My Birthday

Yesterday, I turned 26 years old.

Wow, that feels like a big number. It feels like an accomplished number. It still feels like a young number. I am blessed to be this old. It's important to remember that some don't make it this far due to a million and one reasons. To grow older and (hopefully wiser) is a true blessing.

I thought it would be fun to share 26 facts that you may not now in honor of my 26th year.

1. I only eat carrot cake once a year, for my birthday, from Cheesy Eddies located in my home city. It is my favorite place to get carrot cake and I refuse to eat any other because nothing tastes as good as theirs.

2. I often have two birthday cakes. My Cheesy Eddies carrot cake is only for me (they come in a various sizes, so I'm not eating a cake made to feed 8 people..more like a mini cake made for two) and I don't even share with Mozart. The other cake (usually store bought or I make it) is for everyone else. Sorry, not sorry.

3.  I've never been to a night club and I kind of don't want to ever go.

4. My favorite food is Tex Mex. I don't like authentic Mexican food (not really, some of it is okay) but give me some smothered nachos, salsa, burritos, and more importantly- anything Chipotle- and I'm a very happy girl. Seriously. Last year for Valentine's Day, Mozart surprised me with a burrito for lunch. I love that man.

5. I'm up 5/5:30am most days.

6. One day I will take the leap and start my own business.

7. When I become obsessed with video games and/or TV shows they leak into my life. Like the time I swore I was a detective when I discovered Veronica Mars or the time I found myself silently stalking my husband through the house after hours of Splinter Cell and Assassin's Creed game play.

8. Orange is my favorite color but I don't own many orange things.

9. When I get really tired my right eye gets extremely painful.

10. I love fruity chewy candy. No chocolate.

11. I don't wear dress socks to work. I wear big ugly white tube socks. Oops.

12. Brad Pitt has been my husband since I was 9.

13. The older I get the more conservative I get. AH!

14. I compare my capabilities as a mom and a wife to people that I shouldn't.

15. One day, when we buy a home, I plan on making a dinning room table and chairs.

16. When I was pregnant with Bean I cried and ugly cry on the kitchen floor when I discovered Mozart had eaten the last of the cereal. When I was pregnant with Reid I cried an angry cry when Mozart had eaten the last piece of pie. Both times I made him go out at 10pm to replace the items.

17. I don't like any hot drinks other than hot chocolate and even then I can't finish a whole one.

18. I ran my own feminist organization in undergraduate school.

19. I own only one pair of work shoes, one pair of sneakers, two pairs of dressy sandals  and a pair of winter boots. Having a size 11 foot is not easy my friends.

20. The first concert I ever attended was Journey and it was amazing.

21. I don't remove nail polish, I let it chip away until it isn't there anymore.

22.  I haven't read any books since I read all three books in the Hunger Games series ...a year ago. I know...I'm horrible.

23. I once slammed my finger in the car door and my nail turned black and popped off. I believed that I would never find a husband with a stub for a nail but it grew back. I kept the black nail for a very long time but one day I couldn't find it....gross.

24.When I was younger, I wanted to be a hot dog vendor. Like, legit. We had an elementary career fair and each kid had to have a booth where they dressed up like their dream job. I had a hot dog stand made out of card board boxes, fake food, an apron, and an awesome chef's hat.

25. When I am an old lady I am going to be a mean old lady because I believe the elderly have the right to say and do what they please. So no little girl scout girl, I do NOT want you to read to me and no senior center staff member, I do NOT want to make crap out of Popsicle sticks.

26. I can't step on tile or linoleum floor with wet feet, even if it's clean. It grosses me out so I dread getting out of the shower. I need to invest in some shower flip flops circa college days.


I had a wonderful birthday and it's not over yet. It's our tradition to do special things not only on the actual birthday, but to spend a full weekend dedicated to that person. I'm so excited about what's in store for this weekend. Of course, I'll keep you updated.

101 Goals in Review

Oh man.

To be honest, I forgot about my 101 Goals but today I decided to take a look and figure out what can be accomplished in the time I have left.

I had big plans a year ago and I assigned different goals to months throughout 2012 but things got away from me.

I decided to do that concept again, but keep it to 4 month time slots and then assign more goals for the next four months and so on until my time runs out.

