Slices As Big As Your Head

So I've been purposefully trying to not to start every single post with "good morning" because I started actually thinking about it, and not everyone reads it in the morning. Sometimes I don't even write these in the morning, and I would still do that, and what sense does that make? None. But the problem is, now I find myself struggling with how to actually begin the post... It feels weird to just jump directly into things sometimes, and I feel like it needs some sort of greeting or something. Is that just me?  Well, today this silly paragraph is what you're gettin' for an intro/greeting, and now we're just going to move on past it...

Last night for Jeff's birthday, we decided to keep it pretty low-key and simple. Most of you should know we're doing Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University right now (only one week of class left), and so we're trying to be more careful about our budget and finances. And so that's why we decided to plan a frugal date night, rather than blowing some unnecessary money on a "fancy" dinner or date night activity.

There's a pizza place here in town, and it's amazing - Momo's Pizza. And I used to go there a lot back in my high school days, but realized I hadn't been there probably since then. And that was like eight years ago! Jeff hadn't ever tried it before, even after living here for roughly seven years, so I decided we definitely needed to go there last night, and it was sooo good! And they make HUGE pizzas y'all. I mean huge. Their slogan is literally "Slices as big as your head," and they're not kidding about that. Check out this one slice...

Then after dinner, we caught ourselves a weeknight showing of The Amazing Spiderman 2. It was of course Jeff's request, but it ended up being really good. Like, way better than I was expecting. I actually can't remember if I saw the first one, but that was OK, because obviously I know the story of Spiderman anyways, so it's not like I was missing much. We saw the IMAX 3D version, and I'm glad we did. Usually, those don't impress me much, and I'm fine just seeing the regular version, but it was pretty cool. And the theater that seats like 500 or something, only had about 50 people last night, so it felt really personal.

So it was a nice, casual little date night for his birthday, but we both really enjoyed it. It's always nice to get to spend some quality time together in the middle of the week like that, just the two of us.

And now for a funny side story - when we got home, Primrose had carried her food bowl from the kitchen to the living room, and of course sprinkled a trail of all the food on her way there. So it was everywhere when we got home last night, and it was actually really funny. We both cracked up laughing at her when we first walked in the door. Our little doggie is just so silly :)

Public Relations - FFTL Link-Up

Guys, I'm usually super on the ball with this link-up, but things at work yesterday were crazy busy, and also - it's wedding week for my sister, so we've been doing all sorts of stuff to finish getting everything ready! So it's comin' at y'all a bit later than normal today, but that's alright. The link-up stays open for an entire week anyways, so we've got plenty of time to all get this one done! Today's topics are:

First major in college

First date success story

First major in college

Well actually, I only had one! I know some people switch back and forth between two or three majors (and sometimes even more than that!), but I was pretty firm in knowing what I was going to do. I went into college already knowing what my major would be, as well as my minor. I was going to get my degree in Communication, with a special emphasis in Public Relations, with a minor in Youth Ministry. One of the major reasons I picked Flagler was actually because of their Youth Ministry minor! And then once I got there, I realized that I wasn't going to get enough hours to graduate with just those two things, so I added on an additional minor in Advertising. 

It's her wedding week!! :)

First date success story
Honestly, I didn't really date anyone else other than Jeff . I mean, I went on a few other "dates," but they were simple and casual and didn't amount to much, so they hardly count. Jeff was my first and only "real" boyfriend, and now we're engaged! So obviously that worked out well :) So our first date was also pretty casual as well though. Y'all know we met online, so we had been texting, emailing, chatting online and talking on the phone for a few weeks, then one Tuesday morning he just randomly asked if I wanted to meet him for lunch! So in the middle of our workday, we met for a quick lunch at Zaxby's. I was definitely nervous, but he seemed so calm and relaxed, so that helped me calm down a lot too. Our conversation came easy, and my nervousness melted away pretty quickly. We already knew so much about each other, that we already had so much to talk about! I found myself wishing that the quick hour wouldn't have flown by so fast, and that I could have spent much more time talking to this cute, freckly boy! (Side note: we ended up having lunch together that week two more times!) Oh, and yes, he paid for our first "date." :)

One of our very first pictures together, circa summer 2011.

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 & link up with us!

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

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

4. Spread the word on Twitter and/or Facebook

<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>

And if you'd like to prepare for next week's link-up, the two 'first' topics will be:

First thing you do when you get to work

First vacation  you went on without your parents

Proposal on Valentine's Day!

