2013 recap

I've actually kept track of stuff like this for a while and I like going back to read it so here we go again.

Here were my 2013 resolutions:

1. Get a new job - Did not happen. Sadly, getting a new job and having a baby in the same year usually does not happen for women in this country (I'm not sure if it happens in any country if we're being honest). 
2. Find Jesus. Again. - We went to church more often this year but I could do better.
3. Learn to sew - Yep! I ended up buying myself a new machine for my birthday and I actually know how to use it!
4. Read 52 books -This definitely did not happen. According to my Goodreads I only read 10 books this year. Oh God, that makes me cringe. Not even one a month! I love to read, I really do but once I got pregnant, all spare time went to baby things and sleeping.
5. Eat more veggies -We did pretty good on this one. Our meals are quite well rounded.
6. Tackle my house "to do" list - This one also got seen about a lot. It's a pretty ongoing thing and we ended up refinancing in the spring so we'll be staying put for a while. But I'm happy with this one.
7. Keep running -Nope. 

And a carryover from 2012...

1. Get knocked up - I actually did get KU in 2012, it was just exactly 5 minutes before midnight. Well played, universe. 

So that's 4/8 or 50%. Not great, not terrible. I always strive to do better anyway.


I also read this little survey on another blog so I'm stealing it.

1. What did you do in 2013 that you had never done before?
• Dealt with a semi serious diagnosis. My gestational diabetes really opened my eyes to how important it is to take care of my own health, as well as my family's. I have never had any type of medical problems so this diagnosis was truly a shock. I cried a lot. I am forever grateful for such a healthy baby girl but I know if I hadn't taken care of myself, it could have been a very different outcome.
2. Did anyone close to you have a child?
• I did! Vivian Alice joined our family on September 20. My friend also had her son in March and one of the mister's cousins had a baby girl the week after Vivi was born.
3. Did anyone close to you die?
• Yes. On November 3, my wonderful mother-in-law died from cancer that was diagnosed a short 6 weeks earlier. She was only 56. I am still struggling with coming to terms with this since it feels like a really, really bad dream. She was truly the glue that held our family together and we are all left wondering, what now? This was not supposed to happen. She was supposed to grow old, travel with my father-in-law, watch our babies grow up, watch her granddaughter graduate from high school, see her grandson play football, bury her own mother (not the other way around). The pain of losing her has been so great and yet I know that it doesn't even begin to touch how much my husband is hurting. I miss her every minute of every day and I am so angry at God for taking her from us so suddenly. 
4. Where did you travel?
• We went to the beach with all my inlaws in July. It was the trip that wasn't supposed to happen and now we are so glad it did. She died 3 months to day that we returned and we will forever treasure those memories. I also went with the girls to Houston with my mom for a long weekend after Thanksgiving and it was very fun. That's about it. We were supposed to go to Mexico but that got canceled since I was 36 weeks pregnant that week. Again, I am grateful for that since we would have missed our last family vacation with MIL.
5. What would you like to have in 2014 that you lacked in 2013?
• A new job. More patience with Norah.
6. What dates from 2013 will remain etched upon your memory?
• January 12 - the day I found out I was pregnant
• May 8 - the day we found out we were having another girl!
• September 13 - the day they found the mass on my mother-in-laws lung
• September 20 - the day Vivian was born and the day we got the official cancer diagnosis. This is the most bittersweet day of all.
• October 3 - the day she asked us to call Hospice. This was possibly the worst day of my life. I have never cried so hard.
• November 3 - the day we lost her. It still doesn't seem real.
7. What was your biggest achievement of the year? 
• Having a healthy baby girl despite my diabetes diagnosis. I was terrified when I was diagnosed (I still am some days) however I overcame my fears and was determined to have a healthy baby with no c-section. And I did!
8. What was your biggest failure?
• Oh God, this is going to sound bad but some days I feel like such a failure of a parent. I know that I'm not. My kids are happy and healthy and I love them more than life itself. However. Norah has taken the age of 3 by storm and she has become quite the challenging child. I snap at her more than I care to admit and there is more yelling in that house than I want. I just wanted to do better for her than my parents did for us (don't read that wrong) and I often do not feel that I am doing very well with that.
9. Did you suffer illness or injury?
• Not really. I guess technically having gestational diabetes is an illness but I was never sick from it. My only injury was recovery from childbirth. I don't think that counts.
10. What was the best thing you bought?
• Honestly, a hula hoop for Norah. She asked Santa for one everyday since September and seeing how excited she was on Christmas morning was awesome.
11. Where did most of your money go?
• Daycare, gas, and the hospital.
12. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
• Finding out we were pregnant! We had tried for over 6 months so seeing those two pink lines felt like I was seeing a miracle. I like to go back and read the group texts I sent to my 3 bff's because I was seriously in complete disbelief. 
• It was also really fun finding out we were having a girl. We did the balloons in a box and opened it with Norah. I was so excited to have two sweet sisters!
