sTori Telling... My take on it!

Did I mention I had been reading?? Haha! I have been reading like a crazy person lately, opening up a book every time I get a free moment. Last week I finished sTori Telling by Tori Spelling. I know, doesn't sound like my kind of book. For some strange reason I just really had a desire to read this book, and I actually enjoyed!

Things I Liked About the Book:

• She writes in a way that makes you feel like you are just sitting at Starbucks listening to her life story. She is chatting with a friend, sharing her stories. It felt laid back and real. Surprising. 
• She has a good grasp or understanding on who she is and where she came from. She gets that she came from a very rich family, and she makes no qualms about it. But she also shows you how that has been a blessing and a curse.
• She is funny.
• I liked seeing how she had worked so hard. Even though her dad was a TV mogul, she has still never made it "Big Big" you know? And she has been determined to do it herself. 
• I loved 90210, so it was fun to hear about how the show developed etc. 
• Loved her sarcasm. 

Things That Annoyed Me About the Book:

• She completely cheated on her first husband with her now 2nd husband, and does not seem to think it was the wrong choice. I really hated how she talked about this part. I don't believe in divorce, unless there are dangerous circumstances. But I think she and Dean could have been honest with their spouses and left them before they started dating each other. 
• She spends a long time on certain parts of her past, but doesn't tell you much about Dean or her life now. I would have liked to hear more about that. 
• The flow could be confusing sometimes. 

Overall, I would only recommend this book if you are a big fan of hers, like biographies, or are a curious mind like me. It is not the most fascinating book nor is it life changing. But it was pretty cool to see what her life has been like. 

So speaking of Donna Martin... which 90210 character was your fav?? (And I am talking about actual 90210, not the new wannabe remake!)  Mine was Brenda Walsh and then the asian chick in the later years... 

Some Narnia... my take on it!

Recently I re-read The Magician's Nephew and A Horse and His Boy, books 1 & 3 in the Narnia series. I love Narnia!!! I really don't have anything negative to say about any of the Narnia series, I am seriously in love with the books. But here are a few thoughts on them as a whole.

• They are so imaginative and magical, you get lost in the wonderful other world! Its a great way to relax and take your mind off things. 
• I love the way these books help you see the Gospel and the Lord in a new and fresh way. Aslan is the Christ character in the series, and He is amazing.
• These books make me want to be a kid playing in the woods again. I want to go on an adventure.
• The Magicians Nephew is Book 1, but was written last. It is pretty different than the rest I think, and I like it. I have always loved Genesis, something about the beginning of things fascinates me. I think this is why I love this book so much. 
• I skipped re-reading The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe because I have recently read it and seen the movie several times. Even though I love the movies, thats the bad part of them making these into movies, they become to familiar. 
• I had totally forgotten how wonderful A Horse and His Boy was. This book really focuses on how God is working in our lives, whether we can see it or not. He is faithful and He is guiding things along. Also its awesome to see His love and justness in this book. Read it people!!
• These books are short and easy to read. I read A Horse and His Boy in 4 hours... and I am a slow reader. 

Overall, I love Narnia and really recommend reading all of them. They are magical and well written and the characters are fabulous! I finished both of these books in one week. They are pretty addicting!

Have you read any of the Narnia series?? 

Weeks & Love...

My dear friend Elizabeth made a great point the other day:

"So, I struggle with the “Why I love this week” logo because I don’t always have tons of things planned to talk about. Maybe it is because I have a little one and so planning things is kind of hard. Or maybe it is because the things I don’t plan end up being my favorite. I don’t know, but if someone could make me a logo that says “Why I loved last week” that would be great."

But since I totally got the idea & logo for "Why I Love This Week" from Heather, I have no skills to make a cool logo. But if anyone else can help us out, let me know! 

"Why I Loved Last Week"

• I read two great books.
• The weather was gorgeous! We went to watch 2 tennis matches, and it was great to sit outside in the great weather and just chill.
• The Biggest Loser made me cry, alot. I am loving this season now.
• I got to see my family!! And sing karaoke! Woo Hoo! Ha.
• Mr.Pate and I ended up getting to have a lazy Saturday which included cinnamon rolls, buying some awesome chairs and reading the day away while he tinkered around in the workshop. Perfect. 
• I got my hair trimmed. I love a good hair cut! 

