Finale Friday: Lazy Me

Okay, okay.  I admit it - I've been a lazy blogger this week.  I didn't blog Wednesday OR Thursday.  I would like to blame it on the fact that I've been too busy, but I haven't been.  I think it's more or less because I don't always have super great ideas for Wednesday's and Thursday's themes.  So I'm thinking about changing them or nixing them altogether.  We'll see.  On to the important stuff though...

I realized that I totally forgot to tell you how Zumba was a couple of weeks ago.  It was FANTASTIC!  What a great workout, people!  I don't think I've ever worked out that hard in my life (not that I've worked out that much in my life ever anyway).  Since Zumba I decided I should really actually use my gym membership and workout more often, so I have been.  But, back to the lazy thing, I only worked out once this week.  This actually is because I haven't been able to find a good time to go.  Hoping that next week will be better in that realm.

This week I got my new glasses! 

Front View

Side View

I love them.  You can't really tell from these pics (sorry for the not-so-great lighting), but they're a dark purple color.  And I love the intricate design on the sides.  So I'm enjoying them, especially since they were less than $20!!!

My car is having some health issues - big surprise.  This always stresses me out a bit.  I really need a new car, but I don't exactly make bank.  So I'm going to deal with it.  My daddy says that it's probably the brake pads and the rotors (or something like that).  And I'm hoping it's an easy and relatively inexpensive fix.  This is one of those times when I especially miss living close to my family because my daddy can't just take my car in to get it fixed for me.  I have to be an adult and get it done myself.  Growing up is yuck sometimes.  Haha.

Speaking of growing up, I filed my taxes by myself this year!  Woohoo!  And I'm actually getting back a decent amount!  Unfortunately, the money will leave my account almost as soon as it reaches it.  Fortunately, I'm completely okay with that.  

I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day (or S.A.D. - Single Awareness Day).  Next time I give my weekly recap, I'll be 24!

Finale Friday: Sweet Stuff

This week has been a pretty good one, except for the fact that I'm one day ahead of myself - I woke up Wednesday and thought it was Thursday (same goes for Thursday thinking it was Friday).  Talk about a bummer!  Oh well.  :)

Probably the most exciting thing about this last week was our singles small group.  The first week kind of got off to a rocky-ish start because there wasn't a very big turnout.  So that was sad.  Going into this last week (our second week), I was anxious about whether or not we took the right approach for the group.  Boy did God ever turn that thought away!

Our meeting this week was SO fun!  I decided to take a fellowship approach with it this week since the singles group concept is really new at our church, and we had a game night.  Cindy, our lovely host, made amazing turkey chili, and we played "The Game of Things."  And it couldn't have gone better!  We had a blast with that.  After a little while Cindy's son, who is also in the group but had to work that night, got home, and we all sat around joking, laughing, tearing up from laughing, and chatting.  In fact, we enjoyed ourselves so much that we didn't leave until 11 pm!  Thank goodness Cindy loves the company!  I feel so blessed about this group and can't wait to see where the Lord takes us next!

I also scored a fabulous deal this week!  Only problem is I can't tell you about it until next Friday because it's going to be a gift for someone super sweet...and it's not Matthew!  I bet you're eager to find out that one.  I can't wait to tell you either!

Matthew gave me my Valentine's gift the other night, and he sure knows me!

It's a cupcake stand with Valentine cupcake liners filled with candy!  He may have had a few - accidental - hints.  We were shopping together one day when I saw the cupcake stand and raved about it.  And there's no hiding how much I love candy.  Seriously.  He's a smart one.  And since I now have cupcake liners and a cupcake stand, I had to buy Valentine cupcake mix and Valentine frosting!  I think I'm going to make them for our small group!  Can't wait to post pics for you!

The only other thing I'd like to mention - the last thing, I promise - is that my birthday is only 12 days away.  Just in case you need a reminder.  ;)

Have a great weekend!

Finale Friday: Non-boring Week

This week has been a fun one - not necessarily for any particular reason.  It just hasn't been boring.

Matthew took the Accuplacer earlier this week and got fantastic scores on all of the sections.  He did so well, in fact, that he qualifies for an apprenticeship at the shipyard!  Thanks for your prayers in that regard.  Today he's going to the shipyard career fair with several of his portfolios in hand, and we're praying he'll find favor in their eyes.

I've been working, as usual.  Nothing new to report there.

Yesterday morning I had coffee with a sweet, sweet friend from church (we meet every other Thursday morning), and we had a great time catching up from before Christmas.  And, to make it even better, we met at our usual coffee shop, which is always delightful.

I don't know if you guys caught my weekend update this last weekend, but one of the pics was a purse that I bought on Sunday.  I've had my eye on it for several months now but didn't want to pay full price for it.  Well it was the last one on clearance at Old Navy on Sunday, AND all their clearance was half off!  So I got the purse for the big whopping price of $4.25!  I was rather impressed with myself.  :)

I'm also really excited because I'm trying out Zumba for the first time tomorrow!  My friend, Denise, has been bugging me to go with her for a while now, but I've had something going on every time she's invited me.  But tomorrow I finally have the chance to go, and I'm super stoked!  I've heard it's a blast, and I'm excited to test it out myself.  I'll let you know how it goes!