13. What song will always remind you of 2013?
• For some reason, Roar by Katy Perry. Maybe it's because I was on maternity leave and watched her whole GMA thing for the month of October but it's definitely the "song" of the year for me.
14. Compared to this time last year, are you A) happier or sadder? B) thinner or fatter?  C) richer or poorer?
• Both. This time last year, I wanted a baby so bad so I am thrilled that we now have a precious 3 month old in our home. But I also never imagined that we'd be losing my mother-in-law in 2013 and every time I think about her final weeks, my heart breaks into a million pieces all over again.
• I'm actually thinner right now. Thank you, breastfeeding. Now to keep it off...
• Ha! Poorer for sure. Two daycare bills is no freaking joke.
15. What do you wish you’d done more of?  
• Reading. I'm appalled that I only read 10 books in 2013. That needs to be rectified in 2014.
16. What do you wish you’d done less of?
•  Working? Crying? Both were unavoidable though. I took off 10 weeks for maternity leave plus a week of vacation time so I definitely worked less this year than most. I'm just over my current job. 
• You haven't seen crying until you've seen a postpartum mother deal with a tragedy two short weeks after giving birth. I can't tell you how many times I hid in a dark closet, doing the ugly cry so Norah wouldn't see me.
17. Did you fall in love in 2013?
• Yes. Vivian Alice filled a place in my heart that I didn't even know was empty.
18. What was your favorite TV program?
• Scandal. I discovered it in April and watched 1 1/2 seasons in 3 days. So good. I actually still haven't caught up with Season 3 but I will soon.
19. What was the best book you read?
• Well since I have only 10 to choose from this should be easy...The only one that got 5 stars on goodreads from me was The Lost Wife which was very good. But I also enjoyed Nineteen Minutes while we were at the beach. Midwives was also really good.
20. What was your greatest musical discovery?
• One Direction. I know, I know...I'm not 16. But I kept hearing about them and finally caught them in concert on GMA one morning and was like, these guys are awesome! 
21. What did you want and get?
• Another baby. Oh, and my diamond earrings! I've always wanted a pair but figured that wouldn't happen until my kids were adults. But the mister completely shocked the hell out of me when he sold his grandfather's Rolex (with the blessing of GG) and used the money to buy himself a new shotgun and me some new earrings. He cried when he gave them to me and told me his grandpa would want me to have them. I love that man so damn much.
22. What did you want and not get?
• A cure for my mother-in-law's cancer. I prayed so hard for Him to heal her.
• On a less serious note...a new couch and a new iPhone. 
23. What was your favorite film of the year?
• Frozen was pretty cute. I still haven't seen Catching Fire which I suspect I would love.
24. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? 
• I turned 30 this year! Ouch! I actually managed to celebrate for a whole week though. My mom took us out to dinner at Beausoleil the week before which was delicious then my husband managed to pull together a group of my closest girlfriends and surprise me at Coyote Blues. It was very fun. The actual day of my birthday I got a massage, a pedicure, had lunch with my BFF, and went to an auction/fundraiser thing that night where I got to wear a fancy dress and eat yummy food. It was a good birthday!
25. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2013
• Everything happens for a reason. We started trying for a baby in July 2012 and it just wasn't happening. I really thought something was wrong with me. By getting pregnant in January, it put me on maternity leave for my mother-in-law's entire illness which was a blessing in disguise. While I still maintain that it was the maternity leave from hell, I am forever grateful that we were able to spend so much time with her in her final days and I know that wouldn't have been possible if I had gotten pregnant at any other time.
• We also had planned to go to Mexico in August with two of our friends. Since we were taking that trip, we weren't going to be able to go to Florida with my inlaws in July. This is all before I found out I was pregnant. The day that I was booking the trip, I was having a lot of problems with pricing, insurance, etc. Like, more than I should have. I was so mad but was determined to book this trip then and there. So after fighting with it for over an hour, I finally got everything squared away. 6 days later I found out I was pregnant and that I would be 36 weeks the week of our trip. I was upset about missing the trip but we had no choice but to cancel. This was another blessing in disguise because if we had gone to Mexico, we would not have had one last vacation with my MIL. I feel like if I had just stopped what I was doing (and waited until I tested since we were in the middle of a cycle) it wouldn't have been such a headache to get our trip money back. (Thankfully that all worked out.) Regardless, Mexico was not meant to be and Vivian was. For more reasons than one. 
• The last "meant to be" moment that stands out to me occurred last spring. I was about 4 months pregnant and had been picked for a jury. I had to go to court on a Saturday and of course my husband had to work. It was also the weekend of his birthday. I was so pissed. We ended up calling my mother-in-law to come over for the weekend and she watched Norah for us and took her to a birthday party that Saturday afternoon. That night we cooked dinner and invited some friends over and it was just a really great night. Because of all those circumstances, my husband was able to spend his birthday with his mom during the last year she was alive. We obviously didn't know that at the time but it gives my heart a little bit of peace knowing that he has that memory.

