2013!!!

Goals For 2013

So we are ignoring the fact that it is January 31st, and I have already NOT followed through with some of these. While also ignoring the fact that I haven't blogged in forever... Here are my goals for 2013, enjoy!

1. Lose 25 pounds

      I have been doing Weight Watchers (admittedly very on and off) since December 26th, 2011. I have lost 20 pounds in 2012 and I want to keep going. It has been really difficult to keep on track since moving to Georgia and stopping the WW meetings. I have been trying to do it online and on my own since August...and well let's just say...not working. I zero discipline on my own. Meaning zilch. nada. Would eat the entire universe (or at least everything tasty) if left on my own. Now luckily I have kept off most of the weight I lost. So I won't need to start from square one. But that is only by the grace of God. So I really truly commit to this goal. I am going to start going to meetings this Saturday.So I will be updating about this periodically to keep myself in check :)

2. Read 10 books

      Reading has always been something I enjoy so much! College, and the endless numbers of pages and books I was required to read, slightly deterred me from this. By slightly, of course, i mean completely. I have already read one book since the new year. It was called Princess, a story about a Saudi Arabian Princess. Incredibly interesting and heart -wrenching. I absolutely loved it! But probably more on that later. 

3.Spend 30-45 minutes a day reading scripture/ praying

     I hate that this has fallen into a goal rather than just being part of my every day life, but it's necessary. I remember how rich and wonderful it was spending the required half hour in prayer/reading scripture in preparation for the mission trip to El Salvador. I really really need to do this. Life is so much richer when I put the Lord first and spend a good amount of time with Him each day. RIght now I am going through a Beth Moore study on Daniel. It is AWESOME and so is she, of course! (In my completely un-biased, women's ministry major point of view, hehe) 

4.Run 3 times a week (at least 6 miles)

     Alright folks. THIS one, even more than the rest will be my greatest challenge. I am not postive it will happen. BUT if I try, I will at least run a little, right. Hmm...maybe i should put exercise three times a week. Might be a little more realistic. We'll see :) But overall I ma going to attempt to exercise regularly. Absolutely necessary for my overall health, and to accomplish my first goal of weight loss. 

5.Try one new recipe a month

     This one is pretty self-explanatory but I do want to cook more and add more variety. This will hopefully help with my weight loss goals as well. I did better with cooking last year and I want to continue to do so in 2013 :)

6.Read one piece of classic literature
     I have always wanted to read a book my Jane Austen. SO that is my goal. Simple but definitely a challenge. I think I am going to read Emma.

7.Write one letter/card a month
     I want to keep in touch with people better. Especially since moving. And handwritten letters and cards are so much fun to give and receive. I even got some fun rubber owl stamps to decorate with! 

8.Make 1 phone call to family/friends a week
     Again, I want to be so much better about keeping in touch with everyone. And I am especially bad at making phone calls sometimes. So I definitely want to be better at this. Setting a realistic goal is a good way to go about it and will be a lot of fun!

9.Tithe 10% of my income
     I have wanted to do this for SO long and have never made the commitment officially. So that is my goal. Especially starting a new job, I really do want to make this commitment.
 

10.Save 10 % of my income

     This is something I really want to do too. My Uncle has always talked about the 10, 10 , 80 plan. To tithe 10% of your income, save 10% and live on 80%. I have listened to his sermons a few times on this and totally am on board and I truly think it is a great way of being a good steward of the Lord's blessings. 

Well,  "that's all there is...there isn't...anymore" :) (bonus points to who can figure out what this line is from...)

Love to you all!

Alyssa 
 

Hello All,
     It has been a while since I've updated so I'll try to remember everything to catch you all up. Some happy things going on:

1. Jasmine, our second dog-baby came into our little family! We are now officially crazy dog people, and loving it haha. She is 1 year, 8 months. We kind of have NO idea what type of dog she is, other than adorable, but that's okay with us. We found her at the same shelter that we found Ellie. Ellie kind of picked her our for us, hehe. The shelter was having a special the week of Thanksgiving, and we had already met her a few times, so we made the decisions to add her to our family.She is a sweetheart and is a wonderful friend for Ellie. If it was up to her, she's cuddle up on the couch with us all day, but her sister Ellie will have none of it haha. She'll sit and bark at her until she plays. But they have a lot of fun and love each other so much. :)

2. My mom visiting for Thanksgiving! I was so happy to have my mom visit. She also showed me how to cook Thanksgiving for the first time. And it went off without a hitch! It was just Andrew, me, my mom and Andrew's buddy from work. It was a great time, and very yummy food! I named our little Turkey, Tina Turkey. :) Happy times!

