) In the beginning it was really cute, and I loved doing it. But NOW, 430+ posts later, and it's exhausting. I currently have about 10 posts (wedding-related recaps!) sitting in my drafts folder waiting to be posted, simply because I can't think of titles for them. Lame right? I want to just name stuff whatever the heck I want to! But I simply can't bring myself to do that as long as my title is still the same, and it's still the same schtick around these parts. Once I get a new name, I'll finally feel like I'm allowed to title my posts however I want to.

Here's the biggest problem I have though - I can't actually think of a new blog title!!

I've been thinking about it for so long not because I'm just so torn up over the decision of whether or not to change it, but more so because I have no idea what to change it to. I have zero ideas that make sense or sound cute or that I wouldn't immediately regret. So here I sit -- wanting a new blog title, but having no brilliant ideas of what that would be.

So I've got some questions for my fellow friends and bloggers: How did you come up with your blog title? Was it easy? Did it come to you in a rush and you knew immediately that was the right one? Or did you mull over it for a while until you tweaked and perfected it until you got just the right thing?

I'm totally open to suggestions and ideas if you guys have any random thoughts or titles lying around just waiting to snatched up... Feel free to toss those over my way. For now though, I'll just be sitting over here racking my little brain to bits trying to come up with something. I'll also keep stashing away wedding recaps for a bit, and then y'all will be flooded with a barrage of wedding showers, bridesmaids luncheons, rehearsals and the likes...So prepare yourselves for that :)

Much Love,
Halie

Partners in Co-Hosting

Good morning my lovely ladies! Normally today, we would be doing our First Things First link-up, and y'all would be here to read my answers, and link-up your own as well. But today is a little different, because Hallie (from Life: Oceanside) and I are sharing an announcement about some changes to our fun link-up! Let me start by saying though, how excited I am that Hallie is officially back here with me after a hiatus during the months surrounding her wedding! I had amazing guest co-hosts each week while she was gone, but I'm soo glad she's back and here to stay :)

And for those of y'all that don't know Hallie yet, you should absolutely go visit her blog, right this second. I mean it. She's super cute, super sweet, a good writer, and she's lots of fun. Like me, she lives in the beautiful Sunshine State (Florida, for those who aren't familiar with the nickname), loves FSU football, and even though our names are spelled very similarly, don't be confused... She's Hal-lie, as in Halle Barry -- and I'm Ha-lie, as in Haley's Comet ;)

So last week, we told y'all that we had an announcement about our link-up, and some changes we were making. And so today, we are actually sharing what those changes are!

First, we are going to cut back to only two "first topics" every week. We used to do three, but we're just going to do one less topic each week, in order to make it easier for y'all to write them, shorter for everyone to read when you visit other links, and we get to stretch our idea list a little further!

And second, we are adding in a new element to the link-up -- a special "Lasts" edition on the last Tuesday of each month! And instead of writing about "firsts," we will write about some of our "lasts!" For example: last concert you saw, last movie you went to at a theater, last boy you kissed, etc... These should be just as fun as our firsts, and it will throw in a good bit of variety as well! (Also, if you have any topic ideas for firsts or lasts, please don't hesitate to let one of us know, and we might add it into the rotation!)

And since we're now throwing in the "lasts" to this link-up as well, we've decided to change the name to reflect that too, so it is no longer "First Things First," it's now called "From Firsts to Lasts!"

And here's a quick summary, just to make sure we're all on the same page:

1. Back to having two permanent hosts now every week, Halie & Hallie
2. Cut back from 3 to 2 first topics every week

3. Special "last" topics on the last Tuesday of each month

4. Renamed the link-up, and made a new button - so be sure to grab the new one now!!

<center><a href="http://penguinspastapolkadots.blogspot.com/search/label/From%20Firsts%20to%20Lasts" target="_blank"><img alt="First Things First" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmFNj40GVx7AP9lraT1humdBRP4sPomeZ4oguCN66q29JzJjlpc-OGntw64ux7ruFcLcYzj_cczAnHhqf7lqCfH98cbM6N2UYQjPLVmUzbsB2FRCj10gkHiz2CEoROFWYqwDUKlvQs85A/s1600/Firsts+to+Lasts+-+1.jpg"/></a></center>

We are both so excited about the new changes in our link-up, and we can't wait to see where this leads now! I've really enjoyed having new co-hosts for a while, but I'm glad Hallie's back with me again, and that we are once again Partners in Co-Hosting! If you want to start preparing for next week's post, our two first topics will be:

First store you head to at the mall

First aisle you hit up at the grocery store

I can't wait to have new girls join us in the future, and of course I'm always so glad to see all the "regulars" returning back again week after week. That really does mean so much to us! So excited for y'all to join in this link-up fun with us!! Looking forward to officially kicking this off next Tuesday!

