Ask & I Shall Receive

Remember how I spent the majority of the weekend sick? Well, I'm not a doctor, but I'm about 100% sure I was sick from being overly exhausted.

I've found myself wondering lately if there's some way to just add more hours in my day. I've gone over and over in my head trying to plan out and allot the perfect amount of time to get everything done. I even have a list of everything that MUST be done on a daily basis as the wallpaper on my phone. I'm a task-oriented person, and it's difficult for me when I go to bed at night really really tired and know in the back of my mind that I didn't get everything done. Then I start to freak out because I'm only eight months into marriage and we don't even have one kid yet! How will I ever survive motherhood someday?!? Then I just get really stressed out and I get sick for an entire weekend.

Do you ever find yourself feeling like this?

Well, if you do, you can probably also identify with me when I say that the first thing to go when I get really really busy is exercise. This week I found myself trying to calculate how many minutes I walk throughout the day if I added up walking to and from the bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, and parking lot. A little hint: it's not enough to count as exercise. Then, I found myself absolutely determined to get to the gym on Wednesday. I did go after work and while I was there I just kept getting frustrated that I wasn't in good enough shape and I started thinking about all of the other things I had to do that night. I ended up leaving before I even really got started.

The next thing that goes is cleaning the apartment. I tend to be a little bit better at this just because our apartment isn't very big and not everything has a place to begin with. When it gets messy, I feel like the walls are caving in, so sometimes I'll take a few minutes before bed just to straighten up or put clothes away (Jason is really good at doing this too).

Those are really the only optional things right now - and that means that I rarely get to them on any given day. Even the weekends are crammed full of stuff these days. Between work, church, traveling, freelance work, cooking, grocery shopping, errands, sleep and seeing friends/family occasionally, there is not enough time in the day.

I spent a good portion of our time driving back to Birmingham last weekend complaining about just that - a lack of hours in the day. I told Jason that I was going to have to create a rigid schedule for myself and keep to it or I was literally just going to fall apart. "I need more hours in the day," I said, and Jason - who is a very very hard worker and very very busy - agreed.

Wednesday I saw this...

...and so I researched the app a little. Then I downloaded the app. For two days straight I have woken up at 5:00 and spent time being productive, attempting to be a "doer".  I have decided to spend that extra hour and a half primarily on exercise, reading the bible, and meal prep.

If yesterday was any indication on how AWESOME getting up at 5:00 can be, I never want to wake up later than that on a weekday again. In January I began getting up at 6:30 instead of 7:00 to read the bible. For the most part, I've been pretty good about doing that, but I still find myself running out of time sometimes and it never leaves any extra time to actually get things done. Getting up at 5:00 provides me the opportunity to actually accomplish things that are on my to-do list for the day and give them the priority that they deserve.

Since I worked out in the morning yesterday and did my meal prep for the evening, I was able to come home, relax for a few minutes, make dinner, work on a freelance project, take a 30 minute nap, clean both bathrooms and the kitchen, and spend some time watching TV with my guy.

I made a taco bar for two.

It was delicious.

Most nights I AIM to do all of that, but it looks more like this:

• Get home from work.
• Change for the gym.
• Sit down to put on my shoes to go to the gym.
• Decide not to go to the gym. 
• Rush through making dinner and throw whatever it is on a plate in a huff because I'm stressed.
• Work on freelance projects and feel rushed.
• Get up to clean the apartment.
• Decided I'm too tired.
• Try to read. 
• Decide I'm too tired.
• Go to bed.

This morning I got up at 5:00 and Jason got up with me. We were able to go for a walk just as the sun was coming up. He works late tonight, and although we have plans for this evening, we won't get much quality time together. Getting up and exercising together at 5:00 gave us an extra hour together today. That is time that I truly cherish.

Jason took this on our way to the Lakeshore Trail.

