55 down...15 to go!

So, as you know I gained a lot of weight while I was preggos. I have just gotten back into working out since my sister died, and I feel a lot better!! I somewhat stalled on the weight loss after the funeral, but I am just glad that I didn't gain weight because I am a big-time-emotional-eater!! As of today I have lost around 56 pounds ( I say around bc I am not sure how much I weighed when I gave birth...I stopped weighing myself 2 weeks before she was born)! While that feels good, I still have at least 15 more to go...I wouldn't mind if I lost more. ha! I put all of my old clothes back in my closet so that I stay motivated and on track. I have been consistent with the gym the past 2 weeks, so I am hoping to see results of my hard work soon. Freddy and I have also been cooking a lot of great-healthy-recipes too. We got a great cookbook by Ellie Krieger. First of all she is a nutritionist, so she knows what she is talking about. Secondly, the recipes are super easy! You should check it out, all of her recipes are made with fresh ingredients and they are very delicious!! This is the one we have:Some of my favorite recipes are fish tacos with chipotle mayo spread, creamy fire roasted red pepper fettuccine, and double chocolate cookies (they only have 110 calories!). The thing I really like is that there are vegetarian recipes in there that my husband likes. I have gone back to only eating fish after much deliberation and also watching Food, Inc. It was appauling to me to see how these animals are treated, what is being fed to them, and what antibiotics and hormones they are given. We have made an agreement that if I do buy meat it is going to be free range and organic. At least those animals are being treated and killed humanely and they are not chock full of hormones and antibiotics. OK, I will get off my soap box now.

2 years ago today....

I married the man of my dreams!! I never thought that I could have loved him more than I did that day, but I find myself falling in love with him more and more. I love the man he is becoming and the father that he is. Thanks for choosing to spend your life with me babe. I love you!!

my birthday!!

On April 10, I turned 25, and that feels old to me. I know it is not old, but it feels old. I didn't want to celebrate my birthday this year. I just thought we would go to the park for lunch and then rent a movie. Well, my AMAZING husband had a different idea. He surprised me with tickets to South Pacific at the historic Fox Theater in Atlanta, and a super nice dinner at vini vidi vici. I was SHOCKED!! These are the things that we loved doing while we lived in Atlanta, and miss terribly here in Augusta. So off we went that morning to Atlanta, and my mom (who was in on it) took care of Ansley. It is really hard to surprise me, so he earns a lot of brownie points for this one. Let me tell you dinner was to die for!! One of my favorite things to do is dine, and they took care of us. This was no Longhorn. They called us by name, we had 3 waiters at our beck and call, and the food was fabulous!! The play was amazing too. It was so nice to have such a great date with my hubby and not have to worry about a fussy baby in a restaurant. All in all it was a fabulous birthday and not the one I was expecting at all!

As you can see my mom needs to brush up on her photography skills, but we are those tiny people in the middle of the room.

After our amazing dinner and on the way to the show!!

chi-town!!

Back in January my mom and I scheduled a girl's trip to Chicago in the middle of March. We never thought that Shelley would be gone, and how perfect the timing of the trip was. It was so great to get away! We had the best time. We went shopping all up and down Michigan Avenue, we saw my good good friend Jean, and we ATE!! Let me tell you Chicago has some terrific food. While we were there we had French, Italian, and Swedish. It doesn't seem like there is a single chain restaurant there, which is a great change of pace because that is all we have in Augusta. It just made me want to go to the taste of Chicago even more!! We didn't do the touristy things while we were there we basically just shopped and ate, which is just what we needed. We went into the Hershey store, and the Ghiradelli store for the hubs and brought him back some chocolate. We also braved the cold, wet, skin-piercing snow. I never realized how much of a true Southerner I was until I was drenched and freezing from snow. It was the harsh snow not the light and fluffy kind. All in all we had a fabulous time and we are doing it again, this time I am think San Fransisco!!!

The fabulous view from the room of the lake.

The infamous water tower.

Me, freezing my nubs off and drenched!

Chicago Tribune

Wrigley Field (thanks Jean for taking the picture)

Me, Jean, and Mom after eating an amazing breakfast at Ann Sather

Snow from the 27th floor

Stealing Daddy's loot, but so cute while doing it.

easter!!

Easter was a pretty rough day, but it was made easier because both my mom and dad came up to visit. My mom came on that Thursday so we got to spend a lot of fun time together. My dad came the day of. After church we were all hungry and I didn't cook, so we decided to go have Mexican. What doesn't say Easter like Mexican?! I think that is a tradition we may keep. :) Growing up we always did Easter egg hunts, even until we were in college! Being that Ansley can't walk yet we decided to nix that tradition this year, and pick it up next year. My sister LOVED the hunts, and I think she was the one who insisted on having them even when we were older. She would say that we had to have them until my cousin Brianna graduated high school, which made us 22, 20, and 26! This was the first holiday with out her and it was very hard, but seeing my little girl in her cute little dress brightened my day. I can't wait to see her face next year when her Easter basket is outside her door and as she goes hunting for eggs!!!

All the ladies, Me, Ansley and Gigi

Mommy and Ansley

Daddy and his princess

Family picture:

Take 1Take 2
Take 3

i'm back, finally!

