Weekly Recap - Week 1

We're one week into January, and my list is in full swing! So what have I accomplished so far? Let's review:

1. Lose Weight - 1 lb. down! Yee ha!

5. Throw Kyle a great 30th birthday party - Party prep underway!

10. Clean out clothes I will never wear - Dresser is done, already filled one large bag for goodwill!

11. Finish one book a month - January, DONE!

16. Try a new recipe every week - Tried a new pasta dish. It wasn't great, probably won't be repeating it, but I tried it, and it was cheap! Success!

18. Blog about my adventures. Check!

19. Take at least one picture a day - Check! These are coming at the end of today's post.

Not a bad start for the first week! Also, here's my final five:

26. Have lunch with my mom once a month.
27. Spend time with my girls once a month. (January - check!)
28. Eat a four course dinner for free. (This is so happening, because one of Steffi's is to host one, and Jenica's is to cook one, so all I have to do is eat it!)
29. Make an apron. (I have a couple that my mom made for me, but I love them, and I want to make one myself!)
30. Say goodbye to my 20s in style!

And now, the pictures!

January 1 - Rang in the New Year with Kyle and Catherine!


January 2 - My cutie pup chillin' on the couch.
January 3 - I'm pretty sure right before I took this, it was 11:50, and I said, "Oh crap, I didn't take a picture today!"

January 4 - Kyle's wearing my headband.


January 5 -This girl came in while I was getting my car inspected. I have never seen so much sparkle - everything she had was sequin covered!

January 6 - While packing up Christmas this year, we found that this candle thing from Germany we've had for 4 years had little houses that went over the lights. 4 years. We're idiots.

January 7 - My new recipe I tried.
So there you go! Week 1 in Review!

30 before 30: Reading Challenge - January

One of my 30 before 30 items was to finish one book a month. I'm an avid reader, so this will probably be the easiest thing on my list! In fact, I finished my first book last night.

Jennifer Weiner's Fly Away Home was wonderful. What I love most about her writing is that she often tells different chapters from different perspectives. For instance, the first chapter is told by the mom, the next chapter, one of the daughters, and so on. I kept reading because I couldn't wait to find out what happened when the mom found out about what was going on with each daughter...I just couldn't stand it!

In the story, the main character, Sylvie, is the wife of a senator, who finds out her husband has had an affair with a colleague. She of course finds out about it on the news, and the remainder of the book is how she and her two grown daughters, Diana and Lizzie, react to the news, how it affects their lives, and how they all go about rebuilding what came crashing down.

I've got to wait a little before starting another book, or I will fly through these books before February gets here!

30 before 30

As of today, I have exactly 6 months until I turn 30.

Yikes.

When my friend Steffi turned 29 this past month, she began to make a list: 30 before 30 - 30 things she wanted to do or accomplish before she hit that lovely milestone that says "I'm officially supposed to be an adult now." (You can follow her adventures here.) I loved this idea, and took on the challenge as well! I've got half the time to do it in, but anyone who knows me know I work best under a shorter deadline anyway, so I figured, why not? I'm only at 25 currently, so I'm taking suggestions for my last 5!

1. Lose weight. And yes, I have a number and a plan, but it's none of your business. :)
2. Publish some music.
3. Write a book.
4. Write a business plan for a potential music studio.
5. Throw Kyle a great 30th birthday party. (He hits the big 3-0 on January 30th!)
6. Sell our house and move.
7. Finish scrapbooking 2006. (Don't judge.)
8. Start a once a month bunco group.
9. Take a class once a month and learn something new.
10. Clean out the clothes I will never ever wear again, either because they don't fit, or no 30 year old should wear them.
11. Finish one book a month.
12. Kyle. (Yes, he wanted to make sure he was on this list!)
13. Get rid of my Mary Kay inventory and go to an order only system. (Yay for more closet space!)
14. Get my wedding album ordered. (Again, don't judge me.)
15. Decide on a go to cocktail.
16. Try a new recipe every week.
17. Ride a horse.
18. Blog about my adventures, print them out, and put it in a book for my kids to read one day. (Look, I'm already doing this one!)
19. Take at least 1 picture every day.
20. Catalogue the choir music at church.
21. Take a getaway trip with my hubby.
22. Miss a Sunday of church. (Haven't done this since October of 2009. Yikes!)
23. Sew a quilt. Just for me.
24. Learn to play the hammered dulcimer.
25. Watch the entire series of Sex and the City. (Those girls flew fabulously into their 30s, just want to make sure I do the same!)
26. ??
27. ??
28. ??
29. ??
30. ??

I've already worked out and blogged today, so I'm off to a good start! Make your suggestions now for the final 5. :)

Public Service Announcement

Let's talk about manners today, shall we? I'm going to shoot it out there plain and simple:

Do not ask a woman if she is pregnant unless a baby is currently shooting out of her vagina.

