15

It seems like the magic number for me is 15, at least for when I go to the gym. I always do 15 minutes on the bike and 15 minutes on the treadmill. I always do 15 reps on the machine. Now, I need to lose 15 pounds. I know everyone thinks i'm such a skinny minnie - but in reality I've gained 15 pounds in the past year and a half. Some of that is due to the fact I am no longer on adderall, but the other part of that is due to the fact I'm no longer in college and I don't exercise and I just kept eating terrible. Phil and I started back regularly at the gym about three weeks, and I finally took to the scale last night. Starting last night I'm on the track to losing 15 pounds! Hopefully, I'll be able to fit into all my old jeans again. Wish me luck!

Soulshine ..

Whew, what a weekend. Since I last wrote there have been a whirlwind of events!
Thursday was Phil's 24th birthday. A few weeks prior to his birthday I let him pick out his own gift at Bass Pro Shop - what guy wouldn't love that? So, of course I had to get him something else he could open on his birthday. I opted out for a massage at a local spa since he constantly bugs me on a nightly basis to rub his back, so hopefully someone can rub the hell out of his back and he will be content for a couple of days (fingers crosses!!) On the morning of his birthday I was planning on waking up early to make him breakfast, but I kept hitting snooze and making the breakfast took a turn into "Why don't I just buy you breakfast at Panera?" I felt guilty for not being that amazing girlfriend who fixes her boyfriend breakfast on his birthday, but I did BUY him breakfast - that at least counts for something. That evening I took him out to a fantastic Thai restaurant in downtown Greenville called Lemongrass. I have been trying to start a habit of taking more pictures, but I seem to really miss out on the important events - such as Phil's birthday dinner. Sorry folks, you will just have to visualize it.
Friday came along and we were off to Asheboro for the weekend. Our black lab Zepp dreads every minute of the car ride, he buries his head into Phil's bag and his facial expressions lead me to believe that he is probably nauseous. Here is a picture of him burying his head.

Friday evening was spent socializing with my mom and dad and our dear friend Matt Jeffries came over for a couple of drinks. Phil had one too many at about one so we put him to bed. Birthday weekends are always tiring.
My friend Laura and I spent the next day in the sunshine with our dogs. We walked for 45 minutes dodging disc golfs and attempting not to be drug around by our fairly large dogs. Afterwards, we drop our sweet pups at the houses and ran errands around Asheboro.
I then met my friend Sarah at my house and ran errands with her and reminisced over high school memories that had slipped my mind. I really thought I wasn't such a bad kid - guess I blocked out some of the terrible things I did. Whoooops.
That evening, a whole bunch of our friends took to the town of Asheboro where we spent our time at The Flying Pig. I was the sober driver since it was "Phil's Birthday Weekend", and I attempted to have a good time but I was so exhausted. For those of us who have been the sober driver and have been running on a very low amount of sleep know that it causes for a few snappy comments to push through. It was really nice to visit with friends I have not seen in a long time. There are times when you feel like not a second has gone by from the last time you saw them. I then destroyed Brett and Nicole in 5 games of "asshole" which I won 4 times. I'm still feeling pretty spectacular about that.
Sunday, Phil and I spent the majority of the morning outside at the lake behind his house. We always take Zepp out there when we come home so he can swim. He LOVES it. Here are a few pictures.

This is Zepp freaking out because he knows we are "going swimming". When he hears those two words, this is what usually happens.

 Here is me and my sweet boy, I know you can't hardly see me since I am wearing Camo (please don't ask me why I was wearing Camo - it was my first and last day)

 Zepp going after his ball. His absolute FAVORITE thing to do.

 Phil is loving on Zepp on here, so cute. He is such a good owner.

And here I am now, Sunday evening, just about to go to bed. Whew. Tired doesn't begin to explain the way I feel

Feburary Madness!

February is always crazy around this time. Attempting to spend hardly nothing and still be sweet on valentine's day is my main task. Last year I completely bombed Valentine's day - I bought my sweet puppy Zepp a tug pillow that says, "I Woof you", but completely forgot to get my sweet valentine Phil ... anything! Not even a card! I felt pretty terrible, but he was a good sport about it. We tend to not make a big deal out of Valentine's Day because we JUST celebrated our anniversary and then Phil's birthday is just a few short days after Valentine's Day then my birthday is exactly ONE MONTH from valentine's day --- now you understand why we don't have time for Valentine's Day?
Regardless of our attempt to put the "we don't care" pressure on Valentine's Day, you can't help but celebrate it when you have a significant other. SO, Phil made me breakfast for dinner and he got me over a dozen lilies that have yet to open. He's so sweet because only he knows how much I love to watch lilies open! (Well, now you guys know my little secret.) I would put up a picture but only two of them have opened and I want you guys to see the "before" and "after" pictures together!
This past weekend I made a swift decision to go home and I am really glad I did!! It ended up being such a blast and I got to spend it with my family! My kitty Mazzy traveled with me while Phil and Zepp went to go visit Trisha in mountains. Mazzy raises havoc in the car every time we ride ANYWHERE, so you can imagine riding three hours with a cat that hates the car. She ended up chewing through her cage and escaping. So, the little brat got to ride on my lap the whole way home - not to mention she was still crying. I believe she felt it was worth it though.. I caught her lounging at Grandma's here...

