aquarium birthday

Another year older, another year wiser. Yeah, we'll go with that.

For Christmas this year, we decided to spend a few  six days in Chattanooga with Justin's family. His parents rented us a cozy little cabin on a hill overlooking a larger hill / mountain, and it's just right. Justin and I drove up on Friday in order to spend my birthday together before the rest of the family got there. It's so cold up here. Too cold to walk around downtown (and too broke to buy stuff) so we went to the aquarium instead. Justin and I decided to buy a really nice camera for each other for Christmas (hence we're broke), so the aquarium was a perfect place to use it. Here are just a few of the pictures taken.

Mini Seahorses :)

Sleepy Baby Crocodile

Testing testing.

Wanna a cracker?

Nemo :)

Black Jellyfish, about as small as my thumb. 

These are just a few of the 300 pictures that were taken. Maybe I got a little carried away.  (Don't ask me how blogger managed to stagger these pictures, but it did.)

After we left the aquarium, we went over to Justin's sister, Melissa's, to spend some time with the babies before it got chaotic. They are getting to be soo big and soo personable. It's amazing that these little guys could fit in Justin's palms back in April. It's so crazy to see how much they've grown into their personalities. And to be honest, I can't wait to babysit them, meaning playing dress up with Cameron while Conner and Justin run around outside.
It was a lovely ending to a nice day spent with Justin.
Happy Birthday to me.

bachelorette weekend

So normally, most women don't like to talk about their bachelorette for fear of people learning about all the naughty things they did and all of the nonsense they got themselves into. Normally.
Well, that's not really my style so I can share the weekend with y'all.  
Because of the fact that I didn't join a sorority in college and worked a lot, I don't really have many girl friends. In fact, the ones I do have, save a few, are older and work. A lot. Needless to say, the bachelorette weekend ended up being only five of us, two of the five including my mother and another mother. And it was absolutely perfect. So instead of writing a monologue of our adventures, I'll just post pictures. Its funnier that way.

Brittany's christmas decorations

Her gorgeous tree

Birthday girl? Bachelorette? Same thing

Let the games begin!

Haha.

Hearts maybe?

That expression. Seriously?

Roomies Reunited :)

Wedding cake shots :) Almost as good as the real thing.

Bridal cookies courtesy of Taylor 

Lovely Tucker women 

(those men were not twins, btw)

Maid of Honor Mom (before the night began)

Sorry Sharon! It was too tempting.

Maid of Honor :)

Mother of the Bride (duh)

Taylor just had to be different :)

The Hostesses! 

After the loong long night.

Mom drove, therefore no funny picture from her..

(I held my sign upside down on purpose, just to be funny)

Let's just say there was a lot of wine flowing, games were played, junk food eaten, and laughs galore. It was such a blast, and I'll never forget it. I love all the ladies in these pictures, and am so blessed to have them as friends and family. There were tons of dancing, Waffle House, flat tire, and even a lost ID. It was a good time.

Love y'all to the moon and back.

christmas time is here

Oh my goodness, hey.  

I completely forgot this was here. Sorry for the lack of posting. Life is hectic. School is hard, work is long, and this wedding thing. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm ready for it to be that day. And no, I don't care if we're ready. We'll take it in stride. 

Quick update on life. Things are going well. Justin is amazing as always, got good praises at my year end review (that I'm technically not supposed to have, but wanted anyway), and school is over. Final grades have been posted: two A's and a C. And yes, I'm still upset over that. But there's no use in worrying over it. Next semester will be better.

I swear promise an update soon of my bachelorette party. and pictures taken with our new, super nice camera. 

party at the skeet club

(Again, I apologize in advance for the lack of pictures. And for the lack of updating.)

Happy Monday morning (said no one ever)! This Two weekend ago was our engagement party in Franklinton, LA. This is where Justin grew up and it's always nice to go back home and spend time with his family. We had had a long week at work (or at least I had) so it definitely was a nice escape. 

Thursday we decided at four o'clock to go ahead and go down there so we packed on up and left. We were able to spend time with just his parents and brother before the entire clan got in. Woke up at about seven Friday morning just in time to see the twins come in from Chattanooga. It warms my heart every time I see Justin hold a baby (it's adorable, and I can't wait for him to be a dad. In like three years). Friday we did some running around and had to get the skeet club ready for friends to come into town. Beaux just loves the skeet club, which in turn makes me love it as well. Within five minutes of getting out of the car, he's gone swimming and found a branch to nibble on. 