That sums up 2013 pretty well. Obviously the two biggest things were gaining our daughter but losing our mother. It was a bittersweet year and I'd be a fool to think that 2014 will be "easier". We are just beginning our first full year without her and it's not going to be easy to face all the "firsts". If the holidays are any example, I can brace myself because those suuuuucked. But it's also Vivi's first year of her life and I don't want her to be cheated out of anything. And I know my mother-in-law wouldn't want that either. My motto for the past 3 months, and likely for 2014, was "we will just do the best that we can." I'm pretty content with that.

Getting shit done

Every Monday as I'm reading my blogs over coffee at my desk, it never fails that I am guaranteed to come across at least one post (usually more) about how someone did ALL THE PRODUCTIVE THINGS over the weekend. And I'm like, to whom did they sell their soul to get more than 24 hours in a day because that's the only way they possibly got all those things done!? Which leads to me thinking about my weekends which usually go like this: breakfast, Dora, dishes, lunch, nap, play outside, order dinner, shower, repeat on Sunday. Maybe the grocery store is thrown in there. Maybe.

This weekend was different though. And I didn't even realize it was different until Sunday when I was like, damn, I have gotten shit DONE this weekend. So I feel the need to brag on myself since it will likely not happen again any time soon. So without further adieu, here's what I did this weekend:

Friday afternoon when I got home, I started cleaning up the patio which was a hot mess. This included sweeping mulch back into our flowerbeds (thank you, Georgia but it does not belong there) which led to me reraking the mulch AND pulling weeds in the beds. The mister got home, cooked dinner and then I went to the grocery store ALONE which was awesome. Oh and then I made creme brulee before going to bed, alternating reading my latest Grisham novel while waiting on timers.

Saturday is usually my "me" day. Or at least the morning is. I sleep late, do my thing in the morning then run errands in the afternoon. This Saturday was no exception. I read more of my book while NJ played in her room (God bless her late blooming imagination) only to be rudely interrupted by a knock on my door. People, do not come to my house on Saturday before noon because the likely hood that I am NOT wearing pants is high. I managed to grab my robe and open the door. Apparently my new insurance company likes to surprise you on the weekends and request pictures of the outside of your home. I said that was fine since I HAD NO PANTS ON and was not in a position to argue but then 3 seconds later, I was texting my agent (no doubt he rues the day he gave me his cell number) making sure this guy wasn't just casing my house for this next robbery. I was assured that he was not a criminal and yes, they do this to everyone. So I found pants but by then he was gone.

Since I had already been disturbed, I decided to clean since we were having people over that evening. Over the next two hours I managed to: clean Norah's room (with her help), clean the toilets, mirrors, sinks, and floors in both bathrooms, sweep the living room floor, and load the dishwasher.

I was so tired, I wanted to nap but we had a birthday party at 2 so we got dressed quickly and headed downtown. The party was super fun and I'm glad we powered through. When we got home, NJ napped while I washed a couple dishes. My house smelled so nice and we had lots of fun that night and ate yummy crawfish (more winning on my part).

By Sunday, I was exhausted but managed to drag myself out of bed and make waffles for me and the girl (which she did not eat, of course) and then get us both dressed for church. After that, we hit up Kohl's because momma needs some skirts (holy hell, it's hot), then did our weekly fruit stand run and back home to eat lunch. I had told her we'd go to the park in the afternoon but it was so damn hot, I decided we'd push the park back to 5 or so and fill up her little pool in the backyard. While the pool water warmed up a bit, I put dinner together in a pot then stuck that in the stove and finished reading my book in the pool while she happily splashed around and showed me all her rad pool moves. After about an hour, she was done so we picked up outside and went inside for quiet time. She fell asleep about 5 seconds later so I folded the massive pile of laundry that has been haunting me for a week while dinner finished. Once it was done, I woke her up and we went to the park. FYI, it's still hot as Hades at 6pm. She had a blast for about an hour before it was time to go home and have dinner. She managed to con the mister into some outside play first to which he happily obliged. After dinner, we had baths, did more laundry, packed school and swimming lesson bags, and then collapsed in bed.

I cannot believe I got all that done. The pessimist in me keeps thinking of all the things I didn't get done (vacuuming, cleaning out the fridge, sweeping the kitchen, etc.) which I guess I could have gotten done if I hadn't read my book on Saturday or played in the pool with the girl on Sunday but my more optimistic side is quite happy that we found a good balance between chores, errands, and playtime! Go me!

