Goals & plans for 2015

Oh hello, my long-neglected blog! Who knew adding a baby to the mix AND going back to work full-time was so time consuming? ;)

I love the beginning of the year for the fresh start it brings. Out with the old, in with the new. I typically make a huge list of very specific resolutions and get so overwhelmed with sticking to all of them that I fail miserably to stick with even one.

There are several things I want to accomplish this year, but I'm cutting myself some slack and picking more realistic goals so I don't set myself up for failure :) Ironically, one of my goals this year is to let go of the need for perfection, so this will be a good exercise for that.

Here's some things I'd like to see happen this year:

• Get Oliver (mostly) potty trained. We started the potty training process last June and he is 100% potty trained at home when he's naked. He runs right to the bathroom when he has to go and never has a problem. But apparently letting your kid run around in public naked is a no-no, so we still have some work to do :) 
• Set up a little photo studio in our house. Oregon is too cold and/or wet a good portion of the year to do outdoor photos, so we're finally bringing the photos indoors. We're drawing up plans right now and hope to have something set up later this month in time for Valentine's Day mini sessions :)
• Pay off my student loans this year. I think I have until the end of 2016 to pay them off, but I've been paying extra as often as possible and hope to be totally done by October of this year. 
• Explore Oregon more. We rarely leave the city (or even our house) anymore, but there is so much beauty to see in this state and I am eager to expose the kids to it. I'm aiming for 1 day-trip each month, even if it's super close (but it has to be a new-to-us place).
• Eat less sugar. I have a sweet tooth like none other and have noticed that Oliver asks for sugary stuff a lot more often now :( So it's time to cut back and lead by example with what I eat.
• Do one small house project a month. Our tentative plan is to put our house up for sale Spring 2016, so we need to start doing a little at a time so its ready by then. We need new carpet, new tile in the bathrooms, a new fence in the backyard, new grass/landscaping and minor repairs inside & outside. We also need to pare our belongings down as we go along, but I'm married to a hoarder (i.e.: I finally convinced him to get rid of his floppy disc collection just a few years back) so it will be tough. lol
• Be in more photos. I'm always the one behind the camera and it bums me out to look through my photos and only have a handful of shots with me & the kids in them :( So that is definitely something to work on for this year!

These are the main ones. Of course I am always looking to improve in all areas of my life (exercise more! watch less tv! read to the kids more! spend less!), but the items above are ones that I feel are not only very important, but also attainable. So wish me luck and hopefully I will have a chance to check back in in the next few months to share my progress :)

Best wishes for 2015 to you & yours :)

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!

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

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.

House projects

I love before & after photos! Mine are never as dramatic as I'd like though. Instead of "Wow, what a huge transformation!" it's more like "Hmm, I guess that looks a little better". haha. But a little change is better than none at all, right? I can tell a big difference, but an outsider looking at them maybe won't notice much of an improvement.

We've been doing tons of little projects around the house. Most are still a work in progress, so these aren't the final product, but we're getting there. We also did a lot of stuff outside that I forgot to take photos of, so just know that we've been working hard :)

I apologize for some of the color differences and the lower-quality ipod photos of a few of them. I just got my camera back from being cleaned and all my settings were wiped out. I haven't had time to adjust everything back to normal. Anyway. Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions for me :)

 We have 8 of these deck chairs and they were all filthy from sitting out all winter. I spent an hour or two scrubbing all of them with a mixture of water, dawn dish soap and a splash of bleach. Now they look good as new and ready for our next backyard BBQ.

 Our front entrance is still a work in progress. We replaced the rug & added a decorative hook thing, but it's still just blah. We're on the hunt for a cool piece of art to add above the hooks. And maybe some other stuff to hang besides dog collars and leashes :)

 Our guest bathroom. We've had those old towels for close to 8 years and figured it was time for fresh new ones. We got the towels from Target for $4.50 each. A clean new look for $27? Not too shabby.

 Ohh, the golden nipple. I couldn't stand the ugly fixture in our guest bedroom, but we were never able to find a decent-priced replacement. We found this beauty at Lowes on clearance for $14!! I was so thrilled when I found it and it makes a huge difference in there.

 Our hall closet was stuffed to the max with crap. Just random crap that we didn't know where to put or didn't want to deal with, so we threw it in there. How embarrassing is that before photo?! We picked up those red plastic crates from Target for $3.50 each and got rid of a lot of stuff in there. There's still additional paring down and organizing to be done, but I think it looks so much cleaner.

 Our Japanese Maple in the front yard looked like Cousin It and was taking over all the other plants around it. Derek trimmed it down and it makes a big difference. Our front & back yards are so frustrating to us right now, but we just haven't had time to get out there and plant new stuff and rip some old stuff out. Soon, I hope :)

 Derek's been keeping his ties on a single nail on my side of the closet. Not very practical and it got in the way of my shoes. So we picked up a tie rack from Home Depot for $5.99 and installed it on the back of our bathroom door. Now all his ties are displayed and separated our nicely. And I can get to my shoes without having to move his ties out of the way. Win-win.

