Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Yes, I know it's a day late, but everyone else probably wrote the post yesterday and you were overwhelmed.  So, I decided to send out my greetings a day late.

First, I want to say that I have enjoyed having you as readers.  Some send me comments and some are pretty quiet.  

Next, we're going to HOPEFULLY be doing random acts of kindness all through the year.  I did this last year, but didn't post about it.  I've really enjoyed doing the random acts of kindness, and really it's not that hard.  

I'm also doing my Reverse Money Challenge this year.  I've already put away the funds for January, since I only get paid once a month.  (You can change it to when you get paid)

I'm going to be really busy this year as I'm headed back to school.  I can't wait!! I LOVE learning!  I'm going to have two classes with Mike so that I can help him with the studying.  There's nothing a wife wouldn't do for her husband to help him succeed.  (Besides...I need the classes for my degree also!)

It doesn't seem real that I'm going to be going back to school and finishing my degree.  It seems like, every time I've tried to complete it, life gets in the way.  Now, we're pretty settled as a family and barring any unforeseen incidents, I should be done in a couple of years.  

I also plan on keeping up with my blog more...I know I know...I've said this before.  But this time I MEAN IT!!!

And now, for you to keep me on track.  A couple of New Year's Resolutions!  

1.  Complete the Reverse Money Challenge

2.  Run a 5K.  This one is going to be tough because I have asthma and the running always makes me wheeze.  But with an inhaler, I will do it!!

3.  Keep up with Money Saver Marci A lot of you have asked me how I get the gift cards and credits that I get and that is where you will find all the deals, coupons, and money/point earning sites that I use.  

4.  Make it to a blogging conference.  This is my big goal because then, in my eyes, my blog is something...LOL.

These are the main resolutions.  I have more, but they tie into these, so I'm not going to list them.  BUT, I will be posting about my weight loss and healthy living changes.  And with this comes a photo that I'm not very proud of.

This is me in my exercise outfit.  This woman will not be standing here one year from now!  It's time for a change.  It's time to start living healthier!!

So, now that I've told you my New Year's Resolutions, what are your's?  Do they involve exercise?  Weight loss?  Saving money?  If so, hang out with me while I do all these things this year!

Adventures at Belk Bowl

So, I won a trip on twitter.  From Belk, to enjoy the Belk Bowl.  Yeah, I'm having FUN!

Yesterday.

It started out horrible as there was some very loud people across the hall at our hotel that woke me up at 0230.  I couldn't get back to sleep.

Around 1000 Mike and I decided to head to the stadium for our adventures.  And, boy did we have fun.  

Without further adieu I will show you a lot of pics that I took and update more later.

BUT, first...I would like to say "HI" to all my new followers!! HIYAS! And, second...there will be a more detailed post coming this week.  

 This is how our day started.

 Such wonderful people at this hotel!

 Mike and I (along with Belkie) in the lobby of the hotel!

 Mike and Belkie in front of the fountain outside the hotel.

 One of Charlotte's police officers was kind enough to pose with Belkie.

 It's Belkie, with Belkie!!

 Yes, we met the president of Haggar

.  

 Blake Shelton!!!!!

 Inside the tunnel getting ready to go ON THE FIELD!

 We were this close to the football players during pregame!

 What an AWESOME experience.

 Yes, I had to get this pic!  Just too coolies!

Oh, I soooo told Mike that I was putting this one on my blog.  He actually had a GREAT time and posed for a lot of pictures. I'm so proud of my husband!

 Belkie was having so much fun!

 We don't get too many good pictures of us, and I LOVE this one!

 I ran into both of the Mister's Belk on the field!  They're awesome people!

 This wonderful lady sang the National Anthem beautifully!

After a VERY long day, we're back at the hotel relaxing.

There will be another post of the adventures of Belkie, because he had a great time also.  

I want to say a special Thank You to all the wonderful people at Belk for this trip.  Especially Ruthie, Tigi and April.  Also, the wonderful staff at The Westin Charlotte for exceptional service.  

Christmas Shopping in Texas

Most of my friends and fans are saying it's cold outside.  

Yesterday, we were experiencing severe weather.

Like...Tornado weather!

That didn't bother Mike.  He told me, let's go eat something so we can do Christmas shopping.

Now, when Mike says shopping, I jump at the chance.  He would rather do ANYTHING before going shopping.

Like.  Anything.

So, we went to the Lufkin Mall.  It's not big, but hey, it's what we have in this itty bitty town.

We go into one store and I see it started raining again, so I say "lets go and look at something else", you know...to try to kill time until the rain stops.

The problem with that was...we had already bought the gifts we needed to get.

So, Mike said lets go look at those earrings again that we looked at last week.

Hey, the man is buying me JEWELRY...I'm not saying NO!

We head down to the store, talk to the same associate that we talked to last week.

He remembered us but couldn't exactly remember where the earrings were.  

Sooooo...we're looking.

We've got it narrowed down to a few different pair, and we're comparing them.  

All of a sudden, all three of use notice that the wind is picking up and the rain is coming down harder.

Now, we live in East Texas.  When there is a severe storm warning, everyone usually just goes about their business because we get severe storms ALL THE TIME.  No biggie right?

NOT!

Right after we said that the wind was picking up, it got really windy.  Like, shaking the ceiling windows windy.  Right above the Santa picture area.

The associate tells us to come into the store at that time because we were on the outside part of the display, which was on the corner of the store.  He quickly locked the earrings up again, and ushered us into the store.  Right at that time, the lights went out and the wind really rattled everything.  Everyone was running into the stores and away from those windows.  

I've never been shopping during severe weather, and I wasn't really scared...though the little kids that ran into the store with their parents were.  So, Mike and I did what we do best (apparently), we started asking the kids questions about anything to get their minds off of being scared.  There was a little girl with reindeer antlers and a kitty cat shirt on that we just started asking her questions about her antlers and shirt.  Her parents looked at us with that profound look of "THANK YOU"!!

It was over in a few minutes.  It was a shopping trip I will never forget.  And that little girl probably won't forget it either.  But, I got my Christmas present.  Yeah, I know it's not Christmas yet, but when you're there while it's being bought from your husband, you really don't want to wait!  Especially with these pretty earrings.  OMG they're so sparkly!!! LOL  

I Still Believe in Good People!

OK, I'm scatterbrained.  I have scatterbrained friends.  I have a scatterbrained husband...well...his is because of his TBI, but that's another story!

Anyway, one of my incredibly scatterbrained friends did something, well, scatterbrained, the other day.

She LEFT her iPad at McDonald's!

And, thank goodness for honest people.

Because, soon after she left it there, this flooded all of her friends' timeline on Facebook:

Yes, they didn't know who it belonged to, so what they did was post a message on the Facebook account that was signed on.  Needless to say, friends tried to text her, but she didn't answer.  She had put her phone away...LOL.  So, her friends did the next best thing, they texted her teen, who then comes in the room asking her where is her iPad?  (Doesn't this sound like something a parent would do?)

Needless to say, she got her iPad back, and the gentleman that found her iPad is an angel.  As my friend said on her page, times are tight...he could easily have sold that iPad, but instead did the honest thing.  

When you are faced with a decision like this, what would you have done?  Honestly?

I'm always doing "random acts of kindness" and I love to hear about others doing the same thing.

So, even with everything else going on...I still believe there are good people in this world.