Kids are funny

My kid is no exception. Actual conversation that took place yesterday afternoon.

Me: What are you doing, kiddo?
NJ: Just hugging Pooh. He's sad.
Me: Why is Pooh sad?
NJ: Because he misses me.
Me: Oh, well it's a good thing you're hugging him. That will make him happy again.
NJ: Yeah, it will. (pauses) Mom, look at Pooh's face. It's just gorgeous.
Me: ::dies::

This kid. She kills me.

Bedroom Update

Even though progress has slowed down, we are still slowly working on our bedroom. And FTR, it's because of spring, not because I'm exhausted 24/7 and chasing a three year old around, bowing to her every command. Anyway, here's a look at the amended list:

• New nightstands
• New bed
• Move file cabinet & bookshelf
• Move mirror & jewelry box to opposite wall
• Paint the walls gray  
• New dresser
• Sunburst mirror above the bed (I FOUND ONE. Now I just need that hot husband of mine to hang it)
• New frames for Norah's pictures (we actually did find some but they also have yet to be hung)
• Replace TV
• Replace carpet 

You may have noticed that I took a few things off. For starters, it was our plan to move some things into the nursery. Well, since we're expecting a new tenant in less than six months (wtf?!), that's out. So the vanity needs to stay where it is and I am saying bye-bye to my reading corner. I also really, really don't think we have room for a bench at the end of the bed. Sad.

The search for the perfect dresser is ongoing. It's also a nightmare. I have been searching Craigslist for 5 months! Same for the mirror. I cannot fathom dishing out $200+ for a damn mirror  BUT then Tarjay to the rescue so fingers crossed my $32 find fits the bill. We had decided not to replace the carpet for like 5 minutes because we were going to sell our house next year and it was just easier to do a carpet allowance and let someone else deal with it but then we decided that instead of moving, we're going to refinance and stay put for a couple years. So replacing carpet is back on the list.

For your patience, I'll reward you with two pictures that are shitty quality. But you can see how awesome my bed looks with that rad wall color! You're welcome.

So, you know, it's coming. Slowly but surely. Any suggestions for where to find a decently priced dresser?

Goat Cheese Scalloped Potatoes

I've been eyeing this recipe for about a year but my husband was insistent no one in his family would eat it despite the fact that goat cheese is so damn delicious it should be a crime. Finally, this week I basically insisted we make it for Easter dinner. My argument being that the goat cheese is surrounded by potatoes and heavy cream. And that we were going to say it was cream cheese. I guess he was tired of hearing about it because he made it and as predicted it was insanely good.

Grandmother-in-law actually discovered our dirty little secret before lunch but managed to keep her trap shut since she actually does like goat cheese. The potatoes were so good that my goat cheese hating mother-in-law had two servings. And that was after we came clean on what was in it! The flavor is definitely there but it's subtle and not overpowering at all. Even if you don't like goat cheese, I really recommend trying these. They were super easy to throw together and by far, the hit of the meal. And while you're on Pink Parsley's site, poke around because she makes damn good food. I hit up her blog often for inspiration.

http://www.pink-parsley.com/2012/04/goat-cheese-potato-gratin.html

Three

Dear Norah,

My sweet girl, you are three today. I will never forget the moment I heard your first cries. You've grown up so much and it makes your momma both proud and a little sad. You are so polite and know all your manners just like a little lady! You love to watch Dora and Cinderella in the afternoons while having a snack. Your favorite foods are fruit, mushrooms, "toodles", rice & gravy, yogurt, and chocolate. Coco and Georgia are your current playmates but soon you will have a baby brother or sister to play with too. You are so excited and love to tell everyone about the baby in mommy's belly! You also are very curious and always want to know what everyone's name is, wherever we go. You also love to tell mommy and daddy that you love us so much, all the time! We love you too, monkey. More than you will ever know!

Love,
Momma

Jesus has a sense of humor

Last year when I needed a place to gripe and keep track of all the things going on in my head, I turned here. One of the first posts I wrote was about my 2012 goals/resolutions/to-do list, which included "get knocked up in 2012". This led to a barrage of "omg, you're having another baby?! Why didn't you tell me?!" emails from people I see on the regular. By "barrage", I obviously mean two. Regardless, I decided to cease talking about my bedroom activities for the time being.

Spoiler alert: I'm pregnant! I could drag you on through this entire post and then tell you but I'm not James Patterson and you didn't pay $24.99 to read this so let's just keep it real.

Back to me. For reasons not relevant to this blog, we started trying in July. I should mention that when I got pregnant with NJ, we talked about it and then a month later I was staring at two pink lines. No one could have been more shocked than me at just how quickly that happened. So it's safe to say I was cocky.

