OBGYN update--THANK Y'ALL!

I cannot thank y'all ENOUGH for your incredible response to helping me in my quest to find an excellent OB-GYN! My plan is to make some selections from the list of the recommended doctors and then go meet them to see how well we mesh/how things are run at their practice.

It excites me that so many of you love your doctors so much, and I hope to find one that I will be as enthusiastic about and love!

So far, here is who y'all have recommended!:

1. Dr. Kennedy
2. Dr. Heidi Straughn
3. Dr. Lance Radbill
4. Dr. Damrich
5. Dr. Barron
6. Dr. Robinett
7. Dr. Huggins
8. Dr. Adcock
9. Dr. Dan Hudson
10. Dr. Ashley Tamucci
11. Dr. Greg Banks
12. Dr. Favor

PLUGS!

I'd like to take this opportunity to do a few plugs...

1st is JULIUS.
Julius will come to your house, pick up your car, wash/wax/detail it inside and out, and return it to your house... all for $45. You cannot beat that deal with a stick. On top of that, he is an absolute sweetheart! My parents gave "Julius" to me for an Easter present... I had it done yesterday and I SWEAR my car has not been this clean since the day that I drove it off of the lot! It looks incredible!!!
Let me know if you're interested and I'll be happy to give you his number!
(I'd post it, but I don't have my phone with me)

2nd is JOSH.
Incredible husband, yes... but also incredible personal trainer/fitness man! After previous plugs for his boot camps at Hoover Fitness (mostly on Twitter-follow me @taylorbgamble)... I decided to go check it out for myself. I went this morning and he did a great job! It is fast-paced, so you don't realize that the time is flying by, and it gets your heart rate up. He uses great background music to keep you motivated, and he's very sweet and patient with you (not just b/c I'm his wife haha... actually I gave him a little bit of a hard time).
The boot camps at Hoover Fitness are Monday and Friday @10AM and Wednesdays @9AM....
Remember-the first time is FREE!
(and they have child care!)

Have a great day and drink lots of water, Y'all!

OB-GYN??

Ok... I know this is kind of on the personal side, but I thought it was a good forum to ask about this... especially because I believe most (if not ALL) of my readers are women! After graduating from college, I started seeing Dr. Roxanne Travelute as my doctor, whom I absolutely adore! Because she is an Internist, she can meet all of my medical needs, with the exception of more serious issues that would require specialists (God forbid) and delivering babies (which is unfortunate, b/c she'd be amazing!)

Josh and I have been married for over 2 years now, and are looking forward to starting a family at some point. I'd really like to go ahead and find an OB-GYN now, so I can establish a relationship before we start trying for babies later. As of now, I do not have a preference about sex of the doctor, only that he or she have a great bed-side manner, personableness, and brilliance, of course ;o)

So... Ladies, I need your help! I'd really like to find a doctor at Brookwood Hospital because it is literally a few minutes from Josh and my house, and my daddy works there often, so it'd be nice later when babies are coming to have him so close, too.

• Who have you heard are good OB-GYNS at Brookwood?
• Who have you had as an OB-GYN at Brookwood that you adored? (whether you've had a baby or not)
• Who have you or a friend had that you/they did NOT like as an OB-GYN at Brookwood?

I'd really appreciate your help and advice! I'm open to any other advice/opinions you have to offer! If you feel funny posting that information for one reason or another, you're welcome to e-mail it to me at taylorbgamble@gmail.com.

Thanks, y'all!

Absolutely precious, almost finished, and MOJO Personal Fitness!

So, I was visiting some of the blogs over to right right, and went to Grethel Van Epps Photography blog... here is one of the pics that she recently took. I have no clue who the little girl is, but I just thought this picture was precious and timeless.

