Herron to Rivera

January 25, 2014 Fair Warning: This is a post full of 2 year old memories because two silly little not-so-long-ago years ago (as of yesterday) was our trip to New York City (my 4th time, Robert's first) to visit my sister. Or so I thought. We had made plans the previous fall (Hey let's go to New York he said. Lets see your sister he said) to visit so that way we could experience the city together AND also get to see my sister, since she was at West Point at the time, which is only about an hour's train ride outside of the city. So we made the plans! And surprise! For Christmas, Robert surprised both my sister and I with 10th row tickets to see Luke Bryan at Madison Square Garden, so to say we were beyond excited was an understatement.  Ah New York. It really is THE coolest city, and it's exactly like you see it on TV. It's hard to imagine living a life like that: hustle and bustle every day to work, catching cabs to get places, or most (like us) just walking

Happy Monday, y'all! Just kidding, there's never really anything happy about a Monday. Especially after a weekend at the casino-which is how we spent ours. We are fortunate to have friends that actually want to celebrate such a milestone as turning  the big 3-0, and what better way to celebrate than letting the chips fall where they may (hoping it's on 13 Black or 5 Red) and hitting the jackpot!  I'm talking Shreveport y'all-a short hop, skip, and a jump out of town right on the Red River. Where the casino never sleeps, the smoke never clears, and the drinks never stop. I'm not much of a gambler myself, but with a great group of friends it was a blast! I was able to enjoy other people winning without losing a buck myself! Win win if you ask me. Throw in a 3 hour private room dinner (ooo we fancy), several hilarious unexpected snap chats (not mine since I'm old and don't understand snap chat), and a chocolate birthday cake and I'm all set! 

Whew. What a week! Work has been so busy lately that making it to Friday is always so much sweeter. Time to catch up on sleep, rest my eyes-oh wait we have a weekend at the casino so no rest for the weary (at least this weekend!). I, however, get by with a little help from these confessions: I confess that I love caesar salad more than I know it should, since it's so "bad" for you, but I could eat it everyday if I had the choice (and unlimited supply of romain leaves and dressing). I confess that I have an irrational fear of the oven door snapping up whenever I'm reaching in, even though I know it's not made that way. I have to hold it down with one hand and grab with the other. Makes for a humorous time when its a heavy pan and my poor left hand can't lift it up by itself. I confess, out of sight out of mind I say! If I can't see the Girl Scout cookies I won't eat them. If I can't see bell pepper and onions then I can eat them in m

For those of who may not now, my sister is a graduate of the United States Military Academy, aka West Point, aka the Army. That pretty much means she's a badass and can kick your ass, respectively. All kidding aside, I'm extremely proud of her and everything that she's been through the past 5 years to get to that point. We had the awesome opportunity to re-visit New York back in May for her graduation, which you can read about that here.  Now my little baby Second Lieutenant of a sister is jumping out of airplanes at Airborne school like it's nobody's business. In case you don't recognize what that means, take a look:   To get to the good stuff, go ahead a skip to about 9 minutes in. Ready or not, it's your time to go!  So that's what she's doing. Right now. Any second. Today is the actual day that she is doing what's in the video. Be right back while I go re-evaluate my desk job and learn some meaning to life. Love you Mal

Sadly another weekend has come and gone and it's the dreaded M word. The least favorite day of the week. We spent ours cozied up inside and staying warm. Right now we are on a movie kick the past couple of weeks: Star Wars Episodes 4-6, the new Star Wars (in my case), The Big Short, Concussion, Creed, Straight Outta Compton. Recommend all of them, for a different array of reasons. But because my brain is still on weekend mode, currently I'm: Loving: fuzzy pajama pants all day everyday. Which was the majority of the weekend. as previously mentioned. Trying new recipes (thrown together crock pot lasagna and strawberry banana blender muffins). My pumpkin vanilla candle that still has a little bit left in it from the Fall.  Watching: Teen Witch. Soo 80's, but I used to love this movie! I'm also slightly obsessed with the new Shannara Chronicles on MTV, the return of Teen Mom, Pretty Little Liars (5 years later!), and the Challenge. (RIP Diem *tear*). Basically reality

Yasssss, we made it! Happy  Friday ! Hello Weekend! Hallelujah! To follow up on my earlier post about getting started with your fitness journey are a couple of things that don't necessarily make things easier, but they sure do help! One of those being music. Having a playlist when you're working or running helps make the time go by faster and also gets you in the rhythm. I'm pretty hit or miss with music-I can go run outside without head phones and be perfectly fine (really the worrier in me just wants to be able to hear anything just in case), but on the treadmill is where I can lose focus. I need something that kees me going, so I put together a few of my top kick-ass songs to workout to: Alive-Sia. My newest fave. This song is so perfect to run to and has an awesome build up. When it hits that main chorus I feel like punching the air! I can do anything with this song on! And then I hit replay :)  Untouched-The Veronicas . This has been a long time fave, stemming