So earlier today, I couldn't hardly wait to share some big news with y'all, and so without much detail or specifics, I made the announcement that I am now engaged!!! But now I've finally gotten all my stuff together, and am going to write out all the fun details from last night :) Prepare yourselves though, because I'm warning you now - there will be lots of pictures (I did at least put most of them into collages), and there will be lots of words!! But I don't want to leave anything out, or run the risk of forgetting anything later, so I'm including as much as possible here!!

So sometime in January, we had mentioned Valentine's Day and talked briefly about needing to make some plans. But we moved on pretty quickly and forgot. Then last Monday night (Feb 4), he texted me to say he wanted to plan it all himself, and I didn't need to worry about anything. I was like, "That's great babe! I love when you make all the fun plans and surprise me!" So he got busy working on stuff  and plans for the last two weeks, and I had no idea what was going on.

The first thing that happened yesterday, was a quick text from him in the morning that said, "Let me know when you got a UPS package." So I freak out and say, "What?! Here at work?!" And he says YEAH! So I'm still freaking out of course, until an hour or so later, and then the most beautiful tulips ever arrive at my office! Seriously, they're amazing. It's a mix of red, pink and white, and I'm in love with them. They're so perfect and gorgeous, and so special. And I liked that they weren't just any 'typical' Valentine's flowers, because these just felt so much more special to me :)

This photo is from yesterday, but since then, they've already started opening up beautifully!!

Then after work, I knew I was going to meet him at his house, and we would be going to dinner, but I didn't know any of the rest of the plan. Well, except that he had worked penguins, pasta and polka dots all into the date night in some way ;) So I get to his house and I give him all of his gifts first. (Which included: a "Big Bang Theory" t-shirt and set of trivia cards, lots of his favorite candies, a stuffed dachshund because he loves those, a little "Why I Love You" notebook, and a banner I made for him.) Then I change into my new dress and put on makeup and some perfume, and we headed to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Harry's. (I had been looking to buy a new dress, and wanted something, red or pink or festive. Somehow though, I ended up with bright green! Who knows how that happened rather than Valentine's festive, but I loved it, and so did Jeff!)

So at the restaurant, he tells me that he's ordering for me, and I'm not even allowed to look at the menu! So he gets us some sort of shrimp appetizer thing (don't remember the name?), and then orders our meals. And of course, he got me pasta! It was amazing. It was a special for the Mardi Gras season, so I think it was just called Pasta Mardi Gras. It was linguine with shrimp and lobster and mushrooms, with some sort of creamy sauce. Sooo good :) And Jeff got Blackened Red Fish with crab on top! And of course his was delicious too. But soo much food, so we both ended up taking home a box with at least half our our meals.

But while we were waiting on our food to arrive, I got to open my present! First though, let me tell you about the card, because he worked hard on it. Ladies - he hand-made the entire thing! And  it was amazing. It's one of the cutest things I've probably ever seen, and definitely the best card I've ever been given. I told him I would have loved it enough already had he ordered it from Etsy or something, but considering that he made the whole stinking thing himself?! Blew me out of the water!! He hand drew a little penguin, and gave it some of his own characteristics like glasses and red hair! SO cute :) He also constructed this super cute little owl on the back with some crafting string of some sort. On the inside was the polka dot paper, and he had cut out hearts on a piece of tissue paper, and laid it over the polka dot paper. Precious :) And of course he had written some extremely sweet words. In fact, they made me all teary-eyed as I read them. It was for real the best and most awesomest and the sweetest card I've ever gotten. I told him that now I'm going to be expecting one of these hand-made cards for every occasion! 

There was more in the bag though than just an extremely awesome and elaborate hand-made card, like a big bag of Hershey's kisses, and a box. So I pulled out a little box with penguins on it, and it was filled with Valentine's candies and sitting on top of the candy, was a little hand-drawn banana, with a message on the back - "Deliver to the monkey." So I had to figure out what that meant... So while we ate, we talked about it a little more, and after he gave me a few more clues, I figured out it meant my friend Lacey's house! (Her house has been nick-named 'Coconuts' so that's where the monkey was.)

