It's Friday again, YAY! Sometimes it feels like I am just struggling through the week to get to the weekend so I can start my life up again. That is a hard way to live...so I am trying to change my attitude and thank God for everyday and everything that is brings :) Last weekend was wonderful! Friday night we went and had a game night with a few other couples from our bible study. We played Mad Gabs and Apples to Apples and laughed the whole night! It was so much fun! I love getting together with friends and just having good wholesome fun :) I can't wait until we get a house and can have people over for game nights and dinner parties! We can invite maybe 2 people over at a time right now... Anyway! Sunday was great, I got up early met my co-worker for some coffee and then we went to a Pottery Barn class on decorating and putting together little arrangements that can add to a room....It was great, but I wished I could have taken pictures of everything she showed us. So my goal is to create a center piece thing for our dining room table with items we already have, following the odd number rule and not just putting one thing in the middle but putting the tallest thing to one of the sides. I really wanted to just buy everything she told us to use and put it in my apartment or an even better thing they offer is to have someone come to my house and help me with setting up and decorating a room!! Ok, that might be going a little overboard for a 500 sq. ft. apartment. I really can't wait to have a house :) It was just fun to go and get ideas.
I finally bought some seeds and pots to start growing herbs. And I printed, from marthastewart.com, some really cute tags to label the herbs. But I forgot to get soil, which is apparently an essential part in planting a garden haha (Ok, I know that, but I was more focused on getting the things that look nice like the pots and herbs and tags!) So I think I will need to wait another week to start that process, or I might need to wait until after Mexico, depending on how much they need to be watered.....
I guess I have designated Sunday nights as my "new recipe" night! It has been fun. This last Sunday night I made something called "Heavenly Potatoes" which tasted great, but I'm not sure it turned out exactly like it was suppose to. It was more like a potato soup than mashed potato consistency. But at least it tasted good, it is made with lots of garlic, onions, chives, butter...and more! And I made a chocolate torte. I was little disappointed when I took it out of the oven because the top looked a little burnt, but it was actually perfect! The middle was nice and moist and Colin whipped up a little berry sauce from some frozen berries we had! Yum!
Only ONE week until we leave for Mexico! I think Colin and I are both feeling like we need a vacation and time to get away, so it comes at a perfect time. I have been slacking on my running training, which I was hoping to have well underway before Mexico so I could feel "swim-suit ready." But I actually have lost 12 pounds since Thanksgiving by just portion control and I do have a whole week to tone up a bit! (there's not much you can do in a week that will make a difference, but I can try!!) So it is straight to the gym after work for me today!
Well, my break is about over so, it is back to work for me!!!
Monday, January 25, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Organizing!
I am going crazy! I have gotten on an organizing and DIY decorating rampage and I can't stop :) Ok, that might not sound like a bad thing, but I actually haven't organized or decorated anything yet. I have just spent hours and hours on www.marthastewart.com and www.designspongeonline.com finding and printing out cool ideas! And I'm going crazy because I want to do them all but I don't have money for them this month, so I have to wait. Colin thought I was absolutely crazy when I had a stack of what looked like 50 pages of organizing tips! haha. He will appreciate it once they are done! I am determined to do them all! Here are just a few...
This is a really cool way to organize your grocery shopping and meal planning and it looks cute too! You just get a clip board and glue some cool wrapping paper on it and some magnet tape on the back.
Ok, this isn't even a home decorating or organizing project, just a cute craft project! Basically you use a paper doily as a stencil to paint on to a basc tote.
Nice way to add a little flare to the dish soap (I know, totally not necessary but it's the little things that can make all the difference)
Cool way to store coffee and other things. Just a cover a paint can with paper and ribbon..
I totally want to make these little cubbies for the bathroom, we have no shelves and no medicine cabinet so things can get a bit cluttered on the counter!
This is a homemade magnetic bulletin board made from an art canvas and a piece of sheet metal and painted to match your room!
This is a plastic bag organizer (it's a bag to stuff your plastic grocery bags into) made out of a dish towel! Requires a little sewing, but just a straight line line so I think I can manage :)
You can print these on Martha Stewart's web site to create Freezer Labels! I totally need these, I never know how long things have been in the freezer. Again, they're probably not all that necessary and you could get away with just writing on the bag with a sharpie but this looks way cooler!
