Encouraging & Inspiring Quotes, Pinterest Style..

Good afternoon!  I hope you are having a great Wednesday.  If you need a little encouragement and inspiration to get you through the rest of the day, hopefully the quotes I share with you today will do just that!  I'm linking up with The Vintage Apple for Oh, how Pinteresting!

 

I will admit that I definitely need a little pick me up today.  For reasons I still can't pinpoint, life has been a little bumpy lately.  Yes, we just finished up with a big move into our new home and I'm loving it.  No complaints there for sure, but my overall attitude lately and outlook on things has been losing it's shimmer.  So, not only will this post be to encourage you, but also me as well!  Here's to wishing us all a wonderful afternoon!

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Be blessed!

This Weekend I and the winner of the Erin Condren Giveaway....

Hi there friends.  I hope your week has started off well!  It was beautiful here this weekend and then I woke up this morning and it's freezing!  Obviously, the sunshine disregarded my letter on Friday.  Before I share my weekend with you, I wanted to announce the winner of the Erin Condren Giveaway! 

The winner of the giveaway is Amanda Hays. You will be receiving an email with your code for $25 to use on the Erin Condren website. Enjoy!  Thank you all again for participating and I hope you've found a new product to love and adore!  Also, a big thanks again to Erin Condren for partnering with me!

Now on to the weekend.  I decided to link up with Sarah today, over at Life of Love for This Weekend I....

 

 

This weekend I, started off Friday night by doing 3 loads of laundry.  Thankfully, our washer and dryer worked wonderfully! This is the first time we've used them since moving into our new house.  I was blessed by a dear friend and purchased them from her right before we moved.  It definitely allowed Nick and I to save some money and not have to purchase 2 new appliances!  Nick, bless his heart, did yard work Friday night right after he came home from work.  Friday night, we ate leftover Mexican food and then watched this movie that we rented from our local library:

 

Rabbit Hole

 

 

This 2010 movie stars Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart and Dianne Wiest.  The movie is about how a couple navigates life after their son dies.  It's definitely moving and emotionally heavy, but I really enjoyed it.  I definitely suggest renting it when you get the chance.

This weekend, I spent a lot of time preparing for Nick and I to do Take the 10 day Pledge as seen on the blog, 100DaysofRealFood.

 

I had been collecting recipes and had done some price comparison shopping over about a 2 week period to prepare.  I spent this weekend, finalizing what we would eat, shopping for groceries and fixing some items for meals.  It was enjoyable, but time consuming.  I can't wait to share more about this journey with you all.  It starts tomorrow!

 

This weekend, I also went with my husband and friends to see The Great Gatsby.  I highly recommend it.  My husband made the comment that he felt like it was just one big music video, but I really liked it.  I definitely think it's more of a "chick flick".  I loved the overall plot, the costumes, the music and the actors and actresses. 

 

 

This weekend, I even got to spend time with my mom and Nick's mom for Mother's Day!  We took our mom's out to eat at Nantucket Grill.  The food was delicious, though than ran out of their yummy rolls.  My mom then spent the night and helped us decorate the house some more.  I can't wait to share before and after photos of our home with you all this week.  It's finally feeling like a place we can call our own and I'm loving our new abode.

 

Alright, I'm off to a meeting for work.  Enjoy your Monday night and be blessed!



Friday's Letters...

 

Dear Sunshine, thank you for finally making an appearance!  Your hide-n-seek games were getting old.  Please keep shining because your presence makes me happy.

 

Dear Gutter Man, please give us an affordable estimate on your cleaning services this Saturday.  We are in dire need of your help, but don't want you ripping us off.  Thanks bunches.

 

Dear Mom, I'm so looking forward to you coming to spend the night on Mother's Day.  I wish I could call in "sick" to work on Monday and help you with your painting endeavors.  Nick and I look forward to treating you and Sue to dinner Sunday night.

 

Dear Neurosurgeon, I'm not sure why you won't return my phone call, but I'm ready for my follow up MRI.  Can you please do me the favor of calling me back?  I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

Dear O2 Fitness,  I can't wait to get my booty to your building and get in shape.  You have my permission to kick this behind into gear!

 

Dear Husband, bless you for dealing with my crabby attitude lately.  Here's to having some fun this weekend!

 

Dear Certified Peer Support Specialist Program, I've finally decided to commit to you starting on May 25th.  I'm expecting you to push me out of my comfort zones and help me learn how to meet the recovery needs of others better.

 

Dear God, I've been majorly slacking on my quiet times with you.  Please forgive me and draw me back to you.  My attitude is a world of a difference when I'm not spending time with You and I hate it.  Thank you for never leaving or forsaking me.

Dear Great Gatsby, I'm looking forward to watching you this weekend.  Don't disappoint me, alright?

 

Dear 5:00pm, can you please just go ahead and grace me with your presence even though it's 4 hours early?  Thanks so much.