So while we were driving from dinner to her house, I'm expecting there to be another clue waiting for me, so I asked how long we were going to stay at her house before moving on. And he was like, "Oh, I don't know, we'll just see how it's going over there..."  So we walk in, and chat with Lacey and Josh for a few minutes, and while I'm talking to them, he disappears, but apparently I didn't even notice it somehow. Then when he comes back, he hands me this cute little pink monkey, with a card around his neck. The front of it says, "Will You Be My Valentine?" and then it says "flip" at the very bottom corner...and the back says "Forever..." 

And I'm thinking "Oh well of course forever, dear!" But then when I look away from the card, I realize he's gotten down on one knee and is holding a tiny box with something very sparkly inside. And I gasp a little bit, of course, and then he says, "Halie, will you marry me?" And so I immediately do a little happy dance and stomp my feet a little bit and squeal a tiny squeal and cover my mouth and I'm just so excited!! So of course I say YES! and he puts the most gorgeous ring on my finger :) Then he stands up and I hug him so tight and am still squealing, and then of course I give him a big ole' smooch. And our friends were taking pictures the whole time with their iPhone luckily, so we have a few shots of the actual moment!!

That biggest, middle picture is when I'm doing my little happy dance :)

After a little bit more hugging and kissing, we made some phone calls to family members, and then of course put it on Facebook and Instagram :) We stayed there a little longer, and then the rest of the 'stops' he had planned were to go visit each of our parents afterwards! His parents' house was on the way to mine, so we stopped there first to visit for a little bit and show off the ring, and then we made our way to my parents after that. Finally, we headed out, and our final stop was at Walmart to pick up some celebratory cupcakes :) We went back to his house to enjoy our dessert, and just couldn't stop talking about it and staring at the ring, and then talking about it all some more. And then of course I made us take some more pictures, just to make sure we had enough, and to make sure that we would never forget this night :)

Side note about the ring: We had gone months ago (maybe in September or October or something?) and looked at about four jewelry stores for rings. I tried on a ton, and liked a lot of them, but we never actually settled on just one specific one. Then he went back on his own to a different store, and picked this one out all on his own. And it's exactly what I wanted. I love the vintage style, with the square, "Princess" cut, and I love all the tiny little diamonds on the sides as well. It's perfect, and he did an excellent job picking just the right one!

It was an incredible night, and he did an amazing job planning everything out! He did so good not to tell me the secrets or give anything away, and I love that I was so surprised! It's still surprising to me actually, and sometimes it still feels a little unreal. I guess it'll take some time to sink and and get used to it, but for now I seem to be on Cloud 9! (As cliche as that sounds...) I just keep staring at the ring (especially while I type!), and remembering that I now have a fiance instead of just a boyfriend. So crazy, and so exciting!!

I know this engagement period will be crazy and fast and probably stressful, but I'm so looking forward to it. More importantly though, I'm looking forward to calling this man my Husband! God has blessed us both so much, by bringing us together. I feel so lucky to be with him, and to now have a sparkly ring on my left hand!! I can't wait to see what our future holds, and all the things that come with it. I love you so so so much baby!!

Proof He Knows & Loves Me

Happy Valentine's Day blog-world! Like a ton of other girls out there, I really do like Valentine's Day a lot. And it's not just because I have a boyfriend. I've always liked it even when I was single. My roommates and I used to decorate our college dorm room, even when none of us were dating anyone. It's just a fun holiday filled with so much 'happy love!' (As my friend and former roomie Emily calls it!) And it's full of red and pink and hearts and glitter and all sorts of girly things - so how could I not love Valentine's Day?! But yes, I will at least admit, that having a boyfriend for Valentine's Day definitely makes it so much better :)

So today I'm linking up with one of my favorite bloggers, Melissa at The Life of a Not So Ordinary Wife, for a special Valentine's link-up! She provided the questions below, and both myself and Jeff answered them, to see how well he knows me and our relationship! I answered them first, then we sat down and I asked him all of them, while I typed away! So let's see how he did!

How long have you been dating?
Halie: Officially Boyfriend/Girlfriend for 1 year, 6 months, 4 days. But we've been dating for 1 year and 9 months.
Jeff: 1 year, 6 months, 4 days.

Where was your first date?
Halie: Zaxby's, during our lunch break from work! And it was spontaneous. Since we met OkCupid, we had been chatting online, through text and phone calls for about 2 weeks, when suddenly one morning he asked if I wanted to meet him for lunch!
Jeff: I'm gonna say Panera... is that it or was it somewhere else? No? Where was it?

