A new week....

Wow, it's been a whirlwind the last few days around here. I took my second tennis lesson Saturday morning (yet another new hobby I'm picking up -- more on that some other time), raked up a whole bunch of leaves, and planted the daylillies my grandmother gave me last year. Sunday after church and some mexican food & siesta-ing, we finished raking & bagging most of the leaves in an attempt to start getting our yard ready for spring.

I LOVE spring and I am so excited to see what we can accomplish around our yard this year (we have LOTS of big ideas, especially for the back yard) and hopefully I'll tell you all about our progress once we get started. This weekend was our first touch of warm weather -- (funny, seeing as it SNOWED last weekend) and I am LOVING it! I'm hoping that this is just the boost I need to get back on track after this cold has had me down for a while!

Saturday night I went shopping using the lessons I learned at Southern Savers' Extreme Couponing 101 class and was able to save about $1/3 of the money that we usually spend on groceries. As I collect more coupons and get better at planning out both shopping and menus, I hope I'll be able to spend about $1/2 the money. I also had what I would consider a super successful trip to CVS, and I can already tell I'm going to be addicted to getting things for free there. I think Jenny from Southern Savers' said it best, "It's like CVS is its own country, and they don't take American dollars, just paper CVS currency. The whole store is FREE!"

So this week, we've got some good stuff on the menu
Sunday - Breakfast for Dinner *grits, eggs, sausage, toast*
Monday - Chick-fil-A (free sandwiches with your church bulletin!)
Tuesday - Soup & Sandwiches
Wednesday - Birthday Dinner out to celebrate my husband's 26th year on earth!
Thursday - New York Strips & Baked Potatoes
Friday - Sunday School Social
Saturday - Family Birthday Cook-out -- Chicken Wings & other goodness

I'm also looking forward to getting back on the work-out wagon this week, might have to back up a few weeks on the running plan to catch myself up to speed again!

Hope you have a great week!
Lockslie

The Lady Quote - First Edition

In college, of all places, a new found freedom often makes girls forget some of the manners they've been taught. Independence, self-sufficiency, and feminism are preached by all types of media -- professors, books and magazines, television, music.... etc ... you get the picture. It is a time if your life where you're redefining yourself and learning who you want to become. It is a time where you have MORE than your fair share of voices pushing and pulling you in various directions and you decide that being a lady isn't really a priority.

So, you might be wondering what "The Lady Quote" has to do with any of this.... and I won't hold you in suspense any longer! In my college sorority, there was a tradition we called "The Lady Book" where a sister would share quotes from a book about being a lady. I suppose this was a subtle way of reminding the girls in our chapter that we had a certain image to uphold, but it was always fun to hear what the weekly quote would be, and learn every one's opinions --- there would always be someone who had something to say!

I'm hoping to do something similar to that here with "The Lady Quote"... just share some simple quotes I find about being a lady, let you know where I found them, what I think about them, and give you a chance to say how you feel as well. And, I'll be the first to tell you that I have a lot to learn in this department, seeing as I flat out refused to take part in our local cotillion classes when I was in middle school, and my mom is constantly reminding me of the "proper" way to handle certain situations. I've learned a lot in the last year or so and hope to learn some more as I write each edition of "The Lady Quote".

Without further ado, I give you the first edition of "The Lady Quote", inspired by my recent quest to write Thank You notes for all our many wedding gifts.

"A lady is prompt in writing thank-you notes -- within ten days of receiving a gift if at all possible. Writing a note lets the giver know in a tangible way just how grateful she is for his or her generosity. The extra effort to write a thank-you note speaks volumes about a lady's courtesy."

How to Be a Lady - A contemporary guide to common courtesy

by Candace Simpson-Giles

I was quick to write all my thank-yous after our wedding showers, but it has been quite a daunting task to complete the wedding gift thank-yous. So if you're out there reading and you haven't gotten yours yet, don't worry, it's still on its way! I definitely have NOT made the 10 day deadline, but I'm hoping to beat Emily Post's 3-month deadline. (Speaking of, how many of you have heard the rumor that you should have a whole year?? I only recently learned about the 3-month rule, and that means time is QUICKLY catching up with me!) Of course, I still believe in the better-late-than-never rule, so if I fail to make the deadline, I'll keep plugging along until they're all done. The most important part to me is making sure the notes are heartfelt and meaningful. As soon as I start to feel like I'm not personalizing what I'm writing, I give it up and save it for another day. Hopefully some day REALLY soon I'll be able to post that I've completed them all! I can't wait!

*Lady Lockslie*

So, it's been a while...

Well, it's officially been two weeks since my head cold began, and so I've been slacking off in a lot of areas of life since then. The first thing to go was exercising/running. If you've ever had a case of sinusitis like I have been battling, you know it is nearly impossible to get through everyday activities, much less run or do pilates, anything that requires balance, deep breathing, or quick movements.

Second to go was the menu planning/cooking. Each day it got easier and easier for me to say, "why don't you just pick us something up". This was a little more difficult once my husband caught the awful illness, too. It just really seemed backwards to me to spend time cooking meals I could barely taste, much less finish. Chick-fil-A got a lot of business from us this week.

At the end of the week though, we both started feeling better, just in time for the biggest snowfall in our town since I was born. Wow, was it fun to see the excitement in my husband's eyes as he watched his first "big snow" at home ever.... (he spent the first half of his life in Florida, and we haven't seen snow like that since his family moved here). The snow reminded us both of our recent honeymoon trip to Park City, Utah where there was TONS of snow. We snuggled in for a warm night and watched as the snow piled up in our back yard. Of course, Saturday morning the snow quickly melted away as the sun came up, but not before a couple of snowballs were thrown.

