Where did March go?

I am late! Really late! I feel as though I blinked and March was over! I looked at my calendar today and realized it was already April 13th. It looks like I am way behind with my March update. Better late than never, right?

March was a jammed packed, busy, and stressful month for me. Patrick’s long nights combined with my long work days was exhausting. Add trying to have a baby on top of it all, and it is easy to see as I look back, why I lost track of time. The good news is that we survived and March made us stronger as a couple 🙂

Personal: Due to my work schedule, I had a hard time planning time with friends and family. We were able to drive home at the end of March for an entire day with my family (which was spent at the car dealership), but all in all, seeing our families once a month is not enough for me. Sometimes, I dream of moving to Colorado to live the ultimate outdoorsy dream life, but the thought of being away from my family typically snaps me back to reality. I wasn’t able to squeeze in any time with friends this month, but I plan to make up for lost time in April.

Marriage: Who knew trying to start a family would be so tiring?! The stress of it all was difficult for me, but Patrick proved to be an amazing husband throughout it all.

Spiritual: Although I really wanted to find out we were pregnant this month, God had other plans for us. To be completely honest, I had days when it was very, very hard to trust and walk knowing he will lead me. It truly helped to have Patrick to remind me that our plans are not his plans.

Financial: We had to buy a car this month. Need I say more?

Health: I did a lot of stress eating this month. My focus on trying to have a baby got the best of me, and my diet and exercise suffered greatly 😦 I will make up for it in April, though 🙂

Skills: I stayed true to my weekly Rosetta Stone lessons this month, which is more than I can say for my camera I’m adding it to my April list 🙂

Motherhood: Praying.

 

The Meaning of HOME

The countdown to Spring Break has been in my planner for a while. Let’s be honest. Since January. The idea of putting my toes in the sand and allowing my skin to get kissed by the sun has been high up on my Spring Break to do list since I began the countdown in January. Unfortunately, Mother Nature’s to do list did not coincide with mine, and the thought of putting my toes in cold wet sand while wearing a sweatsuit on the beach was not very appealing. Instead, we decided to drive south of the week and spend Spring Break with our families. Perhaps Mother Nature knew what she was doing all along.

Sitting on my parents’ back porch swing, it occurred to me that Patrick and I have such a special marriage. Isn’t marriage an interesting and funny thing?

Four years ago, I lived in Purvis with my parents, and Patrick lived in Hattiesburg with his.

Fast forward four years, and now Patrick and I have two sets of parents and three homes. We often giggle at the beautiful confusion the two sets of parents create.

Me: Mom said she wants to have dinner.

Him: Who’s mom?

Me: Our mom.

Him: (He then reverts to what each mom refers to herself as with our dogs) Nana (my mom) or MomMom (his mom)?

Me: MomMom.

Him: Okay. Yea, I think going home for dinner sounds great.

And then there’s the three homes. At first, I’ll admit, I had a really hard time with him not referring to our house as home. In my mind, the day we got married I would become his wife and our house would become our home. Instead, he often referred to me as his fiance and referred to our home as our house. The switch was not as instant as I expected. In my mind, our house represented more than simply a house. To me, it was the symbol of our new lives together. Our first home. The home that we would create many beautiful memories and raise our first baby. It was so much more than a house.

As the years have passed, I am happy to say, that he now refers to me as his wife and “our house” as “our home”. Sometimes, all it takes is a little time… or in our case a lot of time.

I’ve come to realize that home is not about a certain house and a certain house does not make a home. A home can be anywhere memories are made and time is spent with loved ones. As for us, having two sets of parents and three homes truly makes a beautiful marriage and is perfect by me 🙂

Goodbye, February!

There is something so very sacred about 5:00 on a Sunday afternoon at our house. I typically use the time to pour myself a piping hot cup of coffee and reflect on the weekend as I prepare for the work week. If Patrick is home, we usually have our coffee together and take our dogs for a walk before the sun goes down. He has been at work since 5am, so I thought I would use this time to drink my coffee and reflect with you on the month of February. I must be honest, it is not going to be very pretty, but that is okay. 