3. Job hunts and finds. I have been working as a part-time nanny for a sweet family for a couple of months now. Two twin almost 2 year olds and their almost 4 year old sister. They are adorable and all very sweet. They might not need me starting in January, so I am starting to look again, so prayers would be greatly appreciated!

4. Andrew's mom, Dave and Sarah coming to visit for Christmas! They're coming Christmas Eve and staying until the 27th. We're super excited to have them!! And can't wait until they get here! Christmas is definitely my favorite time of the year so it will be so great to have family around.

5. Starting to get involved with Women At Risk International, Int. I hosted a jewelry party December 2nd. I hope to do more as time goes on. They are a great organization. I found out about them through their boutique in Downtown Naperville before we moved in August.

Well that is most of it for now. Exciting things happening down here in Georgia!

Love to all of you!

Alyssa

Army Life

So, as most of you know by now, I am now an Army Wife :) So I thought I would give you a little peek into what this looks like.

So far this means:

1. Moving to Columbus, Georgia. We moved here, August 29th. We got to use movers (as a side note do NOT use Moving Central. They. Suck. Overcharge, late, scam, pretty much sums it up). This is my first time living in the South. First time living far away from family. Also, Andrew and I's first move together, and our first Duty Station/ PCS (Permanent Change of Station). All very exciting and new and scary :)

2. Andrew now wears ACUs. (Army Combat Uniforms). This means white t-shirts and white socks are almost a thing of the past, and Tan shirts, green socks, and ACUs (which have a RIDICULOUS amount of Velcro that gets caught on everything, haha) are the norm. BUT an amazing part of laundry now days is we now have our own washer and dryer!!! We have been STOKED about this. Another blessing of moving and army life :)

3. Ft. Benning! Now, I have not explored too much, other than the Commisary (grocery store), PX, (wal-mart/mall) and Andrew's office. Mostly, because Ft. Benning is HUGE and as most of you well know, I have a HORRIBLE sense of direction. And GPS satellites don't like army posts haha. My friend and I learned that the hard way. But I am excited to get to know Ft. Benning more and use all of the many services and fun things to do on post.

4. Holidays with family visiting US, rather than driving out to the suburbs to see everyone. Sad to be away from everyone, but SO looking forward to having My mom for Thanksgiving and Andrew's mom, step-dad and sister for Christmas. I am super excited!! Learning to cook Thanksgiving dinner for the first time and Christmas dinner too! I'll definitely miss Chicago-land, and everyone we can't see, but am super blessed and excited to have visitors :)

5. Meeting other Army Wives. I have to say, these women are AMAZING. They have gone through so much, and are so strong. There have been a few ways I've met these women.One is Facebook, sounds funny, but I have a good friend now through an Army Facebook page. Part of Andrew's job is to help run marriage retreats, and this has been a great way to get to know people as well. Also, we met a really sweet couple at church that we have gotten together with a couple of times so far. It's definitely challenging at times to relearn how to put myself out there and meet friends, but it is fun and exciting too :)

Well there is more, I'm sure, so just let me know if there is anything you all are curious about.

So right now, life is nannying (part-time) for 2 twin 21 month olds and one 3.5 year old. Getting settled. Taking care of our puppy. And just living the life of a new Army Wife. :) 

Domestic Me

     In my time at home since arriving in Georgia, I have been trying to do more domestic things like cooking more often and also implementing a cleaning schedule. Well, I have found a VERY VERY yummy recipe and a wonderful cleaning schedule that does not stress me out, and keeps me out of my all or nothing mindset. I got both the recipe and the cleaning schedule from a dear friend and am very appreciative :)

     Now when I say this recipe is yummy, I kind of mean I have made it three times in the last 3 weeks ;)  So get ready for your tastebuds to receive an explosion of awesomeness! Ready? Here it is:

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/07/asian-glazed-drumsticks.html 




The recipe is a bit spicy but I am not a spicy person and still love it! And the first time I made it I only had white vinegar and red wine vinegar and it still tasted amazing. And I have also not had the chives before too, and so the recipe is definitely flexible.

