What I'm loving Wednesday

Hey everyone!

Today I'm linking up with Jamie for WILW!

I'm loving this cute cardigan I found on sale at Old Navy!!

I wore it as a dress with leggings and my Uggs. I thought it looked pretty cute!

I'm also loving these cute earrings that were on clearance for $1.79! I love finding unexpected bargains!

I'm loving that we actually started learning how to work Photoshop in class today. I was pretty slow, but I think with time I will get much better.

I'm loving that we are going to make nachos for dinner! I haven't had nachos in a really long time so hopefully they will be yummy!

I'm loving that yesterday I only had one class because the other one got cancelled.

I'm loving that i'm getting tanner... even if I have to fake bake to do it. haha. :)

(I know it is not healthy for me, but I need to be tan for my trip and going outside will not tan me. :/ )

I'm loving that we had date night on Friday!

And I'm of course loving my hunny that I have been with for approximately 1550 days or 4 years 2 month and 28 days. :) :)

Date night from last Friday. :) Excuse the awkwardness of the photo. Haha.

Love, 

Carmen

Top 2 Tuesday: Healthy snacks

Hey guys!!

I'm linking up with Taylor for Top 2 Tuesday's again this week. It seems to be pretty fitting for me to post about healthy snacks and recipes since i'm trying to loose a little weight before my trip in march. (See this post) I am going to love going to everyone else's sites for some ideas on what to eat! Mine are pretty basic because I don't really enjoy eating healthy yet, but hopefully I will find some yummy things to try.

1. Special K Bars (Strawberry)

I really love these and they are only 90 calories. I find them to be very filling and they are good to eat as a snack or for breakfast. I have only had the strawberry flavor, but i'd like to try other flavors too. Have any of you tried any other flavors?? I'm up for suggestions.

2. Bananas

(Is it ridiculous that I always think of the Gwen Stefani "Hollaback Girl"song when spelling bananas?? HAHA)

I love to have a banana for breakfast every morning before class. I like them when they are sort-of mushy but not browning on the outside. We always buy them when they are really green so that they last longer so  have to be careful to eat them at the right time.

It's also yummy to make banana bread and if you want to make it quick the Pillsbury Quick Banana Bread is pretty tasty. Next time I would add some bananas in there though. 

It claims it is 110 calories a slice so it's not too horrible, but surely not the best. When I made it I mixed in a swirl of cinnamon too and that made it really good. 

Thanks for visiting!

Love, 

Carmen

Friday Fun.

Hey!!

I would like to start out by saying hello to my new followers!! I'm so excited that you are here! I literally get so excited when I see my numbers growing. I keep this blog private, pretty much, to everyone that I know so it's hard getting followers when you don't have any "real life" friends or family in the blogging world. So thank you for deciding to follow me!

Anyways, I am excited that it is Friday and the end of my first week back at school. I am excited that tomorrow I get to sleep in and not have to sit in HORRIBLE traffic for over an hour. I am not used to traffic because my classes usually would start later, but this semester I wanted to get done earlier and so I have to go earlier.

I have got through a week of working out and "dieting" and I feel so much better about myself. I feel like my clothes fit better already, which seems crazy to me. For my workout I go running, but to be honest I mostly walk and then run in intervals. I am not in shape so I can't run the whole time, but I feel good that I am trying. I mean, hey, everyone starts somewhere right?? I also "jump rope" without the rope and that helps with cardio, I do crunches, pushups, bike riding in the air (air cycling), and this other workout that I saw on a TV show. haha.   For my "dieting" I have a banana when i'm at school and then a Slim Fast shake for lunch. For dinner I eat whatever, but of course not fast fatty food, and don't have dessert. I love dessert so it is really hard for me to not have some yummy ice cream. :) I am mainly trying to loose weight for myself but also for my trip that I have planned for Spring Break. If I go to the beach I would love to look good in my swim suit, and currently I would only want to wear a tankini. haha. Is anyone else trying to loose weight? Let me know and we can chat about our progress together.

I wish I could run here!

Yesterday was a sad day for two reasons, I wanted to upgrade my MacBook Pro to the Snow Leopard operating system because I needed it for an eBook that I bought and my hard drive decided it was going to crash and I lost everything that I didn't save. I was so sad and apparently my hard drive was corrupted and that was why I wasn't able to do a back up to my Time Capsule. I luckily backed up my pictures and documents before I did that but i'm still missing my applications that I had added like Microsoft Office. Then to top off that horrible thing my car battery decided it would die too. So we were temporarily stranded at Desirea and Patrick's house last night and Ryan had to drive me to school this morning. By the way my car still wont start so my Dad is gonna look at it tomorrow.

Hopefully today will be much better than yesterday and I hope yall have a fabulous weekend!

Love, 

Carmen

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I decided I would link up with Jamie again this week for WILW! I should be doing homework, but I decided this would be more fun. hehe. :)

I'm loving that I just booked my flights this weekend for Spring Break to California for Ryan's cousin's wedding! I love weddings so I'm excited that I get to go to one and it's a bonus that I get to make a vacation out of it.

