Christmas and so many other things

So, after the last couple days I'm very thankful that I have now moved south! Right now Des Moines is under about 14 inches of snow and have snow drifts up to 10 feet!!! They say it's one of the worst snow storms in about 20 years. Craziness!

But speaking of DSM, I was just there last week! I got to take a week off work and go home and it was a great trip! I left the Saturday after Thanksgiving and came home this past Sunday, so I was there for an entire week. Sat when I got into town, I headed straight to my Aunt Joyce and Uncle Denny's house for our Brown family Christmas. It was a great way to see everyone all at the same time... including my brother! That night was the only time that all 5 of us (including Drew) were together. So we got some great pictures taken. One of these days I'll put some pics up on this blog so everyone can see the things I'm talking about!

Sunday was a great day. I went to church at Berean in the morning and then to a small church in Mitchellville that my friend Andrew is now going to. I got to see a lot of my old friends and other people. Sunday night I went to my friend Torrie's house and spent some quality time with my Torrie and Dallas, Andrew, Jen, Mike and Taylor and Drake! I love those kids and was so happy to see them! Monday I ran some errands and then went to Adrian and Drew's to celebrate Drew's birthday. I got to see both sets of his parents and spend some time with my Grandpa Tonsi. Plus spend some time with my crazy little niece! She's so cute and I miss her a lot!

Tuesday put me, Dad, Sue, Courtney and Grandma Howard in the car to Mankato, MN to see Morgan play in his first jazz band concert as a college student. He had a solo in the song O Holy Night (which is my favorite Christmas song!) and did a WONDERFUL job! I was very proud of him! It was a fun little trip to take and to spend some time with everyone in the car. Wednesday I spent the morning at my friend Vanessa's, just catching up on life. She does day care in her home and it was fun to see how all her kiddos have grown. Wed night I went to youth at Berean. It was great to see some familiar faces and to see all the changes that have happened since I've moved. I had the chance after church to go to my friends Bill and Mary's house and hang out with them, Katie, James and Becky. I didn't leave until almost 2am on Thursday! I was tired and thankful for the ability to sleep in on Thursday!

Thursday afternoon I spent the afternoon shopping with Sue. Well, she shopped and I just hung out with her. It was a fun time just spending some one on one time with her. Thursday night I had dinner with my Aunt Sherry and it was great to catch up with her too. Up until Thursday, I had been staying at my parents house, but Thurs night I went to stay with my sister. Got to have some great cuddle time with Jules! I just love her!! Friday, Adrian and I did a little shopping and I went to get my hair done. My Aunt Netty is in cosmetology school, so I went to her and she did a GREAT job! I've gotten so many compliments on it since then! Friday night I went out with my friends to Cheesecake Factory. Fun times! I did buy a piece of cheesecake to eat on Saturday because Sat was my cheat day on my diet! It was yummy too!

On Saturday I spent the day cooking a meal for my family. We had our Christmas on Saturday night and had a lot of people over to my parents house. It was so much fun. I got some really great things from everyone, but the best part was just seeing everyone and spending time with them. We were supposed to have it at Adrian and Drew's but Drew and Julianna were pretty sick so we moved it to my parents. They didn't end up coming that night, so that was a bummer because I would have loved some more time with Jules, but they didn't need to make anyone else sick. It was a great night. I stayed at my parents on Sat night and left about 7:45 Sunday morning. And after 12 hours in the car, I made it home! I was happy to see my puppies! They missed me, I know they did. You can just ask them. Lol!

Anyway, that's pretty much the rundown of my trip! It was a wonderful time and I was able to spend quality time with several groups of people and got to rest some too. It did make me a little more homesick, but I know it's mainly because I hadn't been home in 5 months. So, I'm looking forward to my next trip home. Hopefully that will be sometime in the spring!

Thanks for reading my book! lol!

10 POUNDS!!!!!!!!

I have lost 10 pounds on my diet so far!!!!!!!! Do you know how excited I am right now???? I'm beyond pumped! That's 10 pounds in two and a half weeks. It really does pay to stick it out!

Today has been a good day all around! I went to Sams Club this morning to get these twin Cabbage Patch dolls for my niece and ended up with an 8GB Ipod Nano for myself! It was only $135 and I have been wanting one FOREVER! It does video and has a radio and everything. I LOVE IT! It's a really pretty blue color too.

So, great and exciting day for me all around!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I love you all!!

Well...

Not much to report! Things are good! I'm sticking to my diet and working out every other day. Right now I'm very inspired by Rebecca from this season of the Biggest Loser. She's from Des Moines and started out weighing 279 lbs. She got kicked off last night and after she came home, she continued her journey and ran the DSM half marathon! In 5 months she has lost 122 and now weighs 157 lbs! So, if she can do it, I can do it! I know 5 months is a short amount of time to lose weight and that she had the Biggest Loser trainers and probably works out for hours every day, but she made the choice to start. And so did I! So, thank you Rebecca for helping me achieve my weightloss goals! I'm totally rooting for you to be the at home winner! You can do it!