Speaking of photography...I recently made a rather large and exciting purchase--a Nikon D60 Digital SLR camera! (I had birthday money, otherwise, it would not have been in the budget at all haha) I cannot wait to learn how to use it well and take beautiful pictures! I decided to go with the D60 because, first of all, Nikon is a fantastic company, but also because it was 10.3 megapixels. Apparently that's all you really need...and I did not want to be buying another camera again soon. It's also better for people who edit/crop pictures, and I do like a good cropping from time to time. I'm most excited about taking pictures of Josh and my future babies with this camera... I'm thrilled by the photographic possibilities and probabilities of trips to the lake... family gatherings...birthdays... Josh's cycling races....trips to visit friends... and more. I got it at Wolf Camera, along with some filters and one other lens. With my purchase came free photography classes, so I'm thinking about taking one or two sometime. Anyways... that's new and exciting!

Hmm... I'm trying to think what has been up with us lately. This past weekend, Josh's mom came down from Friday evening to Saturday afternoon, which we really enjoyed, as always. We went to dinner with her at Cajun Steamer and saw The Proposal Friday night. We thoroughly enjoyed The Proposal! Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock are just gorgeous people, so easy on the eye to watch for 1+ hrs.... and both hilarious. Saturday morning, we grabbed Miley Jean and headed to Pepper Place Farmer's Market....which was short-lived. Miley hasn't been there before, so between the food smells, people smells, dogs smells and crowd, she was a bit overwhelmed. She can handle Josh's cycling races really well, but this was a bit much for her. It was also her first time out in a crowd in a while, so she was kinda jazzed up, making it difficult for me to hold her (she's very strong-pure muscle!), and my stubborn ass wouldn't let Josh take her from me... serves me right, huh? After the market, we dropped sweet Miley off to nap and headed to Patton Creek to finally get to go into Wrapsody. It is always closed when I'm up there because it's usually at dinner time, so I have been wanting to see all of their stuff for a while. It was very cute... great for little gifts, etc. We had lunch at Edgar's Bakery, stopped by Dick's to see if they had any good dry-fit shirts for Josh to train people in, and then headed home. Regenia packed and left... Josh and I rested for a little bit and then headed to our sweet friends', the Byingtons, house to grill out and swim! It was wonderful catching up and visiting with them, the Schaefers, and the Elams. Sunday AM, Josh dropped me off at Sunday school so he could go take care of my aunt and uncle's dogs. Then, that afternoon, we went to my parents' house to honor my daddy's father's day present request: manual labor. haha. As you all know, my sweet sister Grace is moving to Auburn, AL for vet school soon, and the house my parents bought down there (great deal) is almost ready for Gracie to move in and get settled! Because of this, my daddy wanted help bringing furniture up from the basement, which is where Joshy G and his bulging biceps come in...and my manual labor was wiping down all of the furniture so it wouldn't track spider webs and dust to the new house. We are calling the house The Hive (Beehive) because it's... A Brannon house... and Grace is a Brannon...and she'll live there with Bailey... get it? B's!


On another perky note, I'm glad to report that I'm about halfway through summer semester AND now that June is coming to an end, I will be finished with one of my classes... which will drop my load from 5 to 4 classes for the rest of the summer... haha... It's still a big load, but it'll be better than what I'm dealing with right now.

I've been doing:
Mon-3-5pm (usually observing at observation site 7:30-9:30am)
Tues 8-5pm non-stop
Weds (same as Monday)
Thursday 8am-9:40pm with 2hr break in the middle that I've been using to eat lunch and work out in for the past couple of weeks...it's been working out well
Fri I work at Bayliss Maching and Welding, my God-parents' family company, from 8am-12:30pm doing secretarial work. It's a wonderful way to get to see them more and earn some extra (well, not extra b/c we need it!) money to add to the Gamble pot!
{WHEW!}

Now, it'll be:
Mon-FREE
Tues 8am-2pm
Weds-FREE
Thurs 8am-12:25pm and 5:50-9:40pm
Friday work at Bayliss 8am-12:30pm....definitely better! :)
I'll still have 12 hrs of observations for one of my other classes on top of this...but I'll survive.


