Project Refresh: Month 4

Hello December, one of my favorite months of the year! I absolutely love Christmas and all that comes with it. Christmas movies, music, decorations, lights, buying gifts, spending time with family... It's even better now with a 19 month old that is curious about everything and so easily excited :)

My goals for month 3 were a bust :( I did 2 or 3 things on my list, but that was it, so I'm moving on. Some unexpected things came up that took up a lot of our time and made it hard to get on task.

For month 4, I know we will be really busy with holiday stuff, so I'm only working towards a few goals this time.

Project Refresh: Month 4

• Try to make the majority of our Christmas gifts this year as we don't have much money to spend.
• Finish up said Christmas gifts earlier than Christmas Eve! haha. I'm the worst when it comes to procrastination.
• Start a holiday tradition with Oliver
• Have a stress-free and fun month :)

Enjoy the holiday season everyone!

Motivation (or lack thereof)

Getting to stay home with my son these last 2 months has been great. I don't have to wake up before 6am anymore, I can stay in my pajamas and play with Oliver all day, I have unlimited snacks (this one is dangerous, just ask my scale!), I don't have to go out in the cold/rainy weather, etc.

BUT... I think it's starting to take it's toll on me. I thrive on structure and routine and there isn't much of that these days. My life revolves around Oliver and what he needs at any given time. Everyday is a little bit different, nap times are hit and miss these days, Oliver likes a food one day and hates it the next, Derek's work schedule is always changing. It's diving me a little crazy, to be honest. I kinda miss going to work at a set time, knowing my tasks for the day, taking a lunch break at the same time, chatting with real life adults and going home at a certain time. Don't get me wrong, being home with Oliver is absolutely the best thing for both of us right now, I just feel like I need to re-evaluate our daily routine and tweak some things. All my energy goes towards raising Oliver and keeping the house together that there's not much left at the end of the day. When Oliver goes to sleep at 7:30pm, I'm ready to crash too.

I don't like how lazy and unmotivated I've become. Eating candy all day and sitting around is fun for a few days, but it shouldn't be a long-term plan. lol! I need to start over and get things back on track or I will lose my mind. My eating habits are quite embarrassing right now and I can't remember the last time I exercised. I think this is a big part of why I'm exhausted and dragging most of the day. It's a good place to start and I'm hoping by making those little changes, I'll keep it going with everything else in my daily life (if I had a dollar for every time I said that...)

I'm still not sure when's the right time to go back to work (that's a whole other blog post), but I don't want to look back at this time and regret how I spent it. Oliver deserves more fun adventures around town and more play dates, not just staying at home with boring mom all day :) He'll never be this young again and I may never get the chance to stay home with him again, so I want to do as many fun things with him as possible.

Project Refresh: Month 3

Happy November 1st! I love the beginning of a new month. I get to look back at the previous month to see what went well/what didn't and plan new goals for the current month. It's even more exciting that the holidays are coming up so quickly and that Thanksgiving is this month! I can't wait :)

So how did I do on last month's goals?

• Find the perfect gift for my sister's 18th birthday: Yes! My brother actually found it, but we (Derek & I, my brother & sis-in-law) got my sister a beautiful diamond musical note necklace.
  
  
  
• Book and shoot 2 senior sessions: We only did 1 senior session in October, but we did have some other sessions to make up for it
• Lose 3 pounds: I did, then I gained a pound back at the end of the month. lol. 
• Get the guest bed cleared off by selling or donating everything on it: This is still a work in progress. It's about 50% cleared and everything is listed on ebay/Craigslist, I'm just waiting for people to buy our stuff :)
• Pick out a cute Halloween costume for Oliver: Yup, we found a cute (& warm) dinosaur outfit for Oliver to wear on Halloween. He loved it & looked so cute! Derek & I didn't dress up this year, maybe next time.
  

• Go through my bedroom closet & dresser to organize and purge clothes I don't wear or like: I didn't get rid of many things, but I did organize and clean up my dresser/closet, so this was a success.
• Take Oliver to get his first haircut: We did and he looks so grown-up now! He didn't mind getting his hair cut and I'm glad we finally did it. 
  