Post, Comment & Friend #1 - First Things First

Hello to y'all on this Tuesday morning! Like I've said before, Tuesday's are always fun for me here in blog-land, because Tuesday's always mean the First Things First link up! This is actually our 11th week of this link up, and the third week of awesome co-hosts. And of course today's co-host's are no exception. Today's co-hosts are Jenna @ Life is Sweet and Kristyn @ Carolina Fireflies! I feel special connections with these two, because Jenna lives not too far from me here in Florida, and Kristyn attended FSU and is a Florida State Seminole's fan like myself!

And our first topics for today are all blog-related:

First ever blog post

First ever blog comment

First ever blog-friend or friends

First ever blog post:
I first started "blogging" in college, when I had to write a couple blogs as part of class assignments. (My degree is in communication.) So I actually had three other blogs before I started this one. ("Serving in Love" - about doing mission work and serving others; "Song & Verse Connections" - trying to find deeper meanings in 'secular' songs; and "My Digital Imagination" - was for my photojournalism class. I still add pictures to this one very rarely.)

Anyways, I knew about blogging and how to blog, but didn't have one of my own. Some of my friends from college did though, and I loved them. Then while on an amazing 10-day road trip with some of my bestest girlfriends, they convinced me that I really could and should start a blog. So the day after we got back, and went on to Blogger, and created yet another blog - but this time it was personal. (That sounded like I was talking about a threat or something...) My first post was just something short and sweet, stating that I was (obviously) starting a blog. To me, I can't decide whether that post makes me sound really dumb/silly or whether I still sound exactly the same...? Real exciting stuff nonetheless. At least I've gotten better since then, right?

However, it did make me realize that I've still never talked about that awesome vacation - the GART - which stands for Great American Road Trip. So I most definitely need to do that sometime.

First ever blog comment:
This first ever comment I got on this blog was from my Youth Pastor turned mentor turned employer turned friend turned who-even-knows-what-exactly-to-call-him-now, back just a few weeks into this blog. I had posted about ordering my first pair of TOMS, and he commented on that post wanting to know if I ever gotten them! I did of course, and loved them right away. Then for months and months and months, I really only shared my blog with my friends and family. And all of them were so good about commenting all the time! And I loved knowing they were reading my blog too. (Kaley, Maggie, Dani, Christina, Nicole, Megan, Amanda, & Rae).

Then the first comment I ever got from a "stranger" was just last March, on this Picture Every Hour post from just a little over a year ago, from Jesse at Well, It's Okay. She said she loved all the things in my blog title, and loved looking at the pictures from my trip! I was overjoyed and excited with this first comment from a stranger! I hardly knew what to do with myself. Then a few more months went by with just comments from friends and family, and then finally I started to really get serious about this blogging thing last September. Since then, I feel like it's just blown up and I love how this blog has taken off lately. Love it! And love making friends with all you wonderful ladies! :)

First ever blog-friend or friends:
Ummm....I'm think my first ever blog-friend was probably the lovely Hallie at Life: Oceanside!! I'm not sure which one of us found the other one first, but we were so excited, because we are so similar! Our names are really close, obviously, we both live in Florida, we both love the Seminoles and we definitely love the beach. She was the first one I ever "guest posted" for, with a super yummy pumpkin cupcake recipe. From then on, we exchanged lots of emails and comments and bloggy-love, and eventually, we even started this very link up together!! (For those that are new, she's taking a break from co-hosting for a couple months, because she's super busy getting ready for her wedding, which is now just under two weeks away!!)

Then some of the other girls who I made connections with around that time were: Syndal at Synfully Delicious, Amy at Positively Amy (formerly Not Your Average Baby Blog) and Lauren at Outside the Frame.Since then, I have made seemingly countless friendships here in the blog world! And that is something I am seriously soooo thankful for!! Not that I think I will remember them all, but here are some other awesome ladies that I'm so glad I'm blog-friends with now: Angie, Erin, Robin, Kaitlyn, Gayle, Ricci, Jenna, Kayla, Jess, Whitney, Aunie, Veronica, Bri & Rachel. And of course Jenna & Kristyn! Glad to have you ladies as part of my blog-life, and my real life too! :)

If you'd like to join in on this fun link up, check out the super simple 'rules' below, and get to writing! Can't wait to see all the new link ups this week, meet new friends, and read y'all's posts!

