A Few Things You Might Not Know About Me

So since I have admitted to struggling with blog content, I am forcing myself to get a little creative. I wrote a few here in this post back last July, but I figured I would try and give you a little more information that you might not know about me. So here it goes, 10 Things You Might Not Know About Me:

1. After 4 years of working and being out of college, I have no problem sleeping in till 11am. I have never been a morning person, ask roomates, parents, husband, dog, they will all agree, I don’t wake up early. So it definitley stinks that I have to wake up so early for work, but come the weekend, I can snooze until noon no problemo. Adam for the most part can too, not quite until noon, but close – he usually wakes up before me. A lot of people say that they just can’t sleep in anymore, not me, nope. And the best part about all of this is that Emme sleeps in too! Yes you heard it right, we have trained our dog to sleep in with us, that way we don’t have to wake up early to let her outside. We are quite certain that once we bring babies into this world that will not be the case, and then, yes maybe then I won’t be able to sleep in anymore. I am getting a little better though because I don’t like to waste half my day as my mom used to say to me, but sometimes, especially if it’s raining outside, there’s nothing like sleeping in on a lazy Saturday morning.

2. I STRONGLY dislike loud noises in the morning. This probably goes along with me not being a morning person, but I personally would like to make an arguement for post traumatic stress syndrome. As a young child, with a brother 5 years older than me, I was frequently tortured seranaded by him. Think “Rise and Shine” at the top of a 12 year old boys lungs. Yep that was me, all the way until he moved out to go to college. I remember grasping at any object I could throw in his general direction, only to be body slammed by one of his WWE wrestling moves on the bed. Yes, I was tramatized as a child. So now in the mornings I like it quiet, I talk softly an appreciate being softly spoken to. Adam has picked up quickly on this and is so sweet about not singing to me in the morning.

3. I really hate stopping to get gas. I don’t know why I find this necessary part of life so utterly irritating! In every car I have ever owned, I knew exactly how far past “E” I could take the car. I know, I know, this is unsafe, bad for the car, etc. For some reason I have always hated getting gas, and thank goodness I have only ever run out of gas 2x in my life. I know this is something I really just need to get over and be responisble about, but for some reason the idea of stopping to get out of the car to get gas just irks me. This is definitley an area of improvement in my life especially now that Adam and I share cars. It happens more often then it should that Adam gets in the car and the tank is on “e,” that’s not very nice of me, definitely need to work on this one.

4. I love reading other people’s blogs. I wouldn’t call myself a blog stalker, ok maybe close, but I just love reading other people’s blogs. I have a list of blogs that I check every day, and then some that I check once in awhile when they cross my mind. I get a little irritated when my regular blogs don’t update frequently which should inspire me to write more because there is nothing more frustrating then a blog that hasn’t been updated for a month. I think it’s interesting to catch a glimpse of someone’s life through their view. It’s amazing how different writing styles can be and how funny some people are. I swear some of these people could be stand up comedians. It inspires me to be a better writer, gives me ideas for activities, cooking etc. It’s just a lot of fun to read good blogs. Something interesting though, I don’t really like twitter all that much. I know it’s the new thing, and they’re supposed to be like ‘mini-blogs,’ but I just haven’t found too many people’s twitter sites that are really that interesting. And my phone is like a bazillion years old, so there’s no point in me trying, although I did set up an account. I think I twittered once about riding the bus and I’m pretty sure that’s the last time I twittered, I don’t even remember my name.

5. I didn’t learn to ride my bike without training wheels until I was seven, and I’m still not a very good bike rider. Overall, I would consider myself a pretty athletic person, I mean I’m not uncoordinated, I like playing different sports, but for some reason riding a bike has never been a strength of mine. I made my brother really nervous through out college, riding around on campus, running into stationary objects, it just wasn’t good. I’m not quite sure what my issue is, I get really close to things (poles, pillars, parked cars, people, etc.) and I get really nervous and end up running into something. About a year and a half ago I purchased an urban bike that I loved, but was still a little bit unstable on. And now you can read #6 and understand the picture above.

6. I am doing a triathlon over Labor Day, and I’m a little nervous (see #5). Yes I know, bicycling is part of the triathlon, hence my hesitation. I have nightmares of causing wrecks like the picture above #5. But overall I am more excited than I am nervous. Adam and I have all of our equipment now, swimsuits, road bikes (thanks Stac), clips & shoes, all the gear. Ironically, my brother will be watching us at the triathlon in Austin, probably chewing off all his nails during the 12 miles that I am on the bicycle, but it will be a fun experience. Labor Day falls right in between Adam & I’s birthdays, and the current plan is to rent a house on Lake Travis with the family and Chris is supposed to be coming down. We’ll see how it goes, we are working hard to get ready for it.