On another front, Josh's training business seems to slowly be growing, PRAISE THE LORD! What an answered prayer! He has been working on a website, we ordered him some business cards (pic!), and our wonderful friend Trey who owns Art Promotional Services has been working with us on designing a great logo for MoJo Personal Fitness, so Josh can really brand himself. We appreciate it more than Trey could ever know.

For those of you that don't already know, MoJo Personal Fitness offers a variety of training options.

• Josh will come to your house to "home train" you. For this you don't need a home gym or anything. He brings what little equipment you will use, and you do a lot of plyometrics and other activities that can simply be done around the house.
• He also offers "partner training" at home if you want a friend to join you.
• Josh has boot camps/group fitness classes going out at Liberty Park and in Crestline, and is always open to starting new ones in different parts of town to anyone who can get a group of 5 or more people together!
• Josh has recently signed on at Icon Performance Gym over in Cahaba Heights to have a facility for clients who would like to train in a gym setting.
• Last, but not least, Josh is also teaching a boot camp at Hoover Fitness in Bluff Park on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings! Monday and Friday are at 10am and Wednesdays are at 9am.

Any BTW, the first session/class is FREE! You have nothing to lose but pounds :)

I ask that you all please join us in praying for Josh to continue to get more business, and that you spread the word about his personal training. God is so good, and I know that he will provide...because like He tells us in Jeremiah 29:11 (Josh and my verse together)...He knows the plans He has for us! Plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us hope and a future! We just need to call upon His name, pray to Him, and He will listen! We will seek Him and find Him when we seek Him with all of our hearts! AMEN!

Hope y'all are having a wonderfully blessed week! Love, the Gambles!

8 things....

8 Things I Did Yesterday:

1. Took my car to the dealership/shop
2. Class at 8-10am
3. Class at 10:20-12:25am
4. Went to the rec center and did the elliptical!
5. Showered in the locker room... always interesting
6. Class at 3-5pm
7. Class at 5:30-9:40pm
8. Sacked out on the couch...

8 Things I Wish I Could Do:

1. Lay out at the pool or beach with a good book.
2. Go on a vacation with just Josh
3. Decorate my house without a budget.... particularly to re-do the bathrooms.
4. Lose my weight... and fast. haha.
5. Travel a lot
6. Write in calligraphy well
7. Not be so hard on myself
8. Get Josh his dream job.

8 Shows I Watch (just 8?)

1. Law and Order
2. Law and Order SVU
3. Law and Order Criminal Intent
4. Grey's Anatomy
5. Private Practice
6. The Closer
7. Real Housewives of NYC (and sometimes NJ)
8. Brothers and Sisters

8 Favorite Foods

1. Chips and Salsa
2. Icecream
3. Cheeseburger grilled at home by Josh
4. Sushi
5. Omelets with feta and asparagus
6. Mashed Potatoes
7. Pasta
8. Chips and cheese (queso)

8 Places I Have Traveled

1. St. Thomas
2. Santorini, Greece
3. Mykonos, Greece
4. Isthanbul, Turkey
5. Paris, France
6. Venice, Italy
7. Jamaica
8. Barbados

8 Places I Would Like to Travel

1. More Italy
2. Australia
3. More Greece
4. Ireland
5. Key West, FL
6. Tahiti
7. Hawaii
8. St. Bart's

Love muffin...

I haven't posted a picture of my darling "nephew" Wyatt in a while, so I thought I'd share this one that I (lucked out and) caught on Saturday at his 1st b'day party with his mommy's camera.
Isn't he a doll?????

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MAMA!!!