1. Write your own post about this week's topics

2. Please follow me, as well as this week's co-hosts, Jenna & Kristyn.

3. Put the new button on your post or somewhere on your blog

4. Link up with us! (Link will appear on all three blogs.)

5. Visit some of the other links, and share the love with them on their posts!

6. Spread the word on Twitter and/or Facebook

Tweet

And if you'd like to prepare and get ready for next week's First Things First link up, start by checking out next week's awesome co-hosts,  Veronica @ Passion, Pink & Pearls and Jess @ Jess Is More.  Next week's first topics will be about the beginning of our college days, with:
1. First roommate(s)
2. First time living away from home (when/where/why)
3. First college dorm room (we want to see pictures and read explanations!)

Pointless Title Because I'm not Feeling Creative Today...

(Hey, at least it still starts with a "P," so that's gotta count for something right?!)

Happy Friday my lovely ladies! Before I get into my regular post, I have some "housekeeping" stuff. With all the hoopla over Google Reader and GFC lately, here is just some quick information for y'all... First of all, GFC isn't actually going away (yet), so stop freaking out about that. The two things are completely separate. You can still follow via GFC, and keep up with blogs from the Reading List right on your Blogger dashboard. Only Google Reader is going away on July 1.

Second, although it's not going away yet, there's no guarantee it'll be here for long, so you might want to think about other options to follow me, such as through my BlogLovin profile. You can also subscribe via email, through the little box on the right side bar, under the GFC widget. In addition, don't forget you can always follow me as well on Twitter and Instagram (@halierenee 88 for both) for other random shenanigans, and I post all blog updates on Twitter too. And on that note - I don't have Facebook fan page for my blog, but I'm thinking about making one. Any thoughts/opinions on that? Should I do it? And is it worth it?

Moving on now! Today I'm going to try something new, and switch from my usual Friday's Letters, and instead join Lauren @ From My Grey Desk for High Five for Friday! Super simple, but should be super fun :) And hopefully I'll meet some new blog friends today through this new link-up! If you are stopping here from HF4F, make sure to let me know, so we can exchange an email or two at least :)

1. Wore my very favoritest t-shirt the other day for my run/workout, and I loved it. It's little penguins that are lined up to look like a piano! So cute :) And definitely the softest and comfiest shirt I own.

2. Ran my fastest mile yet on Wednesday!! (While I was wearing the penguin shirt.)

3. This frozen yogurt is soooo delicious. I mean for real. And for only 110 calories for 1/2 cup, that's not too shabby, huh?! I just gotta be careful I don't get carried away with it though...

4. Had a great 1-mile run and 60 minutes of Zumba on Thursday for my workout session.

5. Did a LOT of laundry earlier this week (that's not even all of it in that basket, there were about 15 dresses hanging up to dry still), and I've actually put almost all of it away already! Which is a huge accomplishment for me...

I'm actually not too sure what all I've got planned yet for the weekend. Things are still kind of all up in the air right now, and I'm fine with that! Means there are lots of possibilities :) If it's not freezing in the morning (although I think it's supposed to be), my friend Sara and I are gonna go for a run/hike at Maclay Gardens. Then hopefully I'll be going to the beach in the afternoon with Jeff and some friends of ours. The high for Saturday is supposed to be like 78 or so, and I really hope that happens. Sunday I seriously need to do some grocery shopping, and maybe stop by Kohl's and Old Navy too - just to check out what they've got goin' on there ;) And of course I'll try to get in a workout or two as well at some point.

What are y'all's plans for the weekend? Anything fun? Is it warming up where y'all are too?! I am sooo ready for spring and summer and warm weather and sunshine!! And it's so close I can taste it!

P-cubed: Say My Name

Yesterday, lots of ladies around the blogosphere participated in a link up (with Amber @ Brunch with Amber) to share why they picked that particular name for their blog name. Well I was doing Weigh In Wednesday, so I missed it yesterday, but I decided to join in and link up just a day late :) So here's a simple story about why I picked my blog name, P-cubed/P-to-the-third, or better known as:

"Penguins, Pasta & Polka Dots."

So, I first started my blog in August 2010. I had just graduated college that April, and I moved away from the college town and a lot of my friends who still lived there. Then for the first 10 days of August, I went on an epic road trip with 5 of my best girlfriends from Florida > North Carolina > Tennessee > New Jersey > New York City, and then we reversed the whole thing back down. And it was amazing!! (And I just realized I've never written about it on this blog, so that'll definitely be coming up soon!) 
While on that trip, we got on the topic of blogs, because my friends Megan and Kaley already had them, and I kind of wanted to start one. I was afraid though that I wouldn't know what to write about, or that I wouldn't have anything interesting to say, and so I was kind of slow to take the leap. However, they convinced me that I would be good at it, and that I should just start one, for no other reason than to stay updated with my friends in other cities. 
So the very night I got back home from our road trip, I started setting up this here blog! I'm definitely a words kind of girl (meaning I love words, and hate numbers), and I've always been a fan of alliterations. Thus, I knew that's the direction I would go. And then from there, it just kinda happened pretty easily! Penguins, Pasta & Polka dots are easily three of my very favoritest things, and they just all flowed together so nicely! 

