lazy day

I think yesterday was the laziest I have been in months. MONTHS. 

One of my friends& coworker is leaving to do travel nursing (what a sweet gig for those of you single nurses out there). She works night shift and wanted to do go to a UK hot spot for early morning breakfast: Winchells. At 8am the place is packed with night shift UK employees having a beer and breakfast before they go to bed. Philip frequents there often after a long night shift. 

Anyway, I got my butt out of bed yesterday to meet her and some other nurses for breakfast. I skipped the mimosas they were all getting and opted for coffee- like a normal person would get at 8 in the morning. I resisted getting the 'Elvis pancakes' that I so wanted. peanut butter, bananas and chocolate chips. in a pancake. my dad would love those. they also have Almond Joy pancakes, with coconut, almonds and chocolate. my mom would love those:) But I was good and got neither. So after breakfast I came home and laid on the couch watching movies and reading and doing absolutely nothing productive. I was such a waste. 

Then last night we had her going away party at Village Hose Pizza, which we had never been to before. Philip was able to come before he went into work at 10. anywho- Ashley, we will greatly miss you in the ER and can't wait for you to come back to us. Good luck in DC! 

Tonight is date night! Oh how I love these nights. We are venturing to Midway to have dinner at Heirloom. We have been there twice, once when we were dating and once on an anniversary. I'm excited to go back. In spinning this morning I envisioned the food there to push myself extra hard. :)

for those of you wondering- the pasta I made for book club was a hit. I would recommend going to the link I posted on the last blog and making it. Or find it on my pinterest page. YUMMMM.

Hope everyone has a happy weekend!!!

Happy Birthday to my Uncle Rick!!! looking forward to celebrating tomorrow! :) :)

His birthday lunch last year at Donatos

rainy day...

It's 11:00am and I feel so productive already. 

I tried out a class at my gym today. It's called Boot Camp. and let me tell ya, I felt like I was in the army. by the end of the class, I couldnt even hold my body up on my arms to get in the dumb 'plank' position that threatened to rip my not-there abs in half. My thighs are still shaking. clearly, I need to expand my workout regimen if I couldn't even keep up with the 60 year old woman rockin it out next to me. 

After that, I had an appointment at the Apple Store because my phone has been messing up. I made my appointment online and when I got there they were waiting for me, checked me in, looked at my phone... and then gave me a brand new one! I couldn't believe how nice and helpful they were there. WAYYY different than when you go to the AT&T store to get help. 

Since i was right there I stopped into Bath and Body Works to get some of their lotion. I know this is so weird- but when I go on vacation I like to have a 'scent' for that trip. Then every time I smell it, it brings back memories from that place. For example on our honeymoon I used this line

I had a lotion & shampoo I used in Hawaii. so I thought I needed one for Bonaire. How appropriate were the ones I found!

and look what my sweet hubby for me for Christmas for our big trip in April:

For those of you who are geographically challenged (like me!), this is where we are going

Tonight is book club and I am making a new recipe I found on Pinterest: chicken enchilada pasta. It sounds delicious, and I'm hoping it is!

Now to get this house clean. but what better to do on this dreary day anyway.  

well, actually I'd rather curl up with my book and maybe nap. maybe this afternoon ;)

** my bestest friend has started a blog. yay!! check her out here**

weekend wrapup

Philip was in Morehead all weekend so I tried to make plans to keep busy. Lucky for me, I have some awesome friends who are willing to hang out with me:)

Friday night I went to Chuy's for dinner with my good friend Donielle. It was her birthday a few weeks ago and we were just now getting to celebrate. We had such a good time. If you haven't been to the new Mexican Restaurant, Chuy's, you should try it out. When they bring your salsa, ask for the ranch jalapeno sauce (complimentary). its sooo yummy.

Saturday I went to the gym and then raced home to shower and get ready for Girl's Day! As I said in my previous post, Gma B got all the girls massage gift cards and so we used them Saturday. Grandma has a masseuse she prefers, so I like to refer to him as 'Grandma's boyfriend Zach'. After we all got nice and relaxed, we went to Josie's for lunch! This has become one of my favorite places to eat in Lexington. I have never gotten anything bad to eat there (except lately I can't veer away from the chicken salad sandwich...) 

That night I went to church with my friends Jordan and Nick. Jon was back from his time off from preaching, and I was so happy. I learn so much when he preaches. After church I stopped by Megan and Brian's to get my Harper fill (and meg too :)). It had been tooo long since I had kissed those cheeks!

"I love Aunt Amanda"

I had to work yesterday. When I came home, Philip had surprised me by trying out  my creme brulee set he got me for Christmas. He pulled out the little dishes and we torched the top and guess what I had for dinner?! it was delicious. I'm off today. And since it is going to be almost 60 degrees today, I think Jackson and I will take a nice long walk.

In the spirit of our trip to Paris, I am going to make a French pasta dish tonight. with more creme brulee for dessert:) 

hope mine looks this good!

 I have a fun week coming up full of book club, date night and life group dinner! I am excited to get to see so many people I love :) 

catch up. random.

11 days since my last post- YIKES! what have I been doing?! 

It's not like I have been too busy to blog...

Anyway-let's catch up.

