One down!

I'm so very excited, last night I went to get my tattoo finished. Seven and a half hours later it turned out far more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. I also felt a sense of closer or something because I had managed to complete something on my list. I'm working on some of the others, they aren't going to be something that I can do in a day. I've started printing off my photos and I did make one photo book on shutterfly.com that I'm anxious to get in the mail. My wedding book is still a work in progress but at least I've got a steady start. With the holidays and birthdays in November and December my funding is pretty slim so I'll have to work on the things that won't cost me anything. It feels good to be able to finally do some things on my list and not feel like an everyday to do list. To have some sense of accomplishment really boosts the endorphins, I feel much more motivated to do even the daily mundane tasks. Which reminds me, I have to get to folding laundry!

30 before 30

Lately I've been browsing a lot of different blogs for organizing ideas and I came across this awesome site IHeart Organizing. I have found a lot of exciting inspiration for organizing the many areas of our home. I love her design style, who knew organizing could have style? I have also decided that I needed to add some things to my "bucket list" and then I decided that I should have a deadline for some of the things on my list. In the end I came up with a list of 30 things to do before I turn 30. That gives me about a year and a half to cross of some things from my bucket list. I've been making a lot of decisions lately, which is out of character for me. I'm usually indecisive about things but I'm trying to step out of my comfort zone and live a little. Anyway, my list is below, next to some of my 28th birthday photos!
30 Before 30
1. Print off and organize photos
2. Finish making babies
3. Plant my garden
4. Get back into music
5. See the Grand Canyon
6. Get a tattoo (done)
7. Go to more plays
8. Organize every room
9. Visit the Science Museum in Minneapolis
10. Create and stick to a budget
11. Take the kids to Disneyland
12. Complete a Bible study
13. Go back to New Orleans with Will
14. Love Dare
15. Blog more, Facebook less (deleted facebook account,done)
16. Create a mom cave
17. Make the kids a playroom
18. Eat out less, entertain more
19. Clean out the storage unit
20. More date nights
21. Go wine tasting
22. Have a family portrait taken (done)
23. Buy a fancy camera that takes awesome photos
24. Take yoga classes
25. Get my nose pierced
26. Pray and meditate more often
27. Stay at a Bed & Breakfast
28. Have more fun
29. Save $5,000
30. Make a quilt
As far as organizing my house I did manage to get my mudroom organized to be more functional for our family. It still has some work to go before it's to my standard but it's a good start! At least I got the cupboard in order, I added a shelf for coats, a shoe rack and some cork board along with a wall calendar. I’m super excited to finish it! All of this, the list and the organizing, is all an effort to make my life more complete. An attempt at living a fulfilling journey.

Happiness and Benjamin Franklin

I'm still trying to be Zen, it's a fight that I am dead set on winning. After reviewing some feng shui videos on youtube I realized that my bedroom was set up all backwards. The paint color that I chose was on track however the furniture arrangement was wacky. So I bought a headboard that I've been wanting (something that you need to have for feng shui balance) and I rearranged the furniture. I still have a few more touches before it becomes a sanctuary. It seems to be helping with "things" between my husband and I. I've been reading this book titled "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin. She discovered through her project that going to bed early and getting the home organized helped achieve ultimate happiness. I can see how that would work. I've been going to bed early for the past week and I have been far less crabby at my family. Having a week away from work has also helped! My mission since we've moved into this house in May was to be more organized, so that is a welcomed change. It takes a lot of time but it's getting there. So far I've done the living room, the bathroom and my bedroom. I found this book suggestion from one of my new favorite websites, www.zenhabits.net. It has served as a really good resource. It's funny how you keep coming back to ideas through different avenues, in this book she talked about Benjamin Franklin and his thirteen virtues. He was really a revolutionary thinker and it continues to amaze me how his ideals apply even today; I think he one of my hero's! Maybe when I'm finished with The Happiness Project I'll read a biography or memoir of Ben Franklin. I think that would be a valuable read.

It's hard to be zen...