"Why I Love This Week"

• My girls are coming for a sleepover on Friday night!! Woo Hoo! It has been almost 3 months since our last get together, so I cant wait to chill with my ladies. 
• Last week most of my department was out at a conference, but they are back and that makes work much better! Yay!
• Its Derby Bunko this weekend! I have got to rig up one awesome derby hat and get ready. 
• I will see my WW group again! We didnt meet last week, and I love those people. We have the best group ever. Seriously. 

Anything cool happening with you??

Name That Movie Friday!

Welcome to "Name that Movie Friday"!

I have so many movies I could watch over and over again (or have watched over and over again)! So I have decided Fridays around Patelife will be a day for me to quiz you on lines from some of my fav movies. Are you up for the challenge?? Of course you will win nothing but my praise and excitement that you know lines from great movies (in my humble opinion), because i am not one of those super popular bloggers who get prizes given to them. Sorry for your luck!


"Some people fall in love. I had to crash into it."
---------------------------------------------------------------------

"When I ask you to go out with me this Friday night you're gonna think you're the one asking me because you're gonna say 'yes Macon, I would love to go out with you because I know we'll have a totally great time together. In fact, I'd been hoping you'd ask me all week.'"
"You wanna go out on a date with me?" 
"See, I told you you'd ask me." 

--------------------------------------------------------------------
"You tricked me... you jedi minded tricked me!"


Name that Movie!

Fab 5 Friday

Well its that time again, to pick out 5 things that make our lives just a little more fabulous! Emily started it all, so head over there and see who all's joining in.

1. My DVR. 

Yes, I lived the last four years of my life without cable. It really was not so bad. But now that I have this maybe, man TV watching has gotten sooo much better! Now we can just wait till the show we want to watch is over and fast forward through the commercials! Or the parts we dont like! Hello, Biggest Loser has never gone so fast. This is also a time saver- woo hoo!

2. My Book Light

Yes, its actually a headlight. Kristen gave me the idea to use a headlight when reading at night, and it works wonderfully! Mr.Pate does make fun of me, however. 

3. Criminal Minds

Not a tangible thing, but whatev. I am loving this show, which is weird because i dont like scary stuff and I have nightmares easily. But I watch this while I am working out at lunch and its great. I guess since its broad daylight it doesnt scare me as bad?? It is so suspenseful and helps me not quit working out- I have to see the end of the show! Ha!

4. Fudgsicle

Yummo! The no sugar added ones are 0 pts. for 1!! Woo Hoo!! Its my dessert each night. 

5. .... I have run out of ideas....

How about you???

Living out of the fall...

I have noticed recently that I have a tendency to want things that are not good for me. All.The.Time. I know that the peanut M&Ms will do me no good, that I will only enjoy the taste but for a moment, and yet I make the choice to eat them anyways. I always have a longing for what I cant have. On these gorgeous weather days, I want to be a kid with no responsibilities who gets to go sit in the grass all day. I know that if that were the case, then I wouldnt have my husband or my life now- and thats not really desirable. But yet I want that time.

I could give a thousand examples but basically my point is that I so often spend this life longing for what I dont have or what wont do me good. It is straight up annoying really. But today it occurred to me that of course this is true for me, its true for all humans. This is us living out "the fall".

When Eve ate the forbidden fruit in the garden, she was choosing to believe the serpent's twisted reality that she was missing out on something. She wanted what she couldn't have. It is easy to be hard on her, because unlike us today, Eve only had ONE THING she couldn't have, but the truth of the matter is I make the same choice everyday. And I will be living this out everyday of my life here on Earth. Some days I make better choices than others (yesterday I didn't eat the peanut M&Ms, today I totally caved), but this will be my daily battle until this world passes away and the new heavens and new earth come into being.

This is what it looks like for me to live out of the fall. But I praise Jesus Christ, that even though I make such horrid choices day in and day out, I am not left with no hope. There is redemption from my choices. Thank you Lord!

For my iPhone peps

I don't have an iPhone. I wish I did. Thats another post though. If you have read my goals for 2010, then you know that I want to make a price book this year.

What's a price book, you may ask? Basically it is tracking the price of certain items over a long period of time so you can determine the sale cycle and absolute lowest price for it. You can find all kinds of info about a price book simply by googling it, but Frugal Hacks has a simple step by step guide to creating one here. Anyhow, so far all I have done is collect receipts!

