Monday, July 30, 2012

Team USA!

If anyone was wondering where I was this weekend... I was on the couch cheering on Team USA all weekend!

Friday, Chris was so sweet and made an amazing dinner. Chicken with a mushroom sauce over quinoa. It was delicious!



I have OLYMPIC FEVER! It was all I watched this entire weekend! I dont know about yall, but I almost got a little teary watching Kelci Bryant and Abby Johnston win the silver in the synchronized diving competion. It has been 12 years since the US has won a medal in the competition, and boy did these 2 girls deserve it!

And how heart breaking was it to watch Jordyn Wieber not qualify for the womens all-around!!! I think she really got underscored! Dont get me wrong, Ali and Gabby certainly both deserve to be in the all-around, but I think rule that you can only have 2 participants per country is not ok. The Olympics is about competiting against the best, therefore the girls with the top 24 scores regardless of country should be the ones competing.

I didnt forget about swimming.... To be honest I think after Lochte won the Gold Saturday and beat Michael, he got a little cocky... I've never heard of Lochte nation and i think it got the best of him Saturday when he let the French pull ahead in the 4x100 mens relay to get the Gold.

Love yall! xo.

Friday, July 27, 2012

Where to next?

Chris and I have been waiting to get our orders for where we will head to after Chris is done with the captains career for what seems like EVER now! Well... this morning I get a gchat from Chris telling me he has the orders... then he quickly signs off to take a quiz!! My stomach dropped reading that. I was so anxious to know! It felt like it took him forever to finish his quiz to get back to me. When he was back on, he asked if I really wanted to know via gchat or if he would rather I wait till we could talk on the phone. I instantly though ooooh no this cant be good, but I couldnt wait any longer. Then these words came across my screen.... Alaska.... Ok, so I know what your probably thinking, Alaska is suppose to be so beautiful. Ya... maybe for a week, but for a year and so far away from family and friends, I was totally freaking out a little bit. All I could think about was only have a few hours of sunlight during the winter and all the layers I would need to bundle up in to just go to the grocery store!  Just as I sent a message out to Courtney, Whitney, and Ashlee with the news I probably wouldn't see them for a year, Chris calls. I step outside to chat and get the details on what was going on. thats when he told me he was joking... we are heading West, but not that far! We are moving too....


COLORADO SPRINGS!!!!!!!!


It was on the top of our list!  We have some friends already living there and some good friends from here also moving up there! 

Hope to have several visitors while we are there!!

Love yall xo.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Happy Thursday

I also believe life is better when your wearing tie dye....

I hope everyones Thursday wasn't as slow as mine!

Love yall xo.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Working Out Wednesday

I've been slacking big time on my workouts, so to help start keeping me accountable I thought Wednesdays blog posts will be based around fitness!

Back when I was living at home while Chris was deployed, my mom and I would go to the gym every morning. We loved the classes lifetime fitness had to offer. For me, an hour in a FIT class or pilates was much more enjoyable then just 30 minutes on the treadmill. When Chris got back and I wasnt working, it was nice to enjoy my morning coffee before hitting the gym... I even found out I could run for a solid 30 minutes on the treadmill (which for me was something to brag about). BUT I didnt earn a college degree for nothing and now being back in the working world has taken a toll on my motivation to hit the gym. The first few weeks I kept telling myself I would go after work, but come 3pm I was exhausted and it was clear the gym was not in my future. The only other option.. morning workouts. Now I know I have little room to complain about a 615am wake up call when my sweet husband is out of the house and by 515am every morning for PT, but the thought of an extra hour of sleep somehow seems to always win me over.

TIME FOR THINGS TO CHANGE! Last week I managed to make it Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday morning! Each morning I tried to do about 20 minutes of cardio followed by 30-40 minutes of legs/arms/butt/and abs. The benefits of these morning workouts were phenominal. I felt much more energetic throughout the day, my attitude was more positive, and so was my self image.

Starting this next week i was determined to keep it up... but when I passed on workouts both saturday and sunday... monday and tuesday morning the though of sleep got the best of me. This morning as bad as I wanted to just sleep in, I got up and faced the gym head on. It felt GREAT!

Hopefully this weekly post can help motivate me to keep it up while sharing some of my favorite pintrest finds!

This week my newest craze is this GNC summer series: Lean Leg workout. The workout comes from theblondeponytail.com and its amazing. Be sure you really keep track of your time and limit the breaks between each exercise to just 10 seconds!





Love yall! xo.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Welcome home Drew!!!!

After 7 months in Afganistan, Drew Clothier is finally back home with his beautiful wife and son! I am so happy they are all reunited and for all the wonderful family time they have ahead of them! Chris and I really wish we could have been there to welcome you home and can't wait for the first Simmons/Clothier reunion! We miss and love y'all!

Please take a moment to pray for all those still overseas separated from their families and for their safe return.

Welcome home drew!!!!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Court's heading back to El Paso!

One of my best friends will soon be reunited with her Hubby and Father of their ADORABLE son in a few short days :)

Courtney Clothier has started her trek back to El Paso from Memphis! The 1,001 mile drive is never easy, and luckily her mom and dad are both able to accompany her, carson, and uhaul full of belongings. Drew has been deployed in Afganistan for the past 7 months. I can only imagine how excited he must be to get to see his beautiful wife and precious boy after such a long tim. I sure know court and carson are praying for these next few days to FLY by!

