Cheers to a Good Start!

Well well well...I am attempting to get in better health-and so far it's working!

Now, I've got To Do lists of To Do lists but hey-this girl likes being busy.


I am starting to:


1) Jog/Walk (hoping to eventually run...my knees and I don't get along well when I run so I'm taking it slow)
2) Lower my sugar intake (MUCH easier said than done...but still happening none the less with things like switching milk, no candies, switching pastas and the like to whole wheat, etc., etc.)
3) Stretching
4) Drinking even more water
5) NO sodas or juices (because even natural fruit juices still have a fair amount of sugar)
6) Much less eating out and/or fast food (I've been cooking a lot and am trying to make healthier decisions when buying ingredients and making portions for just 2 people)


*Now, with the above being said I am STILL (and always) on a budget so when we've got little money, Ramen Noodles and $1 burgers are going to have to suffice until next payday, lol. But when we can work with our budget, we're trying to look into healthier prospects.


I'm a bit proud if you want to know the truth.  I do not want to be one of the brides who gains (on average!) 20 lbs in the first year of marriage!  I'd rather reverse the effect and loose than gain...so I'm trying.


It's a slow and sometimes tedious process but I'm glad I'm doing it just the same.


If anyone has tips and/or advice PLEASE feel free to throw them my way! Ears are allllllll open for suggestions.


I am not tracking my actual weight or my inches.  I am tracking my mood, overall feelings of rest, and watching how my clothes fit; this is the best way for me to gauge my progress without wanting to binge eat Ben and Jerry's and cry due to slow progress, lol.


I need new running shoes...and the ones I want are like $80...well, at least it's something healthy and beneficial to save for...and I think I just might!

*le sigh* Aren't they AWESOME!? It's supposed to be like running barefoot with these shoes...and I love it.

Love and kisses to the misses,
J

Wedding Pictures-officially!

They're here! After 2 months of anxiously waiting we received our wedding pictures in the mail yesterday from Emily! YAY! They're wonderful =]

So, naturally, I am going to post a large handful of these pics here with simple explanations for your (and my) enjoyment.

Have fun!

LOCATION: Grandview Tudor Mansion on Lookout Mountain, GA

(This-taken through the iron archway-is the lovely place we got married-Grandview. The house in the distance is where we had food and got ready. This quiet and intimate garden is where we had our ceremony and started life as Mr. and Mrs. Raley)

(This is another view of the garden where the ceremony was held.  Our own green paradise.)

(This is the main room-where they set up the food and gift tables.  If it had rained on our wedding day, we would have had the ceremony in here-still GORGEOUS so no complaints if that were the case, right?!)

(Now this-this was the overlook we had-the ENTIRE Chattanooga and Georgia valley below. There was a balcony where we had the reception and it too overlooked this stunning view. This was the clincher in getting Derrick's approval of this wedding location-he LOVED it. Notice the happy bride and groom!)

FOOD: Wedding Cake by Norma Stansberry, Grooms Cake by Lauren Street, Heavy hor d'oeuvres by Grandview staff

(Do I really need details?! It was INCREDIBLE-another favorite thing Derrick loved-picking out the food! We had SO much extra that they packed us a picnic to take for our wedding night! And boy-we dug in later that evening.)

(*drools over keys* This was (naturally) my favorite platter that I kept revisiting! God I LOVE some real fresh fruit!)

(Our wedding cake surrounded by my bouquet and the bridesmaid bouquets. Our cake was handmade by Norma Stansberry (my mother's childhood friend and my BEST friend's mother). It was lemon flavored and tasted delicious-even the parts that went down my dress from Derrick smashing it! Small-but since we had a small wedding of 50 it was ideal.)

(And last but totally not least: r2d2 Grooms cake! It was handmade by Lauren Street (college friend to bride and groom) and looked and tasted amazing! Chocolate raspberry-what more does a girl need in life?! It was a total surprise for Derrick and he LOVED it! He thought it was so original, very well done, and tasted incredible.)

BRIDAL PARTY: Bride-Jennifer (MOH), Destiny (MOH), Kelly, Shelley, Tonya (attendant)/Groom-Mark (BM), Patrick, Wed, Brad

(Yay! We're all there-including my mom and dad! This was our goofy picture-with it being 90 degrees all day with NO breeze, I'm sure the heat started to finally get to all of us, lol!)

DETAILS: Shoes, rings, centerpieces, etc.

