Anniversary 2017

Last night I needed to order a few more personal prints when I put in a print order with my lab, and since we celebrated our 7th anniversary last month, I decided I needed to go ahead and re-print all our lovely anniversary photos!.... which is harder than you'd think.  I had to go back into the archives from the last 7 years... and well, I'm lucky that I was able to find all but one of them :/.  I'm still hopeful that one will show up somewhere, but thankfully I posted here on the blog and on facebook, so at least we HAVE a version... it's probably just not going to be an awesome quality when the print gets here... which is fine.

SO here it is!  Our collection so far ;).

~M

33 Years Old ;)

My 33rd birthday came and went [a week and a half ago].  It was on Easter this year, and I got to celebrate with baby boy Zander!  First official holiday for him! :)

Last year, I could have sworn I wrote about my 32nd year challenge, but I can't find the blog post [not that I looked incredibly hard].  BUT, for my 32nd year of life, I chose to give up buying new clothes.

Long story short, when we moved down to Indy, we weren't on as much of a tight budget as we previously were, and I found myself making little needless purchases of clothes here and there.  And while I love clothes, I think I just felt like I was adding to the consuming that is prevalent here in the US.  So I decided I would challenge myself and take a full year and only buy used clothes.

And I did it!

Mostly.  I want to go through my ThredUp account and see exactly how much money I spent [because, lets be real, I like my clothes, so it's not like a buy nothing year where I only spent $20 on new-to-me-clothes].  BUT, I'm 95% sure I spent less than I had the previous year, AND, I purchased more thoughtfully than I had previously.

And when I say mostly, it's because I gave myself a few loop holes.
1. Underwear; obviously, a loophole.
2. Work outfits; if after trying hard to find clothes to work in and coming up empty handed, I allowed myself to buy new work clothes new.
3. I got pregnant during this year, and well, while there are definitely ways to get consigned and used maternity outfits, I found myself being significantly challenged in the pants department.  So I did end up buying [on a massive awesome sale], a pair of preggo jeans and two pairs of black leggings.  And I don't regret that one bit :).

And it feels good to know I did it!  I'm proud of myself.  And I think I've instilled some good habits for myself for future buying.

I still have some 'tidying up' to do in my closets [especially for my post-baby body], but I'm now also free to buy new-new clothes if I want to.  But I'm not sure I do.

So what's my 33rd year of life challenge?  Uhm, growing up a baby?!?  We'll see if I come up with anything better, but currently, I'm taking the year easy.

cheers!
-mrp-

Maybe I Bit Off Too Much....

So it's officially past the first week of New Years, and while I did get things checked off that list... I think I maybe put too many things on the list to begin with... meh.  Oh well.

Out of 8, I finished 5, which is respectable.  And I attempted to do the paperwork this weekend, only to realize that I didn't have the plastic tub thing I need to put them in.... so I gotta grab one when I'm in the store next to get that off the list...  The other two things are definitely on my to-do list... hopefully by the end of January.

1. -mudroom: reorganize, recycle cardboard stuffs, and take other non-used things to the basement [did this the day after Christmas; maybe I'm a bad wife, but I don't care :)]

2. -finish making two more stockings [I figure I have better luck if I do it this year than next, and I've already made two stockings already, so just two more to go... because 4 seems like a good number, not because of any other reason ya'all!]

3. -clean the fridge [which isn't a terribly difficult task, just some spray and wipe down].

4. -clean out/re-arrange the black drawers in the dining room [they're full or random stuff right now, and they all feel like junk drawers].

5. -take printer upstairs to the office.

6. -file 2016 paperwork, put in basement, put new folders out.

7. -clean out upstairs closet.

8. -finish designing my wedding album/get it printed [I know, I know... 6+ years is an embarrassing amount of time to not have printed my own album yet... BUT, I'm going to do it!

In other news, we're officially in the thick of winter.  I know the shortest day of sun has come and gone, and now the days are growing longer instead of shorter, but January, February and sometimes March, rarely feels like it.  There are just so many more clouds in the sky blocking that beautiful warm glow of the sun.

I usually go tanning for a mini pick me up in the winter [don't freak out, I only ever go maybe every other week, and total like, 4 or 5 times throughout the winter], and I try to work out to keep my soul happy.  I'm off tanning this year, but I've been trying to do more yoga, and hit the gym more often to make sure I don't fall into the 'stay-in-bed-all-day-addicted-to-social-media' trap.

I'm working on creating a schedule... 'cause see, when you work from home, it's super easy to just do whatever, all day long.  And some of that whatever is definitely work, don't get me wrong, but others of that whatever is sometimes this or that... anyway, schedules can be hard to maintain when there's not an outside force of expectations [for me anyway].  But I think it'd be good, once again, for my soul.

I think maybe, in my head, I'm like, "well, whenever I get caught up on my to-do list, and I get completely caught up on my photography things, THEN I'll get into a routine."  But I think I need to ditch that, and create a routine that sets hours and times to work each day instead of thinking that I'll create it when that magical day comes when I feel like I have everything off my to-do list [because, hello!?!?  That's not going to happen.  That's not really how life works!]

Anyway, how are you guys doing on your resolution lists?  Did you make a list, have you stuck to it?  Was it reasonable, or did you over commit?

Some things I think you just have to keep learning and trying and attempting to do better at.  I'm okay with that mostly, but it is a bit hard.

-mrp-