The first post wasn't anything exciting, but I sure liked writing it. And it definitely set into motion a momentum to keep me writing. I purposefully made my first post title start with a 'P'  as well, in order to mimic the title of  my new blog. Then the second one kind of happened on accident the next day. And then my friend Dani suggested I should make ALL of my post titles start with a 'P'! And decided to accept her challenge, even though I wasn't sure I could do it for very long. So as we were driving around town doing errands that day, my Mama, Papa and myself made a list of every single P word we could possibly think of, and I took notes on my little iTouch. We came up with hundreds of words that day! Now I keep a list of all the P words in a bulleted-and-alphabetized Word document, and strike through each one as it get's used. (Can you tell I'm a little weird and OCD about things sometimes? Please someone tell me you do weird stuff like this too...) Right now, there are 455 words on my list!! It gets added to occasionally as I think of new words or realize ones that have been left out. And I try to not repeat words I've already used in titles - but there are definitely still repeats. For instance - the three words penguins, pasta and polka dots have been used multiple times, but I've given those a free pass for unlimited repeats, since it is the blog title and all. But I'd say out of my 289 published posts, only about 10-15 of those have other repeated words! I hope some of you have noticed that each and every title starts with a P, because sometimes it's really tricky to think of something that makes sense with that post, but I work hard to figure it out each time! I know a couple of you have mentioned you noticed it, but only after months of following me! Haha :) I've considered trying to stray away from it, but I just can't seem to do that yet. So I'm going to try to keep it up for as long as possible on this here blog! Well, that ended up being wayyyy longer than I was expecting! Hopefully that wasn't boring for y'all, and that you still want to stick around, even after a rambling post such as this one...I'll try to be more exciting tomorrow, although I can't really guarantee that if this stupid cold won't go away! I'm still sucking down an enourmous amount of hot tea and Emergen-C, and going to bed early. Super exciting right? Anyways, at least it's Thursday, which means that we're getting very close to the weekend :) So happy Thursday!

Putting Myself on Bloglovin'

Hey there ladies, again! I'm finally jumping on the Bloglovin' band wagon. If you want to follow me on there, I'm finally 'claiming' my blog, so head over and join me!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Presented With an Award!

Yesterday, I was surprised with an exciting Twitter notification, saying I had been tagged by my blog-friend, Ricci, at A Beautiful Mess. So I head over to the Tweet, and simply saw this:

{Inspiring} bit.ly/VIiIL1 @allisondiane16 @rollwithit176 @nbellediaries @halierenee88 @jkthomas87 @saradbverde @heleneinbetween
— ricci (@riccialexis) January 8, 2013

And then when I followed her link to her blog, I discovered that not only had she been given an award, I had been Presented With an Award as well - the "Very Inspiring Blogger Award!" How awesome is that?! So that's now my second blog award (I was given the Liebster a while back), and I can hardly believe it. I went for a long time without anyone in blog-land knowing I existed - just my family and a few friends read my blog. And now I'm finally starting to grow and branch out, and I absolutely love it! I've definitely made some more friends through this blog, and I just love pretty much everything about blogging! So, thank you so much to all of you who read and comment and email, you really do mean so much to me! And thank you again to Ricci, for recognizing me!

So, here are the "rules" that go along with this award:
1. Display the award on your blog to be seen!
2. Announce your win with a post, and a link back to who presented you with the award
3. Present the award to seven other bloggers, with links in your post, and let them know!
4. List seven interesting facts about "the girl behind the blog"

And here are seven super random, "interesting" facts about me:
1. I am currently doing the Daniel Fast, which basically equals fruits, veggies, water and whole grain
2. I avoided the Lord of the Rings movies since they came out, but recently watched all of them, and loved it!
3. I am OCD about random things, but not all things
4. I have a small obsession with cute and pretty lamps. I'd rather not even have to use overhead lighting!
5. I have never lived anywhere but Florida
6. I always, always, always have my toenails painted
7. I am not a huge fan of shaving my legs, and usually stretch it out as long as possible

And here's a super random picture of me, from last week sometime...