Where was your first kiss?
Halie: In the parking lot after lunch at Panera, when he walked me back to my car. So romantic right?! Haha. At least I had told them to hold the onions on my sandwich that day! ;)
Jeff: Ohhh, that was Panera. In the parking lot.

Who said, "I love you" first?
Halie: Me, and it took him about 2 more weeks to finally tell me, although I knew he actually did already!
Jeff: She did. In St. Augustine. (When I told him what I had said after he answered, he said, "True story.")

What was our best date?
Halie: Summer 2011, on one of our many beach trips, about 3 months into our relationship. We wandered down the beach right before sunset, ate dinner at The Blue Parrot, and then walked along the beach in the full moonlight. Then we just sat down in the sand and had a great conversation and got to know a whole lot more about each other.
Jeff: It was the impromptu trip to St. George Island, and we walked along the beach for about an hour or so, picked on some crabs, and then ate dinner at The Blue Parrot. The water was so calm, the moon was out and the sky was clear, and we just sat on the beach and talked and learned more about each other.

What is her most commonly used phrase?
Halie: "Eef you say so!"
Jeff: The first one is "I love you!" and "Oh puh-lease!" is tied for second with "Sheesh!"

What is the best meal she has ever cooked you?
Halie: He'll probably say the chicken Alfredo skillet meal, which is embarrassing since basically all I did was heat it up... I promise I've cooked other good things for us though!
Jeff: I don't know, I would honestly say that chicken Alfredo skillet thingy. You did that up good babes.

What is the worst meal she has ever cooked you?
Halie: The very first time I ever cooked for him! Of course I was trying to impress him with my skills, and I seriously burned some chicken. I smoked up the whole house! It was not good. I was upset and kinda embarrassed, but I managed to salvage most of the meal, and he still insisted it was good :)
Jeff: That smoky chicken that smoked up the entire house. We had to open up every window and turn on every fan, and it was still smoky for a few hours!

What would she say is your most annoying habit?
Halie: When he picks at his cuticles non-stop! Especially if his arm is around me, and I can feel him doing it...
Jeff: Not listening or paying attention. And a close second is picking at my nails.

What is the last thing she does before she goes to bed?
Halie: Technically it's text him good night, but after that I may pick up a book or scroll Instagram really quick :)
Jeff: Well  I'd say she reads, checks Instagram & gets in some super comfy clothes. Then she texts me to say good night.

If you could throw out one item of her clothing what would it be?
Halie: Maybe not any clothes, but there are definitely plenty of perfumes and lotions he doesn't like.
Jeff: Well if it wasn't any clothes, it would definitely be some of the old lady perfumes.

What would you say is your favorite thing about her?
Halie: He loves that I am so silly and goofy almost all of the time!
Jeff: How super stinking cute she is all the time! And that she's crafty, and smart and I can have a decent conversation with her (except about nerdy computer stuff).

What's her blog's name?!
Halie: I know for sure he knows it! He even based my Christmas presents off of it a little bit :) Edited to add: he also just told me my Valentine's presents are too, but I have to wait until tonight for them!
Jeff: (chuckles) Penguins, Pasta & Polka Dots!

I'd say he did a pretty great job answering those! He does know me really well, and it seems he remembers the 'important' stuff about our relationship too :) Since he got so many things right, I'd say that's Proof He Knows & Loves Me! And I sure do love him. This was so much fun answering these myself, hearing his answers, and writing this post! Thanks to Melissa for dreaming up this fun idea for Valentine's Day!

And to my sweet Boyfriend: First, great job on these babes. I'm impressed. Second, I am beyond excited for whatever you've got planned for us tonight! You've been working on presents and plans for a couple weeks now, and I can't wait to finally see what it all is. Thank you in advance for everything, and for all you've done to plan for tonight! Oh, and most importantly, thank you for being my Valentine :) Love you!!

Porch Dining, and My First Giveaway!!

Hello there my lovelies! I've been having a great week so far, and the greatness is not even close to over! Here's why:

1. There's something fun happening at the end of this post....

2. We get to wear jeans to work today (even though it's Thursday)

3. I have my family birthday dinner at my house tonight, with just my smaller, immediate family

4. Tomorrow night is my whole family dinner at my Grandparents house, shared with my Grandmother, because her birthday is just five days before mine! and,

5. Dinner with friends on Saturday night for a small birthday celebration! Hooray! Lots of good things this week.

So first of all, I want to recap my birthday dinner date with my sweet boyfriend from Tuesday night! We decided to splurge a little bit, and try a new restaurant here in town, The Front Porch. And this joint did not disappoint. 