She spent the whole time stalking the other cats in the house. She is too funny. She would run up to the and attempt to smack them in the face, but she would never get close enough! So her smack never would hit the other cats, because she would be high-tailing it in the other direction.
We had a cookout on Saturday and I didn't get any pictures of that (guess I was having too much fun) but I did get us shopping for our essentials...

My sweet niece and nephew! Love them to death!

Anyways, Phil's birthday is Thursday, so I will be taking him to a nice Thai restaurant because that is what he has asked for! We are also going home this weekend to celebrate birthday's on Phil's side of the family. The next weekend after that we are going to see John Prine and Old Crow!! SO PUMPED! Dad, Ashley and Bryan will all come down here to Greenville! It's going to be a blast!!

Missing home today

I miss my family every day, but there are some days when just hearing their voice makes me cry when I get off the phone. Like today. I wish I wasn't three hours away from my family.
Things I miss the most:

• Dad hugs - no one gives better hugs than dads - except for maybe grandma
• picking fun at my nephew
• sitting on the couch watching junk t.v. with my mom
• my bed.. and if you've ever slept in my bed you know exactly what i'm talking about (don't get the wrong idea I use to have a lot of slumber parties...pervs)
• my parents backyard... i love the view
• my sister - I love being around her and hearing her laugh
• seeing my niece's reaction when I first walk in the door... "BECCA!!!!" as she runs into my arms
• listening to dad complain about the dogs - that's when I know i'm really home
• watching stupid videos with my sister
• playing games with my niece and nephew and forcing myself to lose so they won't cry
• talking to mom about... everything ... and knowing she won't ever judge me
• my sweet puppies tara, bisket, and of course little miss olivia
• my brother in laws sarcastic comments - he always has me in stiches
• and just being goofy with my family 

I am the most blessed person with the most amazing family. I guess I should just be thankful I have them at all - even if they are a good drive away. I know if I ever need them, they are there - AND they are the only people in the world that no matter what are forced to love me :)

My experience of hell

I really am up early for a Sunday morning, but I just can't sleep in like I use to. I guess that is what happens when you work 8:30 to 5:30 every day.
Anyways, I had thought up yesterday's plan in my head a couple of days earlier and it seemed to be a not too shabby idea. Phil and I were going to head up to Concord and stop by Bass Pro Shop so I could "sneak" Phil's birthday gift into the car. After our excursion to Concord Mills, we would head to Ikea to see if we could pick out any furniture for our guest bedroom, since all it has is a bed and it looks pretty pathetic. Shouldn't be too bad, right?
Well, I should have known to turn around about a mile and a half out of Concord Mills when traffic became backed up just to enter on to the ramp. I had this fabulous idea that we would go up the ramp and take a right and turn around and that would get us to Concord Mills MUCH faster. Well, my plan completely back fired. Apparently, Concord Mills Blvd was backed up all the way towards the hotels about 3 quarters of a mile back. Not to mention that, but every side street was backed up because people were attempting to do the same thing I was. Another brilliant plan.. BACKFIRED. I looked at Phil and he looked at me and I said, "What about cookout? Let's just eat there until the traffic dies down." We pull into cookout, order our food, and then Phil starts laughing right after the lady hands us our food. "What?" I asked him. I then noticed he was holding the piece of paper that I had written his gift on. "I'm glad I found this." I was going to get Phil a crossbow (apparently I know NOTHING about hunting since you have to have a special permit to use crossbows...i thought they were just bows?!) So, now my gift is thrown out the window, and to top it all of, traffic is even worse when we try to pull out of cook-out. Two more plans... BACKFIRED.
Most people who know me, know I have anxiety disorder. I haven't really had any problems in the past couple of months, but it started to flair up when I realized what kind of situation we had on our hands. I contain my composure and try to stay calm during the 35 minute drive it took to literally push my way through a half a mile to Concord Mills, just to go attempt to find something Phil will want for his birthday.
As you can imagine, Bass Pro Shop was ridiculously packed, and they were having some kids day, which just made me even more mad because there were little tots running around EVERYWHERE and all I wanted to do was just get in and get out. Well, that didn't happen. We ended up getting Phil a dog crate for Zepp to put in the back of his truck, so Zepp will be more safe when traveling to work with Phil. We also got Zepp a new red collar and a couple of turkey calls for Phil to use turkey hunting. Another reason why I love Phil so much, he picked out things for Zepp for his birthday gift. I really wanted to give him a bow, but those suckers are not in the price range of two people attempting to buy a new car soon (since Phil's BMW can't handle the woods AND the poor thing is on it's last leg.)