Seven bloggers who inspire me:
1. Erin at Love, Fun & Football
2. Lauren at The Crazy Life of LT
3. Aunie at AunieSauce
4. Kerrie at The Williams Post
5. Beka at A Blog by B
6. Ryan at Loved & Lovely
7. Alyssa at All Things Beautiful

I tried to pick bloggers that truly do inspire me. I picked each of these ladies for a reason - they either inspire me in my personal life, or they inspire me in my blog life. Either way, these are some truly amazing ladies I follow, and y'all should definitely check them out.

Thanks again to Ricci for this! And thanks again to y'all as well! I really do love this little space here on the internet that's all my own, and I love the friendships I'm making here. Thanks for being a part of my silly adventures on this life journey!

Pizza Hut & Redbox & Letters

Dear 2013: So glad to have you here! Thanks for coming :)  I'd say we're off to a good start already. Now let's just make sure we stay wonderful all year, and be good to me, OK?! And also be good to my boyfriend, friends and family while we're at it. I've got a lot of goals and plans for the year, and I'm excited about all of them. Help me keep up my motivation and determination to make a great life for myself this year!

Dear Bubble Necklace: This is my first time ever wearing you, so I hope I don't look ridiculous. I'm not usually even a necklace girl at all, so it just feels weird to be wearing one, much less a big huge one!But so far, I think I love you!

Dear Zumba: Thanks for welcoming me back with open arms yesterday. I was nervous since I had neglected you for approximately six months or so, but I made it through the whole class, and actually felt great afterwards! I'm excited to get back in the habit of going twice a week, and to keep working on my fitness :)

Dear Erin: I'm so freaking excited you're going to do my blog design for me!! I am seriously freaking out a little bit here, and just can hardly wait. I think it's finally time I pay for a lovely design, now that I've been blogging for almost 2.5 years! And I think you're just the one to do my first paid blog design :)

Dear RedBox: Thanks for sending me a list of your favorite movies of 2012. I rented five of them this week for my bum-foot-boyfriend and I, and we've liked all of them! Might need to look into getting a few more for the weekend :) And in case you're wondering, the five we've watched this week were: Lawless, The Amazing Spiderman, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Savages, and The Words. All very good. Check them out if you're in need of some cuddling and movie rest time!

Edit: "The Words" is not actually that good. When I first wrote this, we still had about 30-40 minutes left in the movie. What I didn't see coming was a horrible ending. It made the whole movie not worth, so stay away from this one. It's just no good...

Dear Sister: I'm quite excited to do some cake tasting with you tomorrow! I mean, it's not so good for my diet, but I'm sure it's going to be delicious anyways! Yum!

Dear Hallie: I'm glad our link-up collaboration is finally going to happen next week! I'm real excited about this, and about working with you! So get ready folks, for a link up that's fun and easy next week with myself, and Life: Oceanside.

Dear Weekend: I'm glad you're here! Because even though I only worked four days this week, it's just been so long and drawn out, and I'm over it. Let's speed on through the day 'til 5 pm, so I can go make dinner with some girlfriends tonight, and then watch another movie or two this weekend with my bed-rested boyfriend :)

Page View Issues?

Guys. Do y'all ever look at your stats page in Blogger? You know, the one where you can see things like: page views, traffic sources, audience...? Well, I do look at it pretty often, but yesterday I noticed something. I noticed a HUGE spike in overall traffic to my blog. So I went to the stats page to see the top referring URL's, and yesterday a spam site sent me tons of views. Now normally, we all love page views - but I'm not really trying to get them from fake people!

It's from a site I don't want to mention, because I don't want them getting anymore attention than they're already getting from spamming other bloggers as well, I'm sure.  But I did a little research and learned it's not really real. So here's my question - is there a way to block certain websites? I've found where you can always approve certain ones, but not how to block them. Anyone know any tricks? Of course I want a high page view count, but not like this! And, I don't want some random website spamming my blog around... Tips? Tricks? Suggestions? Ideas?

I want to get these people out of here!

Plunge into 2013

It's a new year my friends! January first, twenty-thirteen. Can you guys smell the the new calendars and planners and the change in the air? I think I can. (I think I can...) So without further ado, let's just go ahead and Plunge into 2013. Let's dive right in and see all that this glorious New Year has to offer us! Here's my Goodbye. Hello list for a brand new 2013... (borrowing the idea from a lovely lady I follow, at The Little Lovebirds.)

Source

Goodbye old. Hello new.

Goodbye being a staff member at BFBC. Hello to new opportunities and other open windows.

Goodbye Megan Trammell. Hello Megan Walker.
Goodbye to bitter. Hello to forgiveness.

Goodbye weight-loss laziness. Hello work out motivation.

Goodbye constants. Hello change.

