Bookworm

For all of y'all that know me, you should know how much I love to read. I go through tons of books in the summer when I am at the lake with nothing else to do, and I am really making an effort this year to read more all year round. 

Luckily, I found an awesome new source that is going to help me with my efforts. Have you heard of GoodReads? For those of you obsessed with Pinterest (and who isn't by now), the best way I can describe is it is like Pinterest just for books!

I have different bookshelves I can put books on, and as I read books I can rate how I liked them and post reviews. The absolute best part of the website is that there is a custom recommendations tab based on your book ratings. After you rate 30 books, the site predicts other books you might like. For instance, I tell GoodReads how much I love The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins....

and then it recommends I read Divergent, by Veronica Roth.

I am in the process of trying to remember and rate books that I have read, as well as add to my "to-read" bookshelf. The only think I keep thinking is "This is going to be bad for my wallet, but good for my brain!"

Thanks to KKW for a great website recommendation! Is anyone else using GoodReads?

3.5 Weeks In

So far, I am a big fan of the goals vs. resolutions plan. We are about to turn the corner on several of our goals and I will have to make new ones! The anticipation of being able to cross things off my list is so motivating!

Our first goal was to identify and join a new church body. We are currently visiting Renewal Church and going through an official Partner class there. Will and I have been praying about this decision and feel like this may be the place that God has in mind for us. It will be a challenge for us, and I feel like it will spur us on to a closer relationship with God as well as with each other. It will still be several weeks before I can call this one goal completed, but I feel like we are well on our way.

Secondly, I wanted to identify and sign up for several more races this year. I think Will and I may be good to go to sign up for the Cooper River Bridge Run, which I have never done before and can't wait to participate in my first 10K. As far as the half marathon, I haven't picked one yet. I really want to do the Rock and Rock half in Savannah in November, but I may try the Spinx half here in Greenville. We will see how the the other races go....

As for the dining room furniture, we have FINALLY gotten everything sanded. It was a nightmare to sand these chairs, I'll post some pictures later. Our goal was to prime everything last weekend, then paint this weekend, and then move the furniture in. Unfortunately, last weekend it was pouring rain on Saturday and pretty chilly. Ideally, we would paint in 70 degree weather with little to no humidity, so we didn't want to chance it. New goal, prime this weekend and paint next weekend. We will get it done!

I finally have a color picked out for the guest bedroom, and I think me and Mom are going to try to paint it this weekend too. I have the bedroom mostly cleared out and just need to prep it tomorrow or Saturday.

As far as my reading goal, I am doing pretty well. I want to read at least 40 books this year, and so far I have finished 3. I have a lot more books on the list, and I'll update the list at some point.

I am hoping that in the next few weeks, I'll have to make some new goals!

My Obsession

Everyone has something, right? Something that they would always spend money on, no matter how much they already have of this given thing?

For guys, that could be sporting goods, tools, or something for their cars. For girls, it could be makeup, house decor,or kitchen gadgets. For me, it's candles. Specifically Yankee Candles.

I would go into a Yankee Candle store every time I saw one and buy a new candle. I love how their candles fill a room with delightful scent. 

My current favorite is Winterland. I picked this our for our Winter scent and I have almost burned the whole candle. It smells like light peppermint combined with the smell of an impending snow. I love it. 

My traditional Christmas scent is Christmas Cookie. The only problem with this scent is how much it makes you want to bake, lol!

My favorite fall candle is Harvest. It is the perfect blend of cinnamon, pumpkin, and apple without being too overpowering.

And of course, the anytime favorite, Clean Cotton! Always makes the house smell wonderful. 

My main hang up in buying these wonderful candles is the price. And finding a scent that Will can deal with for hours and hours on end. :) And, I always buy the large jar. If I like the scent enough to buy it, I want to be able to burn it for 110-150 hours. 

My next quest is to find a great spring scent. After checking the website for their new scents, I have high hope for Meyer Lemon

Now, to find some time to head over to the Yankee Candle store!

HTI Pedometer Challenge

So, in an effort to get a little healthier as a company, HTI (the awesome company I work for) decided to do a little challenge. We were all given pedometers and for the next month we are tracking our steps and recording them. Prizes from gift cards to lunch are being given out, and I am gunning for a prize.

There is just one catch. I have a desk job! And I am competing with people that work out on manufacturing floors or warehouses and walk all day.

