Blur

It's Friday and I'm not quite sure where this week went. It's been a blur of snotty noses, the project from hell at work, good food, exercising, getting caught up on laundry, lots of playtime, TV watching, reading, and daydreaming about our upcoming trip to Hawaii and everything else this year has in store for me. This was one seriously productive week although on a personal level I don't feel very accomplished.

I think I'm ready to start making 2013 work for me. I'm ready to wake up and do a little bit of planning. With everything that's currently on my plate (kids, husband, job, house) it is SO easy for me to just get caught up in the day-to-day. If I don't make a conscious effort to plan and make time for what I want to do, the days just blur together and before I know it I'll be old and grey.

Intention.

This is what I need a little bit more of in my life. I want to be intentional with my time - in how I spend it with my kids, with my free time in the evenings, and in those stolen moments with my husband. So, along with focusing on just being happy this year, I'm focusing on living with intention as well. Starting now.

An homage to 2012...

Okay, okay... so I know I was pretty dang negative in my last post due to my less-than-happy week. But guess what? It's a new week and just about the start of a new year! I'm happy to report that I am in a much better place and ready to kick off 2013 on the right foot.

But first, I must pay my respects to 2012. I know I've said that it wasn't my year. After all, 2012 had some HUGE shoes to fill after 2008-2011...

2008 made the love of my life my husband.
2009 made me a mommy.
2010 made me a homeowner.
2011 made me the mommy of two.
and 2012?
I guess 2012 made me just a little bit wiser.

I'd like to pay my respects to 2012 while she's still here. After all, maybe nothing notably super exciting happened in my life, but it was still a year full of memories and happiness.

My year in pics...

Leila, Jan. 2012. She's grown up so much this year!


Not to mention my little Lando...






The project (Instagram Wall Initial) that brought my blog to Pinterest... :)


Easter 2012...


We ventured into cloth diapering in 2012 & still love it!


Landon went through helmet therapy this year...


Our garden was out of control beautiful thanks to my hubby's hard work!


We attempted a family self-portrait. Ha!


I "unplugged" a few times this past summer which felt SO good!


We enjoyed many family fun outdoor activities in the summer sun...


My baby girl turned THREE!


We took a family vacay to Priest Lake...


Enjoyed some fall fair fun...


Family time at the pumpkin patch...


My boy turned ONE!


Enjoyed a weekend getaway to Seattle...


Made the most of a wonderful winter & happy holiday season!



Gosh, maybe 2012 wasn't as pathetic as I thought! Reflecting back has really opened my eyes to how blessed I've been. I really couldn't ask for more. In fact, I'm actually rather proud of myself for how much I did accomplish. Not only did I implement my monthly DIY projects which have gotten my creative juices a-flowing, but I also started exercising regularly (I can cross this off my Dreams To Do list! Yeah!) via The Bar Method, which I love! Two big things that I really wanted to focus on this past year and I DID. So, maybe 2012 wasn't such a dud after all. :-)

Wishing you all a very HAPPY NEW YEAR! May 2013 bring us all joy beyond our wildest dreams.

Tissue Monster + Happy Chaos

Ready for some random? I hope you said 'Yes' because that's about all I have in me right now.

I got an extra special birthday present this year - a really nasty head cold. I think I've had more head colds this year than the past 10 years combined. I feel like I've been getting sick at least once/month. The joys of having little ones in daycare + an extra weak immune system, I guess.

Last night I turned this negative into a positive. I couldn't contain the snot so I shoved some tissue up each nostril as I was getting Leila ready for bed. She looked at me and started laughing and I said, "Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.... I'm the tissue monster!"  She proceeded to scream and run around the house. I had zero energy and felt like I was dying, but I pushed through it - her contagious laughter gave me the boost I needed to chase her down. A super silly-fun moment made possible by Kleenex. No, this is not a sponsored post. Ha!

All in all, I've had a crazy, hectic, dreary, snotty, fun, happy week.  Here's some random goodness from my extraordinary week...

