Natalie's Bridal Shower

Our house has been buzzing the last few months, because one of our roomates, Natalie, is getting married in May! Last weekend, was her first bridal shower. It was at a very nice country club in town. We had a wonderful lunch (broiled chicken, potatoes, salad), went around the room to share how we met Natalie, and then prayed for her and her future husband, Nate. She opened lots of fun gifts and we played "Name that Teddy." We definitely got creative, too. Thought I would show you all some photos of the shower!

Had to play this game -- seems to be a shower staple. Natalie was the judge of the best TP dress!

The beautiful bride-to-be!

Another roomie, Nikki, with all of the Victoria's Secret presents!

Amazing cake! I mean, really!

The shower hostesses! Patty, Nikki, and the bride's sister, Michelle.

A big hello

To my readers in the Montgomery and Pratville areas of Alabama! I hope to see you all soon!

On a side note, I have something fun to share with you all this week! I cannot share it yet -- but stay tuned!

Iron Grip letdown

I decided to trade in my normal weight machine routine, for something different. Iron Grip. This is exactly like Body Pump, except through my current gym, they call is Iron Grip. I decided to change because it is always good to change your routine to keep your muscles guessing and challenge them in new areas/moves. However, I was VERY let down by the class. Let me preface by saying that while living in DC, I went to the Capitol Hill Gold's Gym. Awesome gym, by the way! I went to the Body Pump class each Monday and Thursday night. I got an amazing workout, too! The class last night was a let down for several reasons.

1. The class is called iron grip for a reason. You use the weight-adjustable bar almost he entire time. When I was at Gold's, we used the bar for every muscle group!! That's what the class IS!
2. The instructor used the bar for literally ten minutes -- for quads and hamstrings and that's all. For the remainder of the time, we used...... DUMBBELLS! What the heck??! I would understand using dumbbells if it was a conditioning class, but seriously.... I did not get hardly anything out of it using a 8 lb. weight for my chest. Crazy. Waste of time.
3. Because she chose to use dumbbells for 45 min. of the class instead of the Iron Grip bar, I had to get like 4 different dumbbell sizes. It was way too cluttered. She also made us use the resistance band, too. Again, this would be a great tool for a conditioning class, but I came to attend the Iron Grip class and want to use the bar the entire time because that is what the class is supposed to be.
4. In DC, the instructor blared the music and talked very peppy and upbeat. It really got me going! Last night however, the instructor kept the music real low and talked very softly. Iron Grip is supposed to be a "oomphy" type class; it is not yoga.

All this to say that I will not be attending that particular instructor's class again. I am trying another instructor's Body Pump (Iron Grip) class on Tuesday, so hopefully it will be better. I will be sure to let you all know. In the meantime, I am thinking that maybe I should email my gym and just let them know. I mean, if I go to Iron Grip, I am expecting Iron Grip... not, 10 minutes with the bar, and then dumbbell conditioning.

Holding on tight

I got in a car accident on Friday afternoon on the way home from my work trip. It was pouring down rain and I was FIVE miles away from being home! It was my fault, too. Luckily, it was my rental car that took all the damages, not my own. Also, no one was hurt. Big praise! All this to say, that it has put me back about $600 that I have to pay to my work (I am under their auto insurance for work trips). Also, I received two large medical bills in the mail this past month. AH! Just when I thought I was doing good and starting to accumulate some type of savings and actually begin to chip away at debt I racked up during college, Life happens, right?! Seems to be that way a lot, funny as it sounds. So, basically until summer, I will be a budget freak (not that I wasn't already) and will have to cut out all luxuries in life -- that would include coffee and the occasional manicure. It is times like this in life when I really need to rely on God for support, knowing He will take care of me and that all the bills will be paid. .... eventually.

Investing in my friends

I looked at my calendar this morning and realized how fast time is flying by. Seems like just yesterday, I was blogging about Christmas, and now it is mid-March! I got to thinking about how blessed I am to have such wonderful friends in my life. Then, I started thinking of how many I have actually gotten to see and have a good talk with in the past month. Not as many as I would like. Sure, I have many 'friends', I mean we have Facebook to thank for re-establishing what a 'friend' is. However, I think that it is better to have a handful of close friends than a busload of acquaintances. I need to work on investing more quality time with these special individuals in my life who mean so much to me.

I need to take advantage of the time right now when all of these people live in the same town as I do. That is not something to take for granted. Soon, we will be spread all over America.. or other countries. I have a dear friend, Shelby, who moved out to Australia two years ago. I have only seen her one time since then. I need to work on keeping up the communication through Skype (nifty little tool!)

Yesterday, I was at BP getting gas, and all of a sudden my best friend, Meghan, pulled up her car into the gas station. We laughed because we hadn't seen each other in over 3 weeks, although we do talk on the phone for hours each week. I told her that we need to remember times like this when we run into one another around town, because it probably won't happen again a year from now. She is actually coming over for dinner tonight.

I saw another good friend, Jordan, passing through the hall today. We realized it had been two weeks since we had hung out (and that was work related!). I asked her to meet for coffee on Sunday afternoon to catch up.

All of this to say, I have decided to really take the extra time and invest in my friendships. I know life is so busy right now with work, fitness, homelife, boyfriends, personal goals, etc., but sometimes it just takes the extra effort and I want to give that.

CPAC & Richmond weekend

Last week was way busy! CPAC (Conservative Political Actions Conference) was held at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in D.C. Wednesday-Saturday. I was only able to attend a little bit of the conference due to other meetings, etc., but we did host a nice reception in one of the ballrooms of the hotel that Thursday night. I found out the night before that I had to speak on behalf of my office, so that was a bit of a surprise, but I just did the best I could!

It was a very long, fourteen-hour day of work and I was exhausted! So, the roomies and I decided to take off to Richmond Saturday-Sunday for some fun! Pictures listed below!

My partner in crime that week, Jordan. She is a great photographer!

Taking a break from the heels!

Jordan, my roomate, and me!

Richmond night-out

Roomates

During the day, it was very rainy, so we kept it indoors!

And here is my picture for when I run for Congress... Just kidding.... but seriously..

Snow!

Woke up to this beautifulness this morning!