I hope these blog entries have helped inspire you or at the very least, caused you to think. You can do this! Trust me, if I can make the decision to eat right and healthy, then ANYONE can! God is giving me the strength to keep going and to achieve some discipline in my life. So, maybe this is the jump start you need in your life to start making healthy choices. It doesnt take much to see a difference. Maybe you just need to cut out fast food or pop or something, but whatever it is, do something! Get moving! You WILL see a difference!

Have a good one!

Day 4 and other updates...

Well, today is Day 4 of the 50 Day Fat Loss Challenge, and I've been doing pretty well! You know, I'm actually learning that I like healthy food and it's not too much trouble to eat healthy. So, if you are interested in doing this, check out the 50 day Fat Loss Challenge blog in my previous post.

So, I can't believe that 2 weeks from now Thanksgiving will already be over with! But more importantly, 2 weeks from tomorrow I'm driving home for a week!! I'm so excited to see everyone. I haven't seen my beautiful niece (or anyone else for that matter!) since she turned 3 in June. I'm leaving early Saturday morning and am planning on being gone until the following Sunday. It's going to be a great trip! I've already got most of the week filled up.

Other than waiting to go home and sticking to my diet plan, not much else is going on. I'm getting ready to do a Christmas party for the kids at church. I think I'm going to call it "A Gaudy and Godly Christmas" and we are going to decorate the youth room in as much tacky Christmas stuff as we can find! Should be a fun time!

I hope all is well with all of you!

50-day Fat Loss Challenge

What a great way to start a blog, huh? Well, I've taken the plunge and I'm jumping in with both feet. My friend Becki from back home sent me an invite yesterday on facebook to join her in a 50-day fat loss challenge. Do you believe that God drops exactly what you need in your lap when you need it the most? That's how I feel about this opportunity. I have been wanting to do something like this for a while and had no idea how to get started and how to stay motivated. That's where Becki comes in. I mean, she's a personal trainer and knows how to get healthy and stay that way. So, if she tells me to do it, I'm gonna do it!

The Challenge is for 50 days, so it does take me through the holidays and through my trip home. I'm just going to have to be careful and make sure not to go to overboard. She did give us off Thanksgiving and Christmas as free days, so that will help some.

Anyway, if any of you would like to join me in this little venture, please visit the blog at www.50dayfatlosschallenge.blogspot.com. There are some really great tips on there and who knows, maybe we'll all loose a little weight!

Take care!

update... only about 6 months later...

Ok, so obviously I need to be better at all this blog stuff! lol!!

Things with me are good! I'm living in Atlanta, TX and working for Wells Fargo Bank in Texarkana, TX. I LOVE my job and the people I work with! They are great! I work with several Christian women who do a great job of encouraging me and lifting up my spirits. When I started at Wells Fargo, I started out as a regular teller and was here about 3 months when I received a promotion to a Lead Teller. I felt very fortunate to get the promotion and I truly believe Wells Fargo is a company that believes in promoting from within. I would love to be a Service Manager (the manager that oversees the tellers) some day and I know WF rewards those who work hard for them!

I also have a great little house in Atlanta that I love. My land lord is great! In fact, he stopped by on Sunday to get the rent check and told me he was knocking $100 off my rent for December because it was Christmas time. Who does that?? I also have 2 dogs that I love. One is Chloe and I got her in June. She is a cross between a pug and an Australian terrier. She's very sweet. I also have a puppy named Chance. We found him and 2 other puppies abandoned at our church. The first week went by and there were 3 and then the next week there were just 2 and the last week, all we could find was Chance. He was really sick and very small. I took him home and thanks to a lady in my church, nursed him back to health. Now 3 months later he's bigger than Chloe! I'm still not 100% sure what kind of dog he is, but I just know he's cute!! If I can, I'll try and post some pics of them both.

Not much else is going on. Church is going well. We are slowly growing our numbers. The youth group has had it's ups and downs with different school activities and things, but I think we are on our way up! We are looking forward to changing a lot of things in youth after the first of the year. New youth name, repainting of our youth room, new order of service, etc. I'm excited for the changes that are coming!

Well, that's about all that's currently going on in my life right now! So, see, you didn't really miss much over the last 6 months! Lol! But I do promise to be back sooner this time.

So it's official!!

I start at Century Bank (soon to be Wells Fargo Bank) on Monday at 8:30 in the morning.  I'm excited to get going!  The next step will be a place of my own.  I'm hoping to be in something by May 1st.  That would be my goal.  We'll start praying that happens.  Anyway, just wanted to give a quick update!  Love to all!!