10 Week Challenge: Picture

First off, thank you for your comments on my last post. I teared up with each comment, the blog-o-sphere is so my source of friends, and I thank you so much.

Last one! One picture of myself. Well, let's have a little fun here. I don't have any fun pictures of myself on my computer, so I stole some off Facebook. Thank you social media. 

Right Half

Here are two halves of my kindergarten picture, can you guess which one I am? You have a 1 in 13 shot of getting it right. If I wasn't such a cheapskate I'd do a giveaway, but ya know, I am saving money for a baby here, give me a break :)

Left Half

If you need a reminder of what I look like, here we go. I'll even give you a picture from freshman year of college (holy cow that was four years ago), so that I'm a little younger than am I now, however, I don't think I've changed at all.

Let me know what your guesses are :) and have a fabulous weekend!

10 Week Challenge: Songs.

Two Songs.

Well, I'm just going to have to go with what's in my head right now. I don't have all time favorite songs, so that's out, and I couldn't pick just 2 if I did.

1. Savages from Pocahontas. I know this movie is INCREDIBLY historically inaccurate. Trust me, I took a whole class on it in college, but for some reason I woke up singing this song. 

2. Ready for some non-traditional Christmas music? The 12 days of Wizarding Christmas. Seriously, if you're a Harry Potter fan this is the best version of the 12 days of Christmas. 

So there you have it. Two songs that are in my head right now. I think this would be a fun series to do maybe once I'm done this challenge. Thoughts?

Tell me:

What's one of your favorite songs right now?

10 Week Challenge: Movies

We're almost done! Three films. Seriously, this is going to so hard! I can't pick just three...!

1. The Harry Potter series. All 8 movies. No, they are most certainly not better than the books, but it's still really amazing to see the series on the big screen. To see the characters and the creatures, the battles and emotion that goes with the series all on the big screen, or ya know, TV screen, is incredible and makes it more real. I love each and every one, although I have grips about each and every one, as well.

I know it's fuzzy, but it's the only one I could find.

2. Disney Classics. Another group of movies. Pick one - The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, The Lion King, Mulan, Toy Story, Pocahontas, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, etc. I know some can be offensive (Dumbo, Song of the South), but Disney tries to teach us all good morals, and whats wrong with being a hopeless romantic? Most of these movies have to be taken with a grain of salt, but I'm such a sucker for musicals, I love them all.

3. Romantic comedies. If you couldn't tell from my description of Disney classics, I'm a total sucker for romance. I LOVE rom-coms, even though they're sappy and unrealistic and predictable. The Notebook, 27 Dresses, 10 Things I Hate About You (does that count?) - they're wonderful. I love knowing that there's going to be a happy ending and I love when people fall in love. I'm a total sucker.

Tell me:


What's your favorite kind of movie?
What are your feelings about Disney movies?

10 Week Challenge: Books

You know what? I actually fell asleep a couple nights ago thinking about which books I would pick. That's how much I care about having well thought out posts something interesting for you to read (because we all know that not all my posts are well thought out).

1. The Bible. This is my instruction manual for life. I try to read it daily, and I use it as my basis for a lot of decisions, like deciding to start our family.

2. The Harry Potter series. I'm going to count them as one book, just for this purpose. They're awesome. Read them if you haven't, and don't just watch the movies, they are awful compared to the books. I would love to get into J.K. Rowling's mind for a day, it would totally blow my mind, that's for sure. The research she did on naming characters is incredible!

3. In My Father's House. This is a teen historical fiction book, but it's my favorite book of all time. It's a story based during the Civil War about the family who lived on the land where the first battle was fought (Manassas/Bull Run) and in whose parlor the War was ended at Appomattox Court House. It's fascinating about how many changes this family went through during those few years. So interesting. I also love anything by Ann Rinaldi, even though they're all young adult historic fiction. Whatevs.

4. I was hard pressed to figure out what to put for the fourth book. I contemplated putting a book that I made on my first and last days at a paperback book factory where I worked for two summers, but that's boring. So I'm picking the book I'm currently reading, and just about done - Ina May's Guide to Childbirth. I really loved this book. It opened me up to a lot of things I didn't know about childbirth. Sure it's biased, seeing as how Ina May is a midwife, but, in my opinion, women were made to bear children, it's how we were genetically designed, and medical interventions, although sometimes life-saving, aren't always necessary. The birth stories at the beginning of this book are incredible and awe-inspiring. After reading this, I know I can do this. Birth isn't something that should be feared and treated as a disease in a hospital, but as a life process, surrounded by people you love and trust.

