Ahhhhhhh...

     Last Sunday when we were at church, I looked down at my right hand and saw the ring I wear on my finger and it reminded me of how it got there.  I reminded Kelvin of it and we smiled together reminiscing about that day.  That gave me the idea to review some of the greater moments in this Loring Journey as a journal post.  I know a lot of you have been following me since I was doing my Knot website when we got married and my Babysite when we were pregnant, but lots of you have never heard the stories.  So, this post will be dedicated to the "Ahhhhhh.." moments we've had :-)

How We Met...

     Picture it...summer 2005...Little Rock, AR (lol...my homage to Sophia Petrillo).  I was a young tender Roni (sp) on the brink of my last year in pharmacy school finally seeing my dreams starting to crest over that high and rugged mountain.  I had no thoughts of being a Mrs right then.  I only had thoughts of being Doctor :-)  However, I knew that I wouldn't always feel that way.  So, I told myself that if the right guy came along that I would settle down and do right...lol!  A friend of mine mentioned a friend of his and how he would like to introduce us.  I wasn't really all that excited to meet anyone new after a string of disappointments in dating, but I figured what the heck!  Enter stage left- Kelvin Loring.  It's funny to me now that neither one of us seemed to be interested in getting to know the other the night we met.  By chance, he was given my number by our mutual friend and decided to go ahead and call me.  After a little phone tag, we talked and then went out on our first date and the rest is history....or at least the next part of this post :-)

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Our First Date...

   Kelvin arrived a little late to pick me up for our first date on August 19, 2005.  I can remember seeing Mama peek out of the blinds in the kitchen as we drove off...lol!  We went to dinner at TGI Friday's which is since the place we frequent to celebrate what I have sweetly termed our "month-a-versary".  The funny thing about this is that I had told a friend of mine who's name starts with K that I would text her and let her know what I thought of him during the date.  So when Kelvin excused himself to go to the restroom, I pulled up K in my phone and texted "He's a Winner!"  I didn't think to double check the name until after I hit send and guess which K I had sent the text to---you guessed it, Kelvin...lol!  I was mortified!  We laughed about it when he got back from the bathroom.   That little blooper seems to be the trend of things when it comes to he and I.  I always somehow am the ditsy one...lol!  We ended the date by going to Cajun's Wharf and sitting out on the deck.  It was awesome!  The thing that stands out most about our conversation was romance and showing it all the time so that holidays don't seem all that big of a day given that any day could be treated like a holiday.  He's stuck to that too!

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The Proposal!

    It was the morning of June 16, 2007.  We had talked a little more frequently leading up to that date about getting married in December of whichever year we would get engaged so that we could go to Times Square to ring in the new year for our honeymoon.  We had been looking at and talking about rings and getting married since our first month of dating.  The day before that was my mother's birthday and I had taken her out to P.F. Chang's to celebrate and was pooped after that.  Kelvin could sense I was tired so he simply told me that he had an old ring that belonged to his mother that he wanted to show me the next morning.  I didn't think anything of it.  The next morning he pulls out this ring to show me and it basically was a thin white gold band that was so thin it looked like a washer...lol!  However, I was under the impression it was his mom's so it had some sentimental value and I loved it!   He suggested we look at a catalog and try to find a band I thought would look good up against it.  So, we looked at a jewelry catalog and I picked the band with the baguets (sp).  Next, he told me he had one more ring to show me---I'm still not suspecting anything.  So, out comes a jewelry box from the store and at this point I finally get it.  He proposed and I guess we can all conclude I accepted...lol!  I think he did an amazing job with the ring he selected for me.  I get complimented on it daily!  I still find sentiment in the hogwash he told me about this little thin ring so I've worn it on my right middle finger since that day.  I have NEVER taken it off.  It makes me smile every time I look at it :-)

Our Wedding...

   Kelvin and I were married December 29, 2007 at 1:15pm.  That's the day I changed his life forever...lol!  I can see him rolling his eyes at this as I type...lol!  We decided that we would have a simple small wedding because it had already felt like we had been married for a few years at that point anyway.  So, I cut corners a lot of ways---amateur photographer, DIY invitations, silk flowers, etc.  At the end of the day, I think we did pretty good.  But, there's got to be a few glitches if this is making the post, right?

