Baylor Beauty

Last night, my mom and I got a little crazy. We made a random, middle of the week road trip to Waco!!! My blonde was participating in a beauty pageant of sorts... and we were NOT going to miss it! Mom drove like a NASCAR driver down there saying, "My baby's in a pageant!!!" And I, of course, took notes so I could scribe them here today and remember them forever!

We met my girl cousin who is also at Baylor and headed there... my boy cousin at Baylor said, "I REFUSE to go to a pageant".... or something like that. (he showed up after for a picture so we forgive him) Then we did a wonderful job wrapping our flowers for our Lil Bit..... can you guess which one is ours?? Hint: not the pink one.

First up, casual wear. During this time the announcer was saying a little blurb about each girl, including their "hobbies and activities." There were several times when I had to pinch myself to keep from laughing. 
"Enjoys rhinestoning her own twirler uniforms."
"Enjoys painting, drawing, and friendship."
"She likes to visit the Critters Exotic pet store."
Also, trying to watch the "enjoys hunting, fly fishing, and camping" girl try to walk in her heels!! 
Insert crying/laughing emoji here. 
Caroline, of course, looked beautiful.. minus a small fist pump when they said she was FIJI sweetheart. 

Work it

Next up, formal and a question. After 60% (literally 60 percent.. I calculated it), of the freshman and sophomores started their question with "Umm...." I texted Caroline and said "DON'T YOU DARE START WITH UM!!!!"

Caroline walks over to the mic and hear this question, "Caroline, Tell us about your time interning with ESPN Central Texas and how this experience has prepared you for your future career in sports broadcasting."
At this point I'm like yes! She gets to talk about sports... she's got this. No world peace. Just sports. Don't start with um!!!!! And here's what she said:

"This past year I have been interning with ESPN Central Texas, and every Friday I participated in the broadcast of highschool football games. So each Friday night we travel to a different high school, and I stood on the sidelines, and I also ended up filming a documentary on high school football and how it impacts Texas because it is such a big part of Texas. So, because I've been through that year of high school football and know how much the players love the coaches and the coaches love the players I'm excited to hopefully get to do that with colleges one day and see the differences between high school and college, and maybe film a documentary on college football"

#nailedit #sheisapro #shedidnotstartwithum #shemightactuallydowellinthisthing #sports

At this point, no one said anything but we were all thinking in our head... hmm. She could actually pull this off? We waited 10 minutes for the judges to tabulate their results and then listened patiently. They began with the freshman. 

I felt nervous. anxious. a little weird that I cared so much. But then, they called her name!!!!!!!!

Caroline was selected as a Baylor Beauty!!!!! And we are so proud of her!! 

She's a real beaut.

Joy

Today, I'm doing a link up with a link up! I know, I'm cray. But I really love both of these link-ups and I think today is the perfect day for them to mash together. 

It's Wednesday, so of course, I'm doing wedding Wednesday... but it's also the first week for #morethanaframe which I am really excited about. So here we go!

Monday night I posted a glorious food picture on Instagram. It's a beautiful salad with shrimp, corn, bacon, and avocado with a lemon-herb vinaigrette. Seriously, yum. We've already both decided that we will be making it again. 

But there's more to it than just a salad. This first week for #morethanaframe is about joy. While I am joyful about the shrimp and avocado, I am way more joyful about the entire dinner making process with my husband. Throughout these first 52 days of our newlywed wife, I have loved making dinner with him. 

I am joyful that I can cook for two people now instead of just myself. It's so much more rewarding and fun.
I am joyful that my husband will pick shrimp tails off for me while I dry roast the corn. 
I am joyful that we can use the new avocado 3 in 1 tool that I absolutely should have thought of. 
I am joyful that he is an excellent chopper. He loves to chop and I think it's wonderful. 
I am joyful that he is embracing the fact that I want to eat gluten-free and is respectful of that decision.
I am joyful that he is not a picky eater. It makes looking for new recipes exciting because I know he will try it and if he doesn't like it will just say, "It's not my favorite!"
I am joyful that before he began chopping the shrimp and I yelled "WAIT!" he said, "You want to take a picture before I chop them?" He is the best boy behind the blog.
I am joyful that my husband wants to be in the kitchen with me and helping me prepare dinner.