 Our master bedroom is another room that really frustrates me. It's clean and bright, but it's boring! We really want to replace our bed frame, but don't have money at the moment. We did hang some art above the bed for a little color. The frame is from Ikea for $15 and the art cards were $5 from Ikea as well. I really want to fun-up this room, but I'm not sure where to begin and don't have much money to spend.

A close-up of the art above the bed.

The closets above the washer/dryer store our laundry stuff, random gardening things, light bulbs, shopping bags, dog stuff, etc. I haven't cleaned it out in over a year and I think that's pretty obvious :)

Much more organized and easier to find things. I really want to paint the inside of all the closets and storage cupboards a fun color to add some interest, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. Someday.

Planning for our dream house

My husband & I were talking about the future today and the fact that our 10 year wedding anniversary is coming up in 3 years. I really want to have a big (but casual) vow renewal/anniversary party with all our close friends & family. We got married so young that we really had no clue what we wanted, nor did we have much money to spend. I'd love to have a "re-do" so to speak, but much less formal and much more fun :)

The more I thought about it, the more I'm convinced we should hold off until our 15 year anniversary. Why? That would give our current house time to increase in value and give us a chance to save up for our dream house. Then we could have an amazing party right at our own house. We would love to buy a piece of land and design a house the exact way we want it. We've talked about this for years and only intended to stay in this house for 5 or so years, but our house value tanked and there's no way we can sell anytime soon. So instead we wait and save money and get ideas for our future house.

Enter my newest obsession: Pinterest

Please tell me I'm not the only one that spends hours each week browsing and lusting after the gorgeous ideas/photos/inspiration! I can't get enough of that site and have already gotten some great ideas to incorporate in our future house. Below are some of my favorites that may not be feasible for us, but it's still fun to dream, right? :)

A huge deck is a must!

Love this bold door.

How cute is this front entrance??

I'm digging all the white for this living room.

Or maybe something fun & colorful like this?

Gorgeous dining room.

AMAZING pantry!

Nice & bright (& huge!) kitchen.

I've always wanted a little reading nook. This is adorable!

I want our office to be bold & fun like this one. Perfect for meeting photography clients.

If we ever have kids, I would LOVE to have their book displayed like that.

Cute nursery idea.

ADORE this guest bathroom!!

I kind of like this clean, simple master bedroom. It would need to be bigger though :)

Master bathroom: yes, please!!

Or this one.

Best closet ever, am I right?! :)

Gorgeous loft space.

Lots of space for gardening :) Or...

I freaking wish!!

Now we only need to win the lottery within the next 8 years and we'll be all set ;) It's always good to have lofty goals, isn't it?

Closets

I have a love/hate relationship with closets. I love them because you can fit so much in them and they keep clutter out of sight. Yet I hate them because we cram them with stuff we really don't need/want, but either don't want to part with or don't know what to do with.

My husband is the worst offender with this. Example: It took me over 6 years of nagging until he finally got rid of his FLOPPY DISCS!! hahah! We don't have a computer with a floppy drive, nor have we ever had one, but he was saving them for a rainy day I guess. He was so sure that he would need them someday that he was reluctant to part with them. What were on these all-important discs? I think they were filled with car photos and old programs. Do you see what I'm up against here? :)

So while husband was off fishing all weekend, I decided to tackle our office closet. We store a random assortment of junk in there: mailing supplies, wrapping paper, CDs, wires & cords, books, etc. Basically a lot of stuff that we could get rid of, but we're not at that point yet. So at least I can organize our junk and make it look a little nicer, right? :)

Behold the before photo:

Classy, right? A big problem is the ridiculous shelving in the closet. It was there when we moved in over 3 years ago and we never replaced it. It is awkward, doesn't hold much and is crooked! Yes, the genius that put it up couldn't (or didn't) measure and the shelves slant to one side. One of the shelves is off by a whole inch. (That seems to be a reoccurring theme in our house. We've noticed several things are crooked or were half-assed.)

I took everything out of the closet, got rid of a few things and put all the junk back in. The after photo is as dramatic as I hoped (I did spend most of the day on this project after all), but at least it looks a bit better:

We will be getting rid of the stuff on the middle shelf, so that will further clean it up a bit. Don't you love how I put most things back in the exact same spot? lol. I have the worst habit of doing that. I don't deal well with change. At least I can find things now and have a better idea of what to get rid of next when I build up the courage to purge.

So what are my plans for this little closet? First and foremost, that awful shelving has to come down pronto! It's a total waste of space and doesn't utilize the closet the way it should. I want to paint the closet walls a light grey to give it some interest and character. Then I want to put a new shelving system (from Closet Maid) that will better hold our stuff and will have potential to hold clothes in the future if our office ever becomes a bedroom. (Or for when we sell the house) I want it clean, gorgeous and fun.

Amazing, no? Closets are meant for storage, but I also think they should be beautiful and well organized and filled with great stuff. Are my closets any of those things? Not yet, but they will be. I'm working on it :)