  
  I'd rate October a B+. I'm getting the hang of getting stuff done with a curious & hyperactive toddler around 24/7, but I still have some work to do. So what's on the agenda for November?
  
  
  Project Refresh: Month 3
  • I want to make/put some bookshelves up in Oliver's room finally (like this: http://mekhart.blogspot.com/2011/02/nursery-room-book-shelves.html) Oliver has so many cool books & I want to display them & keep them in one location.
  • Get a little greenhouse made for the backyard to put all our plants in for the winter
  • Finish cleaning out & organizing my filing cabinet
  • Get an updated home inventory list put together for insurance purposes (this has been on my to-do list for the last 2 years & I keep putting it off)
  • Set up the tripod & take a great family photo (for Christmas cards, perhaps?)
  • Have a dinner/movie night over at our house with family or friends

  
  

  Have a great weekend everyone! xo

A birthday tribute to Liz

I was almost 13 when my sister Liz was born. I don't remember any of the bad stuff that goes along with bringing a baby home (not sleeping through the night, diaper blowouts, crying fits), I just remember how cute she was and how much I loved having a little sister. I'd dress her up in pretty clothes, play toys with her, watch Disney movies 8 times in a row (she figured out how to rewind the VCR to play her favorites over & over), "coach" her for gymnastics in the living room.

Some of my favorite memories of Liz through the years...

• Her Teletubbies phase
• Her attachment to Tickle me Elmo
• Having The Little Mermaid on repeat for days at a time
• Liz's little voice and laugh when she was younger. Cutest thing in the world!
• Teaching her gymnastics fundamentals and how important it was to have good form and pointed toes. We'd do forward rolls on the couch and handstands on the carpet. I was convinced she was going to be an Olympic champion. lol
• Having little photo sessions when she was younger and I was just getting into photography. My earliest photos were blurry and terrible, but my favorite one is of her probably 2 years old in a leotard clutching her Elmo, striking a model pose. Liz has always been game to let me practice photography on her :)
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha9y_O6iz9c (I still say this alll the timeee)
• "Have you met my friend Boddie?"
• Liz and her violin concerts. It started in 4th grade as just a little hobby and now as a senior, Liz blows everyone away with her amazing talent. She is a true rockstar!
• Taking photos of Liz & her outfits on her 1st day of school. I think I stopped when she hit 5th grade since I wasn't living in Salem at the time :( I really wish I would have kept doing it!
• Standing back-to-back to see if she was taller than me yet (she just recently passed me, by the smallest of margins. Ugh!)
• All the birthdays and holidays we've shared as a family
• Seeing how great she is with her nephew Oliver :)

I could go on for days, but those are the highlights. I am so impressed by how smart, driven and motivated my sister is! I am so proud of her violin talent and what a truly kind person she is. Despite the age difference, my baby sis is still one of my best friends and I'm excited to see what the future holds for her.

I love you Liz, you are the best little sister I could ever ask for :) Happy 18th birthday!

The new normal?

I've been unemployed 7 weeks now, which has just flown by. During those last few weeks at work, I would think about all the stuff I would get accomplished when my job ended and how I would finally get caught up on all those nagging tasks I'd been too busy to do. Wrong! Who knew a toddler took up so much time & wouldn't let you get anything done?? ;)

Here's an average day for me:

