Our Upcoming Move!

The past two years, Brandon and I have lived in a small, one-bedroom apartment (see our first few posts for pictures). Our walls are cinderblock, our living room only accommodates four people comfortably, and Brandon's 'office' is a desk in a hallway. Still, we feel fortunate and content in our current situation and are appreciative that my job provides this space for us to live. The good news is that after putting in our time, we're able to move to a different building and a bigger apartment in May. We'll be moving to a two-bedroom apartment with a large living area, which is exciting to me because one of my favorite things to do is host company!

The news of our move is the biggest news we've had in a while. Other than this, our life remains the same - I'm still working at Belmont, Brandon is still writing music (and has had great opportunities), and we're still loving Nashville. God has blessed us with so much love for one another, our family, and friends.  We have so much joy and are so thankful for this wonderful life!

Our 'Very Interesting' Horseback Ride Experience

If you're a frequent visitor to this site, you know how much I love Living Social deals! Brandon and I have been fortunate enough to have so many fun experiences in Nashville due to the discounts offered on Living Social. This past weekend, we again used a deal purchased from Living Social to go on a private horseback ride. We were so excited because we thought this would be a fun date together. However, in hindsight, I'm not sure 'fun' is the word I would use to describe our trip - maybe 'interesting' is better??

To begin this story, I'll tell you that Brandon and I are probably considered beginners at horseback riding. I rode horses a bit growing up at various camps I attended and have gone for trail rides a few vacations in the past; Saturday was only Brandon's second time riding. Neither of us have had any formal training and  while we feel comfortable around horses, we are by NO means, equestrians. (At this point, you, as the reader, should consider what might be next in my story if I have to start it like this...lol). 

So, our horseback ride began and from the start my horse was stumbling around like it was tired or had a hurt hoof. Other than the occasional 'trip' from my horse (he never fell, but I felt like I was going to a time or two) the first leg of our trip wasn't bad. In the middle was when it started getting scary. It all began when it came time to cross a creek bed. There wasn't any water in the creek, but the banks were really steep. To help our horse descend and ascend the steep banks, the guide instructed Brandon and I to lean back on our horse and to hold the reigns tight. We did as we were instructed. The guide lead the way and her horse did exactly what it should have - but mine and Brandon's horses didn't follow the leader well at all. Instead of easing down and up the banks, they simply jumped the creek entirely....while we were leaning backwards. Now, if you've ever watched someone jump while riding a horse, you know that the rider always leans forward on the jump, so that the landing is cushioned by their tush. Because Brandon and I were leaning back, the impact of the landing went straight up every vertebrae of our spines and into our necks - OUCH! Days later, my spine is still slightly sore from this landing! To top things off (as if a surprise jump to untrained and unexpectant riders wasn't enough) as soon as our horses landed, they were spooked by the sound of a critter nearby and started running chaotically...UPHILL! I know you're probably thinking that I'm making this story up, but I promise, it is totally true!

Once we regained control of our horses, I made a comment to our guide that my horse seemed especially jumpy and was stumbling a lot more than it should be. Her response? That it was because it had me on it's back - as if I was a ton of bricks riding a horse that wasn't trained to carry people (many of whom are much bigger than me) horseback. No remorse whatsoever. No comment or apology about the jump (actually, she laughed when that happened). No sympathy for Brandon and I, who were both uncomfortable about what our unpredictable horses might do next. Little did we know that we should also be worried about what our guide might do next!

Brandon and I were thankful when we began to recognize our surroundings and realize we were close to the end of our nightmare of a horseback ride. We thought we had experienced the worst of the trip and we were finally on our way to getting two feet on the ground. This was all around the time that our guide said "Now, make sure your heels are down in your stirrups and remember that the magic word is 'stop'." Before Brandon or I could ask a question (like, "What the heck are you talking about, crazy?") our guide and her horse took off into a FULL gallop. Of course, this time our horses followed the leader and also took off running after the guide's horse. Again, let me reiterate that Brandon and I have NEVER had formal training to learn how to ride a horse, let alone ride a horse that is galloping! Luckily, the gallop made us get to the end of the trail even faster and I'm sure it goes without saying that Brandon and I were super excited to get off our horses!

