Looking Forward Into 2018

I’ve always loved beginnings and endings. I know that the bulk of a story can be wonderful, but there is something truly special to me about beginnings and endings. The beginning of a new year is a special time for many. It gives a chance to have a “fresh start” a new chance to have the best time. This year is no different. In fact it seems like this year is special because so many people seem hopeful for a good year, a better start.

For me, every year I set my one word and in the past year, I’ve set a motto for how I want my year to go- how I want to approach life. I also give myself a challenge for the year. I don’t typically share any of these, but I figured this year it might be nice.

My motto for 2018 is:

“Every day is a new day, treat it that way. Get Up, Dress Up, Show Up.”

I really want to be better about approaching everyday with fresh eyes. I don’t want to bring the negativity of a previous day into a fresh new day. It just prolongs the bad and you miss out on the good of a new day.

As a rule, I don’t set resolutions. I set guidelines and intentions for what I want to accomplish in the new year. I find that resolutions end up being so final and a full year can ebb and flow as it goes. I also find that setting a “resolution” is like begging for failure. If you set something slightly different, it allows you a little more freedom, doesn’t feel as rigid, and is much easier to achieve/less likely for failure.

My biggest challenge that I want to work on this year is an overall of just being a better person. I have noticed this past year, I have had a lot more moments of being petty and judgmental and just an ugliness that I don’t like. It is not a normal for me and something that I really want to focus on eradicating from my life.

What are your intentions or guidelines for 2018?

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Let’s Look Back at 2017

So much happened. I’m not getting into the life or world news worthy times because…well I try not to live in those moments. Rather, I am going to talk about personal and family things that happened this year. I try to go through this every year (normally in my journal) as a way to look back one last time and look forward. The end of a year is a unique time where you can look back and forward simultaneously. First to look back…

  1. My baby Fox turned a year old at the start of 2017. This is kind of a cheat because his birthday is right after New Years and he will be turning two shortly, but it was still so crazy. Since his first birthday he has learned so much and has become very rambunctious. I can see a future little troublemaker coming through. His wealth of knowledge at his young age continues to amaze me every day (especially when he figures something out that I haven’t even really taught him) as well as his ever pickier eating and life habits. He has grown more stubborn and somehow more independent in this year.
  2. My baby Bear made his grand entrance halfway through the year (talk about timing, huh?). He has such a focus and determination on every little thing that he has come across in his first 6 months. I’m excited to see him continue to grow and learn. In his first 6 months he has not only learned how to do his developmental things (rolling, sitting, etc) he has learned how to captivate his brothers attention, make the dog run (towards him), and make us all fall in love all over again. He is so different, but still similar to his brother and I can’t wait to see how grows and learns in 2018! He has only been her for 6 months and already has made such a statement.
  3. My ever loving husband has weathered this past year so incredibly well, through the rough start at the beginning, the long hours of work, a newborn coming halfway through and spending the last month of the year at what seems like endless work hours. He made the promotion list at his job and was promoted towards the beginning of the year. He had one of his best hunting this year when we headed home, bringing back 3 deer to fill our freezer. He continues to be supportive and loving as well as a smart ass. We’ve grown a lot this past year in our relationship as we have continued to learn all about the journey of life.
  4. Something in me really clicked this past year. I’ve felt a weight just lifted from my body and myself. I’ve felt lighter, more comfortable, confident and self assured as to where I am in my life and what I am doing. I feel so very fulfilled in most of the areas in my life and I find that simply having that has been such a big change this past year. The end of this year has brought a new level of confidence in myself that is immeasurable. I’m not sure what really triggered this change, possibly a combination of several factors, but it’s been such a change. Beyond what I’ve already listed, it brings such a relaxing confidence. I’ve really enjoyed this new round of self discovery and I look forward to what 2018 will bring.
  5. Finally, one of the last things I want to touch on was vacations. We took quite a few trips in 2017, the biggest new one being a week in Maine. One of the best vacations we have been on and a new tradition that we are starting. We also visited Philadelphia and several spots closer to our current home in Virginia and D.C.

So far 2018 looks like it is going to be the year of new adventures. With a bucket list of things that we want to do in the Northern Virginia/Maryland/D.C. area, a business, and two wonderful growing kids, I fully plan on having quite the year! I can’t wait to see what we get up to in the new year.

