Let’s Talk About 2017 Resolutions!

Good afternoon everyone and Happy Monday! I hope that this week has started off well and wasn’t too bad of a day. For me, it’s been a day. In between my son being extra picky about food and drink (thank you first molars), trying to get all of the work that I wanted to get done today, oversleeping this morning, and my husband being off (which sounds like it would make things easier, but not always LOL), it’s been a busy day. I make sure that I carve out some “quiet” time throughout the day for myself to regroup, but today just hasn’t allowed that. That is ok though, things will even out as they always do.

I wanted to take a little bit to talk about my “plans/resolutions” for 2017. I don’t typically set actual resolutions each year as I find they are easily broken and that it is similar to what I already do when I sit down at the beginning of January and evaluate everything. I do a little bit of self reflection- looking at what went well the previous year and what I want to improve on in the new year. From that point on depending on what the items are will determine what I change for the new year.

I also try to assign a word to each year. This is a common thing that I have seen and after trying it last year, it is something that I want to incorporate into each year. This is something I do after I do my self reflection and have determined what changes I want to incorporate.

This past year has had a few rough patches, some things I could change, others that were out of my control. The first chunk of the year was navigating several changes to include our son, new home, new working hours, and just overall new balance of life. While I personally think that I navigated all of the changes well, I know that there were times that I could have done better or could have reacted to certain situations differently.

In looking at the upcoming year, I think that the biggest thing that I want to change is bits of my attitude and reactions. I want to learn to trust my gut again (that may be a separate post at a later time) and know that there are times that I may know best and to go with that. I lost my trust in my gut and myself at times this year and I want to keep in mind that my gut is usually pretty good. Basically, trust in myself and in my instincts.

Another thing that I want to focus on, especially in the first half of the year, is really focusing on our little family. With our new addition coming halfway through the year I want to make sure that we are able to have some good times as “just the three of us” before we become the four of us. Our sweet son is going through quite a few changes changes this year, the biggest obviously being a sibling, but a couple before #2 comes along. I want to make sure that he feels the love from Mommy and Daddy and that we have some good times together. Going along with that, I want to make sure that we also get some good memories as “the four of us” when that time comes in the second half of the year. It’s going to be a busy year I feel!

Lastly, I think that my word for this year is Peace. There were so many times last year, especially the beginning, that I just didn’t feel at peace with myself, my family or where I was at. This year I want that to change and I feel like the second half of this past year I have really managed to find peace at most times. I want to carry that through this year and keep it going.

What are your resolutions or changes that you want to make for 2017? Do you have a word set aside that you would like to focus on for the year?

MiaLeave a comment

A Week in Photos 10/16/2016-10/23/2016

Good afternoon everyone! I hope that you are doing well and that you had a great weekend! I posted quickly on Friday about a new feature that I am going to start trying out and this is the first post! Just to quickly say, in case you missed the last post, I am going to start trying to do a weekly post of photos of my week. These posts will be going up on Mondays and would be the previous week. I don’t know how often these posts will be, I am hoping for semi weekly to weekly, but it will vary in length depending on what the week entailed. Since this is the first post, I am also going to detail a little bit more about what my weeks look like in a day to day sense.

**I will say right now, this could become a long post, so it may be a good idea to grab a cup of something wonderful or a quick snack. For myself I grabbed a large cup of tea and some little chocolate pieces as I am writing this. It will help with a curled up mindset, I promise! 🙂

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My Writing and Reading Spot 🙂

My week started on Sunday and for me, Sunday’s are writing, reading, and relaxing days. I try to get my grocery shopping done as early in the day as possible, so that I have the rest of the day to just relax and most around the house. I work on the weeks blog posts and then get a substantial amount of reading done.

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Love having 2 Screens for Work!


Monday through Fridays follow the same day to day routine with work, business, and little human. I work part time (about 4-5 hours a day) with a couple hours in the morning and a couple in the afternoon. In between, I take a lunch break and play with little human. 

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The Lamp Posts on Main Street Hershey were Kisses!

Where the fun begins is the weekends. This past weekend was an exceptionally fun one as we went on a little 2.5 day vacation.

We celebrated our anniversary

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A Little Photo from our Wedding

in the middle of the week and while we weren’t able to do much on our actual anniversary, we decided to celebrate over the weekend by heading to Hershey, Pennsylvania! Dubbed “The Sweetest Place on Earth”, it really is in food, people, and things to do! I have included, probably, way too many photos below about all of the different things that we were able to do.