It's good for the soul. It's my favorite date night. And it is so much more than just a food frame.

GF Life

Yesterday, I wrote a post about love, today I am writing a break up story. 

I am breaking up with....... gluten..... again.

Some of you might know that from January to the wedding date, I ate gluten free. In those 2 months, I lost 10 pounds and I felt good. 

I knew it would be difficult to eat gluten free on the honeymoon, and Duck Dude and I kind of talked about just having fun during the month of March. We saw a lot of people and ate a lottt of dinners out, and I was not concerned with eating gluten free. 

Now, May 1st is this Friday and I still haven't been eating gluten free. I've put all that weight back on. I feel sluggish. And the biggest difference I notice is the "bumps on my arm"... before the wedding, they were almost gone. Now they are back with a vengeance, and I'm so self-conscious I don't want to wear sleeveless shirts. I'm not really concerned with if people think it's a "fad." It's a way to force myself to eat healthier and it really is not that hard. Meats, fruits, and vegetables. I love all those, but get tempted with the fast and easy processed stuff. For those of you not as familiar with what is and is not gluten.. here's a little help from glutenfree.com.

There are still plenty of unhealthy foods that are gluten free.... take nachos, for example. I am realllly good at eating nachos and they will definitely still be in my diet, but instead of eating the flour tortillas with butter for an appetizer, I will be asking for corn tortillas. 

Here's an infographic for just a low-carb diet:

Weight loss - my body has already proven that once. When I'm at a point in my life where I am really experiencing a metabolism slow down for the first time ever, this is good. Remember those bumps on my arm? I believe that is an auto-immune thing. Need more proof? My sister who has vitiligo (an auto-immune disease) has seen a substantial difference with her white spots filling in with pigment after she went gluten-free. Dental health? Excellent. I hate the dentist. 

And, of course, pinterest is an excellent resource for cooking gluten free meals... however, as I continue on with gluten free I am hoping to be able to learn those little tweaks I can make to some of our favorite meals that are not gluten free right now. 

What do you think about gluten free? Do you think you could do it? 

Until next time, #glutenfree #gflife

Baylor and 25,550 Days

This weekend, I spent my time in glorious Waco with my wonderful blonde sister!

I have no idea how she is graduating in 3 weeks.... I just graduated Baylor last year.... and my red head is still a freshman.        .............     No? I'm actually way older? My red head has already graduated and moved twice since graduation?? That's so weird.

Anyway. We were excellent Baylor fans all weekend long. We spent our time at baseball games, tennis matches, or hanging out with the baseball boys... or the tennis boys. (Not much different than my own time at Baylor!)

Friday night we went to the baseball game. I snapped this picture and captioned it "home sweet home"...

It was a nice night until right around 8:41 when the lightening came in. And at approximately 8:46 the rain started pouring down! We were stuck underneath the baseball corridor.. while it monsoon-ed and thundered and one of the baseball moms asked us, "Have y'all ever been in a hurricane?" in all her southern twang.

Good news was Saturday was perfect! A high of 90 degrees and a little hot.. Imagine a perfect Baylor day showing some high schoolers around the campus... telling them 8,976 reasons they should come to Baylor, and saying, "look at these cute baseball boys... they could be your friends." I am not above bribery. at. all.

Then Sunday was brunch at a Waco favorite, more tennis, and seeing my dad who was working the baseball game!

 I didn't have time to stay for the baseball game though, because I had to get back for Nannie and Pawpaw's 70th ANNIVERSARY party!!!! Not birthday.... wedding anniversary!! They have been married for SEVENTY YEARS!!!!!

