Checkin in

So I thought it would be a good time to check in on my new year's resolutions. There were only three. 1. Take better care of myself 2. Save money 3. Do more things for charity/ volunteering





I must say that looking back over the past year (and how is it that is is already over???) I am incredibly proud of some of the things I have accomplished.





Taking better care of myself was a huge one for me. I honestly feel like I had just "let myself go" throughout college and especially in graduate school and just sorta got comfortable and stopped caring so this summer I committed to Weight Watchers and was determined to lose weight. My mom had done Weight Watchers before so I just used all of the materials she had and didn't attend meetings because I think they are really expensive.

So here it is...the before and after. I have lost 25 lbs and I am so happy with my progress. The before picture was take 2 years ago Christmas day in Belize on our 1st cruise and the after was this summer when we went to the Outer Banks, NC.





You might not be able to see it but I am down 2 jean sizes and 1 shirt size. I still want to lose some more but am incredibly happy so far. :)

Saving money has not been as successful :( but it will continue to be a resolution into 2011. This year was especially rough since Josh was out of work until May. So we will continue to try this again.

Giving back and volunteering has always been important to me but I wanted to make it a higher priority this year and really for the rest of my life. I have been volunteering with the local chapter of Delta Zeta (the sorority I am part of) and I sat on the planning committee for the Toledo Give Thanks. Walk in November which all proceeds go to St Jude Research Hospital. The walk was a huge success and raised a great deal of money for the hospital.

I think I want to continue with all three of these "goals" for 2011 and possibly add some new ones but that will be a post coming later.

How did YOU do with your new year's resolutions???

Thankful Thoughts!

Happy Thanksgiving! I can't believe it is already here. Things have been nutso in my life lately but I have plenty to be thankful for.

I am so incredibly thankful that 3 members of my family have had surgery in the last week and they are all doing very well.

I am thankful for a job that allows me to live in a great apartment and put gas in my car so I can travel home whenever I want

So thankful to reunite with old friends while I am home. I love seeing people from high school. There is a certain sense of understanding one another when you watch each other grow up and go through those awkward years together.

Thankful that I checked my twitter this morning (bear with me for a second). I was not in a very thankful mood when I got up, just grumpy and feeling sorry for myself but got on twitter to catch up and one of my former students had tweeted me "Happy Thanksgiving! I miss you" I realized at that moment I needed to snap out of it and enjoy the day (even though it may not be exactly how I would like it to be) because I am so blessed.

I am not thankful that Josh is 3 hours away today working but am thankful that he has a job

And finally, I am so truly, wonderfully, blessed and grateful for my wonderful family who I would be absolutely lost without.

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!

Happy Holidays

Cool Blue Snowflake Holiday 5x7 folded card

Get custom holiday cards online at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

So although I acted like it was the hardest decision I ever made, here is our 2010 Holiday Card!!

Best part, 50 of them were only $8.00!

Decisions, Decisions

I'm gonna be honest and throw myself under a blogger bus and say that I have not always loved celebrating the holidays. I always seem to get so wrapped up in buying stuff and worrying about travelling that I have a tendancy to foget the real reason and just take some time to enjoy my friends and family. But one thing I have always enjoyed doing is sending and recieving Christmas cards. My whole life we have always been forunate enough that we got a lot of Christmas cards and we would always hang them up around the house to add to the holiday decor. Last year was the first year Josh and I sent out holiday cards as a couple and we had a cute picture of us from an Ohio State game on it. Our family members loved them! We even sent some cards to his aunt and uncle who I had never met as of last year and when I met them this past summer his aunt said "She's the cute one from the Christmas card" I just giggled but was secretly excited she rememebered the card cause I had worked really hard on it.

This year we are going to be using Shutterfly for several of our Christmas projects.
They have great card options that will be sooo hard to choose from http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery

I have been really wanting to make a photo calendar for Josh's mom for a gift for a long time that includes all the trips we have all been on the past few years, and yay Shutterfly has those too http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars/wall-calendars

And I have seen Shutterfly's awesome photo canvases and think I am going to get one made for one of my sorority sister's wedding gifts this summer http://www.shutterfly.com/home-decor/canvas-wall-art


The best news about Shutterfly is Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly, follow the this link----> http://bit.ly/sfly2010


So go, run...RIGHT NOW this is an awesome opportunity to make the holidays even brighter!