Spoiler alert #2: I'm also naive.

By the end of my July cycle, I am pretty sure I had peed on at least 10 tests, absolutely convinced they were all wrong. But they were not. Neither were the ones in August or September. Then it was Halloween and Thanksgiving. Still nothing. I was heartbroken. We were supposed to get pregnant this year and it just wasn't happening.

In December, I was finishing up what I knew would be our last cycle of 2012. I prayed so hard but it too was negative. There would be no 2012 baby. (This also coincided with a cookie swap where I ingested a LOT of wine and proceeded to bitch for 3 hours about my bed that would never be finished and my vacant uterus. I'm pretty sure I won't be invited back next year.)

The timing for our next cycle was bad. I didn't think we had a chance but lo and behold, on January 12, I saw what I had been hoping for. Today I am 10 weeks & 1 day, due September 24. To say we are elated and grateful is an understatement.

A couple days after finding out I looked at my chart to see if I could pinpoint the date of conception. And I could. December 31, 2012. We did the dirty and then five minutes later watched the ball drop.

Well played, Jesus. Well played.

Not the best but it will do

I haven't made my bed since we painted and moved all the furniture back in the bedroom hence no pretty, staged shot but I did snap this pic with my phone as we were moving the (very heavy) bed.

It at least shows the wall and the tray colors. It really looks amazing with the bed and the comforter so I will attempt to make the bed this week. No promises.

Finished!

We finally painted the bedroom this weekend. Yay!! I use the term "we" very loosely. My fab friend who is a master trimmer came over to help me on Saturday. She trimmed while I rolled. Then she left and I did some more rolling after a much needed nap. The mister did help with that part but that's the only time his hand touched a brush. She ended up coming back on Sunday and eating my pizza for dinner but that was ok because she also finished trimming. And it looks AMAZING.

Seriously. I cannot get over how awesome it looks. The color is so much more mellow and light. We ended up doing a lighter gray on the walls and then a darker gray on the tray. We were only going to do the inside part of the tray but ended up doing the outside part as well and even though that meant going to Lowe's in the middle of it all, it was definitely the right decision. Because it looks AMAZING.

The mister hung our curtains back up last night and they look great against the lighter color. We're going to move the rest of our furniture tonight and I'll take some pictures. I can't wait to share them!

ps-I keep forgetting to get the names of the colors that we used but I swear I'm on top of that tonight.

Sammiches

I love me some sammiches, y'all. Jimmy John's is my BFF except they don't deliver to my office and THAT is a problem. We're not really doing anything for the SuperBowl because I'm painting the bedroom this weekend (!!!!) and anticipate being really tired Sunday night but I am going to make some mini-sammiches. Otherwise known as sliders. But I prefer mini-sammiches.

They've been floating around Pinterest forever and a day but it's those little ham and cheese ones on a Hawaiian roll? With the sauce? I think I want to make them for the Blue Elephant party that I am currently slacking on planning but I need a test run to make sure they are delicious. I figured the SuperBowl was as good a time as any to test out mini-sammiches.

Here's the recipe I'm going to use: Mini Ham & Cheese Sandwiches

She also has a Cuban version. Not going to lie, I kind of want to make those too because I love nothing more than a good Cuban sammich.We shall see if I'm up to it. If you recall, I made delish pretzels and honey mustard sauce last year. Those lasted about 5 seconds. But they are a lot of work. I think next time I may just do them in a thick roll and then cut off actual bites with a bench scraper. Anywho, I'm a Ravens fan this weekend if for no other reason than my husband is rooting for the 49ers and I have to cancel him out. OH! And I'd totally love to see Michael Oher walk away with a ring. You've seen The Blind Side, right? Tears. I can't even.

GEAUX RAVENS!!!

Bedroom

Let's see what's going on in there, shall we?

• New nightstands
• New bed
• Move file cabinet, bookshelf, vanity, & stool (we actually haven't moved the vanity yet but I don't know if we will.)
• Move mirror & jewelry box to opposite wall
• Paint the walls gray  
• New dresser
• Sunburst mirror above the bed
• New frames for Norah's pictures
• Replace TV
• Bench at edge of bed (I'm not sure if we have room for one now...)
• Reading corner (again with the lack of room...)
• Replace carpet (probably should have done this before assembling the bed...)

We managed to move some furniture around the house and our room looks about a million times better already. Much less cluttered. We also picked out two paint colors, one for the walls and one for the inset on our tray ceiling. Sitters and trimmers have been booked for the first weekend in February where I will get my roll on. I cannot WAIT to see how fab it looks with the new color. I know it's a Valspar color but I can't remember which one. I'll report back on that.