Goodbye to an hourly, OPS State job. Hello (hopefully) to salary and benefits and something new.
Goodbye junk food, sweets & carbs. Hello fruits, veggies and healthier options.
Goodbye to 24. Hello to a quarter-of-a-century old.
Goodbye 2012. Hello 2013!!

And as far as New Year's Resolutions... I don't usually make them, and I'm going to try to stay away from that again this year. "Resolutions" are usually ambiguous like "be healthy" or "be happy," and how in the world do you determine if you've accomplished those things or not?! Instead, I've set 13 specific goals, that are easily quantifiable (big word there, right?!) that I want to accomplish this year. Some are similar to my 25 Before 25 goals, but set a little higher. Or some have been re-set if it wasn't accomplished. And now, here's my 13 goals for the year of 2013!

1. Visit a new state
2. Go to a new town somewhere in Florida (Visited Appalachicola on 3.3.13)
3. Fit into my bridesmaid dress for Meg's wedding (a few alterations, but it still fit! 5.18.13))
4. Weigh 180 pounds, or less if I'm ambitious/motivated enough
5. Throw Megan a beautiful wedding shower & a fun bachelorette party
6. Reach 300 blog followers, with 25,000 page views (now: 170 followers & 15,125 page views) 2.25.13
7. Ride 500 total miles this year on my bike
8. Go to zumba AND go for a run once every. single. week. (So far I'm doing great! as of 6.6.13)
9. Spend more time in The Word
10. Read 24 books (6 of 24 in May)
11. Visit a new restaurant/food truck in town at least once a month (3 of 12 in May)
12. Plan one real date night every month with Jeff (5 of 12 in May)
13.  Do more Pinterest crafts (I was real good at the recipes for my Pledge, but not many crafts...)

I have one month left on my Pledge of 25 Before 25, and I'm doing pretty well with those. And then after my birthday at the end of the month, I can focus more on these things and my new goals for the entire year!

So my friends, Cheers to a new year, and all the lovely things that come with it! If you've made goals and resolutions yourself, I wish you good luck with those, and hope you are successful! If you didn't, I still hope you have a marvelous new year as well.

For the life of us, we couldn't take a good, non-blurry picture last night... 

Happy 2013 y'all!!

Progress Report

Yesterday marked three months left until my 25th birthday in January, so I just wanted to write a quick update post about my Pledge of 25 Before 25... So here's a quick Progress Report on where I stand with some of the goals in my list of things to accomplish before I turn a quarter of a century old...

Here's some of my biggest news so far, last night while I was sleeping, my little bloggy-blog reached 10,000 views!!! When I decided on a goal of 10,000, I was then at 5,728. Guys -- that means I've gotten a little over 4,000 views in just three months! That is crazy and amazing and exciting and also humbling. It's so great to know that what I write, and do, and photograph is actually being read and looked at by my lovely friends, family, followers and everyone else in between. And to know that the amount of time and work I put into this, is actually worth it!  It's just so exciting! So thank you :)

I can almost completely cross that goal off now (10,000 views and 200 posts), but just not quite yet. I have 206 posts total, but some of them are still in draft form, and so it doesn't count until I have 200 published posts. This one is #195, so it will happen very soon!

Other things...
-- 10 state parks -- I have visited three, so I better get a move on!
-- 3 towns nearby -- we explored Thomasville a little bit, so that's only one new city so far
-- 6 new restaurants/food trucks -- I have tried 3 new ones, so I'm doing good with that goal
-- 6 books -- I have read two so far, and am currently reading a third. Decent progress :)
-- 10 nail art designs -- I have done 7 different ones, so I'm on a roll with this goal!
-- 200 miles on my bike -- at this point, I've only ridden about 54, so I've definitely got a lot more miles to go
-- Date night each month -- we're 3 for 3 at this point, so we're good!
-- I kind of started learning guitar, but decided my hand is too small so I'd try the ukulele instead :)
-- We just finished up the first session of Bible study with the youth last Sunday night, so that one's crossed off!
-- I've memorized three new scriptures, so that's going pretty well too so far.
-- I've made at least six or seven recipes from Pinterest, and I'll be making another one tonight

All-in-all, I think I'm doing a pretty decent job at accomplishing these 25 goals! Obviously I still have quite a bit to do, but I've still got three months, and I'm a pretty determined girl, so I'm not too worried about it :) I'm so glad I decided to create this list of goals, and I'm even more excited I've been really working towards it for the last three months. I look forward to being able to do another Progress Report once I accomplish a few more things as well! (For example: upcoming camping trip and planning the16-mile bike ride...) Thanks for taking this journey with me!

Proper Recognition

GUYS! I missed my 2 year Blogiversary and didn't even realize it. I knew a few weeks ago that it was coming up, but then it just slipped on by without the Proper Recognition it deserved. So here it is...

