Melts my heart!

Charlie.... the boy who made me an aunt!

My little pal!

Granted, he's not my real nephew. As in, we don't share any of the same genes. But by golly, that little boy is my nephew! And he is the first person to ever call me "Aunt Header". And he melts.my.heart. every single time I see him.

At Hobby Lobby with the Mickey jacket his Aunt Header bought him!

Yesterday I had a dentist appointment, so I headed to Plano afterwards to spend the afternoon with him. I opened the front door, and he came running around the corner screaming, "AUUUUUNT HEADER!" and threw himself into my arms. He hugged and kissed me and right there, melts.my.heart.

Oh, that laugh gets me every time!

Whenever I'm there, it's like everyone else disappears and he only cares about Aunt Header! We play all day long! We build with blocks, we hide in his tent, we read books, we race cars... oh to be a kid again! He ignores his parents and only wants Header. Lacey (his mom) wanted to go to Hobby Lobby yesterday. Charlie said "No! I wanna stay with Aunt Header!" Lacey said "She's coming with us!" and he says "Can I ride with you, Aunt Header??" Melts.my.heart. We get to Hobby Lobby, and he doesn't want to ride in the buggy because he wants to walk around and hold my hand. Melts.my.heart. We stopped by Chick-fil-a on the way home, and I ordered myself an ice cream cone. He didn't even notice until we got home. And he says "Aunt Header, can I have ice cream please?" and hugged up on my leg. Melts.my.heart. You better believe I wiped off the top of the ice cream and gave him the rest!

My handsome man! :)

When I was there last week, he wanted Aunt Header to give him a bath, not mommy. Melts.my.heart. He wanted Aunt Header to cuddle on the couch, not daddy. Melts.my.heart.

Seriously. This boy may not be my flesh and blood, but he is my Charlie bear and I am his Aunt Header. I love him so much and am so, so thankful for the blessings his little life brings to mine!!!

January 28

Even though I wouldn't be born for 6 more months, January 28, 1987 was a big day for me! On that day, two of me best friends was born!!


Rachel Nicole -- I met Nikki my freshmen year of college! I wrote a post about her here. We've been best friends pretty much since the instant we met! My life would be so sad without her in it. Her friendship means the WORLD to me!

Graduation Night

Mary Elizabeth-- I met Betsy my junior year of college. We were in the same cohort for education, so we had all of our classes together. I wrote a blog here forever ago about our group of girls, and she is in there. Betsy and I were also instant friends. She's the friend that I can look at, know what she's thinking, and immediately bust out laughing. She's also the friend I can call, even though it's been weeks since our last conversation, and it's like we just talked yesterday. I love this girl SO MUCH!

Studying for our exit exam!

Betsy is in California, and Nikki is in Alabama. I sure wish I could be in both places celebrating with them today!! Happy birthday, girls! I love you both SO much and hope you have the best days EVER!

Celebrating Ian

Ian is my best guy friend in Dallas! I treasure him and his friendship so much. He is almost like another brother to me!

Yesterday was his birthday, so his sister and I planned a birthday party! We went out to dinner and then bowling at a new, fancy bowling place in Dallas. It was a lot of fun!

Happy birthday, Ian! I love you!

Child of the 90's

I hate internet explorer just as much as the next person, but this new ad is freaking awesome. They nailed it.

Happy Friday!

Thoughtful Thursday

                                                     
                                                     
                                                     
                                                     

Conversations that should never be had on a first date....

*I blew through a six figure inheritance.
*My car got repossessed.
*I got evicted from my apartment.
*My sister is really crazy.
*I stay out drinking until 6AM like... all the time.
*I go to strip clubs.
*My ex girlfriend did blah blah blah. Oh, and here is a picture of her! And here's a picture of a different one! What do you think?
Proceeded by lots of beer drinking during a movie and excessive burping.

Sadly, this is not made up. This was my Saturday night.

Gotta love the dating life, right? HA...

SUYL- Favorite Soups

I am so excited about this week at Kelly's Korner- SUYL! Today we are doing favorite soups and I can't wait to check out all of your recipes!!