I'm loving that when I told my parents about my trip they offered to pay for my flight! WHOO-HOO!! So there is $300 that I saved so I have more spending money for the trip!

I'm loving that in one of my classes we get to use the computers (really nice iMacs with HUGE screens) the whole class and that I get to learn Photoshop, Indesign, and Illustrator.

I'm loving that American Idol comes on tonight. I am excited to see the new judges and how they changed it up for the new season. Any American Idol watchers out there???

I'm loving that the week is almost over, and that it's a short school week.

And I'm loving my sweet boyfriend, who means the world to me. :)

(Notice our cute butt sketch on the wall??)

Also, this is random but I can't decide if I want to go to the Dallas Blogger Meetup because I'm only 20 and I figured everyone would be older. There is still plenty of time to decide but I was wondering what yall thought. Let me know if you are going!

Have a good rest of the week!

Love, 

Carmen

Top 2 Tuesday: Spring Looks!

Hey!!


I LOVE spring, I think it is my favorite season in Texas because it's not too hot. The summer would be my favorite except that most days it is over 95 degrees and that is way too hot. This Top 2 Tuesday is exciting because I love to shop, but usually hate shopping by myself because my sister always picks out much cuter clothes for me. I seem to always be drawn to the same things and then buy them in multiple colors. I mean hey, if it looks good then why not have it in more than one color. Right??

So when searching for spring looks I wanted to find stuff that is out of my comfort zone. Here we go!

1.  I am really liking one shoulder dresses and hope they are still in style!

So cute! VIA

I also like this one but I am unsure about the sleeve design. What do you think?

VIA

2. I like this plain dress and I think it would be so cute for a casual day at school or shopping.

I love it! VIA

I also like this dress and I think it would be perfect for my trip to California in March! I'll post about that tomorrow!!!

The only problem is that its $89.99. :( We will see...
VIA

I just noticed the colors are all the same! HAHA! I guess I didn't shy too far away from my comfort zone. All these looks are from modcloth.com and I have never actually ordered anything from there. Have any of you? I wondered how well the clothes hold up when washing them. Let me know your opinions!

Thanks for visiting! Come back to visit again soon and let me know you were here! :)

Love, 
Carmen

Another Miscellany Monday

Well I'm back for another miscellany monday with Carissa.

1. I'm a little sad that it is my last day of freedom before I go back to school tomorrow. I start bright and early (for me) at 9:30. I'm sorta worried about this semester because it seems like it will be very busy and filled with writing and readings every night. I am taking a journalism class for fun to see how I like it and I have to take this english class for a credit I need and am dreading it. Also, school is so stressful and when I get stressed my jaw starts to hurt (random I know). My jaw will start to lock and I can't open it very wide and it throbs so I'm hoping that this will not happen this semester. Apparently there is nothing to fix this problem besides surgery, and if it only happens occasionally or when I'm stressed then I will opt to not have any type of surgery. 

2. My books are so expensive, but I guess that's why I take out student loans. I hate that I will have to pay them back but thats life I guess. Currently my total is around $250 and I haven't finished purchasing books! 

VIA

3. This past week we had our first fire in the fireplace at our new home! Ryan attempted to start it and finally after like 20 min he got it going. We sat by the fire and played a board game because we were tired of watching TV and we didn't want to go anywhere. Belle was very intrigued by the fire and she got as close as we would let her, I was scared she was going to jump in!

Belle creepin on the fire. HAHA

Enjoying the warm fire in PJs.

I couldn't resist taking pictures with Belle. :) After all she is like my child.

4. Another fun thing we did this week was making chicken wings for dinner! My dad makes the BEST chicken wings ever and I decided I would try it out. We had hot wings and sweet and sour wings with sweet potato fries. It wasn't a very healthy dinner, but it sure was good.

Sweet and Sour Sauce

Hot sauce!

Frying in the FryDaddy, thanks Mere!

Baking in the oven. Yes, this is a long process but so worth it!

Sweet Potato Fries! Yum!

Let me know if you would like the recipe and directions! I promise you wont be disappointed.

5. And last but not least I went running today and started my "diet" yesterday. I said I wanted to loose weight as a new years resolution HERE so I'm gonna try and stick to it. I will confess that I walked most of the way and ran in intervals because I am not in shape enough to run the whole time. But, at least i'm trying and tomorrow I may take Cali with me. Wish me luck!

That's all I have for today but come back and visit soon, I love new followers!

Love, 

Carmen

Random Acts of Kindness

Hey!

I was randomly exploring blogs and found the random acts of kindness linky with Megan and even though I just found it today I was going to think of some nice things I have done in the past week and share them.

