It's Been A While

So it's been a while since my last blog. In fact, it's been 15 days. Want to know how I know that (other than using a calendar of course)?

Because we only have 15 days left!

So what have I been up to in the last 15 days you may ask? Well, a lot.

Carlee moved to Birmingham to begin her freshman year of college at Samford. She now lives 1.5 miles from me!

Carlee trying on her bridesmaids attire at dinner. What a trooper.

Therefore I shamelessly use her as my bridesmaids jewelry/dress/makeup/hair model. 

We bought a dining room table.

 

 

I never thought I'd see the day when I would get so excited about new furniture. But alas, that day has come.

I've figured out my hair style for the wedding.

This probably sounds silly and insignificant to some people, but knowing what my hair will look like that day and having the peace of time that it'll look good is a huge load off my shoulders.

Jason and I got to celebrate our upcoming marriage with all of our friends from Destin at our hometown gathering.

We were so blessed to get to visit with all of my family's nearest and dearest friends. We also got the pleasure of finally introducing part of Jason's family to my family!

I received my first gifts with my new monogram!

This may seem silly or insignificant as well, but when you've had one name your whole life and then it changes, that's a pretty big deal!

We've also:
Finalized our vows and the order of our ceremony.
I read one of the best books I've ever read, "Redeeming Love" (more on that later).
Experienced the first college football weekend of the year.
Completely reorganized and redecorated an apartment.


So, as you can see, we've had a busy two weeks...and the busy-ness will continue on for another two weeks. Thankfully, we have tons of help and lots of understanding friends and family.We cannot wait for our wedding day! We cannot wait to be The Morales'!

'Tis the Season

Well, today marks the beginning of summertime in the South.

Growing up, Memorial Day marked the beginning of "the season" for everyone I knew. When you live in Destin, or any coastal town, Memorial Day marks the beginning of a three month long Black Friday.

So...in honor of my hometown and - well - we'll call it "heritage," here's my "Top 10 Summertime Favs"

10 - Less Traffic in the mornings

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As much as I absolutely loved growing up in Destin, I do not miss the summer traffic at all. Although I appreciated it, because I knew that it meant that people were supporting our economy, I have to say that sitting in traffic for hours a time just to get to work, the beach, the mall, or to a friend's house was not ideal. In Birmingham, summertime means less traffic. School is out and everyone goes to...well...Destin. Although my family may get annoyed at the hundreds of Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Tennessee tags that they pass (or rather sit in traffic with) on the way to work, it means that I get to leave for work five minutes later than usual.


9 - Baseball

I don't get as much into the sport as I do into the atmosphere. I love all kinds of baseball in the summer - from tee ball to pro ball. I grew up going to the occasional Braves game with my family and during high school, I was privileged to get to see a couple different really cool games around the country. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about the big leagues, but I also love going down to the ball park and just watching the kiddos play. Obviously, Jason and I don't get to do that because we don't have kiddos (or even really know any up here), but those are definitely some of my favorite memories from growing up.

Jason and I went to a Braves game last summer and it was really a blast. We're trying to plan a fun little trip back to Atlanta this summer to and go to a game.

8 - Parks and outdoor events

Sunset Cinema at Railroad Park
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I'm a sucker for anything outdoors. I love concerts, movies, food, picnics, markets, garage sales, plays, and truly anything that consists of sitting outside in the warm air with a cool breeze.

Again, growing up in Destin, I feel like I've been conditioned for outdoor events since birth. My parents would always take up to events out at Seaside or Baytowne Wharf. It's kind of fun to get to do things that tourists do and then go home and sleep in your own bed at night.

Birmingham has fun things to do outdoors in the summer as well. I'm just learning about them as we go along. I guess that's part of the transition from living in Destin (either full-time or even just in the summertime) and living in Birmingham full-time. Jason and I enjoy outdoor activities, so if you hear of one nearby, let me know...we'll be there with shorts on!

Jason & I at Harborwalk with my family last year for the 4th of July

7- Pool time

I didn't know this until I permanently moved to Birmingham last year, but most pools apparently don't open until Memorial Day weekend...or may a week or two before. I'm a big fan of clean pools. I love being able to lounge on a raft (like our friend Mr. Speedo Man) or lay out for a little while and then jump into a refreshingly cool pool.

6 - Weekend getaways

You're probably tired of hearing me say, "Growing up..."

