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Kristen tagged me in this post and the questions are fun and different, so I figure…why not have a little fun! Plus, my original plan for today was to share a 175 calorie bean soup recipe because I am trying to be healthy this week and undo the burgers and beer from the weekend…and who wants soup when it is 90 degrees with 34958% humidity other than me? Probably no one.

Also, if you don’t already know Kristen, then I am not quite sure what you are doing with your life…but go check her out now! I am pretty sure that if she lived closer, we would kick it on the regular. Girl cracks me up!

1. What is a nickname only your family calls you?

When I was younger, my Grandma Jerry used to call me Deenie. She is really the only person I would let call me anything other than Nadine. When I was a little older, sometimes my dad would call me Dino…like the dinosaur from the Flintstones. During “senior week” in high school, there is a night the parents come in and decorate the seniors lockers. My dad was a smart ass and drew Dino in a graduation gown and put a picture of my horrific car accident on my locker that I was still recovering from. Anyway to embarrass me.

2. What’s a weird habit of  yours?

Hmmm. Probably all of my habits? I am OCD so I have to check a million times a few times each to make sure that the doors are locked, the straightener is unplugged, the thermastat is set at what it needs to be, when I pull away I look back about 10 times to ensure the garage door is shut. I have turned around, even when running late, to make sure the straightener is unplugged because I remember walking in to check but I don’t remember seeing it unplugged. Ridiculous!

3. Do you have any weird phobias?

I am a scardy cat. I am afraid of bugs of any kind, heights, and bad weather. I am not one to ride roller coasters or be standing outside when there is a tornado warning thinking I was cool.

When I was younger, I had this horrible fear that something was going to happen to my family if I wasn’t there so I hated spending the night at other people’s houses and often times told my mom to say I wasn’t allowed so that my friends didn’t think I was weird.

4. What’s one of your biggest pet peeves?

Just one? I hate bad manners. Chewing with your mouth open, smacking your food, talking on the phone when you are supposed to be checking out or talking to someone in person. People that drive slow in the fast lane.

5. What’s one of your nervous habits?

When I am nervous, I don’t know what to do with my hands or what to say sometimes. I will play with my hair, fidget, mess around on my phone, talk too much or too fast. It happens.

6. What side of the bed do you sleep on?

If you are standing at the foot of the bed and look at the bed, the right side. I used to sleep on the left, but that was Chris’s side too….so I compromised. Marriage. 😛

7. What was your first stuffed animal and what was it’s name?

My very first stuffed animal was a koala bear that my godmother brought to the hospital when I was born. I don’t think I had a name for it, but I still have it. I have also spoken about my love and connection to my Care Bear Love-a-Lot in the past.

8. What is the drink you always order at Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts?

My go to at Starbucks is an Iced Non-Fat Caramel Macchiatto and for DD it is an Iced Caramel Coffee with cream and sugar. I often stray at Starbucks, but at DD it is ALWAYS the same thing!

9. Which way do you face in the shower?

Most of my shower I am facing with my back to the water unless I am rinsing off or washing my face.

10. Do you have any weird body skills?

Not really a skill but when I get angry, nervous or sad…I start breaking out in hives. I get red splotchy spots that start on my chest and if I am really upset….my whole body gets red splotchy and hot. I hate it because if I am just a little bit upset and trying to hide it…EVERYONE knows it. Or if I am nervous about something like an interview or meeting someone…it shows on my chest so I try to remember to wear higher cut necks on those days!

11. What is your favorite comfort that is bad for you but you eat it anyways?

Everything that is bad is my favorite! I allow myself to splurge on the weekends, but try to eat as healthy and clean as I can during the week. Usually my go to bad food is a cheeseburger and fries. I can always eat a cheeseburger. Unfortunately.

12. What is a phrase or exclamation you always say?

I have lots of phrases I say often. I say “seriously” or “really” a lot. Also, I have been saying “like” since elementary school and apparently I will never grow out of it.

Meegan shared a link not too long ago about people who say “like.” I found it very interesting and it made me feel better!

13. What do you wear when you go to sleep?

Usually it is a tshirt and underwear. I HATE sleeping in bottoms. I can’t get comfortable if I have shorts or pants on. I like to be cold when I sleep, so you will never find me all bundled up unless the electric is out or something.

14. What did you use to wear that you thought was cool but now you realize it wasn’t?

Probably everything I wore in elementary and middle school LOL! Weren’t we all dated and awkward then? I don’t know though, I am pretty sure I rocked the 80’s.

Rocking the velour sweat suits.

And the “futuristic” sunglasses like a damn movie star.

It was very cool to have a perm and wear Disney apparel in 6th grade, apparently.

Feeling like a bad ass in my Nike jacket. If you didn’y wear Nike or Starter, then you were nobody!

See the Starter logo on the sleeve?

And let’s not forget the over tanning in college.

I am not going to tag anyone specific, I would love for any of you to answer these questions in your own post! Make sure you let me know you did it and I will check it out!

Friday – After work, Chris and his friend Ryan DJ’d live over the air for awhile. While they did that, I did some cleaning to get it out of the way for the weekend.

