Another Sunday Funday! The weather has been beautiful in my neck of the woods for the last few days, so I’m in a good mood! I’m serenading you with a happy, upbeat song today that reflects love and summer, “Summer Day” by Sheryl Crow.

This Week’s Top 5 Awesome Things

1. Sushi Date. I love sushi; it’s my all-time favorite food in the world. I haven’t had any in a while so Nick and I had a sushi date this week. It made up for a rough couple of days I had at school.

2. Nick’s Spirit Animal. Nick can be grumpy sometimes, so I told him his spirit animal was Grumpy Cat! After seeing this, how can anyone disagree?

3. All the Silly Ways that Mia Sleeps. She’s super cute when she does it but seriously, how can any of these positions be comfortable?

4. Breaking in New Shoes. It would be awesome if all shoes automatically formed perfectly to your feet, but since that doesn’t happen, you have to break them in yourselves.

5. Grown-up Dining Room Table. We’ve finally upgraded from our Ikea table to a real, grown-up table from West Elm. I’m not very good at decorating so I snapped this photo of the table they way they decorated it in the store for some inspiration.

Have a great week, everyone!

Wow, another week has flown by and we have a cool announcement:

Nick and I were invited to participate in a segment on HuffPost Live, the online streaming news network at the Huffington Post, about the rise in men wearing engagement rings. In 2011, I commented on a post about “man-gagement” rings, stating that Nick wore an engagement ring just like I did and a producer contacted us to talk about it on the live show. Unfortunately, I’ll be in class and won’t be able to participate but Nick will be speaking to them. Make sure to tune in this Monday, (3/3) @1:20PM/EST to see Nick talk about his decision to  wear a ring during our engagement.

Back to our regularly scheduled program:  Today’s serenade is ‘World, Hold On’ by Bob Sinclaire featuring Steve Edwards. It has a nice beat, rhythm, and a good message. Open up your heart, what you feel is real.

This Week’s Top 5 Awesome Things

1.  Teachers Who Care. There’s nothing is better than having a teacher who really cares about your future and will help you succeed in any way they can.

2.  Fun Conversations. Hanging back after class with friends because you’re having such good conversation is a true gift.

3.  Finding the Perfect Accessory. Have you ever been on the hunt for an accessory, and you know exactly what you’re looking for, but it takes a while to find it? But then when you finally do, it’s awesome. This means you’ll be seeing my new clutch on here soon.

4.  Perfecting your Café Con Leche. Well, it might not be exactly perfect by Spain’s standards but it’s perfect for me and I look forward to it every morning!

5.  Baby Showers. My friend is having twins and I’m so excited for her. We went to her baby shower and had a blast.

My Week According to My Instagram

My newest obsessions: journaling, gratitude, and inspiration

Because he loves me

Me and these hot pink pumps are ready for spring

You know you’re in public health when…

Nothing worse than being stuck in traffic when you have to pee

Have a great week, everyone!

Goood morning! Today I’m serenading you with the song I’ve had stuck in my head all week: ‘Next in Line’ by Walk the Moon. I discovered it in a playlist made for running because I’m back to training for a 5K in April. I was on the treadmill when I heard it and immediately decided it was my jam. Mostly because I drive a stick shift 😉

 This Weeks’ Top 5:

1. Discovering awesome dive bars. We discovered the coolest dive bar downtown that was tucked away and fairly unknown. The bartenders were extremely knowledgeable and the spirits were delicious.

2. Catching up. I was able to catch up on some assigments, which is a huge relief, and I reorganized my home office so that I can continue to be productive. Wish me luck!

3. Surviving snow driving. Nick and I got stuck driving in a snow storm. That’s a scary thing in NC where we aren’t exactly prepared for winter weather. With my good driving skills, Nick’s awesome wisdom (he guided me the entire time) and a little luck, we made it home safely and only within in hour. I felt so bad for other drivers who got stuck on the interstates for hours.

4. Getting snowed in. After we made it home safely, we were snowed in for a few days.  It was the good kind of snowed in because we didn’t lose power, we had plenty of food, and had no where we had to be. The dogs were miserable though, and wouldn’t go for their walks because they’re big divas.

5.  Ice cream dates. We kept Valentine’s Day very low-key and went out for pad thai, some wine, and finished off with ice cream from our favorite place, The Parlour. They make their ice cream by hand, use local ingredients whenever possible, and rotate seasonal flavors. Photos below!

Photo(s) of the Week:

I took this photo on our ice cream date. Yummy ice cream, sexy husband. Doesn’t get much better. Below is the photo of the ice cream parlour we love so much.

Sunday, oh Sunday.