(Bride and Bridesmaids Bouquets)

(Since Converse High tops are Derrick's FAVORITE shoe, it seemed only perfect for he and his Groomsmen to wear them on our wedding day.)

(Our gorgeous bands of marriage.)

(Handmade programs in the wedding colors-purple and green.)

(Silver bells to ring when we left for our Honeymoon-tied with the wedding colors of purple and green. If you'll notice, behind them are 2 white candles-1 for my grandmother and 1 for Derricks-both who have passed away. They stayed lit from the time the ceremony started until we left that evening.)

(My amazing and HIGH purple heels-worn only about 1/2 of the time because they made my feet sweat and hurt!)

(Some of our centerpieces on the smaller tables-perfect for setting a small plate and drink down on. Isn't that view amazing?!)

*Whew!* Well, I hope you all have enjoyed a tiny glimpse into our wedding day-May 13, 2010. It was spectacular, to say the least.  I know you've seen like 20 of me and Der from that day, so I'll spare you those pictures  ; ]

Sending love to you always,

J

A brief 4 day recap

Hello, hello lovelies!

Well these past 4 days have been interesting, that's for sure.

A lot of drama over nothing but of course, it seems to come with the territory...I'm not going to go in to much detail (because I've got a bit of class) but I'll say it was pointless and worthless and I'm glad it's over and we've moved on but I will say this: ANYONE who wants to talk bad about my husband has me to deal with...and it ain't always pretty, kids.  I will defend my family until the day I die or am killed from it-get it?!


Okay-now no more threats and "intimidation" from me, lol (yeah right: like I could threat?!).


My allergies have come back full force and are slowly kicking my ass (again).  I think it's time for another appointment to the Allergist and for an Allergy cover for my bed-I am extremely allergic to dust mites.

(GROSS HUH?!)

And when my allergies come back full force, it feels like I'm knocking over on my ass and I'm so tired and groggy all day long...which has made today (Wednesday) seem that much longer, lol.  Hey, tomorrow is Thursday so not too many complaints, right?!   =]

I have been doing pretty well with my Dictionary.com and my Wikipedia.com goals. Plus since Derrick is also kind of my personal dictionary (especially for some old school words), my vocabulary and brain are slowly expanding!  My long term goals are kind of on hiatus (mostly due to funds) but with my next pay check I AM getting 1 of (potentially?) 3 study guides/vocabulary cards/books for the GRE.  I'd like to take it this fall at some point and get my scores within the 6-8 week time frame...so let's aim for test in September/October, shall we?  Wish me luck and I'll keep you posted.

I am slowly reading "Treasure Island".  I mean I know the story (who doesn't?!) but it's still nice to immerse myself in a new piece of literature and check out the language and the actual story-ya dig?  I may re-read:

if I'm feeling frisky...but (thankfully!) I've read it like 720581 times so I think I'm safe for the new flick in November  ;]  If not this, I'll probably start on another Steinbeck...but I am VERY upset that I lost my 5 novella anthology in the move  ='( *le sigh*

In other random news: Derrick uploaded "The Wild Trapeze" album onto my iPod with my (birthday!) iTunes gift card...and I'm SO excited to listen to it! This is Brandon Boyd's (lead singer of Incubus) solo album and from the 1 song I've already heard...a.m.a.z.i.n.g! I can't wait to get new head phones/ear buds (I broke my last $1 pair, lol) and jam!  It should be pretty incredible-for real.  If you didn't know-Incubus is my favorite band of ALL TIME...seriously...of all time.  I am very excited to work out and sing off key to it!

Derrick is making boxed lasagna tonight-we could have made the home made kind...but we're lazy this week and didn't worry about it.  On Saturday I'm making tacos with the "fixin's" and we also got some great chicken breasts to make with veggies a few times before next paycheck.  Well done Raleys on some well rounded meals and some variety! If I come up with something new and nifty as a dish, I'll let you know the recipe.

Oh-random-but I hope to try to start collecting our dinnerware China soon.  We got some glassware and flatware but none of the actual dinnerware. So...for Christmas I'm asking for pieces and I plan on starting our collection within the next few paychecks-1 piece at a time.  If we can have at least 2 full sets of dinnerware come our wedding anniversary-that'd be AWESOME.  That's my goal and I'm hoping to reach it!  

  Isn't it GORGEOUS?!? I know I'm biased but I see it aging very well and being able to match any occasion and any season so well.  I can't wait!!!

Okay: I know, I know...pretty pointless blog. But I was just catching up and writing helps sooth me when I'm ubber tired and just feeling blah.  A new one soon-scouts honor.