Saturday – When we woke up Saturday morning, we were feeling Waffle House. We haven’t been in forever, so Chris called his parents up and we met them over there. After, we came back home and got ready for the day. We headed to Bargain Hunt and What’s on 2nd. We Didn’t find anything at Bargain Hunt, but we scored a Turbografix game console at What’s on 2nd for a super sweet deal! We also found a few regular Nintendo games for super cheap that we don’t already have. I am fairly positive that game system was the only one we were missing from our collection.

After that, we met up with Laura and her husband at World of Beer!

We ordered up some great food! Craft Beer Battered Shrimp and Pickle Chips. Both were absolutely wonderful! I am SO glad that they started serving food there finally. With all the yummy beers to try…you need some grub!

Laura challenged me to a game of adult Jenga. Holy crap. It started getting scary the taller it got and when they fall…..they fall! It is so loud! We had so much fun! We each won one round. and the last round we played we both got to the point where we couldn’t find anymore blocks to pull so we just walked away!

Charles, the floor manager whom we have gotten to know over the past several months came and sat with us after his shift. We always know if he is working, we are going to be taken care of!

After several hours of awesome beers, it was time to change the scenery and get some burgers! We headed over to Jack Brown’s Beer and Burgers and sat out on their patio. Chris and I both ordered The Cowboy and split a side of fries. I finally ordered a desert. I haven’t done that in a loooooong time! Fried Oreos were calling my name! I have never really been into the friend stuff like that before, but you guys….holy yum. It is basically an oreo wrapped in funnel cake. I just can’t even explain how amazing it was!

After our burgers, we headed over to Crestwood Tavern after deciding the the 41st Street Pub was way too loud and filled with annoying people. We couldn’t have picked a better place, because we got a free show!

The girl in the pink shirt sitting on the left of this picture was the most annoying person on the planet. We watched her try so desperately to get one of the many guys that are standing around there to take her home. It was so entertaining and my side and stomach hurt from laughing so hard! Apparently, she worked in the medical field of some kind…which is quite scary….and said things like “I won’t even touch their air” When referring to work. Ummm…..ok?! How do you not touch air?

We also had some random guy come sit with us and he was telling us all this crazy crap about how he used to do drugs and I don’t even know what else he said but it was insane. Bennett’s facial expressions were HILARIOUS and Laura and I could not stop laughing.

Chris and I didn’t get home until after 2am. Whaaaat?! I dropped my old lady status for the night and it felt good! We had such an amazing time and I hope that we can do it again!

Sunday – We started the day with a great breakfast. I meal planned and grocery shopped, and made a quick stop by Sephora where I had a super helpful person help me pick out a new foundation and bronzer. I love when someone will take the time there and really help you! We spent the rest of the day doing a few things around the house, watching SVU and reading my book! It was lovely.

I made myself this Greek salad for lunch.

I also painted my nails, I am loving all the fun, funky colors lately!!!

I have really enjoyed linking up with the lovely Amanda for Friday Favorites! Plus, I love seeing what everyone’s favorites are for the week! Let’s get to it, shall we?

Favorite Tunes: I have been listening to Too Close by Next a ridiculous number of times this week. I can’t help it. Bask in the awesome!

Next up, Chris has mix cds that you can download for free! Jump on that if you need some new work out material, commute music…or if you just want to back your ass up!

Favorite Moment: I don’t have a picture because I am a blogging failure, but I got to have a quick blate with Laura from Alabama Graffiti! We met for happy hour at Side Bar and chatted it up over beers. I even got to meet her husband for a few minutes too! I love when I meet a blogger in person and we just hit it off. I have a few blogger turned IRL friends now and it makes my heart super happy! I smell a couples date in the future!

Favorite Purchase: Dress from JCPenney – $23 A.N.A. Brand – I had a coupon for $10 off $25 and I really hate to see $10 free dollars fly out the window! I need some new clothes, bad. All my dresses I have had for awhile and most of the straps are stretched out so they don’t stay up and I have to wear my jean jacket over them. (Big chest probz)  Not cute when it is 90 degrees, you know? I paired this dress with a cardigan and a necklace to make it work appropriate.

Favorite Pet Pictures: I am throwing one of Gracie in here this week! The dogs told me they are feeling neglected on the little blog, I quickly reminded them the Olivia has never written a post and they instantly felt better. Gracie, can you be any sweeter? I think not.

This is a blurry picture of Olivia, but you can really see her striping. I love her tiger stripes!

Favorite $5 ever spent: I was at Petsmart picking up dog treats the other night. As I was walking through the middle aisle, I saw their Martha Stewart line on clearance. I found springy frog toy for $4.97! I brought it home and set it on the living room floor. Little Livy started playing with it instantly….and kept at it for an hour and a half straight. Swatting, pouncing, tackling! I had no idea that she would love it so much! It really keeps her entertained and wears her out!

The only downside? It has a bell on it, which is part of the appeal to Livy. Anything to annoy the shit out of me is her jam. I want to rip it off…but I know it wont be as fun for her. The things we do for our pets!!!