• 7am: Get up, eat breakfast, review my to-do list, browse a few websites
• 8 or 8:30am: Oliver wakes up, change him, feed him breakfast
• 8:30-10:30am: Oliver plays, runs around the house, tries getting into things (the dog's water bowl, my nightstand, locked cupboards), I get dishes done and the kitchen cleaned up, set out snacks for Oliver to eat in between playing
• 10:30am: Nap time, hopefully for 1.5 or 2 hours
• 10:30 - 12ish: While Oliver sleeps (fingers crossed!), I answer e-mails, work on photos, check facebook and cross off various items on my to-do list, eat lunch
• 12 or 12:30pm: Oliver wakes up, change him, feed him lunch
• 12:30pm - 3ish: Pretty much a repeat of 8:30-10:30, with Oliver playing, running, eating, giving hugs to the dog. Me? I'm cleaning up little things here and there while I watch him play, making grocery lists, planning dinner, going a little crazy being confined to the kitchen/family room (lol)
• 3pm: Sometimes I can get Oliver down for another small nap around this time. Those are the best days (sorry, it's true! haha). I get to sit down for about an hour and work on some more tasks (applying for jobs, cleaning up my desk, paying bills, updating our photography website/facebook, trying to get new business, etc) If Oliver doesn't go to sleep, he's usually content playing in his crib for a bit, so I'm able to get a few things done before taking him out.
• 4pm: More snacks for Oliver, more playing, start dinner, clean up dishes as I go along, Derek gets home around this time if he works a regular shift and plays with Oliver for a bit
• 5pm: Dinner for Oliver (he has refused to sit in his highchair this week, so unless I chase him around the house to stuff food in his mouth one bite at a time, he doesn't eat. Sounds fun, right?!), dinner for us, feed the dog, clean up dinner dishes
• 6pm: If Oliver didn't watch a little TV in the morning/afternoon, I let him watch a little show in the evening (yes, I've resorted to the TV these days since it helps him wind down a bit and gives me a chance to sit down. ha!). His current favorites are The Magic School Bus, Curious George and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He typically doesn't sit still  for the whole 25 minute show, he gets up and roams around the living room glancing at the TV occasionally, so I don't feel too bad about letting him watch it.
• 6:30pm: Give Oliver another little snack, get him into the bathtub, into his pjs, brush his teeth, read books or play games
• 7:30pm: Put Oliver down for the night
• 7:30-10pm: Work on more photos, get caught up on anything I tried doing earlier in the day but didn't have time for, go around the house and pick up all Oliver's toys and random things he left on the floor, watch a show with Derek if he's around, waste a little too much time on pinterest ;) Go to sleep and do it all again the next day!

Some things to note... Yes, I get a full 8+ hours of sleep every night which is awesome and I'm very thankful for that :) Oliver loves his sleep too and routinely sleeps 13 hours a night straight. In total, I have about 6 hours of downtime throughout my day, but I find it hard to accomplish things when I get interrupted so often or don't have time to complete a whole task. I forget what I was working on, so the next time I get some Oliver-free time, I dive into something else. I absolutely can and should organize my time better to get more things done. As we're settling into this new routine, I think it will get easier to use those small chunks of time to be productive. I don't think I give myself enough credit for all the things I do get done each day. I'm impatient and want it all done NOW, not realizing that the little pieces I do each day will eventually get the big project done.

Seeing my day laid out like that makes me realize how much actually goes on each day and how I can use my time a little more wisely. I get frustrated that I haven't done more things these last 7 weeks (organizing/cleaning out closets, getting rid of stuff we don't use, etc), but that doesn't really compare to spending quality time with my son all day every day :) Although it would be nice to get some me-time for longer than an hour or two at a time, I am very lucky I'm able to stay home for a little while with my favorite dude.

Mistaken Identity - Vol 3

In case you're new: I get e-mails intended for other people with my name all the time and have decided to share some. See below for the newest ones.

2nd grade at 17 months, eh? I must have a Doogie Howser on my hands :)

FilipinaLoveLinks sounds right up my alley!

Table tennis in Sri Lanka? Count me in!

How are you getting home from school? That's a great question, hope you're not still sitting there 3 weeks later!

 All 3 e-mails were from the same lady. But now I know what I'm naming our future daughter (if we ever have one): Shelialah!

Any one in the market for fancy imported tiles? ;)

 I get at least a few e-mails from this crazy Bethea lady each week and they're always good for a laugh! Although I am happy I'm receiving these of the poor 80 year old lady that originally signed up. She probably would have sent her life savings to this idiot.

 I rarely respond to e-mails that are sent to me in error, but these were loan documents for someone, so I figured it might be important. Just a little :)

Apparently this is supposed to be an alien, but I think it looks like a piece of poop. (Pou?? Come on now!)