Saturday was the party. I have to say I was exhausted by the time it actually started, but I willed myself through it. Meeting a lot of new people is hard work to say the least. But with Justin not leaving my side, I managed to stay happy and excited for the entire night. 

It was stressful knowing that my parents were going to be meeting a lot of Justin's family and friends. Justin and I come from very different backgrounds (which is a blessing in disguise), so to be honest, I just wanted this weekend to go as smoothly as possible. Which it did. Everyone had a fabulous time. Justin's mom did an amazing job decorating and it was perfect. Except the party-crasher. Which I would put a picture of up here, but to be honest, it's a little embarrassing. That's all I'm going to say about it. 

Now we're down to less than three months before the "I do" day. We've (or really I've) decided on our first dance song, and we've gotten flowers for the bridesmaids all figured out. Other than that, I feel confident in our planning, and am so excited for these 89 days to fly by!

Hope everyone has a great week :)

ina and the brownie cake

Okay, so those that know me know that I adore Ina Garten. There's no denying it. She's an amazing cook, her food is fabulous, she's always throwing a party, and, lets face it, her husband is adorable (Justin thinks that he's really who I'm obsessed with and he's right). 
Anyway. About two or so years ago, for Christmas I received one of her cookbooks called Back to Basics. 

courtesy of Google Images 

I adore this book. She includes pictures of every single recipe, which is something that I think is a must. I want to see what I'm making so I can know if I've done it correctly. I flip through this cookbook when I want some inspiration, want a challenge, or just want to look at yummy, elegant food and day dream. It's lovely, and I love it.

The first recipe I've made out of it I want to share with you. This is my go to recipe for everything. Parties, football games, chocolate cravings. It's yummy, makes the house smell lovely, and easy. Very easy. 

Baked Chocolate Pudding

heavily adapted from Ina

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks of butter (there's no way getting around it), melted and cooled
• 1 cup Splenda and 1 cup sugar, combined
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 3/4 cup cocoa 
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 tablespoon vanilla

Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees and spray a two quart dish (or butter it if you're feeling naughty). In the bowl of an electric mixer (which I have now!), combine the sugar and eggs and mixed on low for about five or so minutes, until creamy and yummy. While that's mixing, sift together the cocoa and flour and add a dash of salt (trust me). I know a lot of people are like sifting is for losers, but trust me it makes the pudding/brownie/cake smooth. Once that's sifted, add it slowly to the sugar and egg mixture and combine. Add the vanilla and butter and stir it once more. Now this is the part where Ina and I differ. Her recipe states that you need to bake this dish in a water bath. This is something that I have done the first time I made it, and it turned out so good. But about two weeks ago, I made this, but forgot the water bath. Well, what am I to do? Instead of freaking out, I just cut the baking time. It's supposed to bake for an hour. Instead, I just baked it for forty five minutes. It's really something that you just have to watch. The outside of the cake will be cake-like, but the middle will look as though it's just not baked. But that's okay, go ahead and take it out. Let it cool for twenty minutes, pop some vanilla ice cream on it, and eat up. 

"Seriously, how easy is that?"

Go make this. Love it. Buy her book (seriously, I'm not getting an endorsements, I just love her).

bridal shower

See, I didn't forget..
We had our first bridal shower on September 15th (almost a month ago, I know), and it was a huge success. So many people that I haven't seen in a long long time as well as some people that I didn't really know came. It was such a blessing to see the turn out of people in our church that remember me from when I was young and are willing to support my commitment to Justin and to our marriage. I've never felt so overwhelmed with love. Or gifts (sorry, I had to say it). Of course, I don't want to go through and list out everything because that'd be ridiculous, but I'll give you the highlights of our favorites. 
My KitchenAid Stand Mixer. My pride and joy (Thank you Aunt Debbie, Granny, and Lizzy!). Everyone knows I've been waiting since freshman year to get one, and Mom has always been like wait until you're married, you'll get one. Well, she was correct (as usual). I adore it, and want to bake or make something daily in it (but then I'd gain that 10 pounds back and decided against it). 
Justin's favorite thing has to be the set of knives we got (what a guy). His parent's gave them to us and he really enjoys using them. We also got a new Keurig, which I also love. Our old one required to be filled with water EACH AND EVERY TIME you wanted coffee. Justin's sister has this same one, and decided (after my doting probably) to share in the joys of water filling laziness (and for that I thank her). 
Two of my bridesmaids were there, and a very glowing pregnant friend and I couldn't have been happier. Sometimes I feel like I don't have time to stop and visit with people, and that I'm so content with just being on the couch with Justin, but really, I've decided I need to make more of an effort. 
I promised pictures, but I don't have any. Sorry. I'm a bad blogger. 
Next weekend we have our Franklinton shower. I'm excited for my parents to go down there and see where Justin grew up. Should be quite an experience! 
Anyway, hope everyone has a nice, short week at work (especially if you have Columbus day off!). Be back soon with my favorite recipe to make using my stand mixer. 

