Ringin' in the New Year

2014 is here!  I am so excited to be getting married this year!  The number 14 has always been a lucky one for me, so I know this year will have to be pretty awesome!

2013 brought some very tough times for Nick and I, but also brought us so much closer together.  Nick losing his job and struggling to find a new one was very stressful and emotionally draining, but hope and faith won out.  His new job is treating him well, but the distance makes things rough at times.  My eternal optimism has been tested, but I still believe that everything will work out and these hard times will continue to help us grow and build this amazing relationship together!

This past year has also brought some absolutely wonderful memories.  Nick asked me to marry him, and I am so looking forward to becoming his wife in just 2 short months!  Between spending as much time as we can manage with our family and friends, giving love and attention to our 3 crazy puppies, planning a wedding, and making memories; I can say that 2013 will still be one to remember.

Very much looking forward to the fun and adventures 2014 will bring!  Happy New Year to all!

~Emily

Autumn's in the Air

Been a busy time around here.  Nick lost his job back at the end of May and has been on the job hunt all summer and into the fall.  Just when he felt like nothing was ever going to happen, he finally landed a job in his field.  Downside...it's up in Greenville, an hour and a half drive from our home.  This isn't the end of the world, but has made things a bit crazier and slightly more stressful.  I am just happy he was given this opportunity, but I know it will be hard to have him so far away when I've been spoiled with him home all summer long.  He had thought about commuting up there each day for work, but his car is older and probably wouldn't hold up to all the wear and tear driving that much would do to it.  He then thought trying to find a hotel to stay in during the week would be the way to go, but couldn't find a place with a reasonable enough price.  After talking it over, we decided that getting him an apartment up there would be the most cost-effective and practical thing to do.  This new job of his is currently only a 6-month contract, so this set-up will work for the time being.  After the 6-month period, we should know if they want to keep him on permanently.  And if they do, we'll then have to make the tough decision on what to do with the house and if moving is a good option.  Like I said...very busy time around here.

Along with all the of the new job excitement and stress, the wedding planning is still moving right along.  We have secured a DJ, caterer, photographer, and decorator.  Bridesmaids dresses have been chosen and the rehearsal dinner space is booked.  Only a few things left to pick out and decide on.  Now, I'm just ready to say "I Do" and become Mrs. Nicholas Kean in just 4 months from today!

Fall is here!  Yesterday was Halloween, and of course Nick and I carved our yearly pumpkins.  I carved the engagement ring and the pumpkin witch is Nick's.

I love that it is starting to be cooler outside and the leaves are changing colors.  Nature is so beautiful this time of year!  I'm the weirdo who's looking forward to the end of daylight savings because it'll be lighter in the mornings on my way into work.  Saturdays have been spent watching football and, of course, cheering on my Gamecocks!

Until next time...

Two Years

September marks a wonderful time in the start of the relationship between Nick and I.  We met at the wedding of our friends on September 9, 2011.  We went on our first date and shared our first kiss on September 15.  This month really makes me reminisce about how cute we were together in the beginning and in all the time to this point.  I love remembering all the firsts and how all this greatness began.

Two years ago today, Nick asked me to be his girlfriend, which began this amazing ride of our lives together.  It wasn't some grand gesture, but just perfect for the two of us.  This day also marks 160 days until our wedding.  I am so excited and can't wait to marry my best friend and soul mate!

Last weekend, I found my wedding dress.  It's all starting to be so real!  My mom, sister, Nick's sister, and I headed to Santee, SC (a very small town between Columbia and Charleston).  There is a bridal boutique there that gets many donated wedding gowns (some even from the big designers and right off the runway).  Half of all profits they make by selling these dresses go toward breast cancer research.  I didn't get my hopes too high because every dress is pretty much one-of-a-kind.  So I tried on many dresses before I found a beautiful ivory dress that was very flattering and fit like a glove.  I tried on a few more after that one because I still wasn't exactly sure, but I kept comparing it back to the other one.  I put it back on and decided that it was perfect for me!  I also found a veil, and my mom even found a dress to wear for our wedding.  It's great to know that some of the profits from these purchases are also going to help others in need!