We're still on the hunt for a dresser. I thought we'd found one but it was a bust. Oh well. I think we might hit up some garage sales this weekend. Fingers crossed!

Since it's taking me forever to get together the complete post on how we did it from start to finish, here's a pic of the finished product. This is before the furniture move. See how crowded it looks? So much better now.

What do you think?! Worth the pain and suffering? Should have ordered from Pottery Barn?

Skinny Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo

I have discussed the evils of Pinterest before however it can be pretty useful at times. When making my menu plan for the week, I often head to my Yummies for Dinner board (follow me here) for inspiration. I rarely use the actual recipe I pinned because I've made enough random internet recipes to learn that sticking with a few great sources is the way to go. Also, I can hold my own in the kitchen and often I just need the idea, I can recreate it all on my own, thankyouverymuch.

But the other day I saw this one. It's a chicken & broccoli alfredo made with Greek yogurt. I have a little bit of an unhealthy obsession with Greek yogurt. I didn't even discover it until a couple months ago and now I eat Chobani faithfully. And then I started subbing it in recipes and everything was so damn moist! So I decided to give this a try. Actually, the mister cooked it because I was being lazy on the couch but regardless, it's delicious. Even the little one was all MOAR TOODLES (aka noodles).

He made the exact recipe so I'll just link it. The only thing we did differently was used penne instead of fettuccine. 

http://www.celebrations.com/content/skinny-chicken-broccoli-alfredo 

Enjoy!

Color Run

Before the new year even began, I somehow got wrangled into signing up for the 2013 Mardi Gras Color Run in NOLA. Basically it was a Saturday night and there was beer and a friend texted saying Color Run was coming back to NOLA and I'm all "SIGN ME UP!" Did I mention there was beer?

I'm actually pretty excited. Color Run always looked like loads of fun but they were just in NOLA in November and filled up quicker than I could decide if I was ready. So I thought I'd have to wait a whole year to run it. But alas, the running gods were looking out for me (if the money gods could take note, I'd appreciate that). Also, my husband has decided he's going to run it too which is AWESOME. He's so badass. I love him. Of course this means he only has 5 weeks to train but that is honestly plenty of time. I know the c25k program is 8 weeks but I have no doubt he can start on week 4 and be fine. He has a pretty physical job as opposed to me who is no doubt going to have carpel tunnel before age 35.

So yay! Color Run on Feb 9! I'm super stoked!

Shit I want to do in 2013

I like lists (don't die from shock) and I think my 2012 list helped me stay somewhat on track so here's my 2013 list:

1. Get a new job - this one is a carryover from 2012. Le sigh.... I think I need to redo my resume. And I definitely need to get over my social anxiety (yes, it does exist) and go to more meetings of my professional organization.
   
   
2. Find Jesus. Again. - Another carryover. I swear this is on my list every year...


3. Learn to sew - I've wanted to learn to sew for a long time but never had time. When my great grandmother died two years ago, my mom got her sewing machine and had it fixed with the intention of teaching me on it. But life gets in the way and I finally just asked her for it. Fingers crossed that between YouTube and Pinterest I can figure that thing out.


4. Read 52 books - I love to read. If we aren't friends on Goodreads, we should be. But babies and grad school had me putting my love for reading on the back burner. And even after I graduated, I'd catch myself in a reading "rut". My "to read" list is starting to far surpass my "have read" list. So I'm shooting for at least one book a week. I wish I could commit to more. OH. And first on the list is Harry Potter which I have not yet read but have heard is fabulous.


5. Eat more veggies - I know. I swear I'm not 5. We eat veggies. A lot actually. But more often than I'd care to admit, our meals are carb heavy with little to no fresh veggies on the side. I just want to make an effort to have at least one roasted or fresh or steamed or not-cooked-with-potatoes (yes, I swear he does this) vegetable on the table with each meal.


6. Tackle my house "to do" list - I don't know when we'll sell our house but I'm thinking it's probably sooner rather than later. Once we do make that decision, I'd rather not have 5 million things to do at one time. So along with making my bedroom pretty, I also really want to concentrate on making our house "sell ready".


7. Keep running - I know. I KNOW. I said I was going to run my race and be done. But apparently I lied. I miss it. Stop saying "I told you so".

That's it! Perfectly attainable. Nothing unrealistic. Let's get this party started...

Happy New Year! 

2012 Recap

I know this is such a "shit girls say" kind of thing but seriously, HOW is it 2013 already? I feel like it was just Christmas last year! Looking back, I can say that 2012 was good to me. A little bit of a boring year but that's not always a bad thing. :) There were several things that I wanted to "do" in 2012 and I think I'm at like 50%. Let's see... How did I do in 2012?

