Bevin's Birthday Party

Bevin turned the big 4-0 and we went over to celebrate. Genevieve did a magic show, Giselle was the MC.

Weekend Recap

I have time and feel like writing, so today you are going to get a weekend recap. Aren't you lucky?

Bryan got home from his week in SLC just before 9 pm. It was so nice to finally have him home. 4 days is too long. TOO LONG, Bryan.

Saturday morning Bryan went for a late run. We had a few errands to run which included: home improvement store, library (Bryan got a library card!), lunch at Pho Saigon (yummy!), and a trip to the grocery store. I made our weekly meal plan and grocery list a day early so that we could relax on Sunday.

We enjoyed a pretty lazy afternoon. We did a few things around the house or in the yard, but mostly we just sat around, read, or talked. It was nice. Normally we have tons of chores on Saturdays, but I tried to kick butt, er, do a bunch of chores during the week so that we wouldn't have as much to do this weekend. I'm nice like that.

Friday was Bevin's birthday so we all gathered at Bevin and Jamie's house Saturday night to celebrate. I took photos. There will be another post with those.

Sunday Bryan got up for a run and I enjoyed a quiet morning reading and drinking coffee with the girls. We went to Redeemer for church because Sandy Wilson was preaching. It was excellent. We came home (yay, Bryan didn't have to work!) and I prepared homemade stromboli. There are few things in life that make me feel like I'm winning at life, homemade pizza dough is one of them. After lunch we took Roux to the dog park to run around.

I purchased Grizz tickets on impulse earlier in the week so we headed downtown to pre-game on Beale. Okay, so it wasn't really that glamorous, we got a beer at the Beale Street Tap Room. Unfortunately the Grizz lost to the Hornets, but it was still fun to be there. We followed up the game with beer and snacks at SOB.

It was so nice to have Bryan around the whole weekend and to have some time to have some fun. Sunday night I woke up and for a split second pondered what we'd do the next day before realizing that the next day was Monday and that meant going back to work. I think that's a good sign of doing the weekend right. When you forget about Monday.

The Need to Grow

About this time every year I start getting the itch to grow something. I throw myself into garden prep, research, buying too many seeds or starter plants, etc. I've seen a lot of beautiful succulent gardens on the blogs the last few months and I decided that maybe this would be my temporary fix. I've already purchased my seeds and planned my garden for this coming season. Last weekend I cleaned up some of the beds and tilled the soil. (I still have two more beds to go, but I'm saving those for a spring like day.)

So Saturday my mission was to purchase succulents and make a cute little arrangment (or two or three) using pots that I already have. Because Lord knows I have enough. Just ask my husband. Unfortunately the home improvment store we chose to go to did not have any. I guess it makes sense. They are making room for spring/summer plants. Probably no one else wants an indoor plant right now, except me. Oh well. It was not to be. Maybe next winter, succulent garden. Maybe next year.

Picture Post

I think this is going to be the year of too many photos.

A little white stuff

Okay, so maybe it was just ice. But we had some frozen stuff last week.









Honestly, I think Memphis was really spared. There were many times I was wondering if we were in store for another 94 Ice Storm. But we had almost zero issues. I even got some time off of work!

Round here...

So far I'm doing well on using my DSLR for photos a day. This has resulted in lots of pictures that don't make it into the Project 365 folder. I thought I'd share a few pictures from the last week.


Bobo plays my tambourine.




Grizz strips at the Grizz vs. Spurs game.


It was an amazing game!


This cat got high.

Organized

So Mom and I have been holding each other accountable the last few weeks to do a little straightening and organizing every day. My main issues were the laundry room cabinets and the pantry.

I spent a day on each and they are in much better shape.






The laundry room cabinets before.






And after!

Okay, so it's not a really dramatic change, but it's straightened. I got rid of a few things and know I'm more aware of what there is.


The pantry before. It was out of control after the holidays.


And after. Again, not too dramatic, but it's straighter. Old stuff was thrown away and like things were put together.

Much better.

I also straightened a few drawers and cabinets. I feel ready to take on the new year!

The Bathroom... it's done.

It's finished! Finally! Hooray hooray hooray!

















I'm in love. So incredibly happy with the way it turned out.

New Year Routines

We are well into the first month of the new year. It's resolution breaking time. If we were the type of people to make resolution. (I make birthday year goals, it's totally different!)