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A Little Honesty for your Everyday

Let’s have a little honesty here for a minute…not that I’m ever dishonest, but let’s get really real. My life feels like a mess. This past week has been a disaster from start to finish in terms of just getting things done and it has made me crazy! I’m about to show how insane I can be with this post, so hopefully it doesn’t freak you out…

I am someone who likes things to be clean, put away, organized and handled. Mess causes stress. Clutter is no good in our home. I talked about my cleaning routine at the start of last week, which is ironic because all of last week I ended up getting very little cleaning done, which has caused me quite the panic.

*facepalm* right about now.

As I get later and later into this pregnancy (4 weeks to go if Little Bear comes when he is supposed to) I am finding it harder and harder to get things done. Not because I have a huge honking belly, or because I’m exhausted at the end of a long day chasing a toddler around, nor is it because I have been having contractions on and off. It is simply because there has been so much on my list of to do’s that I then end up feeling like I’m never going to get anything done.

This list is ever growing as we are counting down our days and some days it just seems like I add more to it than I cross off. The list was overwhelming me, the mess was overwhelming me, the general busyness of my days was overwhelming me. Normally I can barrel through just about anything, but nope I just hit the brakes. Which in any reasonable person would single a “hey- take a step back, breathe, realize that you can’t do it all.” thought or even a “it can be handled another day” though. Not for me. My brain immediately went into panic mode causing even more disarray. Not only was my house a mess and cluttered, but now so was my mind.

Thankfully when I have my moments, I have an incredible husband who steps up and helps clean up around the house, is an amazing father, and really steps in when I am drowning in my own mind. This has been a huge help lately as things start to change in our family with a new addition coming. Also, with him stepping in I have actually been able to cross some things off of my list and I’m heading into this week feeling more like myself than last week.

MiaLeave a comment

Household Chores: Weekly Cleaning

It’s the household chores that not many like or want to do, but yet they have to get done. The chores like vacuuming, laundry, cleaning the bathrooms, every day things that need to be done no matter how much we don’t want to do them. On the whole, I am not a huge fan of cleaning, rather I like the results after I clean. I like having a clean, put together, presentable home and I find that our household generally runs better when it is clean. For us, mess leads to stress. Clutter is something we don’t like and when things are up and put away we are a happier family.

When you are tidying and doing regular every day cleaning, I find that the “bigger” things such as vacuuming or dusting or chores that are more “intensive” than just picking up toys and putting dishes away, tend to be put off. It turns into a “It can wait till tomorrow” or “It’s not that bad right now, we can wait another week”. Then those chores that may not have been at the top of the list, tend to become urgent later on. I have found a way to clean that not only works for myself, but allows me to have a clean house 99% of the time and doesn’t make me feel like I am just doing everything.

I figured this routine out by trial and error and a little bit of self reflection. I realized that if I was assigning myself one “chore” a day, such as dusting it was much easier for me to put it off to another day. For some reason in my mind, having one chore (even if it is for the entire house) is easier to put off, rather than having to do all of the chores for one room. In the end I was either missing chores throughout the week, or having to do do everything for the whole house on one day. Neither option was working. So, I came up with a new approach.

Every day (except Saturday and Sunday) I clean a room from top to bottom. For example, on Monday’s I clean the kitchen. I windex the windows, dust everything, clean and sanitize all of the counter spaces (which is something I do every day irregardless), clean the microwave and oven, sweep the floors(which I also do several times throughout the week in the evening) , and clear out our fridge and pantry. These are all tasks that are easily completed within about an hour and when done every week, keep our kitchen and dining area free of clutter and mess.

This routine ensures that I am not only keeping the house clear of dust and dirt, but also that those chores that I was putting off get done. Approaching it in a room by room situation seems to work better for me and helps me keep a more manageable approach to cleaning. Some days I do combine rooms as it is either simpler or not as much to do in each room. For example, I combine both Boy’s rooms and their bathroom, because they are smaller and require a little less attention than say, our Kitchen or Master Bedroom that has more items. I also do a mop of all of the wood and tile floors every other week, and wash blankets, sheets, etc every other week as well.

