Sarah Says

2015-11-26T23:15:00.000-06:00

At this moment...July 2013

2013-07-08T14:24:00.001-05:00

Loving: My husband - it's hard to be away from him!

Reading:
1. Just finished reading World War Z and the Zombie Survival Guide - both completely different from the blockbuster in theaters now but still very good (if you can get past the mess that is zombies)! If you have spent any amount of time with me over the last few days, you've heard snippets of what's in the books. My emergency management background has definitely latched on to these stories of extreme survival.

2. Now it's back to the world of textbooks with Thinking in Systems...not as big of a page turner as the others.

Watching: Duck Dynasty - it seems to be the only thing that can hold my attention on TV these days.

Anticipating: Getting back home again - hopefully this weekend!

Listening to: Satellite radio - there are so many channels to choose from! I'm being spoiled by driving this work truck around.

Planning: Work. Work is planning. Planning is work.

Wishing: I could order another StitchFix box soon! I could go broke on this though...blog post about it coming soon!

Working on: Drew and I finished yard work this weekend and the house looks pretty amazing! Other than that, it's business as usual.

Thankful: For my loving and supportive husband who let's me chase my dreams.

What are you currently loving, reading, watching, anticipating, listening to, planning, working on, wishing, thankful for, etc.?

Previous At this moment Posts:

An Organizer’s Dream – ErinCondren.com

2013-05-30T22:17:00.001-05:00

I love office supplies! I get excited over a fresh stack of post-its and gel pens. Over the years I have collected countless journals and notebooks because I loved their designs, promise of organization, and crisp white pages. It came as a shock to me that I had so long been out of the loop regarding ErinCondren.com. This site has so many creative ways to get your life and major events planned with a personal touch! Simply opening the package was a delight. It was wrapped so neat and had hidden little bonuses that I didn’t know I was getting. I won’t spoil the surprise for you – you have to order something for yourself to see!

Tuesday Tattles

2013-05-28T21:55:00.001-05:00

The Johnston household embarks on yet more lessons in domesticity. Landscaping and crafting were the names of the game this weekend!

Our yard is now plucked, trimmed, manicured, and hosed. We bricked around our flower beds (I knew I forgot a picture! Update later!) and are planning a vegetable garden in the backyard.

Pictured below:

I may have ~~stole from Pinterest~~ creatively designed a way to get more lighting in the back. I attached solar-powered lanterns to our fence posts with garden hooks. It is so cute and is now my favorite part of the yard!

When we took down the wires that were stabilizing our ~~sapling~~ tree, we discovered that the builders had left us with about 12 feet of bamboo! After several rounds of kung-fu ninja and spear-throwing, we decided to build something for our garden. On Memorial Day, I experimented with Drew’s new hacksaw and zip ties to build a trellis.I know you’re thinking, zip ties? Really? But Drew had about 200 and I didn’t have to spend money on any of it. Free crafting!

Finally, in the third picture below is our ode to our homeland – the products of a shrimp boil for two. Delicious!

Have you done any free crafting lately? It is simply the best. I love making new usable objects from random things. If you have any successful free crafting tips from your home, please share!

Finally, I leave you with a funny yet brief interaction between our pups. Enjoy!

Smilin' in Silpada Style

2013-05-24T18:26:00.001-05:00

My Mom recently became a consultant for Silpada jewelry. I hosted a party at my home and it was so much fun! Plus, for being a hostess and throwing an eligible party, I received $150 worth of free jewelry and 2 half price items!! I chose a charm necklace and three charms. ::hint hint:: ::nudge nudge:: Future birthday/Christmas/anniversary gifts? Maybe? ;-) I also got earring backs and a jewelry cloth.

To learn more about Silpada jewelry or to host a party, follow this link: mysilpada.com/jeanette.lawrence

Road Trips are the Best

2013-04-07T16:34:00.001-05:00

Road trips are the best. Always have been. The occasion can even be for a sad one but as long as I have people I love around me, it brings a smile to my face.

Drew and I drove down to Mobile this past week. I love this handsome man!On the way back to Birmingham, we stopped in Montgomery and watched Adam compete in the State Archery competition! Go Adam!This weekend, friends from Nashville came down to visit. It was a blast having Jermaine and Anna around! And a chance for me to play hostess again! :-p

Have you been on any good road trips lately?

At this moment…April 2013

2013-04-07T14:50:00.001-05:00

Loving: When family and friends come to visit!

Reading: Sadly, nothing at the moment. I must remedy this soon.

Watching: Nashville – I must catch up on a lot of missed episodes. I absolutely love the music and have downloaded one or two songs from the show.

Anticipating: This upcoming week – Bad weather is coming thru Alabama either Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. And the good news is that Drew and I are going to take a membership course for Grace Life Baptist next Sunday.