Now, I'm going to spend time with my wonderful man and enjoy celebrating two amazing years together!

Wedding Planning

So the wedding planning is in full swing!  We have officially set our wedding date as March 1, 2014.  Only gives us about 6 months to plan, but personally, I don't want a long engagement where I have to wait and wait to finally get married.  I've waited long enough to find the man ;)

We will be getting married in Lexington at Town Hall with the reception taking place there as well.  My mom has taken on most of the actual planning, and she is doing a fabulous job!  I've already been so stressed with school starting back and trying to get back on a "normal" schedule.  Super happy to have Mom's help!

Short post, but just wanted to give an update.  More wedding details to come...

An Engaging Vacation

Last week, Nick and I, along with his parents, took a trip up to Gatlinburg, TN.  We had a wonderful time enjoying all the touristy attractions there in Gatlinburg and nearby Pigeon Forge.  The Smokey Mountains were gorgeous!

                                          

We left on Thursday, and once we got checked into our hotel and had dinner we began walking "the strip" to check out the sights and sounds.  On Friday, we went to an entertaining dinner show about the Hatfields and McCoys.  The food was great and the show was a lot of fun.

Before heading out to walk around again that night, Nick turned on the first song we ever danced to together and asked me to dance with him in our hotel room.  In the middle of our dancing, Nick got down on one knee and proposed to me!  I, of course, burst into tears immediately.  I definitely said yes, and I am super excited to be marrying my best friend and soul mate!  My engagement ring was actually his grandmother's ring.  I am so honored that his mom has let Nick give me such a special piece of jewelry.

Currently, the ring is too small for my finger, so we will have to go get it resized.  Nick wanted to make sure I would have something shiny to wear until my real ring is ready, so we picked out a temporary ring.

The rest of our trip was so much fun!  We checked out a local cavern, went to the aquarium, saw another show at the Comedy Barn, went up into the space needle, ate A LOT of food, and walked around checking out as many of the shops as we could.

This was one of the best vacations I have ever taken!  Now it's time to get back into school mode.  And to let the wedding planning begin!

Time to Start Anew

I know it's been an extremely long time since I've blogged, but I think now is the perfect time to get back on track.  I desperately need to lose some weight and work on getting myself in better shape and more healthy.  It is also time for school to start back, which will hopefully help in putting me back on a more structured schedule.  I'm hoping that if I blog about what's going on in my life, I can hold myself to being more accountable in all things I want to work on.

So here are the things I hope to keep track of here:

• As I mentioned before, I need work on being more healthy.  A co-worker of mine has been eating primarily fruits, vegetables, and beans following the plan outlined in Eat to Live.  I have started reading this book and want to try to implement this into my life.  Hopefully adding a better diet to the exercise I've already been doing, I'll see some improvement in my weight and health.
• I'm starting my second year of teaching 7th grade science.  I'm hoping to grow in my profession and work on bringing more hands-on activities into my classroom.  I hope my students grow and learn so much in my class!
• Nick and I have been together for almost 2 years now, and we continue to fall more in love each day.  I want to make sure we continue to keep the excitement and fun in our relationship by trying new things and experiencing life together.

I'll leave it to that for now, but expect to share much more.

Kato

Back in December, Nick and I decided we were ready to adopt a puppy together.  As you know, I have Rosey, and Nick has a Yorkie named Java.  One Saturday, we headed out to Petsmart to look at the dogs the local rescues bring in for adoption.  We spotted Kato right away!  We decided to walk around and check out the others, but immediately came back to him.  After seeing how much attention he was getting, we put in an application as fast as we could and were approved to adopt him within a short time!  Here is our first picture together:

We picked the name Kato while heading home with our new baby.  He was about 2.5 months old when we got him and weighed about 25 pounds.  He is a retriever mix and loves to play.  Rosey and Java have taken to him very well.

