Thinking Out Loud #6 Chickens and Snakes

Happy Thursday! I woke up in a great mood today. I love waking up and not dreading the idea of having to go to work.

I think it's also a great day because Amanda created this great link-up that I always look forward to.

1. I received some exciting news on  Monday. I am now officially a Sweat Pink Ambassador. I'm so excited about this and can't wait to see what opportunities open up for me. I like the goal of the Sweat Pink Community. It's "a place for enthusiastic, positive, inspirational people to connect and support each other in reaching their goals around health, fitness, life...and more."

2. I went for a trail run yesterday during my lunch break. It was the best run I've had in a long time. I haven't been running much because I lost interest in it, but this run made me change my mind. I felt great, happy and very positive after the run.

3. Did I mention that I'm standing as Maid of Honor in my friends wedding in August? Well, I just got the email that my dress is ready to be picked up. I think it's absolutely beautiful and I love the color.

4. Drew and I went downtown here in Austin this past weekend. We had a blast but stayed out way later than we needed to. We tend to do that a lot. We never want the fun to stop so we often find ourselves wandering downtown Austin after the clubs have let out.

5. On Saturday Morning, Drew and I rode up to his job. It's located in the country and sits on a big piece of land. We had fun playing on the riding lawn mowers, sitting by the pond, and watching the chickens attempt to hide from us under the wheel barrow. Drew also showed me the snakes head that he had to cut because it was getting to big and staying on their land.

 

8 Reasons Why I Love My Dad

This weekend we celebrated Father's Day which was also my Brother's first as a Dad and my Mema's birthday. It was a very special day.

I arrived to their house early in the morning to help Mom make the food that Dad requested.

Fried Chicken, Collard Greens, Cornbread, Mashed potatoes, Squash, Cake, and Lemon Bars.

Sounds so healthy, right? Ha. Seriously though, I have felt sick for the past couple of days from eating this food. My body is definitely telling me that it can't handle that kind of food anymore. That's probably why I fell asleep an hour after I ate. But what Dad wants Dad gets. He deserves it.

8 Reasons Why I Love My Dad

1. He taught me that it's okay to Love yourself. It's okay to like who you are. It's okay to be proud of yourself. And sometimes, it's okay to brag. You don't always have to keep proud moments to yourself. Let it be known.
2. He taught me how to be a little country. How to run with the boys, be as tough as the boys, and sometimes to fight like a boy. He taught me how to get dressed in 5 minutes, how to shoot a gun, and how to make a free throw. 
3.  He taught me to be friends with everyone. He taught me that looks can be deceiving and you could be missing out on a great friend because you decided to judge a book by its cover. He taught me that one of the most important things in life is to be a great friend.
4. He taught me to love music. To dance and sing anywhere and everywhere I am. He taught me how to two-step and how to jam to soul, R&B, and hip hop. 
5. He taught me to love the lake. He taught me to stop and look around, to get off my phone and see whats real. He taught me to catch a fish and how to drive a boat. 
6. He taught me how to drink a beer or chug it. He taught me that "you need to eat before you start drinking because you won't eat once you start."
7. He taught me that "if you want something, go get it because no one else is going to get it for you."
8. He taught me that you must always be presentable. Dress nice, wash your face, brush your teeth, and comb your hair. You may not judge, but others do. 

Thinking Out Loud #5 - Blues On The Green Edition

It's Thursday, so you all know what that means. Time for:

Thank you Amanda for putting together this link-up. It's my favorite post of the week.


Last week it was our bosses birthday and our Philadelphia coworkers were coming down to Austin. While they were here we wanted to give them a little taste of Austin. What better way to do that then taking them to the opening night of Blues on The Green.

BOTG is Austin's largest FREE music concert series. Every other Wednesday from May 28th to August 6th, Zilker Park fills with thousands of people, blankets, lawnchairs, families and music lovers. We thought this would be the perfect event to show our Philly team how Austin does Music.

We all brought blankets and chairs and booze. Our bosses assistant brought us delicious sandwiches, salads, cookies, a meat and cheese tray and so much more. And the music was Amazing. Saints of Valory and Wild Child put on a great show.

 

I think we definitely showed our Philly team a great time. I love Blues On The Green and can't wait to go again. If you are visiting the Austin area, I definitely recommend you try this experience.

Red, Yellow, & Blue Airplane Themed Baby Shower

Happy Wednesday!!

It's a beautiful, sunny day out here in Austin, Texas. I love my view here at work, but during these summer months, I want nothing more than to be outside enjoying the weather.

