Everyday Moments: February 2012

1 - Coming to a major realization about why I struggle with my weight

2 - Chick-Fil-A. Nuggets and fries, oh my!

3 - Ending an anxiety-free week of work, Outback for dinner

4 - Surviving boot camp, getting my hair colored & cut, and a fun night with my brother and nephew

5 - Getting a letter in the mail, saying one of my credit cards had been paid in full (!), the Superbowl

6 - Catching up on the season premiere of The Voice

7 - An incredible night at Bible study and learning more and more about my faith

8 - Chick-Fil-A for breakfast.

9 - Feeling in control for the first time in a few weeks

10 - Fantastic dinner at B.J.’s, which included a delicious, juicy burger

11 - A successful shopping trip, a yummy froyo date, and a long nap

12 - Another fun day of shopping

13 - Deciding to take the leap and go on TWO cruises this summer

14 - Heart-shaped Reese’s

15 - Lunch at Panera, chocolate chip cookies

16 - My first great run in a really long time

17 - Ending a quick and easy work week, reconnecting with friends on Facebook

18 - Spending my entire Saturday reading a book and writing

19 - Movie date with my brother

20 - Managing the media department on a hectic day and being able to control all chaos

21 - My Girl Scouts cookies order came in!

22 - Bringing Tootsie, the office dog, home for a short stay while my boss attends a car show in Detroit

23 - Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies, cuddle time with Dutch

24 - 8 hours of sleep, a quiet night at home

25 - Killer boot cap, a productive Saturday, time spent with my brother and nephew

26 - Sleeping in, finding cute shirts at Target

27 - Starting my move to Wordpress, my mom being ok after a bad fall

28 - Staying on plan, even when I wanted to eat all of my emotions after a very bad day

29 - A quiet night, alone, finishing up a fun book and cleaning

Everyday Moments: January 2012

1 - Taking down the Christmas decorations and putting our apartment back to normal

2 - A strong run

3 - A long, refreshing chat with my mom and grandma

4 - Breakfast for dinner. We went hog wild and bought cinnamon rolls to eat with it. I’m not even kidding when I say I was looking forward to those rolls all day.

5 - Waking up from a nightmare to find my mom alive and well. It was so scary and so vivid.

6 - Leaving work at 1pm to start my Orlando vacation! Also, a package in the mail that contained my new Kindle cover. And shopping at Premium Outlets in Orlando and getting some seriously good deals. (What can I say? It was a good day.)

7 - Watching my nephew experience Disney World for the first time.

8 - My mom finishing her second marathon, on a bum knee and fighting the mental battle to quit for a good part of the last half.

9 - Picking up Dutch from the boarder’s after a very long three days without him.

10 - Quiet moments before work, reading a fantastic book.

11 - Selecting a winner for our latest giveaway.

12 - Getting back into the mode of tracking what I eat.

13 - A nap after work

14 - The 49ers winning their playoff game.

15 - Sleepy snuggles and kisses with my favorite boy.

16 - Texts with a blog friend who completely gets me. And makes me feel less crazy.

17 - Joining a new Bible study and feeling so welcomed and accepted.

18 - A great loss on the scale

19 - A warmed-up chocolate chip cookie. Yes, it was 6 points but totally worth each point.

20 - A busy day at work after four very, very slow days.

21 - Sleeping in, a two-hour nap, and a very relaxing night in.

22 - Filing my tax return and finding out I’ll be getting enough to pay off my cruise deposit and pay for my excursions in Jamaica and Grand Cayman. AWESOME!

23 - A relaxing night of catching up on Bible study homework. The TV and laptop didn’t go on at all. It was divine!

24 - Staying in control of my eating, even when I didn’t want to.

25 - A great drop on the scale on a mentally tough week.

26 - Fun dinner with my co-workers.

27 - Babysitting my nephew who was in a super good, super fun mood.

28 - A coffee date with a new friend, buying a new Bible, and finally purchasing my bridesmaid dress for my brother’s wedding.

29 - A lunch date with my grandparents, a long afternoon nap, and #twookclub!

30 - A coworker brewing Columbian coffee when I got into work. I was functioning on 4.5 hours of sleep and needed something strong to get me through the day. It worked!

31 - 9 hours of sleep, speaking up more about scary, personal subjects in Bible study

 

Everyday Moments is a series I started after reading Kathleen’s posts about tiny moments of happiness that happened each day of the month. I keep a file on my computer and every day, I sit down and think about what made me happy that day. There’s always something to find, even on the worst days. This is my way of finding happiness in the little moments.

I’m giving away a copy of Jessica Keener’s new book, Night Swim. The giveaway ends TONIGHT at midnight so leave a comment on the post to be entered! I’m announcing the winner tomorrow.