We got there pretty early trying to avoid a crowd, and it seems we had perfect timing. We went right in and sat down immediately. It was a nice night out, so we chose to take advantage and actually sit out on their front porch! And it was so nice out there. It felt great, and it was decorated so beautifully! They have giant, gorgeous chandeliers, but to fit the slightly nautical theme, they're hung by giant boat ropes. And it looks really awesome. 

This is the best the waiter could manage apparently...

We had looked at the menu online the night before, and we had both pretty  much already decided what to get. I got Shrimp & Sausage Strozzapreti. Holy yum people. They make their pasta noodles in-house there, and it was so fresh and yummy. They weren't skimpy with the shrimp on it either, so that made me happy. And it was a huge plate of food. I couldn't even eat it all, so I brought home a cute little to-go box. Jeff got Ashley Farms Chicken Chevre, and his was super yummy too. It was goat cheese-stuff chicken, wrapped in bacon! Soo good. 

And then I wanted dessert to celebrate my birthday (the proper way), so I thought we could share one. But Jeff gave the go ahead for us to both get one! So I got Whoopiemisu - which is espresso-soaked whoopie pies, layered in a little cup with white chocolate mousse and cocao powder. So it was like a jazzed up tiramisu, and this baby was the jam. I ate the entire thing. And Jeff got a giant slice of Peanut Butter & Oreo Ice Cream pie, and his was super delicious too! But he couldn't eat his whole piece. 

Top L: my pasta. Top R: my whoopimisu. Bottom L: Jeff's pie. Bottom R: Jeff's chicken, with potatoes & asaparagus.

So a quick review: we both had super delicious entrees that we both loved, and they were great portion sizes. (Not like most fancy restaurants where you pay a ton of money, for the tiniest bit of food.) We both loved our desserts. The atmosphere was great. Our waiter was super nice. It was all very quick service. This place definitely gets two thumbs up. We will absolutely go back one day. It's not the kind of place we can afford for just any random night, but it's totally worth it for special occasions. 

After the movie, we stopped by Redbox and rented "Moonrise Kingdom." We had already seen it, but we liked it a lot, and wanted to watch it again! It's just such an easy, silly, cute little movie, and it was perfect for a chill birthday night after such a yummy and filling dinner. It was a wonderful way spend my birthday night, with my love!

******************************************************************************************************

And now for the second portion of this blog post... Today I'm finally doing my very first giveaway! (I know, I helped host one a couple of weeks ago, but I'm not counting that one, OK?!) This is in honor of my birthday this week, as well as reaching 300 followers yesterday! I had been thinking about doing one, but wasn't sure. Then all of a sudden yesterday, I just made the decision real quick, and headed to Target! I decided to keep it pretty simple, and I'm just going with a few of my favorite things!

Notepad: I love making lists and notes, so I have about a million of these around my house and work all the time.

Lotion: Always, always keep a baby lotion in my purse. I hate it when my hands get dry!

Washi Tape: Who doesn't love this stuff these days? It's just a super simple way to make something a bit cuter!

Burt's Bees Chapstick: I am seriously, literally addicted to this stuff! I think I currently have 4 tubes of it...

Candle: They make me so happy! I love the way they make a room look, and love the way they smell!

Nail Polish: I just love painting my  nails, and this is a pretty pink, perfect for spring time!

Earrings: My favorite jewelry. I can never have enough. In fact, it's hard to give these away, 'cuz I want them myself!

Moulin Rouge: This is definitely one of my favorite movies. I know every word to every song, and love to sing along!

See? Simple. But I think it's a pretty good little bundle of stuff! :) So here's the deal for the giveaway:

1. You have to be following me. Period.

2. Just leave a little comment on this post! I want to hear something good, so tell me something fun/good/exciting.

3. Leave your email in the comment, so I can contact you if you win.

4. You have until midnight Saturday on night to comment. I'll choose a random winner Sunday, and verify you're following me. And then I'll announce it on Monday. 

