Summertime Beach Bum

 **SPOILER ALERT** I typically do not like to read the books that get turned into movies because i will usually end up hating the book or the movie. However, when i was up at bowling i got talking to one of the other girlfriends who hang out up there and we got talking about Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks. She suggested to read it, and she even gave me her copy of the book.  Ive had it for a few months now, and still didnt read it. I started about a month ago, and for the first few chapters, the book followed the movie, so i could almost see the movie playing in my head as i read. So i put the book down for a while. Just this past week i picked it back up again, and i finished it within days. The story is different.  In the movie Alex finds out about Katie's past because of the "wanted" poster up with her picture, however it really plays more into him finding out and its more a gradual thing in the book. It also shows her relationship with Jo more than in the movie,

I have this old build-a-bear bed that I brought out one day for Zoe. He loves his bed, sleeps in it all the time. Even when we go somewhere we always bring his bed with him. Well lately his little brother Lex has been sleeping in it. Zoe keeps coming up to me because his brother is in his bed. Well lately Zoe has found a new friend to sleep next to.  It is a fake lobster meant to be hung up on the wall, but he loves him!  Today Zoe woke me up again because of his brother being in his bed, so he came to sleep on me like this.  Needless to say, when I finally got up I went online and found the exact bed on eBay and orderd one for Lex. 

I love when I wake up with the sun shinning and nothing to do but go sit on the beach with a book. However I just finished my book I was reading (I will post later about it) so I was in the process of starting a new one. Life just can't get any better then this! I got my ass in the chair, toes in the water, not a worry in the world, a good book in my hand :) 

I am sure that most people know about groupon...but for those of you who dont. Go to groupon.com and take a look! They have tons of deals and discounts for products you can purchase, along with activities, vacations, foods, basically anything. Go onto the website and sign up for free. There are different ways to search, you can search by location, where at the top you can put in the location you would like the deal for. Whether its where you live, or where you can vacation to. Down along the left hand side of the website are different areas you can click on. They are listed as follows: Food & Drink, Events & Activities, Beauty & Spas, Health & Fitness, Automotive, Shopping, Apparel, Jewelry & Watches, Electronics, and Getaways. There really are some great deals on the websites. Some of the hotels that you can get discounts on, also come with meal vouchers or casino tickets, or something like that. I have so far purchased 3 things from groupon. One was a hotel st

We have this little tree in our side yard that my dad decided to fix up a little. We had extra stones from a garden that we were taking apart where the deck is going up. Here is a picture of the tree before we did anything. Then my dad took these pretty bricks and outlined the tree. It looked better already. Then we took little white rocks and filled the inside of the circle.  Doesnt it look so much better? You can also see the flowers are starting to bloom. Pretty soon the whole tree will be covered with those pink flowers. Such an easy project to do and it looks so much better. 

Yesterday morning i woke up after working the evening shift at the hospital. The sun was shinning in through the windows and i could not wait to get outside! I decided to walk down to the beach. I took my one minute walk down to the beach with my book and a towel and enjoyed the sun! I actually found a recipe i want to try in the book while i was reading. Im not really sure how it will turn out, but once i try it i will let you know!  Around 11:30/12 i decided it was time to go for my run and get some exercise in for the day. I went on my run planning to only do 1 mile, however i pushed myself and did 2 miles!  Then when i got back from my run my brother asked to go on a bike ride together so we did a short little one. My legs were killing me so we took our time. But it ended up being such a perfect day. Then i had a healthy lunch, made and packed up a healthy dinner and then went to work. 

Everyone makes a plan to exercise. We all start out great for the first week or two, and then it slowly fades after that. Well here are a few helpful tips to try and help you stick to your exercise regimen. 1) Make the time. Everyone says that they do not have enough time to get a workout in. Think of it this way...to run one mile, take about 10-15 minutes. EVERYONE has 10-15 minutes extra in their day. Set up an appointment for your workout, and if you are the type that uses a planner, WRITE IT IN! This way you can hold yourself more accountable for the workout. 2) Find an activity you enjoy. If running isn't your thing, then maybe take up bike riding, hiking, kayaking or swimming. Now that its summer time there are a ton of fun ways to be active. Even picking up a fun sport like tennis. If you are trying to force yourself to do an activity you don't like, then its not going to work. You need to look forward to the workout. 3) Stay accountable. Keep track of when you exe

You know it's officially summertime when most of your meals are cooked out on the grill. I think my last 3 meals have been on the grill. Buts it's all good since I get to be outside enjoying the sun :)  This dinner was so good. BBQ sauce, organge marmalade, and honey mustard. All mixed together and smothered on chicken. We had the chicken with a garden salad, hot dogs, tater tots and it was all so good!!! I love summertime! Here is a picture of Mark and I down at the beach that's only a few hundred feet from my parents house. So beautiful!  Here's a pic of my brother and I. I look huge but the wind was blowing my dress. Promise :) 

My grandfather (moms dad) used to be very handy with building things. He had built us a swing set, my toy box, our picnic table, and my dad's work bench to name a few. Here is the table now. It used to be a brown/red color which has since faded.  I decided to prime it, and pick out a color to paint it to make it new again!!  This is me getting the table ready to paint.  Painting the primer. I had a little help from Mark to finish this part :)  All done with the primer!! Time to let it dry overnight. I used a whether all paint. I did one coat on the whole thing and then a second coat on the benches and table part. Then today I painted a whether all paint with a color called "brotherhood".  Here is the finished project! It looks so cute outside our new beach house :) I love the final project. 

