My Top Secret Weekend Recap!

I wish writing about my "top secret weekend" would include stories of how Dewayne "The Rock" Johnson professed his love for me, took me on a tropical vacation, and romantically proposed... but... not so much, ha. My top secret weekend was all about surprising my mom and dad, and I could not write about my plans on here before since they read my blog. I really put my heart into this weekend so I did not want anything to ruin it. It was both Father's Day and my mom's birthday! Both of them I had no idea I was coming. I made little white lies stating why I couldn't come. Little did they know...
Friday after a crazy busy day at work, I went to the gym for a leg workout. I pushed hard and felt great. After I went to get groceries. Once I got home, I got to work preparing my mother's birthday cake. Her favorite dessert is "s'mores" so I wanted to make a cake going with that theme. Naturally I checked on Pintrest earlier in the week, but the ideas on there were too grandiose for me. Thus I made my own! Y'all know I love creating recipes so I thought I would give a shot. I made a chocolate fudge cake with vanilla and marshmallow mix as the icing, then topped it with graham cracker crumbs and a caramel drizzle. It did not look at that pretty, but everyone loved it.

I then put mom's gifts together. She has had a really hard year; between her MS, separation, and other family problems, it has been really, really difficult for her. So for her birthday this year, I really wanted to make it personal and fun. I got her a sterling silver necklace engraved with the word "Gammy" and a personalized photo book filled with pictures of me, my brother, sister-in-law, nephew, and other family members. My nephew Brantley means the world to mom - he is her reason for living. She loves being a "gammy".  After I finished her cake and putting her gifts together, I packed, got a shower, and I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow on my bed. I was worn out. 

Saturday morning when I woke up, I wanted to go to the gym before making the drive back to my hometown. But I was so sore I could barely walk. When I got out of bed, I felt like a walking zombie. So, I scratched that, threw the rest of my things together, and took off. I arrived to my brother's around 2 PM. I walked in with mama's cake and gifts, and the look was on her face was priceless. Can you guys believe she is 51 years old? She looks so good, and not a drop of plastic surgery. I know I look older than I am, but so did she when she was my age, so I am looking forward to getting older, ha!

The rest of the afternoon my sister-in-law and I did my "Hot Mess Express" workout outside then came back to start getting ready. Mom thought her cake and gifts were her birthday, but no, I had more up my sleeve! My extended family is not very close. I wish we were-- I want the kind of family where you get together for dinners, parties, events, and such every weekend. Unfortunately everyone has their own thing going on, so it isn't like that. However, for my mom's birthday, because she has been having such a hard time, I knew I had to get everyone together to surprise her for dinner. Everyone came through and mom was literally shocked when we got to the restaurant; she could not believe everyone was there. I felt the same way. It filled my heart with so much joy to have my family together like that!

We literally had the best time. My mom had a lot to drink - I totally have her hooked on Fireball whiskey now! Actually, everyone had quite a bit to drink... except me. I am getting old and boring now. I ordered my favorite shot "Royal Flush" and only drank about half of it, I just wasn't feeling it. But I had a blast listening to everyone else.I don't even remember how many shots of tequila and whiskey my family consumed. I have to give a big shout out to my old high school friend and fellow cheerleader, Tara, for taking such amazing care of us!

We even ordered my nephew a virgin Strawberry Daiquiri so he would not feel left out, ha!

This morning I was up bright and early to drive to the next town over to surprise my dad at church. I was actually really worried about surprising him! When I talked to him on the phone yesterday, he sounded really disappointed that "I couldn't come". I felt so bad that I almost told him. Also he was telling about how his new cancer medication is hurting his legs and feet so bad that he probably was not going to go. But God knew my step-mom and I's plan, and I got a text this morning from her saying that he felt well and was going to church. When I got there, tapped my dad on his shoulder, I saw him slightly turn his head to politely say hello back, and finally after about 10 seconds or so, he realized it was me. He was so shocked and it was the best feeling. My dad is such a fighter, and despite of his awful cancer, he tries so hard everyday to live as normal as possible. It was "Youth Sunday" at church and one teenager shared her testimonial about her faith, and it was really moving. I related so much as she spoke about going through such a difficult heartbreak. Once church was over, we had lunch together, then dad and I watched the DVD I got him. My dad LOVES "The Beatles" so I bought him all of the episodes of "The Ed Sullivan Show" that they starred on. We had a blast watching it -- he was singing and dancing around in his recliner.

I left my dad's around 3 PM to take off to Greensboro to spend time with my wonderful grandparents. I am SO close to them - they are like another set of parents for me. I had to spend time with my papa for Father's Day. My grandmother and I had a relaxing time sitting outside in her new outdoor room that she recently had screened in. There is nothing better than sitting out in the country, listening to the birds, feeling the warm sun, and talking with people who means so much to you. Then for dinner, papa made his famous porkchops on the grill. It was a lot of fun.

I'm now in my "bedroom" at their house -- the upstairs loft. I decided to stay the night with them because I simply love staying here; it's home. Plus I am exhausted. I am happy to be off of work tomorrow, but have a lot to do when I get back to Charlotte. Food prep, cleaning, and the gym, of course. I am ready to break my plateau and see some good results! But first, a good night of sleep. Tomorrow I will resume taking on the world...

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Happy, Happy, Happy

Just like the amazing Phil Robertson says; "We are happy, happy, happy". Yesterday evening ended up being a great evening, especially for a Monday.

I went to the gym after work for my "cardio blast" workout. I have written about it before. I ended up doing 20 miles of cardio total. And I shaved a lot of time off of my spin class. I started off with 20 minutes on the lateral cardio machine and did 5 miles. Then spin class started 7 minutes late. I started on the bike at 5:30 just doing an easy stroll, but did not start my spin work out until the instructor started us at 5:37 PM. In 47 minutes, I did 15 miles again like I did Thursday. However, the 15 miles I did on Thursday was how long the class had been, the 47 minutes last night was really only 40 minutes of class time.

I am really, really thinking of hard of buying a bike and training to one day ride competitively. Over the past 3 months since I have regularly started spin cycling, it has quickly become a huge passion of mine.

While I was work yesterday, my fiance, Marquis, told me he had worked up a little something for us! I was excited, he is an awesome cook and comes up with the weirdest, but most delicious recipes!

Pardon his spelling, hahaha.

After my work out, I come home to find Marquis has bought "Life Code" for us to take to the beach. I am a HUGE Dr. Phil fan, I mean I love that guy and I have been wanting this book. I can't wait to have my toes in the sand, Skinnytini in one hand, and this book in the other!

Around 8 we FINALLY sat down for dinner AND dessert and it was delicious!

Dinner: Veggie noodles, diced grilled chicken and turkey sausage, black beans, veggies, and crushed tomatoes. It was absolutely delicious.

Cute desserts he made: crushed Chocolate Fiber One cereal with sugar/fat free vanilla pudding, bananas, and walnuts! 

After dinner we caught up on "America's Got Talent". I can't believe we missed it last week! AGT, X Factor, and American Idol are our shows we religiously watch together. We commentate during the whole thing and it's so funny. It's our third season of AGT so it is now a tradition with us! I also love how when we are watching these shows, he lies at one end of the couch and myself and we give each other foot massages. LOL... does anyone else do that? Crazy, I know, but it's so relaxing!

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