Wednesday, January 4, 2012

2011 Book Goal Accomplished!!

My goal for 2011 was to read more. I really enjoy reading, but have not had the time in recent years to read. Life kind of got in the way. I made it a goal to read 26 books in 2011. That's around 1 book every two weeks.

I'm happy to say that not only did i meet my goal, but i read 38 books in 2011!!

Here are some of my favorites from the year:


1. Gone With The Wind  by Margaret Mitchel
2. The Other Boleyn Girl  by Philippa Gregory
3. Saving CeeCee Honeycutt  by Beth Hoffman
4. Once Upon a River  by Bobbie Jo Campbell
5. The Book Thief  by Markus Zusak
6. The Help  by Kathryn Stockett
7. The Distant Hours  by Kate Morton
8. The Thorn Birds  by Colleen McCullough

If you want to see the rest of the books I read in
 2011 you can check out my Shelfari profile here.

I have decided to keep the same goal of 26 books for 2012. I think that is a reasonable goal.
 I never felt that reading was taking my time away from my family or work life. I would like to keep it that way for 2012.

I'm always open for book recommendations!!!

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Tulsa Zoo Trip

This past New Years weekend was the prefect weather for a trip to the zoo. We were not the only ones to think this, it was busy! Despite the crowds we had a good time. I forgot my camera, so I took a few pictures with my iPhone, then I edited the in camera+ , and I'm now posting this blog post from my phone on my blogger app. This post is 100% coming from my phone. Oh the technology! What did we do before the iPhone?? I hope you enjoy these pictures!

Thursday, December 29, 2011

My 2011 Recap!!

Overall 2011 has been a great year. I look back on the year and are thankful for MANY things: My family, friends, job, and my health. 2011 started out with many unknowns- We were moving from South Carolina to Oklahoma!! We did not know a single person already living here so it was a bit scary, but we made the move and are really enjoying Oklahoma. 2011 had a lot of unknowns like; will we like Oklahoma, will Casey find a job, will we make friends, will I like my new job, will we find a house, will we get a lot of tornadoes. The answer to all of the unknowns was YES! Well except for the tornadoes; thankfully we didn't get any this year. However we did get an earthquake!!! Oklahoma is feeling more and more like home to us every day and we are looking forward to what 2012 will have in store.

January:

We moved from South Carolina to Oklahoma for my job. It was a bit scary but we knew we would be just fine, and we have been! Both locations have their ups and downs and we are just making the best of everything. Oh and did i mention i turned 30 in January!!!

February:

SNOW SNOW and more SNOW!!! My second day on the job we were hit with 24 inches of snow and stranded in our new home for a week. It was fun for the first few days, however towards the end we were all starting to get stir crazy! Oklahoma does not normally get this much snow. We hit a record for the most amount of snow this February!

March:

We took a few day trips to explore Oklahoma and surrounding states. We visited Tallgrass Prairie Preserve to see the Bison. We saw 100's of bison on this clear weekend day. We also got not one, but two flat tires on this trip :(
We have not made the 2 hour drive since then, in fear of another flat tire.

We also took a weekend trip to Springfield, MO. We visited the Springfield Zoo where Colton had his first train ride. We took a ride through Fantastic Caverns and we visited the Granddaddy of all Bass Pro Shop! We had a nice family vacation in MO!


April:
We were under our first Tornado watch in Oklahoma. The locals say it's nothing to worry about; however I was a mess and getting ready to drive to a storm shelter!!
I got a new car!! A 2011 Kia Forte!! I love her!
Colton got a turtle. When we asked what he wanted to name his turtle he said "Duck". So we are now the proud owner of a turtle named Duck!


May:

We went to our first Tulsa Driller's Game to watch our neighbor sing the National Anthem! Shayna did such a great job! The driller stadium is very nice, new, and overlooks downtown Tulsa. Looking forward to taking Colton back once he is a bit older and can enjoy the game!

I went on a road trip to Dallas to visit my College friends! I had such a blast visiting Ashley and Jen! I wish the miles were closer for all of us.

We met up with my parents for our first camping trip of the year. We met "half way" between Tulsa and Memphis at Village Creek State Park- Arkansas.

June:

I attended Tulsa's Chef for the Cure. It was for a great cause with great co-workers!

We took a day trip to see the sights on Route 66 between Tulsa and Oklahoma City. We stopped at the Round Barn, Blue Whale and Pops!

Little buddy Colton had his first trip to the ER. He stepped on blender blade; 9 stitches later the only thing that could make him happy was a red popsicle!!!