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. “For My yoke is easy, and My load is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30

I knew February was going to be challenging, and I tried to metnally prepare for it. Key word, tried. Despite me efforts, I still had a really hard time. Patrick’s work schedule was awful as expected, which meant I had a lot of alone time and time spent waiting for him to be home. I try very hard not to be the needy wife, always waiting for her husband to come home, but this month, I felt like I was pretty needy- not that I wanted him to come home to help me with chores and what not, I just wanted him home to spend time with him. Let’s call it being madly in love, not neediness 🙂

Personal: I don’t feel that I did a great job with remaining in touch with friends and family this month. I made several lunch dates with friends, but, sadly, they all fell through. Unfortunately, because of Patrick’s work schedule, we did not get to go home to see our family this month either. In March, I really want to focus on picking up the phone and calling people when I can’t see them. New month, new start 🙂

Marriage: I believe one of the many secrets to a happy marriage is to know what works and what does not work for you and your spouse. Sharing a car does not work for us. I am a morning person, and Patrick is definitely a night owl. As I drove him to work several mornings (because my car has been in the shop twice this month), I wanted to spend the drive talking about our day and singing along to KLove.  I quickly realized that, in order for us both to have great mornings, I needed to be quiet on the morning drive and save my talking for when I picked him up. Although we learned what does not work for us, we were able to learn something new about each other and strengthen our marriage. All in all, great month for our marriage!

Spiritual: I don’t know about you, but KLove radio does wonders for me. Driving 35 minutes to work each day while listening to KLove really gives me time to feel connected to God each day.

Financial: Let’s be honest, we didn’t save a whole lot this month. Two trips to the car shop will really drain a bank account fast. Excluding the unexpected costs, the other areas of our budget were right on track. I am giving us a thumbs up on this one.

Health: I remained faithful to my normal five days of strict Paleo and two days of “choice” eating. This way of eating works for me. I am able to maintain my goal weight and still “live” a little. I’ll be honest, I could not stick to Paleo seven days a week and remain sane. I am too much of a sweet eater: brownies, cookies, ice cream, you get the picture. I also know that I can make Paleo friendly desserts, and I incorporate those throughout the week. I just feel happier when I have two days a week that I am able to eat whatever I want.

Skills: I really failed at this one during the month of February. I’m really trying to think hard about what I did instead of work on my photography skills and practice Spanish, and nothing comes to mind. I don’t even have an excuse for it. I really have to do better in March.

Motherhood: No baby yet, but I am hopeful that things will change next month! Fingers crossed!

With March just around the corner, I have lots of exciting things to look forward to! I plan to share each and every one of them with you!  Patrick’s schedule will be different, of course, and our calendar is filling up fast!

How has your month been? Do you find yourself reflecting at the end of every month in preparation for the upcoming month?

 

Project 365 Recap

Happy Super Bowl! I hope you had such a fun time watching the game with great friends and tons of yummy food!

Here are my pictures from this week! Enjoy 🙂

Day 10 (January 27, 2014): Chocolate Chips

Day 11 (January 28, 2014): Harvest Cheesecake

 

Day 12 (January 29, 2014): Photo Wall

Day 13 (January 30,2014): Snowy Birdhouse

Day 14 (January 31, 2014): River

Goodbye, January! Hello, February!

Happy Saturday!

