Sick but contemplative

So this weekend we had a conference at our church which was REALLY rad, I love my church! I'll detail a few things from that. Ha ha that picture is REALLY big that I posted! Hopefully it's not as big in the blog! Some main points were made such as we should walk away from services reflecting on how great God is, not how skilled a speaker is. I know I do it all the time! He also really got down to the tug and pull of people who are trying to live for God and are also sinning, and how that makes you MISERABLE, it really opened my eyes to a lot of people I know that I've been talking with about God. Also, realizing God's magnitude and holiness, and how being in awe of that should be enough. It was really touching, and I know this is a brief recap but if you look up his podcasts you'll get a feel for it. The messages were so real and applicable, he wasn't calling you to do anything extra crazy, but love God and show the world THIS is our difference. The conference was called "Awakening", it was really true. One of the songs we sang went "Awaken my heart/awaken my soul/awaken this life for you oh God" it was so great. Brian and I had SO much to talk about after each service we didn't even go out with anyone! Plus...I'm SICKKKKK.

Yes that's right, a blessed cold has finally gotten the best of me as it has gotten basically everyone around me (My fellow teachers, students, husband, neighbors, yea, I'm the last one on this sickness train!). So that's hampered my idea of running a half marathon...well, my training at least. I'm resting so I can come back strong. I finally broke the 4 mile wall. It's been really hard to run in a gym because it's SO hot and I can't take it after 3 miles, but thankfully I broke through the wall...just in time to get sick ;-) Oh well, I'll be back and better than ever in no time!

Brian was telling me I need to change my blog name from *May*keover....anyone remember that?! It was last may, go back to my original post. Last April I weighed myself to discover I was WAY beyond what I had been in a while, thank you teaching! My job change really effected my weight. So I made practical life changes and jump started healthy life choices for May. It turned out really well, and by mid June I had lost 12lbs! Now I'm down 16lbs from where I was last May, and it feels good. I can't believe I kept it off, but it took really being committed to making permanent changes. Now I splurge every now and then, but I felt really accomplished the other day when I realized I have kept my weight off for almost a year. Now of course it's the wedding etc that helped, but I'm really excited to be able to attempt the half marathon. Keep it up all you challenged lifestyle changers! I hate the word diet...that's why I like weight watchers, because it's a LIFESTYLE change; if you focus on the "can't have's", you're going to want them. If you focus on the positives, like healthy eating and creative cooking, and of course balance, it's really satisfying.

Alright signing off! Give me your thoughts!

More pictures!!!!

More pictures!!!!

My accomplished life....

SO I've been really accomplished as a "newly married woman". Of course this isn't going to last forever, I LOVE IT!!! I wrote out an entire meal plan for 2 weeks, and went grocery shopping Sunday night. And oh yes, I based my meals off of what was on sale in the circular!!! (So smart so smart!)

ANYWAY, this is day 3 of this exciting endeavor! The way I work it is We do a big meal one day, and leftovers the next, so I make 3 meals during the week. The weekend is a little more felxible, we eat out probably two times and I honestly don't feel like cooking that much! (That's when Mac n cheese comes in! HA HA!) Anyway, so far I made bbq pork chops and today my sweet and tangy chicken is currently cooking, all of which come from allrecipes.com I LOVE THIS SITE! I only look for the EASIEST recipes (Minimal ingredients) and haven't been dissappointed yet! Today's recipe is
8 breasts of chicken,
2 bottles of bbq sauce (I used a spicy one!),
one bell pepper chopped
one onion chopped
two teaspoons of minced garlic

All in the slow cooker for 8 hours on low!

It's great, I prep everything the night before, throw it in in the morning before I go to work, and Brian (MY HUSBAND!) puts the slow cooker on before he goes to work (a little later than me!). It's ridiculously domestic. The kitchen is spotless, every time I cook I do the dishes immediately. I also prep my coffee the night before, still working on figuring out the timer though! We keep changing the setting and hope it'll work on that one, two settings left to try!!! I even prepped scrambled eggs last night and cooked them this morning! (I wake up at 6:15 not so bad.)

Waking up is the best thing. I wake up and see Manhattan. I'll try to take a picture and post what I see. It's still dark so most of the lights are still on. It's fabulous. I going to sleep looking at it and waking up to it. But wait, more importantly, with Brian! :-) It's the best feeling in the world.

Ok enough domestic talk, BACK TO WORK! Any New Years Resolutions I should know about? I think I'm going to try to run a half marathon in April. We'll see. TELL ME YOURS!

MARRIED!

Only 1 of our friends braved the snow to snap a pic with our fearless photographer!

Wedding party - (L-R) Lauren (Niece), Sarah (Sis-In-Law), Meg (Niece), Deb (sis-in-law), ME!, Kate (Sis), Melissa (Sis), Jen (Sis), Moriah (Niece)

Ringbearers, Andrew and Chris (Nephews), Meghan (Niece)

My ornament inspired cake!

First dance! "Kingdom Come" by Coldplay

SO it's been FOREVER since I've written!!! I've been married for 2 weeks now. It's GREAT! We went to Puerto Rico on our honeymoon, so as you can tell, getting out of the snow was great!!! We had a HUGE snow storm the day before, the town we got married in, Glastonbury, got the most snow out of all New England (9 1/2 inches in just 6 hours!). I kept saying all day, "I knew it was going to snow, I've been praying for this since July!" And my pastor, during the ceremony said that we should pray big prayers and he said, "We have evidence of this today. Kristin has been praying for snow since July. Maybe you should've prayed a little less Kristin." Everyone died it was so great and funny! The reception was also tons of fun, lots of dancing!!!

IF you're on my facebook you saw all the hundreds of pics, so I won't load tons, below are some of our honeymoon pics too, I'll load more as I see fit! Thanks for all the thoughts, prayers, and gifts! You're all wonderful friends and I'm lucky to have you!

Our first shot in Puerto Rico...I got artsy with our rings!
My favorite shot! A timer nonetheless! Looks like an Abercrombie ad!

I don't care if you can't see us, the sunset was incredible!