• A day off work with my fam for my birthday on Monday.
• Landon has started walking. He still prefers to crawl the majority of the time, but can walk across the room now.
• This head cold has given me a valid excuse to take it easy. I went to bed early last night and it felt SO good.
• We stripped Landon down to his diaper and let him go to town on Spaghetti night. Messy fun.
• We received a super huge package in the mail from my brother who lives in Colorado. It included one birthday present for each of us since he had failed to send anything for Andy, Leila, or Landon's birthday. It felt like a mini Christmas all opening presents together. :-)
• Christmas tree + Holiday music + Wine = the perfect end to a stressful day at work.
• I received my spiky gold bracelet that I ordered from GroopDealz in the mail. Stella & Dot has the same bracelet for like 5x $ and I've wanted it forever. Got this one for like $12 from GroopDealz. I have a little bit of an addiction to that site. Just ordered it in silver today. :-/

Hope your week was as good as mine (minus the snot)! :-)

Full Plate

No, I'm not talking about the plate full of amazingness that I'm going to be stuffing my face with in a couple of days. (Although, I can't wait for that!) I'm talking about the full plate that is my life right now.

A schedule full of work & life to-dos. The list is never ending.
A head full of Christmas ideas, blog posts, thoughts on the new year & turning 29.
A heart full of thanksgiving, yet heavy with sadness.

Life is funny (in a not-so-funny way most of the time). It seems like I always find myself stretched to the max around this time of year. The days seem so much shorter and I feel like I'm losing time to get stuff done. I am so jacked up on holiday happiness and excitement (& maybe a few too many peppermint mochas) that my level of focus is almost non-existent. My work load in the office seems to triple while my attention span seizes to exist. The irony in life strikes when the happiest time of the year comes crashing down with family circumstances beyond my control. All I want to do is curl up by the fire with a mug of hot cocoa and a good book. But in reality, I'm lucky if I get to push aside the growing pile of laundry on the couch and veg out to a half an hour of crap TV.

There are chores to do.
Papers to file.
Kids to feed.
A dog to walk.
Gifts to buy.
Prayers to say.
People to meet with.
Parties to plan.
Dreams to do.

And not enough minutes in the day.

But ya know what? This week is Thanksgiving! And I'm going to give LOTS of thanks and I'm going to relax! I'm going to take some much needed deep breaths. I'm planning another 100 Things I'm Thankful For post for Wednesday and that'll be it from me for this week. You should join me!



Side Note: The above pic was taken last weekend at Sears. I know that last time we got pics there I said I would NEVER pay for department store photos again, but I bought a killer Groupon deal. Needless to say, now I promise that we will NOT be returning to Sears for pics. Ever! Awful experience and this was the only decent photo.

Another Side Note: The winner of the $50 credit to MailPix.com is CLAIRE! YAY! YAY! YAY! I'll be emailing ya, girl. Thanks for entering!

Friday's Letters + More About Me

HAPPY FRIDAY! YAY YAY YAY!!!

Dear Friday: I heart you. Besties forever!

Dear Leila Jade: Can't wait to take you to Disney Princesses on Ice TOMORROW! You don't even know what's coming. :-) Love you!

Dear little Lando-pie: You started saying "Uh Oh" this week and it is just about the cutest thing ever. But, when ya gonna start walking boy? Love you!

Dear Andy: You never cease to amaze me. I fall more and more in love with you each and every day.

Dear Chelsey: Your Christmas card photo made my week! Sooooo funny! You are TOO dang creative! Pass some of those creative juices my way, please.

Dear teeth: Why have you failed me yet again? I'm too dang old to keep getting cavities! But, I guess it really isn't your fault. Stupid sweet tooth.

Dear candy: Go away!!!! If I can't see you, I won't eat you!

Dear weekend: You're gonna be swell! Gymnastics, Disney On Ice, time with the hubby, family photos, hometown visit. I love you already.

Dear Rhonda: I'm sorry I'm a party pooper and I don't really wanna participate in the little blog post tagging game. BUT, I will answer the questions! (see below) Sorry, I'm lame.


Find me on the Instagram @dreamstodo ~ I'd love to stalk ya back!

