I got this idea from Celebrate Magazine. When I saw it, I knew I had to make them to add to my Valentine’s decor. It is an easy and cheap DIY project that I think you will all love.

While I’ve got you here, meet my Double Venti sponsor, Megan!

Hi! My name is Megan. I blog at Just a Small Town Girl. I’m originally from a small town in Alabama, but now I live in the big city in North Carolina. At the center of my blog is my desire to help others and to share Christ’s love. I blog about my life and the things I think, do, and create along the way. I am married to my best friend and I teach 4th grade at a year round school. I love reading, crafting, blogging, baking, watching football, traveling, and spending time with loved ones. 

I love to take long walks down memory lane so I recently started a link up called Throwback Thursday. It’s held the 1st and 3rd Thursday of every month and you can link up a post about anything from your past. I’d love to have you join me this Thursday. I will be sharing about my childhood crushes.

I also have a heart for adoption and my husband and I hope to adopt one day. Until then, I enjoy helping others with their adoption and learning as much as I can about the process. This past fall, I hosted Ornaments for Adoption and I look forward to doing it again this year. Currently, a great blogging friend of mine, Christie from Satisfaction Through Christ, is in the process of adopting her second child. I‘d love to have you read about how you can help her family here.


Follow Megan Via:
GFC | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

 With a new year comes new adventures and exciting changes. I have been anxiously awaiting the start of this new little adventure a.k.a. blog hop and it is finally here! I hope you will all come enjoy the fun and mingle with us. Please take the time to visit other blogs and leave us a comment letting us know that you have followed so we can return the favor. My hope is that we can get to know each other more and discover new blogs together. Please follow the rules listed below or I’m afraid your link will have to be deleted, and no one wants that.

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Rules:

1. Follow both of your hosts via GFC.

(first 2 links below)

2. Link up your main blog URL, not a specific post.

3. Link back to us by grabbing our button.

4. Tweet, Facebook, and Pin this blog hop. The more you spread the word the more people will link up, and the more success you will have! 


Tweet

5. Be sure to visit other blogs! Don’t just link up and wait for others to find you. 

Let’s get this party started!!…




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Well, I am happy to report this week has been much more successful! I worked out every weekday which was my goal, and guess what? I have lost a pound! I’ll let you in on a secret: when I was working out and trying to get beautimous for our wedding, I only lost 1 pound a month. It’s tough for me to lose weight, but I lost a pound in 3 weeks! I’m pretty excited. It’s always encouraging to see positive results. 🙂 On a side note: 30 Day Shred kicked my butt! It’s a really great workout and I’m really excited to keep doing it.

I’ve still been drinking fruit and veggie smoothies for lunch which has really helped my diet stay more healthly and balanced. I did mess up and get Zaxby’s for lunch one day, but trust me, this southern girl needs a little fried chicken in her life, otherwise, things could get ugly.

Via

Let’s talk about running. I can see why so many people love to run. But as for me, I’d rather do Insanity than run. I hate running. I love to walk, do the elliptical, dance but no running for me, thank you. I have tried to fall in love with it, but it’s just miserable to me. And it kills my knees (thank you, dance). This is why it is important to find a workout that works best for you. It is easier on my knees to do aerobic-type workouts like Zumba the elliptical when I go to the gym. I can still get great results and burn plenty of calories without having to run all the time. I do try to run every once in a while because it is very healthy for you but for the most part, I just prefer other work outs. I guess that was a long winded way of saying you don’t have to be a runner to get a runner’s body. Find something that works best for you.

Workouts I completed this week:

Friday: 1.5 mile walk/run
Monday: 30 Day Shred
Tuesday: 1.5 mile walk
Wednesday: 30 Day Shred
Thursday: 18 minutes on the elliptical, .6 mile walk, 50 crunches

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Now, on to some exciting news!!! Tarole from Island Livin’ with One Haole Girl and I are starting a blog hop that will be held every Monday. It will be called “Monday Mingling.” We are very excited about this new adventure and I hope you will all come help make it a success by linking up. Feel free to spread the word and grab our button below:

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See you Monday!

Weekend in Paris by Robyn Sisman
Penguin Group, 2003

First Line: Eighty feet below Trafalgar Square the train rattled southward, steepening its angle as it prepared to plunge beneath the Thames.

From the back cover: Molly Clearwater had always wanted to escape the confines of her small-town upbringing to make a splash as a career woman in London. But somehow, working as a low-level assistant for the boorish Malcolm Figg wasn’t nearly as fulfilling as she had hoped-until Malcolm offered her a “perk”-a free weekend business trip to Paris. She’s ecstatic until she discovers that Malcolm’s idea of “business” isn’t exactly the same as hers. Horrified, Molly storms out of the office.  With nothing else to lose, she impulsively boards a train to Paris, intent on treating herself to a long weekend in the City of Light.

Last week my BABY sister turned 18 years old. Where did the time go? So naturally we spent all weekend celebrating. We had a great time hanging with my family, eating, eating cake twice and playing with baby Gage. He told me that I was his favorite auntie. It’s true.