This is a really cool way to organize your grocery shopping and meal planning and it looks cute too! You just get a clip board and glue some cool wrapping paper on it and some magnet tape on the back.
Ok, this isn't even a home decorating or organizing project, just a cute craft project! Basically you use a paper doily as a stencil to paint on to a basc tote.
Nice way to add a little flare to the dish soap (I know, totally not necessary but it's the little things that can make all the difference)
Cool way to store coffee and other things. Just a cover a paint can with paper and ribbon..
I totally want to make these little cubbies for the bathroom, we have no shelves and no medicine cabinet so things can get a bit cluttered on the counter!
This is a homemade magnetic bulletin board made from an art canvas and a piece of sheet metal and painted to match your room!
This is a plastic bag organizer (it's a bag to stuff your plastic grocery bags into) made out of a dish towel! Requires a little sewing, but just a straight line line so I think I can manage :)
You can print these on Martha Stewart's web site to create Freezer Labels! I totally need these, I never know how long things have been in the freezer. Again, they're probably not all that necessary and you could get away with just writing on the bag with a sharpie but this looks way cooler!
Monday, January 18, 2010
Stuff
I have a feeling this is going to be an extremely random blog...I guess that's what it's for though, right? My thoughts are not always organized so I will stay true to that :) I had a very nice weekend, It actually felt relaxing. But I wasn't too happy when I had to get out of bed this morning to get ready for work while my City-Employed husband got to sleep in and have a day off to celebrate MLK Jr. day. Ugh, that is the only word that describes it. I have noticed a better attitude in myself towards work though since Colin started working full time (and not traveling for work). It is nice to get up around the same time in the morning and be on the same schedule, it makes life a tad easier! So all in all I should not complain about it, because I would never want to have his job anyway and he truly deserves those days he gets off :) And I have a very good job and a lot of people are out of work right now, so I am blessed (can you tell I'm trying to make myself feel better as I type haha)
We had a local band from Portland lead worship at our church yesterday. They are called Sixteen Cities and they are awesome!! They didn't sing any of their own songs during the service so we bought their CD and I love (pretty much) every song! Here is one of them that I like. It's good for those times when you need to realize that you can just let it go and let God be in Control, ready to Finally surrender :)
Last night I was very excited to make a new recipe and thanks to Martha Stewart I found a recipe for a pork roast and roasted potatoes (and the picture looked SO good). I don't make many meat dishes that aren't chicken or some type of fish, so this was a very new experience for me. And I found the hardest part of it all was chopping up the herbs! Can anyone seriously finely chop thyme and rosemary?? If so, do share, I would like a good technique for it! Once I had the herbs at least somewhat chopped, all I had to do was mix it with some olive oil and spread it on the meat, let it sit in the oven for about 2 hours, then add seasoned potatoes for about the last half hour of it! Easy! And it tasted so good. With every good meal we usually have some bread or salad or something. Actually we almost always get our favorite type of bread, Kalamata Olive Ciabatta Bread from Trader Joe's, we just can't get enough of it. We mix some olive oil with this Parmesan oil dipping seasoning from Pampered Chef and it's so good! And it feels so gourmet especially with some $2.99 red wine from Winco (in a fancy glass of course)! So my first new recipe is accomplished!
We had a local band from Portland lead worship at our church yesterday. They are called Sixteen Cities and they are awesome!! They didn't sing any of their own songs during the service so we bought their CD and I love (pretty much) every song! Here is one of them that I like. It's good for those times when you need to realize that you can just let it go and let God be in Control, ready to Finally surrender :)
Last night I was very excited to make a new recipe and thanks to Martha Stewart I found a recipe for a pork roast and roasted potatoes (and the picture looked SO good). I don't make many meat dishes that aren't chicken or some type of fish, so this was a very new experience for me. And I found the hardest part of it all was chopping up the herbs! Can anyone seriously finely chop thyme and rosemary?? If so, do share, I would like a good technique for it! Once I had the herbs at least somewhat chopped, all I had to do was mix it with some olive oil and spread it on the meat, let it sit in the oven for about 2 hours, then add seasoned potatoes for about the last half hour of it! Easy! And it tasted so good. With every good meal we usually have some bread or salad or something. Actually we almost always get our favorite type of bread, Kalamata Olive Ciabatta Bread from Trader Joe's, we just can't get enough of it. We mix some olive oil with this Parmesan oil dipping seasoning from Pampered Chef and it's so good! And it feels so gourmet especially with some $2.99 red wine from Winco (in a fancy glass of course)! So my first new recipe is accomplished!
