Simplify

Let's start the "resolutions" with one word.

Simplify

It is all about what I want in life for 2011.

This coming from the person who just got an Ipad right? The good part is that the Ipad will actually help me achieve this goal by being better organized and having everything in one place. At my fingertips.

This year for me is all about taking a look at needs and wants. This comes into play for my business, our new house, a new vehicle....any purchase I make I want to take a look at and decide what we/I really need. Sure there will still be things I buy that will be wants. The difference being, this year, I really want to make a budget and stick to it. That means if the money in my budget is gone for the month then there are no extras. I want to put a lot more money into savings this year.

A couple of more short term (6 month) goals for me (business and personal) include:

Spend more time with Khloe. I have found with the screwy hours I work there are days here and there that I barely even see her. So my plan this year is to allocate some time each day for play time, reading, arts and crafts, etc.

Spend more time as a family together.  Again, with Troy and I being self-employed we often find ourselves switching shifts with Khloe so that we can both get some work done while the other is watching her.  So my goal is for the three of us to take as much time this year as we can to be together.  Khloe is growing so fast and I don't want to look back and wish we had taken more time together as a family.

Get all of my pictures downloaded, edited, organized, and saved. Right now I have about 800 photos on my camera not to mention the thousands that are sitting on my computer just waiting to be saved to a disc.

Add 30 items to my Etsy shop. This one, hopefully, should be easily reached in the next 6 months. I have about 25 in there now and my goal is 50-60 items for 2011.

Organize my office at work. If only I had a picture to show...but glad I don't. I need my big table moved up for working on my jewelry and I need lots of storage options added.

Add a reception desk and clock to the salon. This one may sound silly, but I have yet to get my reception desk bought and moved in. The good news is I do have it picked out. I have been searching for the perfect big wall clock to hang and just have not found it. Drives me insane not having one, but I didn't want to just buy any old clock to hang.

Ok and I'm obviously going to throw the one goal in there that everyone does.  Lose 10 pounds.  I not only want to lose the weight, but I really just want to have more energy.  I want to create a better lifestyle for our family.  With the odd hours we work there are lots of nights that supper is, well, not really supper.  This has happened more often than not this year.  So I really want to change this up and hopefully start a menu of meals again and a workout schedule for me.

My final goal for 2011.....

MOVE INTO OUR NEW FINISHED HOUSE!!!!!!!!!

No, we haven't even begun on it yet, but we will soon.  We are finally putting the pieces together and deciding what we want so we can start.  My realistic goal for moving in is this summer.  Keep your fingers crossed for me!

I hope everyone has a wonderful NEW YEAR!

2011

I have been thinking a lot about goals for the new year. I had so many goals for the past year....remember my scrapbook page a week idea? I did really well for about 6 months. Then the move came and the new salon.

I really wanted to learn how to sew....I did pretty good. Remember the bean bags and Khloe's belt? Ok so I think the beanbags are still laying on my table half done. Whoops...

I had a few other personal goals that I didn't share, which I'm now glad about because I didn't accomplish too many of those.

Oh and then there was my absolute brilliant idea of taking a picture a day for 365 days (I did make it 139 days). Of all the goals this was my favorite and I only wish I had stuck to it. Those pictures say so much about our life last year. Things I would have forgotten about had I not had a picture to remember it. So on that note I'm pretty sure you will see that goal published again this year and as hard as it may be I am going to do my absolute best to stick to it and I definitely want to pass the challenge on to my blog readers...especially those with small children. It is a great way to document your year without writing things down. Here are some of my favorites. 

Hopefully I will do a little better this year.

Ipad

Alright so I am hooked.

I'm typing my first official post from my new Ipad!

I really don't have much to say at the moment but I just wanted to try it out. It does come in really handy when you are laying on the couch sick...which is what I am up to at the moment!

I have about 800 pictures on my camera that need to be downloaded, sorted, and edited. Sounds like a good New Years weekend project since I don't know if I will make it off the couch much before that!