Patrick started a new rotation this morning and left for work around 5:00 am. As an Internal Medicine resident, each month, he gets to experience a new area of medicine. This is fantatstic! He gets to try something new every month and learn more about the field of medicine. I have mixed feelings about this type of schedule. Three-fourths of me is so exciting when each new month arrives, and he is off on a new adventure. I love when he gets home and has so many new stories to tell. I love that his eyes light up, and I realize that all of the sacrifices up until this point have been totally worth it to see him so passionate about his career. The other one-fourth of me experiences a bit of sadness when a new month begins. Of course, this depends on the month. I know that sounds terrible, but I am being honest. As you can imagine, some months are easier than others. For example, in November, his rotation allowed him to work 6:00 am until 6:00 pm, AND he was off on the weekends! That was my kind of month! This month, it is a different story. This month, he will go in at 5:00 am and will get home “when the work is done”- which means 9, 10, maybe 11 at night. It also includes working all weekends and being on night call. Ugh! You can imagine! Typically, I would not consider myself a needy wife, but during these types of months, I tend to start to show characteristics of being one 🙂 Who can blame me? I love my husband and miss him terribly when he is not home.

On a normal Saturday morning, the television would be blaring soccer in Spanish; the coffee pot would be brewing and filling our house with a beautiful aroma; eggs would be popping in the skillet; and Patrick would be in the yard playing with our girls. What a perfect morning! However, this Saturday morning is different.  My house is extremely quiet. My girls are laying at my feet, and I am on the couch with my laptop and cup of coffee. The Pioneer Woman is on mute on the television. Is it weird that I sometimes watch the television on mute? I am guessing you are probably saying yes! Leaving the tv on mute,  I have decided to take advantage of this quiet time to reflect on the month of January. If you remember from my 2014 Goals post, I promised to update you on my progress each month. Let’s get started!

Personal: I worked really hard this month to make deliberate efforts to stay in touch with friends and family. We drove to Hattiesburg to see our sweet family several times and even had the chance to meet up with a few friends from college. Through phone calls, lunch dates, and visits, I feel as though I did a great job with this one!

Marriage: Thanks to Patrick having an “easier” month as well as a week of vacation, we were able to spend lots of quality time together. We intended to take a short vacation during this time; however, due to the snow storm, our efforts were not successful. Instead, we started a few projects during his week’s vacation and, if you have experienced projects with your other half before you understand what I mean when I say, I feel like we were able to strengthen our communication skills 🙂

Spiritual: I have been working really hard on this goal. Walking in faith can be difficult, but I am determined to make this one happen. As I get ready for work in the morning, I listen to K-Love and the song I chose for 2014, “Oceans”, to start my day off worshipping God. On my morning commute, I turn off the radio and use the thirty minute drive to pray. Allowing myself this time prepares me to accept anything the day throws at me knowing that God will lead me. It is not easy. All too often I find myself trying to make big plans for the future. In these times, I have to remind myself that my plans are not His plans and His will be by far better than anything I could ever create. What a wonderful thought!

Financial: This goal was easy for me in January. If you are a teacher or work in education, you understand this. If not, let me enlighten you. January is a dreaded month for those in education. We get paid once a month on the last working day. In December, that day was the 16th. In January, that day was the 31st. There are A LOT of days between December 16th and January 31st, 46 to be exact, which means we pinch pennies for the entire month of January. No spending for me!

Health: I had fun with this goal in January! After evaluating my health and a few other concerns, I decided to switch to a paleo diet. Did you just roll your eyes? I know there is A LOT of hype about this diet from the Crossfit community, but as I researched the type of diet I needed, this one fit the bill! Focusing on protein, veggies, and fruit, this diet eliminates all dairy, gluten, and processed foods. All of those Crossfit people have a reason to be excited about the Paleo lifestyle. I feel so great! Don’t get me wrong, I do cheat from now and then. If I were following the diet for weight loss, I wouldn’t cheat, but that is not the reason I chose to incorporate this diet into my lifestyle. I eat strictly Paleo from Saturday morning through Friday lunch. On Friday nights, Patrick and I go to a little Mexican restaurant and order the same meal that we have ordered every Friday night for many years- cheese dip and shrimp quesadillas. This is the one meal I allow myself to have that is not Paleo. I have a few chips with cheese dip, a shrimp quesadilla (without sour cream), and a water. Afterwards, I have some type of dessert. Last night, it was a yummy brownie.