Monday, January 11, 2010
Keeping the resolutions...
Ok, so this last weekend I tried hard to accomplish or at least start some of my goals for the year. I wanted to buy some herbs, try out a new recipe, start the triathlon and running training and do a few things with my church (or people from my church). It started out great, I ran 3.5 miles on Friday after work and then we went to a game night with my women's group from church. Running- check. Hang out with peeps- check. Then came Saturday I ended up shopping all day with my sisters and buying unnecessary things for myself....didn't buy any herbs. Then I really went wrong by eating out for basically breakfast, lunch, and dinner.... so no new recipes. Sunday I got in the organizational mode and bought some containers for the bathroom (again, probably an unnecessary purchase), but I am adding organizing and making the most of our small space to my 2010 goals (just to make myself feel better). We have a VERY tiny apartment, I mean it's tight when we have 2 extra guests (it was quite cozy for Christmas when Colin's parents stayed with us for 10 days!). But I have to continually look at our monthly bill and realize it is SO worth it!
Monday was our designated "No TV Day" we wanted to do this for the purpose of reading more and getting other things done instead of getting sucked in by the tube (and we only have 4 channels anyway, so really we should not be watching nothing every night). But of course Colin comes home and the first thing he does is turn it on! He couldn't even go a couple minutes with out it. haha. but we turned it off, made dinner, went to the gym, and then came home and read. I am trying, for probably the third time, to read through "Piercing the Darkness" I am not sure why it has been so hard for me....I think after I get past a certain point I will really get into it. The whole switching back and forth between demons & angels and humans is a little confusing to me. But I am determined to finish it, because I have heard good things from people who's opinion I trust. Along with the reading more goal, one of my co-workers invited me to be in her book club! So I am excited about that. I think bringing in more structure to my reading will help and having a deadline in which I need to finish the book by will be good!
I think that is all for now!
Monday was our designated "No TV Day" we wanted to do this for the purpose of reading more and getting other things done instead of getting sucked in by the tube (and we only have 4 channels anyway, so really we should not be watching nothing every night). But of course Colin comes home and the first thing he does is turn it on! He couldn't even go a couple minutes with out it. haha. but we turned it off, made dinner, went to the gym, and then came home and read. I am trying, for probably the third time, to read through "Piercing the Darkness" I am not sure why it has been so hard for me....I think after I get past a certain point I will really get into it. The whole switching back and forth between demons & angels and humans is a little confusing to me. But I am determined to finish it, because I have heard good things from people who's opinion I trust. Along with the reading more goal, one of my co-workers invited me to be in her book club! So I am excited about that. I think bringing in more structure to my reading will help and having a deadline in which I need to finish the book by will be good!
I think that is all for now!
Thursday, January 7, 2010
It's a New Year!
It is a New Year...2010. So it is time for new things! First new thing of the year... start a blog!
First, I would like to reflect on 2009....and oh what a year that was! And then embrace 2010 with goals for the year.