This is on top of just my standard everyday things that need to be done, such as picking up toys that have become scattered throughout the day, dishes, and just general tidying of our home. I like to wake up with a clean home, so every evening I try to make sure that everything has been picked up, dishwasher has been started, counter tops and kitchen table is clean and the house just has a generally clean state. I find that this allows my mornings to be so much less stressful (I mean who wants to deal with dishes first thing in the morning?!) and I get a much better start to my day. It may seem like a lot to do, but like I said when you look at the chores for each room, it only takes about an hour each day, with some days being less than that, and it seems much easier to say, today I am going to clean our Living Room and then just do it, rather than today I am going to dust and vacuum the entire house. The same chores get completed in the same timeline (each room is dusted, vacuumed, etc once a week), but taking it room by room seems to me to be less daunting.

I do take Saturday’s “off” of my chore cleaning as we are typically out of the house on those days and just enjoying our family time together and Sunday’s are devoted to the never ending chore called Laundry. Overall though, I really like this routine and while I am cleaning I blast some music – in my headphones because…nap time. Dare I say it- cleaning actually becomes enjoyable!

MiaLeave a comment

Let’s Talk About Planning!

I am such a pen and paper kinda girl – I always have been. There is something so calming to me about writing down what I need to do, ticking it off when I’ve done it, and just having notes to reference throughout the day. I find it really helps me stay sane when life can be crazy and it lets me keep my tasks and things that I want to accomplish straight.

I’ve had a planner for a long time, but never really found a planner that truly worked for me. I’ve had to just kind of work around what I’ve been using or have a notebook of some sort in addition to my planner. Those are all options, but I’ve been constantly trying to find or try something new.

This past year I have been really interested in consolidating. I really only want to be using one or two notebooks and my journal rather than spreading everything out through a planner, business notebook, journal, and brainstorming papers. I reached a point early this year that I just felt like nothing was really working for me and it started to bother me. I started doing some research.

I’ve known about bullet journaling for quite a long time, but I’ve never really considered it due to time constraints. I wanted to try it out, but felt a little daunted at the fact that I would be creating a planner, calendar and everything by myself from scratch. I didn’t realize that in reality that was the best thing for me.

Over the next few posts about Bullet Journaling I am going to share several things from what I use to create my Bullet Journal, some of my favorite pages, as well as little tips that I have realized as I have gone a long.

If you are curious to get a good overview of Bullet Journaling you can check out Ryder Carroll’s website HERE and see what it is all about. I will say- don’t get overwhelmed by everything that is listed and explained on the site. You don’t have to have a fancy key system or anything like that, but it will give you a good overview of what Bullet Journaling is.

MiaLeave a comment

I Had A Moment: Storytime

*Mini Confession time…this was not the post that was supposed to go up today. I had planned to do a post about a daily change, but something happened this week and I really wanted to write and share about it. It was an incredible thing and the post that was supposed to go up today will go up on Monday 🙂

Ya’ll, I had my moment. That moment that everything just falls into place and something gently nudges you and reminds you- everything is going to be alright. Everything is exactly as it should be. You were given the life you were meant (and strong enough) to live.

Let me go backwards. This week has just been a tough week. We’ve all been there. This past week I was questioning a lot; everything from what to make for dinner during my meal planning to whether I would really be able to handle two children. I let the best get to me and started to wonder if I was truly capable to be all that I wanted to be and all that I was setting up for myself.

It’s not easy at times to manage it all. I try not to harp on about how busy I am because I know that there are those that are even busier, but I have quite a bit going on as it is. From running my own business, to working part time, to being a wife and mom- it adds up quickly. Then realizing that you’ve also got to squeeze some time in there for yourself while holding everything else together. It almost sent me on a tailspin this week and it sure put a little edge on how I handled myself.

This led me to wonder if I could not only handle two children, but if I could or would want to have more children after our little Bear is born. Albeit we have plenty of time to make that decision and things change all the time, but I’ll be honest- I did quite a bit of self reflection throughout the week. I always thought we would have 3 or 4 children, but part of my week was wondering if I couldn’t handle one or two and everything else, how would I do with more?

Then, I just had a moment. I had just finished my daily cleaning and decided instead of turning on the television, I would plug in some music, get my little Fox out of his crib and we would have some sort of creative time. Our son is a constantly moving child and it is very rare that he will just sit and chill for longer than a few seconds – maybe a minute if you’re really lucky. He just loves to be moving and be on his feet. This afternoon was out of the norm for him. He decided that he just wanted to climb up on my lap and sit with me for a little while.