Everyday Moments: December 2011

1 - Warmed up chocolate chip cookies

2 - Beginning my Christmas shopping with a shirt for my nephew and a new harness for Dutch

3 - Game night with my mom and brother

4 - gChatting with Katherine and coming up with an awesome idea for 2012: making 12 small changes - 1 a month - to transform my life into something that is healthier and happier for me.

5 - Finishing a really great book and starting another really great book

6 - Spoonfuls of cookie dough

7 - Finally having an easy run that felt fun. After weeks of tough runs, it was much needed.

8 - Getting let out of jury duty by 11:00am. (I was questioned, but not picked for the jury.)

9 - A nice, productive day at home

10 - A full day of Christmas shopping, including meeting up with my brother at Target to start shopping for our mom.

11 - My second day of getting 8 full hours of sleep

12 - Buying my nephew some well-loved books

13 - A busy, but super productive day at work

14 - Turning the TV off by 8:30pm to spend time reading and slowly getting ready for bed.

15 - Baking cookies

16 - Sleeping in until 11, a day of Christmas shopping

17 - Nephew time. It was short and sweet but good God, I love that kid so much, it’s ridiculous. :)

18 - A Christmas get-together with family

19 - The beginning of Holiday Week

20 - A cheesy, predictable Christmas movie

21 - Putting the presents back under the tree

22 - Finishing out my first week managing the media department by myself. And doing a pretty good job at it, if I do say so myself!

23 - A cheesy, predictable romance novel (Are we sensing a theme here?)

24 - Christmas Eve. A day full of anticipation of what is to come on Christmas.

25 - Christmas! Presents, family time, and food. Nothing better.

26 - Buying new froofy pillows to match my new bedspread.

27 - Starting on my 70th book to read this year.

28 - Episodes of Happy Endings. I just started watching this show. It’s so funny!

29 - A really fun day at work where half our morning was spent chit-chatting over chocolate cake in the conference room and part of the afternoon was spent enjoying a delicious Caribbean meal at a restaurant in town.

30 - Having a day off work to catch up on life.

31 - Spending New Year’s Eve with my brother and my mom. Perfect.

Everyday Moments: November 2011

1 - Writing over 2,000 words during my first day of NaNoWriMo

2 - Running for 20 minutes straight for the first time ever. And it felt... easy?

3 - A lunch outing with co-workers

4 - Wearing boots for this first time this season

5 - A new hairstyle

6 - Rocking a 5K race and a lunch date with my grandparents

7 - A shopping trip at Marshall’s that yielded me two shirts and a sweater for under $25

8 - Making it through a tough BodyPump class where I did EIGHTY-THREE squats during the first half of the squat track. That’s just... no. Not right.

9 - Snuggles and kisses with Dutch

10 - Sleepover with my nephew

11 - Getting a raise at work

12 - Running 2 miles without stopping (!!) and meeting Amber

13 - Watching the SFvNYG game with my brother. He’s a little insane when he watches his Niners, but it’s still so much fun to watch football with him. Also? Watching my nephew have conversations with Dutch. PRICE! LESS!

14 - A quiet lunch at Panera

15 - Locking in my days off for November and December. I had 5 days (+ one “shopping day” my bosses gave to everyone) to use up so starting Thanksgiving week, I will have at least one day off for the next eight weeks.

16 - Feeling skinny

17 - A dark chocolate Dove bar

18 - Coming home from a draining day at work to see my nephew at my place. Love.

19 - Buying an adorable coat and scarf for $25 from Old Navy. (They were having a crazy 75% off outerwear sale. My coat was $15!)

20 - Shopping for the the first Thanksgiving hosting gig for my mom and I

21 - Getting in a good morning workout so I could come home after work and RELAX. It made me happy all day.

22 - Feeling completely settled and happy

23 - Leaving work an hour before quitting time and knowing I have six days all to myself

24 - A drama-free, stress-free Thanksgiving with the people I love the most

25 - Going to the Sea World Christmas Celebration

26 - Buying a dresser from IKEA and my brother coming over that night to help me put it together. (And by help, I mean he did it all by himself with me standing by...)

27 - Our first #twookclub chat. There are some things to change but ultimately a GREAT success!

28 - Turning 24

29 - A relaxing day off, where I took a 3-hour mid-morning nap and caught up on my DVR. Splendid.

30 - A small birthday celebration at work

Everyday Moments: October 2011

1 - Being asked to be a bridesmaid in my brother’s wedding.

2 - Sleeping in until 11AM

3 - A really awesome run

4 - Dutch acting like we’d left him at the boarder’s for 12 days instead of 12 hours when we came to pick him up. (Our carpets were getting cleaned so he went to “daycare” for the day.)

5 - Early morning run and seeing the numbers drop on the scale

6 - Ordering an iPhone

7 - Being told to “keep up the good work” by one of my boss’s (the one who scares me the most, at that!)