Hmm not really seeing a way to center this post on the page. Apparently there are limitations! Ha ha

merry and bright

I know I have NEVER mentioned how much I love my husband.

Here is yet another reason.

This fabulous gift happened to be waiting under my tree this year.  

Nothing like the gift that keeps on giving.

I am in my researching phase before opening it though.  I have to make sure I can get internet access at my salon.  We also want to make sure it is a big enough one.  We got the 32 gb and just can't decide if we will want the 64. 

I CAN'T WAIT to open it!!!

Merry Christmas

winter has arrived

We've been busy!  

Snowman making and sledding!

playing catchup

Ok so I'm only a week or so behind, as always, but here is some decorating of cupcakes we did for Khloe's birthday.  

I always make cupcakes for her to take to daycare for her birthday.  

The funny thing is it is always a different daycare each year for her birthday so it is always fun and new for that daycare.  

Ok so it isn't really funny, not for us anyways. 

And the tradition continues....next year....another new daycare.  Our provider told us a couple of weeks ago that she would be done with daycare in May.  It's a good thing Khloe isn't a trouble maker or I would start to think it was my kid driving the providers away.  We have had nothing but smiley faces everyday, so I shouldn't have to worry about that at least.

I didn't have quite the nervous breakdown that I had the last time our provider quit.  She only gave us 2 weeks...thankfully this time we got 6 months.  Plus I was planning to line someone up for summer anyways, so that gives us 9 months to either win the lottery so I can stay home or find someone new for the fall.

Thank God we are on to Preschool after that.  I can't handle this daycare stuff anymore.

 

Troy was really hamming it up for the camera so I thought I would do the same.

christmas outtakes

Here is a little prelude to our Christmas cards this year.  

I had mixed feelings about how they turned out.  

One one hand I absolutely loved them and on the other I wish I would have gone a different direction with them.  

But they are done and in their envelopes and ready to mail so like it, or hate it, that is the way it is going to be this year!

All in all I did like them.  

Ok I'm done debating now.  

Here are some outtakes. 

(you won't see the actual until Christmas, sorry)

head up

Some days I like to wallow in self-pity.  I'm sure it gets the best of all of us sometimes.  It helps sometimes to really take a step back and put everything into perspective.  

A friend forwarded this to me (thanks Amy) and I had to share it  If you are having a bad day I think it really helps to read through this.

Written by a 90 year old

This is something we should all read at least once a week!!  Make sure you read to the end!

 

Written by Regina Brett, 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio .

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most requested column I've ever written.

My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more":
 

1.  Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2.  When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3.  Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4.  Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.

5.  Pay off your credit cards every month.

6.  You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7.  Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8.  It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9.  Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10.  When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11.  Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12.  It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13.  Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14.  If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15.  Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16.  Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17.  Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18.  Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19.  It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20.  When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21.  Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22.  Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23.  Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24.  The most important sex organ is the brain.

25.  No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26.  Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'

27.  Always choose life.

28.  Forgive everyone everything.

29.  What other people think of you is none of your business.

30.  Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31.  However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32.  Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33.  Believe in miracles.

34.  God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35.  Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36.  Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37.  Your children get only one childhood.

38.  All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39.  Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40.  If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41.  Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42.  The best is yet to come...

43.  No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44.  Yield.

45.  Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

three

Today my baby turned 3.

Where did the time go?

I remember the day she was born like it was yesterday.  

I remember all of the pain.  

I remember seeing her face for the first time.  

I remember the first time I heard her cry.  

I remember laying in the hospital bed and watching her sleep. 

I remember bringing her home in a snow storm.

I remember sitting in the chair the first night at home and my heart bursting with love for this little person.

As I sat and rocked her yesterday for her nap, in the exact same chair as that first night we brought her home, I thought of all the changes that had happened in our lives in the last three years.  I thought about all of the changes that will probably happen in the next three years.  

As I sat there and rocked, I thought, one thing remains the same.  

I will love this girl forever.