Today, I am joining Mel, Sheaffer and Shay for What's Up Wednesday, where I answer a series of questions. I will be sharing a random assortment of things that are up in my life. Let's get to it....

 

1) What We're Eating This Week...

2) What I'm Reminiscing About...

3) What I'm Loving...

4) What We've Been Up To...

5) What I'm Dreading...

6) What I'm Working On....

7) What I'm Excited About...

8) What I'm Watching/Reading...

9) What I'm Listening To....

10) What I'm Wearing...

I am loving this fun scarf and earrings!

11) What I'm Doing this Weekend...

12) What I'm Looking Forward to Next Month...

13) What Else is New...

14) BONUS...What is your favorite place to travel for Spring Break?

Q and A with Kelli

Recently I have had a lot of reader questions from blogger and Facebook. I thought I would take a minute today to answer 7 quick questions.

Why 7? It is a lucky number :-)

Question 1

How long have you and your husband been married/ how did you meet?


We have been married 9 years. I can't believe that in October we will have celebrated 10 years of wedded bliss. :-)

My cousin introduced us. I knew that I was transferring to Baylor University, she was currently at Baylor. I had just broken up with my high school boyfriend...long distance is hard. She told me she had a guy I needed to meet.

We meet at the local Waco mall in a shoe store lol. Don't ask me the name I don't remember. My cousin and I were in their browsing. Greg and I had chatted on AOL IM  for about 2-3 weeks before we actually meet. We hung out at the mall and that evening he invited me to dinner.

He asked me out that evening and since then we have been together.

QUESTION 2

Where are you from?

I am from Killeen, TX. It is the home to the Ft. Hood army base. I grew up here and just recently returned in March of 2017.

Question 3

What is your favorite place to vacation to? I love both the beach and skiing. My favorite trips with my husband have been to VAIL, CO and the many Caribbean cruises we have taken.

Question 4

How old is your house?




It was built in 1969 and is a wonderful mix of modern and contemporary!

Question 5

Who often do you workout and what are your favorite workouts?

I try to workout 3-5 days a week.

I enjoy strength based training and running for cardio.

Question 6

What made you decide to move back to TX and run laundromats? (most asked question)




See this blog post....http://classysoutherntexan.blogspot.com/2018/02/why-laundrymat.html

It is a family business and I wanted to be closer to home.

Question 7

What is your favorite thing to do on the weekend?

The weekends are our busy time as people wait until then to do their laundry. However, I enjoy visiting either Waco or Austin on the weekends. I love to lounge and read. I take Saturdays and Sunday's to do cardio as I have a little more time.

Why a Laundrymat?

Many people have been asking why a laundrymat? What made you decide to go into the family business? As a woman can you do it?

What made you decide to go into the family business?

After 8 years of teaching third grade and being a school librarian this past March, I made a huge switch. I along with my husband decided to dive into the world of laundry mats. My father likes to call himself a textile maintenance engineer.

40 + years ago my father, along with his grandfather (my great grandfather) and my dads father (my grandfather) they decided that Killeen, TX needed a laundrymat. My great grandfather was in the construction business along with his son and another local friend.



At the age of 25 my dad build his first location, over the years he has built and bought multiple laundrymats throughout our city. I remember being in middle school and helping him build one of our locations. I was just 11 years old and in the 6th grade. He was building the store just a block away and I remember many long hours spent there while he laid floor, installed plumbing, ran electricity and the like. I remember learning about welding and realizing that having a laundrymat is so much more than just dirty clothes.


In high school, I was known as the girl whose family owned local laundrymats. My father has coined literally the phrase we "make our living a quarter at a time." Not much has changed in over 40 years of ownership. It still cost 25 cents to start a dryer and we have no washers that cost over 8 dollars for a load. WOW 8 dollars seems high however, this one washer can hold over 90 pounds of your clothing.

As a woman can you do it?

The answer is YES! This is just not a man's occupation anymore. We pride ourselves on the fact that we do fix all of our machines. Recently I helped my father lay tile at one of my stores, we can fix the fan in the hot water heater.


We supply all the candy, chips and sodas to our vending machines. I can clean up water on the floor or fix a machine when a sock is caught in the door.

If a dryer isn't getting hot enough, yes I can flip a switch and make sure the flame is igniting.

I can unstop a sewer line.

Is it a pretty job no! I don't get to wear fun jewelry or heels but I do enjoy every moment of everyday and have found something that makes me happy!

