July 20, 2015 by Stephanie

10 Dream Destinations

I love traveling to new places and exploring the culture (mostly the food) in these cities.

I have been out of the country one time in my life, and that was to the British Virgin Islands. And while I would go back in a heartbeat (Seriously, someone want to fund my way to those wonderful beaches?), I have many other places on my dream list that I have never seen.

Hopefully someday these will become a reality (when I invent some new academic success strategy and become rich).

Who wants to come with me to…?

Ireland

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The land of my people. Seriously, where do you think the name “Glinn” came from? Also who wouldn’t want to go to a place that is green and where castle are abundant? And then there is the beer.

Maldives Islands

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I am fairly certain in another life I was a mermaid so the ocean is where my heart is. (And I live landlocked in Missouri…) This place just looks so serene and wonderful. I want to be in one of those bungalows until I die.

Jamaica

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I am telling you I am meant to be in the water, on the water, near the water. Bath tubs don’t count. I know a lot of people who have gone to Jamaica and have loved it. Yes please.

Dubrovnik, Croatia

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I mean seriously. Every picture I have seen of this city makes me drool in anticipation. The food makes me drool too.

Thailand

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I want to go to A LOT of places in Thailand. This is a hotel advertisement for the Four Seasons where they have elephants roaming the property. Enough said, take me there. But honestly, the food, the animals, the scenery is just all amazingly beautiful there that this country is high on my list of must dos.

Jumby Bay, Antigua

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I feel like I should be on the set of the Bachelor here. So obviously this would be for just Tom and I. Sorry George! (not that I would necessarily bring him along the others though.) Beach and fruity drinks by candlelight and torches, OK!

South Africa

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I couldn’t narrow it down to just one city in South Africa. Honestly, I really want to spend a whole summer there. So many things I want to see and experience. The animals are really what are drawing me there, mostly the elephants. This is definitely a place that I would have to take some considerable amount of time off to make the most of it. Just breathtaking.

New Zealand

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Friends, New Zealand has bumped Australia off my list. Gasp, I know. (But seriously Lost did that for me. Who wants to disappear on a plane because of Australia?) I want to live in New Zealand. It is everything.

Santorini, Greece

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There is just something magical about this place with the contrasting colors. I need to see it in person, pronto. And Tom and I are really into Greek food currently so that means the food is pulling me there.

Switzerland

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The chocolate is calling me here let’s be real. And the views don’t hurt my eyes. This place just looks so relaxing and delightful.

So that is a brief look at my travel dreams. There are many other places I would love to go. Clearly if there are beaches or elephants, I must go.

What places are on your bucket list? Are you going to any of these (and can I go in your suitcase)?

July 17, 2015 by Stephanie

On My Reading List

Summers have always been a time for me to dive into many many books. I was that kid who lived for the day we would go to the library each week to check out more books than I could conceivably handle. There were also free books you could get with turning in your summer reading lists, and I took FULL advantage of this program. I was working my way to having Belle’s library.

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So that drive to read during the summer months has been years in the making. Now that I have the most wonderful porch to read on at our new house, I have a feeling that many summer nights will be spent out there. Also there may or may not be a reading nook planned in the basement…

Currently I am reading two books. I have one at work that I read during my lunch break if I don’t have lunch plans. The other is my at-home book. The books open on my shelf right now are Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult and I Shall Be Near To You by Erin Lindsay McCabe.

These are books that are up next on my reading list:

Through Waters Deep by Sarah Sundin-historical fiction during the Civil War (Historical Fiction is my favorite type of book)
The Book Thief by Mark Zusack-historical fiction during WWII
Raging Heat by Richard Castle-mystery/crime/romance (I have read the first 5 in the series, and I love the show Castle!)
The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen– YA and romance, what could be better? (I have never actually read Sarah Dessen’s books, but I loved her blog.)
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell-another YA because I can.
The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent-historical fiction on the Salem Witch trials
Yes Please! by Amy Poehler-I don’t normally go for memoirs but it’s Amy Poehler
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn-I know I am way behind the times…
Divergent Series by Veronica Roth-again trying to catch up with the rest of the world
Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham-Lorelei Gilmore wrote a book? Get on my shelf!