Give hugs and kisses to the first person you see,

J

A great snack

Okay-I am sure all of you out there have had pizza rolls.  I made make-shift pizza rolls yesterday for a kind of afternoon snack/lunch for Derrick and I must say...they were quite good AND easy.

Yummy, huh?!

Another easy and inexpensive recipe made by yours truly-one of the best things when you're waiting on payday so you can get better ingredients and pillaging through you're pantry and fridge to find something to eat.

So-pizza rolls it was and they were delicious!  You can make 6295610 or you can make 4-it's up to you, your hunger size, and (potential?) party size.

Okay-you can use ANY assortment of the following ingredients-the point is for it to be easy, inexpensive, quick, and YUMMY!

Ingredients:

-5 Texas butter biscuit (they don't have to be butter rolls-they can be pieces of bread from the loaf, crescents, rolls, biscuits, etc. etc.-basically you need some bread-and it CAN be wheat or whole grain!)

-Pizza or pasta sauce (home made, canned, or jarred will work fine)-we used mushroom and green pepper pasta sauce from the jar.

-Assorted pizza toppings of your liking (we only had cheese). May I suggest: pepperonis, peppers, assorted cheeses JUST to name a few

Pretty much anything you'd like on a home made pizza-have at it.  Again, we were using what we had in the house (sadly enough, lol) so sauce and cheese it was.

With the bread: you can form it into a pizza like shape or you can keep flat and top accordingly.  Bake at temperature according to dough/biscuit/roll directions.  If you aren't sure-you can preheat at 350 degrees-a safe gauge when baking something for such a short amount of time.  Top the bread how you like (save the cheese!) and cook for 8-10 minutes or until dough/bread/etc. is golden or baked according to your liking (some people prefer a crispier "crust" while others like it more doughy) When you've got about 2 minutes left, pull them out, top with cheese, and place back in the oven for cheese to melt.

Pull out, cool for 1-2 minutes, and devour. That's it!

Easy enough for you?  They're delicious and easy.

Enjoy my friends.  Let me know how it goes if you venture.

XoXoXo

Another Wedding for the Raleys

So I've realized, by accident of course, that I've had the same dream just with different details about getting married TO DERRICK again.  Now at first I was a bit worried because I was like, "does this mean I didn't enjoy the first one?!" and proceeded to review pictures and my wedding book again to evoke memories and the like...then it hit me-I'm such a dolt.

I've had so many dreams and thoughts about our wedding because I want to do it again. I had SO MUCH FUN on our wedding day (even though there was a bit of drama involved) that I want to get married to Derrick again, lol!  I've had dream after dream with different scenarios, different locations, different guests and food (though I will admit: I'm not sure if my dress is different)...and the 1 constant that stays true is that I am marrying him-Derrick Michael Raley-and I love that constant.

*Wipes sweat from brow* Silly Goose.  

Der and I have already decided to re-new our vows every 5 years and also go to Disney (Land or World) at least every 5 years (though they don't have to occur at the same time).  I think that's appropriate.  It'll keep things a bit more fresh as we get older and busier, it'll give us a countdown towards some AWESOMENESS every 5 years and it will be just plain fun. No, we probably won't have a huge blow out party except for the big years (10, 25, 50, etc.) but we'll still have fun and love with it...and that's the whole point of having a ceremony of any kind-right?

I stumbled upon his vows he wrote to me the other day and it made me so joyful and teary.  His were sweet, funny, honest, and simple-the epitome of Derrick.  I feel a little selfish in that I don't really want to post them on this blog-NOT because I don't love you all to pieces-but because they were my words; does that make sense?  They make my heart flutter, girly as that may seem.  He wrote from his heart, from his intelligence (it was a rhyming poem) and from his earnest-meaning he would have said those things to me in front of 1037502 people or just me, him, and a judge.  I take pride in that.  Actually I take pride in him as a person-let alone my husband and my friend.  He's so silly-just check him and the groomsmen out below.

I like him. And I love him.

Which to say you like someone is COMPLETELY different than saying you love them.  You can love your  mother but not like her.  Or you can like a friend and not love them.  I am fortunate enough to like and love my Der.  I genuinely enjoy his company and companionship.  I like to hang out as well as have fabulous and romantic dates and moments.  I think we're a good pair (I know some of you were probably like "well I hope so seeing you married him!" lol). He makes me laugh and smile every day-and thankfully he tries to. He goes out of his way, putting a lot of his masculinity, seriousness, and time on the line just to hear me giggle-and hey, this girl has NO complaints with that.