IMG_5502So, we sat in this incredibly comfy chair staring out the window watching the wind rustle the tree branches and leaves outside. The music playing around in the background and everything just clicked. I experienced the most amazing sense of calm that I hadn’t felt in a little while and in my mind I got that gentle nudge. In that moment I instantly knew that everything was perfect and I was exactly where I was supposed to be. That I was and can handle anything that is thrown at me. I can and will do it all because I am not doing more or less than what I want for myself and my family.

This is the moment that I needed and the moment that I will hold onto whenever I am experiencing those moments of self doubt or wonder.

MiaLeave a comment

Chatting about Even More Excitement!

Hi everyone! So much has happened this past week and I have so much that I want to talk about, that I am not quite sure what or where to even start! I think I am just going to kind of free write and see what happens. These type of posts often become my favorites to write and read because I find that you get a true sense of a person when you just let them chat and chat with them.

So, let’s see…where to begin…

I started to get heavily into my spring/summer day cooking and baking. That meant that we had a full Potato Salad ready to go for the week for lunches and dinner sides, rolls, smoothies and all sorts of yummy treats in the house! That is all good and dandy, but I’ve also made this past week the start of my return to healthier options. I find that summer time can either be a healthy time of year with fruit salads and salads, or it can be the completely opposite with soda’s and chips to complete barbecues. I’ve already been making healthier meals for my family during the week, but I have a big problem with snacking. This past week I’ve been trying to make a conscious decision to pick up fruit or veggies over grabbing a handful of chips or the chocolate bar that I like in the afternoon. I indulge once a week and I am hoping to keep that up!

This past week also meant the return of my husband from the school that he was attending! He had been gone for around 3.5 weeks and while we have said “See you soon” and “Hello!” numerous times before, the sadness of see you later and the excitement of a hello never fades. It is even more special each time now that we have children. Not only do I have my excitement and happiness, but to watch our son’s face light up when Daddy comes home makes everything even more exciting. He ran over to greet daddy and gave him a huge hug! It’s been great to have him home and to feel “complete” in our family once again.

April is very rapidly coming to an end and it is going out with a lot of rain! I am hoping that I can really let you know if the phrase “April Showers bring May Flowers” really rings true. It has so far with a lot of the month having days of rain. I am loving it as I am a huge rain fan and it is really helping out all of our flowers! Everything is really starting to come into bloom and I am hoping for a sunny, floral, May!

With April coming to an end, I am starting to look at what posts I want to be doing in May and all of the brainstorming and ideas I’ve got for upcoming blog posts. I think I am going to be incorporating some more posts about how I stay organized, how I manage to handle everything I do, how I stay positive, some self help type stuff, and of course, the transition from one child to two and anything to do with our family!

How have you been? How has April shaped up for you?

MiaLeave a comment

Take A Moment…

Do you ever just sit in awe of the world around you? I am sitting out on our back porch and just watching and listening as the world turns around me. I’ve got a mommy bird in the hanging candle behind me laying on her eggs. I’ve got a woodpecker somewhere in the trees off our back deck, pecking away at a tree trunk. The fox just ran through our backyard (and no I am not making any of this up, this is what really happens in my backyard) heading to his home. Here I am, sitting and enjoying a hot cuppa whilst birds are singing, flowers are blooming and a perfectly blue sky is up above. It is such a magnificent sight to take in.

When the weather turns nicer, I love to sit out on our back deck whenever I can and take these moments and views in. It’s a little reminder to stop my busy life and just take a moment to really enjoy the world we live in. There is beauty everywhere you look- if only you take a moment to look.

I want to encourage you to do the same thing at some point every day or as often as you can. It really changes your whole outlook on not only your everyday, but your life. I know it may sound cheesy, but when you take a minute to come out of your own life and view something in nature it changes everything. If you can make it a part of your every day or weekly routine you will start to notice a change. A more positive outlook, a little more relaxation and on the whole just a happier approach to your days.

MiaLeave a comment

What a Week!

Gosh, it’s been a week! It started busy and ended with a little domesticity and a little relaxation.

