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.

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.

2013 Bucket List - Update #2

At the beginning of the year I wrote up a bucket list of things I'd like to get done this year. The list only had 10 things on it to start, but I've added a few things since then.

It's already September and I'll admit I'm a little behind on some things. Here's how things are shaping up:


 (If you see a link for the event/activity/whatever it means I've done a blog post on it)

1. See The Beach Boys at our local fair
2. Start fertility testing
3. Get a new car
4. Have 1 student loan almost paid off
5. Find a new book series to fall in love with - The Mortal Instruments
6. Get a tattoo
7. Have a scrapcation (scrapbooking vacation) with Kelley
8. Win at Monopoly
9. Do at least 50 Project Pinspiration things*
10. Organize my scrap/craft stuff
11. Attend a blog conference
12. Walk 100  miles (not all at once, total over the year, including walking done for work and for fun/exercise on my own)

 *As of September 5, 2013 I have done blog posts about 8, but have done 8 more that I haven't done blog posts about:

• Vicks shower disks
• Fiesta lime rice
• Bead/pearl bangle bracelets
• Jolly Rancher Vodka
• Bottle cap stamps
• Strawberry ice box cake
• Braided/beaded bracelet
• Beaded Bobby Pins

That's not too bad I think. I really need to pick up on the Project Pinspiration though and get the blog posts for my completed projects done.

Beach Boys Concert!

I really should have had this post up ages ago. I don't know what's taken me so long to get it up, but here it is so there you go haha

Our local county fair has a concert every year and this year it was the Beach Boys. I grew up listening to them since my mom was such a fan - hey mom! - so I was really excited to hear they would be there this year. My mom decided to splurge and got tickets for me, herself, my sister and my sister's boyfriend.

2013 Bucket List Update #1

At the beginning of the year I wrote up a bucket list of things I'd like to get done this year. The list only had 10 things on it to start, but I plan on adding/updating when there's something new I think I want to get done this year.

It's only April and I've already gotten a few things done, or at least started. Here's how things are shaping up:

What I've learned in 2 Years of Marriage - aka Happy Anniversary

Today is our 2 year wedding anniversary. We've been together a little over 5 years now at this point too. I'd like to sum up most of what I've learned about love, relationships and marriage using quotes/pictures I've found around the Internet (mostly Pinterest and Facebook).

Because of the way Facebook used to share pictures from my phone, I no longer have correct attribution for many of the photos. If you see your photo here, please contact me to have correct attribution added. Thanks!

I Got Inked

I've known for years that I wanted to get a tattoo - probably since sometime in high school. Over the years I changed my mind about what I wanted, where it should go, etc. Because I kept changing my mind, I never actually got one. I figured if I thought of a tattoo idea and it stuck with me for more than a short while, that's how I would know the time was right to get one.

I finally found an idea that stuck with me for more than a week.

10 Things I Miss About Chicago

Some of you may know, but most of you probably don't, that I spent my first two years of undergrad at a university in Chicago. Coming from small town Ohio this was a HUGE step, but one I felt I was ready for. Even though I ended up transferring back home to be closer to family, I don't look back at my experiences there with regret, I actually look back and wish I'd had more!

The city was so exciting and there was always SOMETHING to do somewhere - both on campus and off. I was thinking back recently and it's been 10 years since I left (Holy cow time moves fast!) and probably 8 or so since I've been back. I miss the city dearly and there are probably way more than 10 things I miss, but these are the top things.

It's worth mentioning that these are in no particular order.

Life Update - March 2013

A couple weeks ago I had a mini life update about my testing, but otherwise it's been a fairly quite March. For that I'm sorry, sort of.

In the last couple of weeks I've been picking up extra hours at work. There are a few things I'd like to save for: a car and a tattoo being near the front of the list right now. In order to help pay for those things faster, I've been trying to make some extra money. Because most of my work hours are all over the place, that's left me mostly tired and unmotivated during the day, when I used to work on blog stuff and the like. This week alone I picked up enough to have 4ish hours of overtime (I'm scheduled for 35.5 hours this week).

Aside from that, there's isn't that much new. It's mostly the same old stuff. Easter is this weekend though and I'm happy to have a long weekend off (my regularly scheduled weekend off). Unfortunately it also means that all the Easter candy is out. Are there any holidays that don't heavily involve food and/or candy???

I suppose in other news, I've been testing/using a few new products (most are just new to me) and I'll be sharing my opinions on them soon. If there's anything out there you'd like me to try before you buy, let me know!

February 2013 Favorites - Beauty, Craft, Food and Lifestyle

I tend to wait until the last few days of a month to think back about the products I used the most in each month. Sometimes it changes a lot from month to month and sometimes it stays the same. I was quite surprised to see just how many products stayed the same this month - and how many more I added!