And now for some randomness about me!

1. What is your worst quality?

Laziness. It's the one thing that really holds me back from getting things done. My laziness leads to procrastination, a messy house, too much sleep. But, I think I'm getting better! I don't watch nearly as much TV as I used to!

2. When do you decorate for Christmas?

I start getting stuff out the day after Thanksgiving and not a day earlier.

3. Is there a song lyric you live and die by?

Not really, but the first song chorus that just popped into my head was Cyndi Lauper's "Girls just wanna have fun, they just wanna, they just wanna..." HA!

4. Is there a spice or ingredient that you add to every single thing you cook?

I tend to use a lot of Italian blend seasoning. If we're out of that, I go for the basil. Love me some Italian!

5. What kind of car do you drive?

Well, I still have the very first car I got when I was 16 - a 1996 Acura Integra! She was sexy back in the day! So, when I don't have the kids I still drive that. Otherwise, we have a 2010 Honda CRV.

6. Are you a crier?

Totally depends on the day (& time of the month). Ha! I will say that I haven't had a good hard cry for quite a while.

7. What’s your favorite room in your home?

Our living room. Big windows, lots of light, great furniture. Love it.

8. Do you go to church every Sunday?

No. But, I do have a great relationship with God. I should write a post about this sometime.

9. Do you use mason jars for more than decoration?

I don't use mason jars at all. In all honesty, I don't think they're that special. But, when we have some left over from my mom's freezer jam, I'll use them to store things in.

10. What do you do for a living?

I work in the sales and marketing department for a local TV station. I put together a lot of presentations, I play with TV ratings, I make things look pretty, I do some stuff with the website. It sounds super exciting, but it's not really. :-)

11. Would you be friends with the person you were 10 years ago?

Heck yeah! I really haven't changed too much since I was 18. Besides the kids and adult stuff. I went through my crazy years REALLY young, so by the time I was in college I was pretty mature and not too different from the person I am today.

Thanks for the FUN questions, Rhonda! :-) Have a great weekend, everyone!

PS - If you haven't yet, please enter my $50 MailPix.com Giveaway! It's super easy to enter and there are hardly any entries, so you have a great chance of actually winning this one. Thanks!

Linking this post up with Ashley from Adventures of Newlyweds.

Looking Ahead

Okay, so it's obvious that I love to focus on seizing the moment and living for today, but lately I can't help but feel a little bit of excitement for the future. Nothing HUGE going on, but lots of little things to be excited and grateful for...

... My baby boy turns ONE in a week! Can't wait to watch him stuff his face with cake. :-)

... The Holidays! While I strongly dislike winter at times, I love LOVE love Thanksgiving, Christmas, & New Years. I mean, who doesn't? And this Christmas is going to be extra wonderful because Leila is totally into it this year... she's already telling us what she wants Santa to bring her.

... A little family getaway to Seattle. In a couple week we are going to escape for a long weekend to visit family and friends. Even though it's just a little trip, it's nice to have something to look forward to.

... A blog makeover! I feel like I've grown a lot since I started this blog less than 2 years ago. It is WAY overdue for an overhaul. Not sure if I'm going to do the re-design myself or just save my time and sanity and hire someone to do it. Either way, it'll get a new look sometime in the next few months. And I have some other ideas in store, too. ;-)

... 2013 is TOTALLY going to be MY year! I just feel it. (That is, if we survive the apocalypse - he he!) My fam will for sure be taking a tropical vacay in 2013 since we skipped out on it this year (due to Landon's helmet cost) - I'm thinking our favorite place, Hawaii. I will also be focusing some more energy on Dream Doing, since I've totally slacked in 2012. AND, maybe we'll explore the possibility of a baby #3!?!

... Speaking of babies... I have SO many friends who are pregnant right now! And it makes me so happy! I totally live vicariously through every pregnant woman I know. I love hearing about all of the symptoms, the ultrasounds, the first kicks... I love everything baby. Yay!