But, growing up, my family and I would sometimes go stay on the beach for a weekend or some short amount of time. We knew a lot of people who would come to town or who owned houses/condos on the beach. Occasionally, we'd go stay out there. I loved doing that because I still got to hang out with my friends and go about my normal routine, but when I wanted to feel like I was on vacation, I could.

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Jason and I have a lot of little weekend getaways planned this summer. Starting this weekend, we're in Birmingham very little over the summer. I cannot wait for those Friday afternoons (and some Thursdays) when we get to jump in the car, turn on some good music, and drive out of town.

5 - New movies

There are not many things that can top the opening weekend of a movie you've been waiting to see for months. Many times, new movies that we've all been waiting for happen to open during the summer.

This year...here's what we're waiting for...

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We actually just discussed going to the midnight premier. We'll see if it happens or not.

4 - Sales

Summertime caterers quite specifically to the shopoholic. Now, I'm not sure that I fit quite into that category (especially since I've been "on my own"), but I do love a good sale. Lucky for girls like me, summertime also brings with it lots and lots of sales.

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Memorial Day sales
Fourth of July sales
Back to school sales
Tax holiday
Labor Day sales
Spring clothes clearance rack

Need I keep going?

3 - Vacation days

Oh the joys of vacation days. I've learned very quickly that there are vacation days and then there are vacation days.

Vacation days are days that you're actually on vacation. Most of us go on a summer vacation every year or so, and vacation days laying out by the pool, laying on the beach, nice dinners out, shopping, and sight seeing are familiar to us.

Vacation days are days that you don't work, but you're not on a vacation. These are used for days when you don't go to work because you've got things to do (yucky errands) that can only be done between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

None of this...
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So far this year, I've only taken vacation days. I'm so excited about getting to take vacation days this summer!

2 - Wedding season

Summer is the seasons of weddings. This year there are quite a few that Jason and I will be attending as well as few that we can't make it to. Summer weddings have always been part of my life. If you've been on the beach in Destin/Pensacola/Panama City on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday evening I'm sure you've seen a wedding ceremony.

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I'm sincerely excited for all of my friends getting married this summer (and next) and I can't wait to become a married woman myself.

1 - No school

Unfortunately, this one only applies to my life indirectly these days. I was always a huge fan of summer vacation. One year I heard rumors about how our county (or state?) might be going to year-round school and I cried...literally...sat down and cried.

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Now, I'm no longer in school, but summer means that my family is way more available for me to hang out with them! Having two sisters in school, a mom who teaches, and a dad who is a principal has made me feel a weeeee bit left out this year :( Luckily, now that they're all going to be on summer vacation, I get LOTS of family time!

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I hope that each of you have a wonderful holiday weekend. I will be heading home to Destin as soon as work gets out today. For those of you traveling, be safe! For those of you taking a little staycation, enjoy your relaxation!

I'll be taking a break from rambling this weekend...but next week I want to know: What are your summertime favs?

Absolute Perfection

This is how I felt this morning...

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I woke up this morning and looked to see what time it was. When I saw that it was a 8:00, I decided that I still technically had 30 more minutes to sleep, so I rolled back over. But then, I remembered coffee. The sooner I got up, the sooner I got coffee.

The first sip was everything I hoped it would be...and more!

Needless today, when I came to this realization, I hopped out of bed and headed downstairs. I chose Vanilla Biscotti by Folger's as my first cup of "happiness".

When I walked into the kitchen to get my coffee, I found my dad making a wonderful breakfast!

Look how precious my dad is making breakfast for his girlies. Whole new meaning to "provider".

He made turkey bacon, eggs, and sliced watermelon. I opted to just go for an egg, watermelon, and some coffee, but the smell of bacon was delightful!

Around 9:30, it was time to hit the road. We had an 11:00 appointment at David's Bridal in Pensacola, which is about an hour away. But we weren't sure where in Pensacola the store is, so we made sure to leave with plenty of time.

The view from the Destin Bridge is my favorite in the entire world. Today was perfect in many ways, but this is definitely one of them:

I'm glad that we decided to leave early, because we walked into the store at 11:01. I also spilled my coffee in the car and it got all over the back of the sundress I had on...great way to walk into a wedding gown store. I might as well introduced myself as "Clumsy".

