Addicted

I started my New Years Resolutions on Monday. That means I made it exactly 39 hours and 57 minutes without diet coke.

Maybe next year (but probably not). I guess I should just invest in this Diet Coke bong and move on...

Resolutions?

HAPPY 2011 EVERYONE!!! Can you believe another year has come and gone?? I'm currently sitting in the Destin, Florida airport waiting to fly back to Richmond. We rang in the New Year with college friends in Destin and had an AMAZING time! Our friend from Memphis has a family beach house in Destin and invited us down to celebrate the new year. We haven't seen him since the wedding so we couldn't resist the opportunity for a reunion. Noah was very excited to be reunited with 2 of his college roomies!! We spent 4 days with 10 great friends from Memphis, Richmond and DC. On New Year's Eve we went to Rum Runners (which overlooks water). When midnight rolled around, we stood on the balcony of the bar and watched what could possibly be the BEST fireworks display ever!!!

So I have a few hours to kill while I'm sitting in this airport.... Noah and I got an iPad for Christmas so I figured I could pass the time with a blog post. I just finished reading my horoscope in Glamour Magazine which says, "This year you'll keep all those New Year's resolutions." I'm very skeptical because I've never actually stuck to any of my New Year's resolutions (which makes me wonder why I ever have any). But this year I am determined to make it happen. So here they are (in no particular order):

1. Be healthy
2. Be on time

Only 2? Yes, only 2 - I just told you I never stick to any resolution so why should I overdo it? Let me elaborate on my 2 resolutions:

HEALTH: Overall, 2010 was a fantastic year! It was our first full year as a married couple and we had a blast. There was never a dull moment and we have some wonderful memories. But with our hectic social schedule, our eating and exercise habits fell to the wayside. Now that none of our clothes fit, it's time to exercise, eat more green things, and give up (gasp!) Diet Coke. Giving up Diet Coke will probably be the hardest thing. I've quit DC several times but it's never stuck. My mom still yells at me if she catches me drinking it. We didn't grow up with soft drinks in the house because my mother thinks they are poison (which I think is a little dramatic). I know it's bad for me but they are SO good in the afternoon and I only drink 1 each day.

Do you know that in the winter your body wants to gain wait? According to Glamour Magazine, here are a few things that most nutritionists can agree on:
- Don't smoke (even occasionally)
- Move 30 minutes a day
- De-stress
- Sleep at least 7 hours every night
- Eat breakfast
- Take a multivitamin daily
- Get 2,000 IU daily of Vitamin D
- Wash your hands for 20 seconds several times a day

NO MORE TARDINESS: I am always late and it's not my fault. I come from a family of people who are consistently late. My father is usually late and my mother is ALWAYS late (I was the last one to be picked up from school everyday - the teachers hated my mom). It's in my genes. I try to be on time (I really do!). This year I am going to try EXTRA hard! It's a terrible fault and it's something I want to change about myself. Noah is also usually late (as is his father).

By the way, my New Year Resolutions start tomorrow because the past two days have been filled with no exercise, few veggies, and lots of diet coke. Give me a break, I was on vacation!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

....and football

Happy November! I can't believe Thanksgiving is three weeks away. I am very busy for the next couple weeks as Roan teams up with the International Hospital for Children every year for a fashion show and auction. We usually raise around $500,000. It's a wonderful event and I'm very excited because we have a new space for the event this year. It's going to be amazing. I chose all the models for the runway show this week and I will fit them next week. Designers are sending in samples for us to use in the show. It's always stressful but it's for a great cause!
For more information on the International Hospital for Children, please visit www.healachild.org/.

You might have noticed that I changed by blog description to "a little blog about life, love, fashion....and football." I felt the need to add football because my life seems to revolve around love, fashion and football. Now I am no expert on football (although I do sometimes surprise myself). I recently read this article about a VA Tech football player and wanted to share it. At first, it really grossed me out. But now I have nothing but respect for this player...which says a lot considering how much I am trained to hate VA Tech.

Even the loss of a pinkie won't keep him from playing!

You may have also noted that I added a picture to the title of my blog. This is a picture of Jeter swimming in the lake at my mom's house. Every so often I take Jeter out to my mom's (who lives in the country)to go on a nice run. He also gets to take a dip in the lake (which he loves). I took this picture with my cell phone on one of the first cool days of fall. It was so peaceful.

Bin Shopping

Preface:

Twice a year, Victoria's Secret has their "Semi-Annual Sale." This is when I choose to steer clear of any and all Victoria's Secret stores. Why? Because of one thing...the bins. For those of you (men) who have never had to endure one of these sales, you have no idea what I am talking about. You see, all of the sale undergarments are placed in bins by size. The customer must rummage through these bins in an effort to find something appealing in the right shape, size and color. I HATE these bins. There is something about pawing my way through panties and bras that I find very unappealing. I think it's gross.

J.Crew Warehouse Sale:

Today at work, one of my co-workers told me about a *J.Crew Warehouse Sale on West Broad Street. She told me that all merchandise would be 80-90% off. I don't typically shop at J.Crew but at those prices I thought it might be worthwhile. I looked it up on the Richmond Bargains website (if you go to the website you can print off an additional 30% off coupon). As I read about the sale, I became intrigued. Until I saw, "Be prepared to rummage! The inventory is all in boxes on tables and on the floor. It is roughly divided into women’s, men’s, children’s, shoes, and accessories; but gets jumbled up." I shivered. Nonetheless, I called my sister and asked if she would join me on my adventure. So we went...