So this Zen deal is much harder than I thought it was going to be, especially considering that it's October, my favorite month of the year and I'm planning a party for the kids. Work has been crazy busy and it will proceed to be busy until the months end. Things are beginning to pile up and I'm feeling smothered by my to do list. To add to my agony, my Aunt is moving from California to Minnesota in the spring and her drop off is in 2 days. I have to be there while the truck is unloaded to sign for her stuff and I don't have 4 hours to spare. Plus there are parent/teacher conferences, violin lessons and cub/girl scouts to deal with as well. I totally spaced out and forgot about the girl scouts meeting tonight. UGH! That's what I get when I don't look at my planner for the day. I'm lucky I remembered to take my youngest son to get his flu shot today. I couldn't sleep last night, I was tired but my brain just wouldn't shut off. I guess my brain was stuck on ballroom hours. Since we've owned the ballroom my sleep has suffered tremendously. Staying up past midnight for work 3 days a week and then still needing to get up at 7am for the kids has been rough. I'm taking cues from my body so that I don't get sick. I rest when I can, try to eat healthy and drink lots of water. I just keep saying to myself "if I can just make it through October, I'll be OK!" I have managed to have a little fun with the kids, enjoying the beautiful fall weather when I can. We went to a corn maze on what seemed to be the hottest day for about a month. 80 degrees in October just doesn't seem natural here in MN. Last year we were all in hats and sweaters, this year some of us have shorts on! As Halloween approaches I'm sad that I don't get to do more with the kids, after all it is my favorite. I just do what I can and try to enjoy myself with what little free time I have.

Becoming Zen

Since June life has dramatically changed for my family. I went from working 40 hours a week as a secretary to being self employed. I'm finding that while I love working at home and being my own boss, it does hold certain challenges. A quick example of this would be sleep, now I can sleep whenever I want and it has made me slightly lazy. This "I can do it later" mentality is slowly making my anxiety levels soar because now I have an incredible amount to do. Before when I went away to work I had the opportunity to step away and write down all of the things I wanted to get done, there was a sense of order to everything. Now that I stay at home everyday it all just stares me in the face and most days I don't know where to begin. So, in an effort to bring some type of order back to my life I'm trying to be more zen. Strangely enough Benjamin Franklin's 13 Virtues is pretty zen, so I'm going to attempt to live the next year based on living simply, not spending unnecessarily and striving to be more zen. Referring back to my readings from Not Buying It, I'm going to spend less, buy used and really ask myself if I Need or Want something. Wish me luck!

Sick

I absolutely hate being sick. I took off a few days from work and of course by the second evening I could feel the cold that our little girl has, she's been kind of snotty for a little over a week now and it was inevitable that one of us was going to get it too. Unfortunately both the babe and I got the evil cold. So I spent my third day off sick and trying to catch as many naps as possible on the couch while girly girl watched Harry Potter. Despite being sick it was nice to be home for a few days. The roles seemed like they were switched for once. Hubby went hunting and momma stayed home, so I guess it's not exactly the same. He never expected that he would end up a stay at home dad and I realized when I was home how much I really hate my job. But it is just that ... a job. I haven't decided what I want to do when I grow up yet, so for now it's a job that pays the bills. So I went back to work today only to find out that I will be working an eight day week before I get a day off. That usually really gets to me around day six, I need my Saturday morning sleep in. I started reading Not Buying It: My year without shopping by Judith Levine. It's actually really gripping, I'm only in the beginning of the book but I think the idea of it all is what grabs me. I'm always saying how we have to much stuff and how I hate the way society has commercialized everything. Hopefully when I'm done reading it I will be inspired to try the same but the author doesn't have children so I think that puts a little different spin on things. Kids require so much stuff. Shoes for wrestling, art supplies, books, this and that, things that I want them to have, so I don't know if I could actually stick to not shopping for a year. I think that everyone could probably spend a little less from time to time. I know we'd probably save more money and actually go on vacations if we didn't spend unneccessary money.

Time Flies

It seems only yesterday that my little man came into this world. Now it's been nearly five months and he's changed so much. I'm so thankful for photography, how wonderful is it that we can take a picture and help make a memory last forever. I look back at pictures and I can remember the feeling that I had at that time in my life. When I was a kid I would sit for hours looking at old photos of my grandpa and grandma. Young men in Navy uniforms and women in fitted dresses with hats. Only a short time ago but so very different from today. Sometimes I imagine myself as one of those little girls with the short bangs and bloomers. In a simpler life with only my imagination to keep me entertained. I hate how the media has made us dependent on entertainment. My kids have more than enough to keep them "entertained" and yet they come to me saying they are bored. Some days I debate whether or not to just take everything away. I find myself trying to make life simpler by de-cluttering but it seems to be an endless battle. I wish I could remember what it was like to be a child, so innocent, so curious. My only solution is to relive my childhood through my children's' eyes. Taking photos of them and capturing those moments for their grandchildren to sit for hours looking at in wonder.

"Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but by how we react to what happens, not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes. It is a catalyst, a spark that creates extraordinary results." -Anonymous