Today’s serenade is more Fitz and the Tantrums. The “More Than Just A Dream” album has been playing on repeat in my car, and we’re going to see them in May so I’ve been loading up. Anyway, this song, Last Raindrop, is beautifully poignant, but has a good beat. “Now that winter’s fallen / all of the color’s gone”. I mean, who hasn’t felt that way at one point or another during the somber winter season?

This Week’s Top 5:

1. Skype:  Commuting 1.5 hours for grad school is tough because I miss out on a lot of study groups. But, thanks to Skype, I’m able to do homework and study with my school partner (who affectionately calls me his MPH mama because I try to keep him organized) and learn the material much easier than if I was studying on my own.

2. New Phones: New things are always exciting. This week I said good bye to my iPhone and said hello to the new Moto X. It syncs with all of my google accounts, which is way more useful for me since I’m NOT an Apple/Mac person (and I loathe iTunes). I’ve only had it a few days but, so far, I’m loving it! “Okay, Google Now… find me a latte!”

3.  Being Organized. It has taken me several weeks to get back into the swing of school after my month-long winter break. But I finally sat down this week and filled in my planner, wrote out to-do lists, and organized my files and folders. I’m still working on the time management aspect of online courses but I think being better organized about the rest of my studies will help!

4. Good Habits: For a while, I turned into the stereotypical student, staying up all night and sleeing in until late morning/afternoon. It was fun for a while but then I started feeling guilty because Nick was up in the mornings being productive while I struggled to stay motivated to get dressed for class. This week I started going to bed earlier, getting up earlier, going to the gym (kind of… baby steps!) and being more productive. And it feels great 🙂

5. Parking Spaces. I don’t know why, but parking causes me so much anxiety. The other night, Nick and I went out to dinner at a restaurant that is usually packed but has terrible parking. After circling the area several times and debating whether we should risk parking acrossthe street (where there are signs literally every few feet about getting towed if you park there and go to one of the restaurants across the street) we were resigned to just going somewhere to else to eat. We drove past one last time and, boom, a parking spot opened up! We snagged it and had a yummy, anxiety-free dinner.

Photo of the Week:

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve already seen this but it’s probably the best photo I’ve ever taken so I wanted to share it again! We were out for brunch again when I snapped it. I’m planning to print and frame this (all of the coffee photos I’ve taken, which is at least 3 at this point) and hang them in the kitchen. How fun is that?

I’ve been listening to Shakira on repeat again this week, first in English and then in Spanish, but I figured I would give you all a break! This week’s song is ‘Hurricane’ by MS MR. I first heard it on Spotify radio but now I’m hearing it on mainstream radio, which is exciting. Every time I hear it, I’m reminded of my freshman year of college and I can’t figure out why, but there’s something about the way it sounds that takes me back.

This Week’s Top 5:

1. Snow. Snow, snow, snowy snow! This week it snowed while I was at home and classes were cancelled so I didn’t have to worry about driving back and forth for class like I did the week before. I got to stay home and snuggle up with my furbabies and drink coffee and be warm. I also got to wear and photograph a casual snow outfit.

2. Dinner Parties.  A few weeks ago we attended a dinner party. This week we hosted a small dinner party for our neighbors. It’s almost creepy how similar we are to our neighbors. We live on the same street (duh!), we have two dogs that we love and spoil very much, we even have the same wedding anniversary, among many other things. So dinner was a blast!

3. Tiramisu. I don’t normally like tiramisu because I don’t like soggy bread and that’s what it is to me. But Nick decided to make some for our dinner party and, of course, it was delicious. His layering was perfect because the soggiest cookies were on the bottom and easy to eat around. I’ll only eat his tiramisu from now on!

4. Yoga. It always makes me feel better. I don’t go nearly as often as I should. I’m shooting for three times a week and usually only make it once, if I make it at all. I attend the Body Flow class at my gym and it’s never before 9 AM so I really have no excuse. I’m gonna have to get on that.

5. Good News. Good news is always exciting. This week Nick got good news about his job, my friend got good news about her law school applications, and I got good news when class was cancelled because of the snow (see what I did there?!).

Photo (s) of the Week:

This week you get two photos! And to all of you out there that are stuck in a snowy wonderland every winter, I apologize for all of the snowiness you’re about to see. We southerners don’t get snow very often so some of us get really excited when it comes (or, at least, this one does!)

Snowy Sunrise

The morning after the snow, I took this photo in our back yard. I love how you can see the peak of sun coming through the trees, so blissful. These are my favorite types of photos to take and see – the sun shining through trees. It was cold and bright, snowy and quiet. It was just perfect. I’m glad I get to share this moment with you!

Snowy Country Lane

My parents took this photo at their house this week, which is in a more moutainous region than mine, so they get a little more snow. I think this is a beautiful photo, with the falling snow and the pop of red from the poinsettia decorations. I bet my dad didn’t realize how artistic he was being when we took it!