We have really enjoyed being the parents of 3 fur-babies!  Here are some more pictures of Kato:

He's getting so big now!  He is almost 7 months old and is weighing in at about 70 pounds!

Here are they all are together!  Kato, Java, and Rosey

~Emily

Spring Break 2012

Last week was my Spring Break from school!  It started with an Easter weekend spent with Nick's family, who came up from Charleston to visit.  His nephew had a blast playing with the puppies and finding Easter eggs in the yard.  I had a blast playing the Easter bunny!

Nick headed back to work for a couple days while I worked on school work and enjoyed sleeping in late!  Wednesday, we headed to Florida for a little vacation.  Nick's parents took us down to the gulf coast of Florida.  I was introduced to some of his family and had some fun in the sun!  We celebrated my 26th birthday while we were in Florida.  We went to Hooter's (my first trip) and then had some fun by the pool!

We had a great time!  Sad that the break is now over, but looking forward to our next vacation in May!

I'm Back!!!!

Okay, so apparently the blogging thing only lasted a few months last year, but in my defense, things got a little hectic after my last post and just haven't had the motivation to get back at it.  But I've decided that since some things have changed in my life and all for the better, I'm going to try to get back into my blog!

Since the last time I updated I have met the man of my dreams!  We met at my best friend's wedding last September and have pretty much been inseparable ever since!  His name is Nick, he is 29, and he has a nice job in the IT field.  After walking UP the aisle together (as in I was a bridesmaid and he a groomsman), we chatted and had a great time together at the reception!  Another of my best friends made sure to give him my number, and he didn't waste any time in getting in touch with me later that night!  A little under a week after the wedding, we went on our first date and made it official a week later.  I pretty much knew I was falling for him by this point and have tried my best to make sure he knows how much he means to me ever since!

Okay, now that I've got the lovey stuff out, here's how the rest of last year played out:

I have still not been successful in obtaining full-time employment, but I have been continuing my teaching at Congaree Elementary and really enjoy working with my students.  I decided to leave my work with the marching band at Airport and join up with the staff at Lexington (my alma mater).  I really feel like I've made the right decision because these kids at Lexington really try their hardest, and they all seem to actually want to succeed!  I have been having a blast working through marching season last fall (especially with our third place/bronze medal win at State Championships) and into our current Winterguard season that concluded this past weekend with circuit championships up in Rock Hill!

I have gotten into some really good books over the last few months, reading The Help, Hunger Games, and now Catching Fire.  I seemed to have forgotten my love for really good books before a few months ago, but have made my way back into reading again!

In the last month I have begun taking two online courses to help me obtain my middle level teaching certification that will hopefully help me land a full-time job in the upcoming school year.  I've found it to be a little stressful getting back into the school swing of things, but have managed to make time for the school work again!

Well, I think you have pretty much been caught up now!  I promise to try harder to continue posting and maybe actually get some more people to read this!

~Emily

Grace Circle

Okay, so first of all...I just have to get it out that today is MY birthday!!!  I am now 25 and a quarter-century old!  I plan to do a post dedicated to me and my 25 years a little later (cause that isn't conceited at all LOL), but I want to focus on how I spent this evening for right now!

We had our second meeting and fellowship as Grace Circle tonight!  Grace Circle is a women's group recently formed at church.  It's for women in their 20's, and we do a little devotion and plan to get more involved in the church community as we grow!

I am really excited to get this opportunity to become more involved in the church and get the chance to talk to other women my age about my experience and my walk with Christ!  I haven't always been in a church community, but I feel like in this time in my life, I need to become closer to God and really find my path in my faith.  I know this group was formed at a perfect time for me to get involved with it.  I was looking for a way to feed my desire to become closer with the Lord and more involved in the church, and I really feel like this was put in front of me to give me the opportunity!