I slept in this morning and skipped my usual Friday spin class. I decided to hit the gym this afternoon and spend the morning sleeping in with the hubs before he leaves for work. good decision on my part:)

Ok, so who is watching The Bachelor? of course, I'm hooked. if you remember Ashely S from Brad's season, you should read her blog about Monday's episode. Hilarious and so true. I had some favorites until the cattiness came out this week, now I'm not so sure. One thing I do know for sure: I do NOT like this one:

courtney- puke

I ventured to the library last week and have been reading a lot lately. The books I have read are mediocre at best. I am needing a can't-put-down kind of book. like the dragon tatoo. or hunger games. even the new Nicholas Sparks book didn't impress me this time (to be discussed at book club next week ladies!)

def not the best of ol' Nick

We leave for Bonaire in less than a month. EEEK! that means this body is getting in a bathing suit, way sooner than it wants to. So i made my annual trek to my bathing suit mecca: Target. helllloo tankinis:) I decided last summer that two pieces were out for this woman. noone wants to see that. so here's the selction for our beach trip:

and of course my Nike one piece will be making an appearance- it is the most compatible with a wet suit:) apparently in Bonaire there are drive thru's for air tanks. how fun is that?! Philip ordered a special filter for our camera so all of our scuba pics don't turn out all blue like they did last time. It's so beautiful down there and we get so frustrated that our pictures don't capture that. So hopefully this will help.

Major disappointment of the winter season: lack of snow. I mean, we have had one good snowfall. that's it. and we had tornadoes and thunderstorms in KY last week. in January. come on mother nature! we want to go sledding!

For Christmas my grandma B got all the girls massage gift certificates. Tomorrow we are all using them and then going out to lunch:) I can't wait !

nothing too exciting going on over here.

Happy Friday :)

Jackson's new winter coat. you see how he felt about it: he tried to chew it off.

this is how he lays. head on shoulder. silly dog.

<3Amanda

Weekend Wrap Up and Ramblings

I have had a nice stretch of days off from work. a perk to a nurse's schedule i guess. working 13 hour days sucks, but 3 days a week allows lots of flexibility. 

anyway-I have really enjoyed these 5 days off. Sadly, Philip has worked almost every one of them. except two. But I tried to stay busy and use the time to see friends and family. 

Thursday night Philip was off and he took me to PF Chang's for dinner. We had such a great night just talking and catching up. I know that sounds weird, we live together, there isn't much to catch up on, right? Well, living together for us doesn't mean we sleep at the same times. Or are awake or home at the same times. So yes, we usually have lots to catch up on:) and it's so nice when we get that time.

Friday morning Dad came up to help me take down our outside Christmas lights (sad face). Jackson ran off, made it out of our cul de sac, got clipped by a car, but is more than ok. bad dog. anyway- I took Dad to lunch after for all of his hard work. Friday night I got to have dinner at a new restaurant, The Dish, with  my good friends Jordan and Alison. We like to try out new places, and have had some good and notsogood experiences. This one, however, was a good one. The pomegranate sirloin was divine:) wine was yummy, conversation so fun. Meg- we missed you. but we know Harper needed you more:)

Saturday I got caught up on cleaning, laundry, etc. I went to the library. I sat outside and read (yes, in January). That night I went to Georgetown to meet my family for their weekly dinner at Mi Casita.

Yesterday I met some friends from work for lunch at Saul Good and then went to see 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'. well, i messed up the time. it started at 1:00, not 1:30 like I could have sworn it said on Monday when I looked it up. so we missed the first 20 minutes. And then, to add to it, it was closed caption and so we got very graphic scenes described in words. in one particular scene it said at the bottom " (squish)" coulda done without that. in the most climatic scene of the movie the words to 'Sail Away' were scrolling across the bottom. my bad ladies, I will double check the movie times and descriptions next time!
Last night Emily and I took Jackson on a long walk. It wasn't quite as warm as we thought it was going to be, but still crazynice for January 8.

Today Philip and I are both off, and he is still sleeping, since he didn't get home until after 2. I am anxious for him to get up and spend time with me:) 

Then back to work tomorrow. I hope everyone had a happy weekend:)

* sorry whitney, no pics this time. I know you hate pictureless posts*

Baby Lily

Two of my dearest friends welcomed their baby girl into the world Tuesday morning.

Lily Cope Birdwhistell was born Jan 3,2012 at 1140 am. 7lbs, 19 inches. 

Bird sent me this pictures with a text saying ' I mean, I am in love'. and that he is. they both are:) It made my heart so happy to get to hold their daughter and visit with them last night after I got off work last night. (dont worry I changed into a germ-free shirt!). I walked in to the room and Bird was swaddling little Lily and I was like ' you guys are parents!!!!!!!'. they were so natural at it!

Lily is so so sweet and absolutely beautiful. 

Lucky for me the new parents were about to eat their dinner, so I got to hold her lots and lots:) 

They are on their way home to Morehead as we speak and I can't wait for Lily to meet her dogs and get settled into her new home:) 

I am so happy for you, Birdwhistells! :)

Happy New Year!

Happy Year 2012! 

Read here to hear about my New Years Day last year. It is so funny because I have almost the exact same resolutions as I did last year. Guess I wasn't as successful as I should have been in 2011, huh? :)

Each year brings with it a sense of new beginnings. its so refreshing. and nice to feel like you are starting with a clean slate. to do whatever you want with it.

I'm not going to repeat my resolutions, because, like I said, they are pretty much the same as last year. Even down to the part where I asked for prayers for Philip and I. Last year January was his trauma rotation. This year in January our schedules just aren't synched very well, and he's moonlighting a lot in Morehead. We got to spend a lot of time together over Christmas and I am already missing him a lot. 

I am going to take this scripture I posted last year and place it around my house. To remind me to be Christ-like in every.thing. that I do. because I struggle, a lot.

John 3:30 " He must become greater, I must become less".

Excited to see what this year brings !!! :)