I recently got this beauty for Christmas:
                                                      

It's a mini crock pot! It doesn't actually cook the food, but it heats it up. I've made soup the past two Sundays and then I bring it to work in my little crock pot. I plug it in during second period, and it's nice and warm by lunch. The middle piece comes out, so I leave the crock pot at work and take the middle part back and forth from work! It's great!

I am looking for more soup recipes, so I am so excited about this!

I found this recipe on pinterest and it led me to this site, and made it last week. I brought to lunch every day last week and it was soooooo good!!! I was so sad when it was all gone! I am definitely making it again soon. It was so easy and so so so delicious! And the best part? It's a weight watchers recipe!

WW PLUS Points: 7
Ingredients
1 lb shredded, cooked chicken
1 (14 1/2 oz) can whole peeled tomatoes, 
undrained, mashed

1 (10 oz) can enchilada sauce
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (4 oz) can chopped green chile peppers, drained
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups water
1 (14 1/2 oz) can chicken broth
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 (10 oz) box frozen corn
1 tbsp chopped cilantro
7 corn tortillas
vegetable oil

Instructions:
1. Place chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles and garlic into a slow cooker.

2. Pour in the water and chicken broth. Add cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper and bay leaf to the slow cooker; stir in the corn and cilantro. Cover, and cook on LOW 6 to 8 hours or on HIGH 3 to 4 hours.

3. Preheat oven to 400 F. (200 degrees C.).

4. Lightly brush both sides of tortillas with oil. Cut tortillas into strips and spread on a baking sheet.

5. Place the tortilla strips in oven and bake until crisp (about 10 to 15 minutes).

Yield: 8 Servings
Serving Size: 1/8 of recipe.

Weight Watchers PointsPlus+ = 7 per 1/8 recipe

Nutrition Information:
Calories 258, Carbs 24.5 g, Fat 10.7 g, Fiber 3.8 g, Protein 17.7 g.


Cook it! It's delicious!

Loving like Lala!

January 14, 2006. 7 years ago today, my best friend and mom lost her battle to Leukemia but won her fight. Her reward was entering the gates of Heaven forever.
                                     
Each year, I'm typically pretty sad on this day. Last night, I cried a lot knowing that it was here. But then I thought about it- why should I be sad? My mom was the most loving and caring person that I ever knew, and she was never afraid to tell people that she loved them or cared about them. She lived her life to the fullest every single day. She loved Christ and she loved her family and friends, and everyone knew it. There shouldn't be sadness! There should be rejoicing in her amazing life.
                                   

So I decided that today, instead of being sad, I would focus on her loving and caring spirit. I decided to do this by doing 7 loving or caring things today. I originally thought I would do them for strangers, but then I changed my mind. I decided I wanted the people in my life to know that I loved and cared about them, and I would do these things for them. I didn't want the things to be anything grand or wonderful, just simple little things that would show I cared.
                                 

Here's what I came up with:

1. Bring my best friend at work a Diet Cherry Coke to start her day off. It's her favorite drink, and I knew it'd make her smile.
2. Bring my planning teachers a chickfila biscuit for breakfast. Usually on Mondays we are running around like crazy people, and we all forget about breakfast. I wanted them to start off with a yummy breakfast, and what's better than a chickfila breakfast?
3. Mail 3 cards to 3 of my best friends in Alabama telling them how much they mean to me. They are written and addressed and will be dropped off at the post office this afternoon! (Hopefully they don't read this and see it before they get them!)
4. Text my Dallas besties and tell them how much they mean to me, why I treasure their friendship, and how important our friendship is... as well as wish them a great week!
5. Tell each of my classes how proud I am of them. I have had a lot of them for 2, even 3, years, and I want them each to know how proud I am of what they have accomplished in our time together.
6. Buy flowers for my roommate and leave them in her room with a note telling her how thankful I am to have her as a roommate and a friend!
7. Send each of my 3 siblings a note telling them how much I love them and how proud of each of them I am.
                              
7 simple things. 7 things that for the most part, were free. I will say that sitting down and thinking of 7 things that I could do for other people really helped to lift my spirits. It helped me to remember my mom and what a wonderful person she was. It was fun to see people's responses and how happy they all were that I took the time to tell them those things.
                                     