Okay, enough me, me, me. Well, maybe just a lit bit more... here are some pics from a recent family trip to the park. Sorry, I'm too off in la-la-land to compose a meaningful blog post tonight. Ha!













Hope you had a wonderful weekend and have a wonderful week ahead! Focus on the GOOD!

Home Stretch

Well folks, September is just about over. In business terms, we're about to enter 4th quarter - the home stretch. The thing about 4th quarter is that it doesn't get the same amount of love as the other 3 quarters of the year. Once we hit 4th quarter, it becomes all about 1st quarter and the upcoming new year.

I've had a hectic week at work. We had a huge strategic planning meeting for 2013. It was all about making 2013 bigger and better than 2012. A lot of the boring business principles we talked about in that meeting got me thinking about my own life. How will I make 2013 top 2012? What steps will I take to achieve my goals?

But instead of looking that far ahead, I'm choosing to give 4th quarter 2012 the respect and attention it deserves. I plan to suck every good flavor out of the next 3 months that I can possibly get. 2012 isn't over yet, even if we are already being encouraged to look towards the next year.

Here are some happy, little moments from my life lately. I love Instagram because it allows us to take note of the simple things - the tiny moments that make up the bigger picture of our lives.

Follow along with me... I'd love to follow you, too!  {{{ @dreamstodo }}}

From left to right: Summer peaches . Snuggles with my puppy . Silly me . New purse . Sleepy babe . Fun at the children's museam . Some "me time" journal writing at Starbucks . 1st pumpkin spice latte of the season . My little mommy with her babies

Half a year.

Can you believe we're already half way through 2012?! Shut the front door! Where did the time go? Right now I'm just in utter shock over this realization.

We measure our lives in years. For me, it's the big, memorable events that help me remember each one. I feel like each year of my life is defined by one or two major moments.

2006-graduated college & got my 1st real job
2007-Andy proposed & we traveled through Europe
2008-got married
2009-had Leila
2010-Andy graduated & we bought a house
2011-had Landon
2012-??????

The last few years have been HUGE ones for me - hard to top. Six months in to 2012 and I feel like I don't have a whole lot to show for it. Any passion I had for my New Year's resolutions has pretty much fizzled out. I don't have any amazing trips planned or life altering events taking place in the foreseeable future. Honestly, this kinda stresses me out a little.

I have six months to change this. Six months for something exciting to happen. Something for me to remember 2012 by. What should it be?

Skydiving?
A career change?
Another baby?
A new car?
Winning the lottery?

I guess it's fun not knowing exactly what the future will hold. Right now I can say with 100% conviction that I love my life and I am very happy where I am. Do I want more? Of course, but who doesn't? If we don't have something to strive for, we have no purpose in life.

So, here's to an AMAZING 2nd half of 2012!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Okay, I have a few other randoms to share with you...

• Landon slept through the night (7pm-6am) without making a peep on Sunday night! Hasn't done it since, but things are looking up!
• My daughter turns THREE on Sunday. I can't believe it. It feels surreal.
• I'm guest posting on The Memoirs of Megan today while she's on vacation. You can read my tips for flying with a toddler there. Check it out!

One last thing...is it bad that I'm a little bit jealous of my hubby's photo taking skills? If you know Andy, you know that he doesn't have an artistic bone in his body. However, when it comes to snapping pics, he's getting pretty dang good and he shoots in manual mode!

AMAZING flower pics by my man...

Life Lately

Happy Memorial Day! I have spent the last few days away from my computer and it has felt great! I also hardly played on my phone at all. Instead I have been drowning in quality time with my family and with myself!

Here's what I've been up to lately...