Listening to: Miranda Lambert – I love her new song “Mama’s Broken Heart.”

Planning: Meals for the next week. Sunday is grocery shopping day. As soon as Drew gets off from work, we’re on our way to Publix.

Working on: Decorating our home, thank you notes, and putting wedding albums together.

Wishing: For good, warm weather!

Thankful: For my upbringing. It’s given me so many keys to success!

What are you currently loving, reading, watching, anticipating, listening to, planning, working on, wishing, thankful for, etc.?

Previous “At this moment…” posts
~ February 2013
~ September 2012

Canton Find

2013-04-01T22:22:00.001-05:00

We finally put together and hung our favorite Canton find from last year! Its a picture frame with the word England cut out.

We both have been to England separately and its our dream to go again together. We picked three pictures each of the same thing and put them in the frame. We have left the L blank for a picture we'll make together one day! Its now hanging near our front door and I love the fun reminder of past and future adventures!

Johnston Family Easter

2013-03-31T21:56:00.001-05:00

Today was our first holiday at our house and my first Easter away from my parents. We went to church at Grace Life then after had a late lunch. We invited Drew’s grandmother and Dad over and also our friends Whitney and Bryant. Whitney brought over a delicious pineapple casserole and cookies for desert. Reminder: Must get her recipe! Nana brought over a beautiful ham.

I made a cheesy cauliflower puff, broccoli and cheese casserole, Velvetta mac ‘n cheese, devilled eggs, green beans, and pinwheels. I’ve never cooked this much food in my life! I was very proud of the accomplishment and even prouder when everyone seemed to like it. Rounding out the menu was French bread and spinach and artichoke dip with crackers.

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter and enjoyed their time with loved ones.

Anxiety, You are my ever constant dog companion.

2013-03-28T21:54:00.002-05:00

I have a very small dog who is very anxious about life. He must know what is happening, who is doing what, and what will happen next...all...the...time. This has, of course, endeared him to me. When I feel myself beginning to be wound up and anxious about things I cannot control, I just look at my dog fretting and pacing. I realize that all my anxiety does is make me look like him - a very fuzzy, furry ball of worry. I then pull him into a big bear hug and calm him down. Or his brother swats him in the head with his paw. Either way, my dog gets snapped out of it and we're all at peace again.

Tonight I'm on the edge of my own fuzzy, furry ball of worry. I just...within the past five minutes...submitted my application for a doctoral program. But I'm going to do my best and not think about it. As badly as I want a response yesterday, I'm going to let go...and let God pull me into a big bear hug and calm me down.

And my Ah-Ha moment of the day:

At this moment...February 2013

2013-02-28T20:11:00.000-06:00

***I again borrow this post from LifeofaBamaGirl. I love reading your blog!***

What are you currently loving, reading, watching, anticipating, listening to, planning, working on, wishing, thankful for, etc.?

Loving - Being married for one month, 2 days, and 5 hours :-)
Reading - Most recent thing I read was the plane magazine as I flew between Austin and Houston.
Watching - People patiently waiting for their next flight. My favorite tv show Downton Abbey just ended a week or two ago. I screamed at the season finale. Didn't you all feel the same?!
Anticipating - Getting back to Birmingham and home! My flight was just delayed so I won't be flying in until 10:30 tonight. I'm also HIGHLY anticipating the Foley BBQ & Blues Festival on March 16th!
Listening to - Airport chatter...if you can't tell...I'm at the airport. My most recent music downloads were "Thrift Shop" by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, "It's Time" by Imagine Dragons, and "Ho Hey" by The Lumineers. In a shout out to undergrad, I downloaded Evanescence this month too.
Planning - Some down time this weekend...a little home organizing and yard cleaning. And ordering our wedding photos! They're finally ready!
Working on - Learning the new Logistics course while I'm at the airport so I can teach it first thing tomorrow morning.
Wishing - I lived just a bit closer to the beach or somewhere that doesn't get as cold as it does here.
Thankful for - My amazing husband who is so sweet, caring, respectful, and kind. He's the best. That's why I married him. :-)

Austin, Texas

2013-02-27T23:07:00.003-06:00

I'm in Austin, Texas for training this week. Monday it was quite bumpy trying to get here. My flight to Houston was delayed by an hour. We then sat on the tarmac for another 30 minutes while the air traffic controllers re-routed us around the storm. I landed in Houston one minute before my second flight left for Austin. I was placed on another flight that left 3 hours later.

