Tortise and the Hare!

I think we all familiar with the story of the Tortise and the Hare... but I hadn't really made a connection until recently. As of late I have been so concerned with all that is going on in my life in regards to testing, job searching, eventually home buying and starting a family that I was just really racing through all the amazing things in my life. I was the Hare... after my exam today I realized that I've let too many things cloud my judgement and really just need to relax, take a slow pace, and enjoy all the happenings in our life right now. So here's to being more "tortise-like" and enjoying each moment given as it is really the tortise that truly wins the race!

So here are some of those random thoughts or moments in life worth realizing and those worth enjoying as well as current updates.

1. Today I completed my Special Education EC-12 Content Exam. I should have the results back in 2-7 days.

2. Ray completed his 3rd Cowtown Half Marathon with Michael in Fort Worth, TX. This makes officially 4 half marathon and 2 full marathon races.

3. Jacob Daniel Duke turned one month old yesterday.

4. We will be going to Mexico on vacation in early June.

5. I will be participating in Summer School.

6. I will (hopefully) begin my first job in education in a full time teacher's position this fall

7. We will be visiting our Zellner family this Memorial Day weekend

8. We are hoping to visit my Waldrup family in College Station during early spring break.

9. Spring break begins March 14th. That is 9 days and counting!

10. We will officially begin our house search in July.

11. I realized I smile and show all teeth when I'm truly excited.

12. I plan to continue with my work out routine or shall I say get back on track with it... probably due to #4

13. The Zellners have officially finished their taxes. Yay for more savings!

14. I ordered 4 total boxes of Girl Scout Cookies from my teacher's sweet girls at school. It is horrible to think I have almost completed 2 boxes by myself. Again this should stop b/c of #4. ha!

15. I absolutely cannot wait to go shopping for summer clothes and accessories!

16. I cannot wait to start a family... don't get me wrong we are waiting a bit longer but the thought of it coming along in the future is absolutely exciting!

17. I am excited to enjoy some dinner with our friends the Garrett's tomorrow.

I guess that's about it for now. Have such a wonderful week and remember to take things slow... b/c again the tortise truly wins the race:)

Get'n Down in Cowtown!

Sunday morning after a quick stop for Starbucks drinks, Kristin, the little man, and I were all packed in the car and ready to leave for Fort Worth, TX to see our husbands complete their third Cowtown Half Marathon.

To be honest we had gotten a little turned around and with constant road blocks in our way it seemed as though we might not see the boys cross the finish line. But upon our arrival we realized there was time to spare and watched both Ray and Michael cross with a time of two hours and five minutes. We were so very proud! For Ray, this officially makes 4 half marathons and 2 full marathon races completed!

Enjoy some pictures from the race day!





After the race, we said our good-byes to the Fants and quickly began to search for lunch options. We had first discussed IHOP as that was our previous year's lunch road trip, but began to throw out other options until Rosas was brought up. Ray quickly searched google maps for food and after the first location had been a bit of a bust I was ready to throw in the towel, but not my husband. He found us a Rosas!



Many of you may not understand my ridiculous love for Rosas tacos or for their homemade tortillas but oh my goodness it is so incredibly tasty. In college Ray and I would enjoy their Taco Tuesday special quite a bit... it really just brought me back and was such a fun way to celebrate!!!

What an exciting race day... a race above 30/40 degrees (it was actually in the 60s) and a tradition that keeps going strong. Here's to completing the 5 year star! Happy Race Day Runners & their favorite supports:)

Red Velvet Cake, Snuggies, Serving, Baby Jacob, & a Picnic in the Park!

As I previously have stated I have gotten a little behind in the blogging world. So hold on to your chair (or not:) because this might be a long catch up post. So here we go!

A few weeks ago, the husband and I enjoyed a nice early Heart Day at home with the pups. While Valentine's fell on a Monday this year we decided to spend time together and as a fun treat we would make our very own homemade red velvet cake.



Boy was it super yummy. The cake did turn out to be more of a pink cake then red, but oh how it tasted delicious all the same. For a small gift Ray also surprised me with a blue Snuggie. To be honest I had never really been on board the Snuggie train in the past until I tried my first one at the Duke's home for Super Bowl Sunday and absolutely fell in love. But as the picture shows... the dogs may actually love it more than I do! Are they not absolutely precious together?!?!



I absolutely love our church home. We have honestly been visiting since we were in college but ultimately made it a priority over a year ago when we first got married. Soon after we joined the Honeymooners Adult Bible Fellowship (ABF) and have loved every moment. Currently we are serving in Joyland and working with 3 year olds. I love seeing God work in their lives and it absolutely melts my heart for the kiddos to sing Jesus loves me!



On Wednesday nights and other nights throughout the month, I work in Childcare services at the church assisting in a nightly bible study and lesson for kindergarten through second grade. I love all the fun crafts and all the wonderful time spent with the kids. Here are a few pieces of artwork done last week for me. The little girl thought my name was Alexa:) still so cute!



Last Thursday, Ray and I had the opportunity to visit with the Dukes and even got to see baby Jacob. He is such a beautiful baby and is growing so much. I absolutely love that he looks like Adam and has Steph's adorable nose. Over the next few months, I cannot wait to hear about/see his progress as I know he will continue to get stronger and become a super big boy. Here is a picture that Steph sent of baby Jacob in his big boy bed. He is such a beautiful baby boy! I can't wait for his welcome home.

That night we also enjoyed some delicious dinner at Chuys. Yum and who could turn down free queso. Not this lady for sure:)

Anyway, it was such a wonderful time to catch up with the new parents. I seriously can't believe that baby boy Jacob is officially one month old today. Congrats!

A few Sundays ago, Ray and I had both gotten up late that morning and realized we would have missed part of the service. In a means to enjoy an afternoon with God and to spend time together we put together a picnic and discussed his word and works in the park in downtown Plano. The weather had been beautiful that week so I absolutely could not wait to spend a day outside. Well the pictures do not fully show it, the weather had been extremely windy and overcast so we enjoyed the majority of our time and then quickly went back to the car. After lunch we then grabbed a few Starbucks drinks and went for a drive to look at homes. It was an absolutely perfect Sunday!

A Loss for Words?!?!

So it's been about a week since my previous blog post. And while I should have tons of excuses or reasons for not writing... I sadly do not. I have actually been up to some really fun and super special events this week but truthfully there have been some not so fun ones as well. In turn they are really causing me to think and to reevaluate or to consider a few things.

I'll be absolutely honest. I love blogging... as many of you may or may not have recognized;) But one thing that I have realized is that I (typically) do not like to include the negative. No this is not to save face or to make believe that my life or anyone's is absolute perfection but for me it is not my focus. As a photo album does not mirror internal struggles to me I do not like to include those difficult ones in my blogging. To be honest I don't know why I am writing this. I have so much that I am wonderfully blessed with including my amazing husband (that this has nothing to do with if you are wondering;) and such an amazing group of friends and family that are such an absolute blessing. God is and has been amazing in my life. I really am just kind of at a crossroads for two very important and separate situations that I have absolutely no control over. It's sad. If you think about it what do we really have absolute control over. But for some reason I can't just give it up as I know leaving it to God is what I am supposed to do. The other sad fact is that our life situation is no worse than anyone's as I do know the struggles that people face. Please understand I am in no way comparing these two seemingly "difficult" situations to that of others as I know things could always be worse. It just makes my heart ache for those involved. It makes me worry and apprehensive but again I know what I must do... leave it to God. I just think being human is hard. If only it were that easy I tell myself... funny thing it is.

So sorry for those of you who may read this absolutely vague blog as I promise neither situation will be discussed. It was just important to note and say that even in the best of times or the worst of times we need to remember what our true blessings are and realize that God has such an amazing story for us.

Rocks My Socks Off!

Is this seriously not the cutest sock monkey ever?!?! And of course... it is in blue... my favorite color! It is time for our weekly update. A time to post about my favorites, my not so favorites, some thoughts, agendas, and so on and so forth. I wish you all a wonderful weekend as this my friends is the start to a three day weekend (for paraprofessionals at least) 3 days of hopefully productive works and yes it will probably all end up here for you to read of it afterward. Ha! Yay for my favorite hobby:)

1. I love our new weather. I love outdoor activities and absolutely cannot wait for long walks outside, picnics, pool days, and of course TIME AT THE BEACH:)
2. I cannot wait to complete my Special Education content exam. I truly feel that once it is completed and passed everything else will just be a waiting game. In May I should begin the interviewing process to hopefully finding my first full time teacher's position within pisd.
3. Summer is quickly approaching and it is time to get beach body ready. So this in turn means, it is time to kick that caffeine and dessert to the curb and I (starting officially today) have started a new work out routine that will get me ready for our exciting summer vaca:) More details to come!!!!
4. I currently do not have too many spring break plans as I mainly want to visit with sweet friends and relax during this time. Our spring break begins/ends March 14-18.
5. I cannot wait to really start house searching. While nothing is ever 100% for sure until that time comes, we are on track to buying our first home mid September 2011
6. I am so excited for upcoming potential theme parties, activities, get togethers. While nothing is officially in the works, there are several holidays that are coming up that could make for great outings with friends.
7. We will be visiting our Zellner family on Memorial Day weekend! I absolutely cannot wait to see them. It will be our first time to officially catch up since Christmas.
8. In terms of cars as several have asked we will be waiting to move forward with a new car. Grey Ghosty still has a little bit of time left in it at this point. More will be determined later.

Hope you have enjoyed my very brief update. Have a wonderful weekend and will be talking soon:)

February Facebook Refresher

February seventh through thirteenth...

February 7th: Alicia Zellner went back to school from a 6 day weekend, picked up her almost full functioning vehicle:), sat down for dinner with the hubs and watched a movie... a great way to end her Monday and a good start to her week. Have a great one!

February 8th: Alicia Zellner could handle another mid-week vacation. Potential Ice Day tomorrow! It's getting cold:) brrr!



February 9th: Ice Day number 5! Plano ISD closed! Beautiful outside but enjoying the view from nice warm apt. Ok time to buckle down and get some studying in... Maybe a movie or two!

So I have decided that reading blogs seriously put the biggest smile on my face! No wonder it is my favorite hobby!

... And who knew I would be learning how to do math from early childhood all the way though twelfth grade AGAIN?!? Math was NEVER my strong suit. Oops! Another 40 pages and I am done for the day!

Alicia Zellner says, so studying is complete for tonight as I have only 60 pages until this book is 100% FINISHED! YAY! I did not get out of my pjs once or step foot into the cold, lots of oreos and Dr. Pepper were consumed, no television until now was watched, and it's officially time for some mac and cheese. I say a pretty productive-ish day:) HA!

February 10: Alicia Zellner is excited about today! Ready to enjoy a lesson on hot and cold... Enjoy some hot chocolate with marshmallows... Then some painting with a twist! Happy Thursday!



Alicia Zellner says, seriously painting with a twist rocks my socks off! What an awesome girls night with such great friends!



February 11: Alicia Zellner is excited about a fun girls movie night with her work ladies! We will be viewing psycho 1 and 2 while enjoying yummy treats such as queso, 7 layer dip, pizza, and strawberry short cake for dessert! Yay!



Had a fabulous night! Now off to bed and hopefully sleeping in if the dogs will allow... I have Sally and her sweet little girl Harley coming over for a fun ladies afternoon tomorrow!



February 12: What a fun day with my Gathings girls! Now ready for a fabulous date night with my hubs! Enjoying some wonderful buca di beppo for dinner! Yay for such a wonderful Saturday!



February 13: Alicia Zellner spent a wonderful morning in church then served in joyland serving 3 year olds with her husband.



Now back to finish some buca di beppo for lunch, watch some movies, blog and spend some time with my cute fam of four!

Heart Day Dinner Date!

Saturday night Ray and I enjoyed an early Valentine's Dinner Date Night. This year we decided to have a low key night in. We dinned on Buca Di Beppo's very tasty spaghetti and meat balls and watched a romantic comedy at home. It was so nice to have a relaxing date night in with my hubs. Happy Love Day a few days early:)

Gathings Girls!