As I walked into the make-shift store, I saw dozens of women (and some men), long tables, and hundreds of boxes. There was zero organization. In a typical bin, you would find mismatched boots, dozens of pants, a shirt, an ugly skirt, a damaged sweater, and a bathing suit large enough to fit an elephant. Bonnie looked at me with a discerning eye. We armed ourselves with the supplied empty garbage bag and dug in. It was my worst nightmare. After 5 minutes, we almost gave up. But then, a navy dress caught my eye.

In the end, I purchased two J.Crew dresses. The original cost of each dress: $188. The sale cost: $15 (with my coupon). I spent less than $40 on two dresses! You can't even do that at Target!

Was it worth it? Yes. Will I do it again? NO. I love a good sale. But I have to draw the line somewhere. And I guess that line ends with bins.

*If you are interested in this sale, it ends Sunday

Ready for Fall!

Wow...it's been a wonderful summer. I can't believe September is almost over! We've been so busy that it's been difficult to find time to just relax. So I am going to try to get back into my blogging. I really enjoy it and it's fun to reflect back on past posts (not that I've done that lately either).

So here's what I'm looking forward to this Fall:

1. UVA Football Games (especially the tailgates). We have 7 season tickets/parking space so I really have no choice but to LOVE football :)

2. Speaking of football - I now love the NY Jets because their head coach is hilarious and their QB is super cute (not as cute as Noah, duh). Fell in love with them watching Hard Knocks on HBO (Cowboys are still my number one team)

3. Book/Wine Club: 12 of my friends started a book/wine club. One month we read a book and the next month we drink wine (well we drink wine at every meeting but you get the picture). We had our first official "book" meeting at my house last week. We read Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert. I could go on a serious rant about this book but I will refrain. I disagreed with most of what Gilbert said. October is "wine" month but instead of wine we are doing beer in honor of Oktober Fest. Our significant others join us on the "wine" months so I'm sure they will like this meeting :)

4. Whiffle Ball: We just joined a whiffle ball team for the next six weeks. Should be interesting...

5. All the weddings, oyster roasts, engagement parties, wine tastings, and other fun events in the upcoming months!

6. CAPTIVA!!! Our family goes to Captiva, Florida every year for Thanksgiving! I can't wait for a week of fun in the sun with the fam :)

7. Blogging...our at least attempting to get back into it! There are so many things I wish I had written posts about this summer!

Is anyone else bored? Maybe my next post will be a little less dull...

8. I ALMOST FORGOT...GLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! I'm such a Gleek! Can't wait for this week's episode!

I scream, You scream, We all scream for ICE CREAM!!!!

I KNOW I KNOW! I haven't blogged since March! But this Gbaum has been super busy!! What a wonderful spring/summer full of fun parties/vacations/work/friends/wedding/engagements/etc. It's hard to find the time to sit and reflect on life....

Now that I have 5 minutes to look back on the past few months (at 12:14 AM - I should be in bed since I have to WORK tomorrow)....

one of the BEST wedding presents we received was a ice cream maker...YUM!

Once you put the ingredients in the machine, you have to wait 20-25 minutes for the machine to churn it into WONDERFUL ice cream. And since we just got home for softball, I decided to make ice cream for our family dinner tomorrow night. All you need is the Williams & Sinoma ice cream kit (chocolate of course), half & half, and whipping cream!

BON APPETIT!!!!

Quarter Life Crisis

Before I begin, I want to say that this is a whiny post. I realize there are others in this world much much worse off than me.

My best friend is coming into town next week on her birthday. It's her 25th birthday and I want to do something special. As I thought about, I realized that Noah will be 26 ...and then I realized that I will be 25 (oh the horror). Everyone older than you says, "oh you're so young!" But you don't feel that young anymore. When it rains, my hip hurts from an old dance injury.THAT NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE! My metabolism has slowed WAY down. And before you could blame things on being a teenager or a college student. You could say things like, "It's ok I don't have a plan because I just graduated from college." College is becoming a distant memory and I fear I won't remember at all one day...

Typical college day:

Wake up (late) to watch Regis & Kelly

Go to class in a t-shirt, yoga pants, and a sweatshirt

Exercise

Take a dance class

Eat

Go to another class

Take a nap/watch Oprah or Friends on DVD

Study

Eat

Party

REPEAT

Oh the life...

The only thing I had to worry about was me. Now, I'm lucky if anything is about me. From work, Noah, Jeter, laundry, mortgage, dishes, bills, cooking, cleaning, Junior League, etc., I'm on the bottom of the priority list. Don't get me wrong because I love my life. However, it's hard to transition from little to no responsibilities to a million responsibilities.

LIFE.

That's what life is all about. And even though I find more meaning and joy in my life than I did when I was younger, I can feel my youth slipping away (ok that's being dramatic). I guess I'm just realizing that I need to really think about my future. Everything has been mapped out for me until now. Now it's up to Noah and me to plan for our future. Sounds simple in theory but I have absolutely no idea which path to take. I really don't. It's frustrating and confusing. Should I go back to school? What should I go back to school for? When does Noah want to go back to school? When should we try to have kids? When should we get another dog? (most important question in my mind right now haha) You want to do something meaningful with your life.

At the end of the day, I need to remind myself that Noah, Jeter and I are healthy and happy and we have wonderful (and supportive) parents.

And if that doesn't make me feel better, I will count down the days until our next vacation...