7. Friday Night is still Date Night. For the most part Adam and I have done pretty good about keeping up with our Friday night tradition of having date night. Everyonce in awhile there are some weeks that don’t work out well, but we try and squeeze it in there sometime around the weekend. It’s funny to see how it’s evovled over just 7 months. It’s not always a surprise, and sometimes we don’t even leave the house, but I still love sitting down and havign some great quality time with him. He is super sweet about understanding my need for just time to sit down and talk with him, he’s so great about that. I am excited to see what this will evolve to over the next few years as our lives begin to change. I know life gets busy, but I hope never too busy to not make time to sit down with my husband and talk, really talk to him. I think my favorite date nights have been over a glass of wine, talking about our future, fears, goals, ideas, and dreams. I am learning that I love dreaming with him. Big ideas, big dreams, big hopes. I love it when he shares these things with me because it gives me big prayers to pray over him, and I think the Lord delights in that – when His children dream big. All that to say, date night is still going strong, and I love Adam more each day. (ok enough mushy talk)

8. I listen to Pandora every day at work. I probably have like 25 stations that I go back and forth between. From Madonna, to A Fine Frenzy, to Explosions in the Sky – I like it all, and I love the variety that it gives me. I’ve found a ton of new artists on there is well which is always fun. My job requires a lot of detail-oriented work, but for some reason I am able to concentrate better when I am listening to music. Many people at work have radios that they play, and I would use one if it had an iPod dock on it, but for the most part I find music on the radio to be extremely boring, repetitive, and the people on air usually annoy me – I really wish someone out there would come out with a good radio station. And I’m off my soap-box about radio stations – anyways, listen to pandora, I promise you’ll find something you love.

9. I love reading. When I was little I remember always reading books before bed with my parents, especially my mom, I had a stack I don’t know how high of different books with glossy pictures and pages. Specifically I remember this one about a hippo that bakes a cake, he put everything he had in his kitchen into the cake, it looked pretty tasty. I digress. From those nights of reading with mom up until now I have not stopped. Some friends and I started a book club (book swap to be exact). When I find a book that I really love I will finish it in a number of days. Oddly though, I have a difficult time reading multiple books at the same time. My mom and brother are pros at this, but I can’t seem to start another book when I haven’t finished another one. I love the Harry Potter series of books, all of those were finished in less than 3 or 4 days. Twilight series done. Anything from C.S. Lewis to the Shopoholic books I like to read, it’s fun, it’s a nice escape. It’s worked out well so far with Adam, usually I am snuggled on the couch next to him while he is working on his rank playing Call of Duty, it works.

That’s all I can think of right now, but I will come up with more soon!

Cool Site

You can get those at wordle.net, pretty cool huh?

Picture for Today

So sweet. Adam. Kayaking. Lake LBJ.

(Picture by Natalie Boudreaux Hebert)

My Take on John & Kate

So, I’ve been watching the show Jon & Kate Plus 8 for some time. I think the kids are adorable, and it’s interesting to get a look into other people’s family, especially one that is so large. As many people know, there have been all kinds of rumors floating around about him cheating on her, her cheating on him – all that to say, I’m sure they only know the truth. And it’s even more difficult to know the real story with all of television’s ‘creative editing’ and producers that need high ratings. And I’m usually not one to comment a ton on reality TV, but for some reason, last night’s episode has been on my mind.

So for those of you who don’t watch the show, basically it’s a reality TV show about a family “Jon & Kate” and then they have a set of twins who are like 8 or 9 I think, and then they have sextuplets who are 5 years old, needless to say there life is pretty hectic. Last night was a heartbreaking show where they announced that they were getting divorced.

I know that divorce has become such a common thing in Hollywood, heck even in every day life (what’s the statistic now, +50%), but I guess I hoped that they would find a way to push through it. If you’ve watched the show, the producers have done a good job as portraying Kate as the bossy/selfish/pants-wearing wife/mom, while Jon was protrayed as the passive/pushover/’yes Kate’ dad/husband. Now whether that was a true depiction of them, who knows, but I’m sure it’s based on some sort of truth, and I don’t think that their story is a new one. The bossy wife who pushes her passive husband away to the point that he becomes resentful/hateful. That is definitley the way it appeared on last night’s show. Kate appeared to be very sad, saying that this isn’t what she wanted – she didn’t want to be alone, Jon wouldn’t talk to her anymore; while Jon appeared to be almost happy about his new freedom, saying this was for the best, etc.. All the while they both kept repeating the phrase, “our kids are the most important priority,” they always have been and they always will be.

