Boycotting Overtime

I've decided I'm boycotting overtime shifts. I picked up waaay too many (as in, one per week) for the past 3 months, and I'm over it. 

Sure, I get paid more money, and that is super fun. But in exchange for the money, I have to give up my time. And that means I have less time to spend doing the things that I love.

For example, spending time with this sweet girl.

I have spent time with her every day for the past 6 days and I still can't get enough. 

Spending time with her also means spending more time with my sister. We've been planning Anniston's birthday party and our complete Fall wardrobe. It's been great.

I also got to have a girl's night with my best friends in the whole wide world, who live far far away and I haven't seen in a few months. It was way way too long, I missed having friends. 

Also, I get to run. While enjoying it! 

I was still running while I was so busy, but running is so much more fun when I'm not super stressed. 

The only downside of less overtime is less shopping. Which I'm working on dealing with. I'm trying to develop a "Fall Shopping Plan" and attempting to "only purchase what I really need".  As my sister and fellow shopaholic stated, spending time together is not good for our wallets. 

But getting to see this sweet face more often is so, so worth it!

For Moms

This is a special Mother's Day for my family, since it's the first one my sister gets to celebrate as a mother. I couldn't be happier for her. 

What could be better than being a mom to the sweetest baby in the world and having this beautiful face light up every time you walk into the room?

 Maybe being this beautiful baby's Aunt Allie..... who gets a good amount of smiles and kisses, too. 

And who gets her very own Mother's Day card for the first time. 

I've loved this child so much from the first second I heard her heartbeat and even more since the first time she wrapped her hand around my finger that sometimes I feel like I am her mom. Hopefully, that's exactly what I'll be to her- a second mom. 

Just like my aunt always has been to me. 

She's the perfect example of a woman who does it all. She is an amazing wife, mother, sister, aunt, daughter, and Christian. Somehow, she balances that with a demanding job and still manages to find time to take pictures and scrapbook for her family. I've always credited any creativity and talent in photography that I might have to her, and hopefully I've picked up a few (or many) other similarities to her along the way. 

My own mother is the definition of sacrifice. She's always, always, done anything and everything she possibly could for us. I don't want to even begin to count the miles she's driven back and forth to see us, clean for us, bring food to us, or anything else.  Most of those things we didn't even have to ask for. She just did it. Thank goodness I found a husband who treats me as good as he does because you could say I'm accustomed to being taken care of. Very well. And now she's just as giving and caring to Anniston as she was to us. 

My Granny has always given us the love, support, crocheted goodies and sweet treats that a Granny should. She is one of the most positive people I know- she is always so genuinely happy. There is something to be said about always being able to see the silver lining- and in my Granny's case, she can sometimes find it in the funniest way possible. She's probably the coolest Granny there is, because she emails us and talks to us on Facebook, all from her iPad. Most importantly, she raised one of my favorite people in the whole wide world, probably the man with the best heart ever- my Dad. 

Words cannot even begin to express the love, admiration, respect and gratitude I have for my Grandmom. This woman has set the bar so high for women in our family- I hope we can live up to it. The amount of love that she had- and still has for my Granddad is inspiring. The passion and dedication she has for caring, cooking, and being there for us is so endearing. The energy that she has at almost 85 is unheard of, and is a result of daily exercise and healthy eating habits for years and years. The hard work and savings she has built to be able to give to us and others as much as she does is unbelievable. Her southern charm, sweet laugh, unexpected jokes and insistence on being grammatically correct..... well that's just Grandmom. I look up to her so much.

I hope you all know how much you mean to me. 

(  And if you didn't, this sappy post should give you a pretty good idea. :)  )

Happy Mother's Day

Thankful Thursday + It's Ok Thursday

I'm so very very happy right now. I got to start my new job this week, and so far I love it! So of course, I'm thankful for that. And I'm thankful that sometimes I get to wear pretty outfits instead of scrubs. 

But it's OK that my husband cannot focus a camera even when it is set on Auto-Focus with a touch screen guider to help with face detection to take a picture of my outfit. (I took this one myself with a timer.)

But also, I'm thankful for my Grandmother, who in true southern lady fashion made her famous homemade cheese straws for me to take to the office on my first day.

And It's OK that I was so proud of myself for only eating one before I took it to them, but now I'm very sad because I don't have any. 

I'm thankful because I have been looking for a simple gold necklace for a long time, and I finally found one. 

It's OK that the only reason I loved and bought this one is because it makes me think of Katniss and how awesome she is. 

I'm thankful for J.Crew, and that I am slowly but surely building a solid and classic wardrobe. 

It's OK that I stalk their website/catalog so much that I can spot a J.Crew item from a mile away.

Example:

I also spotted the Cece ballet flats in several episode of New Girl, and the dotted jacquard pullover in a different episode of Glee. 

Which reminds me, I'm also thankful for Hulu Plus, which is so much cheaper and so much better than cable.  I think it's around $9.99/ month, and we can watch pretty much any TV show whenever we want, AND you can even watch on your iPad or iPhone! 

Have you seen New Girl? It's my new show. (The first 2-3 episodes aren't great but after that they get so much better)

Lastly, I'm thankful that I ran into Kelly and Anniston yesterday while they were running and I was riding my bike, + I got to visit them this morning for a few hours before work. I love double doses of Annie. 

And it's OK that Annie totally peed all over me this morning. Really, all over me. But I promise, it's OK. I told her I would get her back. You know, when she's 16 and trying to impress a boy... I'm going to embarrass her by showing pictures and telling stories.