Project Refresh: Month 2

So month 1 of my project is coming to an end and I'd give myself a 'C+' for accomplishing my goals. I am definitely taking more photos (at least one a day) so that was a success. Sticking to a schedule has been tough since every day is different, but I have been more productive whenever Oliver is sleeping, so that one's a mixed bag.

Clearing the clutter was the one I was most excited to dive into, but I just haven't had any time. We've been really busy with photo shoots, which means I spent most of my free time in September with my BFF Photoshop. Being a perfectionist means our clients get beautiful looking photos, but it also means I spend way too much time editing to make each photo amazing.

So onto October. I thought it would be better to break my goals into more specific tasks instead of all-encompassing objectives.

Project Refresh: Month 2

• Find the perfect gift for my sister's 18th birthday
• Book and shoot 2 senior sessions
• Lose 3 pounds (I hate random numbers like that, but I don't think anything above 3 is realistic. lol) by eating less carbs/more veggies & working out 3 times a week
• Get the guest bed cleared off by selling or donating everything on it (I cleared out our office closet and stuck all the random stuff on the bed to deal with later. It's been there over a month now)
• Pick out a cute Halloween costume for Oliver (bonus points if Derek & I dress up this year too!)
• Go through my bedroom closet & dresser to organize and purge clothes I don't wear or like
• Take Oliver to get his first haircut (I know, I love the curls too! But I think it's time to lighten the load on his head. haha)

I like that these goals are simplified and measurable, instead of a vague 'organize the house' which could take a year to complete and is never really done. So better luck for month 2, eh? :)

Project Refresh: Month 1

We're about half-way through the month so I thought I'd check in with where I am on my monthly goals:

Project Refresh: Month 1

• Stick to a schedule: When I was unemployed in 2009-2010, I loved to map out my entire day, hour-by-hour down to the exact time I would eat my lunch (it would always coincide with People's Court at 12pm. lol). I crave routine and a schedule and knowing what I'll be doing at what time. Newsflash: Your kid doesn't care what time People's Court is on or what tasks you've planned out for your day! I'm lucky that Oliver usually takes 2 naps during the day and I scramble to get things done during that time, but the rest of the day is spent feeding/changing/playing with Oliver. It's a little frustrating, but I'm getting used to being more productive in those little pockets of time that I do have.
• Take more photos: I've kept up with taking photos every day, so this one has been a success so far!
• Clear the clutter: Sadly, I haven't had much time to focus on this category at all. During Oliver's nap times, I've been editing photos like a madwoman (we've been really busy these past few weeks) and that has taken most of my free time. I'm all caught up at the moment (although Derek is at a wedding taking photos as I type this, so more editing is coming up) so I'm hoping to tackle at least a closet or two in the next week.

All in all, I'm enjoying unemployment and hanging out with my little dude every day. I just feel like I'm so behind on things and will never get caught up, but I guess that won't change anytime soon :)

Project Refresh: Month 1

September 1st is a significant date for a few reasons. It signals the start of a brand new month. It means I become unemployed in 3 days. Also, it's the date that my husband and I started dating way back in 2002 :)

Much like New Years Day, I see today as a time to start over and start tackling all the projects I've put off & goals I've given up on. Working full-time while being a new mom is exhausting and doesn't leave time for much else. I'm feeling inspired & excited by all the extra time I will soon have and have been making lists of all the things I want to accomplish or work on these next few months at home.

I don't know how long I'll get to stay home with my son, or what distractions will come up, so I've prioritized my list and will start with the most important things first. I give you...