5. Duplicate comments will not be counted.

6. United States and Canada only please. (Sorry if I actually have followers elsewhere!)

Guys - I love, love, love having this little blog space of mine. It's grown rapidly, and unexpectedly, and I'm still so amazed at what's been happening around here lately! I'm humbled and grateful and just so excited. Thank you, THANK YOU to all of you lovely followers, readers and friends! Can't wait to see what else this little blog of mine can do, and what else she has to offer! Looking forward to wherever this takes us next :)

Post-Pledge: The Final Recap

As of this morning, I'm considering my 25 Before 25 Pledge list officially over. Tomorrow I will be 25 years old, and it's time to move on! I have created a new list of 30 Before 30, which is full of all sorts of things. Some are small, some are quite huge, but I'm excited about them all. (Those will be posted later this week.) But for this post, I want to do a recap of how things went for my 25 Before 25 goals!

OK first, I want to talk about the 14 goals that I did completely accomplish, and officially crossed off:

1. Explore 3 towns nearby. We explored Panama City Beach, Marianna and Thomasville, Georgia.

2. Try 6 new restaurants. The new ones we tried were: 101 Restaurant, Monk's, Georgio's, Taste Budz Cafe,  Backwoods Bistro, Up in Smoke, Jonah's and Tallahassee Smokehouse. So that's actually eight!

3. Read 6 books. I started off good, then got stuck on one that was too long and boring. "The Swan Thieves" is super long, and it took me like 2 months to read just half of it. I ended up moving on, and not finishing it. I did however read: Harry Potter 1, Daring to Dream, Room, Gone Girl, Out of Mormonism, Divergent, and Insurgent. So I ended up reading 7 books, and half of an extremely long one!

4. Maintain both bank accounts at $_,000. I don't want to divulge what that fill-in-the-blank is, but I will say I accomplished this amount around mid-December! Yay me for saving money!

5. Try 10 different nail art designs. Check, check, check! I probably did around 20 different manicures, not including just plain colors. Below are almost all the designs I tried, although I do know there are a few others missing, but I can't find pictures of those.

6. Have a Bible study with youth in the fall. Also a check! We ended up splitting the youth into high school/middle school and boys/girls, so there were four groups. I got to attend some of both of the girls study sessions, and I loved getting to be with them!

7. Reach 10,000 page views and 200 blog posts. I hit 10,000 page views sometime in October (I think), and my 200th post was in November, when I accepted the Liebster award! As of today, I'm at 19,329 page views and this is post number 259! And I'd say I'm still going strong :)

8. Start learning guitar. OK so maybe I didn't actually learn the guitar, but I did try, and ended up making a decision about it... My hands aren't big enough to fit around the neck, so I'm going to try the ukulele instead! 

9. Do something I've never done before. Well honestly, I have a really funny story for this one, but I'm just not sure it's "blog-appropriate." Let's just say it's about a time when I needed to relieve myself on a bike ride at an inconvenient time... if you email me about it, I might just let ya know ;)

10. Actually do things from my Pinterest pins. By mid-October, I had already made seven or eight new recipes that I got off of Pinterest! And I've definitely made more since then. You can check out some of them at these links: enchilada soup, twice-baked cauliflower and bacon-wrapped lil' smokies, creamy tortellini soup, pan-roasted chicken, pepperoni pizza casserole, and oven-baked chicken fajitas.

11. Update my resume. Check. Not much else to say about that, but it's done!

12. Blog my entire weight loss journey honestly. Did this just two weeks ago, and shared every single detail. And it was great. I loved actually writing the whole thing out, and getting so much amazing feedback back from everyone.

13. Plan one real date night every month. Most of those date nights can be read about in the same posts above about the new restaurants we tried. I'm so glad we made sure to have at least one real date night every month, and it was definitely a fun goal to accomplish :)

14. Make a list for 30 Before 30. Done! And I can't wait to get started on it! :) I'll be sharing it on Wednesday.

Now let's move on to the ones that were only partially finished or not at all finished...

We actually only made it to 4 of 10 State Parks - St. George Island, St. Andrews in Panama City, Maclay Gardens here in Tally, and the Marianna Caverns. I think we probably could have only fit in one more, had Jeff not broken his foot. But 4 of 10 isn't too bad... and we can still use our pass through the end of May.

I do not weigh 180, I did not complete a Couch to 5K, and I did not complete the 30-Day Shred. Unfortunately, I just  got lazy and these didn't happen. I did run a little bit but I quit, and I did the Shred DVD often, just not for 30 straight days. But now I'm working on everything again, and I'm losing weight! I currently weigh 205, and have lost 12 pounds since January 8th!