Skills: I decided that my focus skills for this year would be photography and Spanish. With that having been said, I need to be a bit more focused in February 🙂 I did spend several hours on Rosetta Stone this month and began my Project 365 photography challenge; however, I need to devote more time to each. I finally received my camera bag insert for my purse (I will post a review of the product soon), so it will be easier to take pictures daily and upload them to my album. I am thinking about creating a schedule for Rosetta Stone. I will let you know how that works out 🙂

Motherhood: This must be the most exciting one for the month of January! Patrick has been set on trying to start a family in June. Something about the World Cup is in June, so it would be cool to get pregnant in June? I never understood that thought process; however, after many conversations, he has agreed to March! Now let’s hope that God agrees!

How are you progressing with your 2014 goals? I can’t wait to hear all about your January adventures!

Happy Saturday!

DIY and Lots of Pictures

Hey ya’ll! I almost let Sunday slip past me without posting my photos from Project 365. I must admit, this week has been a challenge. I have had such a hard time capturing images with my camera each day before sundown. Hopefully, my new purchases will arrive soon, and Project 365 will be a bit easier. I am also having difficulty editing my images in RAW on my desktop. I am working on trying to work out the kinks, so the whole process will be a bit easier. I hope you all had a wonderful Sunday! Patrick and I spent our day working on diy projects. We are working on a headboard for our guest room and a ladder to hang our cozy blankets on in our living room. As soon as we finish, I will post pictures! I can’t wait for you to see! Hopefully, these projects will inspire you to create something beautiful for your home.

Day 2 (January 19, 2014): Cream Puffs

Day 3 (January 20, 2014): Sweet Mia

Day 4 (January 21, 2014): Apples

Day 5 (January 22, 2014): Bell

Day 6 (January 23, 2014): Bell

Day 7 (January 24, 2014): Puddle

Day 8 (January 25, 2014): Basil

Day 9 (January 26, 2014): Fern 

 

Money can’t buy happiness, but it paid for an Erin Condren Life Planner, which is pretty much the same thing

Happy Tuesday, Friends!

Today, I am posting a review of my new Erin Condren life planner. A year ago, one of my dear teacher friends, Madeline, introduced me to Erin Condren and changed my life forever… or so I thought!

Let’s get to the point- at $50 a pop, these planners are expensive (at least for me)! When my planner expired in December of 2013, I refused to spend $50 on another one. That all changed when I ventured off of the path and bought a different planner. Epic fail! It did not take long (about one week into January) for me to realize I had made a mistake 😦 The new planner, which I purchased from Target, served it’s purpose; however, for a planner-obsessed person like me, it just wasn’t the same. Finally, after trying to make it work, I broke down and ordered “my old trusty”. Want to hear the best part? I found a coupon code and got this little beauty at a steal for $30!

The one on the left is my 2013 planner, and the one on the right is my new one! Ekk!

The size of the planner is still the same as is the weight. I do feel like these planners are a bit on the heavy and bulky size, so I cannot always carry it in my purse. Normally, I carry it in my work bag unless I am carrying a larger purse.

The inside cover has a new confetti design, which is super cute!

      

This year’s planner has a few new tabs (Special Dates, 2013/2014, Contacts, Notes). The older version had these pages included but not tabbed. This feature makes it very easy to locate information fast.

  

Each month is spread across two pages. This is one of my favorite features and makes planning for the month really easy. I love to be able to look at the entire month in one glance. Did I mention that each month as an inspirational quote at the top?

 

After the monthly spread, the planner has weekly pages for the entire month. I really wish the days were done in a horizaontal format instaed of the vertical, but it works. Each day is seperated into morning, noon, and night. I use this for my food journal.

On the left side of the page, there is a section for goals and notes. I like to use this to monitor my progress towards my goals for the year.

