march madness

i love spring.

it is, by far, my favorite time of year. for this month, i decided to do a picture a day blog post. so get ready, this is going to be my longest post yet....enjoy!

march 1

for the month of march, i decided to take better care of myself. so what does this mean for me? it means my alarm now goes off at 6:30 am rather than 7:30 am :( this pic was taken early in morning after running/walking on the treadmill...impressed? me too!

march 2

unfortunately, alabama has seen it's fair share of tornados in the past 12 months. beginning friday morning, we were warned we may see them again that day. my new roommate, chelsea, who recently moved to alabama from oregon, went shopping early friday morning and came back with all these goodies to go in our "safe place".

yep, that is a helmet....:)

march 3

as much as i love doing makeup, i don't get to do it as much as i would like. unfortunately, with a full time job comes a 5 day a work week schedule (who knew?)...and by the time saturday comes around, i'm too tired to work another day.  but i do love makeup AND my discount at the store. so this saturday consisted of me working and doing 3 makeovers...

march 4

i love sundays. if it weren't for monday being followed by sunday, i would say it is my favorite day of the week. i digress... after a late afternoon run with tim, he told me to lay on the pavement and he would hold my leg to stretch it. i saw this lovely view in front of me and ran and got my phone for a picture. perfect sunday.

march 5

almost 8 years in the making. when i graduated from baylor in 2004, i took an internship in birmingham with southern progress company (known for southern living, cooking light, health magazine). i needed a place to live and called a number on the intern housing list....little did i know, 8 years later i would still be living with the girl, kate, who picked up the phone that day. kate's roommate at the time, caroline, and i instantly became friends as well and have remained very close ever since.

over the past 8 years, i've seen caroline get married and now kate is moving to new orleans! so tonight we celebrated with dinner.

march 6

welcome to my nightmare. for those of you texans out there, let me introduce you to hwy 280. my comparison to this in texas, is I-35 in dallas on texas/ou weekend. you'd be better off walking than sitting in this mess. i have yet to understand how calling it a "highway" is legitimate when there are traffic lights positioned every mile.

luckily for me, i rarely have to deal with this disaster in rush hour. however, today i ended up going to tim's place after work so i unfortunately ended up throwing away 20 minutes of my life in a span of 3 miles.

march 7

today a group of us from work went to lunch to celebrate a coworker. as we piled into cars, mary francis asked if i wanted to ride with her, so i agreed and got into her car. as mary fran was turning onto a street to get to the restaurant she mentioned that her wheel felt tight.

then, all of a sudden, her car died.

in the middle of the street.

not in a good area of birmingham.

i couldn't stop laughing. two extremely girly girls stuck in the middle of the street with no clue what was wrong with the car they were in. we both glanced around and 20 feet away was a car and body shop! who has this kind of luck? the men who worked in the body shop pushed our car into the garage (we were still in the car....ha!) to check out what might be wrong. i think they got a good kick out of the two of us. initially, they thought we ran out of gas. but apparently, there was a sensor that was off that shut the car down.

although a little late, we made it to lunch...with a good story indeed.

march 8

get ready all those that love pinterest. this is the day for you.

it's time to get your creative juices flowing.

not really.

i just want to show you a fun, inexpensive idea that was presented to one of my coworkers. how cute is this?? a glass full of orange and pink jellybeans, strawberry candy, and pink gummies. i want to throw a party just so i can give these as favors!!

march 9

welcome to my work area....some may call it a cubicle....i prefer to think of it as an office with no door and low walls.

as you can see in the picture, i have a calendar on my wall titled "356 days of shoes". let me tell you, i have had more conversations over that calendar than over the fact that i'm from texas. so if you're ever in need of a good conversation peice at work...this little jewel of a calendar will keep those conversations flowing.

march 10

as you can see this is a blank picture.
why you ask?
because it was the most beautiful day ever here and i completely forgot to take a picture. i woke up on sunday morning in a panic remembering that i had completely forgotten.
so let's use our imaginations, shall we, and think 75 degree weather, beautiful blue skies, and alison beating tim in tennis....great, you've captured my day!

march 11

back in december, my sister, jennifer, said one of her goals for this year is to read the old testament over the course of the year. i thought that sounded like a good goal and told her i would do it with her (technically not with her, i live in alabama...she's in texas, but you know what i mean....) at this point, i've read through genesis and exodus and am about halfway through leviticus. i've read the bible through before, but have been reminded this time around that if you are looking for a the best love story ever written, this is the book to read.
it will change your life...in all the best ways.

 

march 12

yes, welcome to my monday nights. i started watching the bachelor in college and have been addicted to the show ever since. just for the record, i call that dedication to the show "loyalty" or perhaps a crush on chris harrison...take your pick.

march 13

once upon a time, there was a tall redhead that took an internship on capitol hill. she loved living in d.c. and learning about how our government works. she quickly realized the importance of educating herself with who is running for office and what they stand for. these politicians make big decisions and we need good ones in there...so today that tall redhead voted in the primaries...

*bonus points were given to those she thought could balance their checkbook :)

march 14

we call them huddles.