In the meantime I got to explore the many terminals of the airport. In undergrad, I took a course called Principles of Planning. We devoted a lot of our studies to transportation systems...this has a point I promise. In transportation systems we studied airports. It's been logged in my brain as just interesting facts but it was still neat to apply to my situation. Depending on the time the airport was built, its layout was determined by the needs at that time. Houston's airport was built at a time when people could drive and park right outside their terminal. We know today that that will never be allowed again. But you still see all of the available spots around each terminal - now used primarily for airport staff. This has left the airport extremely spread out and is why you must take a train between terminals.

...This is what entertains my thoughts...lol

Yesterday, I and 29 other people learned a new volunteer management system. Next week we will be teaching 180 instructors how to teach the new program. It's been a fast-paced intensive three days. We end tomorrow with the final plan layout for next week.

I can't wait to get home though! I celebrated my one month anniversary two states away from my husband. It will be good to land back in Bama!

The Johnstons Start Their Adventure Together

2013-02-14T12:23:00.002-06:00

Wow it's definitely been a minute since I posted! Life got very busy there and are finally slowing down a little. Thanksgiving, Graduation, Christmas/Birthday, New Year's, Wedding, and Honeymoon all since last I posted. We are anxiously awaiting the pictures from our wedding which I will post on here but in the meantime, please enjoy the pics we took on our adventure to Mexico, Belize, and Honduras!

Turkey TakeOut

2012-11-22T08:38:00.001-06:00

I'm home for the holidays and celebrating the start to Thanksgiving Day by volunteering at Turkey TakeOut at Foley Elementary. This is the third year of the event. In the first year, we served 250 people in Foley and the surrounding areas. Last year, we served 500. This year, we will be serving 1000!

We smoked 125 turkeys this year. That's a lot of turkey! We will be providing a full Thanksgiving feast to each family along with 2 bags of groceries. I'm waiting now to drive out to four families. For more information on Turkey TakeOut, visit the web page at turkeytakeout.com or like them on Facebook!

Challenge Week 2

2012-10-30T13:01:00.000-05:00

Lunch break post!

I forgot to post yesterday but it was kind of a busy day.

First - I've definitely kicked my exercise routine up a notch. My good friend Sarah is now my gym partner and has been great at encouraging me over the past two weeks. We have been going to the gym almost every day and working out at minimum of an hour and a half each time. Yay muscle strength!

Second - 1 more pound off the scale this week. That makes a total of 2.4 pounds in 2 weeks. Of course I would love to see it rapidly fall off but I've been reminded that this is a healthy weightloss.

Third - Yesterday Drew and I did the 1st walk-thru of our house with the builder. Friday will be our final walk-thru and then we close on Monday of next week! But there will be a separate post on that later.

Got to get back to lunch. Hope you're having a happy Tuesday!

Challenge…Accepted!

2012-10-22T22:59:00.001-05:00

I’ve joined a fitness challenge and I’m doing my best to not let my competitive spirit destroy my running shoes. We are two weeks in to a 10 week challenge where participants compete to lose the greatest percentage of weight healthily. There are prizes weekly and an overall monetary prize at the end.

This competition couldn’t come at a better time. Today marks 96 days until our wedding and I want to be in tip-top shape for my walk down the aisle. I also know that I have the tendency to be ~~lazy~~ not very active and think this competition could really help me start making healthier plans for my life.

Each week we are challenged to exercise at least 150 minutes and keep track of our food consumption on MyFitness Pal. If you want to join in on the fun, you can join the website for free. My username is selawrence – feel free to add me as a friend! Having to be responsible to log my progress in each day makes me accountable to the other people I have added on the site. Peer pressure can be a good thing!

I was on vacation for the first week of the challenge so am a week behind the others competing. I have cut my calorie intake to 1200 per day and have started exercising three days (or more) a week. My friend Sarah is helping out by coming with me to the gym and encouraging me to keep going. I have also cut out all sodas and coffee and am drinking at least 8 cups of water a day. I plan each meal of the day and break it into smaller portions that I section out into sandwich bags.

Let’s talk about no caffeine…really? What was I thinking! This was my own decision for the dieting portion of this challenge. You have to understand how hard of a sacrifice that is for me. I was raised on Diet Coke. My future husband works for Buffalo Rock. Sodas are everywhere and I don’t even have to ask. At work, I had been thriving on at least three cups of coffee a day with lots of sugar. Under periods of high stress, I’m known to roam with soda in each hand. Needless to say, I did regret my decision for the first three days of the challenge - I had headaches nonstop. That has passed and I have even taken my coffee pot off of the counter.

One Week Results:

1.4 pounds down!

Portioning and water consumption was the most difficult part of this past week. I learned that its better to eat with others around, especially when they know the challenge you’ve accepted. I exercised for 120 minutes total last week and did about three hours of outdoor work on Thursday (raking and bagging leaves, etc). Each Monday I will log my progress on my blog so that I feel even more accountable.