long time, no type

Oh hey. Forgot that this thing was here. Seriously, I would blame it on my fact that I forgot my password or something, but it's my gmail password that I use daily. And lying is bad. So really I've just been lazy. Lazy as in working my intern butt off as much as I can, having a bridal shower and wedding plans, and grad school. So I'm not sure lazy is the word for it. 
Just would like everyone to know that we're alive and well. Just busy. Which isn't an excuse, but I'm going to use it as one. I'll be back soon with an update about my bridal shower along with some pictures. And I mean, if someone would comment on this thing, it'd make me update faster (just saying). 
For now though, I'm off to have a drink and watch the LSU game. Lord knows growing up in an SEC Mississippi home, I'd never thought I'd be cheering for LSU, but here I am. At least he's not an Alabama fan. Thank the heavens.

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend of football, drinks, and good friends. Because that's my plan!

dinner in a cast iron

Hm, I wonder if cast iron is one word or two? I'm guessing two.
Anyway. After leaving church, I need to write about that recipe that I promise before the never failing Sunday afternoon naps comes about. 
Last Saturday, we celebrated a friend's birthday in Vicksburg. And Sunday morning, I realized that I probably celebrated a little too much. Thankfully, sweet Justin that he is, went and got me gatorade and the Hunger Games on blu-ray so I decided to make him dinner. By five o'clock I was feeling better, but not 100% so I made a very lazy, but still satisfying dinner. Here ya go!
Chicken, Broccoli and Cheese Cornbread
adapted from my old roommate Taylor
seriously, can you fit anything else in this 'casserole'

• Jiffy Cornbread (2 boxes will do)
• Frozen broccoli, steamed in the microwave and cooled 
• Shredded Cheese, 2 cups?
• Eggs, 2 (that's what the Jiffy box calls for I think)
• Chicken strips, precooked and cubed
• Water, for the cornbread mix

Go ahead and put a little oil and butter in a large cast iron and put it in an oven. Set the oven to about 400 degrees and let it  heat as the oven heats. Now pay attention to this next part, it's extremely complicated. Grab a massive bowl and make the cornbread mix. Then add the rest of the ingredients. Be careful and remove the cast iron out of oven. Pour your mix into the hot skillet and put back in the preheated oven. Bake for about twenty five to thirty minutes or until the cornbread is set. Let it cool for around ten minutes then slice and eat.

Now, how easy is that for a Sunday dinner? It's a little sweet, and has your protein and veggies all in the same dish. 

Hm, if only I could find a way in add dessert into the mix and it'd be a full meal... Just kidding!

Have a wonderful Sunday :)

update (and a few projects)

Oh, it's Friday. Glorious Friday. 
Currently I'm working on an EB plan in the worst neighborhood in Jackson it seems. Only a block away you can find two strip clubs and an adult bookstore. And Skylar Laine's parent's grocery store? What the heck... Anyway, I'm so ready for this week to be over.
School started this week, and only one night was just miserable. Accounting Theory is going to blow my mind all semester I can already tell, and now I'm very thankful I have two days off a week to study and prepare. On the plus side though, I randomly received an email the other day stating I have been awarded an MBA scholarship through Mississippi College (you know, that place that doesn't give graduate students scholarships). Praise the sweet Lord that I was awarded this, and can use it next semester for when I'm paying my own tuition. 
But this is totally not the point of the post. The point is that the second bedroom in our apartment is was ugly. There's no way really around that. And of course, I hated it. Plain white walls, white papasan chair, and a black comforter. So I finally got around to doing something about it. I decided that my first task was to make a bed skirt. I found a tutorial on Pinterest (of course), and with a little help from Justin, had a brand new bed skirt in no time.

this is the middle of the process. i forgot to take a "Before" picture

Ta-Da

I LOVE it. There's no way around it. Every time I see it, it makes me happy (and yes, that's a little weird because it's just a bed skirt in a bedroom where no one goes). Anyway. I got the duvet cover from West Elm and just ordered the shams today. Wish I had a picture to show you of what it looks like now. Tuesday, I make felt flowers and finally hung my yarn wreath over the bed as well as put brown curtains instead of the black and white ones in there. Oh well. Maybe I'll remember later.
I even had left over fabric to cover our bar stools!