I may or may not read them in this order or have other books added along the way.

Do you have any historical fiction authors I must check out? (John Jakes and John Steinbeck are my favorites.) What other fad books do I need to catch up on?

July 15, 2015 by Stephanie

Fit for Me 28/52

What I did last week:

Thursday-30 minute training run.

Sunday-30 minute training run. Oh mylanta, it was H.O.T. WARM. Sundays are supposed to be my longer runs, but I decided to switch it for a shorter run because it was so blasted hot outside. I still managed to whip all the time out even though I thought I was running through fire.

Tuesday-45 minute training run.

Impressed by:

Guys. I have accomplished the hills. With this training style of running so many minutes, I inevitably cannot walk up the hills all the time. There are so many hills around our house, so I am bound to hit one during the run time. And I am conquering them…albeit slowly, but still. I really wanted to make this happen this week since we are moving. It was my goal to accomplish the hills before the summer was out. Done!

Struggled with:

While I have been doing awesome completing my runs, I haven’t been doing any cross training. I definitely want to beef that up now that I am a few weeks into my training cycle.

Did I meet my goal from last week?

My goal was to make it to a workout class at the gym. Since we went to KC on Saturday that meant I could not go to my normal class on Saturday morning. Oh life.

What is my goal for next week?

We are going to be cancelling our gym membership here in a few weeks due to moving 20 minutes away, so I want to take full advantage of the classes before we do that. I think with our moving schedule, I can make two cross training classes in the upcoming week.

Fitness Thoughts:

Moving should be considered a workout. That is all.

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Do you run in the heat?

July 13, 2015 by Stephanie

8 Years in the Making

To be a little sentimental, eight years ago today Tom asked me to be his girlfriend.

And today, we will be closing on our very first house to call our very own. We are going to be HOMEOWNERS!

So much has changed in the past eight years.

We have lived in three apartments together, but have never moved in at the same time.

We have traveled all over the country and made residence in three different states.

We both graduated college, and each have had several jobs in the eight year stretch.

We dated for four years, and have been married for four years.

We have two crazy dogs.

And one wonderfully perfect baby boy.

Today, eight years later, we get the keys to the place George will grow up in. We can finally settle down after years of moving.

So I thought it would be fun to interview Tom and see his thoughts on a few things. I saw a few other bloggers do this, and I thought today was the perfect opportunity to see his responses. I pulled some questions from Chelsea and Melissa, and created some of my own. (Tom also insisted I ask some serious questions after some of the fluff.)

My responses/thoughts are italicized.

What’s the name of my blog?

Finding My Yellow? Are you just making sure I knew it? Blog, that’s the name of your blog.

What do I normally blog about?

Your life? What are these questions?

What was my first car?

Red Chevy blazer.
Nope. It’s was a Jimmy.
That’s the same thing. They were made on the same production line. You can’t dig me for that one because remember how many times I fixed that thing.
You would think for the amount of times you fixed it you would remember it.

What’s your proudest moment of our marriage?

Either George or the day you graduated Clemson.
We weren’t married yet when I graduated.
Hell I consider the last 8 years our marriage. Did you feel any different the day before we got married then the day after?
No.
There you go. I am also proud that you can deal with this (as he puts on his duty gear for work). A lot of people don’t watch their husbands put on a bullet proof vest as they go to work and deal with it as well as you do. That’s not normal or something a husband does every day.
Then we went off script and talked about the different dangers of law enforcement and the Army.

What jewelry do I wear on a normal day?

Earrings, wedding ring, Clemson ring.
Correct, but I also wear a watch.
That’s not jewelry. You use it to tell time, not to be pretty.
False. Am I right ladies?

What items are in my purse?

I don’t know. (The rest of his answer was wildly inappropriate.)
Wait you never use your purse. You always use your work bag or the diaper bag.
Life of a working mom, yep.

What is my favorite food?