A great goal is 10,000 steps a day, and after the first day, I knew I needed to pick it up. So, I am trying to get up early and go for a run or walk in the morning. I know that this will help with training for a few races that I have picked out (update on those goals later!). It's been nice getting up a little earlier to see Will in the morning and having some extra time built into the morning too.

I hoping the contest keeps me a little more active than I would have been anyways. That's the whole point! Now, off to try to stop rewarding myself with M&M's for hitting 10,000 steps :)

'Mother May I Sleep With Danger' and Other Adventures!

So, this past weekend, Will and I were blessed to be able to take a trip to Blue Ridge, GA to be able to spend the weekend with our sweet small group from Atlanta. It was a blast! The house we stayed at was awesome (thanks Tyler's parents!)

The view was amazing!

On Friday night, as the couples began to trickle in, we ate dinner and headed downstairs to this incredible basement full of games.

Jimmy playing the baseball game

Jason playing pool

Will & Tyler playing shuffleboard

And yes, if you notice in the background of that first picture of the basement, that is a giant TV with a karaoke machine hooked up. My worst nightmare. I love singing...just only when it is me alone in the car. Or maybe when Sammy is there, or Will. Plus, generally people have to be pretty intoxicated to want to do karaoke, or to enjoy it. 

Enter Mark Houston. 

Mark sang "Heart of Rock & Rock" by Huey Lewis & the News, which is a song I have never heard of. But he did awesome! Deep down, there is a performer inside! Mark's sweet wife Ashley, writes about their new house at The Houston House blog. Its super cute, you should check it out!

After staying up way past our bedtimes, the next day brought some more adventures. The girls decided to go into downtown Blue Ridge to go shopping, and the guys decided to go shoot some sporting clays. Apparently, Will did pretty well, and came in 2nd overall for the group. The girls were pretty successful as well, picking up a few things here and there, and eating together in Blue Ridge. 

That night, we all pulled together and made an amazing dinner, and I wish I got a picture of the whole spread. I did, however, snap a few shots of the sunset. 

After we were all stuffed, we headed back downstairs for more games, and that night, we decided to play charades. Out of respect for everyone, I thankfully did not take pictures during this game. Basically, each round was boys against girls and we would make up clue for the other team to act out. Special props go to Mark for figuring out "Mother May I Sleep with Danger" and a few other choice Lifetime Movie clues. Also, Jason did guess "The Brady Bunch" after just getting the word 'the'. And, the girls did pretty well too, after all, we did get "Duran Duran" after Ashley acted out "Hungry like a Wolf" and we still didn't know what band sang that song. (Hey, old music isn't my thing, don't hate me). 

After staying up way too late again, morning came quick. We ate a big breakfast, and everyone headed out about lunchtime. We were so grateful to see this group again and we really cherished the time we were able to spend with them. We miss y'all and hopefully we won't go too long until we see you again!

Love this group!

Our 1st Outdoor Project

As far as the outside of our house, I have been pretty negligent. I haven't even really gone outside much so far since for the majority of the time it has been rainy or cold. Granted, Will has had to spend a good amount of time outside so far getting our leaves under control (let's not even talk about the amount of trees we have in our yard), but I haven't spent much time in the yard.

Don't get me wrong, I have some projects I know I want to work on, like painting all the doors and shutters and trimming some bushes in the backyard, but in general, I don't want to think about it. There are so many things that I want to do inside the house, that to add the stuff I want to do outside of the house just seems overwhelming at this point.

However, upon examining our firewood situation, Will decided something had to be done. We had our firewood far back in the backyard, sitting on the ground stacked in between two trees. There was no tarp or covering, and with all the rain we have had, any firewood we had out there was soaking wet.

Well, Will had a better idea. After getting some nice dry wood from the Rowe's farm, he fashioned up a nice new place for our firewood. 

He picked two trees closer together, and closer to the house, took some scrap wood and screwed it into the trees to create a platform for the firewood. Don't think he did this all alone, his beautiful sidekick helped. And by that, I mean Hunter, cause apparently I don't hold a level right, or something stupid like that. 

Anyways, now we have nice, dry firewood that we can use whenever we want to have a cozy fire. 

School Spirit!

While some people might assume that a post about school spirit from me would be about Clemson (Yes, I am still a Clemson fan after our horrific defeat), I am actually talking about high school spirit.