Colin and I have now enjoyed over a full year of marriage. It started off a bit rocky; Colin's job ended just after last Thanksgiving (2008). We didn't have a real financial plan at that point, so we were feeling hopeless and overwhelmed. We had maxed out our budget with the two incomes and now we were going to have to make it on just my income!! How was this going to work?? Luckily our church started the year off with a sermon series on Financial Peace, and sold copies of Dave Ramsey's book The Total Money Makeover.....the series couldn't have come at a more perfect time for us. We bought the book, read it in a day and started making some major life-style changes. We moved out of our spacious 2-bedroom apartment and into a 500 sq. ft. 1-bedroom apartment. We started posting anything and everything we could sell on Craig's List and we cut our budget down to only necessities....we got Gazelle Intense (a Dave term). And I am proud to say we have paid off ALL of our credit cards! That is 30k paid off in one year (yes, it is embarrassing now to state that we actually had that much in credit card debt). We still have a car loan and our student loans to pay off before we are debt free, this is a huge goal for the new year! Along the way we experienced the abundant blessings from the Lord, as we began consistently tithing, I received 2 unexpected raises and 2 unexpected bonuses at work, Colin was able to go back to work for DEQ through the summer again and he recently got hired on with the City of Portland through the winter (this is his first time having a job through the winter since he graduated!). God is good and his blessings are abundant! We didn't understand at the time why Colin couldn't find a job and why we would be put in this situation, but if we hadn't had this "wake-up call" and came to the realization that we were really horrible stewards of God's money, then we wouldn't be where we are now!
While Colin was unemployed he had a lot of free time and began training for triathlons. He completed a sprint triathlon in May and a half-iron man in August!! I was so proud of him, it made me want to attempt one......this may be added to my 2010 goals! It was so fun to watch him race and a blessing that he had so much time that he could use towards accomplishing such a great goal. This year he has several tri's on his calendar, but it will prove more difficult with working full-time.... but I know he can do it!
We spent our one-year anniversary running the Hood-to-Coast Relay! We got on a team with our church and I spent most of the summer training for it. We had a blast!! All of my legs were absolutely perfect! My first run was along the Spring Water Trail, it began at Johnson's Creek and ended at the Hawthorne bridge in Portland, it was my longest leg at 6.2 miles and I couldn't have asked for better weather, it was warm....around 80 accompanied with a light drizzle, and no hot sun! My second leg took place at 2:00am!! I was tired but determined to bust it out, it was dark, cool and rainy, but oh so peaceful!! My last leg was a run in seaside to the finish line, I really got going with people cheering me on along the way! I am so excited to get into running again and complete this again next summer! It might just be our anniversary tradition. We will, however, be formally celebrating our anniversary with a Cruise to Mexico in February with some good friends of ours. This falls over our dating anniversary (I'm sure this isn't suppose to be celebrated anymore....but it's always good to have a reason to celebrate and a reason to go on a cruise, right?) It will be 5 years of "togetherness"!! Wow, does time fly!
We experienced blessings, financial stress & peace, and also some deep, deep sorrow in my family. My older sister's sweet fiancee lost his battle with lung cancer in June at the young age of just 23. When my mom and I heard that his condition had worsened, we flew down to San Antonio to be with Natalie during this time. Matt passed away while we were there. It is hard to know why events such as these happen; why God would cut someones life on this earth short. We cannot comprehend His ways. All we know is that Matt is now with our heavenly father experiencing true abundant & eternal life.
Natalie decided to come home to Oregon for a while. During this time we found out that our little sister was pregnant (our BABY sister was pregnant?!) How could this be? Well, we all know it is indeed possible, haha. It was crazy & unexpected but at least it was news of life after such a sorrowful death. My family was in a time of uncertainty, after all my sister had only been dating the father for a few months and he was in no position (or so he and his family said) to raise a baby and take on the responsibility of being a father. They went back and forth deciding whether to keep the baby or adoption. I prayed daily for this, they were so young and it was hard to imagine them raising a child especially with the relationship being so new, but I also couldn't imagine carrying a child for 9 months and giving it up...how heart wrenching. About 14 weeks into her pregnancy she began getting horrible cramps. She went in and had an ultrasound, they found the heartbeat and it was a boy! Nothing appeared wrong. That night her cramps worsened. She made a doctor's appointment for the next morning. That morning her water broke, my mom rushed her to the doctor's and she gave birth to a tiny baby boy, right there in the doctor's office. The Lord had taken her precious baby boy without even one breath on this earth. Wow, how do you even begin to make sense of this. I had prayed for direction and a sign of what they should do...but not this... The only way to look at this is to keep on going and continue to realize that we don't know why things happen the way they do. We don't know what the bigger picture is or how our experiences and life-events can impact and help others along the way. We just hope that in these hard times we hold fast, stay strong and continue to walk in His ways.
Ok, this might be getting a little heavy for a blog. But I can tell I am really going to enjoy having a place to write out my thoughts, even if no one reads it!