4 years ago, i started helping with the youth at my church and got plugged into helping with the 8th grade girls biblestudy. we call the biblestudy "huddles". i've stayed with this group as their leader and now they are 11th graders....they grow up so fast!! let me tell you, they are the coolest group of kids you'll ever meet. the group varies from around 6 girls, but this particuliar night only tate and sarah could come. so instead of biblestudy we opted for yogurt and just catching up.

not only do these two love jesus, they both have incredible voices and are insanely smart....(like 32 and 33 on the ACT smart). i love wednesday nights with these girls.

march 15

i don't think i've ever jumped up and down over getting something in the mail before....until now. i knew i was going to be invited, i just didn't realize i'd get a formal invitation. remember when i did george bush's makeup? well, my friends, this is the movie....and yes, hbo bought it.

 i am stoked!

march 16

for those of you that know me, know that i am slightly addicted to  love mexican food. it looks like i have been a good influence over my boyfriend, tim. when in doubt where we are, just come to chuy's. we are there at least once a week. we love it! on friday night, we wanted to grab a late dinner there and had this lovely view overlooking the summit. not too shabby of a view while dining on the chicka chicka boom boom, chips and salsa.

yum.

march 17

as i said in my introduction, i love spring! one of my favorite things about spring are the beautiful flowers and there is no shortage of them on my street. white, pink, and red flowers are all over the place! unfortunately, with that comes a black car covered in yellow pollen...

march 18

saks-check.

belk-check.

ann taylor-check.

gus mayer-check.

yes, i went though all of these stores scouring for the perfect dress to wear to the upcoming movie premiere. i couldn't find one dress that i liked...too short, too big, not the right color, too expensive (who pays $1,500 for a cocktail dress?)  caroline was a tropper. she found a beautiful laundry dress right off the bat at saks and stuck with me until i could find a dress. that's what i call a friend.

and then for our last store.....bcbg. i found the perfect dress that i absolutely love. pictures to come in april of the dress at the premiere! stay tuned.

march 19

 nothing beats michael buble singing in the background and a bubble bath....can i get an amen?

march 20

i love getting into bed with the smell of downy's lavender scent on my freshly washed sheets. clean laundry is the best! what i don't like is the hours it takes to do laundry. how do the duggars do it?

march 21

for dinner, i made this southern chicken and corn chowder. it was a hit! and by hit, tim liked it so much he went back for thirds. i love finding a new recipe that instantly becomes a favorite like this one. click the link below to see the recipe:
http://addapinch.com/cooking/2011/10/05/southern-chicken-and-corn-chowder-recipe/

enjoy!



 march 22

happy birthday to one of my favorite people in this world!

my sweet, wonderful dad.

today he celebrated his 63rd birthday and i wish so much i could have been in texas to celebrate. (actually it probably wouldn't be the best day to have gone home since he was in presenting a case in court today...but still...)  i love you dad and am so thankful for you!



march 23
on friday after work, tim and i drove to nashville (actually clarksville, tn) and got to see and spend time with this lovely lady. shea (who we refer to as "boom boom") has a new fancy ring on that all important finger. yes, she's newly engaged....to mr. wright.

true story.

march 24

what you are looking at is a very blurred picture of the band the head and the heart performing live in nashville.  for the life of me, i couldn't get a clear picture, so this will have to do.
 if you haven't heard of this band, check them out (a favorite song of mine is "rivers and roads"). on saturday night, tim and i met up with tim's brother and sister-in-law and went to the show. they were great in concert!

march 25

i wish the game would have been different. i wish this guy, brady heslip, with his incredible 3 pointers could have gotten my baylor bears to the final four.

but kentucky didn't let that happen. final score: 82-70. next year, fellas! 

march 26

one of my favorite things about living in the area i live in birmingham are the beautiful homes. there are tons of historic homes! out of all the houses in our neighborhood (and birmingham for that matter) this is my favorite home. i love it! i have walked past it hundreds of times going on walks and every time i look at it, i find something else that i like about it. i have yet to meet the owners, but if i do, i may be asking if i could get a tour.

march 27

let the games begin...

 i'm not much of a reader. when my sister was raving about "hunger games" last summer, i didn't think twice about it. all i've heard for the last year is people talking about these books, so i decided to see what all the hype was about...

and do what makes the most sense...watch the movie.

leah (my old roommate and matchmaker extraordinaire) met me and tim to watch the movie. what's funny is that the two of them had both read the first half of the book and were attempting to explain things to me, but then had to stop once they reached the point they had stopped reading. ha!

it was a good movie! i'm curious to see what happens next...onscreen, of course :)



march 28

another family member...another birthday to celebrate.

happy birthday to my aunt janelle! janelle is one of the sweetest and funniest people that you will ever meet...have i mentioned that we are often told we are alot alike? i don't think there is anyone on this earth that loves the color purple more than she does. so here's to a wonderful birthday, janelle, filled with all things purple!

march 29

bruised, but not broken.

on sunday....yes sunday...this happened. 

little did i know by thursday this little purple number would still be on my knee. after church on sunday, tim and i went to lunch. as i was getting up to leave the table, i stood up and completely fell over. my foot had fallen to sleep. as i crashed into the table, tim caught me and had to keep holding me so i could get my bearings straight. unfortunately, lots of stares quickly followed. 

march 30

as i was parking at whole foods, i peered out of my front window and my eye caught this license plate. not only am i shopping at a store that started in texas, but parking next to a fellow texan!

man, i miss that state...one day, i'll be back.

march 31

boxes!!

now i know my last post was on me missing texas. i promise i didn't go home that evening and pack a bunch of boxes to move back to texas...but i am moving west. maybe 10 minutes west....one step at a time....one step at a time. actually, i am moving to the bluff park area in birmingham. it's a great area and i have quite a few friends that will be living close by so i'm looking forward to it!

so there you go, that was my month....and all the madness that came along with it :)

love,

alison