Here is Zepp modeling his new collar we got him. So Precious!!!! I just love him.

Okay, so that wasn't even the worst part of the day. I thought Ikea was going to be a breeze compared to that. Phil and I were Ikea virgins, we had never been there nor did we understand how it worked. Boy, were we in for a treat. We get to the parking lot and it is completely full, we figured since it was a huge place that it wouldn't be so bad. So, we trekked up to the doors of Ikea and blindly went into a place I would like to think hell is. There is only ONE WAY IN and ONE WAY OUT. What the hell is that? I had to walk through this entire place with everyone who had just received there tax check back and through all the pregnant ladies attempting to find new furniture for their babies for ONE item. Within two minutes, the only thing on our minds was to get the hell out of there. It took us 20 minutes to find the one exit leading out. You want to see me freak? I lost Phil in the crowd for a good 3 seconds. I almost died right there in Ikea. If you lose someone in Ikea, you lose them forever, seriously, you might not get out of there.. ever!! We did find one thing we liked, but you have to write down the number and go find it in the warehouse.. umm... no thanks, where are the paid employees to find it for me?! Hell. Pure Hell. I am not bustling through 8000 people trying to find one item. All you crazies can do that ... not for me. Not that I won't ever shop at Ikea, just NOT on a Saturday and NOT when there are 8000 people there. Seriously, I think that's how many people were there. I'll just have to go on a Wednesday morning the day furthest away from any holiday that makes you buy things for people or during a time when the government isn't giving back money to people. Jeez.
So, my idea of hell now is a warehouse that there is only one way out. It doesn't even matter what it is selling. It could all be free, but the fact I have to walk 20 minutes to get out of there? Last time I checked I wasn't 12, and mazes are not fun anymore.
We decided to take the roads leading to Ashlee's work from Ikea, since Phil's sister Ashlee now lives in Charlotte.
We finally arrived at Ashlee's work right before it was about to close and spent some time with her and then headed back to good ol' Taylors.
We didn't do much when we finally got home but watch sit around and have a couple of drinks and watch The Social Network. I was really disappointed in how terrible the acting was. The best actor in the movie was Justin Timberlake. Seriously? I felt like I was watching a serious episode of Gilmore Girls. You can't have conversations that fast. Not even people who are considered genius who live in the north. And the story basically tells us that if you want to be a billionaire, you need to be a dick to your friends and steal other peoples idea? Lame. Almost makes me want to quit facebook all together because this Mark guy seems like a social problem. Anyways, this has lead me to where I am right now. Sitting in a blanket in the dining room, writing on a blog about my life, waiting on Phil to get up and make turkey bacon.. because turkey bacon is .. awesome.

A taste of spring..

It was a brief moment, and we took advantage of it Saturday. For a day and a half we experienced spring. We rounded up Zepp and took to the hills. It was a beautiful day. We went to a place near the North Carolina mountains even though it was still in South Carolina. We were not the only ones, there were plenty of people on the same trail. After wards, we took Zepp to a creek outside of the trail and he had a ball jumping in the water and chasing after sticks. It wasn't long until it is back in the 40's and 30's and as I speak it is sleeting outside of my house. Bleh.

A couple of weeks ago I went home for Dad's birthday and I have a photo of all us out to eat. We haven't had a photo of the four of us (my mom, dad, sister, and myself) taken in a veryyyy long time. It is such a sweet picture. I miss them every day and I wish I could be in the same town as them.

Also, for mine and Phil's 4 year anniversary, I was in the middle of a meeting with my boss and one of our trainers and Rachel comes running into the office and says, "Michael, I am so sorry to interrupt but can I steal Rebecca away from you?" She had a HUGE smile on her face. When I walked out, a man was holding these beautiful flowers.

They are so beautiful! He got me windshield wipers as my gift. I know that sounds so NONromantic and terrible but I did ask for them and he did put them on for me as well. I am also SO SO SO SO glad he bought them for me, since we have had a down pour of rain for the past week. They have been a life savior .. seriously.

Now, what to get him for his birthday?