Here are a few that I'll be working on until the end of April 2013:

January
76. Organize any old photos found at my mom’s house
78. Organize my Nana’s photos
This is extremely important to me. My Nana is getting older and I really want her to date as many photos as she can and to also name the people in those photos. I'm heading to my mom's with my youngest sister-in-law at the end of this month for fondue fun and I think it will be the perfect weekend to organize photos.

February
80. Make a mini Kiss book for the kids that feature their pictures and my letters to them
I don't know if it will be a Kiss book brand per say, but I do know that I plan on documenting each year of their lives, so I'll do years 1-3 for Bean and then year 1 for Reid.

March
100. Take a Mother/Daughter trip with Bean
I've decided that for Bean's 3rd birthday in March I'll make cupcakes for her friends at child care, as a family we'll have a special dinner on her birthday, and then we'll take a Mother/Daughter trip to some place awesome. Three is such a fun age, we have full conversations and she can express herself ( "That's awesome!" "I had such a great day Mommy." "Tomorrow can we ___?") and I think she'd really appreciate a special weekend just for her.

April
3. Make a 'Family Established' sign
We'll be prepping for a move happening in May (more on that later) and I want this to be some place when we walk in.

For the next year I'll be doing the following goals because they're ongoing:
44. Take monthly family photos

All of this seems like a lot and that's because it is. But I know that these are things that I have been wanting to do for the longest and I refuse to let the end of my 101 goal timeframe end without completeing a good portion of them...mainly because I'll feel like a loser.

Also, is it bad that I've started working on a new 101 Goal List and I'm not even finished with the first one yet!? Ew, I'm sick...I think.

Do you have a 101 Goals list? If so, link it..I may need ideas. If not, start one!

Right Now

 | Right Now I am... |

... Happy the holidays are over

... Ready to celebrate my birthday on January 8th!!!!

... Thinking about 2013 goals

... Excited about some upcoming things

... Putting more effort into myself

... Amazed at Reid's emerging personality

... Hopeful

... Trying to be patient

... Not okay with the 3 degrees it was yesterday

... Proud of Bean and her strides in potty training

... Itching for some new jewelry 

... Re-working a budget that feels right to us

... Creating a pre-k curriculum 

... Thinking about our impending move...that's 4/5 months away

... Dwelling in possibilities 

What are you doing right now?

Scenes from our home

New Year Theme: Potential

Last year I decided that the theme I was going to try and live by was cleanliness.  You can read more about how I came to that decision right here.

I'm here to say that I believe I did a great job sticking to that theme. I cleaned up my a lot of areas in my life; socially, economically, spiritually. And it feels good to say that I walked the walk.

In fact, I liked having a theme so much that I decided on a new one: potential.

Although I was growing leaps and bounds last year, I didn't feel like I was living up to my full potential.

To be honest, I kind of look frumpy most days and lose track of the last time I washed my hair or waxed my eyebrows. I've also been really lax with this blog, something that is extremely important to me. I haven't been doing all I can for my family or for my kids, often thinking "One day I will..." or "Just give me a minute and I will..."

Truth is, I could never find that one day or that minute to circle back to what I wanted to do.

But I have to be careful and make sure what I'm trying to accomplish isn't far fetched or born out of some kind of guilt. I have to specify what areas I want to reach my full potential, because let's face it- not everything can operate at 100%.

Home Decor- I'm really focusing on making our home a place that is comfortable and also beautiful. More meaningful and intentional purchases, not just junk or things that are cheap- items that will last.

Self Care- Taking care of myself so that I can take care of my family is important. I want to feel good about the way I look so styling my hair at least 4 days a week, wearing lip gloss, and eye make up are my top priorities. As well as shopping for clothes on a regular basis. I swear, not even lying, I've been wearing the same shirts for almost 6 months. I don't even think I have to go into detail about what they look like.

Marriage- As always my marriage is an area that I love to grow. The good thing about Mozart is that he always likes improving. So while we have a really good marriage, there is room for improvement. This means more dates, more understanding, more time alone, surrounding ourselves with like minded couples. We also have a few books we are going to read that will push our marriage even further.

Children- Since I work, the only chunks of time I get with the kids are in the evenings and during the weekend. I want to fill those times with more meaningful things like making art, telling stories, listening to Bean talk about her crazy (often made up) days. We're going on more outings around our area as well.

So there it goes. My year vaguely mapped out. It seems like a lot but chipping away at these four areas is my goal.

What are your goals for 2013?