This weekend was full of awesome. Friday night, Chris wasn’t feeling well so we stayed in. I was totally fine with this. I got some laundry done, I got some Nintendo DS playing in, and just watched some TV and relaxed. Sometimes you need that after a long week at work!

Saturday was the planned Alabama Blate. (And a Mississippi girl. hey Heather!!) I was really nervous on my way there. I have anxiety about meeting new people, and this was 8 new girls at once! We all planned to meet at Urban Standard downtown. It is a super cute little coffee shop that serves sandwiches and such. If you are ever in the area, you ought to check it out! When I got there, I saw Ashley and Kayln, and I recognized them immediately. They looked so sweet and friendly, I knew I was going to be alright!

Everyone else showed up quickly after, and we were able to snag a big table. We hung out and chatted and had lunch for about 3 hours. It was amazing. Each and every one of these girls is so sweet, I feel like I have 8 new friends! We already have another blate in the works! I am so happy that I did this. If you have other bloggers in your area, you really should set up a blate. Although, I can already tell you that these Alabama/Mississippi girls are the best ever!

In true blogger fashion, you know we took some pictures!!!!

― C.S. Lewis

1. What was your biggest middle school fashion mistake?

Oh let’s see. What I wore for the most part in middle school was what was in style at the time, so the overalls, lime green, zebra print and scrunchies were totally ok then. Looking back on those pictures makes me smile. I think my biggest fashion mistake was that I had a sage green Winnie the Pooh tshirt (it was just the outline of Winnie, not super cartoon looking.) but I wore it to school a few times. I also had jean skorts. Remember those? They looked liked skirts but had shorts built underneath. Genius if you ask me. I also started growing out my bangs, they were never a good idea for me.

Gotta love overalls! My scanner isn’t hooked up to my lap top, so all of these are pictures of pictures, sorry about that!

2. Who were your best friends in high school? Pics?

I started my first year and a half of high school in Missouri, in finished in Georgia. In Missouri my best friends were Ashley, Carol, Joy and Megan. (RIP Megan) When I moved to Georgia, I met Erin a few weeks after being there in my Spanish class. Our teacher paired us up together because we were both new and kind of quiet. We instantly became best friends and were inseparable up until about 2 years ago. We even went to the same college and were roommates for years. I miss having her as a best friend, I am not quite sure what happened in our friendship 2 years ago to change that, but I miss it. I also met Shelley in high school, and we roomed together our freshman year of college. Such fun! 


This is Ashley and I my senior year of high school. Her parents let her come to GA to visit me for my graduation.

3. What was a typical weekend like for you in high school?

3. Did you have any boyfriends/girlfriends in high school? 
I never had a boyfriend through school. I didn’t start dating anyone until the summer between my Senior year of high school and college. I didn’t have time for a boyfriend in high school. I was too focused on getting good grades, practices, competitions and working. When I wasn’t doing any of that, I was with my friends hanging out. Apparently I was “unapproachable.” I am not quite sure what that means, but that is what my guys friends told me.

5. Did you have any secret codes with your friends? Spill your secrets!
My friends and I had code names for the boys that we liked. There were names like “Locker Boy” and “Abercrombie.” There was always an awesome story behind their nicknames! Also, and I can’t believe I am going to admit this…but Erin and I had a code to check each other. We would ask “Is it cloudy?” And we would check each other for things in our teeth or anything hanging around in our noses. We live in the south, allergies run rabid around here, don’t judge! 

6. If you could relive one day/moment/experience from middle school or high school, what would it be?
I don’t know that I would go back and change anything about my experiences because they have made me who I am today. I will say, I wish I could write former me a letter saying that those are the most care free years you will ever have, don’t be afraid to enjoy them more. Let yourself out there a little more. Have a little fun. I also wish I wouldn’t have shut down my sophomore year of high school when my parents moved me. It was for the best in the end, and I wouldn’t be where I am today without moving to Georgia. At the time, it was the worst thing they could have ever done to me in my head. I punished myself for it instead of embracing it. 

2. I am super excited about bright colors for the spring. I decided to whip one out on this dreary morning. If my day doesn’t start bright, I will make it bright! I love casual Friday!

3. Mango. Yum yum yummy! This has been my favorite afternoon snack all week. I can’t get enough!

4. Mac apparently thinks he is camouflaged with his fur and this blanket and that going to his crate this morning did not apply to him. Well done Mac, well done. Mommy is on to your little tricks!

5.  I am not going to lie, I am super excited for my first blate tomorrow with some amazing Alabama bloggers!

Speaking of Alabama bloggers, go link up with Joy over at The Sowell Life and tell us your Friday Five!

Stuff is about to get deep.