Anyways, I was thinking a lot last night while I was waiting to fall asleep about my marriage and our future family, Lord willing. I’m pretty nervous about having kids, I don’t think that’s a secret to anyone that knows me. Kids are a big deal. I’ve seen many people in my life make their kids “their #1 priority” while their marriages fall to pieces. And it makes me think about a couple things:

1. Should kids be your #1 priority? Even ahead of your marriage?
2. What does it do to your kids when they become your only focus?
3. Why does it seem so many mother’s priorities seem to be something like this 1. kids, 2. daily duties/job,
3. “God”, 4. husband, 5. self

Maybe I am being judgemental, and it is absolutley correct that I have no idea what it would be like to be a mom, but I can’t seem to get past the fact that your husband should come first, before your kids. After God, which should be first – your husband/your marriage should come next. Maybe it’s hard to do once you have a family, maybe it’s not right, I don’t know – just talking out loud here. But it makes sense to me, if your kids are important to you, then they need a mom and dad that are united, not just for ‘the kids,’ but that are truley one unit, and to me, the only way to accomplish that is to put the marriage ahead of the kids

Adam and I have been so blessed to have some great people pour some great wisdom into our lives, and I hope that when the time comes for us to have a family that we will be able to remember what they have shared with us. And we have menitoned so many times before that divorce is not even an option, it’s just not. And I know that it’s easy to say now, and that more than likely at some point it will be more difficult to keep saying, but that is what we believe. It’s sad that this reality family that has made so much money and fame on TV, and what started as a great idea now shows a family in ruins. I know the Lord can work through any situation and I pray that He will here for sure.

I was reading this morning some people’s advice to this couple, “watch Fireproof – it will save your marriage, get counseling, pray, get divorced it’s over, Kate you should leave him, Jon – way to go! she was mean, etc.” And the truth is that we don’t know the truth about their marriage, I hope that they have people close to them that are speaking truth into their lives, and I pray that if Adam and I ever face rough and difficult times in our future, that we will have people walking beside us who arent’ afraid to speak harsh truth into our lives at that time. This post has been a little random, just some thoughts I wanted to share.

Give Me Something Good

I’ll be the first to admit that my blogging has been lacking lately. I have a list of things to blog about, but for some reason seem unable to find the desire to do so. It’s so crazy how some people seem to just be able to blog effortlessly. There are a few blogs that I follow, and these women post EVERY single day – and not only that, they are well written, meaningful, and funny! So much so that I get a little intimidated when I think of what I want to post about. So that’s why I have the list, but by the time I get around to writing, that list just seems ordinary and kind of boring I guess. Anyways, I guess this is what they call a writer’s slump, well I’m not a writer, so maybe a blogger’s slump. I’ll get through it, and I’ll come up with something good, promise!

Look Out for These Ladies…

For as long as I can remember my cousins have been dancing. I remember making up performances between the ages of like 7-10 on Thanksgiving and Christmas to perform for the family, many of which involved complicated lifts (as complicated as you can get for 7 years old). Well, these lovely ladies, all grown up and still dancing are heading to Phoenix at the end of June to audition for “So You Think You Can Dance.” It went a little something like this, Jess, Adam, and I were sitting in our living room watching the current season of the show, and audition after audition, she was like, I could totally do that – in a totally humble way of course. When the show ended, we got on the computer to look up audition dates, noting that they were already auditioning for the next season. Well, to her surprise – they had an audition in Phoenix on the 26th of June. Within about 15 minuites she had called both sisters, and they all agreed they were heading to Phoenix to audition. I am so proud of her, for those of you who haven’t had the priviledge to see her dance, she is amazing. I think they have a great ’story’ for the producers, not to mention they are all phenomenal dancers. The auditions sound pretty brutal. So keep them in your prayers, this is definiltey a big step for her in making her dream a reality. So glad that she is not only my cousin, but one of my very closest friends, as close as a sister. Good luck ladies!!

Congrats Stacey and Jeff!!!!