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A good ole Chocolate Coca Cola

We started our first night off by checking into our hotel and then heading over to Hershey’s Pantry. This was a small little restaurant with decent food. Rob decided to be adventurous and order a Chocolate Coke and really enjoyed it! I wasn’t as big of a fan of the drink, but it was horrible. We picked up a couple brochures to decide what we were going to do the next day.

We woke up bright and early after a rough night-who would have though little human, who has done so well at other places, would decide not to sleep by himself in a hotel room?! It was an off and on night of sleep, but we didn’t want that to deter us from enjoying everything that we could. With both of us being history lovers, we decided to start at the National Civil War Museum. I think The Civil War (along with WW2) is one of my husbands favorite times to study and learn about. This museum was incredible with it’s mannequin diorama’s and historical objects. It really gave a new life to such a trying time in our country.

DSC_0098.jpgWe also decided to make a quick stop into the Antique Automobile Club of America Museum. They had a nice selection of old carriages and cars and a large history of how cars became to be what they are today. Growing up around older cars and motorcycles I did really enjoy seeing some of the cars and the history!

After a stop back at the hotel for lunch and little humans nap, we headed out once again. dsc_0170We headed over to Hershey’s Chocolate World, which I’ll be honest was cram packed with people. Strollers are not allowed inside the little shopping/museum/“factory” area and I completely agree with that policy. You could not move very far without either running into someone, or running into merchandise.

That being said, it was so much fun! We went on a little ride that took you through the process of making the chocolate and chocolate bars and explained what made Hershey different from other brands. We wandered through loads and loads of different chocolate items that Hershey makes and all of the different varieties for each specific candy bar. It was mouthwatering to be completely honest. img_0448Our final stop in the Chocolate World was to make our very own candy bar! This was fun as you got to have your very own little bar made right in front of you in the same manner that all of the rest are produced. I chose to have a Dark Chocolate shell with rice crispies, chocolate cookies chunks, a Milk Chocolate covering (that was the only option for covering) and sprinkles on top. Sort of a mash up of Krakel and Cookies ’n Cream, with Dark Chocolate. I haven’t bit into it yet, but I’m sure it’s wonderful.

We stopped at Fenricci’s for dinner and had a lovely evening on the patio with some of the warming lamps. It was such a nice romantic evening and the perfect ending to the day.

We were scheduled to leave on Sunday, and after another restless night of sleep, we started to pack up our bags. The last thing that we wanted to do was take a look at the Hershey Story Museum. This details out Milton Hershey’s life, his development of his caramel company and later Hershey Chocolate, as well as the lasting impression he has made on Hershey, PA. It was a really neat museum with some interactive portions to allow you to get another look at the chocolate process. img_0453They also offered a chocolate tasting of different chocolates around the world. We enjoyed being able to sample bits of melted chocolate from around the world. My personal favorite was Venezuela, while my husbands was Tanzania.

Overall, it was a really good trip and an alright week! I definitely needed the little vacation that we took as it was nice to be able to get out of our home, our routine, and not have to worry about much of anything! It got my mind off of everything that is and has been going on and it allowed me to put a smile on my face!

I hope that you enjoyed this post, although I know it got a little (very) long. I’ve been trying to determine what will be the best way to share these types of things with you. So any and all feedback would be great! Until Next Time…

Curl Up with

A Cuppa Books

MiaLeave a comment

A Short Post about a New Feature

Hello everyone! I hope that you had a good week and hey, if nothing else, it’s Fri-Yay! Today is going to be a quick post as it is a busy day for us!

I am going to start doing a weekly or semi weekly post (depending on how the week and scheduling goes) of “A Week in The Life”. This post would be going up on Mondays and it would feature pictures and descriptions from the previous week. This would include travels and adventures that we go on as well as “humdrum” everyday things.

I have always loved to document our life in pictures and videos and have long been trying to figure out what the best way to do that would be. I want to share the adventures and travel we get to do, but I also am a slightly private person and didn’t want to expose my young child to the internet and my husband and his job. I am going to give this a shot and see where it goes and what happens!

I am hoping that I can find that perfect balance between sharing enough without feeling like I’m overstepping or exposing my family to too much. We shall see how it goes and what happens.

This first post will be up on Monday and will be a very exciting one as there are quite a few pictures that we will have! I am very excited to share!!