On a lighter note, we wrapped up 2009 with a wonderful holiday season. Colin's parents came into town and we were able to spend the Christmas with both families! (or at least part of both families). We did everything "Christmas" went to Manheim Steamroller, The Nutcracker, drove through Peacock Lane (a street that is fully decorated with Christmas lights), Colin sang in the caroling choir at church and of course we baked, ate and spent some quality family time! We also kept in mind the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of a son, Jesus Christ. A son that would give his life to pay for our sins! How cool is that.
So now onto a new year!
2010 GOALS:
- Continue to get involved at our church, develop relationships with people and take advantage of the opportunities to serve our community and others.
- I would like to start cooking more! We took a cooking class at our church and learned how to make a whole Thanksgiving Dinner, it was so fun and I hope to take advantage of more of these classes that they offer. I think I will start out by making one new meal a week....I don't want to get too ambitious :)
- Start an herb garden, make our own wine (Colin is very excited about this one!) and maybe go in with some friends to purchase a grass fed cow (well, the meat at least). I guess the theme here is more sustainable living.
- Read More! I wanted this to happen this last year but I never seemed to have the time. I think I only finished one book -"Redeeming Love" which I absolutely LOVED and recommend!! Any good book recommendations are welcomed! (Going along with this, we are designating one day a week as a "No TV day")
- Complete a triathlon.... probably a sprint, and this means I will need to purchase a road bike :). And for Colin- continue to train and complete his list of triathlons for the year!
Well, I think this is enough for my first post! :) I will keep you all updated (if anyone is out there) on these goals and the things that are to come in 2010!
First, I would like to reflect on 2009....and oh what a year that was! And then embrace 2010 with goals for the year.
2009 was a year of learning & growing. We went through a lot and we are welcoming 2010 with open arms!
Colin and I have now enjoyed over a full year of marriage. It started off a bit rocky; Colin's job ended just after last Thanksgiving (2008). We didn't have a real financial plan at that point, so we were feeling hopeless and overwhelmed. We had maxed out our budget with the two incomes and now we were going to have to make it on just my income!! How was this going to work?? Luckily our church started the year off with a sermon series on Financial Peace, and sold copies of Dave Ramsey's book The Total Money Makeover.....the series couldn't have come at a more perfect time for us. We bought the book, read it in a day and started making some major life-style changes. We moved out of our spacious 2-bedroom apartment and into a 500 sq. ft. 1-bedroom apartment. We started posting anything and everything we could sell on Craig's List and we cut our budget down to only necessities....we got Gazelle Intense (a Dave term). And I am proud to say we have paid off ALL of our credit cards! That is 30k paid off in one year (yes, it is embarrassing now to state that we actually had that much in credit card debt). We still have a car loan and our student loans to pay off before we are debt free, this is a huge goal for the new year! Along the way we experienced the abundant blessings from the Lord, as we began consistently tithing, I received 2 unexpected raises and 2 unexpected bonuses at work, Colin was able to go back to work for DEQ through the summer again and he recently got hired on with the City of Portland through the winter (this is his first time having a job through the winter since he graduated!). God is good and his blessings are abundant! We didn't understand at the time why Colin couldn't find a job and why we would be put in this situation, but if we hadn't had this "wake-up call" and came to the realization that we were really horrible stewards of God's money, then we wouldn't be where we are now!
While Colin was unemployed he had a lot of free time and began training for triathlons. He completed a sprint triathlon in May and a half-iron man in August!! I was so proud of him, it made me want to attempt one......this may be added to my 2010 goals! It was so fun to watch him race and a blessing that he had so much time that he could use towards accomplishing such a great goal. This year he has several tri's on his calendar, but it will prove more difficult with working full-time.... but I know he can do it!