Today is my precious mama's birthday! For those of you that did not already know, I have the most wonderful Mom ever. I am so grateful for her and all that she does for me. She is a wonderful friend to us/others and sets such a great example for her 3 girls by the way that she lives her life..... through leading small group at church, volunteering at the church, leading a bible study at her house, faithfully sending people cards when they are going through hard times, staying in Greensboro, AL for weeks to be with a dying friend, being a devoted and loving wife to my daddy almost 29 years (!!!!), showing love and generosity to others as she makes them meals in their times of need, having our big old family over for holiday celebrations so we can all be together, throwing numerous wedding showers to celebrate her friends and their children, driving my aunt to doctor appointments and to get chemotherapy, opening her home to family friends as they evacuate their homes for hurricanes, and muuuuch MORE!

Those are just things she does for other people. She is an incredible and selfless mother...especially with her time. I cannot begin to tell you the hours she has put into us girls and our lives... softball games, traveling all over the U.S. to watch Grace play volleyball, staying up to the wee hours of the morning helping all of us study, college and vet school applications (big hours there!), watching me cheer, taking us to church and teaching us to be good God-loving ladies, watching Paige dance, teaching us that family is our priority, making life fun---decorating your cast to celebrate Easter 2006, baking/decorating Christmas cookies to leave for Santa, dyeing Easter eggs, carving pumpkins, making gingerbread houses, etc.; planning my wedding with me for a year... in HER (and my dad's) garden, no less!... which required she put off adding their new master bedroom on to the first floor because it would have messed up the yard for our wedding site, helping Josh and me move into and decorate our first home (and borrow a lot of her old furniture!), hours spent shopping for wedding dresses and then celebrating together in the parking lot when we finally bought one, planning and taking family vacations to make sure that we got quality family time together and to broaden our horizons, helping Paige get everything figured out when she transferred schools, countless hours spent shopping for, buying, and decorating the new house in Auburn where Grace will spend the next four years becoming Grace Brannon, DVM; .... I could go on for hours. People say there are angels everywhere... and we have our very own in my mama.

Mama, Thank you for everything that you do for daddy, josh, us girls, and others. Thank you for your joy for the Lord that you share with all of us and the excellent example of Christ's love that you emulate daily. I love you so much. You are my heart.

1 week down... 9 to go

Well, I'm finished with my first week of June-August summer classes. I'm SO glad that I took that one class during the mini-may session instead of the summer. Between my 5 classes, I am completely overwhelmed by the amount of schoolwork in my near future... but know that I'm a smart gal who likes to make good grades, so I'll get it finished....exhausting as it may be.

I am so excited that my BFF Joy is coming to town tomorrow afternoon. She was originally supposed to be staying with us for a week while her hubby, Luke, was doing a youth retreat in town, but she was recruited to be a leader, so we'll just have her all to ourselves for Friday and Saturday morning.... but I'll take whatever I can get!!! While she's in town, we'll probably hit Magic City Brewfest down at Sloss Furnaces with Joshy G and my sister, Grace. We'll be going as their "DDs." FYI: If you come with a ticket carrying person as their DD, you can get in for free, get free unlimited non-alcoholic bevs, free food, and enjoy the live music. Neither of us care about drinking beer that night, so it's the perfect set up! Hope to see some of you down there!

This weekend is my "nephew" Wyatt's first b'day party! Here is the PRECIOUS invitation! BFF Eden is doing BBQ for food (YUM!) and instead of a cake, she ordered a bunch of cupcakes in the colors from the invitation (so cute!). Some of the cupcakes are going to be decorated as blue owls like the ones on the invitations! Eden has wonderful taste, so I know everything is going to be precious! Wyatt asked his Aunt Taylor and Uncle Josh for a Praise Baby cd for his b'day and his Nana got him this INCREDIBLE piece of art from Pottery Barn Kids for his room, which will also look fantastic in the big boy room his mommy is planning for him in California!

Sunday is my mama's b'day. Can't post anything about that yet, b/c she might read about what we girls (and daddy and joshy g) are giving her for her b'day and I don't want to spoil the surprise :o) Joshy G. and I are baking her b'day cake... we've been brainstorming on how to make it totally amazing for my sweet mama!

That's about all that's going on with us for now... I'll keep y'all posted!