It’s a daily thing for you. Beef mac? Cheese rolls at red lobster…Rueben.
He is right about it being a daily choice, but my go to will always be Mac and Cheese.

What is my favorite T.V. show?

Anything with teenagers and vampires.
I don’t watch anything with vampires.
Riiiight…You are addicted to the Bachelorette, Boy Meets World, lots of trashy TV.
The correct answer would have been Castle, but in his defense I do watch a lot of bad TV.

What’s an acceptable amount to pay for a dress?

What’s the dress for? Depends on what the occasion is?
Wedding dress there wouldn’t be a limit. On a normal day, a hundred bucks? (I laughed because I hardly spend over 30 bucks on a dress) Oh I shouldn’t have said that should I?
I just spent 12 dollars on a dress.
Ok well I want you to know that now if you do spend that much on a dress, I can spend that much on tools.

What are some of my favorite activities?

He said something dirty first-typical Tom answer.
Running, photography, watching trashy tv, blogging, you like live events like concerts and stuff.
Pretty spot on.

If I could travel anywhere, where would it be?

You would go on a cruise, probably somewhere like the Bahamas.
True.

Where did we go on our second date?

The zoo, duh.
It’s still probably one of my favorite dates.

What is your favorite quality of mine?

You are hopeful. (Then he went into a monologue about how he would view the world if we weren’t together, which I will spare you all from that.)

What am I looking forward to in our new house?

Comparatively, storage space. An air conditioner that works. A dish washer that works. A laundry room that isn’t an abyss for baby socks. And a kitchen that isn’t the size of a closet. A yard of any kind. Not wasting 750 a month on rent.
Yep to all that. And to be able to decorate our own space for real.

How did you know that I was the one?

I think if I could answer that question, then it probably wouldn’t mean very much. You just kind of know.

Is there anything you would like to share with my readers?

(Goofy grin.) You are not a good apologizer.
Sadly this is true.

Tom was really upset there weren’t more serious questions. Haha I think people (myself included) forget that Tom has a serious side because he is always goofing around. He surprises me all the time when he finally lets down his guard. But once you get past that facade, he is pretty sentimental and has some pretty serious and awesomely profound things to say.

Tom, I am so happy we decided to do life together. Now carry me over that threshold, and let’s make this place our home!

July 10, 2015 by Stephanie

Recent Reads

In the last couple weeks, I finished two books. This is momentous for me to be reading like this after the last year rut.

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I rated this 3 stars. It was an extremely easy read, and it was jam packed with insider Bachelornation information. This was honestly the reason I got the book. I wanted to know all the secrets. Sean is easily my favorite Bachelor from the show too. I did find it really interesting to hear his personal thoughts on his love story and how he made decisions. I have been watching this show since Trista’s season (she was the first Bachelorette), so I am obviously hooked on the franchise. I am also pretty naive, so I found it fascinating to read how much is staged in the show. (Duh Stephanie.) If you are a Bachelor fan, this is a fun read to get behind the scenes.

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I gave this book 4 stars. I really loved this book. It is a non-fiction book written like a fiction novel. The first half of the book follows the Mercury Seven wives, who are the first group of Astronauts here in the United States. These women were catapulted from fame during the early 60s known as the perfect housewives. They received a contract from Life magazine and were followed around during each mission. These women were supposed to be perfect, but there are so many hard emotions that come along with husbands being gone and being in a dangerous and unknown career. This book allowed them to open up about those darker emotions that they could not show in those earlier years. It portrayed the rawness of how marriages suffered amongst the expectations and competition. But it also showed how these women became friends and were support for one another when their husbands went up (and came down or never returned in some cases). I would have given it a 5 star because I honestly did love it, however the last half of the book was not as good as the first half. Towards the middle of the book, Koppel also wrote about the Gemini and Apollo missions which had several new groups of wives. I felt like she went into much greater detail about the Mercury Seven, and then zipped through the rest of the groups so quickly that sometimes it was hard to keep track of who she was talking about. All in all, I highly recommend this read. It was really interesting to read about this perspective of the space missions. And now I can go watch the TV show.

What have you been reading lately? Do you read more than one book at a time?