While this might seem obvious to some, let's talk about the implications here. You may think you are being cute or hoping to share a little secret with someone, but you aren't. Ever. Let's talk about some scenarios:

1. Woman is overweight. Not pregnant. You ask her this question, and you have just ruined her day. Odds are, she knows she's overweight, and you suggesting she might be hiding an 8 pound bundle of joy under there are not going to do any favors for her self esteem.

2. Woman is sick to her stomach. Not pregnant. What do you do when a man is sick to his stomach? Is he pregnant, too? Yes, I know it's hard to believe, but there are actually other causes to being ill besides being knocked up. And for those of that have serious stomach issues and are sick almost every single day, that question gets real old, real fast.

3. Woman is of child-bearing age. Again, do NOT assume she might be pregnant! Here's the clencher - this woman might be desperately trying to have a child, maybe just lost a baby, might not be able to financially have a baby, but desperately wants to be pregnant. While you think you are asking an innocent question, you are shooting a dagger through her already hurting heart. Think I'm being dramatic? Whoever you just asked that question and/or the often follow up "Why don't you have kids yet?" might have gone home and cried, because you just reminded them that their dream is not a reality, and it might be very much out of their control. I'm speaking from experience here, and from the experiences of those close to me.

And for all the mommies that want to throw out something about "it's such a great joy and we just want you to share and are eager for you to share too!" We know. And we want to, but for some reason, right now we can't. So please have some tiny consideration for our feelings and quit rubbing it in our faces.

And for the rest of you - just stop being so rude!

Ch-ch-ch-changes.

First of all - big thanks to Crystal for redoing my blog!! Totally loving the header and everything!

Second of all, let me just say this. I realize it's been nearly two months since I repledged to blog regularly. However, if you knew what had gone on the past two months, you'd cut me some slack, so we'll just go with that and yall forgive me, k? K.

Now that we've got that taken care of...

Have you ever wanted everything to change, while wanting everything to go back the way it was or just stay the same? Confused? Me, too. I think sometimes we long for the way things were because we know how to handle those life situations. We long for the comfort of a daily routine we know and understand and don't want to rock the boat. However, if we truly look at it, with the knowledge we know have, would we go back?

Some days I long for my early married days - steady paychecks, tons of shopping money, fun trips to take every month, eating at yummy fun restaurants, and always a good time to be had. However, knowing what I know now, I wouldn't go back. I wasn't using my full potential, I didn't love my job, I worked for my hubby, which induced a tense environment, both at work and at home, and there was always a pretense to keep up.

What about the now? Paychecks aren't always steady, but my bills are paid. I have a job that I actually enjoy going to most days. I can't even remember the last time I got to buy a pair of shoes, and I don't really eat out very often, but my husband and I's relationship is better than ever.

Some would say the now isn't so hot, but I realize as I sit here snuggled on the couch, drinking pumpkin tea in my house that's up for sale, that the things that are changing are a fresh start. It's a chance to hit the reset button on life. Yes, I'm selling the first house we ever bought, but moving means getting out of debt. It means moving to a community where my friends are, and back to my small town roots. It means Kyle and I get to experience some new foods that we make with our own hands - some good, and some not so good, but we try. It means getting eventually to starting a family and moving forward after several very hard years.

And this pumpkin tea will taste just as good in any home where my hubby is watching baseball on the couch, and my puppies are snuggled up by my feet. Those things will stay exactly the same.

Be Still...

I'm thinking a lot of my friend today. She's had turmoil after turmoil after turmoil. After being in the hospital on and off for over a year, right now, she's back in.

I arranged a hymn for our worship team to do on Sunday, and I've had it stuck in my head since rehearsal. It's a hymn I had stuck in my head a lot when we were going through all of our struggles two years ago, and I just love it. So, I'm going to post it here, and hopefully it will help some of you today - and hopefully it will comfort my dear Tish. Lift up a prayer for her today, please.

Be Still My Soul

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
To guide the future, as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
His voice Who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord.
When disappointment, grief and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past
All safe and blessèd we shall meet at last.

Foodie Monday - You be the blogger!

So really, I intended to start a mostly everyday blog a couple of weeks ago, but then we moved at my job, and the thought of sleep was way better than getting a post up here, so that's what I did. I slept. And moved. And that was about it!

So, now it's foodie Monday! I got a new netbook today, which means I'm blogging from my brand new computer, but now I have no foodie pics on this computer!

With fall quickly approaching, I absolutely love all things pumpkin! Tonight I'm going to be whipping up some pumpkin spread (low cal!) which will get posted next week. But for now - what's your favorite pumpkin thing? Feel free to share the recipe, too, and I'll add them to the blog!