I have officially been blogging for 2 years now! 

(plus 18 days). My first little post was on August 11, 2010, after the convincing of some of my best friends during our epic road trip that summer.

At first I was so afraid that I wasn't going to know what to write, or have anything interesting to say. I was always worried that no one would read my posts. But you know what? I finally came to the point where I decided I wasn't going to write something just because others might want to read it, but because it was something I would want to remember in my future.

Most of my posts don't stem from me thinking, "Hey! My followers are going to want to know this stuff." Yeah right. Almost all of my posts are simply whatever I feel like writing, rambling, remembering, and capturing for my own sake. Because you know what's going to be so super fun one day? To look back at all these posts and get to reminisce on this time in my life. I'm so glad I've been blessed and fortunate enough to not only have a camera, phone and laptop to document these things for myself - but more importantly the people in my life who share in these moments.

So this blog is for me.And only me. I write what I want, when I want, and I'm not trying to fit some status-quo of all the other "popular blogger" ladies out there. Don't get me wrong though - I love knowing that people actually read my blog too! It's so fun for someone to mention my blog in casual conversation, or already know a story I'm telling because they read it on my blog already. It makes me feel loved and important and it's a great feeling! So please, keep reading! And let me know what you think from time-to-time, because I love getting feedback and comments on here as well.

Thank you to those who are regular readers and to those who just stop in occasionally :) And thank you to my close friends and family who constantly put up with me doing things because, "it's going on the blog guys!" I am grateful for all my readers and my regular "cast members" and I look forward to another year up ahead of blogging and fun!

So, Happy 2 Year Blogiversary to ME!!

(Even though this picture is a year old, and super random, I still love it. And I love editing pictures in PicMonkey. And yes, I guess I'm going to tell you that every time I do it for a while until the novelty wears off some...)

P.S. - I updated my resume yesterday! So that is my first official crossing-off of something on my 25 Before 25 list! Yay for me! And you know what? It wasn't as difficult and scary as I was afraid it might be. I even applied for two new jobs :) They're both real long shot, but I figured it couldn't hurt, right?!

Pizzazz'd My Pledge

I finally got my little list of 25 Before 25 lookin' all cute and pretty, and it's on display in my bathroom! It was a very simple project too. One "professional" photo mat, an 11x14 piece of poster board for some stability, my list, and a pretty piece of scrapbook paper. I knew I was going to put it in my bathroom, so I chose colors that would match/compliment that color scheme. I cut the scrapbook paper to fit inside the frame, and used the extra strip for some extra pizzazz! I love it. Simple, cute, effective. And it will be a lovely little reminder to actually be working towards accomplishing all these goals in the next 5 1/2 months! So check it out....

So that's that. Super simple, but super cute. Or at least I think so. I'm still so very excited about this list of stuff. I'm thinking about  how to accomplish things, and the time frame in which to do so. It's coming along so far so good, and I just can't wait until I actually get to physically cross one of the things off the list! 

Happy crafting, and happy Wednesday. Much love!

Pledge

Ya know what I just realized? In a little less than six months (July 29th would have marked exactly six months away), I will be a quarter of a century old. Whoa! Twenty-five sounds so grown up and adult-like, don't you think? In honor of this upcoming momentous birthday occasion, I've created a "25-Before-25" list of all the things I'd like to accomplish before then.

Now I have just slightly under six months to cross off all of these things. I know I've made lots of lists of goals and stuff before (ONE, TWO and THREE), but I'm super duper serious about this one. I also tried really hard to make them completely feasible, so hopefully I can actually cross off all 25 things by January 29, 2013!

*I made this little photo banner below using PicMonkey, and I'm kind of loving it. I'll be re-using it whenever I blog my updates on the accomplishments of the list below. Yay for PicMonkey!*