 

Have a wonderful weekend!

 

If you haven't done yet, don't forget to enter my giveaway for a $25 code to use at ErinCondren.com  The giveaway ends this Sunday and I'll be choosing a winner on Monday!

 

 

Brain Tumor Awareness Month...

May is Brain Tumor Awareness Month so in honor of this month, I wanted to do a special post dedicated to raising awareness of brain tumors.  As you may have read, I had a brain tumor removed towards the end of last year.  You can read about my experience in Tumor Talk.

Before I had my tumor, I didn't realize just how common brain tumors are in the United States.  I wanted to share with you a few quick facts about brain tumors.  All of these facts are courtesy of the National Brain Tumor Society:

The last bullet point hit me the hardest.  In the past two decades, little progress has been made in finding new treatments.  There is constant research and collaborations being done by various organizations to change this.  In March of this year, the NBTS launched the formation of the Defeat GBM Research Collaborative. This initiative aims to double the five-year survival rate of patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) – the most common and deadliest form of brain cancer – in just five years.  You can read more about the initiative here:  Defeat GBM Research Collaborative

Are you wondering how you can get involved and bring awareness to brain tumors?  One way is by writing a letter to your local legislator.  I decided to do this myself.  Here is the letter that was sent to my local representative:

Dear Representative,

As a volunteer with the National Brain Tumor Society, I'm writing to ask you to take action to preserve our nation's investment in medical research. We need you to protect and prioritize the critical funding provided by the National Institutes of Health and the determination of safe and effective therapies by the Food and Drug Administration. We need cures not cuts!

As a community fighting a disease with only a 34% five-year survival rate and just four new therapies in the past thirty years, progress has been inadequate and slow. Brain tumors can strike anyone at any stage of life - children and adults. There is no way to prevent a brain tumor. We need scientific discoveries that will lead to new therapies.

Just two years ago, Congress invested in a breakthrough discovery.  Funding provided to the NIH enabled The Cancer Genome Atlas to identify four new subtypes of glioblastoma multiforme, one of the most common and deadliest forms of brain cancer. With this information and the breakthroughs happening in NIH-funded labs all over the country, we are getting closer every day to truly understanding this disease and how to conquer it. Cuts, like those NIH and FDA will see from sequestration, could stifle innovation and undermine previous investment for years to come. We cannot afford further cuts.

Please ensure that the innovative brain tumor research funded through the federal budget is protected going forward.

Thank you for considering my views,

Kristin

I encourage you to reach out to your legislators as well.  You can do so by going to the National Brain Tumor Society website and clicking on the Advocacy and Public Policy page.

You can also give a donation to the National Brain Tumor Society.  If you would like to give, you can go here:  Giving

There are also walks being held across the US that help raise money for brain tumor awareness.  To see if a walk is being held near you, look here:  Events

Thank you for taking time to read about a cause that's dear to my heart and for helping raise awareness about Brain Tumors.

Erin Condren Giveaway!

Good morning and happy Wednesday!  I'm doing something a little out of character today.  Instead of my usual, Oh How Pinteresting post, I'm hosting my first giveaway!  My first giveaway, is courtesy of ErinCondren.com  The winner of the giveaway will be awarded a code for $25 to use on the website, ErinCondren.com  If you have never visited her website, I suggest you go take a look!

If you are like me and you love organizational notebooks and/or personalized items, then you will want to participate in this giveaway.  Erin Condren sells some of the cutest planners, notebooks, calendars, recipe cards and accessories around!  The great thing is that you can get them completely personalized!  If you need a gift for a graduate, a bride to be, a new mom or a best friend, any woman is sure to love these products!  Here are some of my favorites:

Life Planner in Paisley

Recipe Cards

 



Designer Classic Notebook in Lattice

 

Acrylic Box in Viva Espana Watercolor

 

The giveaway starts today and will end on Sunday, May 12th.  I'll announce the winner on Monday, May 13th.   Good luck!  If you have any questions, don't hesitate to email me at cthegoodness@gmail.com

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A to Z, it's all about Me!

I hope your week has started off well.  It was a crazy weekend spent trying to get settled into our new home, facing the horrors of repair work, along with utility bills and trying to find some sense of normalcy again.  As much as I love being in our new home, I haven't gotten to the point yet where the stress is gone and I can enjoy our new space.  Hopefully, that will happen soon!

Since I've had some new readers lately, I thought I'd do a little "get to know me" post.  I saw this floating around on the Internet and it was cute.

{A} Age: 32

{B} Bed size: King

{C} Chore you hate: Cleaning Bathrooms, especially white tiled showers.  I told myself I'd never have another tiled shower when we got our new house.  Low and behold, both of our showers have white tile.  It's a pain to keep clean!

{D} Dogs: None at this time but we totally want to at some point either get a Corgi (my pick) or a Yorkie (Husband's pick). 