 

Another new feature is the section at the bottom of the page. This additional space can be used for to do lists, notes, food planning, or exercise journaling. I use mine to record my daily exercise.

There is a tabbed section for notes with lined paper in the back and also a tab for contacts. This eliminates the need for carrying an address book 🙂

 

One of my favorite parts of the planner is the sticker section in the back! It’s hard to tell from the pictures, but there is one full page of birthday stickers, two pages of blank stickers, and one page of miscellaneous stickers. This makes planning super easy, quick, and colorful!

 

The last true page of the planner contains an inspirational quote. So colorful and pretty! There is also a clear plastic zipper pouch and folder pocket in the back of the planner for extra storage.

Compared to the 2013 planner, I am very happy with the changes for the new 2014 format! One of the best parts of getting a new planner is sitting down the first day and filling in all of the birthdays and special days! My husband knows this is one of my faviorte things in the whole world and makes a point to go out of his way so that I can have this time. Last night, as I was transferring all of the dates from my old planner to the new one, he made dinner 🙂 If that is not enough reason to buy a new planner, I don’t know what is!

Enjoy your afternoon! I can’t wait to visit with you again!

Do you have a life planner? If so, what is your favorite part? Share in the comment section below!

Keep calm and FLASH someone

Yesterday, was all about photography! What a great way to spend a Saturday!

My sister and I signed up for the Clickin Moms conference in Salt Lake City for September. I wrote about my excitement in my previous post, but as I reread it, I realized I did not do it justice.The website has a very user-friendly registration process, and allows you to register through Facebook, which I thought was really neat. This way, you can see if any of your Facebook friends are attending the conference and meet for a chat 🙂 I am hoping that we will have other photographer friends from Facebook join us!

After we finished the registration process, we received the link to sign up for the workshops we wanted to attend. I was expecting about ten options a day. Remember, the only conferences I have ever been to were educational conferences, which tend to have limited choices. Oh no! I was very wrong! There were hundreds of sessions along with 80 speakers stretched over three jammed packed days. It took us hours to choose! I am super indecisive, and I still have not truly finished my schedule. When I review it on the app, I have three sessions in the same time slot multiple times a day. I have to go back when I am feeling a little less overwhelmed and get straight to business with finalizing the details.

Although the conference with have an expo of vendors with lots of neat photography items, I decided I would go ahead and purchase a few things to make the Project 365 and my photography journey bit easier.

Currently, working as a curriculum specialist for a rather large school district, I drive to work when the sun is just waking up and return when it is going to sleep. What does that have to do with anything? Unfortunately, I do not get the chance to shoot in natural light 😦 However, I have made a fantastic discovery- Kelly Moore bags!

This excitement was soon crushed when I realized these bags are a bit pricey for someone just starting out with no birthday in sight, so I scoured Etsy and found camera bag inserts for purses. I came across this little beauty from MainStreetCamera and fell in love!

At $24.99, who could resist! I think this will be a great way for me to carry my camera with me to work and snap a few photos on my lunch break. I have several large Coach purses that I think will fit this insert perfectly! I’ll save the Kelly Moore bag for my birthday gift in August as I have already lined up gifts for Valentine’s Day (origami owl necklace) and our wedding anniversary (anniversary band). Unless, I could manage to convince Patrick that we should exchange gifts for the Fourth of July! I seriously doubt he would buy in to the idea! It is worth a try though 🙂

My final two purchase for Saturday included a new camera strap and a subscription to Click magazine.

Every girl needs a colorful camera strap instead of the boring one that comes with the camera! When I saw this one on {beth} a-dilly’s blog, I knew I had to have it! It didn’t take long for me to find it on Etsy and place my order! Thank you to LunaViz for creating this beauty! In just a few days, I should be clickin’ in style! Did I mention that it was only $12.00?! What a steal!