...Robert's my witness, for the most part. It's coming up on mid-January, and that means the newly joined fitness club members are in full force. Don't quit yet! As a self proclaimed "gym rat" (not to be confused with fitness expert or obsessive gym girl), I know the frustration all the normals are going through right now with the new attendees taking up their spot, but at the end of the day they are only there to start a better life, and you can't stay mad at that!  I love going to the gym. I'm not there everyday, but it's a great place to get away from normal day to day life and just focus on myself. I feel my best right after I've just kicked ass, but that's just me. I was basically born an athlete, so I've put together a couple of things that I think could help anyone get started! Ready? Get 'er done! - Start. That's the hardest part, right? Making a change and physically acting on that change instead of

Ahh sweet New Years. The time to reflect on what an awesome, trying, beautiful, stressful, lucky, hard  adultting  life is. Thinking back, I did post about what I wanted to accomplish for 2015 -before our wedding, honeymoon, and all that jazz. As far as sticking to my resolutions I give myself a B Grade. Always room for improvement in every aspect, I say! Throwback to last year's 2014 to 2015.   Time really does just seem to fly by in the blink of an eye, so I've recently become inspired to maximize the time that I have. I love to read-anyone that knows me can tell you that. I almost always have a book on my night stand or in my car. But at the same time I'm stuck in my ways. Most of the time I'd rather re-read a book or series that I've read a bajillion times already vs having to find something new and out of my comfort zone (Harry, Ron, and Hermione I'm talking to you, and I already miss you guys!). So something I'd like to accomplish this year is to

Ahh, we made it! Finally to Friday! The first of the New Year (minus New Year's Day). I tried to mentally calculate how many more Fridays there are until next Christmas, and then I tried to Google it instead when that didn't work and found I didn't even have the brain cells to accomplish that, so I for one am super PUMPED that it's the weekend because my brain be FRIED! I can't even think straight, much less put together anything that makes sense at this point, which is why the following sentences are random:  Sometimes Usually when I lay on my side and am reading or on my phone, my eye will leak and it looks like I'm crying but I'm really not. I'm just leaky Post First Monday inspiration hit hardcore Saturday night. Probably the main cause for our pecan dinner as well. Can't wait to see finished product!  I received a onesie for Christmas and legit spent all of New Year's Day (and then some) in it already. I highly recomme

In an attempt to stay up to date with blogging (meaning blogging more than once a month), I figured involving Robert would be a fun way to keep things interesting. He's my best friend, and my number one, and most of the time all of my experiences are with him, so it's only natural he gets to have some fun too. I now present, the boy (aka husband, partner, baby cakes) behind the blog, New Year's Edition. My responses to his answers are [in these cool things] : What are you looking forward to this upcoming year? Spending more time with family and friends along with seeing the Mean Green go to a bowl game.  [Okay, so it's a given that we will obviously make time with family and friends because it's one of our most favorite things to do, but let's not jinx our North Texas football juuuuust yet. We JUST got a new coach, but I do have to admit that I do have high hopes for the Fall. 1 win is just not enough for this tailgating family!] What was your fa

Ooo wee one of my favorite things about visiting Mississippi is visiting my Memaw and Papaw's house, which always smells so yummy with no distinct "flavor" to account for. It just smells like Memaw's house, and I LOVE IT! In between shoving my mouth full of home cooked deliciousness was an education opportunity (and a recipe to add to my nifty bride recipe box!). Normally I am not one for "snacks"-I go straight for the fudge and cakes, but this year I actually paid attention to the surroundings and got to enjoy the most simplest of simple snacks to make-PECANS. Actually, I think my grandpa had just not gotten around to eating all of the pecans yet while we were there, so we were able do snag some delicious enjoyment during our Bingo and Mexican Train games.  Annnnnnnndddd we were surprised this past weekend with a wee small bag of freshly picked pecans for ourselves so it was fate, and I made pecans for dinner Saturday night!  Here's what you n

2016!! I am so proud, grateful, appreciative, blessed, lucky, motivated, and so on and so on for this life that I am living and able to live. I thank God and the whole world and all my lucky stars every single day that I get to wake up and do it all again. Cheers to you, 2016! Life may be flying by and by no means is my life perfect, but my main focus is to live everyday to the fullest and be the kindest and best version of myself, always.  Happy New Year, ya filthy animals! <3

Texas->Arkansas->Tennessee->Mississippi!   As tedious as it is to drive (we are crazy), it's always so much fun when the whole family gets together and we get to see everyone on both sides. It's harder and harder as adults (ewwww adults? Who has time for that?!) to fit in work schedules and such to get everyone together, but we do what we can! From green bean casserole (my fave!) to homemade fudge (also my fave!) to strawberry pretzel pie (is that what it is called? Also my super fave!), the list goes on an on. Memaw does not disappoint, and I can only hope that I represent her cooking gene that was passed down to me (we think so at least), with flying colors. Her food is unbelievable. Go Meems! Also making an appearance was the traditional B-I-N-G-O games, and then countless hours of Mexican Train , which I am happy to brag that I am, ahem, the standing 3 time champion. We also were gifted with such an amazing invention I mean selfie stick, which will be thoroug