Those darn resolutions...

Its that time of year-the time of year for those New Years resolutions. We all know how resolutions go- they are mearly statements/goals that we make and keep until about mid-January, then give up on and forget because that's what everyone does with New Years resolutions.

I am not really a New Years person. I just don't like a holiday that states you have to stay up until a certain time. And, being a morning bird and certainly not a night owl, its really not my thing. This year, Shawn and I are going low key and going to bring in the new year with movies, food and maybe a marathon of the Big Bang Theory on TBS?

So I don't really like the customs involved with New Years, but I do like the act of reflecting on the previous year, and thinking forward to the next one.

Here are my thoughts about the year 2011-my Top 5 (I know-you were just waiting for MY top 5 list-its a list you have to read-just like Top 5 lists from People.com or MSN:)

1. I absolutely love having a house. Buying our first home was pretty painless-thanks to Shawn and his real estate knowledge. I have loved everything about it so far-painting it, decorating it, putting a Christmas tree up in the living room, watching my husband mow the yard...the list goes on:)
I am really looking forward to continuing the little adventures and projects that are coming our way.

2. I continue to really appreciate my wonderful family. Not only do I have a fabulous husband-but loving and caring parents who continue to embrace Shawn and I as a couple and support our marriage and our decisions-we are very blessed:) I am also very excited to have a new member of the family-My brothers wife, Erin. I am excited to see what adventures come their way! We also have another new member of the family-Little Abigal:)

3. My friends, though now all spread out, continue to be little lights in my life. I love spending time with friends close by, and LOVE reading the blogs of those far away.  I LOVE now that several of my friends who have moved far away now keep a blog-if you ever doubt if anyone is reading it, I AM:)

4. Although working in education continues to get harder and harder (really isn't it the same for any job these days?), I still feel very blessed to work where I do and with the kids and people that I do. My school is a special place:)

5. 2011 also brought me other things in life, that are less important but still loved, including:
- My Nook Color-for hours of good reading:)
-My iPhone-yes I am one of those people now
-Scentsy pots- my house will forever smell glorious now
-A reconnection with Body Boutique- I can now continue to annoy my husband with comments like "Oh, hey, I know this song- they played this song in my step aerobics class:)"
- the beginning of my days of cooking, which I hope to continue into the new year:)


And, what are my hopes for the New Year?...

Eat my fruits and veggies (sigh, sigh, sigh:)

Try to spend more hours reading than watching episodes of the Real Housewives

Cook one new thing every once in a while (no matter how many smoke alarms I set off, fires I start in my oven, or boxed of brownie mixes I screw up)

Explore more of this beautiful town I live in-Lawrence! I really need to spend more time on campus, downtown, near Clinton Lake...

Find a creative hobby? My scrapbook stuff is still sitting up in our guest room, so I am thinking that may not be my think. I am still working on finding my true craft:)

And as for Lydia...

Shes kind of over the holidays:)

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

The only thing missing is snow

Well, the last time I blogged I was announcing getting ready for Christmas, and Christmas was last Sunday:) It has been a crazy, busy few weeks!

Shawn and I had a wonderful, relaxing, and peaceful holiday. Here are a few pics from the holiday-a few were taken on my Christmas gift-my delightful iPhone:)

Erin visiting me:)

Me and the hub in front of the tree

Marisa and I

Opening gifts

MT

Opening Gifts

Shawn with his new leaf blower

Lydia opening her stocking

Looks like Santa came after all:)

Shawn and his new sweatshirt-someone with incredible taste got that for him:)

A new mug for Shawn

And it took Lydia no time to test it out

Shawn got me Pistachios! I am only allowed to have them once a year-since I tend to eat them all in one setting.

Dunkin Donuts and nuts-this is the face of an addict

I am not sure if Shawn got this blanket for me or Lydia

Shawn and his mom:)

Table setting:)

I hope everyone had a happy, peaceful, wonderful Christmas!!

Santa Claus is comin to Town...

Oh it's Christmas. I am actually very ready for Christmas this year. After spending a nice, relaxing Thanksgiving with family in Salina, I am ready for the holiday frenzy. Then again, Christmas does combine two of my favorite things-spending and baking...so what's not to love?

Plus, I freakin love Christmas music-its basically all soft rock love songs, which I love! I started tuning into it early last week while driving in my car, but felt a little too premature, so I stopped-but now I am listening to it constantly:)

Shawn and I spent our Saturday decorating our house for Christmas. I realized how competitive my husband is when it comes to Christmas lights coming back to Lawrence Friday night. As he were pulling into the driveway, he no soon realized that our neighbor had lights on their house, and was out of the car and putting lights on before the leftover turkey and bags were unloaded from the car:)

And he did a wonderful job...

We got a new tree this year..We love it:)

I guess cookies and milk for Santa are out this year??:)

We hope everyone is enjoying the start of the holiday season:)

Easy Peezy Taco Beefy...

