Update: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...Things to do in 2015

If you remember, and you might since I haven't posted a lot this year, instead of making resolutions I made goals. I wrote down a whole big list of things I wanted to accomplish in 2015. Now that we're more than halfway through the year, I thought it might be a good idea to take a minute to see how the list is coming along...

Already making progress

We're just 12 days into 2015 and I'm already making progress on my 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 things to do in 2015 lists.

I'm the kind of person who starts out really strong when I have new ideas or things I want to accomplish. I'll get right on it, make progress and eventually stall out a few days/weeks/months into things. So basically what I'm saying is that come about April or so, my progress will have slowed down a lot.

So what have I already gotten done?

5, 4, 3, 2, 1...Things to do in 2015

I was having a bit of trouble coming up with resolutions for 2015...and then a friend showed me how she was writing up resolutions/things she'd like to do in 2015. I thought her way was pretty good...so yes, I kind of copied it. I had to switch things up a bit because I was having problems coming up with certain numbers of things for each topic, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Year End Reflections

As 2014 comes to an end...did I really just type that? 2014 is coming to an end? Where did the month go?...but alas...As 2014 comes to an end, I thought it would be nice to take a look back and reflect on the year.

10 Things That Made Me Happy:

1. Dying my hair red
2. Girl's nights
3. Advent presents for friends and sister
4. Shipshewana with Kelley
5. Book club/rediscovering my love of books
6. Buying my car
7. Making Andrea's Minion cake and Jen's TFIOS cake
8. Discovering Boba at Lola's
9. Finding a good recipe to make sweet and sour chicken at home
10. Leadership scavenger hunt at work

5 Things That Made Me Sad:

1. The mouse ate my PB2
2. All the snow last winter
3. Jen moving away
4. Divergent
5. Losing my perfect attendance record at work

Reflection:
I'm not going blindly into 2015. My rose colored glasses are not on. I am taking a realistic look at things and what I want to accomplish in 2015. In reality I know that 2015 will not be much different from 2014. There will be ups. There will be downs. Good times, bad times, just ok times. It's life. I'll be working on a post about what I'd like to accomplish in 2015 and that should be up sometime this weekend or early next week.

2014 wasn't a bad year, but I don't know that I would say it was spectacular either. It was much harder for me to think of things that made me sad, hence why there's only 5, than it was for me to think of things that made me happy, so I suppose that means that on the whole the year was more good than bad.

A Year of Books 2014

As you can see from above, I've been busy reading a lot this last year. My goal is 25 books for the year and I still have over a week to get in that last book. I'm fairly confident I can do it.

#RandomActsOfDecember 2014

Some of you may remember that last December I teamed up with my good friend Jen over at Peace, Love, and Life for a project we called Random Acts of December. Our intent was to do 100 random acts of kindness throughout the month to pay it forward and do something to positively change the lives of those around us. While we didn't make it to 100 last year, we had a lot of fun and made many people smile.

Because life happens in the course of a year, we will be in different places this year. While I'm sad we no longer live a short 15 minute drive from each other, I am excited that it means we get to spread happiness in multiple places!

And just to clarify, our acts aren't necessarily random meaning unplanned. Most have been planned out due to needing supplies or what have you and are random in who receives them.

If you want to see what we're up to, feel free to follow along using #RandomActsOfDecember on social media. If you're lucky enough to receive something from us, feel free to post about it using the same hashtag.

Social Media Links:
My Instagram
Jen's Instagram
My Facebook
Jen's Facebook

Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes

Just what the title says. I've been thinking about ways to get back into blogging, because I know I've been MIA, and a friend suggested I kind of switch the direction of the blog. That's exactly what I'm going to do, but at this point in time I'm not sure exactly how that will change things here. It might just be an overhaul of the design and layout, or it might mean even more changes. I am setting a loose timeline of having things completed in January. Until then, and much like the last year or so, I'll be in an out.

Please feel free to let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions as well. While I probably can't take action on everything, I will do my best to take it all into consideration.

Foodie Friday - Keurig 2.0 Review

When I found out I was going to receive a Keurig 2.0 complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes I was super excited. Not long before I had mentioned to a friend that I really wanted a Keurig, but I wasn't sure I could justify the price at this time. The Influenster Gods must have had their ears open when I was talking.

100 Days without Pop??!!

At some point around the time of the Super Bowl in early February a friend mentioned that the Monday after the Super Bowl is as popular a time to start eating healthy as January 1. We were talking about small changes we could make to help us make better choices. It was never meant to be about making huge leaps from having candy, cookies and pop to suddenly having carrots, celery and water. It was about the small things. I decided that one thing I could do without was pop.

The first thing I did was try out a few apps that keep track of streaks. Most didn't work out, but this one was so simple to use and it reminded me every morning to check off the previous day. You can download Habit Streak Plan here if you have an Android phone.

Keep pushing

I'm trying a new daily quote app and this was the quote for today. It really hit home in so many ways.

Everyone has value. Everyone serves a role in the world, regardless of whether or not at any one particular moment they are embodying it. If we treat everyone as though they have something, and not just any something but something positive, to contribute to the world, maybe they can one day be capable of becoming a more positive force.

I've thought and thought, and then even thought some more, about what might be a good example of this and I'll do my best to put it into words that are coherent for others.

It's been a while.

I'd like to blame being busy or work or any other excuse I could possibly have for my absence from blogging, but none of that would quite be accurate. Truth is, I lost my motivation. Somewhere between the still warm breezes of fall and the first foot of snowfall I lost my motivation for just about everything. I didn't even make resolutions this year.

That's how far away my motivation ran.

