Christmas stuff

I thought I would share some of my Christmas decorations with ya all. Here's the thing though: either I've gotten worse at taking pictures or my camera is on its last leg. Almost all of the pictures I took came out really blurry or semi-blurry.  I'm starting with the worst picture so maybe the rest won't look quite so bad.

I made these little shelves a couple weeks ago and was so excited to decorate them for Christmas.  I made them pretty narrow so my husband wouldn't knock them off the wall when walking out of the bathroom or bedroom (like he has with other shelves that have been there).  Since they are so narrow, I didn't have a lot of choices on what to put up there this year.  I'm hoping to find some fun things at after Christmas sales for next year.

Some Christmas in the bedroom...

in the kitchen...

in the living/dining area...

and a few miscellaneous pictures...

I put some greenery, pinecones, and large ornaments in our flower pots this year.  I like the look but I think I need to find bigger pinecones for next year since they got buried under the snow.

Each year I buy a photo frame ornament for our tree.  This is the new one for 2013.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you have a wonderful Christmas season.

lately...

Well I haven't been very good about updating around here {no surprise there} so I'm just going to lump everything into one post.

A couple weeks ago, my mom, aunt, cousin, and I went on a girl's weekend.  We spent two nights at a casino resort and did a little gambling while we were there. I've never really been a gambler, and have actually only played on the machines twice before this trip.  I've never thought it was very fun to sit at a machine and watch your money disappear, but it was pretty fun when I won this at a penny machine.

Last weekend Dave and I went to Palisades State Park to look at the fall colors.  While there wasn't a very strong fall showing, the scenery was still pretty.

I went to my mom's this past weekend.  We worked on a couple projects and did a little shopping while I was home.  We went to a store that is a little piece of Christmas heaven.  The lady who owns it sets up over 50 trees in the store. Love!

Being in there gave me the Christmas itch even more! Only one more month 'til the Christmas decorations come out!

weekend recap

I feel like I didn't do a whole lot this weekend but I must have found something to fill my time because the weekend flew by.  I did do a project I've been wanting to get done for awhile but I'm not sure if I like it or not. Maybe I'll post it later this week.

I also put my Halloween decorations out.

I'm so excited that October starts tomorrow. I have quite a few fun things on the calendar for the month including Dave's birthday and a girl's weekend with my mom, aunt, and cousin.  Maybe I'll actually have a few things to post about this month. ;o)

Have a great week!

weekend recap & VoxBox

Dave and I started out the weekend by going out to supper Friday night and seeing Jobs.  We both thought the movie was good.  I told him that if my butt hadn't have started hurting, I wouldn't have even noticed we'd just sat through a two hour movie.

I woke up early Saturday morning and decided to take a walk around McCrory.  It was already humid but I still managed to spend an hour and a half walking around.  I took some pictures of the few monarchs that were floating around.

Sunday started the MN Vikings season.  To start out the day, Dave pranced through the apartment in his underwear while playing the Christmas song "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year."  I'll spare you a picture of that but will show you how he spent a majority of the first quarter.

Apparently it sends the team good vibes....or something like that.  Must not have worked though since they lost.

I received my first VoxBox this weekend.  I signed up with Influenster over the summer and was surprised to get a box already.  In my box was a coupon for a free Sargento cheese product and a cheese accessory.  I picked up a pack of cheese to make some football food on Sunday.

I have no pictures of the food actually assembled because, well, I forgot I guess. But I think it's probably pretty self explanatory anyway.

Hope ya all have a great week!

lately

Hmmm....I should have waited until tomorrow to post then it would have been exactly two months since I last posted anything.  Sooo...what's been going on lately? Not a whole lot around here which is why I haven't posted I guess.

I've had a pretty quiet summer for the most part.  I've been looking for a new position but either I'm really bad at job hunting or there just isn't much out there right now.  Maybe both.  I love teaching but we really need more money coming in from my side.  But, since I haven't found anything, it's back to the school I go in a few weeks.  I'm mostly ok with that since I like most of my co-workers and love the students.  It would be really nice to have more money...but who doesn't feel that way I guess.

My class held its 15 year reunion on July 3.  Sometimes I can't believe we've been out of high school for 15 years already.  Weren't we just teenagers a couple years ago?  I wasn't sure I was going to go this year but I'm really glad I did.  It's always a good time.  Twenty-five of us graduated together and we usually get about half that attends.

I've been back to my mom's several times this month.  My brother moved into a house so I've been trying to help out where I can.  I painted for about 10 hours one day and went back last week to hang decorations on the walls.

This weekend was pretty awesome.  It felt like fall around here, which always makes me happy.  60s and 70s in July is a good thing in my book.  Dave and I went to Sioux Falls on Saturday.  We visited my grandma for awhile.  It's pretty amazing to be around her and think about the fact that she's 100 years old.  We also visited my sister-in-law's family and went out for supper with them while we were in town.

That's been about it.  I feel the rush coming on to get everything done that I should have been doing over the summer before school starts.