Questions – Have you ever gone through a fitness challenge before or decided to suddenly up your game in dieting/exercising? How did it go? For you caffeine lovers out there…ever given up the sodas for a period of time? Were you able to survive? I will definitely need encouragement for this!

Thanks for reading!

Canton Fall 2012

2012-10-14T23:18:00.001-05:00

Every year on the second Thursday in October, the city of Canton, MS shuts down for a gigantic flea market. I'm talking streets upon streets of vendors. It always draws a large crowd of 100,000+ people. Businesses close down; school is cancelled; this is where it's at. This was Drew's first year and he has been found saying he definitely wants to go back! Score! We found a lot of cute things for our house (and I found a couple of things for my wardrobe too)

Canton Adventures

2012-10-10T21:44:00.001-05:00

And so the yearly trek to Canton, MS begins. We are now in Jackson and will be waking in 6 hours to venture towards the Canton Flea Market - a one day shopping spree from 5 am to 5 pm. I will post pics tomorrow. For now, I must get my beauty sleep!

House Update! Everything and the Kitchen Sink...

2012-10-08T21:46:00.000-05:00

Closing is still set for October 29th...just 21 days from today. Drew walked in to meet with the builder about an issue with one of our closets and he was shocked to see this:

The builder said they have installed the wrong floors in 3 homes in the past 5 weeks. BUT they can fix it and we can still close by the 29th. Our floors should be a similar color to our cabinets. I'm so glad Drew set the meeting with the builder in time!

In other news, there is progress! We have a kitchen sink, light fixtures, mirrors, toilets, and counter tops. Everything is slowly but surely being put into place.

Day trip to Helena

2012-10-08T21:28:00.000-05:00

First day of vacation started with an unexpected trip to Helena, AL! It's a beautiful town.

Adventures in Ice Cream

2012-10-01T19:48:00.001-05:00

Wedding Nightmares

2012-09-30T11:55:00.000-05:00

Has anyone else had wedding nightmares leading up to the big day? Last night I had another one. I couldn't find my shoes. Everyone thought everyone else was bringing them to the church. And all the people I could have borrowed from had already walked down the aisle.

There seemed to be an epidemic of lost shoes. Someone threatened to walk down without theirs. I had Jermaine take care of that while I focused on my dilemma. Thanks Jermaine!

LUCKILY - this dream had a shoe store next door. But they didn't sell the types of shoes I was looking for and wanted to put me in flats. I also didn't have any cash on me obviously because I wasn't intending on going shopping...

I was so distressed I woke up before the shoe issue was resolved.

...

Would anyone be willing to be my Shoe Keeper?

I won't give up.

2012-09-29T23:35:00.001-05:00

I Won't Give Up by Jason Mraz

"I don't wanna be someone who walks away so easily.

I'm here to stay and make the difference that I can make.

Our differences they do a lot to teach us how to use the tools and gifts we've got.

Yeah, we got a lot at stake.

And in the end, you're still my friend.

At least we did intend for us to work.

We didn't break, we didn't burn.
We had to learn how to bend without the world caving in.

I had to learn what I got and what I'm not.

And who I am.

I won't give up on us."

Happy Birthday Bray!

2012-09-28T08:53:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dear Brittany.
Happy Birthday to you.

I'm so glad you're in my life and wish I could celebrate tonight with you! Love you, lil.

At this moment...September 2012

2012-09-27T23:52:00.001-05:00

Loving: My family and future family – brokenhearted that I will see some family tomorrow at a sad occasion but glad we will be together.
Reading: Just finished The Rise of Nine, the 3rd book of the Lorien Legacies. The first book of the series is I Am Number Four. It was made into a movie but I haven’t seen it yet so if it’s terrible please don’t tell me. It’s definitely a fun read – sci-fi adventure.
Watching: Downton Abbey got a lot of attention at the Emmy’s and I had to find out what all the fuss was about. My curiosity led me to buying both seasons and having a marathon over the past two days. It is an amazing show! Season 3 doesn’t air until January 6th, 2013! WHAT?!
Anticipating: Graduation, Turning a quarter of a century young, moving into our house, marriage…all in the next 120 days.
Listening to: A mix-tape a co-worker made for me. It’s very upbeat and catchy! But sadly I don’t know the artists names. Also, Reba’s Greatest Hits…approximately 60 songs of awesome bought early one morning before coffee.
Planning: How I’m going to wake up early enough to get on the road by 6 AM tomorrow…and also daydreaming on how to decorate our house
Working on: surviving grad school.
Wishing: I had a stronger desire to stay organized! :-p

What are your current loving, reading, watching, anticipating, listening to, planning, working on, wishing, etc.? Thanks to Life of a Bama Girl for this post!