The Battle

A little disclaimer before I begin: Everything I am about to discuss in this post in no way relates to me thinking I need to lose weight, trying to lose weight or thinking I’m overweight. It's about my quest to be healthy. So no need to call me and tell me what a “skinny mini” I am…….HANNAH!


There is a constant battle raging in my mind. It is the timeless fight between good and evil, good and evil food that is. See, I was raised to know a lot about what is healthy and what is not. We were never and I really mean NEVER allowed to have sugar cereal growing up. Friends would actually give me Honey Nut Cheerios as a gift for birthdays and Christmas because they knew how much I loved the forbidden food. So because my mother made us eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil from birth, I never lived in the fantasy land where Coke and candy were somewhat ok. I always knew they were bad for me. This taste of knowledge fueled me to learn more so I majored in Health and Education in college. My Medical Terminology professor once told us “Sugar is like shards of glass in your veins, it shreds them”. That visual has really stuck with me and ruined many desserts.

So now you might understand why last night as I’m sitting on the couch watching the A&E Biography of Britney Spears (What?! It was free in my On Demand library) I felt this strong craving for a Chic-fil-A Peppermint Chocolate Chip Shake at the same exact moment that I felt a strong sense of guilt for having the craving at all. I went back and forth, back and forth at least 100 times before I finally got up, threw a sweatshirt on over my PJ’s and ran out the door to satisfy the craving. I ordered a small and only drank half. I’ve found that sometimes if I just give myself a little taste then it’s not such a big deal anymore and I can move on to eating healthy again. When I got done with the shake I atoned the sin by eating some kale chips... I know it doesn't really work like that but somehow it made me feel better.

Since moving to Texas in June it has been a little harder to eat healthy when we are out. Texas is known for Mexican food and BBQ and both are very good but also very evil! BBQ is basically beef smothered in sugar. Two things that I KNOW are bad for the body and Mexican is nothing but fried flour and cheese. I wish I didn’t know what those things do to the human body, but I do. I can never go back to the innocence of naiveté. When I eat Mexican food and BBQ (which I often do) I can’t get “flour turns to glue in your digestive system, cow’s milk was only meant for baby cows, sugar is like shards of glass, fried foods cause cancer and heart plaque” out of my head. AAAH! Make it stop! Let me eat my cancer causing glass glue in peace!


My ongoing war has actually taken several hits since moving to Texas. Working at a wonderful place that provides us with all the coffee and syrupy flavored creamers we want isn’t too good for my cause either. Caffeine is basically a drug and that headache it causes when you don’t drink enough means you’re becoming addicted to the chemical. The creamers are nothing but sugar and we’ve already covered how I feel about that. I’m also often faced with the temptation to partake in the most wonderful sweet tea on the planet from McAlister’s. Oh, and did I mention that there’s a Sonic on every corner and those Sonics serve my beloved Cheddar Poppers? They are basically jalapeno’s (inflammation causing little demons!) filled with artificial cheese goo then deep fried! OH THE HORROR!

Bad Baby Day

Everybody who knows me knows that I have an extreme obsession with all things baby. I have been this way for as long as I can remember. I was the kid at family gatherings that didn’t want to play with the children my own age but instead would rather be deemed the babysitter and watch over anybody younger than me. Middle school and high school played out the same way. It was nothing for me to give up a Friday night movie with my friends to babysit. I would rather be staring into the eyes of a six month old while I fed him his bottle before bed. This behavior may seem unusual…even creepy but I’m just trying to explain myself. Can I use the ever so controversial “I was born this way” as an excuse?
Now that I’m older and have grown to realize I need adult interaction, I have become a well of useless (to some) knowledge about the growing and caring of babies. The girls at work jokingly call me “The Midwife” because of all of the information I force them to take in over our lunches together. I constantly read books, blogs, websites, magazines and watch shows about babies and birth. It’s my hobby. Some people have nice, normal, acceptable hobbies like toy planes, painting, and crafts. You know, the not-so-creepy ways to spend your time. Not me! I study the art of babies. I used to say that I was just trying to be prepared for motherhood but really I just enjoy learning about babies because they are my favorite! It’s kind of similar to Angela (from The Office) and her cat obsession. Instead of being “cat lady” I am “baby lady”.

Everybody who knows me also knows that I do not have any babies of my own nor am I trying to have any babies of my own. Strange, maybe even sad but true. I am a “cat lady” with no cats. This leads me to steal other people’s babies when I am given the chance. Who can blame me when I’m continually around cuties like this….

That say things like this…

Willow says Momma! from Josh Morris on Vimeo.