Tell me:


Have you read any of these books? 
What's your favorite book?
Any guilty reading pleasures?

10 Week Challenge: Foods

Sorry I've been slacking in keeping up with this challenge. I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to be on three films, but instead I'm on five foods. Oh well. You'll forgive the pregnant lady, right?

Five Foods.

1. Simple carbs. I know this isn't a food per se, but more of a group of foods, but this is all I'm hungry for lately! Blame the pregnancy, but bagels, white toast, pasta with butter, white rice, it all sounds fabulous. All. The. Time.

2. Asparagus. My one and only true food aversion. I made it last week for Mr. Skinny and it made me nauseous. Not sure why, but I could not eat it. 

3. Ground meat. Weird, right? Meatloaf, meatballs, sloppy joes, burgers. This is another thing I've been quite hungry food. Guess I need more protein or iron??

4. Fish. Love fish right now, too. Salmon & tilapia mostly. I might need to make myself some of this sometime soon. 

5. Cheese. Seriously, this week I made cheddar stuffed meatloaf, cheddar mashed potatoes and roasted cauliflower with parmesan cheese. My mom made a comment about it, but didn't look into it too much, because I've always loved cheese, haha! 

Tell me:

What is one food you hate?

And one food you can't get enough of?

10 Week Challenge: Places

Happy Friday! Ah, six places. I'm wondering what kind of places these are supposed to be. Places you want to go? Places you've already been? Favorite places? I'll do a mix of the three.

1. Walt Disney World. My favorite place on Earth, truly. I could live here and never get sick of it, especially because you just can't be upset there. Families are having such a great time. The employees are happy and enjoying themselves. I know it's all cliche, but it's true for me.

2. Home. Home is where the heart is, and when we were in Maryland, our hearts weren't there. Home is where the family is, and because my family and Mr. Skinny's family both live locally, this is where home is. I don't love living with my parents, but this area is home and I am so grateful I have family that let's us live with them, no questions asked.

3. Italy. I want to go to Italy so badly. There is not a drop of Italian blood in me, but I just can't explain the desire to go there and eat all the delicious food. I don't know that I'm ever going to get there, but a girl can dream, right?

4. Greece. Same reasons as Italy. I want to see the history of these places, and the cultures.

5. Africa. I want to see where the oldest cultures on our planet come from, the most simple cultures, which is also the most complex. Thousands of years of history, millions even. Also, I want to help, these cultures have been hurting for a long time, and between colonialism and slavery, among other things, these cultures need help.

6. Heaven. My goal is life is to be able to spend the rest of eternity here, and every day, I try to strive to be the person that God created me to be so that I can spend eternity in heaven with my Creator.

Tell me:

Where is your favorite place to visit?

Where is one place you dream to visit?

10 Week Challenge: Wants

Seven Wants: These can be fictional, right?

1. A baby. Pretty explanatory.

2. To be at my goal weight. I know I'm getting there, but it's taking so long. Yes, I know that means I probably won't be gaining my weight back, but it's still frustrating!

3. Our debts paid off. We'll get there. In about 45 years.

4. A house. Again, we'll get there, I'd just love to have the money to build our house now.

5. A personal shopping assistant who pays for the clothes they pick out. A girl can dream, right.

6. A better relationship with God - I'm working on it.

7. To appreciate each day and not spend each day looking forward to the next step in life. Seriously. Look at these wants. They're all eventually going to happen (hopefully), except for the personal shopping assistant. Life is going to fly by if I don't appreciate each day for what it is. Spending time with my family and loving where I'm at, even if it's not where I want to be.

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Tell me:


Do you appreciate each day, or spend too much time looking forward, or backwards for that matter?
What are some of your wants? Real or off the wall crazy.

10 Week Challenge: Fears

Eight Fears.

1. Snakes. Anything that can move on land without feet totally creeps me out, and that includes worms. And how they float in the water? Shudder.

2. Gaining all my weight back. And then some. Even when/if I get pregnant, I'm terrified of gaining all my weight back that I worked so hard to loose. I know it's a natural process, but I have a feeling I am going to dread stepping on the scale when I get pregnant.

3. Horror Movies. 'Nough said.

4. The end of the world. I don't know why, but I get super freaked out about this. I just like to believe the Bible that no one knows and therefore, I won't know. It will happen when it happens.

5. Controversy. Seriously. If I'm around you and you start arguing with someone, I make a run for the bathroom. I'd rather not say anything than have someone argue with me.

6. Loosing my family. I know people die, and that's just a part of life, but I get really scared about loosing all my family. I don't have any friends, really, my family is chock full of my best friends, and I'm scared about what's going to happen when they aren't here.