I was very please, even if my corners weren't perfect. Cute fabrics make me happy!
So I'm off to do a little work. Hope you're doing something around your house that makes you happy! I'll be back soon with what we had to eat Sunday night. Just imagine one pot, easy ingredients, and minimum clean up :)
TGIF!

begins and ends with you

Warning: This post is dedicated to the man in the picture below and may or may not be mushy. Cut me some slack.

So, it's almost our one year anniversary. And no, we haven't been engaged for a year, we've been DATING for a year. Holy crap. If someone would have told me that I would have met, dated and been engaged in seven months, I would have told them they don't know me at all (and may have slapped them in the face).  But seriously, now, I wouldn't imagine it any other way..
Of course, I know Justin is handsome, sweet, etc, but I had no idea how incredibly smart he is. I mean, of course he's smart, he writes software for the DoD, but I guess what I'm looking for is business savvy. Unfortunately, the business where we met and basically fell in love is not exactly where we need to be right now. It's not stable, too much stress, and way too much drama. It's not fair to Justin to be stuck in that situation, especially when his contract is up at the end of September. So began the job hunt he did. And it only took about two or three days for companies to start showing interest. But they were far away (like Seattle).  I know that eventually we want to get outta here (here as in Mississippi), but I'm not ready yet.
And as selfless as Justin is, he understood and began searching in town. There were a few interviews, but one really stood out. So when Justin got his offer letter last Thursday at a company in Vicksburg, it was definitely a major MAJOR relief.  He turned in his two weeks at Mav6 yesterday. I'm so glad that after about a month, we will be finished with that place and onto a brand new adventure. A brand new workplace, new opportunities, new friends. I have to admit I'm a little nervous. I'm sure we were very familiar with Mav6 and it was easy there. But it was time to move on. And after the way things were going there, I think we got out of there in the nick of time. 
Watching him work and interview and put himself out there has definitely shown me a different side of him, and I am so thankful that this man that God brought to me can be the head of our household and really take charge when it comes to taking care of himself and basically our family. I feel very blessed to have everything work out, and has only made me love him more than I already do. Just makes me want to marry him sooner, and really start our lives together. 
So Happy Early Anniversary, babe. Only 151 days until we're married :)

recap of the weekend

And yes, I know it's Thursday. Get over it..
So if you couldn't tell, last week was a hot mess. I was working at a cotton seed gin/mill/oil place in the Delta. On top of that I was staying with my grandparents. Those two things put together, plus two hours of travel to and from work daily, made for an extremely long week. As in I needed a stiff drink by like Thursday at four. So on Friday when Justin asked what I wanted to do this weekend, I had a straight answer. I wanted to sit around on a raft in cool water with a cold drink in my hand and play fetch with Beaux. Well, besides going to the beach really, there's only one other place to go. So Friday night at around seven, we made our way to Franklinton to see Justin's parent's. 
It was a great weekend. Really just what we needed. Ate good food, hung out with friends, wadded around, drank, and I even shot my first full round of skeet. It was an experience, but at least this time my shoulder didn't bruise. (Guess I've gotten tougher since the last time). We even got some wedding stuff taken care of, and found buckets for our sparklers.
After being out at the skeet club basically all afternoon, by the time we got home we were starving. So making a quick pit stop at Winn-Dixie, we went home to cook dinner (his parents were at a birthday party so we had to fend for ourselves). I made a cheesy sausage rotel to eat right away (which consisted of cooked sausage, block of cream cheese, and already made cheese dip), which was easy and good as sin, but the main course Justin cooked and it was so fine I decided to share. 