But since the start of the new year we have implemented a few changes around here that I'm really really liking. They were not discussed prior to the initial suggestion, but I'm glad we implemented them just the same.

1) Bryan and I have started reading a Bible passage and praying together before work each morning. We started this week reading Romans. We're reading through his new ESV Study Bible that my parents gave him for Christmas. We will read a page and then jot down prayer requests and praises that are on our hearts. If we have time we pray together before I leave for work. This is such a better use of time than watching the Today Show and gripping about our days ahead of us.

2) Eating dinner at the table together. When we first got married and moved into the house we ate at the table more regularly. This last year it has felt like we only ate at the table if we have company, and sometimes not even then. I've enjoyed sitting undistracted and having a nice meal and conversation with my man.

I guess I could update everyone on my Birthday Goals as well.

So far we've hosted 3 events. We are 1/4th of the way through our goal. I've sworn off hosting anything for the month of January so in February we might pick this back up.

I'm also nearly finished with my fourth book of the year, nearly 1/3rd the way complete with this goal. Yikes. Maybe I should have set more ambitious goals for myself. Honestly though, part of the reason I'm able to complete this goal so fast is in my current employment status. I'm not complaining. I love ample reading time.

I've been enjoying champagne and sparkling wine a good bit as well. I decided to work my way up from the bottom shelf at the liquor stores. So far Andre Spumante is my favorite. For New Year's I ventured up to the second shelf and got Cupcake Proseco. Not a favorite. I tend to prefer sweeter wines to dryer ones.

Baby Can Dance

I saw this posted a few months ago and promptly downloaded the song. The video is beautiful in and of itself, but combined with the lovely music and the scenery it's one of my favorite (non-humorous) videos ever.



Recently I had made Bryan a mixed CD for his road trips and this was on there. He apparently did not see the video and I just showed it to him this evening. It's worth posting as it is a picker-up-er, lovely, and makes me miss New Orleans.

Bryan said after watching it that I would dance on my balcony every morning like one of the girls in it. He's probably right.

Home shopping

As we were putting away our Christmas stuff I didn't want to put everything away in the exact same place. So I put everything I would put back on the dining room table. Then I went around and gathered more from various places in the house. I took this opportunity to do some dusting. It was much needed.

Then I started working on new displays. The one over the tv cabinet is my favorite.

Since we were tearing apart the house I decided it was a good idea to straighten up the bookcase. We filled one box of books to give away and then I took every last book off, organized, dusted and reassembled. Last bookcase re-do I opted for look over function. This version is more organized by genre. Gardening is together, fiction together, historical stuff together, etc.

There is even room for a few more!

Sure, it's not the prettiest or the best styled. But it holds our books and that is what matters at this point.

Blue man

On Sunday we decided to take Roux for a walk on the V-E trail. She had a bump removed and has had staples this past week. She'd been getting restless and I wanted a change of scenery.

We might have walked further than we should have, but it was a beautiful afternoon and we enjoyed it

New Years Organization

Every year about this time I get the extreme urge to clean and organize everything in my life. Maybe it's because the holiday season is so crazy and jumbled that afterwards I want to make everything orderly. I've found that the last few years its the same.

Last year I bought cleaning supplies for the entire year (we still have plenty and haven't even touched some of it yet!). This year I want to take EVERYTHING out of its storage places and re-organize and clean out.

Bryan, prepare yourself for the most crazy, OCD organize fest you've ever seen. I've set my sights on the laundry room cabinets, the pantry, all the drawers in my closet and some of the office, all the kitchen and dining room cabinets. Finally, if I still have energy, I'm going to tackle the bookcase which has gotten totally out of hand. We have a book problem.

I've been doing some organizing on the small scale as well. This is the second year that I've put my cleaning scheule on my Google Calendar Task lists. I've spent several days making tasks for the rest of the year. (It's well over 360 tasks, oops.) I've also spent time putting things like the books I want to read in one organized list instead of 3 different places with no particular method to the madness.

Last night I backed up music and photographs. I've also completed my 2012 Project 365 photobook. Still need to put the finishing touches on the 2012 general book, but it's close too.

Anyways, so I thought I'd confess my weird cravings. This weekend I hope to tackle some of the laundry room cabinets and put away our Christmas decorations.