If I must be a bag lady it better be Vera

I promise I didn't forget about this little blog. I am happy to report I am writing this post from my new macbook!! My poor HP bit the dust half way through senior semester so I happily made the upgrade to Apple. Everything has been a whirlwind the last couple weeks. I go up Tuesday night to Springdale to rest and prepare for my life of a Berryville Hygienist, and come home Thursday night. Not ideal to move to Berryville just yet only working two days a week. But I cannot express how lucky I am to have such a wonderful dentist to work for. Let's get to the highlights:

I have settled into my home away from home Tuesday-Thursday in Springdale. Chad's buddies G & J have been nice enough to let me stay in one of their extra bedrooms.

I can't seem to pack lightly for two days: 

Perk of an hour one way commute:

New short hair, sorry forgot the flash : /

We have roomie cook night and to prove I don't always have an epic fail in the kitchen:

My new monogramed scrub jacket, so everyone knows the new girls name

Hard being away all week but love to come home to a surprise

And lastly here is a sneak peak of BATS new house! Its time to start your blog!!

-Laura

Answered Prayers

So happy to announce I have job news!! I accepted a position in Berryville!!  You may be wondering where in the world Berryville is. Well I had never heard of it, until two girls got jobs there last year. It is about an hour from Fayetteville. 10 minutes from Eureka Springs, 30 minutes from Harrison, 45 minutes from Branson and 2 hours 15 minutes from Fort Smith : ( For now I will only be working two days a week so I will just commute from Springdale and stay with friends. Next Wednesday is my first day!!

Mr. Turtle

Chad's dad caught a massive snapping turtle at work and of course we had to relocate it to Turtle Bay!!

 In his bucket

 Longest turtle tail I've ever seen!

 Scared to get too close

Thigh Dancing

It's not Workout Wednesday, but I found some fun new exercises on You Tube today that I couldn't not share! I've started getting back in a workout routine by doing Shred or going to Mercy. I'll be honest, I feel a little silly at Mercy because I'm not as hard core or in shape as a lot of the people. Today I did my 30 minute cardio and mini weights in the ladies weight room and came home to see what free weight routine could I learn online to take back to Mercy with me. I found these You Tube videos that I think will be a great addition to any workout.

Thigh Dancing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExJcsRv7G78&feature=fvwrel
Thigh Dancing w/ Kelly Ripa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbafxJdP7QYSaddle Bag Blaster:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMYCX9FdEe4&NR=1&feature=fvwp
5 minute Arm Workout:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UmRb4UphfM
Training with Tammy: 5 minute Shoulder Workout
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5FY1231ElI&feature=related

-Laura

Oopsie In the Kitchen

I thought this cooking disaster deserved its own post. Chad sent me to Walmart to buy more paint. He gave me $40.00 for a $15.00 gallon of paint and some putty to fix holes in the wall. Well should have known I would have spent the whole $40.00 I decided I wanted to make banana pudding for a dessert snack while I painted the living room. (See post below). So I first saw the bananas and Nilla Wafers, I've never really made this before so I just thought I'd follow the recipe on the box. Well it lists a million things you need:

Original Nilla Banana Pudding

Layers of Nilla wafers, creamy pudding and fresh banana slices are the stars of this American classic.

Prep: 30 mins - Cook: 15 mins - Cool: 15 mins

3/4 cup sugar, divided
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
Dash salt
3 eggs, separated
2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
45 NILLA Wafers, divided
5 ripe bananas, sliced (about 3 1/2 cups), divided
Additional NILLA Wafers and banana slices, for garnish


1. Mix 1/2 cup sugar, flour and salt in top of double boiler. Blend in 3 egg yolks and milk. Cook, uncovered, over boiling water, stirring constantly for 10 to 12 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla.

2. Reserve 10 wafers for garnish. Spread small amount of custard on bottom of 1 1/2-quart casserole; cover with a layer of wafers and a layer of sliced bananas. Pour about 1/3 of custard over bananas. Continue to layer wafers, bananas and custard to make a total of 3 layers of each, ending with custard.

3. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form; gradually add remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until stiff but not dry. Spoon on top of pudding, spreading evenly to cover entire surface and sealing well to edges.

4. Bake at 350°F in top half of oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until browned. Cool slightly or refrigerate. Garnish with additional wafers and banana slices just before serving.

Makes 8 servings

Nutritional Info Per Serving:
287 calories, 6 g protein, 50 g carbohydrate, 7 g total fat, 2 g saturated fat, 117 mg cholesterol, 134 mg sodium, 1 g dietary fiber

This recipe created by McCormick, Inc.


Well somehow I forgot to add the milk, and I guess baking a cold dessert really threw me for a loop and here is the aftermath.

 It was as hard as a rock

 So hard it won't even fall out!

The birds at Chad's house love me.

Lesson learned: Milk is a very important ingredient. Oopsie!