And now on with the show!

Beauty

Beauty Blender

I know a couple of months ago I thought my new stippling brush was the most amazing way to put on foundation. Boy was I wrong! I am totally in love with the Beauty Blender. It makes putting on my foundation, and getting even coverage, so easy! Let me know if you'd like a full review of this - though I'm sure a quick Google search would also lead you to tons of reviews.

Life Update - February 2013

Already February?! What?!

I know, I know. I'll probably say it a lot, but I feel like the older I get, the faster the months tick by. Months turn into years and before I know it I'll have just turned 40 instead of having just turned 30. Yikes!

The job is going pretty good yet. I managed to work 8.5 hours of overtime one week. Another yikes! Thankfully 8 of the 11 extra hours I picked up were an asleep overnight. I really don't know how people can work a ton of overtime hours and be awake for all of them. Since my work is scheduled in a 2 week rotation (and the schedule is the same for each 2 week rotation), I generally work 37 hours in Week 1 and 35 hours in Week 2. Magically that makes me full time.

Everything else in life is slowly chugging along. I go this week to talk to my doctor about further testing to see if my one remaining fallopian tube is open or blocked. My gut says there's something wrong with it, but my gut has been wrong before. If it is blocked she said she would probably refer me to a reproductive endocrinologist who may have more insight into things and/or information about starting the IVF process. I really don't want to jump too far ahead of myself, but I think that's the most likely scenario.

In other medical (somewhat) related news. I had my first dental cleaning in several years recently. I went in because I had a cavity bugging me and also got a cleaning while I was there. I ended up getting 1 cavity filled and another refilled because the existing filling was eroding. I go back in March to get another 2 small cavities filled. I'm so glad to have dental insurance now.

My last surviving grandma celebrated her 87th birthday on the 19th. We took her lunch, a cake and presents at the nursing home. As always her moods are hit or miss - sometimes both in the same conversation! - but for the most part she was glad to have all the attention on her. So glad she enjoyed the meal with her daughters and two of her granddaughters.

What's new in your life lately?

2013 Resolution Review - February

I thought it might be a good idea to have a monthly review of my New Year's Resolutions so that I can see on a short term basis how I'm doing with keeping up and I'll know what I need to work on for the next month.

In case you've forgotten or can't be bothered to click on over the the original post, my resolutions were:

1. Be more present - I, like many, spend so much time caught up in what happened and what will happen that I forget to think about what is happening
2. Take more pictures - It kind of goes with the first resolution, but while it's nice to have memories of things, sometimes a physical memento is nice too. Plus it would be helpful for continuing my scrapbooks.

To be perfectly honest, I haven't been doing that great of a job at either of those so far.

I'm still stuck a lot on what will happen. It makes me anxious to think about things that have to happen at a certain time - like when I HAVE to get up at 6a to be at work on time - and I end up focusing too much on those types of things instead of what is currently happening. At the moment I am currently writing this (obviously) but the back of my mind keeps wanting me to check the clock so I know how long I have until I have to go to work today. And it's making me anxious. It's not so much that I'm anxious about going to work, it just seems like when I know I've got an hour until I have to do something like go to work, I waste the hour trying to keep my mind off counting down the minutes.

A few months ago our power went out for a couple hours during a storm and reset the clock in my bedroom. I never reset it to the correct time at first because I was just too lazy to be bothered to do so and then because I noticed I spent less time awake at night counting the hours of sleep I could still get if I fell asleep right that second. Eventually I figured out how to adjust the time the clock said to the real time, but when I woke up in the night my brain didn't function enough to do that so it wasn't an issue.

Anyone else have this problem? How do you deal?

As far as taking more pictures goes, I'm not sure what the problem is here. Maybe I'm not doing enough worth photographing? I don't have kids to take pictures of and after a while the dog gets kind of boring. My husband hates having his picture taken. Most of the time taking a picture is an afterthought. Something happens and then I wish I'd thought to take a picture. I'm trying to get better about that so hopefully it improves as the year goes on!

How are you doing with your resolutions?

A bit of randomness: Deer!

On the way home from church Sunday my sister and I were driving along one of the many country roads in the area. She shouted something along the lines of "Oh my!" and I thought she was talking about a cloud that looked like smoke - and thus thought something was on fire.

Nope!

Really couldn't have been farther from the truth. She was actually talking about a rather large group of deer hanging out in the middle of a field. She slowed down and as we got closer they started to run toward the road we were on.

Me, being the smart one that I am, caught it all on my cell phone. Here are a bunch of deer crossing the road - complete with my sister counting them in case you can't catch them all! Also, after looking at the video it looks like it was taken in the evening but I assure you it was filmed some time around 1p.