But I may have a neat opportunity for those of you with iPhone's. Jim recently contacted me to tell me about a price book app he has created and wanted me to try. Ha! I was so sad that of course I couldn't try it. But he was nice enough to give me a code for all of my iPhone-having-blog-readers to try out!! So for any of you who live and breathe by your iPhone, be sure to check this app out and see if it can help you save some money... and make sure to come back here and let me know how it goes!! Pretty please?

The Promo Code: KJ4TNT67HPKE

Which can be redeemed at:

https://buy.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZFinance.woa/wa/redeemLandingPage

Do any of you already use a Price Book??

Camera-Using 101

 

First, a very big disclaimer:
I am just a normal little person with a Nikon D3000. I have no training and dont really know anything about photography. This "tutorial" should be read with this in mind. I realize I dont know the technical aspects and could be telling everyone something that is wrong... but its working for me.  So follow my advice at your own doom, yada, yada, yada... 

Well I am finally here to share my first bit of fancy-camera-using-tips! Yay! Recently, I shared with you that I got a new fancy schmancy camera. And I have decided that as I learn how to take cool pictures with it, I will share that with you so that you can take cool pictures too!

So up first- APERTURE. What is aperture? If you are looking for a detailed definition you can head to  Dictionary.com. But most of you probably have an A button/option on your camera. And most of you, like me, probably have never used it (even most point and click cameras have this option now, so those of you with these keep reading)!

Basically, in everyday folks terms, the aperture controls how much light is let into the camera. This matters because the wider the opening, the less crisp the entire image will be and the more narrow the opening the more crisp the image will be. So it will make the difference on whether you have a completely clear picture or a clear image with a blurred background. I took a picture to explain... but since its late and cameras dont like artificial light, these are pretty poor pics. But they will make the point. (Also please excuse the cat... she just had to examine what this bird was doing)

Picture #1: Notice the crisp bird and blurred background.

Picture #2: Notice the crisp bird and "clearer" background. (It would be clearer if I had taken it during the day with more natural light available, fyi)

Could you see the difference? So how do you use Aperture? By changing the "F-stop" on your camera. You will need to look at your manual or play around to figure out how to do this probably (And it may just be an "F" or the "F-value" on your camera). Here is the deal: 

• The smaller the "F-Stop" Number, the more blurred your background will be.
• The larger the "F-stop" number, the less blurred your background will be.

So if you are trying to take a picture and you want everything in the shot to show up well- use a high F-stop. If you are taking a shot of a person or thing that does not take up the whole shot/frame, then use a smaller F-stop. The blurred background can really make your pictures look cool and fancy. Also with Aperture, the camera will make the image you focus on crisp and the rest blurry. So if you focus on the image in the background, then it will make the image closest to you blurred. Example:

I aimed my focus point on mr.pate, so the bush is blurred.

Here I aimed my focus point on the bush, so mr.pate is blurred and the bush is crisp. 

I hope that makes sense. This could really be useful to take timeless photos of your child, cool pictures while traveling or artsy photos of objects. So now you need to figure out how to adjust the "F value" on your camera, wait till it is daylight, and go practice! Remember, the smaller the F the more blurred the background, and the bigger the F the more clear the frame. 

Do any of you already use this mode?? Got any camera tips to share??

Menu Plan Monday 4/19-4/25

Hello All! Here's what we will be eating at the Pate Household this week, mostly from the grill! Yum-o!

• Monday: Brown sugar, Worcestershire and soy pork chops, brown rice and green beans
• Tuesday: Biggest Loser BBQ (I'll post the recipe soon)
• Wednesday: Dustin's
• Thursday: Bacon Cheddar burgers, steak fries
• Friday: Leftovers for Mr.Pate, Karoake Bday Party for me! 
• Saturday: Ranch Chicken, mashed Potatoes, green beans

I have been majorly running out of dinner ideas... got any suggestions??

The Last Song... my take on it!

So I went from barely picking up a book for like two months, to reading four books in two weeks! I guess I caught a reading bug... or I started picking up easy reads at least! Ha ha! I recently completed The Last Song by Nicolas Sparks. Some of my dear friends are coming for a visit soon, so Mel & I decided we should read Last Song and then go see the movie. I have read several Nicolas Sparks and have loved every one of them. I always get sucked in and cant put the book down... I think this is why I tend to not read fiction much.

What I liked about the book:

• Loved the dad character. He never reacted to things, he was able to control himself and see past what was immediately happening to the bigger picture. I want to be like that! 
• Loved the setting! It was set on the east coast, maybe in North Carolina?? 
• Loved the romance obviously.
• I loved that he made Ronnie, the main character, a teenager who didn't drink, smoke, do drugs or have sex. Nice change from society's typical teenager. 