So, DIY invitations are great if you can restrain yourself from printing more and passing them out like church programs every time someone asks you about your wedding...lol!  For a wedding that was supposed to be for 100 guests, I passed out over 200 invitations!  I didn't think much of that considering we got married on a holiday weekend, until we walked into our reception room and it was OVERFLOWING!!  Several people had to go home :-(  I hated that!  Had I expected a lot of people, it would have been the other way around though so I know it wasn't going to be perfect by any stretch.  The wedding was a blast!  As always, the wedding day had to come to an end on a bizzare note.  A friend of mine (and she'll know who she is when she reads this) had spent the night with me at our apartment the night before the wedding.  She and another friend had the responsibilty of bringing my car back to the apartment after the reception, getting her things, and locking the apartment back up.  So hours after the reception ended, Kelvin and I finally arrive home and were talking about how he should carry me over the threshold until we see the light on through the window of our apartment.  Neither of us remembered leaving any lights on inside, so he joked "Wouldn't it be crazy if someone was in our apartment?!"  Yes it would be crazy and yes it was...someone in our apartment!  It was one of the most awkward moments of our entire marriage...lol!  That friend ended up just barely leaving before our dinner reservation that night so we ended up having ZERO down time to enjoy being alone that night.

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Vegas...Baby!

   For our 1 year wedding anniversary, we took our 1st (and possibly our last) trip to Las Vegas!  I don't think either of us were all that impressed.  Kelvin swears Brooklyn was conceived there though...lol!  Maybe we should have named her Las Bregas...lol!  Anyhoo...I digress.  That's the last trip Kelvin and I have taken by plane together.  I think we're coming up due for another one some time soon...

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The Big Preggers...

   Kelvin and I had already decided that when we got married we would officially "try" to get pregnant after our 1 year anniversary.  So, we were super cautious first-timers.  We made sure all i's were dotted and t's were crossed.  I knew my body like the back of my hand(...ok)  and we were very successful.  First time out the gate, Brook was on her way.  I can remember stocking up on First Response pregnancy tests and some Dollar Tree ones for those I just have to test moments.  I tested a few days before my monthly visitor was to come and got a NEGATIVE.  So, I had already started researching ovulation predictor kits so we could be a little more accurate next time around.  However, a few days later when no visitor was apparent; I decided to test when I was at home alone waiting for President Obama to come out and be sworn in as President.  I used a Dollar Tree one since it was a "just can't wait" moment.  But, the thing was positive!  So, I rushed to get one of the "good" tests and it was positive too!  So, I took another Dollar Tree test and that one was positive!  It was an indescribable feeling!  I had to find a creative way to tell Kelvin the good news so I went to Hallmark and got a gift bag and a Congrats on Your New Baby card.  When he got home, I gave his "gift" to him which was the positive test wrapped in plastic of course.  I remember him asking me over and over again, "Are you serious?".  I don't think I had ever seen him smile so big (to that point).  I will never forget that day!

Then There Were Three...

   I'm going to let everyone off this little trip down memory lane here although there are so many more memories I can recall.  You guessed it---this is the part where I'll talk about Brooklyn's arrival into the world!  As much as I've always fantasized about being a mother some day and as many books as I read and shows that I've watched; there is NOTHING that you can see or hear or do that can prepare you for motherhood.  It was such an overwhelming feeling of love, concern, and responsibilility since the first time I heard that little cry.  I can remember hearing her cry for the first time and becoming overwhelmed with emotion that my emotions totally took over my thoughts of what was going on around me and just crying and smiling and being excited all at the same time.  Brooklyn was (and is still) absolutely beautiful to me!  She's always seemed so smart and self-reliant too!  I thought I had a pic of her holding her own oxygen to her face...lol!  I guess this sweet little shot of her will just have to do :-)



Well, if you took the nostalgic journey with me today---you've made it to the end of the road for this post, but never for this blog and the Loring Family :-)

....I'm so glad we've spent this time...together!....  (I'm so silly :-0 )





Life Keeps Moving....

Fitness update!!

 Last week during one of my running workouts, I was feeling a bit sluggish and discouraged considering I had stepped on the scale when I woke up that morning only to see that I had gained a pound! I expressed my discouragement to one of my running partners in Black Girls Run and my friend Mary and they both recommended an app called My Fitness Pal. I don't have any long term result based opinions of the app yet, but so fr I love it! It let me put in my weight loss goals and my height, weight, and lifestyle (which in my profession is lightly active). From that it gave me a calorie goal for each day for me to lose my desired amount of weight in my desired amount of time which is 25lbs by the end of this year. There's a million different foods and their calories plugged into it that I can just search and plug into my daiy diary as I consume them. I can also out recipes I make into it that it will figure calories per serving up for me! It also gives me calories back to eat for each calorie I burn when I exercise. On the first day I used it, I consumed over 700 calories more than I was suppose to! That's because I had no idea how many calories a lot of the foods I had eaten were. So, from then on I did much better. EXCEPT, I've had 2 days where I didn't consume enough calories thus throwing my body into starvation mode and slowing my metabolism. That's probably what has been my main problem most of the time now that I think about it. So, there you go---I have a new tool to help me with this goal! I'm gonna be so fine for the holidays :-)