Design On A Dime

The past two years my life has been too much to do with not enough time. Now that school is out, over, I feel as if I have nothing to do. I've forgotten how to handle R&R time. As I am trying to wait patiently for a job, I am constantly looking for projects to fill my time. Chad found me a whooper of a project: painting his living room. I love being crafty, I thought this would be a breeze. Keep in mind, I've never painted a room before, much less totally by myself, because this is my project, not our project. He won't admit it but I think he was a little nervous when I accepted the challenge and we,  he actually bought paint. He actually said to me, this is gonna look really bad if you never finish it, so if you really want to paint you have to paint the whole thing. His house is not even 1,000 square feet so it can't be that big of a living room...right? Well let me say for 1. I am not a quitter. 2. I don't back down from a challenge. 3. I hate to hear "I told ya so.." I have painted about 10 hours in two days, and not finished. As a new painter I had extremely high expectations, he has wide crown molding and wide base boards so I thought it was be cool if the walls and ceiling were the same color. I really under estimated how hard it is to paint a ceiling, keep in mind I am 5'4. I also forgot to mention I'm painting the crown molding and base boards. Chad hasn't bought that paint yet.

So on to the Before and During pics:
Please note: Idk why but these pics don't show the right paint colors

Before Wall: Please excuse the grandma furniture and hideous curtains, they came with the house.

Did I mention the walls are textured?

  Or that the house came with its own art on the walls?

In Progress.. 

It's Historical Dusted Indigo. As mentioned in the title, Chad bought me the cheapest interior paint at Walmart, $15.00 a gallon. I do love the color though. Chad had the final say, and did I mention he's color blind?

I'm a sucker for products to make your life easier.,but this really works I love it!! It's only $3.00

I hope to have After pictures soon!!

MRS & RDH

More RDH news! Officially have my dental hygiene license and local anesthesia permit. I just need a dentist to hire me.

 The 2,238th hygienist in the state of Arkansas!!

Can't wait to have them framed and have an opt to put them in.

Now onto the MRS news!!

We threw a little wedding shower for my friend Morgan a couple weeks ago. She is now a married woman, Mrs. Richard Riley as of  June 24, 2011. She had a beautiful ceremony at Brunswick Chapel in Fort Smith.

 This makes Wedding #2 of the Summer. Both dental hygiene friends, So happy for Mrs. Danielle Dean & Morgan Riley.

Last but not least: I'm a bridesmaid!!! My sweet friend BATS has asked me to be a bridesmaid for her March 2012 wedding. She gave me a card with this poem on it last week:

The Day, The Dress

The Bride, The Groom

The Joy, The Tears

Will All Come So Soon

Professing True Love

To My Husband To Be

With Family & Friends

All Watching Me

I Hope The Sun Will

Be Shining Down

Keep Your Fingers Crossed

That I'll Fit In My Gown

There's Just One More Thing

That There Needs To Be

And That's To Have You

Standing With Me.

A Week of Celebrations

The past week has been a week of celebrations!!

Tuesday: BATS 23rd birthday!! We celebrated with La Huerta and Papas!!
 
Thursday: Eli Young Band at Rib Room- Brooke, Lisa, Cristen, Haley and I had great girls night of BBQ and Bevs! It was a great night and not too hot, we got to see Emily and Cami!! =))

Saturday:  Chad and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary!! We went to Weinkeller Restaurant. We planned to do a wine tasting and tour, but it closed before we got there. : (   Happy to have an excuse to go back! Altus is only about 45 minutes from Fort Smith, so it was fun to have a little road trip. The restaurant has mixed reviews online, but we had a great meal and good service. The french onion soup was delicious!

Sunday: Morgan's Bridal Shower. Amber, Brooke and I threw a little bridal shower for Morgan at my house. She got lots of great stuff for the upcoming wedding.

 

Homemade  Chocolate Wedding Candies- Thanks Mom!

 Favorite Four

Other random news: I got a flat on the way home from Danielle's wedding last Saturday night.

Well really Chad got a flat in my car since he was driving. First flat in 8 years of driving. Good thing he was there to change it.

And just a cute pic of Heidi

 

Sorry so long, but I promised I would start taking more pictures. An update of Workout Wednesday: I've lost 2 inches in my waist!! Wahoo!!

Working at storage an come to bit of halt since the boys are in town for the summer. So I reallly need to find a hygiene job, please pray I find one soon!

Workout Wednesday

Well its the first of June so time to make some summer resolutions:

Its time to get fit!! I've let the stress of school fuel my eating habits for the past two years and its time to stop. Graduation and passing both boards, leaves me with no more excuses to put off exercise and eating right. Don't get me wrong, I haven't been a total bum, about exercise but I'm ready to get serious.

I thought the 1st of the month would be a great day to start Jillian Micheal's 30 Day Shred

I've done this workout a few times before and yes its hardcore, but I felt like it was a real workout, even though it was only 20 minutes. I'm starting over fresh so today is day 1 of the 30.

I'm also incorporating Zumba into my workout routine. I've taken several classes at Mercy Fitness and its a great workout and soo fun. I'm a nerd and love to buy workout games for my wii

I love the zumba wii game. It has classes ranging from 20 to 45 minutes.

I want to use this blog as a way to hold myself accountable to my fitness goals. Yes I want to lose weight but also gain muscle tone and be an overall healthy person. 

Summer Goals:

Do 30 day shred for a full 30 days

Incorporate at least 2 fruits and 2 veggies into my day

Order  water instead of Dr. Pepper or Sweet Tea at restaurants 

I'm sure ill be adding to this list as summer progresses!