It's times like these that I realize just how faithful our God is to take care of us. I spent a weekend complaining about how tired I was and how stressed I was. I felt helpless and hopeless to accomplish all of my goals each and every day. The Lord heard my small, whiny, pitiful cries and He didn't ignore me; He didn't say that my problems were too little or insignificant. Instead, He provided me exactly what I needed. I'm not much of a morning person, and the last time I got up at 5:00 in the morning consistently was in high school and that was out of pure necessity. But even so, because I know that this is a gift that the Lord has provided, I will get up an hour and a half early each day with joy because I've been blessed with more time. 

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" - Matthew 7:7-11

Bump It Up: Week 15

Thank you all of the overwhelming support that I received from my posts last week. Jason's Vimeo page has received tons of views and I won the photo battle! Thanks so much for all of the support - we are truly humbled.

The Martin babies are growing like little weeds inside Bethany's and Meg's cute little bellies. Here's two photos from week 15, day 4 of their pregnancies:

They're just too precious for words!

On another note, Jason and I get married in 40 days, 3 hours, and 57 minutes! I cannot wait!

Overflowing with Pride

Good morning, and welcome to Tuesday!

When I was in high school I had a teacher who would always welcome us to whatever day it was. Sometimes on Thursdays she would say, "Welcome to Friday, whoops, wishful thinking," and I felt like someone had run their nails down a chalkboard.

Anywhoo, Jason has been hard at work over the last couple of weeks going through hours of video footage that he's shot this year. Finally, last night he finished up his 2012 Demo Reel. I know I'm a little biased, but I truly believe that he's the best videographer out there.

Unlike most of my blog posts, you don't have to just take my word for whatever I say. Today is a special day - today, you can see for yourself:


2012 Demo Reel from Jason Morales on Vimeo.

If you or someone you know is in need of a videographer for a wedding, commercial, promo video, website video content, vacation highlight video - basically anything video related - my fiance is the man to call (or email)!

As you can see, I'm extremely proud of my guy for everything he does. If you'd like to get a hold of him for any video related questions, you may contact him at jasonfrankmorales@gmail.com.

Bump It Up: Week 14

Cute little pregnant ladies at Martin.

Here they are at 14 weeks, 4 days.

Lookin' good ladies!

Bump It Up: Week 13

Good morning! And Happy Monday!

I may or may not have mentioned recently that a few of my friends are going to be mommies in the very near future. Some of these friends include two of my co-workers, Meg and Bethany. We decided last week that we wanted to track their baby pump progress. And what better way to track it than to put pictures on my blog?

So here they are ladies and gents, Meg and Bethany at 13 weeks, 5 days:

How cute are they?

Both Ends of the Rainbow

Good morning everyone! Today is a special day...especially for me!

Today, I turn 23. It's the first of my "adult" birthdays. I know that people say that you're an "adult" when you turn 18, and then some people say you're an "adult" when you turn 21, but I don't believe any of that boondoggle. In my opinion, you're an "adult" when you go to work on your birthday.

Don't get me wrong, I could have asked off for today, but the truth is I kind of wanted to come to work. I have great friends at work and I love being around people on my birthday. It's also hard for me to take a lot of vacation days pre-wedding.

I even got some presents! Folger's Vanilla Biscotti, Summit gift card, cute earings, and a summer scarf!

I'm super blessed to have great friends at work.

I also realized this morning that this is the last  birthday that I'll ever have as Jessica Sansom. Next year, I'll be married woman and rockin' a new last name!

I'm super excited to celebrate with Jason and some more friends tonight! Stay tuned for that post tomorrow :)

Now it's time to backtrack to Saturday night-Sunday. I'm still trying to get my blogging schedule down pat, so you'll have to bear with me on the weekends for now.

Saturday night:

 I made some cookies to welcome Jason home and also to give to my sweet next door neighbor. Mr. Fritsch (my neighbor) is in his 80s and his wife just passed away a couple of months ago. I try to give him some sort of goodies and a note just to let him know that I'm thinking about him and praying for him whenever I can.

Cookies and Cream Cookies (recipe adapted from Lovin' from the Oven blog):

Yields 24 Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 stick softened margarine
• 6 Tablespoons Stevia in the Raw
• 6 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 egg whites
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 ¼ cup flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt substitute
• 11 broken pieces Oreo Cookies
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream butter, and sugars until well combined. Add egg and vanilla until mixed well.  
2. Place flour, baking soda and salt into a large bowl, stir to combine. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients then stir in the Oreos and chocolate chips until just combined. 
3. With a medium spoon, scoop onto baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until cooked, but still soft.
4. Let cool on baking sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack. 