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day

Today is a day a lot of people don't even know about yet a day that probably affects a lot of people. I, myself have never had a miscarriage or lost an infant but it has affected my family.

This past spring my brother and his wife experienced an ectopic pregnancy which resulted in my sister in law losing the baby and losing a fallopian tube after it had burst. It was a very scary experience for all of us, as no one really knew what was going on. After the worst was over, they were assured they would be able to have more children and this was nothing that could have been prevented.

It was an incredibly humbling experience for me and made me realize how precious life is. It took quite a toll on my family as mostly everyone had already known about the baby (which would have been arriving right around Christmas) and was already excited planning for it, especially my mom!



Bu the good news is the doctors were right as my sister in law is now pregnant and is due in April.


So please take a second today and hug the children that you do have and send a prayer up for those that have had to deal with the loss of a child.

The truth shall set you free??

I have started this post about a million times in my head but have just never sat down and wrote it out. Maybe because if I actually write it, I can't hide it anymore or I can't just sit back and pretend like everything is OK. So here it is, I have been hiding. Hiding from myself, or maybe from the truth, just hiding in general. Please let me start by saying this is not a post in which I am looking for pity, I know there are a lot of people out there is much worse shape than me...trust me I get that.

I'm just not happy and I don't know how to fix it. I feel like I walk around my life is this haze of "faking it". I thought moving back to Ohio and getting a new job would fix me, wrong. We have been here for a year and I don't feel any different than I did when we first moved here. I like my job, but I am not in love with it. I want to wake up everyday excited to go to work and I have not felt that way for a long time. I am 26 years old and I have no idea what I want to do with this life I have been given and I feel like an epic failure. I have thought about going back to school but in the end I have no clue what I would even study so why waste my time and my money. I love working with college students, I love event planning, and I hate to sound like a snob but I am good at planning events. All the while, I love spending time with my family, and love being home and having free time. Changing my life to become an event planner would make for some serious life sacrifices...is that what I want. I HAVE NO IDEA!

I have actually said out loud..I could just pack up and go live with my mom. Who says that at 26? This girl does, once again FAILURE! I have always had this picture of how I thought life would be and let me just tell you, I was so wrong. This is nothing how I wanted or envisioned my life to be. Sometimes I joke and say I just need to run away and find myself, but maybe that isn't so far from the truth.

I feel lost and I have no idea what to do about it.



*This blog has always been therapy for me, when I write things out it helps me, I am not looking for people to feel sorry for me, or maybe there is someone out there who gets how I am feeling cause I am completely unable to explain it to anyone in my life I have just been MIA on here lately and thought the 1st step is admitting you have a problem, so here is it I have actually said it out loud*

30 before 30 updates

I hate to say it but I am NOT doing too well with this list...

1. Be published

2. Get Married

3. Go to California

4. Swim in the Pacific Ocean
5. Own a good set of dishes that match
6.Go on a family vacation
7.Run in a charity race
8.Sponsor a Child
9. Go to Washington D.C.-We are going next summer for a friend's wedding
10. Learn how to make Buckeye Cookies
11. Learn how to make kolachi
12.Go back to school
13. Go White Water rafting
14. Take my mom on a vacation
15. Get a tattoo to represent my family
16.Go to an Ohio State game at the Shoe
17. Clean out my bedroom at my Mom's house
18.Catch a fish
19.Go Camping
20. Go to a winery
21. Learn how to crochet- In process
22.Learn how to sew
23. Plant a garden
24.See a movie in 3-D
25.Make a Thanksgiving Dinner
26. Learn to swim
27.Have a fun spa weekend with some friends
28.Go to a water park
29.Go to a movie alone- I tried pulled in the parking lot and then chickened out. I WILL DO THIS!!!
30. Spend a whole day being lazy


So as you can see I am doing terrible but I have 4 more years to go!