Round/Hamburger Steak (I think that's what he called it) and Gravy 
everyone has their own version of this, but this is what Justin came up with on the fly

Ingredients:

• 80/20 Ground beef, about a pound can make four patties/"steaks" (technically, if you made round steak, you'd use that type of meat, not ground beef) 
• Breadcrumbs (about a cup or so)
• 1 egg
• Salt / Pepper / Miscellaneous seasonings
• Minced garlic (about two tablespoons, depending on the amount of meat and if you'll be kissing anyone that night)
• Minced onion (we used dehydrated onion because it's so easy, probably about half a cup)
• Gravy mix, enough to fill like a 12 inch saucepan (unless you're Martha Stewart, in which case by all means make it from scratch)
• Mushrooms, chopped (this is optional, but we used this as the base for our gravy and it was delicious)
• Red wine, 1/4th cup
• Butter, two tablespoons or so

Quite the list. I don't think I missed anything.

So start out by spraying your saucepan with non-stick spray and adding your mushrooms and butter once your pan is at about medium heat (you could use onions, roughly diced, in place of mushrooms and that would make a more traditional hamburger steak). Cook those, stirring occasionally until they begin to turn that yummy darker brown color. While those are working, turn your attention to the meat.

Go ahead and dump the ground beef into a large mixing bowl. Add your egg and seasonings then mix with hands (yes, it's yucky, but to be honest, a spoon just won't cut it). Once that's combined, go ahead and add your onion and breadcrumbs. I must warn you, adding breadcrumbs is tricky, because you want just enough to make sure the patties stay together, but too much and they won't be moist and yummy. Go ahead and form your "steaks" and set aside.

After you wash your hands, go back to make sure you haven't burnt your mushrooms (or onions) and then add your red wine to deglaze the pan. Once that's finished, go ahead and add your gravy mix (or make it from scratch), following the instructions it gives. For more flavor, if it calls for water, use chicken or beef stock. You won't be able to truly tell, but you'll know that the gravy has a strong, more flavorful taste to it. Once your gravy is made, let it simmer on the back burner while you brown your steaks. 

For that, get another saucepan out (one big enough for however many steaks, unless you're doing like twelve) and spray that pan. Once it's gotten quite hot, put your patties and leave em. Go wash your hands, make a drink, and then come back and flip them. Just once. Once the second side is browned, go ahead and transfer the steaks into the gravy, nesting them at the bottom. Justin went ahead and used either a fork or a knife to poke holes in the patties in order for the gravy to really soak in. Once you've safely tucked them in the gravy, leave them simmering for about 15 to 20 minutes. In the meantime, clean up the mess you've made (trust me, there will be a mess), make another drink, and wait. 

It's not exactly a simple recipes as it has a good many steps and requires a lot more dishes than I like, but it's so down home yummy that it doesn't matter. Serve it over mashed potatoes with green beans and you've got yourself dinner that Granny would be proud of. This was probably one of my favorite things Justin has cooked so far. Give it a try!

Shoot, that was a long recipe. I'll be back soon for some exciting news! Until then, tell me what you're favorite down-home recipe is!