Each cookie came in at about 56 calories. Not too shabby for a yummy treat!

The outcome = delicious 

Sunday:

The day had finally arrived. Jason was coming home for good! I woke up thinking that I was going to be late picking him up, but in actuality, I woke up about three hours too early. Oh well. Better early than late, right?

I took it slow, ate some breakfast (boiled egg), drank my coffee (yum), and did the 30 Day Shred (ouch). Then I hopped in the shower and headed to Montgomery where I was supposed to be meeting the buses. 

I arrived about 30 minutes before they did, so I hit up Ross Dress for Less. I had a successful little shopping trip. I walked out of there with a new welcome mat and wreath for the front door, a can opener, new lunch box, and a dress for less than $60. 

Finally, I got the call. The bus had decided to stop at a different exit, so they dropped Jason off at a Raceway gas station. A few minutes later, he was in my car and we were headed off to lunch!

We decided to get back on the road, so we stopped for lunch in Prattville. I was being a very indecisive eater, but we (I) finally settled on McAllister's Deli. 

Jason went with the French Dip with macaroni and cheese while I rocked the Veggie Club with fruit. 

When we finally made it back to Birmingham, we just relaxed and hung out. I couldn't believe that he was home for good and we didn't have to squish a whole week's worth of time together into two or three days. It was seriously so nice just to chill. 

After a little relaxing, we got ready for church. While we were driving there, we came across the most amazing rainbow I've ever seen. 

It looked like we could see the beginning of it and we drove under its perfect arch. I was just reminded of God's promises, which I know might be a bit cliche, but who cares. We serve a Savior who is faithful to the promises in his Word. 

Birmingham rainbow - the beginning

I sent a picture to my sister Carlee, and she sent this back to me.

Destin rainbow - the ending

We were five hours away from each other, but connected by rainbows. God is truly amazing.

At church, I felt so blessed to be able to dive into God's word specifically referring to a place where I am in life. The sermon was on Matthew 19, which is primarily about divorce. But, being engaged, it was necessary to truly listen and get everything I could out of it because to be divorced, you have to first be married. The whole entire sermon I kept thinking to myself, "I must be a wife who depends on solely on the Lord. My marriage must reflect Christ."

 I've heard him say it multiple times, but when David Platt said, "Take heed lest you fall," it pierced my heart like never before.

After church we grabbed dinner with  some friends who we haven't spent a lot of time with lately. It was so wonderful to reconnect with them! 

When we got home, Jason came over for a little bit. We had so much fun just talking and laughing. Like I said, it's really nice to just be able to hang out and relax. I don't like feeling rushed. 

Welp, that's about it as far as my weekend goes.

I did find out this fun fact today: 

Yes, while this was happening, I was being born. What a wonderful day May 7, 1989 truly was :)

Instead of rambling on, I'll leave you with a gift...

For all of you fellow Nutella lovers, here you go.

Day 5 (Part 2): Tomaeto/Tomotto

The dreaded day arrived. It came and went swiftly. I'm not sure how I did it, but I ate tomatoes today.

So today was tomato and chicken/turkey day. I honestly meant to make a trip to Publix last night to get some turkey from the deli, but I was just too tired. Today was all about me, tomatoes, and chicken.

In case you're interested on why tomatoes, you're not alone. I asked myself the same thing. I was hoping to get out of eating tomatoes. But I had to eat them.

Here's what I discovered: the blog I got this cleanse from says to drink plenty of water with each tomato consumed because you're washing out the uric acid. I am not a science person, so I searched for what uric acid is and does. Basically, I had to eat tomatoes because I haven't been eating meat. My body is no longer accustomed to the 10-12 oz. of poultry I consume on a daily basis. Meat has uric acid. Too much uric acid causes gout. Tomatoes clean the uric acid from your system.