All of this leads me to have, what I recently labeled “Bad Baby Days” (BBD). This is a day when my love for babies gives me a serious case of baby fever that results in me actually turning into a big baby myself. Symptoms of a “Bad Baby Day” are saying things like (in the whiniest voice possible) “I just CAN’T make dinner” or “Can’t we just buy a house now?” Thankfully these symptoms last only a few hours. I guess the name is misleading since it’s not usually an entire day. It’s also easily treated by my sweet husband who knows just what to say. He gently reminds me about how we are saving up a big down payment for our house so that when we actually have babies I can stay home and enjoy them. He helps me to see that we are following what God has told us to do and when you do that things tend to go a lot better for you! But more than all of that, he reminds me that he loves me and that someday God will bless us with all the sweet babies that we can handle (or afford). So although I do suffer from BBD and I’m sure they will persist, at least I have a treatment plan that works… for now. 

Jesse had these flowers delivered to me at work after I had a BBD a couple of weeks ago. Sweet boy!

Turning a New Leaf!

OK, I'm done with being a lazy blogger. It's not for you. It's for me. I'm going to write more because I have too much to say and too little time to say it to all the people I want to say it to.

Our church is moving into a new building this weekend. It's going to be incredible! I can feel the excitement in the air around here. Everybody is busy with the new routines and equipment. I work in the Men's Ministry so the move doesn't affect me too much. I just get to be an excited member! It's nice to just sit back and enjoy it. I'm so thankful for all that God is doing in our church.

"We're all about people".....lots of them!

Photos by Scott Pickering www.lightonthesubject.com

Helloooooooooooooooooooooooo from Texas!
These Longhorns are our next-door neighbors and we love them! The land on either side of our apartment complex is open with grazing cattle so you don’t see them up close to the fence all the time, but when you do it’s so fun!

I walked right up and stuck my hand through the fence to take pictures and they came really close to me, like they were saying “hello”. Apparently EVERYBODY in Texas is friendly!

That's our apartment building right next to the fence where the cattle are!

We really like it here and it felt like home almost right away. It also helps that we haven’t had a chance to be homesick with all the visits back to Orlando this summer. We do wish that we could share this new adventure with our loved ones. Our next family contact will be Thanksgiving with none other than The Great Becky Boss! We can hardly wait to see her little New Yorker face! :)

Happy Birthday Jesse!

Happy Birthday to our sweet Jesse! Jesse is 27 today and I am the proudest wife in the world. I am so proud of the man that he has become. He is such a great friend and leader for me and I feel blessed every second I get to be his wife.

To celebrate we went out to dinner Friday with a few friends at a fun Mexican restaurant called Gloria’s. After dinner we went back to Josh and Hannah’s and had Jesse’s favorite, angel food with strawberries. YUM!

The next day I took Jesse out for a fun day in Dallas. We went to the historic uptown district for breakfast at a place called Bread Winners. It was AMAZING!

Three Words: Bananas Foster Waffle!

Then we drove around the most expensive neighborhood in Dallas, Highland Park, and saw a few big name sports guys’ houses. George Dubya also has a house there :)
We walked around this beautiful park in the neighborhood. There is a creek running through it.

There were weird bear statues in the park …random!

Then we cooled off at an old fashioned soda fountain at Highland Park Pharmacy. Jesse had never been to a soda fountain so that was fun. We had root beer floats and BLT’s.

The last surprise activity I had planned was a trip up to the observation deck of Reunion Tower or “The Ball” but we got there and walked in to find that the deck was closed for renovations :( We decided that for our next special occasion we will eat dinner in the Wolfgang Puck restaurant up there. It revolves and if you stay for 55 minutes you get to see a 360 view of Dallas.
We miss you and can’t wait to see you all next week when we come in for Dana and Jake’s big day! SOOOO EXCITED!!!

We Miss You Already!

Well, we have been here for 1 1/2 weeks. That's really weird to say. I think it still hasn't hit us that we actually live here...we aren't just visiting! This week I helped out my friend Hannah with her two precious children while she was in wedding mania for her sister-in-law's big day. We went to the wedding last night and it was beautiful! Jesse and I had fun talking with new and old friends at the reception. People really are fun and friendly here!

Jesse hit the ground running and started work the day after we moved in. He has only had 2 days off since we moved. Carmax is closed on Sundays here (gotta love living in the Bible Belt!) so he is really enjoying being able to have a church and relax day every week!

So although I might try to post positive things on this blog, don't think that we don't miss you guys! I cried for about 4 hours the first morning we woke up here. haha I'm glad that part didn't last long! Here's a couple of pics from the week before we moved.

We went to our favorite restaurant in Tampa, The Rusty Pelican, for our anniversary. The dolphins were swimming in the bay while we ate. It was nice to breathe easy for a minute!

We had a lot of fun with the siblings at our going away gathering!

We miss you guys!!!

Thanks again Dake and Jana!