Tonight, we read and discussed Romans 12.  I haven't ever read the Bible completely through (though I am working on it), so I'm not very familiar with all the parts.  We got to talking about how we incorporate Christ in our everyday lives and accepting others for what they believe and where they've come from.  I got me thinking about how I can tend to judge others before really getting to know their background and what's happened to them in their past.  We had a great discussion about all of this, and I really enjoyed hearing other people's perspectives on this subject.

I think this is going to be something I will really look forward to each month!  I really hope this will continue to help me build my relationship with Christ and bring me closer with some new friends as an added bonus!

~Emily

Month of Birthdays

Ok, so it seems like almost everyone special in my life has a birthday in the month of March!  That is one of the reasons I've been so behind on blogging.  The month started off with my sweet baby girl turning ONE!!!  Yes, Rosey is moving out of being a baby puppy (not like she was small for long)!  We (well mostly me, the adoring mother) celebrated Rosey's big day on March 7th!  Here are a couple pictures to see how much she's grown over the last year!

                                                            



On March 12th, I helped celebrate Jessica's 24th birthday by cooking dinner for her and Rilee!  She requested my famous baked ziti, and so we enjoyed a bit of Italian while watching "Love and Other Drugs"!

Next came Mom's birthday on March 21st and then my sister's birthday on the 25th!  Mom turned 50 this year and her co-workers honored her with a surprise luncheon!  Caitlin turned the big 21!  She started her birthday celebration at midnight going out with her friends...let's just say she wasn't feeling the best when she woke up the next morning!  But, she managed to make it out the night of her birthday for dinner with Dad, LuAnne, me, her boyfriend, and a few other guests!  We went to dinner that Sunday to celebrate both of these lovely ladies and their milestone birthdays!!!

And last, but certainly NOT least...Rilee turned into a big 4 year old on March 22nd!!!  We celebrated her big day the Sunday before with a fun-filled birthday party fit for a princess!  There were lots of friends and family around to celebrate, yummy food and cake to indulge in, and even a jumpy princess castle for the little ones!!!  It was a great day, and the birthday girl was showered with TONS of presents!!!

Love my big girl!!!

Well, it was a busy, but an absolutely fun month filled with some amazing people's birthdays!!!  Next big birthday up????  MINE!!!  I turn 25 in just a few short days!!!  I'll let you know how that shapes out!

~Emily

Update: Where I Am

Ok, so I know it's been almost a month since my last update, but with all that went on in the month of March, I didn't have much of a chance to just sit down and get everything down.  Now, it seems that all that I've wanted to share has gotten piled up in my mind.  I'm going to try my best to get out everything that's been happening over the next couple weeks.  This coming week is looking to be pretty busy, but if I find some time I will get down as much as possible!

So first of all...I've now lost 10 pounds!!!

I love the way I feel about myself for losing this much, even though it took 3 months!  But I know that losing it this slowly will hopefully help me to keep it off.  I think if I had gone a different route to lose the weight more quickly, I could have easily let myself slip and gained it all back just as fast.  I can see a difference when I look in the mirror, but especially in my clothes.  Most of my pants are almost falling off, and I'm getting close to the last hole on my belt!  I did do a little shopping the other week and had to go down a pant size!  I'm looking forward to when my new pants are even too big!!!

I'm still trying to do my best at recording how many calories I eat each day, but of course I still find that I have those "cheat" days and meals.  I try to keep that to a minimum (like special occasions)!  The recent Easter candy has been challenging to avoid, and I must admit that I've let myself do a little splurging on the Peeps and chocolate!  But again, I don't want to cut out anything in my life...just limit myself and control the overeating!

Here's looking forward to losing the next 10!!!

~Emily

*More to come soon, hopefully*

Rainy Sunday

It's been a rainy Sunday here today, but I haven't minded AT ALL!!!  Rosey and I have been lounging around catching up on TV and doing laundry (well I've been doing all those things while Rosey has been napping and playing with her toys)!  Sundays have become one of my favorite days of the week!  I used to hate Sundays because I would be overloaded with school work and not looking forward to the upcoming Monday.  Now I look forward to what is usually the most relaxing day of the week!  I sleep in (not so great because I know I should be in church to focus on my relationship with God, but I have been making time to pray and speak to Him often), I get time to play with Rosey, I catch up on my shows and movies I haven't watched, and I just get some quality time with myself to think!  Last Sunday I spent time down at the River with Rosey laying in the sun, but this Sunday was just as great laying on the couch listening to the rain!!!