I didn't get to ride entire length of St. Mark's Trail (16 miles), and I didn't bike 200 miles total. I got nowhere close to 200, and only rode about 55 miles total. I did ride my furthest distance ever, but it wasn't on the trail like I wanted. My furthest was the 20-mile alley cat we did in October.

We didn't get a chance to try geocaching, and I missed the camping trip my Sunday school class took in the fall when I got too sick to go. I memorized three new Scripture verses, but then kind of got stuck there... Oh, and I didn't hang up the pictures in my room yet either.

So 14 of my 25 goals are completely crossed off. Not too shabby, although of course I would have liked that number to be higher! But it doesn't really matter, because I had fun doing them. And some of the ones that I didn't get to cross off, are making a reappearance on my next list of goals anyways.

I got to try new things, eat new food, make new recipes, spend time with my boyfriend, save some money, visit new places, read awesome books, and do so many other things as well. Even though I can't cross off every single thing, I'd still say that I was successful in really living my life over these last few months since I wrote my initial Pledge!

Up through now, I've had a pretty great 24 years. I'm looking forward to what 25 will bring though, and can't wait to see what my life looks like at 30!! Here's to at least FIVE more years of Food, Fun, Family, Fitness and Fabulousness!! Tomorrow, I'll be ready to welcome in The Big 2-5! :)

Pumped About Sharing our Firsts!

Hello lovelies! I'm so excited this morning, because today is finally the day mine and Hallie's link-up starts! We've been talking about it since the middle of December or so, and I've been pumped ever since then! So here's the deal - and it's an easy deal, so don't be worried: every Tuesday for a couple of weeks or so, we're going to do a First Things First link-up!

We'll do different "firsts" every week, and we want y'all to write posts about that week's "firsts", and then link-up with us, obviously! (Your links will appear on both of our blogs.) All we ask is that you follow both of our blogs, add our button to your post or blog somewhere, and visit some other blogs from the link-up to share some love! We're looking forward to meeting new friends and reading y'alls posts. This should be fun!

This week is: First Job, First Car and First Date!

First Job!

 I worked for one summer at a craft store that was going out of business, and it sucked. It was called Ben Franklin crafts, and was like a medium-sized Michael's. The managers  were rude and the other employees were mean, and the job just sucked. I mean, think about all the crazy amounts of tiny things at a craft store. Well, if people brought them to the register but didn't want to buy them, I had to put those away at the end of the day. Horribly tedious and horribly boring.

Then one day I called in to get my schedule for the next week, and they were just like, "Oh, we won't be needing you anymore." And I was like, "Thank goodness!" It did keep me busy for a couple of months that one summer before my junior year of high school, but it pretty much sucked. And since then, I've avoided retail work of any kind, at all costs. I think those couple months at the craft store gave me more than my fill of retail work for life!

First Car! 

1996 Chrysler Sebring Convertible, Sabrina, who I absolutely adored! And here's the story... my birthday is the end of January (as most of you know since I've been blabbing about my goals of 25 Before 25 for quite some time now), but I didn't get this car for my birthday. When I turned 16, I was graciously given my Grandmother's old Chrysler Concorde to drive for however long it took my parents to find me a car. You see, I had wanted this specific car since I was at least 12, and I wanted it bad. I don't even know what it was about it that I loved so much, but I really did.

So I drove my Grandmother's car for almost three months, and then I was stupid and got my first speeding ticket. I was going 45 in a 30 on my way to school one morning. I got pulled over, I was sobbing like an idiot, and my 13-year-old little sister calmly hands me the registration as for real I'm freaking out. So after the ticket, I got my driving privileges taken away, and my mom was like, "I'm definitely not buying you a car after that! You're not responsible enough and you haven't shown me you can handle it!"

So I was of course devastated - for about a week or so.

But then not even two weeks later, I came home one Wednesday night after youth (I was allowed to drive to church only), and the garage door was closed. I couldn't get it open with my remote, so I called my parents from the driveway. Then all of a sudden the door went up, and inside sat this little beauty! I literally freaked out, jumped out of the Grannymobile and ran down the driveway crying and in full freak-out mode! My sister and I immediately hopped in, and we took it for a spin around the block, with the balloons still flying behind us. It was incredible. :) I still wasn't allowed to actually drive it for a couple of weeks since I was still on restrictions and all, but once it was finally time - I was in love with this car! I drove it until right before my sophomore year of college, at which time she was too old to be reliable anymore, and sadly I had to trade her in.