Oh, and I've been Pinning lots of outfit ideas in hopes of dressing better this school year.  Seriously, I'm about as good as a 7 year old at putting outfits together.

So, anyone still reading this 'ol blog here?

Last Day

Today was the last day of school.  I've been looking forward to this day for several weeks.  The winter was long which seemed to make the school year feel especially long as well.  But, I've also been dreading this day a little too.

I was lucky enough to get to teach the same three students for the past two years.  These kids were an awesome group.  They were so fun to teach and be around every day.  I'm going to miss the before the bell visits, hugs, Axe deodorant, their senses of humor, and spending each day with them.

It was very hard for me to say goodbye today.  As much as I hate to cry in front of people, I couldn't stop the tears as I got one last hug from "my kids".

Each one took a little piece of my heart with them as they left today.

weekend recap and so on

• Dave and I went out for Mexican & a movie Friday night. We saw 42, which was really good.
• Saturday night we watched our niece go through grand march at the prom.
• We met my mom and brother in Huron for lunch on Sunday. 
• I started the couch-to-5k training again today.  I ran through each running session, with no breaks, and even ran an extra minute at the end.  Huge improvement from the other times I've started it.
• 83 days until we run The Color Run. Saying I should have started the C25K weeks ago would be a huge understatement.  I am so excited though and can't wait to cross this off my bucket list.

• We're a full month into spring and this is what it looks like outside today:

Yeah, not cool.  We got out of school at 1:30 today.  Third week in a row that we've had time off because of the snow. 

Spring has to arrive sometime, right?!

color run photo source

March & April goal

So my March goal was to lose 10 pounds. I lost 5.6 pounds so uhhh....not even close.  I started clean eating and Jillian's 30 day shred half way through the month and my weight didn't budge after that. So, so frustrating.  It is so discouraging to bust your ass and eat great and see no results (on the scale).  I know that I need to pay attention to how I feel, and that clean eating and exercising hard will eventually lead to the weight coming off.....blah, blah, blah. That number on the scale messes with my head though and so in order to actually pay attention to those other things, I'm staying of the scale this month.

I weighed in on April 1st and won't step on again until the 30th. Hopefully I'll have a better report next month!!

weekend recap

My mom and I went shopping together in Sioux Falls on Saturday.  We hit most of my favorite stores but I didn't buy a whole lot.  Just a couple car air fresheners at Bath & Body Works and some picture frames at Michaels.  We also stopped at a cupcake shop while we were in town.  I got a smores cupcake that was sooo good!

Dave and I just hung out around home Saturday night.  I can't even remember what we did other than make a HyVee run for supper. We're super exciting sometimes. ;o)

Sunday we did some grocery shopping and ran some errands.  I spent most of the afternoon making hairties and listing them on Etsy.

lillyleetree.etsy.com if you're interested :o)

We went to Cherry Berry for a treat once I was done.

And yes, I did just post about trying to lose 10 pounds this month and then ate cupcakes and frozen yogurt over the weekend.

Hope ya all had a good weekend and have a great week!

march goal

I've been tracking my weight losses (and gains) in Excel since last summer.  That line that is suppose to be going down has been looking like a rollercoaster instead.



Uff da.  Thankfully I've started it in the right direction again but I really need to get serious about it.  So, this month's goal is to lose 10 pounds in the next 30 days. 


Totally have this song in my head now.

february goal recap

I can't decide if I accomplished this or not.  I didn't eat any fast food this month but I did eat at Jimmy John's twice....which I suppose technically would be fast food.

Ok so that's all I have to say about that.

my new favorite snack

This is probably one of my favorite food pins.  That's saying a lot because I have pinned a lot of recipes that are really good but not so healthy.  This one is super simple and healthy too!

Source: letstalkfitness.com via Nichole on Pinterest

So you take this...

Slice up the apples thinly then juice the orange and lemon over top.  Let it soak for awhile.  That's it. 

I have been using half of a lemon because the oranges I bought aren't very sweet.

Enjoy!

weekend recap

I looked out the window shortly after I woke up Saturday morning and saw everything was covered with a thick layer of frost so I went out to take some pictures. 

I stopped to visit some horses while I was out.  Last winter I tried to get some pictures of these horses but they were not interested in me at all and ran to the other side of the pasture.  They were much friendlier this year and stopped eating to come see what I was doing.

I wish this one was a little clearer but I like it anyway.

Dave and I went to Sioux Falls later that morning to do my six month ring cleaning.  We stopped to get gas and drinks before leaving town.  I grabbed these chips to try.

Ew. I ate one chip and that was enough.

We did a little shopping while in town but didn't buy much.  We went to visit my grandma (the one who turned 100 a couple months ago).  She had a mini-stroke Friday night/Saturday morning.  We didn't stay very long because we could tell that she was exhausted but was trying to be a good hostess and stay awake while she had company.

We went to my BIL's house Sunday to help celebrate our niece and nephew's birthdays. 

We spent a few hours there.  Sarah and I went out to take a few pictures but it was windy and chilly so we didn't stay out long.

Have a great week!