This is the cleaning schedule I have been following:

 http://blog.emeals.com/2012/04/daily-housekeeping-schedule/
 

It's so much more enjoyable to clean the apartment without feeling the need to do it all at once. I have a tendency to avoid housework once it gets too overwhelming so this has been great! And it's pretty and polka-dotted...what could be better? 

Hi all!
      I have decided to start blogging again. I hope to stick to it this time, but hey a girl's only human and life sometimes has other plans. But I do want to keep everyone I love updated on the daily goings on of my Lord loving, Army Wifey, 23 year old self. It will probably be a mix of a lot of things. Pictures, Ideas, Inspirations, Experiences, Recipes I've tried, Etc. So here we go!
     Andrew and I moved to Columbus, GA a little over a month ago. Definitely does not feel like that! We are still exploring and finding our way, it's a fun adventure! We moved into a lovely new apartment with beautiful grounds surrounding it. Which I especially love for walking our new puppy!
     Our new furry family member's name is Ellie. She is 4 months today, so Happy birthday to her! We found this adorable, loveable pup at PAWS Humane in Columbus. Andrew and I have been wanting a dog for a long time and feel so blessed to have this addition to our family. We arrived at our new apartment and were searching for a pup within a few hours. We knew we wanted a big dog. "A dog with some presence" is the way Andrew put it. :) Because we were adopting, we wanted to get a puppy rather than an adult dog, just because you never fully know their history. So we looked around and Ellie (Diamond was her PAWS given name) stole our hearts! We played and walked her and were pretty ready to take her home right then!
     We refrained and decided to at least make ourselves sleep on it. After all we had just arrived, with our stuff not even on it's way yet!  But we figured, an empty apartment, what else are we going to do? Let's get the puppy! She can settle into our new home with us!
     So now we are all three settled in (almost!) to our new home and loving it.

With Love,
     Alyssa

Beauty From Pain

The lights go out all around me
One last candle to keep out the night
And then the darkness surrounds me
I know I'm alive but I feel like I've died
And all that's left is to accept that it's over
My dreams ran like sand through the fists that I made
I try to keep warm but I just grow colder
I feel like I'm slipping away

After all this has passed, I still will remain
After I've cried my last, there'll be beauty from pain
Though it won't be today, someday I'll hope again
And there'll be beauty from pain
You will bring beauty from my pain

My whole world is the pain inside me
The best I can do is just get through the day
When life before is only a memory
I'll wonder why God lets me walk through this place
And though I can't understand why this happened
I know that I will when I look back someday
And see how you've brought beauty from ashes
And made me as gold purified through these flames

After all this has passed, I still will remain
After I've cried my last, there'll be beauty from pain
Though it won't be today, someday I'll hope again
And there'll be beauty from pain
You will bring beauty from my pain

Here I am at the end of me (at the end of me)
Tryin' to hold to what I can't see (to what I can't see)
I forgot how to hope
This night's been so long
I cling to Your promise
There will be a dawn

After all this has passed, I still will remain
After I've cried my last, there'll be beauty from pain
Though it won't be today, someday I'll hope again
And there'll be beauty from pain
You will bring beauty from my pain

    I am absolutely in LOVE with this song. I cannot even tell you how much it speaks to my heart. It is so hopeful while not sugarcoating any pain. The Lord will truly bring beauty from ashes and will not waste a single tear. I am truly blessed by this song.

Exercise gives you endorphines, Endorphines make you happy...

So I have always had a on and off relationship with exercise. I have always tried to be consistent but things have a way of distracting me, such as:
*business
*sickness
*pure laziness 
*tiredness
Anyhow, I started running again last night. I have a plan to get to running for a half hour straight. I am starting with running 2 minutes and walking for 3 and slowly building up to it. I am going to try to do this 3 or 4 times a week.   I actually really enjoyed running last night. I have been feeling pretty stressed and a bit down lately, and I think this is going to really help. 
I am really trying to keep this as more of a healthy thing rather than a looks or weight thing. I am also using it as a way to really think and process what's going on in my life. Anyway, this is what I am doing, here's to hoping it sticks.