1. Finish grad school - CHECK

2. Go to church more - Meh, this was like 50/50. I did go more often than usual but not as often as I'd like.

3. Get a better job - Oh this is a frustrating one. I've sent out more resumes than I care to admit, had several promising interviews, and even had a lowball offer. I wish I was made of money so I could have taken it. Sadly, not the case. I feel like I need to do something different but I'm not quite sure what yet.

4. Get in better shape - I think I can call this a success. I ran a 5k in November and while I am by no means, a runner, if you had told me in January that I would be running 3 miles straight before the end of the year, I'd have offered you another cookie.

5. Do more for "me" - Another win here. I have gotten more pedicures, baked lots of yummies, gone to the gym, started running, spent time with my family, decorated my house, and spent time with friends. And read many, many wonderful books.

So that's 3/5 at least. Maybe closer to like 3.5/5? So...70% success rate according to my trusty calculator. Not too shabby, no?

No worries, I have a list for 2013 too. Stay tuned. Since you're so interested in my fabulous daily life and all. ;)

Birthday Talk

I realized this morning that NJ's third (!!!) birthday is a mere two and a half months away. How the hell did that even happen? I swear she's still sleeping in pj's that were gifts from her second birthday. I cannot believe my little monkey is going to be three.

I've heard through the mommy grapevine that the term "terrible twos" is just something made up so that when two is over you're all "I made it!" and then three hits and you're like "who the fuck is this demon spawn?!" And I kind of believe it because two was really not that bad. I kind of like two. But I see three on the horizon and it's not so much a pretty picture. My sweet child has discovered more than just "no". She has discovered gems like "hang on" and "in a minute" and "nothing" when asked what in the world she is doing that is keeping her so quiet. All served up with a side of teenage attitude. So I'm a little afraid of three but even through all the smart mouth comments, I still see my sweet baby under there so I have faith that we will make it through three just fine.

So I get to plan her party which I love because I really, really missed my calling as a party planner. Like really. She told me a couple months ago that she wanted an elephant party. Then two weeks ago she told me she wanted a blue party. (These are just random statements, btw. I'm not asking what kind of party she wants.) Anyway. That's so spot on with her personality because we went to the zoo in September and she just about fainted over her love for the elephant and has talked about him nonstop and got an assload of elephant themed things for Christmas that she is now OBSESSED with. And blue is her most favorite color in the whole wide world ever, ever so a Third Blue Elephant Party shall be had.

To-do List

Bedroom to do list:

• New dresser
• New nightstands
• New bed
• Paint the walls gray 
• Move file cabinet, bookshelf, vanity, & stool to guest room/office 
• Move mirror & jewelry box to opposite wall
• Sunburst mirror above the bed
• New frames for Norah's pictures
• Replace TV
• Bench at edge of bed (I'm not sure if we have room for one now...)
• Reading corner (again with the lack of room...)
• Replace carpet (probably should have done this before assembling the bed...)

I'm still looking for a dresser on the cheap. Ironically, January and February are months where the mister does not work 13+ hours a day and he would/should have time to refinish one but there's the whole "sun sets at 5" thing and "it's cold" thing so don't be shocked if the dresser gets put on the backburner until May. He'll go back to 13+ hours a day for March & April so May will be the next time that he has 1) time and 2) daylight. And yes, I can do it but I have that whole toddler/running the house thing going on.

Honestly, now that the holidays are almost over, I will gain a LOT of space back in my guest room/office so hopefully I can move the file cabinet and other stuff the first week of January which frees up the space to move the mirror and jewelry box in the actual room. And I'm itching to paint the walls so hopefully that will be a January weekend project as well. I'm just pumped that things are actually getting crossed off!

Hey y'all...

Guess what?

I slept in my bed last night!!

::throws confetti::

Of course it didn't come without obstacles because this bed was sent purely to torture me but we finally finished. And by "we" I mean I stood back with the camera while my two year old "helped" dad with the drill. It looks amazing. I swear pictures are coming but this didn't go down until 10pm and then I had to change the sheets and by the time it was all done, he wouldn't move so I could take a decent pic without my carpenter husband in his drawers.

Basically we finished painting and polying on Sunday. The sanding worked on 98% of the footboard. There are a few places that aren't "perfect" but they aren't noticeable and honestly, I love that it's not perfect. I'd have paid Pottery Barn $1200 if I wanted a perfect Farmhouse bed.

So it dried on Sunday night and then Monday night he started moving things into the room and dismantling the current bed and of course there were issues and I might have threatened divorce and then there was wine and at the end of it all, the bed was put together (yay!) but...the boxspring wouldn't fit.

WTF? Basically the frame is the right size but the ledge on the footboard prevents it from dropping down. Photos will explain this better. But it was honestly fine because we didn't intend to use the boxspring anyway. We were just going to use it for Monday night until we had a chance to get some plywood because apparently you can't just put a mattress on some slats and call it a day. Who knew?