So, I have taken a brief hiatus from the blog world for obvious reasons. Ansley is growing like a weed, and it takes all my energy just to get out of bed, let alone take care of my precious baby girl. I am still grieving for Shelley and will be for quite a while, but life keeps on going and nothing reminds me of that more than my little one. She has been VERY busy. She mastered crawling, and pulling up like a champ! Now, she is getting brave and moving from object to object. I see walking in our future soon, and I don't know how I feel about that. She has definitely developed her personality and let me tell you, this girl is a mess! She is such a social butterfly when we go to the store or out to eat, she just loves attention. She also likes getting her way, and when she doesn't she pitches a fit...I mean full out drama queen! The other day I just had to laugh because I told her not to get into the fire place (for obvious reasons), and when she kept trying to go over there I would stop her. Well, she did NOT like that at all and just sat on the rug in front of the fire place and wailed. She is very strong willed but also such a happy baby. We get so many laughs and smiles with those two little teeth. She melts my heart and always seems to know when I need one of those teethy grins. Here are a few pictures of what she has been up to for the past month.Hoarding her pacies, she doesn't like to share.

Sweet girl resting her head on me, she NEVER does this, she is not a cuddler, she is a wiggle worm, but you better believe I loved every second of it. (By the way she doesn't match bc it was laundry day)


Too cool for school.
Standing like a big girl.
Standing for the first time at my Nana and Pawpaw's.

Too cute for words, I would say.


Always trying to find a teething ring, she is very resourceful.

angels among us

The angels among us organization supports the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke Univeristy. It is an organization that researches, and treats patients with brain tumors. Brain tumors are very nasty, and quite hard to beat. However, in honor of my sister, our family will be participating in a 5K to help raise money. My sister's team name is Michelle's Avalanches (for her love of hockey), and if you would like to sponsor us we would be honored. The website is www.angelsamongus.org when you get to the main page on the left side there is a tab named "team list" scroll down a bit to the teams registered and from there it is alphabetical. Shelly fought this horrible disease with everything she had. We are doing this so that no other beloved daughter and sister has to die of this horrible disease at 29. Thank you for all of your support during this trying time. I never imagined how hard it was going to be.!

grief stricken

On February 28, my sister passed on after a long battle with brain tumors. She fought hard for so many years and endured so much pain. All the while she would be happy, have a huge smile and just enjoy life. I am empty inside. The loss was very sudden, we were told we would have 4-6 months. I guess God had other plans. The only thing that gives me comfort is knowing that she is no longer in excruciating pain. My sister was my hero and my best friend. I don't know how I will go through life without her encouragement, love and contagious laugh. I just want one more bone crushing hug, I want another text asking me how my day was and to give Ansley a big kiss, I want her to see Ansley grow up, I want to watch Bones with her one more time, I want her back. I know that is selfish, but this all seems like a horrible nightmare. Shelly lived like no one I know. She did anything to pursue her dreams, she always told you how much she loved you, and she fought...she fought for her life, for what she believed in, for who she loved. Shelly...I don't know how we will go on with out you, but I know that you are here with us. I feel your presence when I am with your baby girl Ansley, please watch over my baby, keep her safe. You are so loved and so so missed. My heart breaks when I see reminders of you. I love you sissy and miss you like crazy!!

valentine's day!

So while my mom and sis were here last weekend, we decided to have a fun dinner. My mom and I scoured my house looking for stuff that looked festive. It was so much fun, and I think we did a pretty good job! I had these xmas lights that had gold hearts so I took them off and scattered them on the table. Then, I had these pink peonies that we used as the centerpiece. Finally, I hung hearts from our chandelier that Freddy made for me before we were married. They all have a reason why he loves me on the back, he is so sweet!! Also,we had so much fun at dinner playing this game where there is an envelope on your plat that has random sayings in it that you have to slip into the conversation. It made for some pretty good laughs. One was: "I have got to be more careful with my telekinesis." We truly are a weird family, but I think we are fun.
On valentine's day we went to church and had a pretty relaxed day. My mom babysat for us that night. We decided to go see the move "Valentine's Day" because we thought it was festive. Well, apparently so did all of Augusta, so we changed our plans. Freddy asked me what I wanted to do and I said just walk around Target. That is one of my favorite things to do, and it is really hard when you have a baby who is on a schedule. After that we decided to go to Sonic. Yummy! I know it wasn't a fancy Valentine's day, but it was one of the best I can remember. I love being spontaneous.

Aunt Shelly loves he little b, so she had to get her something for v-day. It is so weird because Ansley loves every gift Michelle gives her, well Shelly got baby girl the cutest little bear. You tell me if she liked it or not.

snow in augusta? really?!!!

Last Friday it was forcasted that we would possibly be getting a few flurries. Well, my unbelieving husband was sure we wouldn't get any at all. Unbeknown to him, my sister was coming for the weekend and where she goes snow follows. With that being said we got 6 INCHES!!! It was so much fun! We had snowball fights, built a snowman as tall as my husband, and just played for hours in the dark like little kids.


Our house all covered in snow. I told Freddy that this was the best our yard has looked in a while.
View from our back porch.
Can you tell someone is excited to play in the snow?

Aunt Shelly and "the little b" as she calls her.

SNOWBALL FIGHT!! You can't really see Freddy and I but just know that I clobbered him a lot!!

Our snowman. Freddy did most of the work because I got bored. Isn't it beautiful?!

Showing off his work to his little snow angel. He even made a snow dog. Every man needs a best friend, right?

The princess all bundled up in a HUGE snow outfit that my mom just happen to buy.

The next morning. The aftermath.....
Beautiful backyard that wasn't demolished with snowball fights.


Shiraz didn't know what to think. He was wigging out big time.
Our neighbor's pretty snow...he obviously didn't play in it.

Freddy's perspective of how deep the snow was. He was out there measuring it every few hours.