So, since I am kind of the queen of easy and delcious..I was delighted to discover this super easy and cheap recipe for a taco skillet.

Ole!

Ingredients:
1 lb beef
1 can tomato soup
taco seasoning
1/2 c water
6 flour tortillas
Shredded cheese

1. Brown beef and drain

2. Add soup, water, seasoning (to taste) and tortillas, cut into 1 in strips.
3. Heat to boil, then lower heat and cook for 5 min.
4. Add shredded cheese to taste.

This is Halloween...

I do not have any wild costume pics to show you. The most dressing up this year that happened in our house was me wearing fairy wings to school.

I also cannot tell you that we watched any scare movies for Halloween. This is mostly because I am the biggest wimp on the planet- I don't do scary movies, or any movies where something remotely bad may happen. Poor Shawn-the only movies he gets to see are comedies or chick flicks:)

But, I can tell you that we did celebrate Halloween a little bit in our household by making a special dinner:)

And, since we were prepared for about 40 trick or treaters, and only had about 2, we also are enjoying our candy stash:)

Lydia's not really the Halloween type:)

A Fast Fall

I can't believe it's already halfway through October! Fall is our favorite season, and it always seem to wiz on by us.

We have been just moving along these past few weeks- working and trying to enjoy the nice weather:)

We have a very nice, relaxing anniversary. We ended up going shopping, and then Shawn grilled some yummy steaks. I got a beautiful boquet of flowers and a lovely bracelet-my husband does such a great job:)

Other than that we have just been enjoying fall. I hope everyone is doing the same!

Falling out of Balance

Good morning!

It has been a busy, busy last few days/weeks/month? Shawn and I just got back from Ryan's wedding in South Carolina-which was absolutely wonderful. I am very happy for my brother and his new wife-I hope they are enjoying their honeymoon today and enjoy being newlyweds:) The trip was fun-it was great to spend time with grandparents and our new Southern family. In the midst of all of it, I did not take many pictures myself but am certainly hoping to bum off of everyone who came that did:) Everyone send me some pictures! I figured with all of the women taking pictures I would be able to get some great ones for memories:)

So, even thought we got back yesterday, I have chosen to take today off to get my head straight. These past few weeks have been maddening-I have been gone a ton from work, yet have had to go in early, stay in late, and work on the weekends in order to write sub plans for it all. Even though I know its just a busy time, I have already been thinking about getting back on the track of balance and making sure that I feel like most of my time is spent at home with family. So, I am going to use today to recover from being gone, then make a point to establish a work and weekend schedule that helps me balance family time, me time, house time and work time.

I also want to make sure to get refocused again because fall is here:)

"Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn"
Elizabeth Lawrence

A Labor of Love

Ahhhh. Things to love now:

1. The fact that our windows are open and a fresh, clean breeze is coming inside.

2. The fact that we have had three days of time together spent doing things other than working or trying to stay cool.

3. The fact that I think....just think...that fall might be here:)

Shawn and I have had a fantastic, laid back weekend. Since school has started, days that were once full of thorough cleaning, pie baking and pondering around TJ Maxx have now turned into days of cleaning enough just to be sanitary, trying to decide on what variety of Hamburger Helper to make tonight and running in and out of stores trying to get the essentials of that moment. Yes, school has started, and while I still can say that I enjoy my job (most days:)) it sure does change the pace of life in our household.

However, Lydia maintains the same pace year round..

Onry..

And content with windows (that are now open)

So, this past weekend came at a great time. 

Saturday, we were lucky enough to have tickets to go to the KU Game (provided by my lovely father).
It was pretty exciting. Five minutes after sitting down, we, along with the other 40,000 people in the stadium, where asked to evacuate and seek temporary shelter for lightning. I know, grand, huh?


But, after the rain, came the sun and then a nice, relaxing night of football.

Oh yeah-and we won! Shawn and I really enjoy going to football games, which is a lot for me because watching football requires A LOT of attention from a restless person like me. I told Shawn that I would not mind having season tickets one day-as long as we could start tailgating too:)

On Sunday, we decorated up our front porch a bit. We added some plants and Shawn cleaned up the yard.We have decided to really start small this fall and do a few things here and there. We will probably mostly stick with pots as far as flowers go. We also are focusing on the front yard, but will probably take a Saturday soon as at least dig up and clean up our back yard.

But for now I think it looks cozy and cute.


I am very excited about this weather. I am starting to think about the things coming up...fall, pumpkins, Halloween,bike rides, our anniversary (1 year-crazy!!!), weddings to go to, Thanksgiving, hot cider, fall colors, jeans and hoodies, Christmas shopping, snow, breaks from school, Christmas parties and music...this is our favorite time of the year. I am ready.

I hope everyone enjoys the gorgeous weather this week!!!