What annoyed me about the book:

• His books always make you think your life isnt romantic enough. This feeling goes away in a few minutes, but I just couldnt read these books all the time or I would really put unrealistic and unfair expectations on mr.pate. 
• It really made me want to be at the beach... really. 
• Because someone always dies in his books it was predictable. 
• The names Ronnie and Blaze (one of her friends)... I just didnt like them. Couldnt we have thought of something better? 
• It ends too early... I want to know the rest of their story!!! 

Have any of you read Nicholas Sparks?? What do you think?? Anyone seen the movie?

Why I Love This Week!

• For the first time in weeks, I actually have several blog posts already written and scheduled for you lovely people! Get excited to hear from little ol me! Haha.
• Monday is my dear Jilli's bday! Jilli is my oldest niece and will be 11 years old!!! I can not believe it. She is just a fabulous little lady- super talented, very smart and sweet as a button. But she is growing up and I am totally not ready for that!!! 
• Saturday we are going to Gallatin ALL DAY! We are going to see my nieces play soccer (and I get to practice with my camera), and then it's Jilli's birthday party. Woo Hoo! I love my family. 
• My shows... Big Bang was super funny last week, except that I think they are breaking Penny and Leonard up. Not cool. And Biggest Loser is getting so good!! 

What are you looking forward too this week??

And the winner is...

And the winner of this week's "Name That Movie Friday" is...

Catherine! Great job- and fast! So many of you got it right, apparently you are all Nicholas Sparks fans?? The movie was "A Walk To Remember". Obviously its a great one. I always liked Mandy Moore movies for some reason, I just thought she was super cute.

Hope you had a great Saturday!

Name That Movie Friday!

 Welcome to "Name that Movie Friday"!

I have so many movies I could watch over and over again (or have watched over and over again)! So I have decided Fridays around Patelife will be a day for me to quiz you on lines from some of my fav movies. Are you up for the challenge?? Of course you will win nothing but my praise and excitement that you know lines from great movies (in my humble opinion), because i am not one of those super popular bloggers who get prizes given to them. Sorry for your luck!

"I might kiss you."
"I might be bad at it."
"That's not possible."
---------------------------------------------------------
"You’re acting like a crazy person, what's going on?"
"Right now, you're straddling the state line."
"OK... "
"You're in two places at once." 
 --------------------------------------------------------
"You have to promise you won't fall in love with me."
"That's not a problem."  

Name that Movie!

The Jean Nidetch... My take on it

I've been reading again! In the last 2 weeks I have finished two books, and I am ready to share my thoughts with you! Up first, my thoughts on "The Jean Nidetch Story". Jean Nidetch was the founder of Weight Watchers, and up until my friend gave me the book I had no idea who she was! 

Things I Liked About The Book: 

• She is very real about who she is and who she isn't. She shares her weaknesses and her strengths. She is unwilling to apologize for who she is and she knows what she wants in life. I found this fascinating. 
• It was so neat to see how WW started. Jean basically took the diet from an obesity clinic in NYC and invited some friends to do it too and come over and talk about it. From that came what is known as Weight Watchers today. Crazy. 
• She constantly talks about herself as a "fat person". She references the saying that inside of all of us is a skinny person trying to get out... she says instead that no matter how thin she becomes, there will always be a fat person inside her begging her to be fat. I think this is more true of me at least. 
• It was motivating. I have been doing WW again for about 6 1/2 months, and making this a "lifestyle change" instead of just a diet is difficult. I have lost quite a bit of weight for my small frame and there are days where I want to fool myself into thinking "ok now you are small again, you cant eat whatever you want whenever you want". But the truth is I cant. Jean lost like 70 something lbs by 1962 and never gained it back. Why? Because she continued to fight the battle, make good choices, and live the reality that she couldnt just eat whatever the heck she wanted. The simplicity of her understanding that concept and living it out was motivating. 
• It made me thankful for what WW is today! When it began there were no "points" and there was a very strict diet. You had to eat certain things and that was that. And there was a long list of "illegal" foods... Thank you for flex points!! Today on WW you can eat anything you want- as long as you "plan" for it. 
• She just felt like a grandma telling you scattered stories of her life. I loved that. 