 

{E} Essential start to your day: An extra 10 minutes of sleep before I get up and a scolding hot shower.  I wonder why my skin constantly itches? Haha.

 

{F} Favorite color: Green

 

{G} Gold or Silver: Silver!

 

{H} Height: 5′ 3”

 

{I} Instruments you play: I played the flute in middle school, even with a cast on!  I own a guitar, but have yet to learn how to play it.

 

{J} Job Title: Assistant Education Coordinator aka I help home builders with their continuing education credits and assist with our annual trade show.

 

{K} Kids:  None yet, but hopefully soon in the making!

 

{L} Live: Southern born in raised in good ole' North Carolina

 

{M} Married: Yes, we got married in 2011 in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

 

{N} Nicknames: Kris

 

{O} Overnight hospital stays: Multiple stays for eating disorder and depression treatment from 1999 through 2005 and my brain tumor surgery in 2012

 

{P} Pet peeve: Hmm it's always hard to think of these on cue.  I'd have to say keeping items past their expiration date, lying, cutting your fingernails at work and I'm sure there are more!

 

{Q} Quote: I like to collect quotes so there are quite a few I like.  Here's one of my favorites:

 

 

{R} Righty or Lefty: Right-handed

 

{S} Siblings: An older brother, Ian, and a younger brother, Brandon.  Both live in Charlotte.

 

{T} Time you wake up: On weekdays I get up at 7:00am. I don't have to be at work until 9:00am.  On weekends it just depends on what plans we have, but usually I don't get up until 10:00am on weekends.

 

{U} University degree obtained:  Bachelors of Science Degree in Human Development and Family Studies

 

{V} Vegetables you dislike: Olives

 

{W} What makes you run late:  Not being able to find my car keys

 

{X} X-Rays you’ve had: Lots of x-rays of my teeth throughout the years.  Also, multiple x-rays of broken fingers and my nose during gymnastics days.  Recently, x-rays of my stomach and of course my brain.

 

{Y} Yummy food: I'd have to say that Mexican and Italian foods are my favorite. 

 

{Z} Zoo animal favorite: I have always enjoyed the penguins and giraffes. At the Cleveland zoo I got to see a koala bear for the first time and so that might just top the list!

 Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Coffee Date: Thankful it's Friday!

Grab your 2nd or 3rd cup of coffee & let's chat.  It's Coffee Date time!
 

Linked up with Rags to Stitches

 

If we were having coffee today, I'd tell you that it's been a heck of a week and I'm so so glad that today is Friday!  Not that the weekend is going to provide much time for rest and relaxation, but at least it'll be a little break from the constant go, go, go that was my life this week.

 

I'd tell you that our new house is a wreck and desperately needs organization and quite the clean up.  I'm hoping to get some more boxes unpacked this weekend and find a home for all of our stuff.  I've already even started a bag of stuff to go to Goodwill.  I thought I had "purged" all my extra things, but obviously I didn't.

 

I'd let you know that I think I've figured out that my headaches are indeed related to stress and not some tumor related flare up.  I came to this conclusion because when we went to the beach for my Dad's 60th birthday last weekend, I maybe only had 1 headache the whole trip.  I found myself not really stressed on that trip either.  I come home and bam the headaches come back because I'm back in the "reality" of life and back into worry/stress mode.  Argh.  I plan to do some research on how to combat stress induced headaches.  I'll let you know what I discover!

 

If we were having coffee, I'd tell you that I need an attitude check.  I've been in a foul and negative mood lately. I think the stress of moving has really taken a toll and the fact that I don't know where anything is in my house doesn't help.  I can't wait to feel more settled in and have life go back to normal.

 

I'd also tell you that we are going to try and go without cable TV.  Yes we are nuts! Difficult? Heck yes, but we will be saving quite a chunk of change each month by not having it.  We do have Internet; I'd die without that.  We also have NetFlix and might get HuluPlus as well.  I think it'll definitely be harder for my husband than myself, because he watches more TV.  I will miss watching CNN and the Today show every morning.  I'll get over it, right?

 

We are also strongly considering doing this:  10 Days of Real Food  I had wanted to start it on May 1st, but with moving and unpacking it would have added more stress.  I'm now hoping to start this on Monday, but we'll see.  I have a stock pile of recipes to use.  I just have to make a grocery list and get to the store. 

 

Lastly, if we were having coffee, I'd tell you that I need to make a decision fast about becoming a Certified Peer Support Specialist.  My gut is saying go for it.  I have nothing to lose; only knowledge to gain.  It just means that I'd be working 6 day weeks for 5 weeks in a row starting at the end of May.  I'd sacrifice 5 Saturdays, which isn't horrible.  I keep telling myself if I know I want to do it, now is the time.  Plus, the instructor doesn't know when she'll be able to offer it on Saturdays again.  I definitely can't go during the week, so this is my only option.  Decisions, decisions!

 

Alright friends, it's time to get this weekend started.  Enjoy!