While this experience was not what we expected (and a whole lot of what we never want to happen again), we wont allow this to be our last horseback ride. It will however, be our last ride for a while.

New Responsibility!

Brandon and I are so thankful to belong to a church we love in Nashville. We've attended Joy Church International in Mount Juliet, TN for a year now. Months ago, I mentioned in a post that Brandon and I have been involved in different areas of our church - now I have an exciting update about us serving! 

Brandon continues to serve our church in the audio and multimedia ministries and I have been serving as a helper in our nursery/preschool area. Official yesterday, I have stepped into the Assistant Coordinator role for the nursery/preschool area at JCI. It brings me so much joy to give back to my church family and God in this capacity! 

That's all for now - just a short post to update you about this great new opportunity in our life together! Hope all is well with you!

Getting Bikini Ready!

Brandon and I love summer - we love the sun, the heat, and the fun activities that come with summer, especially going to the pool. This summer, we're thankful that we will be able to travel to Myrtle Beach for a week in July. We've already started preparing for our trip by eating healthy and exercising. We want to be sure we're looking good on the beach in our swim suits!! 

To help me keep track of what I'm eating and ensure I'm cutting calories, I've started Weight Watchers. Keeping count of my Weight Watchers points has helped me tremendously! I've already lost almost ten pounds and I'm still going strong! As I mentioned in a post last week, I'm also working out 4-5 times a week. The diet/exercise combination has me feeling healthy and (almost) ready to put on my swim suit. 

Another helpful find I'm using to keep track of my calorie intake is an iPhone app, MyFitnessPal. This app is AMAZING! It's so easy to use - you simply enter the foods you're consuming at meals and it adds the calories for you. It also has a feature (that I LOVE!) to scan the barcode on food products so that you know exactly how many calories you're consuming. Another cool feature is that you can go to a screen that shows you the necessary fat, fiber, protein, and vitamins that you should consume each day and what percent you have eaten vs. how much you still need to eat. MyFitnessPal also has an option to enter your daily exercise and will tell you how many calories you burned. Overall, this app is awesome and I recommend it to anyone and everyone! Try using it for a few days - you'll be surprised how easily those calories add up without you knowing it. This app is great for keeping you on track with calorie control! And best of all, it's free! 

How are you preparing for summer? If you need an accountability partner in order to get in swim suit shape, let me know! 

Canoeing the Caney

In the (tardy) update I wrote last week, I mentioned that Brandon and I had gone canoeing recently. This was the first canoe trip that Brandon and I had ever taken together. We found an online deal through Living Social to canoe the Caney River and thought it would be a fun day activity (if you don't subscribe to Living Social, I strongly recommend it - they always have AWESOME deals on some pretty neat activities). We also convinced our great friends, Nicole and JL, to buy the deal too, so that we could enjoy this activity with good company. The four of us travelled about an hour east of Nashville to the Caney River on May 18th for our canoe trip. Thankfully, it was a very warm day - perfect for canoeing! We had a blast on our trip, although Brandon and I both agree that kayaking is a bit more fun because it's more active. Below are a few pictures from our trip.

That's Nicole and JL in the canoe - isn't this picture beautiful? 

Check out the fallen tree to the left of Brandon.
We saw a few fallen trees that day.

JL and Brandon love giving thumbs-up! 

Check out those stylish life jackets.
We didn't realize we could take them off until halfway through our trip.

We saw lots of herons flying around the river.

Nicole and I froze our toes off to get this picture - the water was 55 degrees!

Partying It Up (Thirty-One Style)!

I remember I mentioned in a post a long time ago that I had signed up to become a Thirty-One consultant. Then, today I realized that I never followed up to tell you how my little side business is going. Today's post will be all about my experience with Thirty-One - if you have any questions after reading the post about Thirty-One (hosting a party, placing an order, or becoming a consultant yourself), be sure to leave a comment and I'll get in touch with you directly.