The most intriguing thing I learned last night was that they had a secret code formed between them... they thought of it before they left and each had a copy of it. They knew the government would be reading their mail and knew he couldn't divulge the information of where he was going. So, they had different sayings for different locations. If he was going to Hawaii, he would say, "Tell so and so I am ready for that fishing trip." If he was going to Japan he would say, "Tell so and so I want to eat ice cream" and if there was nothing going on and he was staying where he was he would say, "Darling, I'd rather not have that watch fixed." .... I think it's brilliant, and they are obviously brilliant for making a marriage last 70 years.

Because I'm a math nerd. They have been married 25, 550 days. Travis and I have been married for 50 days. We have been married 0.19% as long as them. 70 years for me and Duck Dude would be March 7th, 2085. Travis would be 98 and I would be 96.

Happy Monday!!

Reallllly Good Cookies

Here's the thing y'all. I am an excellent cook. I don't mean to toot my own horn. But I grew up with my mom and my grandmother... I've been cooking since I was a wee thang.

What I don't do very often, is bake.

I am not sweet. By that, I mean I am not a sweet-toothed person. I will take salty tortilla chips and hot sauce all day, errrrr'day over  a cookie... or cake.. or brownies.

But alas, I am now married. And my very sweet husband... see what I did there? ... likes sweets. He has been begging me to make something... anything cookies with my Kitchen Aid mixer we got as a wedding present! Finally, I made cookies. Oatmeal/chocolate chip/pecan cookies. And they turned out realllllly good.

So, in case you have a really sweet person in your life.... try this out!

Formals with Family

I guess these are technically considered "formal" pictures. I would much rather prefer just call them family pictures! I love these pictures and am so happy to have them!! Family is such a huge part of our lives and I know these pictures will last a lifetime! 

 

Grandparents! One is celebrating 70 years of marriage and one is celebrating 66 years of marriage. More to come on that later! :)

 Duck Dude's parents... my new in-laws/who likes saying in-laws? It sounds so formal. My new mom and dad! And my sister Laura pocket and Naked Nick!

 My dad's side of the family

 

My family!

 The most amazing siblings

 Recreating our picture from their wedding!

 My uncle/preacher. He prefers to be called Reverend Doctor Lo Lo

 Duck Dude's entire family and then just the cousins are below!

 My mom's whole family and just the cousins below!

 We love our family and couldn't imagine life without them!!!

STAAR Week

The most boring week ever. Good news is last year I made up games to play by myself while I'm "actively monitoring." Yesterday, I walked a total of 5 miles... around and around the classroom. So, this is a repeat post of last year.. because I'm still playing the same games!

1. Heads Up 7 Up - Not the elementary school version where the cute boy touches your thumb and you really want to guess him, so you do, and it's not him, then everyone knows you wanted it to be him. And then when it IS the weird kid who had to "bite" your arm in a school play because he was the dragon, and everyone giggles, and your only option is to hang your head in shame. Not that game.

My version consists of slowly walking up and down the rows and seeing how many kids I can pass without them looking up at me! Once their head comes up, I start my count over again. Yesterday I only got to 7... I'm guessing I'll get further as the days go on and they get used to me creepily staring over their shoulders.
2. Telephone Pictionary - A cousin favorite still. Ours often end up like the example below. With "disco sticks" and "the dying cow" and "Bro in law officially becoming family but not really becoming a cousin".... yeah. Try drawing that. Buuut mine goes a little differently.

It's more like "telephone story writing." I read one sentence from a student's paper then walk to the next desk and read another sentence... making it all into one big story. I can't tell you specifics because that would be breaking my super important oath and I like my job... but in a middle school room, it creates a lot more interesting story than you would think!
3. Guess Who - I was a baller at this game. I always knew when to ask the right questions! Girl? Facial hair? Glasses? Would they be a stalker in real life? Richard. Would you want them to be your grandpa? Peter. Are they related to Cruella Deville? Susan, that's you!

But alas, it's not that game either. It's the game of Guess Who is Going to the Bathroom Next? And do I keep a running tally on my podium? Why yes, I do. Because I obviously love games and I'm slightly competitive. The only problem is, you cannot cheat when it's only you playing. 

I'm hoping by Thursday to have walked 20 miles. Does that mean I don't have to work out at night? Someone has to do laundry around our house! :)