7. Getting to the point where I can't be independent. I see Mr. Skinny's grandma and how she has to depend on everyone to help her out. And while her family is more than willing, she still gets frustrated that she can't do things herself. My dad, too. He recently hurt his back and can't do much for himself. I don't ever want to get like that.

8. Being an awful parents. It's not the getting pregnant part that scares me, because I know that's in God's hands. It's the I could be an awful parents part that worries me. That's all in my hands.

Tell me:

What is one of your biggest fears?

10 Week Challenge

Nine loves.

1. God - I know, I gotta start off with Him. Seriously, everything I have comes from Him and I am SO grateful for Him and His blessings.

*side note, as I'm typing with the capital "H" - I'm thinking of Easy A when Marianne says "His choice, capital 'H'" - anyone else? I swear I'm not like Marianne.

2. Christmas - Just wait until September, I start playing Christmas music. I love everything about Christmas, the music, the attitude most people have, the movies. It's ridiculous, and people wonder why I choice a Christmas wedding?

3. Cooking - My favorite past-times is to walk around grocery stores, look at cookbooks and recipes, I love everything about it. Mr. Skinny hates going to the store with me because I look at everything and he just wants to get out of there. Now that I'm working part-time I only cook a few days a week as opposed to every day and it really bums me out. I can't wait until I'm home with my kids and I can cook more and hopefully cook just about everything homemade.

4. Mr. Skinny - obvious, right?

5. Exercising. Well not completely, but I really am getting there. Except for the week before my period where I'm a lazy sloth, I look forward to exercising and seeing what my body can do.

6. Family. I don't have a ton of friends in real life, really I don't have any friends since we moved back to PA, and I am so thankful for my wonderful family, and my amazing in-laws because they truly are my friends.

7. Four seasons. I cannot pick a favorite season. Although I'd prefer Maryland's seasons to PA's seasons, I can't say no to snow in the winter - as long as I don't have to go out in it - and since I'm not a fan of the humidity in summer, PA's summers are better than Maryland's. Anyways, I truly love each season for what it brings.

8. Technology. I am completely not fully up on technology - I've steered clear of Pinterest and Twitter (although I technically have a Twitter account, anyone want to tell me how to use it??), but I have to say, I love my iPhone, my mac, my interest. I love being connected, although sometimes it gets in the way.

9. Children. If you don't know why then you haven't been reading my blog in the past few months.

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Tell me one of you loves, or link up, I know a few of you have started doing this!

10 Day (Week) You Challenge.

Since it's really hard for me to post regularly on Fridays, I found this 10 Day You Challenge on this blog, and just had to borrow it. It's the perfect short Friday post, so I'll be doing this weekly instead of daily. Hope you enjoy it!

Ten Secrets:

I'll just do ten things I don't think my readers know about it. I'm awful at keeping secrets.

1. My parents are hard of hearing, and being the oldest child, this put a lot of pressure on me sometimes. I know my parents didn't want me to, but I was their "ears" and I still am a lot of the time.

2. I was a cheerleader for 12 years. I quit my senior year due to coaching issues.

3. I still sleep with the blankie that I've had since childhood. Mr. Skinny makes fun of me, but whatevs.

4. Along the same lines, when I say goodnight to my mom, she says this little poem that she's said to me since childhood. "You're the best girl in the whole, wide world. Mommy loves you very much. God bless you and good night." I know that I'm 22 years old, but there's just something comforting in hearing that every day.

5. I might have mentioned this on here, but Mr. Skinny and I met in 5th grade. I used to annoy him because I had a crush on him (duh! That's what 10 year old girls do!), but we didn't start dating until sophomore year in HS.

Us in 5th grade. No lie.

6. My chapstick is ALWAYS with me. I'm not sure when this started, but it's with me all the time. At our wedding, I made Mr. Skinny put it in his pocket. At prom, it was down my dress, along with my phone and camera (having a big rack has it's pluses).

7. I pretend I know what I'm talking about, and I know what you're talking about in a lot of cases. It's kind of embarrassing sometimes. I don't know why I just don't ask a question if I don't know something.

8. I could live on a house boat. I was raised on the lake, and love it so much, although I do take it for granted sometimes.

9. I had a small obsession with Twilight for about a year. I am superbly embarrassed to admit this. I thought it was the best thing ever. Then I remembered. Harry Potter is :)

10. I've never plucked, waxed or changed my eyebrows. I don't think they need any help. Someone please tell me if they do!

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Did you know any of these secrets?

Tell me a secret about you!