1. Visit 10 different Florida State Parks with Jeff, using our annual pass (2 down so far)
2. Weigh 180, or less if I'm ambitious enough! :)
3. Explore 3 towns nearby
4. Try 6 new restaurants (or food trucks) in Tallahassee (final restaurant eaten at on 12.14.12)
5. Complete a Couch-2-5K program
6. Read 6 books (finished 1.17.13)
7. Hang picture frames up in my room (that I've had sitting around forever)
8. Maintain both bank accounts at $_,000 (12.14.12)
9. Complete Jillian Michaels' 30-Day Shred DVD
10. Try 10 different nail art designs - not just polka dots! (last one done on 12.6.12)
11. Ride entire length of St. Marks' Trail at once, aka 16 miles (farthest at time of posting is 14.5 or so)
12. Bike 200 miles total between now and January 29
13. Have weekly Bible study with high school girls from youth during the fall
14. Reach 10,000 views and 200 posts (currently at 5728 views at time of posting & 139 posts) (11.6.12)
15. Try geocaching with Jeff
16. Memorize a new scripture passage every month
17. Seriously think about a career, not just a job
18. Start learning guitar (Attempted it 10.6.12)
19. Do something I've never done before (Not going into details, but if you email me, I'll tell ya. Hint- it's funny!)
20. Actually make, create or do things from my Pinterest pins (Made 6-7 recipes, all by mid-October!)
21. Go camping again
22. Update my resume CHECK. (Finished 8.28.2012)
23. Plan one real date night every month with my sweet boyfriend
24. Blog honestly about my entire weight loss journey (that starts with the admission of weight goal in #2)
25. Make list for big, long-term goals for 30 Before 30

*Changed #1 from 15 parks down to 10, when realizing it's only 6 months. I do however want to visit about 20 state parks before next May, when our pass expires. Also changed numbers 4 and 6 so that it would essentially be one new restaurant/book each month.*

(I can NOT figure out why those photos of me are blurry now once uploaded to Blogger, but I worked so hard to take pictures of myself, that I'm leaving them on here anyways, so there...)

So that's that. I'm excited to get going on some of these things! I think it's a good mix of personal, fun, healthy, crafty, adventurous, and do-able goals. I plan on getting some of that photo mat stuff to frame the list, put it in an open frame and hang it up at home. That way I can physically cross each thing off the list. My Pledge is to try my darnedest to accomplish all 25 of these things. And you can be sure I will be blogging my progress along the way. So here we go, and wish me luck!!

25 Before 25 is officially underway.

Periodically Updated

I love periodically updating the template of my blog. I don't do it very often, but when I do, I make sure everything is just right, and then leave it for a long time.I pick out a new background image, then spend a good amount of time matching up the fonts and border colors and link colors, until it all looks so pretty, and I'm always quite proud of the changes.

This time, I went for some bright, pretty colors for the summertime, and I'm loving it so far! The last template was up for 6 or 7 months, so we'll see how long I keep this one! For now though, it's pretty close to perfect, and I just wanted to share this random post, so that I could share the new prettyness. :)

Love and kisses and hugs and warm wishes to everyone :)

Oh, and here are some pretty pictures from Monday night when we went out for a fancy dinner at Harry's to celebrate Jeff's birthday with his parents!

Past Favorites (Blog Post #100!!)

ATTENTION FRIENDS AND FAMILY! THIS IS MY 100th BLOG POST!! 

And I'm super pumped about it! I don't think it takes most bloggers a little over a year and a half to reach this point, but I took a long hiatus for about 5 months, and before then I just wasn't very consistent. Whatever - doesn't really matter. Because what does matter is I've finally made it! 100 posts seems like a lot. And I guess it really is! And so to celebrate, I'll be posting links to some of my favorite posts out of the past 99. (Starting with the earliest, and moving to the most recent.)

1. Princess & The Passenger - Rascal Flatts concert date with my best friend Jenni!

2. Pizza Scarves - weekend with friends in Pensacola for Nicole's wedding!
3. Pounds Are GONE! - after I reached my goal weight last March
4. Procrastination Trumps Productivity - fun and relaxing summer weekend

5. Packed Schedule - crazy busy summer week - youth events, beach days, family nights & more...
6. (months of) Preparation Pays Off - DNow 2012! (youth retreat)
7. Produced by Jeff Pullen - cute little trailer Jeff made of our Jacksonville day trip :)
8. Picture Every Hour - just what it says, from our Jacksonville day trip
9. Pet Peeves, and more - an about me list done using the ABC's
10. Puppy Love - gushing about the cutest puppy I know...
11. President Snow Would Not Approve - I wore my Mockingjay pin every day for about two weeks!
12. Play Time Needs to Hurry - not-so-patiently awaiting our girls' weekend at the farm!
13. Pool Season - I'm glad spring summer is here in Florida, and it's almost time for swimming!
14. Project: Easter Garden - craft time with my family, making an empty tomb project for Easter
15. Perpect Weekend - the most awesomest weekend with my bestest girlfriends!

Princess & The Passenger. Me and Jenni at the Rascal Flatts concert in Tampa. September 2010.

Pizza Scarves. Our group of friend's at Nicole's wedding. December 2010.

Procrastination Trumps Productivity. Me and Jeff - St. George Island. August 2011.

Pool Season. Megan and I playing in the pool, with my awesome underwater camera! Summer 2011.

Perpect Weekend. Some of my bestest friends in the world, during girls' weekend. April 2012.