As soon as I started looking at dresses, everything got better. My consultant's name is Joan and she's been "in the business" for over 25 years. Let me tell you, that woman knows her stuff. She guess my dress size about five minutes after she met me. Incredible...

I wish I could post a picture, but my loving and supportive fiancé does read my blog (Hey Jason!), so I cannot. I will just say that we HAD to find a dress today. I told Joan that I was walking out of the store with a dress and she sure did make that happen. We were there for two and a half hours and I tried on six dresses. I never put a dress on twice. I bought the sixth dress and knew it was "it" before I even looked at myself in a mirror. My family literally gasped as a walked out of the room (and one of the consultants did too). I felt so special and I just knew that was the reaction that I needed to get from the perfect wedding dress.

Even though I was/am on a super strict budget for my wedding, I ended up getting a designer dress that was on sale. I really don't know any designers for wedding gowns other than Vera Wang, but this guy who designed mine also designed Jackie Kennedy's and Grace Kelly's dresses. I thought that was a fun fact.

For anyone who is about to go wedding dress shopping soon, or even someday, here are a few tips.
1. Don't wear a lot, or any face make-up such as powder or foundation.
2. The shop will have all the undergarments you need. You don't need your own (I was way over prepared).
3. If you have your shoes, bring them with you! It helps so much.
4. Set a budget ahead of time.
5. Plan the appointment early. Plan to be there for a while. Don't plan it close to a mealtime.
6. Take people who will be honest with you, but who will also celebrate the experience with you.

I did a lot a little research before dress shopping today so thankfully I did all of these things. It made the trip run very smooth! It was so special and I got to ring a bell when I "said yes to the dress". When I rang the bell, everyone clapped. I truly did feel like a bride and buying the dress made it seem so much more real!

After dress shopping, we hit up Ruby Tuesday's for their salad bar.

The Garden Bar is always a good choice. 

I had a delicious salad topped with cucumber, egg, sunflower seeds, a few black olives, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. I also had a little bit of Waldorf salad and something that resembled potato salad, but I decided not to eat the potato salad. When we got home, I fixed an afternoon coffee. It wasn't as exciting as my morning coffee today, but it still hit the spot!

By request of, well, me, we picked up some fresh red snapper from the seafood market on our way back into town. I am super picky about seafood, but I knew that fish would be a great way to ease out  of the cleanse. Since I'm picky, I usually only eat seafood if it's fresh and if it's from Destin. My dad marinaded it in this lemon pepper sauce and then grilled it.

I volunteered to make my parmesan crusted asparagus tonight. It was a big hit with my family, and I honestly think I ate too much of it. Usually, I use the sprinkle kind of parmesan, but all we had at the house was fresh shredded. It all worked out okay.

Cousin/yogurt love

After dinner we hung out with my cousin Matt. I decided to treat all of them to a yogurt. I opted for a small helping to reward myself for completing the cleanse and for finding my wedding dress.

I believe that the whole meal (and really day) has inspired my plan for realistically maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Since the cleanse is over, I have to space out my topics for posts though :) I will share my plan soon, but not tonight.

Enough rambling, it's been a perfect day and this bride-to-be is super tired.

P.S. Jason comes home tomorrow!

Day 7: The Last Hurdle

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I can totally relate with every emotion this little guy is experiencing. All day I've been carrying this track race analogy around in my mind.

For closer examination of this picture, I'm the little dude jumping. My face is saying, "The finish line is right there! It's so close. Just one more hurdle and I can do it!" The people behind him watching are all of you! I've had so much encouragement along the way and I'm so thankful for it! The people behind him standing up and looking are all of you who are saying, "Girl, you crazy!"

This morning I got up an hour before my alarm went off because I'm so excited to go home. I usually roll over and check all of my random emails that I get throughout the night and when I did that this morning, I came across this...

...thus the reason for my excitement.  David's Bridal, I am eager to see you as well!

Today, the cleanse is supposed to be all about the soup. I packed everything up in my handy-dandy Publix bag, packed my car with dress shopping supplies, clothes for the weekend, and my ice chest full of fruit and I was off to work. About 4 miles away from my apartment, I had to pull over and rearrange how the soup was situated because it was spilling.

I was planning on just eating some soup around 10:15 or 10:30. But by the time I got to work, I was really hungry. Since soup was about the last thing I wanted at 8:30 a.m. I decided to cheat just a weeeee bit and I grabbed a handful of grapes from the ice chest. I very highly doubt that eating six grapes first thing in the morning on day seven is going to ruin my cleanse (but if it does, I'll let you know).

