Eye of the Tiger

I've decided to renew my efforts at an old goal. So I am starting a fresh. Since my wedding a year and a half ago, I have put on about 20 pounds. This is hard for me to swallow. I don't feel like I am doing anything different than I was before but the weight keeps packing on. And I don't like it one bit. So I'm going to do something about it. I have a gym membership that I have been using fairly regularly, but now I plan to go as close to daily as I can (tonight I had a commitment with scouts, so I couldn't go tonight, but last night I did some pretty serious working out at the gym.

I have also joined weight watchers online to track food consumption and be better about what I eat. I am sticking to it. My goal is 30 pounds weight loss. I don't do well if I am not accountable, and being accountable to myself isn't good enough, I lose the motivation and come up with excuses. So I am going to use this blog for accountability. And encouragement you can give would be delightful. I'll blog any progress weekly on Tuesdays. I am looking forward to the change this will hopefully being permanently bringing to my life. I am ready for it!

We Didn't Start The Fire

One year ago today was the fire. We had a massive fire in our parking garage. Thankfully, there was no such fire last night in our garage (not that I thought there would be). Because of the year mark, my memory has been returning the to all the things I've learned in the last year. Here is a list of things in case of fire in my life again:

1. Always grab shoes. It's cold out there. Especially barefoot.
2. Grab a cell phone. It's impossible to make a phone call without a cell phone.
3. Grab keys (Jordan was good and did grab these, but I lost my head).

I am very grateful for where we live. This is a great place. In the year since the fire, our apartment has been professionally cleaned 3 times, carpets cleaned, air ducts cleaned, and our entire bathroom redone. Our landlord is so great to work with. We love our little place and will be here as long as we are in Provo. One little fluke of a fire didn't scare us away. This place is too good to allow that. :)

Rehab

Pinterest. I've heard about it. I even created an account. But that was the extend of it. I made up every excuse in the book and I didn't see the point of it. That all changed about 24 hours ago. I had the app downloaded to the new iPhone. It had been on my iPad for months, but I didn't feel the need to look at it. Yesterday, I opened the app to see what all the fuss was about. I see friends "pin" things pretty consistently on Facebook, but what does that really mean. As the app loaded, I was still doubting that I would be on the app longer than 3 minutes. The it loaded and my eyes were opened.

Here was a whole new world. All these things I want to try. Recipes, DIY projects, new hair dos, sewing projects for the sewing machine I have but haven't learned to use yet, everything I could possibly imagine. Next thing I know, it's time to get ready for work. This morning I was back at it. The only way I have to describe my new relationship with Pinterest is an addiction. The only song I could think of is "Rehab" by Amy Winehouse, because I'm not going to be ending this relationship anytime soon. Happy Pinning!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Christmas came early this year to the Haws household. We received all of our presents this week! We are so excited for our gifts and the enjoyment they will bring to our lives over the next long while! This means actual Christmas will be small at our house, but we will enjoy our new toys then too.

In case you can't tell what the picture is, it's our new iPad mini and iPhone 5's! Jordan is letting me use the mini, and he's excited to take over the old iPad. Wins all around. So Merry Christmas in November!

P.S. If you see me the next couple of days I will not be using the phone yet. My contract on my old phone doesn't end till Tuesday, so we aren't officially switching till then.

In The Still Of The Night

Normally I despise snow. Normally I can't stand the stuff. I like to visit snow. I don't like to live in snow. The past two years, Utah has had mild winters. They have been cold, but there hasn't been snow in any major quantities. That all changed on Friday. Friday it started. It came down in large amounts. I left for work around 3 wearing my winter coat for the first time in years. I was unhappy about this fact. The snow came down the entire time I was at work. When I came out of work around midnight, I almost didn't recognize my car. I was NOT happy. I made my way to the white lump and brushed the snow off. As I drove home, I tried to count my blessings to improve my mood. I came up with being grateful that I had an under ground garage to park in. Now this weekend is my worst weekend work wise. I run a training meeting at 7am on Saturday. So after working till midnight, I came home to get some sleep and was back out the door by 6:45am.

As I got to my car, I discovered another reason to be grateful. Our apartment complex a heated ramp. I got into the car and made my way up the ramp easily. Then I got to the road. There were cars coming so I had to stop. As I started to go, my tires started spinning. I was not moving. The ramp is heated, however the sidewalk and the driveway leading to the street were not. They were covered in snow. I starting having a moment of freak out. Then I tried reversing. Luckily that worked. I was able to reverse and get some momentum and make it onto the road. I felt like I was 16 and learning how to drive again. The roads were so bad. I made it to work with no issue and had a successful meeting.

Heading back home was much easier I made it and settled in for a winter nap. Unfortunately I couldn't hibernate for all of winter. I got back up and headed back to work for the night. Around midnight, I got to my car. Again, it was covered in snow, and the snow was still coming. After scrapping off the car grumbling to myself the whole time, I started the drive home. It was tough again as the road was just getting coated with snow.

I was sitting there bracing myself for the long winter this is going to be, when I stepped outside myself. I looked outside and realized how gorgeous it was. The sky turns a purple hue the makes it looks slightly light. The snow makes everything look pretty, even if it sometimes isn't so pretty. I got caught up in the beauty of it. Driving in the snow, watching it gently fall to the earth, I realized this is just another way that The Lord shows His love for us. Through the snow this night I had a tender mercy. The Lord reminded me of His Love for me and how much He cares for me. So the snow and I are no longer enemies. We have made peace. I'm sure there will be points where snow and I are fighting. But overall I can appreciate snow on a new level.

When I got home, I took a couple of pictures. They don't show the beauty quite as well as it looked that night, but I'll keep trying for a better shot next time it snows.