The week started off with my Mother In Law leaving (after being in town for 2 weeks helping me out after a little fall) and a visit from my best friend, Aleta. We’ve been close friends for a couple of years now and she not only wanted to come and visit us, but also bring her daughter to the city (D.C.). It was such a lovely time! I can’t speak enough about how amazing she is and how much I truly cherish our friendship. We not only did some sight seeing, but we also did some tea drinking and A LOT of talking.

Her daughter also took some photo’s of us for The Cosy Book Shoppe (business), but also managed to capture some of me in all my pregnant with #2 glory. I wasn’t planning on doing any maternity photo’s this time around, just kind of capture some moments here and there, but nothing too formal. While we were taking the business photo’s she took a little time out to capture some of me that turned out really well (if I do say so myself).

With all of the excitement of having people in town for 2 1/2 weeks, I really needed some time to decompress and relax. I took a day to just take it easy and then took a little time towards the end of the week to do some cooking, baking, and reading! The weather has been warming up, which means I start making Potato Salad a lot- maybe a little too much sometimes LOL. The warmer weather also means a lot more time on our back deck and a lot of cold beverages and colder treats like smoothies, and cheesecakes/silk/satin pies.

I can’t believe that we only have a little less than 9 weeks to go before #2’s due date, although if he is anything like his brother it’ll be closer to 10-11 weeks! This pregnancy has really just flown by and as we are nearing the end, we are starting to get things for a new nursery. We don’t have to get too much, it’s more rearranging furniture and then a new theme/wall decor/bedding items. The biggest shift is moving our Little Fox (Little Man #1) to his new room. The room that he is moving into was our home library, so we had a lot of books to move! The books have all been moved, it is just the last bit of furniture that needs to be moved and then we can start figuring out what we want to do. I am trying to keep Little Fox in his crib for as long as possible (as close to two as we can possible get it to work) without having to buy another crib. Little Bear (Little Man #2) will not being going into a crib in his own room for a little while after birth, so we’ve got some wiggle room.

I’m starting to order some items and things are starting to once again, become real in the fact of us becoming a family of 4! It will be quite a change and I am trying to prepare us as best as I can for it. The biggest thing that I learned with Little Fox that I will be taking into this new chapter is to just “go with the flow”. We fell into a routine the first time around fairly quickly and while I know it will be different with two instead of one, I know that as soon as we get things established everything else will fall into place. The biggest thing is just going to be going with it until we get there.

That’s all I’ve got for today- it became a little more chatty than I intended, but sometimes that is just what happens.

MiaLeave a comment

Week In Pictures – A Family Visit and Shopping!

Hello everyone! Gosh, it is already 5-6 days into March! This past week has been a whirlwind as my husband went out of town for most of it for work and my mother came into town for a visit. We did quite a bit of shopping and just got to spend some time together. This was also my first full week in a new planner set up as well as adding some more to my journal. The week ended with some more shopping for the new baby as well as our little man.

I had a few things that I needed to pick up, some more spring/summer maternity clothes, some books and I had a few appointments throughout the week as well. This kept us plenty busy for the week and it seemed every day we had to do something!

I was able to get quite a bit of some new tops to gear up for the warmer weather (of course now that I have, it’s getting cold again) and I’m very much looking forward to spring and summer outfits that I can put together! Sweet Little Man and #2 also got some new clothes for summer as well. We’ve got everything saved from when Little Man was a baby, but with them being born at opposite ends of the year, there are some clothing items that we need to have. I also want to do a different theme for his nursery than we did for Little Man as they are different.

Little Man had a “woodland” animal/fox theme with Oranges and Browns in his nursery and I think #2 is going to have a mountain animal/bear theme with Blues for his nursery. I love what we have picked out so far and I think it is going to come together really well! We’ve still got to move quite a bit of furniture around and switch rooms around before I can decorate the new room, but I’m definitely in a nesting mode and think I will be for a long time still.

One other big thing that I did this week was to get my eyes re checked out. I’ve had glasses for a long time for when I’m reading/working at the computer/watching TV and when I was in school, but I’m one of those people that doesn’t typically wear them. I just strain through the situations and work through it. It has been steadily getting worse and I think it has some to do with the amount of migraines I deal with. I got a new prescription and some new glasses to go along with it. So far, it’s been such a difference! To be able to clearly see things has been so nice! No more straining to see for me.

How was your week?

MiaLeave a comment