Everyone please pray the courtney, carson, and her parents have a safe drive back and also that Drew has a safe flight home!

Bye Bye Memphis

Courtneys motivation during the long, flat, boring drive!

Sweet Carson is so excited Daddy is coming home soon!
Love yall. xo.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Crafts

So recently I was inspired by Pintrest and Sydni O'brein to get out my craft box and start letting the creative juices flow. Now while Sydni has tackled some large scale DIY projects which you can check out at http://birminghambelleblog.wordpress.com/, I decided to start small with just some picture frames!

The first I found on pintrest, http://pinterest.com/pin/49117452156655292/.
 I started buy purchasing just plain wood plaques. The small ones were only $2.33 ea and the large $2.99

Simply paint with 2 coats of whatever color your heart desires and let dry



Once dry, center a photo on the plaque and simply cover with mod podge. It will dry clear.



Once they are finished you can either stand them up with a stand or screw a picture hanger to the back and hang!

I'm still waiting on a few more pictures to come in to finish. Once I get them up on the wall i will post the finished product. All in all each cost me about $4.  It would make a great and unique thank you gift!


As I was getting ready to check out, i saw this basic wood frame for $3. I instantly added it to my bag and headed to find things to spiff it up.

I started with coat of purple paint

I found an S near the sticker section for $1

I simply painted the S and hot glued it to the frame.

Super simple, very inexpensive and so much to do!

Hope you enjoyed. Love yall. xo.




Thursday, July 12, 2012

SYTYCD

One of my favorite reality TV shows is back on... SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE! One of the things I love the most about this show is the ability of the dancers and choreographers to really bring the story behind the dance to life. There are so many times you can really feel all the emotion behind a certain piece.

Last night was the first live show of the competition and there was one dance in particular that had me in tears. It was the story between Jack and Rose in the ever famous scene of him drawing her in the movie Titanic. You could feel the love and energy between these two as they danced to Unchained Melody. It even earned a standing ovation from the judges! Heres the video. Tell me what you think!



Love yall. xo.






Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Iberian Pig

Chris and I were predictable this weekend... we headed back up to Atlanta to hang with Whitney! As always, we had a blast. 

Friday afternoon, Whitney and I secretly made plans to go to the Iberian Pig for dinner. Chris has been talking about going to this restaurant for quite some time now, but we had never had a chance to make it out there. All day we told him we had a surprise for him that night. He totally thought we were taking him to see Magic Mike, which I had to swear on our marriage we were not going to do. Another guess was a Justin Bieber concert, which anyone who knows whitney, knows how much she hates the Beebs. Chris was so happy when he found out we were finally going. Truth be told, I'm sad we waited this long to go because the food was AMAZING! We enjoyed 3 rounds of Tapas, 1 1/2 bottles of wine, and a fabulous chocolate cake for dessert. http://www.iberianpigatl.com/index.php




Pork Cheek Tacos - Slow roasted pork cheeks, fire roasted corn salsa, avocado crema, arugula, fresh lime

Manchego Mac 'n' Cheese - Garganelli pasta, Manchego-pork belly cream, butter toasted panko, thyme


Saturday morning, after looking through photo albums from Sophomore and Junior year, we went on a nice 3 mile run through downtown Buckhead. With Whitneys encouragement i ran the whole way, most of you know, running is not my thing! After that we got all packed up to Shoot the Hootch! There were 8 of us total who tubbed down the Chattahootchie. With all of our rafts tied together we were off for the 3 1/2 hour adventure. It was definitely not as easy as we thought. There were lots of rocks to avoid, but we had so much fun "keeping right."

Getting ready to Shoot the Hootch
After we were done, we decided napping was not an option. We all met up at Tin Lizzys of course. Tin Lizzy's has become a staple hang out spot for us while we are in ATL. the dips and tacos are so good and the atmosphere is very upbeat.  http://www.tinlizzyscantina.com/   And of course after Tin Lizzys.. it was off the Ivy.


Whitney, Jessica and I at Tin Lizzys




Sunday, after breakfast at another broken egg, Whit and I headed to Lennox so i could cash in my Sunglass hut card my parents gave me for my birthday! Love these Tory Shades.


Too see more pics of the amazing meal from the Iberian pic, check out Whitneys blog http://jwhitneynic.blogspot.com/.

Love yall. xo.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEST!

HAPPY 26th BIRTHDAY to my best friend Ashlee Ward!!!!!! I love you so much girl and i wish i could have celebrated with you this weekend. I am so grateful for our friendship. So many wonderful memories over the past 11 years! I decided to do a little photo montage of our friendship over the years... it didn't turn out in the chronological order like i hoped, but this will do!! Happy Birthday love, I hope this year is amazing for you.



Getting ready for the Clothier Wedding

Hanging in the Bahamas before my wedding

Bachelorette and Bestie

All grown up
Memorial day party at the Ward's

Keith Urban Concert

Spontaneous beach vacation

Nascar race at Bristol

Before heading to Silkys

Before Court & Drew's couples shower


Florida senior year!

Freshman year in the Grove

Dorm roomies

Sophomore year roomies
Besties on the town

Memphis Tigers game

Kentucky

Before Rascal Flatts.