So I encourage you to do- go out and love like my lala did. It's amazing how good of a day you have when you take the time to love the people around you! If you knew my mom, go out and do 7 things in her memory. Love like Lala. If you didn't know her, do 7 things anyway! It's a great way to think about others instead of yourself, and to really lift up those around you!
                                       

I'm going to miss this...

You're going to miss this, you're going to want this back.

You're going to wish these days hadn't gone by so fast.

These are some good times, so take a good look around.

You may not know it now, but you're gonna miss this...

Tonight, I had a long conversation with one of my dear friends. She's a year older than me, married to an amazing, Godly man, and has two beautiful children.

I was on my way to a girls night where us single girls were planning on sitting around, drinking wine, and talking about how crappy the dating life is. I started texting this married friend of mine on my way and started talking to her about how I am SO tired of being single. I'm so tired of the mind games that come with dating. I'm so tired of meeting a guy, getting my hopes up, only then to have them let down when I realize he really isn't the one for me. Y'all, dating is tiresome! And I'm worn out with it. It's hard. And I'm so tired of meeting men who just aren't good enough. I confided in her about how badly I wanted to find my husband, have beautiful babies, and live in the land of the soccer moms. I just want to start that point of my life.

And she said something along the lines of.... "Heather, don't get me wrong. I love my husband and I'm thankful for him every day. My two kids are the best things that ever happened to me. But I just spent the entire weekend with two kids who didn't sleep at all, my house is a complete disaster and I don't have time to clean it, and my husband has been out of town so I'm just exhausted. I'd give anything to be going to a girls night to drink a bottle of wine. The grass isn't always greener on the other side. I know it's hard, but ENJOY those days while you have them. Your family will come."

And the song "You're Gonna miss This" quickly came to my mind. Don't get me wrong, most days I love my single life. I love making my own money and making my own rules. I love doing whatever I want whenever I want to do it. Yes, my heart longs to meet my future husband. My heart longs to start that life with him. But for whatever reason, God has blessed me with an amazing single life right now. I have a great group of friends to live it with too. So tonight, I've decided to try to make the most of this single life while I have it.

I have faith that one day I will meet my prince. One day I will be a mom. And I'm sure that at one point or another during that time of my life, I will look back to my girls nights with wine and cheese and carefree things, and I will miss them. So while I have them, I'm going to do my best to enjoy them.

Because one day, I'm going to miss this.

Spreading Crimson Cheer!

If you walk around JMS, you would think that it is located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Several of my coworkers now respond to pretty much everything with a big ROLL TIDE!

So, since today is game day, of course I had to spread some crimson cheer to them! I brought a bag full of shirts to work today, and friends are slowly coming by to pick one up and support the tide tonight!

Y'all, it's doing my heart GOOD to be surrounded by crimson in Texas!!!! ROLL TIDE! Hopefully we will be watching 'bama bring up number 15 tonight!!!!!

Liebster Award!

A very special thank you to Caitlin at Letters and Lattes for this award!

Rules

This award is given to new or up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers...the award is then passed along to other bloggers in the same category to help spread the word and support one another.

1. Each blogger should post 11 random facts about themselves.

2. Answer the questions the tagger has set for you, and then create 11 new questions for the bloggers you pass the award to.

3. Choose 11 new bloggers (with less than 200 followers) to pass the award to and link them in your post. 

4. Go back to their page and tell them about the award.

5. No tag backs.

11 Random Facts:

1. I absolutely love Alabama football. I'm a little obsessed. I say "roll tide" to everything.

2. I just bought my first home in April. Sometimes I just like sitting in my den, looking around, and thinking, "This is really mine!"

3. I'm a twin, but we are fraternal. We look nothing alike.

4. I use to be terrified of feet. I would basically have a panic attack whenever feet got close to me.

5. I'm terrified by haunted houses. I freak out just waiting in line for one, and I've never actually gone through an entire one. I'm known to run out, screaming.

