Introducing: Scout

Wednesday morning I saw this picture on facebook.

I texted it to my husband and he fell in love right away.  Our conversation went from, "He's so cute," to "Let's go see him!"  We were going to the Pentatonix concert that night, so I knew that we couldn't come home with a dog.

Well, we met at down at the APA and tried to find him.  He was SO popular.  They closed at 5, we got there at 4:45 and there were 3 other people wanting to see him as well.

We found out that he was the "Puppy of the Week," and we had to apply to get him if we wanted him.  With the application, we had to submit a short essay about why we wanted to adopt him.  So we figured, why not?  It's not like we were really gonna get picked to adopt him.  They told us that we should know by noon the next day if we got him or not.  If we didn't receive a call, we didn't get him.

Tyler calls me at 12:30 on Thursday to tell me we got the puppy!!  So we are introducing Scout as part of our family.  Enjoy the photos:

2 Years...

Dear St. Louis,

Wow!  It's been two years now since we've lived here.  I will admit that I like you more than I did last year at this time.

A lot has happened in this last year:

I got a new job.
We bought a house.
Tyler got a promotion--which I didn't write about.  Shame on me!  He got promoted to managing (and traveling) for his company!
We got a puppy! (I'll post about him tomorrow.)

Okay, so maybe that doesn't look like a lot, but those things are definitely life changing events.

When we got back from Hawaii (which I still need to post about...I have a TON of pictures to go through), I finally felt like I was home.  St. Louis is not an awful city.  It's actually a very fun city with lots of things to do.  We've really enjoyed living here (especially during baseball season).  

I don't feel like I need to go out and do things on the weekend as I did when we lived in our apartment.  Since purchasing our home, I've wanted to stay home on the weekends and turn this house into a home.  And maybe having all the extra space has been a factor in that as well. :)

Anyhow, it's been a really good year here in St. Louis.  We are really enjoying our time here.  We are really seeing God's plan play out when we had no idea why He would lead us here.

And for the yearly "out the front door" picture:  today it was cold and blowing flurries.

Home Update: Guest Bath!

Well, we've lived in our house for almost 5 months now.  I really can't believe it's been that long!  I am so thankful that we left our apartment when we did, because if we waited until our lease was up, we wouldn't be moving for another 2 weeks.

Coming from a 900 square foot apartment to a 2400 square foot house has been a wonderful challenge.  It's taken a bit of time to get settled (we still don't have every box unpacked), but we're slowly working on filling the rooms.

One vision I had right away was for the guest bathroom on the second floor. 

I knew that I wanted to do it in white and black.  I got all of the bathroom rugs and towels for Christmas, which was a HUGE help because those things are expensive!

I had several different shower curtains picked out, but I couldn't decide on which one to get!  I originally wanted a ruffled curtain, but they were back ordered every time I went to buy it.  I soon found one in Target, fell in love, and bought it.

I really love how it turned out.  Some of Tyler's friends gave us the gorgeous "Love" picture that is now hanging in the bathroom as a house warming gift.  I knew it would go perfectly in there.

I may still purchase a soap dispenser, but for now this will work.  Now we just need some guests to come stay with us!! :)

Towels:  Here
Shower Curtain:  Here
Rugs: Thomas O'Brien...looks like they aren't sold online anymore (from Target)

Meal Prepping

It is no secret that I have been meal prepping for the past several months.  I typically post pictures on instagram, so if you follow me on there, you've probably seen them.

I've had several people ask how to go about meal prepping, so I thought I'd share my process.

I meal plan on the weekends.  I plan my breakfasts, lunches, and suppers.  I write out exactly what I plan on eating and then make my grocery list from that plan.

I generally make a list of all of the dishes that I need to cook/bake/prepare for the week and the amount of time it will take me to complete them (from prep to cook).  This helps me use my time wisely so that I'm not in the kitchen all day long.

I pretty much use my whole counter space when I'm prepping and cooking.

After the food is cooked, I split it all up into containers for the week.  I use my meal calendar to tell me how many containers of each food I need for the week.  

I am not a morning person at all.  So this helps me in a couple of ways:  

• I can pack my lunch box at night and just grab what needs to go in there according to my calendar; OR
• I can just grab it in the morning.

Either way, it's super quick and I don't even have to think about it.  

When I don't meal plan or meal prep, I feel like my week is all out of whack.  This helps me keep on schedule and helps me achieve my goals (both fitness and for the week).

If you try meal prepping, let me know how it goes!!

My First VLog

Here is my first VLog!!  It's kind of weird talking instead of typing, but I wanted to try it out and see what you thought about it!  I may incorporate VLogs to my blog more regularly!

So I may look like a hobo since I just got done working out, but I wanted to stop in and share some exiting news and explain a few things!

Sign up for my FREE 5 Day Challenge Group

* indicates required

Email Address *

First Name

Last Name