Friday Funnies: Let’s face it, that is why you are all here…

Annnnnd Chris shared this on his blog yesterday and I could NOT stop laughing. So I am stealing it:

Liz is hosting a fearless link up. It isn’t just a today thing, you can link your story up at any time. You see, Liz is one of the most motivational bloggers I know. She keeps it real, shares her struggles, her victories, and her story with the interwebz day in and day out. She stays true to herself and has so much passion and drive. To me, she screams fearless.

I knew I had to link up, but to be honest, I didn’t think the word fearless described me at all. In fact, fear tends to hold me back sometimes. Fear of failure, even fear of success are very real to me.

But then I started thinking, and I am fearless in some ways. As a blogger, aren’t we all a little fearless? Coming here every day and sharing our lives with the world wide web. We tell stories, we laugh, we have our serious moments. We are completely vulnerable to criticism and mean comments.

If I hadn’t started blogging, I wouldn’t have “met” all of you amazing people! I interact more with my blogging friends than I do my IRL friends! And you know what, some of my blogging friends are becoming my IRL friends!!! I have overcome some of my social anxiety and have actually met a few wonderful people in person!

Then I got to thinking more. When Chris and I started dating, he lived in Birmingham and I lived in Atlanta. After one month, we were engaged and I made the decision to find a job in Birmingham and move. Some people might have thought that was crazy talk, but the fear of taking the chance was squashed by love and the hope for true happiness. If I weren’t fearless in that situation, I would never have found true love.

Then there is this journey that I am on to be the healthiest me that I can be. For months I would say that as soon as this happens or as soon as we get some exercise equipment in the house, I would start working out. It was always something in the future. The truth is, you don’t need anything to work out. Just open your front door and get moving. Get down on the ground and do some crunches. Do what you have to do. Hell, Meighan picked up cans of squash and started lifting weights the other day. The thing was, I was afraid to start.

What if I started and didn’t see results? What if I gave up and quit? What if someone saw me struggling during the work out? There were so many thoughts that flooded my mind that it crippled me from starting. One day I woke up and said enough!!!! I can’t keep wishing for something to be to actually happen if I don’t actually put the work in. I got up the very next morning and started the Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred. A program that I had started and quit two times before.

I just did it. I woke up every morning and did the work outs. I hated every minute of it, but I felt so proud when 6:00am rolled around and I had already had my work out in for the day. Once I finished that program, I moved on to RIPPED in 30, then T25 and today I started the last phase of Body Beast. I can’t believe that a year later I am still waking up every morning during the week at 4:30am and working out. That I am seeing definition in my arms, my back and my legs that I haven’t seen since college. That I am getting stronger every day. That I cut the entire back yard last weekend without struggle. I can’t believe that I joke around with Kathy and a few others in “bro talk.” I am freaking lifting weights every morning. Who am I?

That my friends, is what fearless means to me. To be able to do something that you didn’t think was possible. To overcome the fear and doubt that you have and put your heart in to it. Am I completely fearless? Hell no. But you know what, it is a start. I have determination my friends. I have the drive to want everything that I could dream of. I think if we take baby steps, we can do anything that we dreamed we can.

Now that I am fearless in love and on my journey to be healthy….I hope that I can channel that into other aspects of my life. I have dreams my friend, and I am going to over come the fear and make it realty!

If you need some inspiration in your life, or want to read some motivational stories, go hop over to Liz’s Fearless page. I have a feeling that we are going to read some incredible stories today.

Whale, Whale, Whale (spelling is correct, look below) what do we have here!? Apparently it is time to link up with Kathy and spill all of the secrets.

–Whale Whale Whale is one of my favorite memes ever. I can’t help it. The first time I saw it, my husband had sent it to me and I couldn’t stop laughing. It makes me smile every time!

–I told you guys last week I get on a food kick, and right now it is peaches. I have been snacking on peaches like crazy business. I can’t eat a peach without singing the peaches song though!!!! Please tell me you know the song!!! (I am not talking about Peaches and Cream by 112, as good of a song as that is.) I am speaking of Presidents of the USA Peaches.

Millions of peaches, peaches for me. Millions of peaches, peaches for free. You know it is stuck in your head now!!!!

–Speaking of Peaches and Cream by 112, I was senior in high school when that song came out. I had no clue what it meant and sang those lyrics loud and proud all the time. It is crazy to look back on songs that I used to sing along to when I was younger and had no clue the meanings. Just a young, naive Nadine. What did my parents think? Probably that I was an idiot. Ignorance is bliss.

–It made me feel really good last week when I admitted that I had to Google what turn down for what meant…and all of you had no clue either!

–I was getting dressed Monday morning and i thought to myself, this outfit would look so cute with my nude Michael Korrs wedges! I put them on and looked in the bathroom mirror. These wedges are like 4 or 5 inches tall. I said to myself out loud, of course, “Nadine who are you kidding…these shoes are going to have you cursing yourself in about an hour…go get the fancy flip flops and stop pretending you care.” I listened to myself, thank God.

–I am way to exciting and impatient every week for Pretty Little Liars. Why must I like that show?!?! It is absolutely ridiculous and we never get any damn answers!!!

Confessions in ecards: