The kitchen table overtaken.

This is the center of operations.  JJ and I have taken over the breakfest room as our office.  She is busy studying for the GRE and TOEFL and I am busy dealing with everything else.

The main project right now is to find an apartment.  There are plenty of apartments in Hattiesburg and we could easily move somewhere tomorrow if we were willing to settle.  We are trying to find an apartment that allows pets, is not run down, and is not too expensive.  JJ really wants to get a cat but the best apartment on our list does not allow pets so maybe no feline for us.

The second item on my list is finding a job.  I am in the process of reactivating my teaching license.  While I was in Korea, I didn’t keep up with my CEU’s and since I was on an alternative route license; I will probably have to take a couple of classes this summer to reactivate it.  I am currently trying to pick up any part-time work that is available.  I really don’t want to use up all of our savings.  I take the census test in a couple of weeks so I hope that I will be able to do that for a few weeks.

Not actually driving this taxi

I also just found out that my brother, Brent and I will be running our friend’s taxi service for the next couple of months while he goes home to Ghana.  We have been joking about going out and getting driving hats and gloves.  The taxi service really doesn’t do that much business and we won’t be picking people up off the streets.  It will mainly involve taking people to the airport on the Coast which is about an hour  away.  I am sure that we will also get the occasional call from someone who has too much to drink. It should be interesting. Brent and I are going to take some portraits in front of the taxi later when we have some time.  I will be sure and post them!~

I am also in the process of starting my recruiting business.  My best friends in Korea are English teacher recruiters and I have already signed a contract with them to provide teachers from Mississippi and the rest of the Southeast.  I am working on getting a new website online and have started doing research/brainstorming on how to market it/meet potential teachers.

I am also studying for the GRE.  I haven’t really gotten into studying that hard but have been trying to study a little bit in the evenings.  I did have a great meeting with my Grad School adviser who gave me a lot of encouragement and some great information.  I still need to decide if I am going to join the program this summer or wait until the fall.

Project 55 Weigh-in 246  _ I gotta new scale..Don’t think I lost 4 pounds in a week. maybe a pound or two.

To my Korean Family and readers 새해 복 많이 받으세요!! Enjoy your New Year and have some good food for me!!!! I got to speak to a few of my Korean family members tonight and really should have called them back after watching the short track competition.  I know that they were upset over the Men’s result tonight.  Korea should have taken all three medals but only ended up taking the gold due to a crash between the 2nd and 3rd place Korean racers.

We don’t get that much snow in South Mississippi and when we do, it is a huge deal.  We really only got about 4 inches but you would have thought we had had a blizzard. A few pictures from the past couple of days:

Don't see this every winter.

Moose seemed to enjoy the snow!

My nephew had a great time playing in the snow.

Is he a poser or what?

Try to get his bone......I dare you~!

The outside cat that JJ let move into our room!!

Project 35 45 55is now going on strong.  Thanks to a month of my grandmother’s good Southern cooking I had to up the weight loss plan. There are about 47 weeks left in 2010 and the goal is to be down to 195 by December 31.

Inspiration

I thought that I was overweight in the above photo that was taken in Busan, Korea in 2006.  I lost about 65 pounds when I moved to Korea and now have put back on about 45-55 of those pounds.  Also my waist size has gotten bigger and I keep asking JJ why did how buy so many skinny jeans from Korea.  Unfortunately, they were not skinny jeans 6 months ago.

Outline of Project 55

1. Little or no fast food-Easy- JJ and I have started cooking again.
2. 45min-1 hour of Cardio 6 times per week-Slightly Difficult-I get lazy.
3. No sweets-Difficult-I love chocolate, pie, cake, icecream and all other sweets.
4. Weight Training 3 times per week-Slightly Difficult-I still need to join a gym and I get bored with lifting weights.
5. Healthy Snacks-Easy-but JJ and I need to do a better job grocery shopping.
6. 8 glasses of water a day-Easy- I just need to remember to drink them.
7. Little to no fried food-Difficult-I live in the South and everything is fried.
8. More fruits and vegetables. Easy-Just need to shop better.
9. Join Men’s Health Belly Off Club-Easy.-Done-Just to follow up.
10. Portion Control-Slightly Difficult- I just need the will power.

Once JJ and I move into our apartment it will get easier.  My parents tend to keep a good amount of junk food in the house and it is very tempting for me to walk by and not grab something to munch on.  I also will join a gym next week.  It is way too easy for me to cut down the workout when I try to work out at home. My plan is to have a Wednesday Weight-In/Project 55 update post every week on Wednesday.  I know that I can do it; I just gotta stick with the plan.

Today’s weight is 250.

I have been cheering for the Saints for over 23 years now. My parents gave me a Saints helmet when I was 10 years old. When my family moved to Hattiesburg, everyone in my family really adopted the Saints since they are only an hour and a half away. I will never forget the feeling of knowing that the Saints had won the Superbowl! Here are a few photos from our Superbowl Party:

My Parent's house.

JJ and Molly

Dwayne lost his seat!

Outside enjoying a cold one! Who Dat!

Jason cooked up some great ribs!

I just watched the Tracy Porter interception for the 100th time. I could watch that play on a loop for hours and hours. JJ and I went to Petal to view the game with some friends of ours. We ate way too much and had a great time~! When Porter intercepted the ball, my heart froze. I gasped for air. I just knew that the Saints were going to win their first Super Bowl. I will never forget that feeling. The following are not my videos but the reaction was similar at the party I was attending.

Also check out the NFL’s sounds of the game here.

JJ and I both can’t believe that a month has already passed by. When we first decided to visit my grandparents before settling in Hattiesburg, I thought that a month may be too long but it turned out to be a little bit too short. I have not had enough time to do all that I really wanted to do. My grandfather and I did get most of the work we planned to do done but I really wish that we would have spent more time arguing politics. He loves it even when I get him riled up.
I know that we will be back as soon as possible but as my grandparents get older I want to spend as much time with them as possible. Unfortunately, jobs and studies are calling our names!

JJ wearing Poppa’s hat!

My turn with the hat.

Saying goodbye to Socks!

JJ and I are in the process of packing all of our things to head back to Mississippi. We will leave on Wednesday morning and head to Little Rock via Memphis. We really need to stock up on some Korean food so we are going to hit up an Asian market in Memphis. We will then go on to my Aunt’s house in Little Rock. This will be my first time to visit her in Little Rock and we are really looking forward to the trip. We are only staying two nights but we will be going to the horse track on Thursday and are really excited about getting to see the races. We will then go on back to Hattiesburg and real life will start up. I will begin the job search and work on getting into grad school.

The last few days have been good for photo opportunities.

I have been trying to get this shot all month.

We had quite the snow.

My grandmother is great. She was so excited about the snow.

JJ and Grammy

Snow!!!!

We are still in Kentucky and are here for at least another few days. The plan is to head to Little Rock on Wednesday to spend a couple of days with my aunt and then back to Hattiesburg,MS by Friday. We are in the middle of a huge snow storm here in Kentucky. We were supposed to get snow last night but it really didn’t start until about noon today. We have gotten a few inches already and are expecting about 8-10 inches total. Today was a pretty good day for photos. Here are a few from today:

Downy Woodpecker

Redhead and Fruitloops

He let me get a couple of shots.

Grammy, JJ and Sheeba

Socks was not that into the snow.

Cutie

This guy loves this tree in my grandparent's yard.

I had dinner with the grandparents tonight……………The Saints are going to the Super Bowl…..Hell has frozen over!!!! I have been waiting for a long time for this.