Decisions, Decisions, Decisions.....

Lots of things have been on the brain lately. You name it I am sure it has crossed my mind...

Trying to workout more so far this week I am two for two...i am on my way to getting ready to start bootcamp in no time at all...

Trying to finish shopping for JJ's birthday this Friday..I have two things so far and he knows one of them! He can be hard to shop for, but most of the time I typically come across something great.

Trying to finish up the office wall project. I showed you the vision and inspiration before, but have since been sidetracked...found 2 corkboards at Hobby Lobby...just need to get the dry erase calenders and we should be set...

Trying to plan our 1st anniversary trip. Any suggestions? We have decided that we like to do 2 or 3 shorter trips (4-5 days) then one all out week long vacation. So we are planning one in June and one in August...I have the August location picked already! Crazy huh...

Trying to decide where to hang some of the real good steals I have come across lately..I need to just set aside an afternoon and knock it out! I am thinking I will have to get the mom over here asap! Pictures to come soon of the new decor once it is up!

And finally I have decided what I will sacrifice for Lent. No I am not Catholic, but I do believe in Jesus. I normally "give-up" cokes, candy, sweets and so forth..but honestly that is willpower and I have limited my intake of those items tremendously. I have decided to...sacrifice the 10 or 20 dollar shirt I see at Target or Gap or wherever I am. It may seem like something lame or silly, but lately I have just grabbed a shirt here and there and not given it a second thought. And I need to live without those items. I have plenty of clothes and my closet is already exploding...so I thought why not. By sacrificing this I will save money and get my shopping under control.

Friday is JJ's birthday! I can't believe it is already mid-february! We are getting together with some great friends for some yummy food! His choice...Carrabba's! I can't wait. I have been saving my carbs all week for this dinner! PLus the wine...

Couldn't resist...we will be drinking it up this weekend!

Happy Birthday JJ! I hope it's one of the best ones yet.

peace.love.family

The Things You Do for Love...

My hubs puts up with a lot from me. He takes everything in stride. As I mentioned previously that my grandmother passed away, so it has been rough for him since Wednesday. I have been unconsolable for the most part. But he always knows when I need a laugh, hug or kiss. He just knows. He has been great the past week..he has just let me be and go about crying and cleaning like a crazy woman and cooking meals left and right because if I stop for one second I fall to pieces. Well on Saturday my mom called and we had some misunderstanding to put it nicely. I got off the phone and he looked at me and said "you were rude to your mother." and I said.."no i wasnt. she is making me feel like i cant be sad." and he proceeded to say back to me again.."you are being rude." sometimes it takes the truth put ever so bluntly to make you realize "hmm maybe i was rude." so i called mom back and apologized. like i said jj puts up with my crazy erratic behaviors and he does it effortlessly most of the time.

so yesterday for valentines day..i headed to san antonio with mom to watch ben (brother_ play baseball and break the news to him about grandmother. what a husband..to let me go out of town on valentines?!?!? quite the contrary..as i was leaving yesterday morning he was all sweet and told me he would have a surprise for me when i got home. now i am sure most of you are thinking..you left your husband on your first valentines as a married couple to go watch your brother play baseball??? well heres the deal..i think valentines is highly OVERRATED! there i said it. I think it is insane that there is a special holiday set aside for you and your loved one to pronounce your love for one another. It should be done 365 days a year..not just once. I would rather him come home with a 10 dollar bouquet of flowers anyday of the week than just once a year on valentines day..so there you have it. that is just how we do things at the lenz household..

in highly exciting news the husband has started to work on fixing the ceiling and walls in our kitchen after our lovely waterleak and he is doing an AMAZING job i must say! he is going to finish the rest this evening and we should be looking at getting started on painting the ceiling and walls in no time at all! AND I think we have even agreed on a color..we just have to test it out.

I am just so proud of him and all the work he has done around here! He deserves an award or something for his hard work.

That is all for now. Hope everyone had a great weekend.

peace.love.family

My Grandma O

Friday evening my sweet grandmother left our world to be with Jesus. Her passing was unexpected because I literally saw her 6 weeks ago and she was in great spirits. She was telling jokes and giving my dad a hard time about how he is turning gray! She was her usual self. However since we have been home she has been in the hospital two times and was placed on hospice last week. She did go peacefully in her sleep, for which we are so thankful. After 15 years she has rejoined my grandfather in Heaven...

It is still very hard for me to believe she is no longer here with us. As I try to remember all of the great memories with her I begin to cry. She was an amazing mother who raised 3 boys, took care of my grandfather after 3 strokes and always had dinner ready. She was an amazing cook...you name it and she made it. I will hold those memories close to my heart as we celebrate her life.

enough already....

with the excuses. i typically don't make excuses because I HATE when others do. however it seems i have been making excuses for the whole not working out thing...honestly i do not enjoy it at all. it is not that i am lazy because i used to workout and was in good shape. now by the time i get home i am simply not motivated! well after joking around since november that jj and i have been wearing our "winter coats" i am tired of joking about it. jj loves to workout and be in shape and he typically is, but he has been sidelined for various injuries...

it is time to get back on the wagon for good! i need to make the life change to workout 3-4 times a week and actually do it. i eat pretty healthy for the most part..minus today since i have been home! i dont drink cokes but maybe once every few weeks, we dont really keep sugary items around the house unless i buy a brownie mix or cookie mix occassionally at the store...

so here is the plan..i am going to keep doing my kettlebell workout 2 times a week and workout with Jenn two times a week. that should be enough to get my abs back! i miss them soo much! PLUS bathing suit season is fastly approaching and i would like to maybe take off the cover-up this season!

ultimately i would love to add in a day or two of jogging but lets not get ahead of ourselves. i loathe jogging.... but maybe if i had some good tunes on my ipod that i havent located since we moved i would like a LITTLE more??? hmmm....probably not!

happy hump day ladies! only two more days in the work week...ahhh sooo excited for the weekend! lots planned, but most importantly my butt will be parked in front of the tv on sunday! well i do pace a LOT during games. so maybe i can turn the pacing into lunges? ha!
 
peace.love.Colts.

the skinny...

so it was an action packed weekend here at the lenz house..but i am going to sum it up in bullets!