Saturday afternoon, I got to spend some amazing time with my sweet Gathings Girls! Sally and sweet little Harley came over to spend the afternoon with me. We enjoyed some desserts, wine, and of course as always some amazing conversation with a great girlfriend and her absolutely adorable 2 month old. Here are some pictures from our afternoon.

Sweet little Harley

She's absolutely Prrrr-fect! I loved her cute little kitty outfit!

As always I love spending time and am so blessed to have such sweet friends. I am absolutely looking forward to our next visit with these lovely ladies and continuing to see miss Harley grow.

ELC Ladies Movie Night!

Tonight the ladies of the ELC enjoyed a fun fabulous Friday's ladies movie night! For weeks we had been planning a relaxing girls night out that included a lot of tasty treats including queso, 7 layer dip, pizza, and strawberry short cake and a Psycho Movie Marathon. What a fabulous time! Here are a few pictures of our evening!
I am so thankful and blessed to work with such amazing ladies. So here's to the next ELC ladies' night out!

Painting with a Twist!

Thursday night I was invited for a fun girls evening at Painting With a Twist! That night after work, I met up with Kristin, Jen, Steph, and Cara for dinner at Panera Bread... one of my absolute favorite restaurants before heading over to paint. Painting with a Twist is seriously such a fun time and if you haven't heard of it or were thinking of going... I would absolutely suggest it. It was a fabulous time to paint, drink wine, and enjoy some girl time!

Each scheduled night they have a specific painting offered. They then take you on a step by step process as to how to paint the picture. Once I reviewed the picture I thought ok I could handle it... but to be honest there were moments that I could feel my heart race. The lady would say, "ok now you have one more minute to finish this section" and I would soon realize I was way behind. ha! But in the end as the lady said... "Your personalities will show through the painting!" And boy was she right. I absolutely loved that you had the same painting shown before you but each one was so different. Here are a few pictures from our evening at

Painting with a Twist!

What a fun time with such fun friends. We enjoyed painting, wine, delicious desserts, and a fun ladies night out! Here's to many more outings with a twist!

Super Bowl Sunday!

On Super Bowl Sunday, we made our way to Frisco for an eventful evening with the Dukes. For some reason half of the Dallas North Tollway was closed so we were sadly a bit later than expected. While the boys enjoyed the game, we all dinned on tasty pizza rolls from Double Daves and enjoyed some wonderful conversation and hang out time. While I remained completely neutral between the Packers and Steelers, I will have to say that Super Bowl Sunday commercials are typically a big win in my book:) Plus I always love time with such great friends! Thank you Steph and Adam for letting us come and enjoy Super Bowl Sunday with you:)

Mi Cocina Lunch Date w/ the Other Z's!

Sunday afternoon after an amazing service at the Heights, we met up with our sweet friends Julie and Michel Zoutendam from our ABF class for lunch. We ate yummy Mexican food at Mi Cocina off of Bethany in Allen. It was delicious! We had such a fun time with great friends. Due to this crazy weather and illness we have had to reschedule our double date night twice in the past. We are absolutely looking forward to spending time again very soon. Thanks to our friends..." the other Z's"... for such a fun lunch date. Enjoy a few pictures of our outing.

Fant Fun & Dinner Date Night

This past Saturday night we had the opportunity to get together with our amazing friends, the Fants. As always it was such a wonderful night with friends that included a very delicious dinner, fun games, great conversation and time together.

I enjoyed such sweet moments playing with baby Bryson. Not only did I receive tons of sweet little hugs, we sang head, shoulders, knees, and toes... or mainly head and toes... but he also shared his toys with me. One by one he brought me a ball from his ball pit.

When we were finished he was such a good "cleaner-upper." I loved it. My favorite moment was when he brought me a book, sat in my lap, and we read together.

I am so in love with this little boy and absolutely look forward to each moment we share together. He's definitely one loved little man! After Bryson was laid down for bed, the adults enjoyed games and a fun photo opt...

First the Ladies...

Then the Gents...

Thank you gentlemen for putting up with our quirkiness:)

I cannot believe we met these absolutely amazing friends almost 8 years ago. I have loved all of our stories that we've shared and all those to come. I cannot wait to share those moments with sweet baby B! So here's to many more days filled with fun and many more dinner date nights with friends!