I suppose the best place to start this story is at the beginning. I signed up to become a Thirty-One consultant in November 2011. I had heard of the company many times before (in fact, I was a frequent customer) and had talked with quite a few consultants about their own experience before deciding to become a consultant myself. I was hesitant to join Thirty-One, because I've heard many horror stories of people who have joined direct sales companies, but everything I heard from the Thirty-One consultants I spoke with was positive- they assured me that Thirty-One was a great company and operated with integrity. They also shared with me that Thirty-One is founded on Christian principles (Thirty-One was named for the Proverbs Thirty-One woman). After much consideration, I decided I could at least try being a consultant to see how I liked it. I've been an active Thirty-One consultant for about six months now and have loved the experience!

I originally joined the company in order to meet women in Nashville & that is still my goal with this endeavor. I want to do my best to make Nashville feel like home and realize that a big part of doing this is to establish friendships in the city. Thankfully, I've been able to meet many wonderful women, some fellow consultants and others customers, and have established great relationships with a few of them.

While meeting people was my motivation to join the Thirty-One team, I've experienced many other wonderful outcomes from being a Thirty-One consultant. I now have an AWESOME collection of Thirty-One products, an income that has given Brandon and I a little extra spending money, and a hobby that I enjoy that gives me a break from my work at Belmont.

I would strongly recommend the opportunity of becoming a Thirty-One consultant to anyone. I've had a lot of fun in my experience as a consultant - it's also been rewarding for me in many ways. I'll be the first to understand any hesitations about this endeavor (I was there not too long ago), but the only way to know if you'll like it or not, is to try it!

If you'd like to check-out a current Thirty-One catalog, you can do so at my personal Thirty-One site: www.mythirtyone.com/SMatias. As I stated before, if you have any questions/comments about Thirty-One, let me know. I'd be happy to answer them for you! Have a great day everyone! 

Memories...

The past few weeks I've been exercising a lot with my close friends, Nicole and Crystal. We'll go for a 'run' that usually consists of a mixture of walking and running. We'll set goals for ourselves, such as running for five minutes, then walking for a few minutes before we run for five minutes again. Often during the time that we run, we exclaim how slow the time goes - it feels like we've been running for ten minutes and it's only been three. Then, the opposite happens during the time that we walk - we want to keep walking, but before we know it, the time has come to run again. Isn't it funny how fast time goes when we're doing something that we enjoy?

I say all this for two reasons - one, because I'm really proud of the persistence my two friends and I have had the past few weeks to get into shape. We've all lost weight and are feeling super healthy! The second reason is because I thought this story would fit perfectly into the topic of this post about memories.

If you've spent any time with me, you know that I don't often go places without my camera. I love capturing moments in life so that I can look back and remember them later. It brings me so much joy to reflect on the many wonderful moments I've been blessed to experience. A few days ago I happened to look through old pictures on my computer and came across a few from mine and Brandon's engagement/wedding. I've included a few below so that you can share in those memories too.

This picture was taken the night Brandon proposed.
I had a hair appointment that day that went terribly wrong, hence the VERY red hair color. 

Wedding dress shopping. Which one do you think I picked?

This picture was taken at our wedding shower. Only a few months before the big day!

Photos from the best day of our lives (thanks to Erika Photography)! 

At this point of the post, you might be wondering how I'm going to tie my running story to our marriage...if you are, wonder no more because I'm about to make the connection! Brandon and I have been married for two and half years now and the time has flown by! I suppose it's because it's similar to the portions of my exercise when I get to walk. You see, I think my friends and I enjoy the walking part so much because it's easy and comes naturally. It's also refreshing and gives us time to catch our breath and become re-energized before running again. During our walking time, we have the chance to have quality conversations and deepen our friendships with one another.

I feel that the same is true for my marriage to Brandon. Brandon is my best friend - I love him with all my heart and the past few years of being married to him has been amazing. I feel more myself when I am with him than without, and I am rejuvenated by our time together. I can get up and face the day of work ahead because I know I get to come home to him at night. Our marriage has made our friendship grow even stronger than I ever knew possible. And maybe this is why the past two and half years of my life has gone by so fast - because I'm truly enjoying it with my husband.

Today, I've had the chance to remember so many great moments in my life. I encourage you to take the time to do the same yourself. Go home and pull out old photos and allow them to take you back. Sometimes, a little reminiscing does the soul good. I hope whatever moments you remember are happy, and that the future holds even happier moments for you!