Project Refresh: Month 1

• Stick to a schedule: I work best when I have specific tasks to get done and makes lists of those items. If I go by memory, I'll only remember a few things and spend the rest of the day reading celebrity gossip. So planning out my day ahead of time is key to making sure I don't waste my time.
• Take more photos: I took many, many photos of Oliver his first year and have really been slacking on that since his birthday. So I'm starting up my 365 project again (starting today!) to make sure I capture not just Oliver as he grows, but our house, friends/family, events, trips we take, the beauty of Oregon, etc. I miss photography and am ready to get back into it!
• Clear the clutter: I am beyond ready to start organizing closets and getting our house cleared out. We keep adding more and more stuff and it's just become overwhelming. It's hard to find things and all the stuff everywhere just drives me crazy! So I'm going room by room and getting rid of as many things as I can, so we can appreciate (and find) the stuff we really like and use.

I have dozens of other tasks on my list, but will start with these ones for the month of September. I'll check back at the end of the month to give an update on how I did, but I'm motivated and ready to dive in!

xo

Mistaken identity - Vol 2.

I'm up at 6am on a Saturday for no reason. You better believe I need some laughs to get me going this morning! :)

In case you missed my previous post: I get e-mails intended for another person with my name all the time and have decided to share the best ones. See below for the latest and greatest.

xo

Surprisingly, this is the first photo ID I've ever received in my e-mail. I have no idea what it says or why she sent it though.

The e-mails from our friend John have been few and far between, so he seems to be e-mailing the right person these days. But he had to send me one last bible study, this one on homosexuality. Thanks John from Sri Lanka, what a pal!

This fella sent me his resume and cover letter. I wanted to respond and let him know to spice up his stuff since it's very boring and plain (and I found a few grammar mistakes), but I let it slide this time.

 Remember my little sis? She's walking now! Aww, they grow up so fast.

Someone signed me up for this lovely website (it looks like Facebook, but with naked people) with the username blacc101. This e-mail was more entertaining with the pictures it had, but they were disabled by the time I took a screen shot.

Budgets & money talk

I'm probably in the minority here, but I love budgeting and tracking our income/expenses every month. I find it fun :) With me losing my job in about 2 months, being strict with our spending is more important than ever. So I'm taking a closer look at what we have going out each month and how we can make some extra money & cut expenses while I'm on unemployment.

At the beginning of each month, I print out the previous month's bank statement (we only have 1 checking account which makes it easy; we also have an online saving's account that we make transfers to when we have extra money). I have an excel spreadsheet where I enter our income & expenses. It breaks down each category of expenses to help us pinpoint if we're spending too much in a certain area. I plug the items from our bank statement into the excel spreadsheet and keep my fingers crossed that we made more than we spent that month. lol. Honestly, we usually go over a little bit or just break even.

If you're looking for a less manual way of keeping track of your spending, I'd highly recommend mint.com! You enter in your bank info and any other loans/investments/etc you have and it calculates everything for you. I also use Mint, but I like having a paper copy of our monthly spending that I refer back to later, so I'm sticking with the excel spreadsheet for now :)

Here's how I have my spreadsheet broken down:

Income

• Includes wages from both our jobs, money from photography sessions and misc. income (like selling something on ebay/Craigslist)
• How to increase = Getting a raise is out of the question, so more photography and selling things we don't need/use anymore is the only way to up our income.

Home Expenses

• Mortgage, utilities, home improvement = typically eats up 50% of our income. Ouch!
• How to decrease = Re-financing our mortgage is not possible and we keep our thermostat low in the winter and high in the summer to reduce our heating/cooling bills. We can water our lawn less frequently in the summer and take quicker showers. We don't have a landline and our cellphone bill is about as cheap as it can get. We are pretty much as low as we're going to get in this category, unfortunately. Owning a home is expensive!

Food

• Grocery store & fast food/eating out = this category is always much higher than I'd like to admit, usually about 10%
• How to decrease = Meal planning and coupon clipping will really help us save on grocery store trips. This is something I really need to be diligent about; having more free time when I'm unemployed will also help me get organized in this area. We don't eat out all that often, but when we do, we should only go to places where we have a good coupon (we bought an 'Entertainment' coupon book that has many BOGO meals at restaurants in town).