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Suzie Homemaker

 My features dishes for this post are an old fave and a new try for me. First up is what we had for dinner today- hash brown casserole (yummy!!) yes, the kind with the crushed corn flakes on top. It was SOOO good! Yes, it was ok with my weight loss goals. I was allowed a full serving for lunch along with half a thin sliced boneless skinless chicken breast I grilled and 1/4 cup green beans. This casserole is such a comfort food for me! As you can see, I got so excited to serve it up and eat it that I forgot to take a picture of it before I dug into it. In an effort to promote regularity, I went searching for a flax seed recipe that I could use without putting it in my smoothie-YUCK! So, I found a banana muffin recipe. I figured it'd be a good way to get 2 things in that I wouldn't otherwise eat alone. I think they were tolerable. They are only 170 calories per muffin which I think is pretty good for a baked treat. Kelvin was not much of a fan- so I guess I'll be enjoying these on my own...lol! I had already packed them up before I took the pic but here they are:



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Gettin' Pretty Crafty

 

 So, Pinterest really as me on this kick to make gifts as opposed to simply buying something. So, I tried my hand at gift making again for a few of Brooklyn's friends for their birthdays this weekend. I had to come up with a girl and a boy gift and this is what I did: The purse is a My Bag and Me canvas bag that I dressed up with iron on jewels in the girl's first initial and I sewed a thin feather boa around the top of the purse. The shirt was a $2 buy from Hobby Lobby plain blue t-shirt. I had an iron-on transfer sheet leftover from my Father's Day shirts so I decided to search for a Superman logo with the boy's initial in it online. I simply copied the design onto a Word document and printed it on my printer onto my transfer sheet. Followed the transfer instructions to apply it to the shirt and voila! His mommy was texting me this morning telling me he already wants to wear the shirt! That made me feel good :-) we gave each child a cute pair of printed flip flops from Old Navy to pair with their personalized items which are 2 for $5. Wow! Good gifts for 2 kids and I stil had enough left out of my $20 bill to get a smoothie for me and Brook to share :-) My next project is to make a new summer deco mesh wreath for my door the details of which I will keep to myself until I get it done :-). Heeheeehee.... I will say that Hobby Lobby is definitely up there in my top 3 stores I go to now right below Walmart and...well I guess it's my #2 store.  I love the fact that everything goes on sale every other week.  I scored three rolls of the very wide width deco mesh for $5 each today...swoosh!!!! LOL!
  I guess I got a little too cocky after my craft ventures this past weekend and I thought I'd try my hand at making a little something for myself today.  It didn't turn out so hot.  First, I didn't get it centered.  I was concentrating so hard on making sure the letters were lined up straight that I forgot to make sure it was centered.  Considering the shirt ended up being a bit too tight for my taste, it wasn't a total loss though.  Because of what the shirt says, I'm still going to wear it with pride.  I'll be trying it again ASAP though :-)  I'm not too proud to show my baby steps to perfection so here it is:

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A Pinterest Idea Tried...

   I tried this idea I saw on Pinterest yesterday when I wrapped the boy's gift. I always have a girl appropriate gift bag in my closet but no boy stuff except a roll of Star Wars gift wrapping paper. So, I thought I'd try out the idea of making a pocket in the wrapping to stick the card in. It looked so nice and neat :-)

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First Time in the Big Pool

Speaking of this party I keep mentioning, Brooklyn had a blast being in the big pool for the first time! I didn't even dress her to swim since she had been such a chicken about even getting in the little pool at home. However when we got there and she saw all her friends in the pool, she wanted in too. So, she changed into her swimsuit and life jacket suit and hit the water. I was SOOOO nervous, but it turned out fine. She had such a great time with her friend and they even had a tea party after the other little kiddos left. Brook loves a good tea party! Kelvin and I have consumed enough fake tea and plastic cupcakes to prove that...lol! Here's some pics from the party:

 

 

 

First Half of 2012....Gone

4th of July with the Loring's

We spent 4th of July with family in Louisiana and had a great time! Brooklyn even had a very nice lunch with her Grampa before anyone else got to the table :-)

We're Finally Pottying....Hip Hip Hooray!!!

