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

Let’s Talk About Planners

I’ve always been a bit of a planning/organizing freak. I’m a scheduler by nature and like having my routine and planner in order. I start to have “problems” when I feel disorganized and a “mess”. I like being able to schedule things out and have our routine. It’s how I work best. I find what works for me and then I stick with it. Obviously there are times when our routine changes and new things arise constantly with a young boy, but being able to have some place to start helps me out immensely.

In order to help me out, I have a paper planner and a couple of notebooks on my desk. I am still looking for the “perfect” planner for me, but I have found the layouts that I like to have. I need to have a monthly and daily layout. I like to look at the big picture of my month and then break everything down on a day by day basis. I was never a big color coder-I felt it took too much time and go too “busy”-but I have found that these days, it’s a huge help. I can easily see what is going on, who is doing what, and what needs to be posted when for work. While I have gotten more adventurous with my color coding, I still am opposed to using stickers. My planner is more of an office tool and I have a separate memory notebook that I use for more of that type of stuff.

I really like to be able to have my day laid out with the time. It allows me to track some things between my work schedule, my sons schedule, as well as when posts go live and meals. I also like that there are separate spots where I can mark down my to-do’s as well as little things needed from week to week.

I’m not really going to touch on notebooks in this post (that will be separate), but I do have 4 that I use regularly. One is for my business, one is for my job, and then two that are personal. Of the two that are personal, one is a “diary” of sorts and the other is my memory book. It has all sorts of goodies in it from big moments in my life and little bits and bobs that I receive. I love being able to look in one notebook that and see all sorts of memories, from meeting my husband, to finding out we were pregnant, to opening up my business. I digress, this will be a separate post, I promise.

Overall, while it may seem like a lot to do and that things could be simpler, this is what is working for me right now. I feel much calmer when I can see clearly what is going on with life! What works for you? Are you a color coder? Sticker person? Or do you scrap paper planners all together and use an electronic calendar? I’d love to hear!

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What Am I Doing? A Little Chat.

When I was thinking of some ideas for posts that I could be writing for this blog I hit a wall. Not an actual wall or even close to a writing wall, but more of a “Mia, what the heck are you doing?!” I had to have a good little moment to think if I could really keep up with the schedule and with everything else that I am trying to do and accomplish. As well as think about what I wanted to share and where I wanted this blog to go.

I am a wife, mum, part time employee, full time business owner, all while still trying to keep not only my sanity, but my home clean and my friendships intact. It is a lot to balance and I feel like I have finally been coming into my own rhythm. Do I really want to add one more thing to the mix?

One may think that blogging is a piece of cake all you do is simply sit down and write a post. Folks, I wish that were the case. There is so much thought and planning that goes into a single blog post and for me, it will sometimes take more than an hour to do depending on the specific post that I am writing. It can be easy and quick, or it can take quite a while to come up with a post that I am happy to put out there and proud of. With that little bit of business out of the way, back o my rhythm…

I have finally found my happy place in my schedule. It may seem weird to anyone that I have to have a schedule even though, I work from home and rarely actually get out of the house (getting better about that though!), but for me it is a necessity. It allows me to feel organized and like I’ve got my head on straight. Each day is roughly planned out in groupings of about 2 hours. I based that off of my little human and what has, so far, worked best for him. Within those blocks, I designate my time, work, blog, play with little human, etc. This has allowed me to be able to have my “me” time (which I talk about HERE with my weekday morning routine) as well as just make sure our home is clean, food is on the table, and things are running smoothly.

My dilemma was wondering if I had the space to put one or two more things into what I found worked well for me. I was able to have some reading time, cleaning time, cooking time, all of these other items that needed to come first, without sacrificing anything else that was important to me. BUT you know the saying, “You always find time for the things that you love” and having my own spaces to share with anyone who wants to join has been very important to me.

With all of that being said, my biggest dilemma is how I want to share. I have a love for blogging. I have always loved to write (mostly fiction, this whole write about yourself thing is no picnic for me!) and I know that blogging is a great way to get that passion out. I also love to talk and share pictures and share my day to day life. So that is where I am at…I know that I can’t commit to posting every day or having a million and one pictures to share, but I know that I can post at least one to two times per week, but I am not sure if I am going to add another medium and do some videos, or if I will just stick with blogging. Decisions, decisions…

Ultimately the direction this blog is going to take is me; my life, the struggles that are day to day life, my families travel, just our lives. Whether I stick only with blogging, or if I incorporate another medium, the content that I will be doing, will remain the same. Until I make that decision of another medium in addition to blogging, you can find me here, or on Instagram/Twitter at acuppabooks. Until next time…

Curl Up with

A Cuppa Books

MiaLeave a comment

My Weekday Morning Routine

Good afternoon everyone! I thought I would share something that is somewhat important to me, as small as it may seem, and that is my morning routine on weekdays. The morning time is what I refer to as “my” time. It is the time when the house is the quietest and the most calm. It is very important to me as a wife, mom, employee, and business owner to get a good start for my day. I find that this is also a good time for me to just have some time to myself, to do what I need to do and just enjoy the morning.