Yea!!! Stacey and Jeff are getting married! I am so excited for them! A couple months ago we were out celebrating a friends birthday party and Adam was watching Jeff and he leaned over and said to me, “He wants to marry her.” I asked him how he knew, and Adam said, “You can just tell, look at the way he is looking at her.” It is such a blessing to know that your friend is marrying a man that truley loves and cherishes her. I won’t spoil the story of his proposal (although it was amazing!!) – I figure this is the perfect time for Stacey to start her own blog (hint hint) Anyways, congratulations, love you both!!

I Braved the Sushi

It’s not a secret that I really like sushi, when Adam and I lived downtown I think we ate it at least once a week. Since moving to the burbs, we have decreased our intake of raw fish, only because the supply is a little more limited. So, today I was feeling the need for some sushi, and they just put in a new cafeteria downstairs at work. Now this is not your typical work cafeteria, the food is usually always great and fresh, and not especially cheap. I’ve walked by the new sushi counter a couple times, a little aprehensive about raw fish at work, the two don’t seem to go together to well for some reason in my mind. But today they had a great roll: tuna, jalepeno, and cream cheese – wrapped in soy paper. And the pieces of sushi (raw fish with rice) looked great too. So I did it, I bit the bullet and ate the sushi, and it was great, not the best I’ve ever had, but good. Now let’s hope I don’t get sick in a few hours because that would kinda suck.

Online Coupon Codes

For your monthly installment of how to save more money, I would like to discuss one of the many amazing things the internet has to offer you. I have been shopping more and more online these days just out of sheer convenience and there are so many great things out there to buy. Most recently I purchased some Mother’s Day gifts and as I was about to check out, I googled coupon codes for the store I was shopping at. It went something like this:

Stacey got me some super cute notepads from Erin Condren who makes such cute stationary, calenders, etc. She has some really really good stuff that is high quality. I got some stuff for Adam’s mom and my mom, and I got some more of the notepads that I loved so much (thanks Stac). These are the one she got me, they said “lindseyashworth”

As I was about to check out, I went and googled “Erin Condren Coupon Codes” I had done this recently on a flower order and saved 20% so I figured it was worth a try. Well, I found two coupon codes – one for $20 and the other for 35% off!! They were “tinyorange” and “luckybreaks6″ if you are interested. And I saved more than $40 on my order – now that’s a bargain. So from now on, it only take a couple minutes just google “name of store coupon codes” and you will surely come up with something.

Another tidbit of information I have for all you coupon clippers out there…I found an incredible coupon organizer. Now if you’re saying, I have my method and it works fine, well you’re wrong because this one is way better, I promise and it’s only $15. It’s called the couponizer and it will change your life. Jessica told me about it, she heard about it from this woman called the Coupon Contessa that is on Great Day Houston every Friday. She has a blog that is pretty good, she let’s you know about some good deals. Here are some pictures of my Couponizer. I put my stapler and mouse next to the bag so that you could get an idea of how big it is. It comes with the bag and stuff too:

So that’s all I have for today. I will have to tell you guys soon about the new budgeting software Adam & I found from our friend Asher – it is incredible, this too will change your life, but I think this is good enough for now!

Date Nights

Adam and I are pretty good about trying to make sure we have a date night a week. Sometimes depending on our schedule it can get a little hectic, but we try to fit it in – even if it’s just watching a movie at home. Well, for a long time now we have been eyeing the XBox 360 at the store. When we went to NYC back in 2007, we spent a good amoutn of time playing Halo at my brother’s apartment – probably too much time. There was a specific night that I remember one time where we stayed up literally all night long playing James Bond on PS2 until we beat the game. Well, with all the rain keeping us indoors, we decided to go and get the XBox, and I definitley wasn’t dissappointed.

We beat Halo 3 on medium within the first weekend and got Call of Duty 4 which I have yet to master. I am not so good at the walking and turning my head at the same time – but I am learning. We had a blast playing it that rainy weekend, it was nice to do something fun and totally mindless since there was no point in going outside. There’s something fun about just sitting curled up on the couch playing XBox with my hubby – I love it.

On another note, we also made another purchase and that’s a GRILL!! Now I know those of you that have had these for awhile are like, so what, no biggy – it’s a grill. BUT, for those of you that have cooked on a stove or in an oven for 4+ years, you know exactly what I am talking about. It has changed our lives, we have cooked on it almost every single night since we bought it a couple weeks ago. It was relatively inexpensive, we bought it at Lowes, I definiltey recommend it. Adam has done all the grilling thus far and it tastes awesome, I think everything tastes better on the grill:

Adam hard at work:

His creation, it was so stinking good (I should have gotten an after shot – this was before they got put on the grill):

That’s all the updates for now, have a great weekend!!