We went on our first mini-vacation Saturday & Sunday to Savannah, GA. It was by mere coincidence that this happened to fall on Valentine's day, too! We explored the city on foot, checking out the historical sites and even visited the bench where the famous bus stop scenes from Forest Gump were filmed. We searched out some local restaurants, ate some wonderful food, and relaxed a lot! Savannah is a really beautiful and eclectic town, and we enjoyed walking through the historic squares. We especially loved the incredible live oaks and grassy areas preserved all around town.

We came back to Columbia on Monday and celebrated Valentine's by going out to a movie, doing a little shopping, and dinner. Here's hoping that we'll get back on track with everything the rest of this week!

So that's the latest.... hope everything is well with y'all :)

Lockslie

neglect

major blogging, cooking, exercising neglect....

major everything neglect due to this awful cold-turned-sinus & ear infection.....

I'll be back to healthy hopefully again soon, and then I'll let you know the latest!

love,
lockslie

Another month rolls around...

After the best weekend so far of 2010, another month is rolling around! February will hopefully be another great month... meal planning has been pretty successful in January and I'm having fun! Learning to make some new things, perfecting some old favorites, and of course, expanding my menus to include more veggies are some of my goals for this month.

We had our friends Elizabeth & Mike stay with us this weekend, so we filled ourselves up with lots of restaurant goodies, including the old faithful Starbucks and my new favorite, the Cupcake store! Since we treated ourselves all weekend, we decided to start incorporating a few more healthy things into our menu this week. Here's what we're eating, with links to where you can find a recipe to make it yourself! I don't know how people came up with new recipes before the internet --- I guess that's where cookbooks come in to play!

Sunday - Tomato Tortellini Soup & Creamy Corn Muffins
Monday - Monday – Chicken Croissants with Cream Sauce & Broccoli -- I'm adding a can of Rotel Tomatoes & Green Chilie's to this recipe for a little extra kick
Tuesday – Date Night Out!
Wednesday – Turkey Teriyaki Meatballs, Vegetables & Rice
Thursday – Grilled Pork Chops, Corn & Collard Greens
Friday – Beer Battered *Chicken* Tacos w/ Tomato/Avocado Salsa -- I'm using *Chicken* instead of fish for this recipe
Saturday - TBA

In other news this week....I can hardly believe that this is the beginning of Week#5 of half-marathon training with Jenny. We have both resolved to do better this week! Afterall, there are only 11 weeks left until she runs in the half-marathon! We're scheduled to run a total of 12-14 miles this week, and I am determined to ACTUALLY give it my all and complete at least 12 of them. I'll let you know how it goes!

Hope you're having a great day!

Lockslie

10 great things to do on a rainy saturday

It's cold & rainy outside... my LEAST favorite weather combination. BUT, there are a few benefits to a day like this

1. Sleeping in... (well, remember that sleeping in is all relative, so sleeping until 7:30 is great if you normally wake up at 5:30)
2. Eating HOT breakfast food, drinking HOT chocolate (or coffee if that's your preference), making HOT soup or chili .... anything HOT to warm you up.... and thinking about what to make for dinner this week
3. Speaking of sleeping... napping is also a great option for a day like today (something about the quiet pitter-patter of the rain on the roof just lulls me away)
4. A day off from running (well, this has actually turned into a week off)... perhaps I'll head to the gym and do a few miles on the treadmill if I get really motivated
5. A great time to catch up on hours of DVR'd television
6. A PERFECT time to snuggle up with a great novel that's been sitting on your bedside table, read the first chapter in our new bible study book for this week, and catch
7. Time to rejoice that you cleaned the house yesterday so you can relax knowing that it's already been done (something that RARELY happens to me... I'm always cleaning on Saturdays!)
8. Writing a new blog post, reading everyone else's newest blog posts, resolving to do better and update my blog with something interesting to read... and hopefully soon, some pictures!
9. Speaking of pictures, it's a great day to go through all my pics from Brooke Turner Photography and start to figure out which ones to pick for our wedding album. (And, speaking of the wedding, perhaps I ought to spend some part of my rainy saturday putting a dent in my thank-you note list!)
10. Most of all, just finding lots of ways to spend my time on a day when I would normally sit around and complain about the weather.

So, there's lots of great things to do on this rainy Saturday, and I'm really looking forward to it! How do you spend rainy days??

Lockslie

Just keep running....

So this is week #3 of my training with Jenny. Week #2 was a success, I cut out only half a mile during one of the short runs and made up for it another day that week. This week we have two 3.5 mile runs and one 5-mile run. Of course, our plan includes REST days (love!), strength/stretching, and cross-training. Somehow, I find myself looking forward to the non-running days better than the running days.

But, when I'm out running and I see the REAL runners just breezing by me on their seemingly easy jog, I'm inspired to just keep running. Hopefully, if I just keep running, I'll look more like them in the near future!

Speaking of inspiration, I love running with music playing on my ipod....however, my workout/running playlist hasn't been updated in almost 2 years! If I have a good rhythm to run with, it is so much easier for me to forget everything and just keep running. What tunes are you running to??

Stay tuned this week for the first edition of "The Lady Quote"!

Happy Wednesday :)
Lockslie