     

So all those books and tactics and worrying only for her to just one day decide to do it! Amazing! My advice for new moms... Just like my hubby told me---like walking, crawling, and talking they will do it when THEY are ready. Just chill out...lol! Then I had to search for a portable potty to take out and about with us because she is terrified of public toilets...lol! Ahhh the joys....   I ended up going with the Potette Plus.  It's a good concept and I will definitely use it but it definitely needs legs that are a bit sturdier so mommies don't have to squat down and literally secure the thing by hand while the child sits on it.  For any other mommies wanting to give it a try see a pic of it below.  Fair warning though, it's considerably smaller than your other potties.  I passed completely by it in Toys R Us because I thought it was just some package of refills or something hanging from the rack on the wall...lol!

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The End of the Wiley Birthday Month 2012

 Well the birthday month for The Wiley Family (and the Loring lady) has come and gone and I must say it was a good one. I had a blast celebrating each if my family's birthday in some shape, form, or fashion. I had an even better time celebrating my birthday with family and friends! Our friends are so fantastic that some of them even sent gifts after my birthday if they couldn't make it out to celebrate....so my birthday never ended :-) We celebrated Aunt Brandi's (aka Ann Branny)birthday on the 30th with a simple visit bearing gifts that I know she'll get some good use out of. As promised, here are some pics from my birthday gathering:

 

 

  Being the Benihana fanatic that I am, I long ago registered with Chef's Table there so I can enjoy my free dinner during the month of June every year.  This year, Mama Pat and Brook came along since it was our GNO night and it didn't disappoint!  I love Benihana!  As you can see, we had a good time :-)





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Mommy's getting her fine body back!

 So, I'm not going to lie-- I was a pretty cute little thing back when Kelvin met me...lol! That was nearly 7 years, 1 child, 1 graduation, 4 jobs, 1 house, and several countless delicious meals and desserts ago...and 0 exercise I might add. A few weeks ago, I stepped on the scale and thought about the fact that I have gained about 25 lbs since we met! If my face and stomach were the same size and I didn't have any back rolls, I might feel ok with that. But, I'm not ok with it! So, I've adopted a lifestyle change in my eating habits. No more only eating once or twice a day then eating like I'm eating for 2. Also, hardly no sodas and definitely more water. However, the biggest AHA...exercise! So, how am I staying motivated post an 18 year hiatus since my last round of physical activity in 9th grade P.E.? A good friend of mine suggested a God-send running group (Black Girls Run) and I'm loving it! It's a nationwide group with a local "chapter" here in central AR. IT's further divided into groups that meet across the area to run/walk/jog together a few times a week. I'm in the group that runs at 5:15am on Mondays and Thursdays. The big group runs every Saturday at different locations at 6am. So that's 3 early morning workouts every week! I NEVER would have imagined actually being excited about getting up way before my family and doing something physical, but these ladies are very motivating in that we all have similar goals. There's so much comradery and encouragement that it's downright addictive :-)  I even got in on a little photo shoot with them today and I meant to get someone to snap a pic of me when I was out there but forgot.  So, I took a little pic of myself when I got back home as you can see above :-)  Stay tuned for more talk on my now physically fit self :-). Maybe I'll even be able to hit the neighborhood and run with Kelvin some day! For now, I'm up with the roosters and usually come home to find my family like this:

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Beauty update-Eyebrow threading

 For years, I've only been getting my eyebrows waxed at a nail salon way in Little Rock and looking scruffy when I can't find the time to get out there. Well, I finally decided to give threading a try at a threading salon much closer to the house and wow! Same price but lasts longer and a lot more defined :-). This picture doesn't do it justice. It makes them look lopsided to me, but they really weren't. While I'm on this pic, check out the new half wig I added to the collection :-) a girl just needs a break from the demands of the natural sometimes :-)

 Suzie (and Samny) Homemaker

 Last weekend I had a hankering for party food that wouldn't totally ruin my fitness push, so we celebrated! I just LOVE what I call "reception food". As far as Sammy Homemaker that will be my name for Kelvin :-) I lucked out in that I have a hubby who's willing to pitch in with the cooking. Last week he made an absolutely delicious meal for us that consisted of grilled tilapia and chicken, grilled zucchini and squash, and dirty rice. It was awesome! (sorry I forgot to take pics-I was too excited about eating it).  Yesterday, I tried out a new recipe that one of my co-workers had mentioned to me- tomato pie.  In the summer, I always have a pretty good taste for dishes prepared with fresh fruits and veggies so this one sounded right up my alley.  It's a hot side dish that I paired with rotisserie chicken and some more grilled squash and zucchini.  Eatin' right y'all!  See a (blurry) pic of the pie below:



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Quality Time with Papa

  This past weekend, Brooklyn and I enjoyed a little outing for ice cream (a.k.a frozen yogurt) with her Papa.  I can definitely say they both really enjoyed themselves!  I did too- I just love spending time with family!