July:

 We went on a day trip to National Falls State Park on the boarder of Oklahoma and Arkansas. Parts of "Where the Red Fern Grows" was filled at this waterfall. It was very pretty, and very HOT that day. After visiting the falls I read "Where the Red Fern Grows" for the first time. It was so sad!

I spent 2 weeks away from my family in Louisville KY. It was a great work experience and I learned a lot, but I was happy to come home and see my family again! I also got to cross an item off of my Bucket List. I got my first pair of Birkenstocks!



August:

We stayed local this month. We had a picnic at the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Visited the RiverWalk in Jenks, OK. I also made my first batch of Hummus and submitted my first recpie to recipe.com ( it has not been published yet :( )

September:

We spent a week in Colorado. We visited my friend's Shanna and Tyler. We had a blast and had perfect weather. We saw the sites in Colorado Springs, Denver, Boulder, Estes Park, and Rocky Mountain National State Park. I can wait to go back September 2012 for their wedding!

We took a day trip to Oklahoma City. Our plan was to visit the Botanical Garden; it was under construction. We also planned to visit the Oklahoma City Zoo; it was WAY too busy. So instead we spent the entire day at the Childern's Science Museum! We had a blast and had the place to our self, since everyone was at the zoo.

October:
We were invited to our first OU Football Party! I volunteered for a breast cancer awareness event; Treasure your Chest! We saw the famous Luchadoors in Downtown Tulsa!
Casey's parents came to visit! They were here for Halloween and Colton's 4th birthday! So great to see them. It had been almost a year since we saw them last!!

November:

Colton Turns 4 Years Old! Time sure does fly!


I ran my first race! 4 miles and 3 pints of Guinness for Tulsa's Pub Run!


We spent Thanksgiving with my parents in Olive Branch, MS. It was so good to spend the holiday with my parents and my sister's family! The boys had a blast playing together. It makes me wish the miles were closer :(


December:

We took Colton ice skating for the first time, visited the center of the universe, I GAVE BLOOD, and my parents came to visit for Christmas!!!!


2011 was a great year with lots of adventures!

 We are looking forward to what comes our way in 2012!! Happy New Year to all!

Who Knew?

Who knew Oklahoma had such pretty sunsets?
I took this picture on my way home from work today. My new phone takes great pictures!!
Today was a beautiful day with a beautiful and colorful sunset to end the day.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

No Pictures this Christmas :(

C3 had a wonderful Christmas. We must have all been on Santa's nice list. Let me just say that Siri is my new best friend and I'm loving reading books on my Kindle Fire!
My parents came into to town Friday afternoon, however because of my work schedule I really didn't get to spend time with them until Saturday afternoon.
One of the joys of working for a shipping company during the holidays!

So after working LATE nights all week, and working Saturday all I wanted to do was relax Sunday and Monday. Because of the relaxed atmosphere here, we didn't take ANY pictures on Christmas :( I did not feel very photogenic.
On Monday night we finally left the house (and showered) and went to PF Changs for dinner.
We took a few pictures after dinner.
Tulsa's Utica Square was still decked out in Christmas lights. It was pretty.

It's always great to see my parents! We had such a nice weekend with them.

 Mom: thank you for bringing the Ham and planning the meals while I was a work! I'm pretty sure if you guys were not here, we would have had Chinese food for dinner on Christmas :) Honey Baked Ham was much better, and the left overs were just as good!

Dad and Casey: I'm very sorry about the domino's slaughtering (3 nights in a row) by mom and me. I hope this does not scare you away from playing domino's with us again.

Overall we had such a great Christmas here in Tulsa.
 Santa, family, and friends were very generous this year! Thank you!

Monday, December 26, 2011

Less than a week away!

In less than one week I will be running in Tulsa's Polar Bear Plunge! Currently the weather is expected to be in the 50's-60's. My fingers are crossed that it stays that warm!!
I feel ready for the run and think I will be able to run the entire time. I'm just not sure how my body will react jumping into 3 pools!!!
I picked up my running packet today and got my shirt and number!! I'm committed now! Gulp!

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Merry Christmas!

 Merry Christmas to all!!
Santa will be getting milk and candy canes from our home tonight (since i didn't have time to make cookies this week). Colton was so excited to set these by our back door by the tree.

Earlier today Colton said to me (with sad face)
 "mommy we don't have a fire place, how does Santa get in"
Quickly I responded "Oh, well i called the North Pole earlier today and told Santa to just come to our back door by the tree, i wanted to make it easy for him"
That seemed to calm Colton down and ease his worries.

Tomorrow is going to a fun and exciting day. I'm so happy to spend the Holidays with my parents here in Oklahoma. Wish we could be with all family members, you will all be in our thoughts tomorrow .

Merry Christmas to all !