1. One of my best friends from elementary school found out she is having a baby boy so I bought some onesies and mailed them to her. :) She said I was the first person to buy her son some clothes so I feel really special that I could do that for her.
2. I also mailed my sister some baby things for my nephew!!! :) He is the first baby in our family so my parents are really excited and me and my other sister Meredith are super excited to be aunts!
3. I did the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen because Ryan was feeling sick. I know this isn't a huge deal but I really dislike doing dishes so Ryan usually does them. He was so happy when he saw the clean kitchen.

Thats all I can think of for now, but next week I hope to have done some kind things for strangers and more kind things for my loved ones. I will be recapping the last week later today so come back and read all about it!

Love, 

Carmen

Misc. Monday

Well, I thought since I never have linked up to Miscellany Monday then I would start today since I have random things to talk about.

1.  First off we had SNOW yesterday and it is still on the ground today! I don't have any snow clothes because they are all at my parents so I just got to enjoy the beauty of it and take pictures. Plus, Ryan was at work so I would have to play all by myself, which would be no fun! Here are some pictures from the day.

The house in the snow! 

My footprints on the sidewalk. :)

Cali's prints

This morning the icicles on the house!

Cali LOVED the snow. But, since she just got fixed I only let her play a little bit and on the leash. 

She was so excited she got the leash wrapped around her legs.  HAHA!

Playing once it got deeper.

Being a sweet girl.

2. Secondly, I've never shared this before on the blog but my sister Lori is pregnant and she just found out she is having a BOY! She is about 19 weeks I think and she found out today at her sonogram. They are so excited and were hoping for a boy because it is their first child. Here she is at 15 weeks but when you see her in person she doesn't look that big.

SO CUTE!

And here is a picture of Lori and Jon at Christmas!

I am so excited for them, and I will finally be a real AUNT! 

3. Belle likes sitting in the dryer when it is still hot. She is adorable.

4. And I will leave you with this beautiful picture! :)

Thanks for visiting and come back soon!

Love,

Carmen

Update!

Hey Everyone!

Today is such a relaxing day, I have my music on in the living room and I am watching my cute fur babies sit sadly at the door because Ryan is in the garage and they want to join him. It's sad and cute that they miss him so much. I have been enjoying my break from school, I don't have to go back until the 18th so I still have one more week of freedom. Yay! I guess I will recap from my last post. It snowed in Kentucky for about 2 1/2 days so I got to enjoy the snow for longer than it ever is in Texas. When we left Texas for Kentucky it was 80 degrees so I didn't think to pack warm clothes or warm shoes that could possibly get snow on them... So on Christmas day while I was outside I had to wear my tennis shoes that did not match at all. :/ But luckily once we got to my Aunt and Uncle's house I was able to change into my suede boots. See below....

Ugly Nike tennis shoes. :)

So after we got back to lovely Texas I got to hang out with my besties from elementary school. It's crazy trying to get everyone together because we all live in different places and go to college in different cities. We cooked dinner together and then had ice cream and watched The Tourist. I fell asleep halfway through the movie so I didn't really know what was going on. I will have to finish that and let yall know how it was. Has anyone seen it already? I forgot to take pictures so I don't have any to show... :( 

On New Years i had some friends over and we all celebrated the new year together! I had a little too much to drink so the next morning I didn't feel too hot, but other than that I had a good time. Desirea, Patrick and Gavin came over too so that was fun! 

Gavin in his tuxedo onesie!

Gavin and his Uncle Ryan.

On New Years day we had my family christmas because my sister and her husband couldn't make it to Texas before then. I got some good presents and we had a delicious dinner made by my dad followed by some cake I made for the occasion. Yum! 

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful and consisted of me catching up on shows and hanging out by myself while Ryan was at work.

Thursday we had to get Cali fixed and had to drive an hour away to a low cost facility. When we adopted her at the shelter they didn't charge anything you just have to prove that you got the pet fixed and they recommended the low cost place so that you only pay $50 opposed to $100. When we went to get her she was very out of it. It was so sad to see her mope around because she is usually so hyper and wants to play with everything and every other dog she sees.

Cali hanging her head out of her kennel. So sad.

Don't worry though, the next day she was back to her normal self and it's hard to stop her from running around and playing with Belle.

Typical day, Belle hissing at Cali and Cali trying to lick her. Haha.

Cali posing for a picture.

Me and my girl. 

Sweet Belle. :)

Yesterday Ryan was off work so we were able to go shopping and exchange this ring I got for Christmas from my sister. I had to go to the Coach store to get a bigger size but they didn't have the ring there so they had to order it for me. I am excited for it to be shipped to my house so I can wear it.

Me and Ryan before we went to the mall.

Last night we went over to Desirea and Patrick's house and had dinner and played some games. Desirea made Spinach, Avocado, and Chicken Enchiladas and they were really good but very filling. It was really funny when Gavin was trying to hold his own bottle so Desirea just let him and used a little pillow to prop it up for him. He is so cute!

Now i'm off to hang out with Ryan and help him put together a shelf for the garage. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Love, 

Carmen