• Last Thursday some of my girlfriends and I went to an Allen Stone/Eric Hutchinson concert. If you haven't heard Allen Stone yet, you need to get on it (I may be slightly partial since I went to high school with him). We had SO much fun! And it is SO not like me to go out on a work night (especially when I also have to wake up multiple times with a sassy infant). Totally worth it though.
• I got to leave work early on Friday to get a jump start on the LONG weekend. We BBQ'd with friends and enjoyed some much needed relaxation after a crazy week.
• I decided to save a few bucks and get a McDonalds mocha frappe instead of a Starbucks frappucino, which I was seriously craving. The verdict? The McD's version rocked my world! Seriously! Probably had a bazillion calories in it, but worth every last one.
• I have a new found cupcake obsession. My BFF has been sampling the area cupcakeries and she's got me hooked. On Saturday we saw via Facebook that one of them (which we hadn't tried yet) was having a happy hour special of $1/cupcake. We drove as fast as we could and bought a variety. Worst $7 I've ever spent. I could have made better ones from a boxed mix.
• My friend Ashley got married yesterday and it was definitely in my top 5 weddings I've attended. The food? A-FRIGGIN-MAZING! I seriously ate enough to feed an army and I savored every last bite. Shrimp & scallops & beef & pasta salad & fresh fruit & bread & a baked potato bar!!! The potatoes were served in martini glasses! It was so fancy. And we danced our booties off.
• Laundry & house work. I know it's lame, but I love being able to just hang out at home and get caught up on chores. It feels so good. 
• I haven't watched ANY TV over the past few days and I'm loving it! I never woulda thought.

Hope you all have had an amazing Memorial Day weekend! Thank you to all of you out there serving our country & my heart goes out to all of those who have lost loved ones who gave their lives to protect us.

High Five for Friday!

Gah! I'm so excited that Friday is here! I've got a weekend with my hubby & kiddos to look forward to and a great week behind me. Here are my top 5 moments from this past week...

1. Catching up on gossip mags in the sun. Yep, I actually got to enjoy 20 minutes of kid-free goodness to myself, soaking up the glorious sunshine and rotting my brain with celebrity gossip. It felt gooooood.

2. Andy made cookies. And this isn't in my top 5 list because the cookies were delicious. He tried out a healthy cookie recipe he found in a magazine and the recipe was totally wrong... he followed the directions to a T, but the dough was SO dry. He decided to bake them any way. They were HORRIBLE. And when they came out of the oven and we tried them, they were so nasty we couldn't help but laugh. And we couldn't stop laughing. The funniest part? They sat on our counter over night and Leila grabbed one in the morning and ate it. Stale and all. Then she gave one to Landon to try...

3. My girl. Leila has been SO funny this week. She is not a toddler any more - she's such a little girl! She's been cracking me up right and left all week with the little phrases she's learning like, "No I got it Mom" when I try to help her with something. And yes, she has moved on from calling me "mommy" or "mama" and now calls me "mom." I keep getting flashes of her as a teenager. It's freaking me out a little.

4. My latest purchases. I am absolutely stoked that bright colors are so trendy right now. I've always been a lover of color. This week I bought myself a fun yellow necklace at Old Navy (it was like $9!) and some "Tart Deco" Essie nail polish (it is seriously the most perfect creamy coral color). Love!

5. Landon's head is already rounding out! He is taking to his helmet so well (even though it makes his head super sweaty and smelly) and we are already seeing a serious difference! I am SO happy that we decided to just go for it and do this for him. I know I'll have no regrets about it whereas I may have had regrets later on down the road if we didn't take action.

Happy Friday my friends! I hope your weekend is a lovely one!

Linking up with Lauren @ From My Grey Desk today.

DIY Fail ~ Cold ~ WINNER

Maybe you could tell by my Friday post that I was expecting unicorns and rainbows this past weekend. Well, for the most part it wasn't too bad, but I had a couple stingers bring it down.

First of all...today's post was going to be a break down of my April DIY project - bubble magnets. It's not that I didn't complete said project, it's just that they didn't turn out quite how I had hoped.



Regardless, I am proud of myself for giving it a go, but super bummed that I can't share that little project with you at this time. I will be giving it another try this weekend (tweaking some things) and will have them down to a perfect, and easier, art. :-)

Secondly, our furnace broke. We had 80 degree weather last week so no prob, right? WRONG. It dropped down to nearly freezing the last couple of nights so our house has been COLD. And I am NOT a fan of the cold.

Okay, enough whining. Other than those two setbacks, every thing was fab! Here are some happy weekend pics...