Out of curiosity and excitement, I checked Jason and my wedding website to see how many days we have until we say, "I do."

I almost squealed at my desk. Less than 150 days!

On a side note, but still an important note, today is the one year anniversary of the tornadoes that affected so many lives in Alabama. I hope and pray that those who have lost loved ones as well as dear possessions will rely on the hope that we find in Christ alone.

Growing up on the coast of Florida, I feel like I know all too well the power that a storm can have on our lives. In my almost 23 years of life I believe that I've also experienced storms spiritually and emotionally that affect each one of us in different ways. Whenever I hear reports of storms on the news, or experience them first hand whether literally or figuratively, I am reminded of Job.

Job 1:20-22 says (after all of his possessions, wealth, AND children had been taken from him), "Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong."

A dear friend of mine, Mandi Mapes, wrote a song after the earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010. I believe that the lyrics of this song are true in our lives in any type of storm.

In Your Arms (by Mandi Mapes)

 To read the rest of the lyrics to this song, go to the Radical Experiment page. If you'd like to read the story behind these lyrics, visit Mandi's blog. If you'd like to buy this song, go to iTunes.


So onto soup...

Eat to the smile!

I ate my first soup around 10:50 a.m., my second bowl around 12:30 p.m., and my third bowl around 1:00 p.m.

I was able to leave work today around 3:15. It was so wonderful to get on the road a little bit early.

After four hours of driving, I entered Destin with this beautiful view.

I truly do love my hometown. I'm proud to have been born and raised in paradise.

When I walked in the door, I was greeted by my parents and my beautiful sister, Carlee. I was starving. I had only eaten about 150 calories today, and I was in need of something...but not soup.

I heated up my soup and took a bite. I almost gagged. I've heard that a lot of times when you change your diet drastically, your body will give you cravings when you're in need of a type of food (I don't think this is true with ice cream though, unfortunately). 


This is what I ended up eating for dinner:

PROTEIN!

Dinner:
Mom's leftover ground turkey
Corn
Black beans
Kidney beans
Watermelon

Although I "broke" the cleanse tonight, I feel good about my decision. You have to listen to your body. And I didn't break out a gallon of ice cream, I just reverted back to the previous day's eating plan (poultry and veggies).

Well, I'm going to call it a night and spend some quality time with my family. My mom just said, "I think I'm obsessed with wedding stuff right now." I think that's my queue!

Tomorrow = COFFEE!
Cleanse = COMPLETE!

P.S. My mom just said, "Ruching does amazing things for people." We're watching "Say Yes to the Dress" preparing for tomorrow! AAAHHH! I'm convinced my mother is a cartoon character.

Day 3: The Underlying Accomplishment

Before I get started, I just have to brag! I have the most amazing, beautiful, and kind-spirited sisters in the world. See how stunning they looked for their prom?!?  I'm pretty sure their prom experience was just about as good as it gets. They both had great dates and they were in a group together with some really awesome friends. They got to dance a ton and they stayed until it was over! I just can't believe how old they're getting. They look so grown up!

Carlee (left) and Julia (right). It must be awesome to go to prom with your sister! Wish I could have gone :)

Moving on before I cry...

For anyone who knows me, you know that I am a coffee...um...connoisseur? Well, more like addict. I have been drinking regular coffee since late middle school (I drank the fancy more of a milkshake stuff before that). There have been times in my life (mainly college) when I drink 3-5 cups of coffee a day. I've always been able to "cut back" on my coffee intake, and for a brief but memorable month or so I drank half-caf. Now, I drink about 1-2 cups a day, and I usually drink tea in the afternoons rather than coffee. But I love coffee nonetheless.

I have noticed lately that if I don't drink my morning coffee that by about lunchtime, I'll have a headache in the afternoon. I have pretty frequent headaches anyway, but these come consistently if I don't reach my quota of caffeine before noon arrives.

So, what does this mean? It means that for this week, April 21st-27th, I am giving up coffee. I, Jessica Sansom, will not drink coffee for seven days.

Although this cleanse allows me to have black coffee with no cream or sweetener, I've decided to forgo my coffee intake for this week in an effort to prove I am not coffee-dependent.

