Yeah. We Have Been Away Too Long!

Ever since Zakiah has been walking at the March, our lives have definitely not been the same. Walking brings on a whole new set of adventures for Zakiah, challenges for mommy, and even more opportunities for us both to really get out and do things outside the house.

This girl LOVES to walks and run and walk and run. She loves to chase mommy and daddy and loves when we chase her too. She is so full of giggles and laughter when on her own two feet. She keeps me on edge most times.

I miss blogging and I miss my blogger friends. Life has taken over for the moment so I haven't had as much time to keep my blog updated. I have a million things running through my mind and a girl running a million times back and forth from the kitchen pantry to the couch. I have been really focused on taking better care of myself. I am tired of being heavier than I have ever been so ever since April 1st, I have been exercising at least 5 to 6 times a week and went down from 173 to 165 pounds. My goal is to be at least 160 by my birthday next month. My ultimate goal is to get down to 135-140 by the end of this year.

I also got back into grad school to finish my Masters this fall! So I am mentally preparing for my return.

Still looking for employment. Haven't been as consistent with my search like I want to because of things going on but I have been looking and know I will be employed sometime this year because my God is more than able.

I am looking into day care and it is a tedious process. Plus day care is so friggin expensive. Crazy! But once again, my God is more than able.

Ok, there is so much I want to say but I need to go back to sleep. I miss everyone and want to let you know that we are ok! I am still taking pictures and video clips of Zakiah everyday so I am not missing a beat. Even though Zakiah is my baby, she really acts like a toddler to me ever since she started walking. She is joy to watch grow and I am so grateful to be able to spend the first year of her life with her. I might not get this chance again in the future so I am cherishing this experience to the fullest.

Gosh, time to plan for her first birthday next month! Bananas! Home girl will soon be stuffing cake in her mouth AND saying bye to the booby for ever. Bittersweet.

Happy early first Mother's Day to all the first time mommies and happy early Mother's Day to all the seasoned mommies out there! Hope Sunday will be very special to all of us.

I am not making anymore promises when I will update again but hope not to be away for a whole month again.

Take care!

Can Friday Come Any Sooner??? Happy Friday Follow!

Ugh!!!!

I can't believe I let another week go by without posting on my blog. So much has transpired since my last post.

I went to a career fair on Friday to meet with some recruiters from several local biotechnology companies. It was an invitation only career fair (oo la la) so that made me feel somewhat special. I was able to really interact with several recruiters so I felt like this career fair was pretty much productive on my part. No, I didn't get any offers but I am more confident about my job search and expanding my network.

After that, my advisor from a summer internship way back in the day (2004 to be exact) finally responded to an email I sent him at the beginning of the month. I was afraid he didn't remember me since it has been so long but I just wanted to touch base on the status of the project I worked on while at University of Virgina (I LOVE that school!). He stated he definitely remember me and said that the research I worked on was wrapped up some time ago and that he is working on a paper that he has me listed at the second author! That is pretty good in my book to have my name published on a paper involving a project I only worked on during the summer. We will see how this paper plays out. Would be a nice addition to my resume...::smiles::

On Saturday, I went to a baby shower out of town. So that was a busy event in itself that lasted a few hours and left me drained. Sunday is Church day so I went to 8am morning service, did a little grocery shopping, ate dinner with some friends, headed to 4pm service, attended a birthday social, and finally went home.

So there goes my weekend. Sorry Erin for not getting back in touch with you about getting help with my blog design.

Anyway, this week was busy, busy, busy. Not going to get into the details to bore you anymore. I did manage to get some new bows posted on my Etsy shop! I finally got around to making my flower hair bows for the spring!

They are so cute! Zakiah gets compliments from lots of women about her bows (when she keeps them on her head long enough to be seen...lol).

Oh, and speaking of Zakiah...

She took her FIRST steps on Tuesday.

::tears::

My baby is walking. What more can I say?

She is ENJOYING her new ability. She squeals with delight when she steps (more like launches) toward me and Josh. So freaking amazing!!! So much joy! I love my baby!

Oh, and she cut her 7th tooth with tooth number 8 on the way.

Happy Friday Follow! I am pooped so I am going to bed (Finally)

Side note: Why must Zakiah get up at 6:30 in the morning? This is killing me (ok, not really) but I really need to learn how to go to bed earlier. Ugh!

Side note 2: I will try to post up a video of Zakiah taking her first steps sometime today.

Until then...be blessed!

Friday Follow Topic: To Coupon or Not To Coupon

When I go to grocery store shopping, I notice two distinct groups of people: those who use coupons and those who do not.

For a long time, I was one of those people who never gave a second thought to using coupons.

Now, I RARELY go shopping without them.

FYI...coupons=money!

Let me share my reason why I have to have those little pieces of papers:

Ok, so Harris Teeter is a fairly large grocery store chain in NC (and VA, I think).  This week, they are having this huge triple coupon event, where they triple the face value of coupons up to $0.99. So essentially you can save up to $2.97 with a coupon, although I never seen a $0.99 coupon. Anyway, this means you can rack up on a lot of free and cheap stuff.  Check out Southern Savers for an extensive list of free and cheap products you can get with coupons.

So I made my third trip to Harris Teeter today (because they only triple up to 20 coupons per day) and got some 2 packages of butter, mustard, relish, 4-pack of Dannon yogurt, 4 packs of rice, barbeque sauce, and two packs of gum. My total would have been around $25 before coupons. After my coupons were scanned, the receipt showed that Harris Teeter owed me $0.12! HA HA.

This was a first and the cashier and I looked at each other with confused looks. She did not know what to do but I knew that I could not get cash back. The manager had to come over and override something and told me to have a nice day after giving me my receipt. I didn't think my total would come out to be free. I thought I at least had to pay taxes. I am still confused how this played out but of course, I am not complaining.

I walked right on out with my free items.

I heart coupons. So much better than monopoly money! :)

If you want to hop on the couponing bandwagon, check out deals around your area at Hot Coupon World. You will be amazed how much money you are spending on your favorite items when you really do not need to do so.

Zakiah got her first balloon today. Harris Teeter gives away free balloons for the children.  She had a good time playing with it.

So my question is do you use coupons or not?

If you do, what influenced you to start using them?

If you do not, why not?

Do you think it is worth the time and effort of clipping and sorting and being called the crazy coupon lady by the long line of customers behind you waiting for the cashier to scan your pile of coupons? LOL

Happy Friday Follow!