(the rant of) graduate school

So I'm sure you all saw my post from last Monday about just graduating and were like what the heck? (Or you just ignored it). Anyway, now that the dust has settled a little, I can explain without tearing up out of frustration. Now, where to begin?
I knew when I graduated from Mississippi State that I didn't want to attend grad school there. I needed to be closer to Justin and be able to work at Horne during the experience. So that left me with two options: Mississippi College or Millsaps. Though Dad used to work at Millsaps, it was just too expensive and, frankly, it looked too difficult. So MC it was. And I was excited. A new school, a good Christian university, this has to be a good experience, right? Wrong.
It all started when they put me in the wrong major. Well, that should have been a flag there. But I understand that paperwork gets messed up. It happens. But then when they lost my tuition payment, I started to get a little worried. Maybe these people don't have it all together... But the lady who found it (thank goodness) was super helpful and apologetic, so no worries. Made a B+ in the summer class, and looked forward to next semester. The only hurdle was the GMAT, and I made just high enough a score to not worry about it. Then came registration for fall. The MBA program at MC is geared towards full time working professionals, and so the entire process should be no-nonsense easy. Well shoot, it's not. First off, I couldn't get my PIN because of my adviser was on vacation. Seriously? During registration? Anyway, I got over that and eventually got it from his secretary. Then when I tried to sign up for my required courses, two were already full (awe hell) and the other two I needed stated I couldn't sign up because of a prerequisite. So I called. The women told me I should have gotten a letter stating that I needed such and such classes to continue. No such letter ever dawned my doorstep. By now, it's Tuesday in Clarksdale, and my stress level is taking on physical manifestations. So deep breathes. I email my adviser on the off chance he'll answer. And to my amazement, he does. And proceeds to explain to me that I need to take 6 undergraduate courses in order to get into the classes I need. And what's funny is they are the same courses that I took my senior year at MSU. The evil side of me wanted to email him back, and ask him how the heck I graduated from MSU with an accounting degree without taking these courses, but something held me back (thankfully). Eventually I got to where I signed up for (some of) my needed classes. Okay, good, classes are finished and now I can focus on financial aid. 
Well they took it to a whole other level there... So during the Spring, while I was preparing for the marvelous adventure of Graduate School, I applied for a scholarship through Broadmoor to help with the costs. I absolutely REFUSE to take out student loans, so figuring out how to pay for tuition became an obsession. Anyway, I received the scholarship of $500 a semseter from the church which is then supposedly going to be matched by MC. Little did I (we, as in Broadmoor) know that MC won't match graduate scholarships. That was the final answer I got. The first answer was that graduate students aren't allowed scholarships. Excuse me? I know very well that there is an MBA scholarship given to students by the school. When I brought this fact up to the lady on the phone, she proceeded to apologize and hang up. Seriously? Anyway. Needless to say, I am not getting my other half of the scholarship (even though there is NO WHERE on the website where that is written).  And even my MPACT money didn't go as far as it did at MSU. So we paid more than we thought they had to. And to be honest, we still never got a straight answer about the whole matching scholarship ordeal. I understand that this is a new school and things were going to be difficult at first, but MC is not really meeting my expectations as a friendly, Christian university. Oh well. I just paid tuition Sunday, and am hoping that they do not lose this amount of money like they did last time (especially since it's three times the amount), but I'm not holding my breathe. 
But anyway, classes start next week I think. I'm enrolled in three, and ordered my books Sunday. I'm going to try to go into this with a clear head and open mind. We'll see... (prayers are requested). 

twenty one days later

That title reminds me of that horror film. The one about the plague in London? Anyway, that has nothing to do with my challenge.
Hallelujah, it has been three weeks! I've survived, and (wait for it) have lost about five pounds! Seeing the 120's again on the scale was such a huge deal for me (ask Justin, I literally jumped for joy in the bathroom). How exciting is that?? If you don't remember what challenge I'm talking about it, here it is again.

I'm going to be honest with you and tell you that I did cheat. I had chocolate (only twice), biscuits, Zack's birthday cake, and fast food. Not to mention ice cream twice. But seriously, life happens and sometimes you need Chik-fil-a nuggets or vanilla ice cream at your grandmothers. In addition to this challenge, I tried to stay away from white starches (white rice, potatoes, that type of stuff) (that's excluding the grits from the last post). It wasn't terribly hard. Of course there were times when Justin was having creamy, yummy mashed potatoes and I sat there with just the meat and veggies of the meal, but I survived. And I feel like a better person for it.  The main thing I am proud to say is that I have only had one soft drink in the past month! Just one soda (and it was Coke Zero mixed with whiskey, so maybe it doesn't count as that terrible?). There was a few days where I would have traded my kidney for a coke zero, but then I'd fix some green tea and get over it. Other than that, there were no crazy cravings. I had to make sure that I wasn't terribly tempted at every meal, but making healthy decisions weren't that hard. Most days if I had to go out during lunch, there was a fruit option instead of chips, or at dinner a veggie option instead of a starch. And hopefully now, I won't go crazy and drink Coke Zeros like I use to and keep making the healthy choices. 
The biggest help though was the My Fitness Pal App on my phone. It kept me (almost) accountable, and made sure that I stayed within my calorie goal. I've been using it for about a month and a half, and I feel like it is a huge motivator when it comes to making food choices. Because who wants to pick up a chocolate chip muffin, only to record it and use up 500 calories on that one item? That was the way I thought about it, and it really did help. Plus you can use the website and customize what you want it to track (such as fat, carbs, sugar, sodium), and there are so many foods already logged in to make recording that much easier. And if you exercise, you can record that and it will give you those worked off calories back. And yes, I do consider walking up stairs for work as exercise (oh, the life of an accounting intern).  I have been slacking when it comes to running, but hopefully without traveling for work I will get back in the routine.
Anyway, I just wanted to see out the end of the challenge with y'all, and hopefully sharing my somewhat easy experience will motivate you to try and cut some junk food out. I'm off to drink a Coke Zero (just kidding!). I'll be back soon to tell you about my horrible graduate school experience last week and Justin and mine's mini vacation. Hope everyone had a great weekend :)