Click magazine is produced by the ladies at Clickin Moms and is chocked full of useful tips for photographers! The subscription is only $15.00 and comes with lots of added bonuses! Once the subscription is purchased, you can view previous editions of the magazine in digital format. Talk about a bonus! Another fantastic feature is a free trial to Clickin Moms tutorials and classes. Sorry boys, this one is for girls only 🙂

As soon as my purchases arrive, I will be back with a review of each 🙂 Stay tuned!

As promised I have posted my Day One picture for my Project 365. Initially, I planned to start on Monday, but life had other plans 🙂 I will be back each Sunday to post new photos and would love your feedback!

Day One (January 18, 2014): Favorite Things

These are a few gifts from my sweet sister. The book is Plate to Pixel and is all about food photography! Yum! I am a huge fan of coffee, especially bold coffee, and the coffee mug with the imprinted ruler is a perfect combination of my love for coffee and crafting. Great thinking, sis! Her husband is from Brazil, and, a few years ago, she got me hooked on Brazilian hand cream by EKOS. My last tube lasted an entire year, and I used it constantly! Go EKOS! The last little gift is a packet of tags that have “from the kitchen of” printed on the front. What a perfect way to tag the baked goods made for friends! Don’t you wish she was your sister!? So sweet!

Happy Sunday!

What are a few of your favoirate things?

Project 365

My sister-in-law is wonderful! She is constantly learning new things and exploring her many talents. I find this to be such an inspiration and a constant reminder that I, too, need to step out of my comfort zone and explore mine. God gives us all many different talents, and we must use these talents to lift up others and make the world a better place. Typically, when she picks up something new, she teaches me, and I gain a new hobby. This was the case for running, crocheting, and blogging. Recently, she has decided to pick strengthen her photography skills, and you know what that means! I have taken on the same task; however, I do not have skills to strengthen, but rather will be working to gain an understanding of photography and hopefully gain a good knowledge base.

She found a wonderful photography conference in Salt Lake City in September, and guess who will be joining her!? I am so very excited! You can read all about it here. In preparation for the conference, I thought it might be a good idea for me to begin increasing my knowledge of photography, and I have chosen to begin Project 365. Project 365 is a photography project where you take one picture a day and share it in order to become better at taking pictures. I think it is going to be so wonderful to be able to look back at the photos at the end of 2014 and reminisce about all of the wonderful events that have taken place! Who knows? Maybe I will even have a baby bump to take pictures of 🙂

Have you ever completed Project 365? If so, please share your advice and tips in the comment section below!

Drumroll, please…

After much thought, I have finally decided on goals for this year. Normally, I write my goals down in the front of my Erin Condren planner to see everyday. Of course, I will do the same thing this year, but I have also decided to post my goals here for all to see in hopes that I will be held more accountable. I plan to update my progress monthly. Each year, I plan goals for seven categories: personal, marriage, spiritual, financial, health, skills, and education. This year, I have deleted the category of education and replaced it with MOTHERHOOD!! I can hardly contain myself! Let’s get started with the sharing!

Personal: I want to create stronger friendships by making deliberate efforts to remain in touch frequently.

Marriage: I want to have a stronger marriage by focusing on becoming a better wife for Patrick. I want to learn more about what God wants for our marriage and do those things.

Spiritual: I want to be like Moses. Moses was completely trusting and always acted in accordance with God’s words. I want to walk in trust knowing that God will lead me.

Financial: I want to live with less and give more. I will do this by donating the excess in my life and making conscious choices about spending.

Health: I want to be strong and fuel my body with good things by exercising daily and eating healthy, nutritious food.

Skills: I want to strengthen my current hobbies and skills while learning new ones and exploring other talents.

Education: Originally, I had planned to begin working on my Ph.D. this year; however, I feel as though God is giving me a different focus this year.

Motherhood: I want to have our first baby this year or at least become pregnant this year. The idea of giving Patrick a baby and our parents a grandchild fills my heart with so much happiness! I pray this happens in His timing.

What are your goals for 2014? Please share them below! I can’t wait to hear about all of  the wonderful plans you have for this year!