Everyone knows what a bucket list is, but for those who don't, it is a list of fun things you want to accomplish by a certain time. Some people may make a bucket list for college. A list of crazy, fun things you would like to accomplish by the time you graduate. I however, have been making summer bucket lists these past few years. This years is much longer than past years so i hope i am able to finish it! What does everyone else's bucket list have on it?

So as everyone knows i have moved back home and into my parents new house. As i have mentioned it is in a little beach community. Well right at the top of my road is the Black point market. The first few months of us living here it was not open. Mom and i would walk up there and try to look inside to see if we could see anything, but that was it. Well a few weekends ago it opened and i love going there now. Below is the picture of the little shop. It has the little porch outside so that people can sit out and enjoy the sun. Inside not only do they have a large option of food, but they have a few groceries, and then black point souvenirs. It really is a cute little store.  Some of the food items are priced a little high, but others are reasonable. So far i have gotten an egg, cheese, sausage on a bagel for breakfast and it was delicious. Then i ordered their cranberry walnut chicken salad, and i was in love! It is so delicious. I have gotten a few sandwiches of that from there,

So ever since i have been home, any day that it was somewhat nice out, and i wasn't working, i would sit in this chair, and study until it was time for me to go into work. Many many days of bringing my study guides, flash cards, books, anything out there to help me study. When i would go into work people would ask if i was ever studying because i was so tan from sitting outside.  Well as everyone knows i took my test last Friday. I was able to find out if i passed or not 48 business hours after i finished, which put me to Tuesday of this week. Well Tuesday i logged into my account, paid the small fee and then this is what i saw... I was so beyond excited! I happened to be at work when i saw that so i instantly told everyone. Everyone was pretty excited for me! Since then i had been checking online with MA to see if my license number was posted yet, and it hadn't been. Then today when i logged on, and entered my name into the system it finally showed 1 result!  I am

I would first like to say happy mothers day to all the mothers out there. I myself am not one, but i was able to celebrate with my mom. First thing we did today was cook a breakfast dish i made last night called cheese strata. Below is the picture of it all assembled, before it was put into the oven. It was baked with white bread, cubed ham, cheese, onion powder, chilli pepper, eggs and milk. Then in the oven for 45 minutes and it comes out looking like this: It turned out pretty good, however we had not unpacked the measuring cup, so i had to guess on the milk, and i think i added a little too much. If anyone would like the recipe feel free to ask. Then after breakfast we went down to my cottage to pick up the boat and get more of our stuff that we had been storing there. When we got home from the cottage we all went on a nice bike ride down to one of the beaches. When we got home from the bike ride we made some yummy drinks :)  The drinks were bananas, milk, ice, this dri

Well I'm here. I'm early. I'm sitting in my car as it's down pouring outside. As mark just said to me, the rain is washing all the bad away. Plus I've always heard rain on your wedding day is good luck, and although this isn't my wedding day maybe is the same theory? I'm going through the mental check list of everything I needed to have with me today, while checking and double checking the address to make sure I'm in the correct place. I've got anywhere from 1-6 hrs ahead of me, plus the 1 more hour until it starts. I guess the last thing to do for right now is to breathe. Breathing is good. 

Today is the last day before my test and it could not have been a more gloomy day.  I was hoping to be able to sit outside and study while enjoying the sun and relaxing today but instead I woke up to the rain. So I decided to walk up to the little store and grab a muffin for breakfast. I sat under the awning enjoying the rain, studying pharmacology and eating my cinnamon muffin.  Now I am just watching a new episode of Grey's anatomy while trying to relax and hopefully get some sleep tonight. Anyone who believes in prayer out there they would be much appreciated :) God please be with me tomorrow while I take my test, I am ready to succeed as a nurse! 

Lately while i have been at work, when i take a break from studying, i will look up cool blog ideas. So far i have come up with a ton of ideas. I can not wait to post about them. I plan on starting this weekend. Because as of right now i am still studying for my test, which will be over this weekend (hopefully for good), and then i can get back to just work and enjoying summer. I have a bunch of different craft projects planned for me this summer. Some are bigger and more involved than others, but it will still be fun in the process and to see the finished project. So far on my list of projects are: finish my family vacation scrapbook, start mark and my scrapbook, sew a t-shirt quilt with my grandparents clothing, sew a t-shift quilt with ryans clothes, update my grandfathers picnic table he made us, make this scrabble board about mark and i, and creating binders to organize all the rip-outs from magazines i have saved. Not to mention going through the pile of magazines i have yet to d

Recently i found this blog on line that is all about organizing. I absolutely love it. She shows tons of DIY projects along with before and after pictures of her home, or other peoples homes. I have been using her free templets to help me organize my life, along with make some wishes for the future when i finally find my first home. Here is the link to her blog: http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/ It truly is an amazing blog to follow and spend some time going through. I already plan on having a binder of all her templets and that way i can make copies when ever i need another one. The great thing is that she not only shows her ideas, and fun things but if she sees someone else who transformed an area or who had a great project, she will showcase their project as well. Enjoy!