YES it is a messy job, but YES I can do it. Everyday, I constantly have something new to face. Everyday I am learning something new.

The biggest thing I have learned is that 99 percent of problems are really not that big a deal in the grand o scheme of things. It can be fixed or you can get the part in a matter of days.

WOOHOO for lots of snow, fresh powder and blue bird skiing. This past week the hubby and I enjoyed snowy CO.

We typically have visited CO during Valentine's/Presidents' Day weekend for the past 8 years!!

Here are some of our tried and true tips....We have skied Breckenridge, Vail and Beaver Creek. My husband grew up skiing Vail and I have to say it truly is our favorite. We have flown into both Eagle and Denver.



My suggestion is to fly into Denver and get a car. Flying into Eagle can be tricky with snow, time delays and the like.

Rent your skis, boots, and poles in advance. This saves a ton of time. We have rented from various places on the mountain year after year. But it is so convenient at the end of the day to just hand your skis, boots, and poles to someone and have them stored vs wearing them around town, carting the heavy skis and your feet hurting.


The best feeling after skiing for me personally is putting on my SOREL boots!!

Book dinner reservations in advance!!! We have our tried and true favorites and they fill up quickly. We like to sit at the bar but getting a reservation is key. We typically book the first few evenings and then see where else we want to eat.

Day 1

When we first get into Vail, we like to either visit Red Lion or Garfinklel's. They have lots of seating and a wide variety of menu options! We like to either get a fish sandwich or burger. We personally have noticed that it is so easy to split a meal in Vail. The portions are huge and we don't want our bellies too full while skiing.

Day 2

Day 3

Today, I am linking up with Andrea (Momfessionals), Erika (TabandErika) and Narci (GraceandLove) for Friday Favorites!

This past week we have been in Vail, CO enjoying the snow and skiing. We have for the last 8 years headed to CO for skiing over the Valentine's/Presidents' Day weekend.

I plan to recap our trip and talk about our ski experience and the all the wonderful restaurants we visited. A few of our favorites are Lancelot (prime rib) and Montauk for seafood.

On this trip I have been using several new hair products and LOVING them.

I am really loving Dry Bar and Big Sexy products right now. They give my hair a lot of volume!

Mardi Gras is a fun tradition in Louisiana and around other parts of the US.



Mardi Gras is French for FAT TUESDAY. It is the last day of Carnival Season where people party, eat, drink and celebrate with fun parades.



Mardi Gras is a Catholic tradition that marks the time between Advent and Lent. Thus why people from Louisiana can't start a diet in January. We get to eat all we want until Lent when we give up something for 40 days.

Many people think of parades when they think of Mardi Gras but the fun actually begins before the parades with parties thrown by the kings and queens of each krewe.

During Mardi Gras you may notice lots of purples, greens and golds. They all mean something...
Green faith
Gold power
Purple justice



King Cake refers back to the three kings and Epiphany. The baby found in the king cake is Jesus.

Mardi Gras doesn't just happen primarily in New Orleans. It is celebrated in Brazil, Mexico, and Italy just to name a few places.

You cannot ride on a float without a mask.

What is your favorite part of Mardi Gras? Do you celebrate where you live?



My favorite thing is king cake and hot cocca!!!

Well the Super Bowl has now come and gone and we hosted our first Super Bowl party in our new house in TX. We invited our small group over with kiddos and everybody had a blast.

We ordered pizza in advance to be ready by 6 o clock and it was so yummy! You can't go wrong with pizza and some fun little sides. We had chips, fruit, veggies and a cauliflower buffalo dish. Then for dessert king-cake (more to come on that in a second) and cupcakes.



 I set up a kids table with footballs and kid crafts. It was so funny because all the little girls went outside and were throwing the football around. The boys wanted to play in the house, watch the game and play our Pac-Man machine. The best part was it wasn't really working they just thought they were playing it. Greg got it working eventually but they had more fun I think just pushing the buttons!!


We did a Super Bowl square pool and Greg won quarter 3-4. We didn't play for money just fun. I went to FEDEX to get the squares enlarged and wholly BATMAN their printer wasn't working so they could only print on the banner printer meaning our squares were 3ft x 5ft. HAHA it was huge!!


We enjoyed watching the game, playing games, and just being with friends! It is these moments I know I will look back on in years to come and be thankful for these friends!

After the game, one couple stayed and we watched This Is Us. OMG cue the tears!!


Later this week tune in for Mardi Gras traditions, king cake and fun!