So Monday night I slept with NJ and H slept on the couch. And I was mad. Oh, was I mad. But Tuesday morning I was ok and last night we went to Home Depot (I hate that place so very much) and got plywood and they even cut it for us (because of course it wouldn't fit in the van) and I drank a Mexican Coke (it's not drugged as I originally thought) and then we got home and OF COURSE he had told the HD guy the wrong measurement but fortunately he told him too long and not too short. So he went and cut the damn board ONE MORE TIME and then there were screws and a mattress and sheets and a comforter and it was awesome.  I love it.

Ana-white.com has a "brag" section so I'm hoping to do a complete post from start to finish to link up there. I'll keep you updated. In the meantime, you can find me picking out paint colors for the wall. The bed has determined that our current mustardy/camel walls ain't cutting it.

Let's play a game

Drink everytime I said "bed" in this post. Ok? Go.

Bed. That's one.

So there's no longer a bed in my bedroom. It's in my dining room now! Yay!

We've officially given Mother Nature the middle finger after this weekend. If you recall, the footboard has had some poly "issues". Let's recap what we've learned about poly:

1. It doesn't like humidity
2. It doesn't like cold weather

So of course December is the perfect month to be doing this. <-- loaded with sarcasm. dripping actually.

The mister sanded it down in places where the poly had cracked so on a GORGEOUS Sunday morning I repainted it and I was like "NO MORE PAINTING, HOLLA!" and then the sky opened up and even though it was under the carport, the wind was blowing so hard, the mother fucking footboard got wet and I wanted to cry.

It didn't get really wet, just enough to ruin my paint job. So we hauled it in the house, toweled it off and let it sit in the dining room next to the headboard for the rest of the day. This was the point where I typed up a little Craigslist ad in my head. It goes something like this:

"Solid pine bed. $300. Almost completely finished. About to cause divorce. Must sell immediately. You pick up."

Ok, it's not that bad...yet. I still love the bed. I know it's going to look fabulous if it's ever done. Friday marks one month, btw that I sang the husband's praises for building this thing. But who's counting...

So here's where we stand now: The headboard is like 98% done. It has two coats of poly on everything except the very top because that rests against our wall. So one of us will have to hold it up while the other quickly applies a coat or two and it will be DONE. Praise Jesus. Hopefully that will happen tonight. Not shockingly, the poly dries very quickly when in normal conditions aka not 100% humidity.

The footboard had to be sanded again. I repainted it but the cracked poly was still showing through. What the hell is in that stuff?? So he sanded the cracked areas down to the wood. It will need YET ANOTHER coat of paint. And then I don't even know what. Hopefully it will be fine and we can poly it and be done. Worst case is that it still looks cracked. I really don't know what we'd do at that point. Let's just not even go there. My head is about to explode just thinking about it.


In other news, I hate Taylor Swift. Every time the radio plays one of her songs a kitten dies. So remember that before making a request.

5 drinks which is less than I thought it would be.

39 min, 30 sec

That, my friends, is the finish time for my first ever 5k.

I know! It took me 11 months to do an 8 week program but I did it! I ran a 5k! I'm still kind of shocked by the whole thing. I had been running a couple times a week since July then I took a couple weeks off then the race was coming up fast so I picked it up again. 2 nights before the race I ran 3 miles in 41 minutes. I really wanted to be under 40 for the 5k.

We got there early, even with traffic issues so there was plenty of time for me to get nervous. When I saw the map of the route, I almost fainted. But once it started, I was feeling good. Trying not to go too fast but my RunKeeper app kept telling me I was running something insane like an 11 minute mile and I was like, shit, I have got to slow down. The first mile and a half went great. Then I had to walk for about 30 seconds but I was still doing ok. The next half a mile felt like it took forever. When my app told me I was at 2 miles, I was like, SERIOUSLY, because I felt like I had gone SO FAR since the 1.5 mile mark. I had to walk again and I was totally pep talking myself at that point. I knew I wanted to finish strong so I told myself that I would walk for a minute and really catch my breath because I was going to run the last mile - no stopping.

A mistake I made was trying to get some water at the last water station, I feel like that cost me about 10 seconds because this other girl stepped in front of me. I might have cursed at her. Maybe that was just in my head. Probably not. Anyway, I could see the end and was pumped. My chip time was 39:30 which is awesome. I was very excited and totally partook in some beer and a bacon cheeseburger afterwards. It was as delicious as it sounds.

So yay me! IDK if I will do another one or not. I swore I was quitting running as soon as this race was over but if I know me, I'll want to beat my time because I'm a dumb overachiever. And my crazy running friends are already bugging me about the next one. Freaks.