I'm not going to promise great things are coming. I'm not going to promise to blog every day. I'm not even going to promise to blog every week. What I can promise, I hope, is to try to blog on whatever sort of schedule I can cobble together every now and again.

It's not for lack of ideas. I have TONS of ideas. I have TONS of things I'd love to share with the world. I just haven't been keen on actually sitting down to type it all out or remembering to take pictures of it before it's given away as a gift or eaten up, etc.

So there you have it.

#RandomActsofDecember

I am so beyond excited to tell you all about this wonderful project I've teamed up with Jen over at Peace, Love & Fitness for! We talked about it for a few weeks before we actually got down to trying to plan it out, but here are the details I can tell you now.

Northwest Ohio had better watch out! Jen and I have the goal of doing 100 "random" acts of kindness in the month of December. That's between the two of us, not each individually. I'm using quotation marks around the word random because most of these will be somewhat planned out because they involve a little bit of money or planning of some sort. The randomness will be more in who receives the kindness and less in the planning if that makes sense.

So what can you look forward to from December 1 - 31? A lot of kindness, love and good karma flowing around Northwest Ohio! We've got things from donations to gift cards to even bigger and better things in the works!

To see what we're up to, be sure to like both our Facebook pages - Handmade Creativity and Peace, Love & Fitness - and follow us on Instagram - Me and Jen. You can also follow along with the hashtag #RandomActsofDecember to see what we're up to. We're going to try to get pictures of as many things as we can!

Day 23: Tattoo/Jewelry - Capture Your Grief - Pregnancy/Infant Loss Awareness Month

If you caught yesterday's post about words, you'll probably recognize the wording on this. I've already written a huge post about the ins and outs of my tattoo so you can read that if you're interested in more than I have to say here. The picture above is the one I took to the tattoo guy.

Day 22: Words - Capture Your Grief - Pregnancy/Infant Loss Awareness Month

An angel in the book of life
wrote down my baby's birth,
And whispered as she closed the book
"Too beautiful for Earth."

Of all the quotes and poems I've read over the years, this one speaks to me the most. I started to write that I wasn't sure what it was exactly about this particular poem that spoke to me the most, but then I thought I do know.

According to the poem, my babies mattered. They counted for something. Their names (though they really didn't have names) are recorded somewhere and because of that they existed. None of my babies were born in any traditional sense, but I like to think that they were all born. Unfortunately they were born into Heaven and not Earth.

Day 14: Family - Capture Your Grief - Pregnancy/Infant Loss Awareness Month

When my journey began, my family looked much, much different than it does now. While I still have my parents, sister, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc., I would consider my main "family" to be myself and Minnie.

I live with my parents so they are still a very large and important part of my life, but if I had to pack up and leave tomorrow, it would likely be just me and Minnie. Even though my "family unit" has changed so much it is still so full of love and for that I am so thankful.

Day 10: Beliefs - Capture Your Grief - Pregnancy/Infant Loss Awareness Month

Before my losses I had never thought about my beliefs surrounding loss through miscarriage. My general belief about what will happen in general has always been that we will one day meet again in Heaven. When I thought more specifically about my beliefs and my miscarriages things got a little more foggy for a bit. I was finally able to come to some sort of loosely shaped beliefs that I hope I can explain so that others can understand as well.

I have had three miscarriages but have lost a total of four babies. I believe that each of these losses/babies were the same, or a combination of the same, two spirits. For some reason these spirits weren't quite ready for earth and so they have begun a cycle, of sorts, of coming and leaving and it won't be until they are ready that they will be born on earth. Because of some of my fertility issues, some of which are now physical and unchangeable, I don't know if they will eventually be born to me or for me, but I have faith and believe that they will eventually be mine.

In my mind, there is no doubt that these two spirits will some day be a part of my physical life. If for some reason things don't work out that way, I know that I will some day meet them in Heaven.

Bubble Pizza - Foodie Friday - Project Pinspiration #10

A little while ago I stayed at a friend's house overnight. It was a slumber party of sorts with her and her children. This bubble pizza sounded like a great, kid friendly meal that we could easily cook for dinner. It also helped tat she had all the ingredients on hand already.

Here's how our version turned out:

Day 7: You Now - Capture Your Grief - Pregnancy/Infant Loss Awareness Month

Right now I feel like I'm in a decent place with my grief. I've gone through a lot of stuff in the last few months and through it I've done a lot of soul searching, and am still working on it.

The tattoo I got back in April was a big step in having some closure to everything. There's a post coming up in a couple of weeks that will talk more about that, or you're welcome to read my original tattoo post. Since getting that tattoo I've felt more at peace with everything and while I do still have some sadness, on the whole I'd say I'm doing ok.

Day 4: Legacy - Capture Your Grief - Pregnancy/Infant Loss Awareness Month

I know what a legacy is but I had to look up the actual definition to be sure I understood it correctly and also so I could think about how it relates to my miscarriages and the babies I lost. Truth is, I'm not sure how it applies.

I find legacy to mean that what is left after someone is gone - what they are most remembered for. Based on that definition, and because of the circumstances, I would have to say that they have left behind pain - both emotional and physical - but at the same time there is hope.

So I guess there I have it. The legacy my babies have left behind is hope. Hope for the future, that some day I will have children, and also that some day I will get to meet them.

Day 2: Identity - Capture Your Grief - Pregnancy/Infant Loss Awareness Month

Unfortunately none of my pregnancies made it to a stage where there was any real discussion about their futures. There were no nicknames, only a little wishful thinking about what they might be named. So because I can't really speak to their identity, I'll use this post to talk about my identity and how it has changed since my miscarriages.