The tulips in our back yard bloomed!


Mmmmmm, carrots.


"I'm gonna get you Landon!"


And he's down.


Ha Ha! Those last two kill me.

More happy news? Congrats to the winner of the Jungle Roo Cloth Diaper Giveaway ~ TRACY! If your name is Tracy, check your email girl. :-)

Want some more random tid-bits? Well, you're getting them:

1. My little Lando gets his helmet today. I'm nervous. I hope he takes to it well. I will share pics soon. (Check my FB & Twitter tonight for sure.)

2. I have another giveaway coming your way in the next couple days. I'm just putting that out there because I know some people get irritated with giveaways and I want ya to know that I have no plans of becoming a blogger who gives something away every day or even every week. This will be the last one I have planned until something super cool comes my way.

Hope you all had a stupendous weekend & wishing you a wondrous week ahead! {Rainbows + Sunshine + Unicorns}

High Five for FRIDAY!

What a GREAT week this has been! I just lurrrrvvve FRIDAY!

Highlights of my week...

1.  Spring cleaning day with my Hubby! Yesterday, Andy & I played hooky...we dropped the kids off at daycare, skipped out on work, and spent the day DOMINATING our house. Cleaned the basement, got caught up on laundry (aren't you excited, you won't have to hear me whine about it for at least another week!), organized the pantry, & took a crap load of goods to Goodwill. A huge weight has lifted off my shoulders.

2. Reconnecting with my Hubby. With Andy & I both working full time & him having to work the weekends lately, we haven't gotten any quality one-on-one time for a while. Yesterday, after the cleaning was done and before we picked up the kiddos, we had a super yummy lunch date at a beautiful restaurant, followed by some shopping - just the two of us! I love that my hubby loves to shop, too!



3. SUNSHINE! I've said it before, the sunshine makes me SUPER happy! It has been the icing on the cake this week (even though yesterday was rainy... which actually worked out well for being inside and cleaning all day).

4. My first blog giveaway. I never thought I'd get into doing giveaways here, but it has been fun for me to see new visitors coming to my little ole blog. 2 more days to enter if you haven't yet!



5. A new baby! Two of my high school friends had their first baby together on Wednesday - Easton Michael (don't ya love the name?)! It was super exciting because they didn't know if they were having a boy or a girl. I can't wait to meet him! Hopefully him and Landon will grow up being close friends - they're only 6 months apart!

I hope you all have a fabulous Friday and an amazing weekend! I will be getting my craft on for my April DIY project (meant to do it this week, but I'm a procrastinator), taking Leila to gymnastics, going to a 2 year olds b-day party, and just trying to keep my sanity juggling the 2 kiddos while my Hubby works.

Linking up with Lauren today!

The Last Thing

A fun little Thursday post for ya. The last thing I...

ATE: Chocolate covered raisins. Those are healthy, right?

LAUGHED AT: What my co-worker did with the fruit on my desk. See for yourself...



PONDERED: What the heck am I going to create for my Monthly DIY project? & why do I always wait until the end of the month to figure this out? I guess I will be taking a little trip to Joanne's on my lunch break today.

WAS PROUD OF: How Landon behaved at his helmet appointment yesterday. He was such a happy little trouper! And the stocking thing they put over his head to take the scans and measurements cracked me up! We should be getting his helmet in a couple of weeks.



CRIED OVER: Our laundry situation. Dead serious. It wasn't like full on tears streaming down my face, I just got a little teary-eyed. Pathetic, huh? We are just SO. BACKED. UP. and there are piles of dirty and clean clothes taking over our house. Boo-hoo.

CRAVED: Chocolate covered gummy bears. My BFF has gotten me OBSESSED with these things. I seriously ate like a pound of them the other week. And I want MORE.

GOT EXCITED ABOUT: My first blog giveaway! I never really thought I would get involved in the blog giveaway world, but I've been getting approached by some sweet companies and I finally decided to say yes to a couple. A little sneak peak at what will be up for grabs next week...



HAPPY THURSDAY PEOPLE!