I've had a pretty good week, and did very well sticking to good eating choices until Friday...  I went to a movie with a friend and indulged in some nachos, soda, and candy.  And then we had pizza for dinner.  But I got right back on track yesterday and am doing very well today eating lots of fruits and vegetables while just laying around!  And I'm very proud to say that I've shown great determination and commitment with my healthy eating when I tell you that I have not allowed myself to eat ALL of the Girl Scout Cookies I bought! LOL!  I ordered them before I started counting calories, and I can't resist not eating them, so I know I have to control myself when I indulge in a few!

Here's hoping for another good week!

  I'm happy to say that Leslie delivered a beautiful baby boy on Friday!  

Baby Hayden is finally here, and I can't wait to meet him! 

~Emily

Daily Victories and Challenges

I am starting to find that each day brings a new victory or challenge into my life.  Many of my daily victories lately have been from someone telling me they can see that I've lost weight or feeling more comfortable in my clothes!  I feel like the hard work of changing my eating habits and putting in the exercise are really starting to pay off!  I'm hoping to continue seeing my hard work show in the reactions of other people and in the way I feel about myself!

I do find it challenging that some days I struggle to stick to my calorie intake.  I sometimes end up over-indulging or not making the best choices when I want to go out to eat with my friends.  I don't want to hold back on life just because I feel like I might not make the perfect choice, so I call these times my "cheat day" or "cheat meal."  Sometimes I feel guilty when I allow myself to over-indulge, but I know that I will do better the next day!

This week, we threw a baby shower for Leslie (a girl I work with).  

There was lots of yummy food brought in to share with everyone, and it all looked amazing!  

I decided not to count each calorie because I wanted to try everything and it would have been difficult to calculate how much of each thing I had.  Instead, I just had a little bit of about everything and stopped eating when I felt full!  I counted this as a cheat day and didn't even try to track my caloric intake, but I did my best to make sure I didn't over-indulge too much!

Last night, I went out to dinner and felt very good when I left!  I ordered my dinner wisely (grilled salmon, white cheddar mashed potatoes, and fresh steamed brocolli) using my calorie tracker, but then found myself trying some of the appetizer dish (a yummy shrimp fondue dip) and a bit of the most delicious mac & cheese! So instead of just chalking that all up to cheat meal, I decided to let my body tell me when to stop!  I ended up only eating the brocolli and about a third of my salmon, still staying in my calorie allowance!  I was so proud of how well I let my body tell me to do the smart thing!

I really like the changes I'm starting to see, both physically and in the way I'm dealing with food!  I plan to keep going to where I want to be, and I hope I can stick with it!!!

~Emily

What a Week!!!

There has been a lot going on this week!  Last Friday, after Rilee spent the night my sis and I went to get our hair cut!  I hadn't had my hair cut in almost a year, so it was definitely time!!!  Here is a pic of how much Caitlin go cut off (I don't have a pic of her hair afterward)!  And a pic of my finished product!!!

On Saturday, I traveled to Rock Hill with my friend Mallory and her Winterguard to see them in competition! The did a great job and ended up winning first place in their class!!!

(Not sure why this is so blurry)

And the BEST part of the past week...

Rosey and I went down to the Riverwalk on Friday to lay out and enjoy the amazing weather!!!  It was about 80 degrees (in February!!!) and not a cloud in the sky!!!  I started working on the tan while Rosey played with her frisbee and enjoyed roaming! 

The sun and warmth have seemed to take a break today, so Rosey and I are enjoying laying around the house and catching up on some TV and maybe a movie or two!

Hoping for another great week ahead!

~Emily

PS...I have now lost 6 pounds as of today!!!