• friday night jenn and brian came over for our dinner date..we headed to Corelli's where Herb and Michelle met us for some yummy italian food. it was an interesting night FULL of laughs
• saturday morning i headed to jenn's and then we set off for the woodlands. rachael, jenn and i had a blast. we walked the bridal show, the mall and ate lunch all by about 1:00! we weren't wasting time. we hit the jcrew and francesca's and picked up some goodies! we got to see one of the dresses for jenn's wedding along with the color which was exciting!
• we dropped rachael off and headed over to highland village. had some success there and then headed to galleria..we shopped until we literally dropped on saturday! she found some items for the wedding, so it was a successful and productive day! gotta love checking things off the to-do list!
• i spent the day sunday with the parentals at the katy home & garden show...VERY briefly i should say. it was NOT worth it! luckily we got in for FREE..definately will be going to the Houston Home & Garden Show next time. sometimes convienent doesn't always mean it is worth it.
• we ate dinner with the parentals..my dad makes a DELISH roast..so we devoured that and headed home.

needless to say it was a very busy and productive weekend. i found some inspiration for DIY projects around the house that are on our "to-do 2010" list! we shall see.

i am thoroughly enjoying planning with Jenn. It has been so fun and exciting. some say she is doing things so early, but in all honesty she has a lighter school load from now until august. So i told her to do all she can while school isnt super hectic like it will be next year due to student teaching and coursework! i remember planning on my breaks from school and it always seemed so stressful. she is doing amazing..making appointments and finding a distinct vision for what she wants! it is going to be beautiful.

we are doing a food drive in honor of the super bowl this week at school. needless to say the Colts box is OVERFLOWING...i made a donation today and have another 10 or so cans to take tomorrow! the jersey is clean and ready for Sunday....

that about does it for my weekend re-cap! hope my fellow houstonians are staying dry this weather sucks!

peace.love.COLTS.

something to think about....

it seems the past few weeks i have been on an emotional roller coaster...great things happen and then something brings that lovely high to an abrupt stop..makes me wonder why can't we always be on that "high"..wouldnt life be so much easier?

we had a meeting at west region that was pretty interesting..got me thinking about the future and where i see myself employed in 5 years, 10 years and so on. One thing i do know is my love for children and working with them. That remains the constant. There is nothing more wonderful than hearing a child say his/her "r" sound correctly after endless weeks of drill or hearing a non-verbal child give you a sound. You see to me that is one of the greatest gifts in the world. I love helping and shape these children..it is powerful. I mean don't get me wrong there are the occassional moments when you get kicked, bit, and hit and you are suddenly put right back into reality that it is not all roses...with anything there are moments you want to scream. But when God gives you the ability to help influence a child in a positive manner it is powerful. These children give me hope and inspire me daily to be a better person. They inspire me to dream big and realize that you can do anything you put your mind too. I just want to thank God for giving me this blessing because I don't think I appreciate it enough.

So as I sit at my desk waiting for the next group of kids to come barreling through my door, I simply smile because no matter how bad my day is they sure know how to turn it around.

We have to seize every moment we can to make a difference. It is a powerful thing.

i can hear them running as we speak...oh they sure can make me smile! even though they shouldn't be running.... ;)

There's a HOLE in my Kitchen

that's right there is a HOLE in the ceiling of our kitchen. On Sunday during the Colts game..more on that in a sec..I walk into the kitchen and scream "OH S*** we have a water leak!" JJ asked me what?? I said we have a water leak!

Called my dad immediately because he is an insurance adjuster...three calls later dad was at the house! I may or may not have interrrupted their gathering for him to come over, crawl in my attic and check out what was going on up in the attic. I LOVE YOU DADDY! and yes I still call him daddy....

Needless to say 60 bucks later the pipe is fixed, we have a hole in our kitchen and we are waiting for everything to dry out.

The brightside is that we now are going to forced to have our ceiling repainted and the kitchen as well, but believe you me this is NOT the way I pictured having that part of the house repainted..no sir!!!

As I am trying to see the good in this not soooo good situation I am thinking of paint colors..the decor and accents in the kitchen are a green..not bright, but green. So I am trying to come up with a paint color..the kitchen is currently a dark brown and not that I don't like, but I am tired of it and it is not the warm inviting color I have invisioned..

So..terracotta orange? a nice warm yellow? what are your thoughts? any colors you are loving for a kitchen? Don't think I am not headed to the nearest Pottery Barn to scope out their new colors for the year because I am headed there tomorrow.

So after all the tears and phone calls we do have water again..thank you lord! I simply have to remember that things happen and it's not the end of the world. There are far worse things happening everyday and as I type this....sure makes me count my blessings.

PS The COLTS are headed to the Super Bowl in Miami!! I was of course sporting my Peyton Manning jersey on Sunday and as I paced back and forth and almost changed from my jersey to my t-shirt to bring better luck..the Colts pulled it out! Can't wait for the Super Bowl. The Saints better bring their A game..

peace.love.COLTS.