Transportation

• Gas, car insurance, car repairs/maintenance = unless we have a major issue with one of our cars, we're usually at 6%
• How to decrease = Plan out our errand trips so we don't end up forgetting something and having to drive back across town again. Buy things online when it makes sense (we get free shipping & 5% off at Target by having their debit card). I plan on selling my car once I lose my job, so that will cut back on gas and insurance a bit (and increase our savings).

Entertainment

• Cable, netflix, internet = 2%
• How to decrease = I love Netflix, so I refuse to get rid of that :) We pay $21 a month for basic cable, but we never use it, so I'm thinking we can drop that. We may also lower our internet package (we have the fastest one available) to save a little more.

Health

• Doctor/dentist visits, prescriptions, life insurance = we rarely have any expense in this category besides life insurance, which is 1%
• How to decrease = Life insurance is a fixed expense, and the other items are so rare that this category is as low as it will get :)

Personal

• Health/beauty, clothes, haircuts, etc = some months we have nothing, some months we have several expenses; max of 2% for the most part
• How to decrease = Use as many coupons as possible, go through our closets to sell old clothes or re-discover items we forgot we had instead of buying new ones, look for hair cut specials on Facebook 

Financial obligations

• Credit cards, car payment, student loans = right around 15%
• How to decrease = We don't have any credit card debt, we just have a car payment and a student loan payment each month. This is a fixed expense, but I do pay a little more each month to get it paid off faster. We should have both wiped out in about 3 years. If push came to shove, I could drop back to the minimum payment to save a little.

Misc. Expenses

• This is the "junk drawer" of our budget. We track random purchases at Target/Walmart, pet expenses, gifts, post office fees, Oliver diapers/toys/etc, anything that we didn't know what category to use goes here. Fluctuates monthly, usually depending on how many Target trips we took that month :) = 10-15%
• How to decrease = We always use a dog food coupon for Maggie, but could do a little more research to find coupons for household stuff we buy each month. Buying diapers in bulk when we find a good sale is a good idea, especially if we can find coupons to use as well. Oliver's clothes/toys are usually bought used or given to us, so that saves a ton. Cutting down on shopping trips will prevent impulse buys and bringing home things we really don't need. I'd really like to start making more gifts, instead of just buying a gift or gift card, so that will require more planning/thought on my part.

Overall, I think we do pretty good at staying within our budget, but there is definitely room for improvement! I'm hoping all the extra time I'll have starting September will help get me organized and back to being more frugal. Being a working mom means I spend a lot more than I should on convenience items, a habit I'd like to discontinue ASAP.

While I'm thrilled I'll get to be a stay-at-home mom for a little while, I'm a bit nervous about our fiances and if we can make this work. It helps that we have about 3 months worth of an emergency fund and I'll be getting a payout for severance and un-used vacation time, so I'm thinking 6 months of staying home with Oliver is do-able. I've always been a frugal person so as long as I can rein in Derek's spending, I think we'll be ok :)

Mistaken identity - Vol. 1

I have a very unique name. I've never met another person with my name (face to face) and probably never will. I was lucky to be one of the first to jump on the gmail bandwagon and was able to register my first name as my e-mail before anyone else could.

With that said, there are still people out there with my name. Google says so at least :) And these people either don't know their e-mail address or they wish they had mine. Either way, I get some hilarious messages sent to me from people thinking I'm someone else. I also get really confidential stuff (resumes, flight schedules, school records, etc) from people that probably should double check who they're sending those things to :) Mostly, I get annoying subscription e-mails to different websites and games that I never signed up for. Or password resets to websites I've never heard of.

I've posted several on my facebook, but wanted to post the latest and greatest on my blog. I've covered up all personal info (names, phone numbers, addresses), but the messages shown are how they came to me. I'm not looking to embarrass anyone or get someone in trouble, I just think it's a good reminder to always verify who you're sending an e-mail to before hitting the send button. And it's pretty hilarious too :)

 Yes, I watched the video just to see what it was. lol

This person doesn't give up. I got a soup diet recipe and 2 e-mails asking if I was working out. I really wanted to respond and tell them they had a typo in their signature (Univeristy).

This one made me laugh! Apparently I have "no swagg". Such a shame!

 Sorry for your luck Shronda.