6. I love to drive. I could spend all day driving without any destination... of course, if gas wasn't so dang expensive!

7. I'm a terrible singer. To the point that my friends told me in high school that if I made a CD, suicide rates would sky rocket. And one of my college professors admitted to believing in tone deafness because of me. But I love to sing. So I just do it in private- my car, the shower, my room, etc.

8. I love being crafty. Sometimes I have a hard time buying stuff because I think to myself, "Oh, I could just make that!"

9. I hate dogs, especially big ones. I use to refuse to even be around dogs, but then I got Julio. (My yorkie.) I love him to death, and he's taught me to get use to dogs. :)

10. I decided in second grade that I wanted to be a teacher, and I haven't changed my mind since. I love everything about my job! (Except the pay check! It's so small! HA! But what teacher is in it for the money?!)

11. I read spoilers. I hate surprises, even on my TV shows. So if there are spoilers out there, I will read them. Which is why I've already watched season 3 of Downton Abbey online. Everyone else seems to be waiting for them to show in the US, but there's no way I'd be able to wait each week for a new episode when they are already available online!

11 Questions from Caitlin

1. What is one of your favorite items in your home?

I love all of the furniture that I redid this year, so I guess my piano, my china cabinet, my buffet, my bar stools, and my TV stand!

2. Favorite country song?

Currently, it's probably a song off of Taylor Swift's "Red" CD. I love all country music! I'm not sure I could pick one!

3. When was the last time you did something for the first time?

I guess it was in August, when I was my sister's maid of honor! I had been a bridesmaid 7 times before that, but it was my first time to be the maid of honor!

4. What would you fight for?

Love

5. Who are the 5 people you hang out with the most?

Ian, Rachel, Julia, Jamie, and Meagan (mainly because she is my roommate and we spend most nights watching TV together! HA)

6. What are your long and short term goals?

Long term- pay off my house, get married, have babies

Short term- Get my kids to pass STARR, lose some weight, save some money this year

7. Other than family, who is the biggest role model in your life?

Outside of family, probably Becky Bryant. (A family friend) She has handled life with grace and wisdom and loves Christ even when it's hard to do so. I hope to one day be half the woman she is!

8. Are you living your life to the best of your ability or are you settling?

I feel like I'm living it to the best of my ability!

9. What are your travel dreams?

I want to go to Paris one day, England would be great, and Italy!

10. If money wasn't an issue, what would your dream job be?

I would open my own bakery! I love to bake, and that is my dream job! I hope to achieve this goal one day!

11. Favorite holiday?

New Years Eve! Growing up, my parents always had parties. They were so much fun! Now I like to have fun parties too. It's just something about the holiday! You get to say goodbye to the old, and leave it in the past. The new year is so clean and full of possibilities! 

Questions for Others:

1. What is your favorite sports team?

2. What is your favorite healthy recipe that you cook?

3. What is your favorite restaurant?

4. If money wasn't an issue, where would you vacation to this summer?

5. What is your life long dream?

6. How many times have you been in love?

7. Do you believe that there is one person meant for everyone?

8. What is your favorite childhood memory?

9. What is the best thing you got OR gave for Christmas?

10. If you had to have a quote to describe your life, what would it be?

11. Is there anything you wish you could change about your life?

I tag:

1. Alicean @ The Harwood House

2. Lindsey @ Love to the Moon and Back

3. Lara Ellen @ Living Like Lala

4. Katie @ Time of Your Life

5. Duchess of Domestic

6. Ann Marie @ Military Life as a Military Wife

7. Kayla @ My Kind of Yellow

8. Heather @ Life in a Small Town

9. Tamara @ Everything Happens for a Reason

10. Amy @ Sweet Home Santa Barbara

11. Krista @ Somewhere in the Middle

Downton Abbey

I've spent the past few days locked in my room watching season one and two of Downton Abbey...



If you haven't seen it, you must watch soon! The story lines are great and it's just a good family show! No sex, nudity, foul language, etc. It's about a time period that was so elegant! It will also want to walk around with a british accent, calling everyone your lord and lady.

I can't wait for season 3 to come on Sunday! In fact, I may just have to watch it all online before that.... woops!