This weekend was a fun one. My best friend Alexis is pregnant so we had her baby shower this past Saturday. The decorations, food and prizes were incredible. They did a cute Red, Yellow, Blue Airplane theme. And it was an extra special plus to see my friend Cipriana arrive with her 1 1/2 year old daughter. I can't believe that it's already been that long since I met her at the hospital.

Anyways, on to the fun pictures...

I realize that I didn't get a picture of the food because I was too busy stuffing my face with the best enchiladas, rice, beans, queso, and guac. Yum! I want some now. 

Overall, I thought this baby shower was well executed. Congrats Aleixs! I can't wait to meet Baby Jose.

Rockin' Refuel

Happy Monday!

It seems that today would be a downer, especially with the heavy, dark clouds in the air, but nope! I'm actually having a great Monday.

This weekend was filled with a baby shower, a birthday party for our Jamaican friend (I apologize in advance for no pictures of the delicious food) and shopping at my favorite store Charming Charlie.

On Friday, I received my Rockin' Refuel package in the mail from the giveaway I won from Sweet Miles.  Thank you Sarah so much for hosting that giveaway. I absolutely love everything I received.

When I opened my package all of my coworkers crowded my desk to watch me open it. Here are the goodies I found inside.

 

 What was included:

• 7 samples of the Rockin' Refuel line which included Vanilla and Chocolate Muscle Builder, Vanilla and Chocolate Lean Builder, and Strawberry, Vanilla and Chocolate Muscle Recovery.

• Beach Towel

• Key Chain 

• Temporary Tattoo

•  Sweat Towel 

• Drawstring Backpack 

I really loved everything I got. Thanks again Sarah.

After my workout on Friday I decided to try one of the Vanilla Muscle Recovery drinks. It was really yummy and definitely not what I expected. I normally do not enjoy that taste of post/pre workout drinks but this one not only got the job done but was delicious as well. I even let one of my coworkers take a drink who is also strength trains a lot and she absolutely loved it. I can't wait to try another flavor today.

Rockport and Port Aransas, Texas

Happy Monday!

For a Monday, things aren't going so bad. See I lost my phone this weekend: the Galaxy S5 that I just bought less than a month ago. I was very torn up about it this weekend. But I found out today that I had insurance on the phone and would only need to pay a deductible to get a new one. This really made my Monday Morning that much better.

Anyways, I know I'm super late posting this but I wanted to still capture on my blog what I did during this Memorial Day weekend. My Mom, Dad, Drew and I packed up our things and headed to the beach. The main thing we wanted to do was to go fishing! So our first stop was to Mama's Bait Shop. Every year when we are in need of bait we go to Mama's. She is located right off the bay and always has some of the freshest bait in town.

 

 

Mama talked us into buying some crab. We've never fished with crab so she kindly explained how to crack open the crab and when you should hook them. We ended up getting shrimp, crab, mullet, and shad.

After we bought our bait, we had one last pit stop to make before heading out to go fishing. We knew we'd be out there for hours and didn't want to get full on beer, so we bought a bottle of Texas Crown.

We headed to the 1000 ft pier and began fishing. It was super windy out so it was hard to tell if a fish was trying to sneak some of your bait off. I caught on quickly and reeled one in. Drew and Dad were jealous.

Drew almost caught one right after me, but right after I took this picture, the fish got away. Doesn't it look like it would have been a big one?

We stayed out fishing until about 11:00 p.m. It just got too windy and fishing started to become more of a hassle than fun. We went home I read the last of Gone Girl and we called it a night.


The next day we woke up early and headed out to Port Aransas. We went fishing for a while off of the jetty. We saw a bunch of interesting things there.

The dolphin in the photo above, stayed around our fishing area for a good 20 minutes. We think he was sad because he couldn't find his posse of dolphins.

 

After we had been fishing in the heat for so long, I wanted to cool off. Good thing we bought a boogie board to ride the waves with. We had so much fun playing on that thing. After an hour I was exhausted, but Drew was still out there for another hour by himself trying to master the art of riding waves. ha!

After a long day at the beach, we headed back to our rooms to play bags and boards and make some hamburgers on the grill before another night of fishing.

We headed back to Mama's bait shop for some more bait and saw this bird eating a perch whole.A family nearby was catching them and throwing them to the bird who would swallow the perch whole and patiently wait for more.

 Overall, we had an amazing time. It was nice to relax and not worry about a thing. I can't wait for more adventure like these.