SAG Awards Best Dressed

Although I am no fashionista I love sifting through award shows photographs and seeing what everyone is wearing! I don't know who doesn't love living vicariously through rich, famous, and beautifully dressed people for a night!
Here are my favorite dressed celebrities from the night! These are in order, starting with the dress I loved the most!

Maria Menounus

Sophia Vergara

Jennifer Lawrence 

(my new girl crush - and yes, it is a okay to have a girl crush!)

Hellen Hunt

 Alfre Woodard

Carmen Electra

City Cafe

One of my favorite breakfast places in Indy is City Cafe. I wish I could say I discovered it on my own...but this just isn't true. A friend who was visiting for the weekend had done some research and found it online, with very high reviews! Once we went I understood why. Although it is a little pricey for breakfast, it is always well worth it.
Since we don't live near downtown anymore it is not as easy to hop down for breakfast on Saturdays. However, this past Saturday hubs and I were down for an appointment so of course we took this opportunity for an amazing breakfast, which did not disappoint. While hubs usually mixes his order up I typically stick with the biscuits and gravy or the eggs benedict because they are both heavenly! This past week I chose eggs benedict and it was a great choice, and kept me full the rest of the day!
If you are ever in the downtown area around breakfast, make sure to stop by! You won't be disappointed!

 A little hole in the wall you could easily pass by! But sooooo good!

My eggs benedict (made with the City Cafe flare) and hubs egg/sausage/cheese sandwich! 

Golden Globes Best and Worst

I'm going to be honest...I only watched about 5 minutes of the Golden Globes last night. However, I have spent plenty of time making sure I took in everyone's fashion attire! Although I am no fashion guru I was a little disappointment at the amount of 'worsts' that were on my list! There was no one I saw that totally took my breath away...which is a little disappointing. And there were a lot of people who instead disappointed me and were painful to put on my worst dressed list!
Here is a completely amateur list coming from a completely non-fashionable person.


Best Dressed: 

 Hayden Panettiere...love the color of this dress and her skin. 

 Jennifer Garner...simple but beautiful. 

 Jessica Alba...she takes #1 for me at this event. Color of the dress is gorgeous, necklace is gorgeous, 

and the dress itself is gorgeous. Love it. 

 Julianne Hough...I went back and forth on if I loved this or not. While I can't say I love it, it really 

grew on me the longer I looked at it. It might be a little fairy-ish - but I think she looks beautiful. 

 Kate Hudson...she is lovely. I wasn't sold on the gold piece around the neck...but in the end I will accept it

because the rest of the dress on her is great. 

 Stacey Keibler

 Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell...I love them. He is great, she is such a cute preggo and they had to be on my list! 

Worst Dressed: 

 Kerry Washington...I love her so I hated having her on this list. Opinions must be extremely mixed on her dress because she showed up on a lot of best and worst dressed lists! In the end, I do not like this choice and expected a little more of her, as she is usually one of my favorite dressed celebrities! 

 Jennifer Lawrence...Again, I wanted to like this dress and tried so hard but in the end I simply could not move passed the cone boobs. If the top of the dress was different she would be on my best dressed list! 

 Nicole Kidman...such a disappointment. Hate every part of this dress. 

 Sienna Miller...this isn't worth commenting on. This belongs at a middle school dance. 

 Jessica Chastain...Love the color, hate the dress. Only one word - ugly. 

Giuliana Rancic...hated having her on this list but can't stand looking at this dress. 

Lucy Lu...what were you thinking exactly is all I need to know?!

Smoothies

To kick off the New Year as well as the fact hubs and I put on some extra pounds last year  hubby and I got a YMCA membership and have tried to begin starting a new healthy eating lifestyle. This was our first week and so far it is going great and I am feeling good! One of the parts of our new eating habits is to include food in our day which is made up of 'fruits from the earth' so to say. In other words fruits, vegetables, beans, and nuts. This week we have been focusing on introducing a smoothie and salad into our menu each day. Smoothies have been the best breakfast!
Here are some simple smoothie guidelines - that I have mastered in one week : )

Fruit - I use a mixture of frozen and fresh. I started with fresh earlier in the week but as the week draws to a close I have moved to frozen until I can get to the store and get more fresh fruit! Frozen fruit is good too because it helps make the smoothie a little colder! Some of my favorite choices of fruit are blackberries, strawberries, bananas, and mangoes!