8 - Taking a 3-hour nap

9 - My brother coming over to watch the 4:00 football game

10 - My first spin class in almost a month

11 - Feeling stronger and fitter when I looked in the mirror

12 - Another solid week of weight loss

13 - A day of eating comfort food while feeling under the weather

14 - Getting my iPhone!

15 - Game night with my mom and brother

16 - Watching my mom PR in her 15K and taking a 2-hour nap before the 1:00 football game started

17 - Making it through spin class, even if I had to take more breaks than usual.

18 - The reveal of the Top 16 on X-Factor

19 - Being in the room as the winner for my work’s latest giveaway was revealed - and being on the conference call when the man found out he had won. Absolutely life changing.

20 - A cold front finally making it’s way in to Florida

21 - Managing the media department by myself for one day. It was the first full day off my boss has taken since she started over a year ago and I hope this means she feels comfortable enough to take more days off!

22 - Sweet moments of laughter with my nephew

23 - Shopping for my “Keep Warm, Look Snazzy Scarf Swap” partner

24 - A lunch date with my mom

25 - Making it an entire day without any soda! (This is major for me.)

26 - Finishing up Week 4 of Couch to 5K with an awesome, awesome run.

27 - Skipping BodyPump and getting a pedicure instead.

28 - A quiet lunch by myself at Panera

29 - Buying Dutch some special Halloween treats

30 - Organizing the first #twookclub chat for November and choosing our first book.

31 - Bite-size Butterfingers. Oh, my heaven.

Everyday Moments: September 2011

September. What can I say about September? Nothing extraordinary happened. I finished boot camp, celebrated my brother and nephew’s birthdays, and started to feel more at home in my new job. I no longer sit in meetings and have no clue what’s going on and the spreadsheets are not intimidating me anymore. I’m getting to know our contacts and they are getting to know me. It’s a good feeling.

My eating habits weren’t the best and my weight loss has really stalled. I’m trying not to beat myself up about it, but it’s very hard. Still, I’m trying and that’s all I can ask of myself.

I’ve been debating all month if I want to try my hand at NaNoWriMo in November. My life was always filled with midterms and tests that I could never accomplish it in years prior. But if I keep saying I don’t have time to write, I’ll never get a book written.

Without further ado, though, here are the little things that made me happy this month. (Inspired by Kathleen.)

1 - Shopping trip at Target

2 - The “launch” of my new blog theme

3 - Finally cleaning out my junk drawer and my closet. It felt awesome to get rid of so much stuff I have no need for anymore.

4 - Spending a few hours at Typhoon Lagoon in Orlando.

5 - Finishing the Harry Potter series.

6 - Coming home after a full 8-hour day instead of spending an hour at the gym. For once, it was a nice, relaxing evening!

7 - Fresh-baked cookies.

8 - First game of the NFL season and it was a good one.

9 - Having a delicious strawberry-mango margarita with dinner. Best margarita I’ve ever had!

10 - Lunch date with my old work BFF. Also, Pinkberry peanut butter and chocolate froyo with every unhealthy topping I could fit in my bowl. SO MUCH YUM!

11 - The first Football Sunday of the NFL season.

12 - Finishing boot camp! Without a smile on my face, but I finished.

13 - My first Body Pump class in 6 weeks. It was tough, but such a good change.

14 - Rachel winning Big Brother!

15 - Celebrating my brother’s 25th birthday

16 - Deciding to take a break from Twitter, Facebook, and keeping up with a strict blogging schedule.

17 - Baking homemade chocolate cupcakes.

18 - Another Sunday, camped out on the couch, watching football. No. There isn’t anything better than that. (Also? Hi, future husband. My name is Stephany and I am SUCH A CATCH. Geez.)

19 - Going to bed at 9:45pm. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve gone to bed THAT early!

20 - Being so busy at work, I needed to make a to-do list to keep track of everything. I reserve the right to complain about being TOO busy one day, but for now, I love it. It’s so much better than not having much to do/not knowing what I need to do.

21 - One of our freelance designers dropping off yummy treats from a bakery. I ate what was quite possibly the best brownie I have ever had.

22 - The new fall TV schedule. I’m not sure how I’ll keep up with it, but it’s nice to have my shows back.

23 - Carrabba’s for dinner

24 - All of Dutch’s routine blood work coming back normal.

25 - My nephew running around Chuck E. Cheese dressed as Spider-Man during his third birthday party

26 - Winning Fantasy Football this week. I’ve done terribly the past two weeks, but I caught a break this week! Woo!

27 - Cookie dough. There’s nothing in the world like it.

28 - Finishing The Help. The movie was fantastic and so was the book. (Review to come!)

29 - Emails and messages from friends who get it.

30 - Laughing with my nephew. I am SO excited about this new age he’s in. So much fun!

Happy October!