The day I got my car! I came home and they opened the garage door to this, and I started crying I was so happy!

The last day I owned the Sebring, and her final goodbye kiss...

First Date!

I don't actually have many "first date" stories, because Jeff is actually the only "real" boyfriend I've had. So, I'm just going to share my first date story with him! Most of y'all may not know because most of y'all are fairly  new around here, and probably missed my post about us back in August for our one year dating anniversary, but Jeff and I met through an online dating site! We both rated each other with high stars, and he sent me a message just five days after I first signed up! We first messaged and emailed a lot for about a week. Then we moved to phone calls and texts for a week, and then we decided it was finally time go on a date. So he invited me to a super romantic, work-day lunch at Zaxby's on a random Tuesday. Haha, but he did at least pay! ;) 

I had been pretty nervous driving across town to meet him, but then once we sat down and started talking, it just came so easy! I don't want to sound cliche, or like I'm writing my own commercial for online dating success, but it really was great! We already knew so much about each other because of all the questions and "surveys" and stuff we did on the dating site. We had so many things to talk about, and we did just that! We talked about road trips, and food we liked, and movies, and our jobs, and so many other things. When that quick hour was up, I didn't want to leave him yet! We still had so much more to talk about, and I couldn't wait to learn more about him. Plus, I wouldn't mind staring at the cute, freckly face of his for a little while longer! I went back to work and couldn't stop thinking about him. We texted more all that afternoon, and talked later that night. Things went so well, we then had two more lunch dates that week! 

That first lunch date was May 31, 2011. We dated all summer through June and July, and then finally made it "official" boyfriend/girlfriend status on August 10, 2011! And this is our first picture we ever took together, in July of that summer, at the birthday party for his twins - and although I think he looks a bit awkward and I look a bit uncomfortable, I promise we really did like each other at this point :)

Now, go write your own First Things First post! Just grab our button below, and link up with us to be included on both of our blogs!

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Piccata & Perks

All I really want to do today is just share a couple of photos from last night, and brag about my sweet boy :) Last night he took me out for date night to celebrate 1 year and 4 months together, and also it's kind of our Christmas date too. He picked me up at my house after work, and took me to Georgio's. And oh man that place is delicious! I hadn't been there before, so that's new restaurant #4 of my goal of 6 before my 25th birthday. Four down and two to go. I can totally finish this goal :)

But anyways, back to Georgio's -- I had Chicken Piccata, which was super nummy-nummy. It came first with a salad, then also yummy green beans, and some great angel hair alfredo  Ohhhh so good. Jeff got a steak that had been stuffed and grilled with garlic cloves, and sitting on top of caramelized red onions, and it was amazing! Easily the best steak I've ever tasted. We were both stuffed at the end of dinner, but we both agreed it was well worth it to go out for something fancy for a change!

But this is the best we could do, picture-wise, since there were literally no other people around we could have asked to take it for us. We rested my camera on a brick pillar to use the timer feature, but it's still lookin' a bit funky...

After dinner, we decided to go the economical route, and went to the cheap theater to see "Perks of Being A Wallflower." First though, we decided we needed to stop at the Dollar Tree in order to pick up some of those travel toothbrushes, a pack of gum, and a candy for each of us to sneak into the movie. I had heard good things about the movie beforehand, but I didn't realize that it was going to be so intense! It was a good movie, but man, it was also some serious stuff. Either way, we still enjoyed the movie, and I'm glad we saw it, but it is definitely not for everyone...

We had ourselves a great date night, and I always loving spending time with this sweet man of mine. Glad that he's a part of my life! Love you babes :)

Patch of Pumpkins

Last Friday night, Jeff and I went to the pumpkin patch for a quick date night activity before supper time. We didn't go last year for some silly reason, so I'm glad we got to go together this year! We planned it so we were there right around dusk/sunset, and it was so pretty then! Glad we worked it out that way :) Lots of pretty colors, and sun beams streaming through creating all sorts of loveliness and a bit of a fairy-tale setting almost. Oh, and Florida graced us with some nice weather, and it actually felt great outside too!

Pumpkin Patch dates are fun, aren't they?! :) Now maybe next week, we'll do some punkin' carvin'! Happy Friday!