I love my high school. That may sound silly or childish to some of you, but I have deep connections to good ole' Wade Hampton High, and those aren't going away quickly.

My connection with WHHS started in 4th grade, seriously. My dad took a job there as the athletic director, teacher, and basketball coach. That means that some Tuesdays and most Fridays in the winter, my butt was in the WHHS gym. Granted, we were at the very top corner of the gym the furthest away from the WHHS bench (just in case Dad got carried away and used some dirty words), and my nose was usually in a book, but I was there.

By the time I got to high school, I choose to apply for special permission to WHHS instead of going to the school I was zoned for. I had attended a school my dad worked for in the past and thoroughly enjoyed some of the perks (knowing who the best teachers are, refrigerator in his office, etc.). After spending 4 years there, the connection was cemented even deeper. My dad continued to work there, and my sister choose the same path, attending WHHS instead of the school she was zoned for. Even though my sister has graduated now, Dad is still there and we continue to go watch his games, and be a part of the Wade Hampton family (I wasn't voted Most Likely to Attend Every WHHS Event after Graduation for nothing people!)

Anyways, fast forward to last night, the basketball game at Greenville High. Greenville is one of Wade Hampton's arch-rivals and I cannot put into word how much the Generals needed to beat them. While I like to watch the game, one of the most fun things about being there is listening to what comes about of my sisters mouth.

Samantha has always been more into basketball than I am. I mean, don't get me wrong, I want them to win, and I will cheer and stuff, but Sam yells. And when she yells, it is usually stuff the rest of us wouldn't yell. A lot of it is basic stuff, like telling people they are awful or terrible, but sometimes she gets creative.

Some of my personal favorites from last night

• This one kid from Greenville had a protective facemask on, so naturally every time he touched the ball, Sam yelled "Facemask!"
• Another Greenville kid had a throw back high top haircut, so she keep yelling "Waddup Fresh Prince!"
• When one Greenville kid was at the free throw line she said "You need to shave your nasty beard!"
• The refs - oh the refs. Refs are usually awful, but after a particularly bad call last night, when the gym was pretty quiet, Sam yelled "You are terrible and everyone in this room hates you!" That one actually got a chuckle from the ref and the security cop. I also got her to call one of the refs "The Crypt Keeper" cause he looked like he was about 97 
• The Greenville announcer is awful. Now, I am all for announcers being biased, but this guy was biased and cliche. He kept using the same tired sayings the whole night. He called the free throw line a  "charity line" at least 8 times, and kept saying "No soup for you!" after a block or something. After one of these incidents, Sam stood up and yelled "Just because they gave you a microphone doesn't mean you need to say something!"

Sam gets pretty fired up during games, and it's no wonder where she got that from :)

Luckily, the game was close, but we pulled away during the last few minutes and we won! Go Generals!

Goals for 2012

This year, instead of resolutions, I decided to set some goals for myself. I don't usually set any kind of resolutions or anything certain, but I wanted to be able to refer back to something throughout the year and check my progress. You know how much I like a good list :)

1. Join and get plugged in at a new church. We have been visiting several churches around and we are close to making a decision and getting going with a new church body.

2. Sign up for and run more races - I would like to try a 10K this year, run more 5K's, and possibly run another half marathon. This will help keep me in better shape, and races are always more fun then just another run in the neighborhood!

3. Finish refinishing the dining room furniture in the next few weekends. We are so close to having the front half of the house done! After the furniture and a few more finishing touches, we will be done!

4. Get the guest bedroom complete and invite people to come stay with us. There are so many people we would like to share Greenville with, but first I would like them to have a nice room to stay in!

5. Read more! I love to read, but sometimes I get stuck without a good idea for what to read next. I have been working on a reading list for 2012 that will help me with ideas the whole year round. Here's what I have so far.

• The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (I've never read it but I figured I would try it!)
• The Hobbit (want to read it before the movie comes out)
• Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil 
• The Poisonwood Bible
• Room
• The Help
• Anything I haven't read by Pat Conroy yet
• Crazy Love
• The Art of Racing in the Rain
• The Adventures of Sherlock Holms
• Robinson Crusoe
• Swiss Family Robinson
• Around the World in 80 Days

I want to mix in several additional books when the mood strikes, but I figured that would be a good list to get me started after I finish a book and don't know what to start next. 

This should be a good start for the year, I hope to update you on my progress and add additional goals as I cross these off the list!