My last exciting thing to tell you is that I got a new pair of glasses online this morning for less than $20!!!  One of the blogs I read regularly - The Frugal Girls - posted this awesome deal last night for 10,000 free pairs of glasses, and all you have to do is "like" this one company on Facebook to get a free pair (lenses included).  The catch is that it only lasted from 9 am to 12 pm EST, which is 3 hours ahead of me.  So I woke up at 6 this morning to snag a pair of my own.  They're not a very "typical" pair of glasses for me, but I thought I'd be a little spontaneous and try out something new.  After all, they're less than $20!  I'll be sure to post pics when I get them!

Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

Finale Friday: Quiet Week

Hey-howdy-hey there!  Week one of daily blogging ends today, and I can't believe I made it through!  I find myself constantly seeking out blog ideas everywhere I look now - I think we call this border-line obsessed.  Lol.

As far as life goes, things are swell.  This week has gone by exceptionally slow.  I find myself thinking, "Is it really  only  Friday?!"  It hasn't been a particularly bad week or anything - just SLOW.

Some pretty exciting things are going on as far as my leadership roles at church.  I'm the Children's Ministry Coordinator (or something to that effect), and I just met with our associate pastor and the nursery ministry leader to discuss our mission and goals, etc., for our ministries and how they can work together.  I'm super excited about what's going to be happening there.  AND we're hosting a pancake breakfast for our teams to thank them for all their hard work and get some feedback from them.  So much to be excited about!

Another rather new thing going on is that I am now the teacher for our new Singles' Small Group - that Matthew has fondly dubbed "The Quarter-Lifers".  Our church has suddenly had a huge influx of single people come through,, which is super awesome since Matthew and I have been two of the few there for a while.  Matthew has taken on the role of "Shepherd" for our group, which basically means he plans/coordinates our fellowships and service projects - the more social role of the two.  On top of all this, we've had a wonderful new(er) family in our church offer up their home to host our mid-week group!  So our group starts this coming Tuesday, and I can't wait (and any prayers offered up for this budding ministry are much appreciated)!

Other than that, I've been working.  On the up side, I'm in love with my job.  The Lord definitely has me in the right place, or, at least, the right state of mind for what I'm doing.  I've also been reading a lot.  My  parents got me "The Story of the Trapp Family Singers" - the book that was the inspiration for "The Sound of Music" - for Christmas, and I absolutely love it!  I can't put it down.

One last thing, Matthew is trying to get a job at the shipyard up here.  It would be a really great career move for him - really great, actually.  We worked on his resume on Monday, and he'll be going to the career fair at the shipyard at the end of the month.  If you wouldn't mind offering up a prayer for him regarding this pursuit, he - and I - would really appreciate it.

And that's about it for this week.  Nothing too-super-exciting has happened, which I can't say is necessarily a bad thing.  Sometimes quiet weeks are good.  :)

Hope you all have a great end to your week, and look forward to this weekend's "Word-free Weekend" post!

Day-by-Day Themes

One of my goals for this blog is to have 6 weekly entries: 1 for each weekday & 1 for the weekend.  I think having a theme for each entry will make the blog more interesting and also give me a guideline to follow - instead of thinking to myself, "Um...what should I blog about today?"  So with that, I give you the day-by-day themes:

"Made for Monday" will feature something that is made, whether I've made it or it's a guest blogger who has made something.  Either way, Mondays will feature some sort of craft-ish tutorial.  

Not completely unlike "Made for Monday", "Tasteful Tuesday" will feature a recipe that I've tried or that is from a guest blogger. 

"Words of Wisdom Wednesday" will feature some sort of wise words.  This may come from almost any source (i.e., the Bible or a quote) and will include my thoughts on the it. 

"Thrifty Thursday" will - obviously - focus on being thrifty.  In this day and age, frugality is vogue, especially with my limited budget.  Therefore, I'd like to offer up some sort of thrifty idea, advice, or deal that I've come across.

"Finale Friday" will be my chance to sum up my week and/or give updates on what's going on in my life.  I will also likely include goals for the next week for a bit of accountability.  I realize this may not be interesting to everyone, but my family likes to know how I'm doing every once in a while.  ;)  And this is one of the easiest mediums to use since I don't have time to talk to each family member over the phone every week!

Because the weekends are usually filled with laziness stuff to do, I've decided that "Word-Free Weekend" posts will be simply pictures.  After all, a picture is worth a thousand words, right?!

::Side Note::

Every once in a while you'll get to see a "Bonus Blog."  These are basically just blog posts that don't necessarily fit into any of these themes and are added at random points during the week.  No added costs.  ;)

So that's the plan.  Since this blog is a sort of in an experimental stage, it's possible that these themes may change.  And who knows, I might just get crazy and deviate from the themes every once in a while just to spice things up a bit!