Spinach - I add as much spinach as I possibly can fit in the blender! In addition to spinach I have been adding collard greens as well. I have learned this week I am not a huge fan of collard greens in salad but don't even notice them when they are thrown in a smoothie. Kale is also a great option to throw in. (Just a fun fact: collard greens and kale are some of the best greens you can eat!)

Some sort of liquid:
Almond Milk - Although I am not going to cut out good old fashioned skim milk from my diet I don't think it hurts to reduce my dairy intake. Not to mention that almond milk adds a totally different flavor than dairy milk does! I usually adjust the amount of almond milk that I use based on the consistency I am looking for with my smoothie. I don't mind my smoothies a little on the thick side while Coy prefers his more liquid - therefore we have had to compromise with a little more liquid!

or

Orange Juice - Of course Simply Orange is the best, but any OJ will work. I chose orange juice because of the nutritional value it adds to the smoothie!

Ground Flaxseed - Flaxseed is a great way to add some fiber and Omega 3 into your morning. Using flax meal is beneficial because it helps to breakdown all of the nutrition so that your body can digest it! This is also the same with blending spinach - by blending it helps your body absorb all the nutrients it has to offer!

Although I am just beginning my journey as a new health guru I feel good about the progress I have made in one week. Trader Joe's and Whole Foods is about to become my new best friends!

Christmas Bliss

Although I'm a few weeks late...we had a great Christmas! Below are some pictures from the holiday's!

 We had so much fun spending our first Christmas in our new house! 

 My sweet niece Elayne, getting bigger by the second! 

Coy and I were thankful to be able to have my side of the family over for Christmas Eve! I love being a host and it was so great to be able to have the family under our roof for the night!

 My parent's always go over and above the call of Christmas gift duty! We are always blessed by their extreme generosity! 

 We had a sleepover with the family and of course Uncle Coy got his playing time in  - what he does best!

My biggest Christmas blessing!

I hope that your Christmas was as blessed as mine! I'm already looking forward to next year!

A Thankful Heart

Today was the much dreaded first day back to work after almost two weeks off! Although it is always so hard to return after time off of work I am so blessed to work for an agency that values the holidays and closes over the Christmas season! It was so nice to get time to be at home, to spend quality time with my hubby, and to spend time with family and friends. During the past two weeks I got to spend time with some of those that I cherish most.
- One of the best friends stopped through briefly on her way home for Christmas. It was so wonderful for us to be together, and although the time was short-lived I am so thankful for that time. I am thankful for my best friends and the everlasting bond that we have.
- Coy and I were able to spend time with both sides of our family. Not only on Christmas Day but in the days surrounding it. We got to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday with an adult day out. We spent time laughing, lounging, and stuffing our faces.
- We rang in the new year with my sister and her family at our new house, which I continue to be thankful for everyday. We followed that up by getting together with my mom's side of the family at our annual New Years Day gathering. Although we don't see each other often I look forward to this day all year long. It did not disappointment this year and was filled with laughter, tears, hilarity, and catching up. A perfect way to enter into the new year with those that I love, those that have known me since the beginning, and those that I fill so many of my favorite memories!

I am so blessed by all that fills my life. I have the most caring, compassionate, loving husband. I have a family that is beyond amazing and are not only family, but are friends as well. I have friends which are nothing but a true gift from the Lord. And I have hope in the Lord. I do not know what 2013 holds for my life but I do know that the Lord has watched over me throughout 2012 and continued to shower me with blessings and I believe that he will do the same this year. Yesterday when gathering in prayer while at my family 'reunion' my cousin prayed already thanking God in advance for His victories in our lives. I want to choose today to wait in anticipation for the miracles of God, choosing to believe in his mercies even when my heart isn't fully committed to that belief. Because as I look back over my life there is no doubt that the Lord has never left my side. He has never stopped loving me and he has never stopped being faithful. I know that He will not stop now.

So here's to 2013...where my heart will continue to be thankful for all I have already been blessed with and where I will choose to already claim the new victories that are headed my way!