I've gotten a lot of photos sent to me, but these 2 have to be my all-time favorites! I always wanted another little sister. lol

These 3 e-mails (there were at least 10 more I received) are all the way from a minister in Sri Lanka. I was pretty excited to get those photos on May 29th, since all the other e-mails were long and boring. I'm guessing the website never got updated? haha

June update

I really suck at this blogging thing, my apologies! I only think about updating when I'm at work or out & about, never when I'm actually on my computer with some free time. So here's the latest:

Oliver
He's turning 13 months tomorrow and walks around by himself like a champ. He's really good about sitting down if he feels off balance, instead of falling over. He loves to eat and will try anything we put before him. We haven't found anything that he hates yet, knock on wood! He still has rice cereal everyday, but is mostly eating whatever we are and loving it. He is very independent and has no problem playing with his toys by himself for long stretches of time. He is still such a great sleeper and for that we are so grateful! He's usually down by 8pm and wakes up around 8am, unless he has to go to grandma's for the day. We are having so much fun with this little guy :)

Work

I've worked at a local bank for the past 2.5 years and will be losing my job in September. I'm really sad about leaving my co-workers since they have become like family, but I am excited to stay home with Oliver for at least a few months :) I'm also looking forward to getting back into accounting and hopefully making more money than I currently make. I see this as a positive opportunity and am hoping for the best.

Health

I'm still walking on a regular basis (usually 30-40 minutes a day) and am trying to squeeze in some exercise after I get home from work, but it's tough. By the time Oliver's in bed, it's about 8 and I just want to relax a little (aka waste time on Pinterest. haha) and go to bed. So that's definitely something I need to work on. My diet's about the same, but I've been eating more veggies & cooking at home more. I planned our meals ahead of time this week and it really made a big difference. Doing the prep work the night before meant I could just throw everything together when I got home from work and dinner would be done in 20 minutes. I also want to use my crock pot more often, I love that thing!

House

Our tentative goal is to put our house up for sale spring 2015. The housing market hasn't been kind to us and we owe much more than our house is worth right now, so we're going to spruce things up and keep our fingers crossed that we break even in 2 years. I have a huge list of little projects I want to do around the house and am eager to get started on it once my job ends in September. I have no idea what I'm doing, but plan on documenting it to provide some entertainment for my 2 blog readers (lol)

Etc.

There's not much else going on around here. We're just keeping busy with work and Oliver and photography stuff from time to time. I'm looking forward to taking more family walks and trips as the weather gets nicer. We're hoping to add another kid to our family in the very near future, but we'll see if that works out :)

I'll do my best to update a little more often, I just don't have any ideas on what to write about or much time to post. Come September, though, I won't have much of an excuse anymore :)

I'm still here :)

I'm not a good blogger, if you haven't figured that one out yet :) I have good intentions but always forget to update.

I've been busy planning our son's 1st birthday, among other things. I have been regularly exercising and eating healthier stuff, I just haven't been on here bragging about it. lol. I usually walk 3 times a day during my breaks & lunch for about an hour total. It helps that Oregon has been having gorgeous weather lately so it's not such a chore to get my exercise in.

I think I've lost a pound or so, but not much of a difference to post updated photos or stats or anything.

Maybe someday I'll get better at posting more, but at the moment I'm just busy with other things, like this cute little guy :)

I heart Ikea

(Excuse my lack of fitness updates. I was really sick for a week and am finally starting to get my energy back, so the exercising can commence!)

Derek & I spent President's Day up in Portland at one of our favorite places: Ikea. Just walking up to the building makes me giddy and I always get so many great ideas there. The last time we were there, I was big & pregnant and mainly looking for organizing stuff. This time, we went a little crazy in the kid section and wanted to buy every single thing for Oliver. We really had to show some restraint, let me tell you!

We're big into to bright, colorful stuff if you didn't pick up on that already. I love everything, but my favorite item of the day had to be the art cards (2nd from last photo). How fun and playful are those?! I can't wait to frame them and get them up, once we find the perfect spot for them.