Now, once Saturday rolls around, you better bet I'm going to enjoy a lovely cup of Joe. I even bought new K-Cups for this occasion (I know that's probably a little excessive, but I truly was almost out).

For the first two days of the cleanse, I did experience the off and on headache that I associate with lack of coffee. The good news is, this morning I was okay.

Now onto this morning...

I woke up feeling great. I wasn't hungry, and my pants were fitting a little better. I weighed myself again, and I was just shy of another pound lighter. That puts me at a grand total of 2.6 pounds since Saturday morning. I've read that the bulk of the weight loss in this cleanse comes in days 4-6. We'll see...

If you remember from last night, I had to really prepare for work today. I spent some time chopping and sorting through Tupperware to bring all of my fruits and veggies to work with me. I WAY over packed! But I was just worried that my blood sugar would drop and there is a McDonald's right next door to my office. So I packed my bag and headed off to work.

1. Bag full of goodies 2. Huge Publix bag with my herbal tea ready to go 3. Melon medley before I ate 4. Melon Medley after I ate (not much different than the before picture)

Breakfast consisted of:
Cubed Honeydew Melons
Cubed Watermelon
Cubed Cantaloupe

As you can see, I didn't even make a dent in this huge helping-o-melon.

I discovered another blog that gives a more in-depth description of a very similar cleanse. I'm glad that I chose the one I'm doing for a couple of reasons, but mainly because I would rather eat chicken and turkey over beef any day. I'm not a big red meat eater. But this blog did answer a couple of the questions that I had. If you're considering doing this cleanse, check out this blog for more information about it: Nothing Is Impossible Blog

I cannot stress how important fluids are during this cleanse. I have been sticking to just water and herbal tea, but I've read that Crystal Light, black coffee, and club soda are allowed. This morning when I got to work, I headed downstairs to the kitchen to fix a tall glass of water (still not as big as my Hunger Games cup) and my second cup of herbal tea.

Water on the left and herbal tea in my pretty mug on the right.

I had to work at the front desk from noon until 1:00 today, so I grabbed my almost untouched breakfast and a handful of grapes to snack on until lunch.

After front desk duty, I went downstairs to the kitchen to eat lunch. I mixed a can of mixed veggies with a can of green beans and I cut up an orange for lunch. Simple...yes...but also very satisfying (at least for an hour or so).

I accidentally dropped an orange slice on the floor. I had to throw it out :(

Lunch:
14 oz. Canned Mixed Veggies
14 oz. Canned Green Beans
1 Sliced Orange

Around 3:00 I ate some strawberries and made more tea. And then around 4:30 I ate an apple. I was making sure that I was full before work ended because I was going on a walk with a girl I work with at 5:00.

Oh my fruit snacks.

Our walk was quite successful. We walked for a little over an hour and it was such a beautiful day I didn't even feel like I was exercising.

Don't judge my speed. I have short legs. 

When I got home, I made two delicious bowls of spinach goodness. Only one made the picture because I ate the second one too fast.

Spinach Bowl #1.

Dinner:
2 c. Spinach Leaves
1 Avocado
4 Cucumber Slices
1/2 Lemon Juice
1 package Frozen Chopped Spanach
4 tbsp. Mild Salsa

After dinner I decided to give Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred a try...again. I will stick with it this time...I will! I will! For more information on Jillian's 30 Day Shred, click here.

After dinner, my roommate and I were in for a little show, and we didn't even know it! We were just sitting in the living room, and all of a sudden she pointed out the people across the parking lot from us. They live on the second floor and I guess they're moving out. Instead of taking their furniture through the front door, like normal people, they were tossing it off the balcony. I wanted to go out on our porch and take a video of it, but she wouldn't let me. So I settled for taking a video through the blinds...and thus...here we are:

And to answer her question, yes, they did break the gate beneath them. 

A couple of hours later, I was ready for another snack. My photography skills are getting less creative as the day goes on, so here's my after dinner snack: cucumbers, veggie hummus, and a couple of grapes.

Hunger Games cup is back!

So that's all for today. I know this was a super long post, but it's been quite a day!

Here's my calorie count for the day, in case you're curious.

And here's Jason's dinner plate, post eating. I'm on a cleanse, and he is not :)

Jason demolished his dinner. Yummy in one way, gross in another way.

I would truly appreciate prayers. Tomorrow is banana and milk day. I'm not looking forward to it :(

Enough rambling for today...goodnight all!