Now, I'm not a doctor or a nutritionist, so I don't know if this is the exact process that our bodies go through, but this was the gist that I got from Google. If you have gout and you're wanting to heal yourself, I don't know if you should eat tomatoes. I didn't go that far in my research.

Moving on...

I've never eaten a full tomato. One bite usually makes me gag. But at 10:30 this morning, I found myself sitting in front of this:

Tomato sliced. Large glass of water. Tea.

First bite made me gag.

Then I decided to chase each bite with a big swig of water. 

I did make it through, but I did not like it one bit.

About 45 minutes later I had to eat lunch because some of my co-workers and I were going to Rojo for a goodbye lunch. One of my friends/co-workers has taken a job at another company, so we took her out to lunch to bid her farewell :(

So around 11:15, I found myself in the kitchen making this lunch:

Plate before and plate after. Also, lots of water.

Lunch:
5 oz. of boneless skinless chicken breasts cooked in the crock-pot
1 tomato diced

I never thought I would put tomatoes on my plate on purpose, but this time was much better than this morning. Each bite had chicken and tomato, so I didn't have to wash the tomato down with water as many times.

I was so excited to eat chicken again though! I'm a carnivore...hooray!

Rojo was the first restaurant I've stepped in to since I've been doing the cleanse. I have to admit that I was worried I'd throw everything aside and order a huge burrito. But I did not. I fixed myself a glass of water and made some good conversation. I left without one bite of this yummy goodness:

Rojo is definitely one of my favorite restaurants in Birmingham.

I must admit that last night I was praying for self control and God sure did deliver.

Around 2:30 I headed downstairs to the kitchen at work. I cut up another tomato at ate it plain. I stayed down there to eat it, therefore there isn't a picture. I figured I would just stand and eat it at the counter in an effort to eat it faster. It worked sorta, but I have to confess that I threw the last two bites into the garbage can. Then I made some green tea.

I made it through the rest of the work day just find, but when I got home I was ready for dinner.

I whipped up a nice little concoction of chicken and tomatoes.

I'm not sure if this is a full pound, but that's what myfitnesspal told me it was.

Dinner:
1 lb. ground chicken
2 cans of diced tomatoes

Dinner tasted a lot like spaghetti at first. It was delicious and I scarfed the first bowl down way too fast. I was still really hungry though because I'd only eaten about 200 calories thus far, so I went back for seconds and ending up eating the entire meal.

Many times I make something similar but I throw in a lot more veggies and usually some salsa and taco seasoning. That usually makes 2-3 servings if I eat it without anything else. I'm glad that I'm full now, but I'm kind of regretting the pound of chicken I ate.

Other than water and some herbal tea, that's a wrap on my food for today. Tomorrow should be much more interesting! I cannot wait to eat poultry and veggies!!

Here is my calorie count for the day:

Hope you all had a wonderful Wednesday. If you haven't read "Part 1," please take a few minutes to check it out!

All Dressed Up

Sometimes I feel like this little guy. He's all dressed up and ready to take on the world.

I've  been out of college for about 7 months now. I've had a full-time job for about 5 months, and I'm enjoying this new phase of life to the absolute fullest. Sometimes it's scary and I undoubtedly dread every bill that comes in the mail, but I also find great joy and thankfulness when I write the checks that pay my bills. I'm truly blessed more than I deserve and more than I can even comprehend.

Yesterday, December 20th, I bought a car. I traded in my Jeep and I bought myself something a little newer and a little better on gas (YAY). I was beyond excited as I walked into the dealership to sign the papers. I walked in with my head held high ready to sign my name over and over again. I walked in feeling like an adult. I knew that it was a moment that would be a turning point of maturity for me. I was buying a car.

Then it happened. I had to sign something saying that I am at least 19 years old. The guy at the dealership stopped for a second, he looked at me a little closer, and then he said, "Wait, you are at least 19, right?"

Yes, yes, I am. That was not the first, nor will it be the last time someone mistakes me for being younger than I actually am. You know the saying, "All dressed up and no place to go?" Well, I kind of feel like the opposite. I feel like Little Dwight. I'm all dressed up, and I look like I have no where to go...