It seems surreal that Alex is graduating high school in 4 months and going off to college in 7 (War Eagle). I will miss her and our Tuesday nights terribly. Oh wait, no I won’t because she can just drive home every Tuesday to see her favorite sister. Right? Problem solved! I am so proud of her and the woman she has become. She is so mature for her age, sweet as pie and looks like a model.

Look at those cheeks! HA

Bad grandpa.

Rockin’ that camo. 🙂

Balensi dress
$3,635 – leclaireur.com

Alice olivia
mytheresa.com

Plein Sud skinny legging
anastasiaboutique.com

Christian Louboutin suede heels
christianlouboutin.com

Pied a Terre platform high heels
$245 – johnlewis.com

Prada genuine leather handbag
$3,005 – flannelsfashion.com

ASOS triangle jewelry
asos.com

Charlotte Russe glitter jewelry
charlotterusse.com

Dolce & Gabbana cat sunglasses
saksfifthavenue.com

H M zipper dress
$40 – hm.com

Vero Moda floral top
$26 – veromoda.com

MICHAEL Michael Kors mid-rise jeans
$72 – theoutnet.com

Aldo shoes
aldoshoes.com

High heels
boohoo.com

Valentino leather handbag
$955 – farfetch.com

Betsey Johnson heart bracelet
betseyjohnson.com

Kate Spade post earrings
lordandtaylor.com

Dsquared
$255 – farfetch.com

Essie nail polish
beauty.com

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As most of my readers probably know by now, I have to wear contacts or glasses to be able to see. In fact, some of you may remember my post about a pair of glasses I got recently because I wanted to look like Zooey Deschanel.

                                                                             Via

I mean, who doesn’t want to look like that?

But getting to my point, my new glasses have made me more interested in looking around for eyeglasses online. I don’t know about you guys, but I have always been kind of scared to buy something online that I haven’t tried on. But then I found GlassesUSA.com. One of the cool things about their website is they offer a virtual mirror. I know, sounds super high-tech, right? This virtual mirror lets you basically try on any of their glasses from right there in front of your computer! You can use an old picture of yourself or take a new one with your webcam. It is a really neat feature.

One of the other things that grabbed my attention while looking around on GlassesUSA.com was how confident they are in their products. They have a “100% satisfaction guaranteed” policy. If for any reason you are not happy with the glasses you bought, you can return them for an exchange or a refund. They also offer a “110% lowest price guarantee.” They are so confident that they have the lowest prices around that if you find their product cheaper anywhere else, they will pay you 110% of the difference! So not only are they confident in the quality of their eyeglasses, but they are also confident that you can’t find a better deal anywhere else.

But here is the best part – right now they are doing a storewide offer of 15% off a purchase of $50 or more and you get free shipping. All you have to do use the code FS15 at checkout. So not only are you getting good quality glasses at a great price, but you are getting a discount as well! Head over to GlassesUSA.com to buy glasses today!

Hello everyone! If you recall from last week, I talked about how I was going to start this fitness series to keep me accountable on my daily diet and workout routines. If you missed my first post, you can check it out here.

This week did not go as planned. I’ve been sick with this crud that doesn’t want to leave me and that threw off my workout plans. I did workout yesterday and plan to today so please don’t judge me based on my lack of performance this week. We will see how it goes next week. I did however meet my goal to eat something green every day! That’s something, right?

Via

Ryan and I love to watch The Biggest Loser. It is so motivating to me to see these 300 pound people running on a treadmill, doing the stair climb and throwing around a weighted ball. When I watch them do it, I tell myself “Logan, you have NO excuse. If this guy can do it, why aren’t you?” This year they are tackling childhood obesity. It warms my heart to see them really getting the word out about how bad obesity has plagued American children. Although I am not a parent yet, I do want my children to be healthy one day and live a healthy lifestyle. I can’t help them do that if I’m not setting the example.

One of the Biggest Loser’s trainers, Jillian Michaels, has come out with several work-out DVD’s. Thanks to Tarole’s suggestion, I bought the 30-Day Shred! I’m so scared excited to start this DVD on Monday!

Via

Let’s talk about diet for a minute. I am the chocolate queen. Put anything chocolate in front of me and I will not even think twice before I dive in. It’s a weakness. Do I plan on giving it up? NO! Why? because you can eat chocolate, sugar, pizza, Mexican food, Chinese food, etc. as long as it is in moderation. In fact, did you know it is good to eat a bad meal every week? It throws off your body. If you eat healthy food all the time, your body starts to get used to it and that healthy food becomes the norm. If you eat a bad meal, it throws off your body and makes it work over time to process what you ate, which makes your metabolism go into overdrive. You’re welcome. 🙂

Here are the workout(s) I completed this week:

Thursday: 15 minutes on the elliptical, walked .6 miles, 50 crunches, 15 push-ups

Taken with my iphone while working out. Please excuse the blurry quality.

Sad, but better than nothing. I’m starting to feel a little better, so I’ll get after it this week!

Goals for this week: Eat more protein, complete 30-Day Shred workouts every day.

Good luck to you this week! Kick your workouts in the hiney! And don’t forget to eat a cookie (again, you’re welcome).