I find myself struggling more often than not internally. It is a really hard feeling to describe in words, and I am not even sure I am going to be able to do so. Perhaps I should sign up immediately to see a shrink? You may suggest this to me after you read this post.

Have you ever been scared of being successful? I think I have determined that this is my problem. I don’t really know how I got here, or how to get out of my rut. I rarely speak of my job, I like to keep that part of my life separate from my personal life as much as possible. Perhaps it is because I am going to be 30 years old this year, and I am still just some peon. I don’t really see my job as a “career.” I just assist others in being successful. They don’t prepare you for life’s disappointments in college to be honest. You feel like after putting so much time and money into getting your degree, you deserve to land a dream job fresh out of college. That really is just not reality. I am starting to think the “American Dream” as a whole is no longer really a valid thought in today’s society. No one really works hard any more for what they want, they just take from some and give to others. It is quite sickening. I am starting to get off on a rant, let me redirect.

I am thankful for the job I have. For the most part, with the exception of Negative Nancy that I told you all about a few weeks ago, my co-workers are great and I am in the “industry” that I went to school for. Yet, the only thing I find challenging during the day is my patience and tolerance for BS. I rarely have to actually use my brain, and that makes me sad. Often times I feel I am wasting away.

Then I think to myself, what is it that I am doing to be great? Nothing. I just settle, and do nothing about it. I don’t even know if I am capable of succeeding to be honest with you. It scares me. Why does it scare me? I don’t want to be someone’s assistant forever, but what would I do if I wasn’t doing this?

I really, honestly do not know. There is a difference between my dream of a job and reality of course. The problem is finding a happy medium and being successful in achieving such.

I had lunch today with one of my amazing friends, and we are in the same boat.  We both feel the exact same about all of this. We are both almost 30 and have amazing personal lives, both happily married…great families, new houses, etc. Yet, we are both completely unsuccessful career-wise. I feel like I am way behind people that are even younger than me who manage lots of people, or have a successful track record in sales, or who are doctors or lawyers. I look at myself, and it is depressing. It would be different if I was a mom, who just had a job to have something to do and focuses more on my children. I am not at that point in my life yet, and don’t know that I ever will be. I spend most of my life at my job, as anyone who works full time does. So how do you be successful?

If you are even still here and reading, bless you. I am not quite sure if any of this even made sense. It is just something that has been weighing heavy on my heart lately.

Let’s look at the positive, tomorrow is Friday! Woohoo! I hope you all have a fabulous day!

It’s Wednesday, we are half way through the week! We can do this!

Today I wanted to share my lasagna recipe. There are tons of variations of how to make lasagna floating around out there, it sort of becomes overwhelming. So much so, that I ignore them all and make it my own way. Lasagna takes a little time, but is totally worth it! I make my own sauce instead of using jar sauce, so I will include instructions on that. Produce was looking a little sad when I went to get the ingredients, so I used can tomato items instead of fresh. Certainly when you can go fresh you should!

Also, you could use cottage cheese instead of ricotta cheese. I have done this before, I just prefer the taste of the ricotta more. If you are trying to watch your weight, cottage cheese would probably be the “healthier option.” I did use reduced fat and skim items when I could. You can certainly use the full fat version of everything if you are lucky and don’t have to watch your weight!

Ingredients

For the sauce
1 large can of Hunts crushed tomatos
1 large can of Hunts tomato sauce
2 small cans of Hunts tomato paste
Italian Seasoning
Basil (fresh would be even better)
Oregano
Garlic Powder
2 carrots, cleaned (you will remove the carrots after cooking, it keeps the acidity level down)
1/2 cup sugar (this also keeps the acidity level down, and makes the sauce just a little sweet. This could be omitted as long as you have the carrots in there)

For the lasagna
1 lb of ground beef (I used extra lean)
2 cloves of garlic (I used minced this time)
whole wheat lasagna noodles
1 15-ounce container of ricotta cheese( I used the part skim milk kind)
1 package of Italian Blend cheese (I used reduced fat, you can not tell a difference when cooking I promise)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 beaten egg

Brown the ground beef with the garlic.

Drain and rinse. Place all the ingredients for the sauce, along with the ground beef into a crock pot.

Cook on low for a few hours. I can not tell you exact amounts of the seasonings, it is really based on your tastes. I am pretty generous with them, you can’t really mess it up. It also doesn’t matter for how long you cook the sauce. I started it around 11:00am and we ate around 6:00pm, it could have cooked longer, or it could have been done a lot sooner. As long as the sauce is heated through, you are fine.

Once you are ready to prepare the actual meal, preheat the oven to 375 degrees and cook the noodles to the instructions on the box. Make sure you sprinkle a little salt in the water so the noodles do not stick. I cook the entire box of noodles, but usually do not end up using all of them.