I hadn't intended for this blog to get all mushy but it's nice to sit in retrospect of coming up on 2 months of marriage and still getting butterflies 2 months (and 2 1/2 years later) with my husband and friend.  It's a good feeling to wake up to, you know?

So now I don't fret anymore over wedding dreams and tears through vows-I realize that I can't wait for year 5 so we can do it all over again and I can continue these butterflies and smiles.

Share the love today-it's Saturday.

<3

P.S.*I've scattered a few wedding pics in this blog, but obviously there are more scattered throughout the top of my full blog and my profile...what can I say?! I like the pics.

A surprisingly good feast

Well since my metabolism seems out of wack lately, I came home and immediately started cooking dinner for Der and me because I was soooo hungry.  I only ate 3 hours before but it seemed like it was 14 hours previous.

So, I set some chicken in the fridge last night and this morning to thaw and I wasn't sure of what I planned on doing with it...just that I was going to cook it, lol.

Okay-so I'm going to brag about something really quick. I love the frozen steamers.  I've had the peas, corn, and mix veggie medley and they all taste INCREDIBLE!  They taste fresh, take like 4-5 minutes to steam in the microwave, and they are perfect in size (depending on what you get).  We get the small one and it works just right for 2 people.

Next I got the badass mashed potatoes cooking-also takes 3-4 minutes in the microwave.  Yes: they are instant mashed potatoes but since we don't have them often and the "eyes" one potatoes creep me out, I flake out and get the flakes  ;]

So anyway-I got a few chicken cutlets out, cut them in little chunks, "soaked" them in olive oil and garlic powder salt, then threw them on the George Forman.  Man, they took like 3 minutes!  I swear, this was the quickest meal I've ever made!

When I pulled the pieces off the grill I sprinkled the chicken with some grated mozzarella and pepper...and it tasted SO SO good!

May I suggest this for dinner?!  I don't have a picture because we ate it so quickly but it's totally a meal I plan on cooking in the future.

Might I suggest some spontaneity and boldness when cooking? It really livens up the meal, the process, and the accomplishment  =]

Now: I plan on polishing off a few M&Ms for dessert.

Photos for the Bathroom (Home is Where You Make It: Part IV)

Yes, it seems a bit awkward that I have been Googling "black and white photography of bathrooms" for almost 30 minutes...BUT our bathroom walls are bare and they need something on the walls...and since our shower curtain is a kinda of a colored MOD theme and we have matching light blue towels...it was hard for me to think of what to hang in there on said walls, especially within this bizarre color scheme...

So, I've been Googling pictures of bathroom things (faucets, toilet paper rolls, bath tubs, etc.) to get some good black and whites to put in white frames -they will match everything perfectly and shouldn't be awkward when viewing while one does his/her business.  I was debating on some semi nude photos (since it's a bathroom) but I haven't found any that I find tasteful enough to be hung...so I journey on.


I've also found some great black and whites of flowers to hang in the bedroom.  I ripped them off one of my facebook friends pics since she was doing photography and they turned out really well.  I find no shame in that because I will be displaying them in our new home and I think they'll go really well in the bedroom with the blues, grays and whites.


So, obviously, with the next paycheck I'll be buying: frames for both the bathroom and bedroom in which I will place these photos and I'll be printing these photos (along with the ones that are to go in the frames I bought last paycheck for the living room).

It's all coming together! With each paycheck if we can get at least 1 thing our little home will soon be complete!!

There are still some "bigger ticket" items that we need such as:

*Wall art for the dining room (the picture I've found and like is $50 so I'm waiting to see if I can find one cheaper first)
*Curtains and rod for the bedroom (large windows so everything will have to be doubled [sheers and curtains + 1 REALLY long rod])
*Area rug for the living room (the size we'd like runs about $60-$70)
*New sheets, blanket, and comforter set for the bedroom (runs about $100 IF they still have it in the colors and size we want/need)
*Medium wall shelf for the living room
*DVD rack (not expensive but I keep forgetting about it, lol)
*Baskets for under the bathroom sink for storage and a basket for Tuckers toys (again, not expensive-I just keep forgetting)
*A new couch (this is the LAST thing on the list...since this is the most expensive-but we're working with what we've got for right now)

I am loving our place.  I can't wait to look back on these blogs and photos when I'm older (and maybe with kids?!) and show them Mr. and Mrs. Raley's first home as husband and wife *love sigh*

It's good to finally be home.

<3