We spent our one-year anniversary running the Hood-to-Coast Relay! We got on a team with our church and I spent most of the summer training for it. We had a blast!! All of my legs were absolutely perfect! My first run was along the Spring Water Trail, it began at Johnson's Creek and ended at the Hawthorne bridge in Portland, it was my longest leg at 6.2 miles and I couldn't have asked for better weather, it was warm....around 80 accompanied with a light drizzle, and no hot sun! My second leg took place at 2:00am!! I was tired but determined to bust it out, it was dark, cool and rainy, but oh so peaceful!! My last leg was a run in seaside to the finish line, I really got going with people cheering me on along the way! I am so excited to get into running again and complete this again next summer! It might just be our anniversary tradition. We will, however, be formally celebrating our anniversary with a Cruise to Mexico in February with some good friends of ours. This falls over our dating anniversary (I'm sure this isn't suppose to be celebrated anymore....but it's always good to have a reason to celebrate and a reason to go on a cruise, right?) It will be 5 years of "togetherness"!! Wow, does time fly!
We experienced blessings, financial stress & peace, and also some deep, deep sorrow in my family. My older sister's sweet fiancee lost his battle with lung cancer in June at the young age of just 23. When my mom and I heard that his condition had worsened, we flew down to San Antonio to be with Natalie during this time. Matt passed away while we were there. It is hard to know why events such as these happen; why God would cut someones life on this earth short. We cannot comprehend His ways. All we know is that Matt is now with our heavenly father experiencing true abundant & eternal life.
Natalie decided to come home to Oregon for a while. During this time we found out that our little sister was pregnant (our BABY sister was pregnant?!) How could this be? Well, we all know it is indeed possible, haha. It was crazy & unexpected but at least it was news of life after such a sorrowful death. My family was in a time of uncertainty, after all my sister had only been dating the father for a few months and he was in no position (or so he and his family said) to raise a baby and take on the responsibility of being a father. They went back and forth deciding whether to keep the baby or adoption. I prayed daily for this, they were so young and it was hard to imagine them raising a child especially with the relationship being so new, but I also couldn't imagine carrying a child for 9 months and giving it up...how heart wrenching. About 14 weeks into her pregnancy she began getting horrible cramps. She went in and had an ultrasound, they found the heartbeat and it was a boy! Nothing appeared wrong. That night her cramps worsened. She made a doctor's appointment for the next morning. That morning her water broke, my mom rushed her to the doctor's and she gave birth to a tiny baby boy, right there in the doctor's office. The Lord had taken her precious baby boy without even one breath on this earth. Wow, how do you even begin to make sense of this. I had prayed for direction and a sign of what they should do...but not this... The only way to look at this is to keep on going and continue to realize that we don't know why things happen the way they do. We don't know what the bigger picture is or how our experiences and life-events can impact and help others along the way. We just hope that in these hard times we hold fast, stay strong and continue to walk in His ways.
Ok, this might be getting a little heavy for a blog. But I can tell I am really going to enjoy having a place to write out my thoughts, even if no one reads it!
On a lighter note, we wrapped up 2009 with a wonderful holiday season. Colin's parents came into town and we were able to spend the Christmas with both families! (or at least part of both families). We did everything "Christmas" went to Manheim Steamroller, The Nutcracker, drove through Peacock Lane (a street that is fully decorated with Christmas lights), Colin sang in the caroling choir at church and of course we baked, ate and spent some quality family time! We also kept in mind the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of a son, Jesus Christ. A son that would give his life to pay for our sins! How cool is that.
So now onto a new year!
2010 GOALS:
- Continue to get involved at our church, develop relationships with people and take advantage of the opportunities to serve our community and others.
- I would like to start cooking more! We took a cooking class at our church and learned how to make a whole Thanksgiving Dinner, it was so fun and I hope to take advantage of more of these classes that they offer. I think I will start out by making one new meal a week....I don't want to get too ambitious :)
- Start an herb garden, make our own wine (Colin is very excited about this one!) and maybe go in with some friends to purchase a grass fed cow (well, the meat at least). I guess the theme here is more sustainable living.
- Read More! I wanted this to happen this last year but I never seemed to have the time. I think I only finished one book -"Redeeming Love" which I absolutely LOVED and recommend!! Any good book recommendations are welcomed! (Going along with this, we are designating one day a week as a "No TV day")
- Complete a triathlon.... probably a sprint, and this means I will need to purchase a road bike :). And for Colin- continue to train and complete his list of triathlons for the year!
Well, I think this is enough for my first post! :) I will keep you all updated (if anyone is out there) on these goals and the things that are to come in 2010!
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