Things That Annoyed Me About the Book: 

• The scatteredness. Like I said above, it sounds like your grandma sat you on the porch and just started randomly telling you about her life. Things werent always in the best order and I am such a Type A person that it was hard to follow. 
• She comes across as pretty arrogant in the beginning of the book. She really isnt, and latter on you realize she is just trying to lay it all out there- the good bad and ugly. But still, I didnt think I was going to like her till about a third of the way through. 
• I wish it had gone more in detail about how the actual business expanded. She did talk about it some, and I guess its a book about her and not WW specifically, but thats what I was most interested in. 
• Towards the end there are some sad things shared about her life. These didnt annoy me, but they were sad!

So I highly recommend the book. I mean basically its the life story of a girl who had always been fat, became a housewife who secretly ate cookies in her bathroom at night, and then evolved into the founder of a strong and thriving international weight loss business. I just wonder if she sits in her apartment at her little retirement village and just thinks, "really??? i did this??!!" 

Had any of you ever heard of her before?? Do you agree with her "fat person inside of me" saying? What's the hardest part of maintaining a healthy weight and body for you?? Dish it peps! 

And the winner is...

And the winner of last week's "Name that Movie Friday" is...

kdarks! 

I cant believe none of the rest of you knew this one!! The movie was Feverpitch and it is one of my and mr.pate's favorites! It is super funny and its all about baseball, so its a good movie for both sexes. 

Name that Movie Friday!

Welcome to "Name That Movie Friday"! 

I have so many movies I could watch over and over again (or have watched over and over again)! So I have decided Fridays around Patelife will be a day for me to quiz you on lines from some of my fav movies. Are you up for the challenge?? Of course you will win nothing but my praise and excitement that you know lines from great movies (in my humble opinion), because i am not one of those super popular bloggers who get prizes given to them. Sorry for your luck!


"Ben, I'm concussed..."
-----------------------------
"Okay, Mr. Wrightman, I gotta bat but let me leave you with this advice - you love the sox but have they ever loved you back?"
-----------------------------

"So you don't have a cell phone, a pager, a blackberry nothing? What if some sudden crisis occurs like your father has a heart attack or something?"
"My father died two years ago."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"No, actually I just found out this morning so it's been a rough 24 hours. You know, maybe I should get a cell phone."
"You're funny, Ben..."
"Wrightman."
"You forgot my last name, didn't you?"
"No, I just... blanked."
"No, I bet when you talk to your friends you call me Ben the School Teacher."

Name that Movie!  

Fab 5 Friday!

Its time again to join in with Emily and pick out my fav things from this last week! 

1. Starbucks. Duh! It is no secret that mr.pate and I love us some Starbucks! I mean, they do fund some of our living. But I especially love coffee deliveries to the turn around next to Preston (which would be where I work for you nonWKU-ers)! Getting to see my sweet husband for just a second is a wonderful thing in the middle of my work day. This week he even brought my handsome dog! 

2. Books! This week I have been reading reading reading! And I am loving it. I have completed one book, and I am working on a second. 

3. My Hammock! Ok so maybe it doesnt look quite like this, but I just realized I have never taken a picture of it!! So this does the trick!! I laid in the hammock and read this week, and it was glorious. And for the record, mr.pate was doing yard work while I laid...

4. Cover Girl Lash Blast Luxe: Remember how I asked for your help awhile back?? Well my friend Mandy recommended this, and I have been thrilled. It doesnt flake off when I touch my eyes (which i do all day!) and it doesnt clump up. Fabulous! 

5. The Magic Bullet. My mom bought us one of these when we got married, and we use it all the time. Right now we have been using it for fresh fruit smoothies! Yummy and healthy! 

What are some of your favs this week??

Stylin’, profilin’ and simplifyin’…

Recently I mentioned that I got my hair cut. So for those of you who haven't seen me in awhile, some pictures to show this transformation. I do want to make the disclaimer that neither of these pictures are the best look at it, but I just don't ever remember to take pictures of my hair. So these will have to do… 

Not only am I stylin' these days, I am simplifin'! Haha! Starting in February I just started feeling like way too much was going on, I had way to much to do, and I had too much to keep up with. Do you guys ever feel like that?? I think I go through this process several times a year... actually maybe it always happens right at the change of seasons... hum. Anyhow, something had to give. So I cut my hair, because this hair cut is easier. It takes less time to wash and dry, I only have a few options of fixing it, and it looks cute without alot of fuss. I love it. 