I typically will wake up about an hour and a half to two hours before my son, so around 6:30-7:00am and one thing that I make a point of is to not get on my phone. I find that if I pull out my phone and start playing around I won’t get up and get things done and then next thing, little human is awake and I haven’t gotten anything I needed to get done. I don’t typically get on my phone until about 7:45-8:00am and it helps so much with my getting gout of bed and getting things done.

With that being said, the first 30-45 minutes are devoted to doing bathroom things; Taking a shower, brushing my teeth, makeup, hair, etc. I do this right as I get out of bed and it usually only takes me 30-45 minutes total for everything. Once done, I make our bed up, get dressed and head out of our bedroom.

Once I am done, I like to “open up the house”. I go through the living room, front nook, and kitchen and open up all of the window blinds. We are so blessed in our house with an abundance of natural light along with some great views, so I like to take advantage of this every morning and I feel like this also helps put me in the “right” mood for the day. I also run out to the drive and grab the newspaper that has been delivered.

img_9662I then head to the kitchen for breakfast and tea. I set the kettle on to boil and start to pull some food out of the fridge for breakfast. My breakfast differs from week to week although I try to always have some fruit and protein. Right now I’ve been loving gently scrambled eggs and a piece of pear for breakfast. While eating breakfast I typically read the paper or a book or if I need to I’ll get some writing done.

Typically, sweet little human is up around 8:30 am and then the rest of our day begins. So, that is my morning routine! Do you have anything specific that you do every morning or that helps you get your day started off well?

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Oh Hai there :)

Man, I feel like today I have been running a blog writing marathon. I say this because I have tried to write several blog posts today (some over for my main blog and shop page) and then a couple for here that I keep planning on posting, but keep putting off. I had kind of a rough and overwhelming week last week and I just needed to take a step back. There was a lot going on, some good things and some not so good, and I’ve only just started to feel the ground back under my feet. With all of this blog writing going on, I just wanted to do a little non blog blogging! I don’t really know where this blog post is going to actually go, but I just feel like sipping and chatting. So, I’ve got my tea, grab whatever you like to drink and come chat!

Let’s see…

Autumn is my absolute favorite time of year. I know everyone says it, but I take that love to a whole new level and I extend it as long as I can. I’m super excited because this is the week that I am pulling out all of my autumn items from storage to start decorating. Decorations will be limited due to a small human crawling and “cruising” around furniture and figuring out how to walk along the furniture and grab things. Seriously- NOTHING is safe anymore. I am constantly putting something down and then having to move it because he can reach it and is trying to play with said item. Irregardless though, the decorations are coming out and I am doing what I can where I can. Be on the lookout for pictures of the fantastic-ness that is to come 🙂

This past weekend, our Date Night movie was Angry Birds. Yes, Angry Birds…such a romantic date night, right? Surprisingly (and begrudgingly) it wasn’t terrible. Would I buy it or re watch it-no probably not, but I didn’t hate the movie. I gave my husband so much crap for being obsessed with Angry Birds because he has just gone on and on and on and doesn’t even play the game!

We had such a lovely Date Night and I love our new tradition that we are going to start trying. Basically on Saturday Nights we are going to try and make relaxed “us” nights. This would consist of no electronics (or books!), no falling asleep early and the following: ordering in some dinner so no one feels obligated to cook and a movie on the television. The movie doesn’t have to be one that is new to us or one that we haven’t seen before it just has to be a movie. Fingers crossed, this is one Date Night idea that we will stick with! Every so often instead of ordering food in, we will go out to eat at a restaurant. We are such homebodies though that going out happens maybe once a month to once every couple of months. This plan would work much better for us and still will allow us to have some “us” time.

The other good thing about having date night this way is that it gives us a “cheat” night on our dinners at home. This year I have really been cracking down on what we eat and even more specifically what we eat for dinner. I”ll have a post detailing this out, but basically I have been making home cooked meals every single night for a long time. That’s from scratch, no box dinners, very little frozen anything (frozen has happened a total of like 3 times since ~June). Date Night gives us a night off of that and lets us eat something “crappy”. Typically we get Pizza or Chinese, occasionally I will go pick up something from somewhere else like Chipotle or Panera and this gives me a break from the cooking and both of us a chance to eat something more “junk food” related.

Now that I’ve pretty much rambled on about Autumn and Date Nights and our little human needs to start getting ready for bed, I am going to sign off of here. One of these days a coherent post will come out of here that is planned and makes complete sense…one day ;). Until then…

Curl Up with a

Cuppa Books

MiaLeave a comment