MiaLeave a comment

The Autumn Tag

Hello everyone! I hope that your week has gotten off to a good start and that it hasn’t been too much of a Monday! While brainstorming (and wasting time on youtube) I ran across this tag on Kalyn Nicholson’s youtube channel and thought that it would be perfect to do! It’s a good way to give you a little bit more tidbits about me that you may not know. I should say, I love and am obsessed with Autumn. It is easily my favorite time of year and I cannot get enough! I am all about being cozy and this is the time of year for that. You can watch her video and answers HERE. Without further ado, into the tag we go…

**Before I begin…grab a cup of whatever you want because this is going to be a long one…got what you want to drink? Ok, now onto the tag…

1.) Favorite Thing about Fall: Gosh, a tough first question! I have to say I love feeling the change that comes. Once the weather starts to cool down and when I head outside in the morning, I can just feel the change that is coming. The cooler days and even cooler nights. Curling up with my husband, our son, and a book under a blanket. It’s just the knowing that things are going to get cozier. I love it.

*That was probably a really crazy long ununderstandable (is that even a word) explanation of how I feel. I’m not very good at articulating the feeling I get with Autumn, but I absolutely loooooove it. I’m such an Autumn person.

2.) Favorite Fall/Halloween Movies: I love Nightmare Before Christmas and Hocus Pocus. Those are the two big Halloween movies that I enjoy, although I like the 13 Nights of Halloween on Freeform. The other movies that I watch continuously during fall are the Harry Potter moves (although those are year round movies realistically).

3.) Fashion Trend You’re Loving For Fall? I have a hard time keeping up with up to date fashion that looks good on me. I try more to dress with what is going to look good on me and then look at what are the more fall colors that fit into my wardrobe. I love the deep hues of Fall. So basically, not favorite trend, but loving the colors that are big this season.

4.) Favorite Fall Drink? Not Pumpkin. I’m not a big pumpkin fan at all. I’m a big tea drinker year round, so that is still my go to drink, but for fall I like to have a more “chai” or spice based black tea. I will treat myself to Starbucks Latte’s however as the weather turns cooler.

5.) What is the Fall Weather like Where You Live? This is my first Autumn here where we are. So far its cool in the morning and evenings, but still somewhat warm during the day (long sleeves only, no sweater or jacket needed during the day). The leaves are turning and falling as well!

6.) Apple Picking or Hayride? Uh…both 🙂 I love to do both and can’t wait till Little man can actually get into it!

7.) Rain of Fog? Uh…both again? I think honestly they go hand in hand a lot of the time. I love when I wake up in the morning and open the blinds and there is the fog right off our deck and as the fog clears, rain starts to fall. It’s like heaven for me.

8.) Hocus Pocus or Halloweentown? Hocus Pocus all the way! In fact, we are coming up on the time for me to watch it in the next couple of days.

9.) Corn Maze of Haunted House? Yea, I’m not a fan of either. I don’t like things jumping out at me, so Haunted Houses can be a bit difficult. I also am not sure about a Corn Maze. So yea, neither.

10.) Halloween or Thanksgiving? Thanksgiving. I highly prefer Thanksgiving over Halloween. I like Halloween, but it’s not really my favorite holiday. I don’t get over excited about it.

11.) Coats or Oversized Sweaters? Is this even a question…oversized sweaters all the way. Much much cozier.   

12.) Apple Pie or Pumpkin Pie? Again, neither really. I’m not a big pie eater and I honestly have one piece of pumpkin pie a year (on Thanksgiving) and I prefer to just eat the apples for apple pie after they’ve been coated with sugar and cinnamon. HAHA

13.) Cool Crisp Mornings or Cozy Evenings? Another hard question! I really like both, but to pick one, I prefer Cozy Evenings. It’s just…me 🙂 I love to be able to snuggle up under a blanket and relax with a fire going. I like the idea of a cool crisp morning because it helps you wake up and feel like a “fresh” start to the day, but the cozy evening is really where I would love to be.

14.) Favorite Fall Candle? Ok, from Bath & Body Works I love the Autumn Candle and from Yankee Candle I like the Autumn In The Park, November Rain, and Autumn Bouquet. I don’t have just one favorite when it comes to candles…ever.

15.) Favorite Thing To Do In The Fall? So many I can’t even say…if you haven’t guessed by now I just love to be cozy, so my favorite activity is to get into some sweatpants, a sweater and curl up under a blanket with a book, some soft music or movie in the background and just relax.

So, that is it! Did you make it to the end? I want to know what your answers are! Let me know and I tag anyone who has read this post to do the Autumn Tag!

MiaLeave a comment