What else did I do to simplify? Well, I spent a week or so not reading any blogs or writing any. I needed to see if it was something I really just needed to cut out of life, or if it was something that truly brought me joy or relaxed me etc... turns out it was the latter ;)! But at the end of that time I realized that I followed A BUNCH of blogs, some of which I could just care less what they had to say but I felt the need to read anyways. There were some that I liked, but I just could never get caught up on. And there were some I was following for "later on"... parenting blogs, couponing blogs etc. 


So I bookmarked all the "later on" blogs and purged! I unsubscribed to 30 or 40 blogs. It felt good. And I reorganized my beloved google reader. I now only have four categories of blogs: people blogs (blogs about life from people I know or feel like I know), food blogs (love new recipes!), helpful blogs (moneysavingmom, simplemom etc), and home decor (cant live without my young house love!). And I have gone a step further, I only feel the NEED (you blog readers know what I mean right, the "i absolutely have to read these today" need?? I am not alone am I?) to read the people blogs. The others are there for whenever I have time. Yes the unreads are piling up... but I am not caring. I am not missing out. 


I know its teh time for Spring Cleaning, but isnt it funny that even "cyberspace clutter" can need to be purged?? So thats how I am stylin, profilin and simplifin these days....


Have you done any Spring purging yet??

Menu Plan Monday 4/5-4/11

Well, I have been struggling with lunches lately. I hate lunch. I hate eating cold lunch, but I don't really want something as heavy as dinner leftovers either. Its a hard meal. Anyhow, if I don't make our lunches the night before I just throw something in a bag and end up hungry all day! So this week I have already made all of our sandwiches and prepped the fruit and veggies, so hopefully we will have filling lunches and no stress!

• Monday: Chicken Teriyaki
• Tuesday: Steak & Salmon on the grill, couscous, and broccoli
• Wednesday: Dinner at Dustin's
• Thursday: Chicken & Noodles in the crock pot (and making extra for the freezer)
• Friday: Date Night!
• Saturday: Ranch Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, and Green Beans

Ranch Chicken:
Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts or tenders
Ranch dressing
Bread Crumbs w/ some Grated Parmesan Cheese mixed in
* Take chicken tenders or breasts and dip in ranch dressing, then coat in bread crumbs. Bake at 425 for 30 minutes. Yummy! 

Do any of you have good lunch ideas?? What do you eat for lunch? I need your help! 

one twelfth

one twelfth of the little things that make up a year. one twelfth of the things that make me happy. one twelfth of the silly, meaningless details that make up a day, which make up a week, which make up a month, which make up a year, which make up the years of my life. 


my favorite moments and things from march 2010: 

• Bed Time: No, not the actual time you go to bed (although I did sleep alot this month). Mr.Pate and I usually take a few minutes everyday to just lay down on our bed with Joey and play and cuddle with him. I love this time for us. Joey will inevitably step on us or sit on our heads, but then he cuddles in and we spend a few minutes petting him. Usually we catch up during this time too, but its just a sweet time for us. 
• The Run 4 Ruth Ann: We ran a 5k at the beginning of the month at North Warren Elementary. It was a fundraiser for Relay for Life, but it was in honor of Ruth Ann, who passed away in January. Ruth Ann was Dustin's Kindergarten assistant and the sweetest woman ever. She fought as hard battle with cancer for many years. Dustin, Mr.Pate and I ran the 5k and it was a neat experience for all of us. She was a dear lady who is really missed!
• A regular meal: Our friends Gary & Becky came over one night for dinner this month. It wasn't a fancy meal or a special occasion, just dinner with friends, but it was a fabulous night for me. I have already shared how this has just been a rough month for me, but this dinner was a great dose of love and fun for me. We just sat around our table and talked and talked, thats what I love about them- we could talk for ever! We mostly talked about food and ended up sounding like a bunch of addicts! Haha! But it was a great memory for me. 
• DNOW: We had a DNOW in March that was great. It was such a good time with our youth and we really needed that I think. Good good times. 
• Best Western: One Saturday night my parents and nieces came up and stayed in the Best Western here in BG. Why? To swim in the indoor pool of course! Ha! We actually all stayed there the night before my wedding, and my nieces have wanted to come back and stay soo bad every since. So this month my mom made that happen. It was fun swimming again- I always miss that when summer has been long gone. And it was just some great chill time with my family, which I never get. 

Anything stand out in March for you??