Some People Call Us Spoiled

It’s true. They do. And somehow I don’t mind. Last year when one of the ladies at the gym (a believer in the value of “playing” in life, and therefore kindred spirit) found out I was going to Europe for five weeks, she smiled and said, “you are a bigger brat than I am!” I laughed, whatever you want to call it…yes I am.

Yes, Cory and I have a bit of a reputation for being party animals. Just a few weeks ago someone at church was stating that we are always about to be going somewhere. I am not going to lie, I was very glad I was able to tell him, “well we are headed to the Caribbean next month.”

Our priorities are just a little bit different than most peoples. It is not like we are rich. We are just careful with our money so that we can spend it where we feel it is important. We have very simple principles we live by in our household. We work hard and we play hard. We drive old cars that are paid off, we rent a charming little house, we are by no means extravagant.

But we do go to a lot of awesome places. Memories. Experiences. Living. That is where our money goes.

Sometimes Cory and I look at a map and talk about all of the places we want to go someday. I don’t know how many we will really get to, but talking about it and dreaming together is part of the fun.

And you know the thing that really sets a fire inside of me? I realize that this is only a season. There will come a time when I will not care so much about seeing the world (hard to imagine). My priorities will shift inevitably so that the home has the greatest draw. All the more reason to seize the moment and enjoy all of these amazing experiences we are able to do together.

My parents still always tell us kids stories about the year they lived abroad, five of those months spent living in Israel. I always think, “man you guys are so cool!” I want to have those stories to share with my kids in the hope that it will inspire them to get outside of this little society we live in and get a little educated on the rest of the world.

I wouldn’t have known how much I love goat cheese if I had never been to Paris. I would never have developed an appreciation for red wine if I had never been to Venice. History has never been so real to me as it was when I walked the streets of Rome. A love for a classical education was developed in Europe… and its value is totally underestimated in our society. I want to give that to my kids.

So having said that… Cory and I have taken several wonderful trips in our three years of marriage. And each one has brought us closer together in a way I would not have foreseen.

2011 Our honeymoon: Mazatlan

2012 Our 2nd Honeymoon: Puerto Vallarta and Cabo

2013 European Tour: England, France, Italy, Greece

2013 Family Cruise: Catalina and Ensenada

2014 This month. Punta Cana, DR!!!

February - It's the New January

One month of the New Year is already gone and I feel like I am still recovering from my Christmas blues and New Year prep. How is it that the time just goes?

Confession…. Just last week I took the Christmas lights off my house because I didn’t want to be “that person.” You know the one who leaves their lights up all year (but doesn’t turn them on) just because they never got around to taking them down, and then once July hits they decide they may as well leave them up for the coming Christmas. Yeah… that person. Another confession…. I still have several of my Christmas decorations out. Because I got several new ones this year I couldn’t fit everything into my same Christmas boxes, so I never finished Christmas clean up. Therefore, my awesome Santa is still sitting in his rocker on my buffet.

Last week, I was discussing the sad state of my goals with my little sister and she said, “February is the new January, don’t you know.” Relief just poured over me. Hooray, a new month with a fresh start to hit this year with lofty goals and enthusiastic productivity. 

I have been thinking a lot about the power of accountability. It is one thing to determine in one’s mind all of the things that need to get accomplished, and another thing to tell someone else that you need to do them. 

With that being said, for the month of February I am going to do a little goal reboot. Every Sunday evening or Monday morning (it’s my blog…. Whatever I feel like doing) I am going to post three goals that I want to work on this week. They don’t have to big things. They can be as simple as washing your hair every day (pretty ambitious I would say). But just little things that I want or need to be working on in addition to all of my every day necessities. 

I am doing this for me, because I think it will help me to do a little extra every week. However, because I am going to miss the blogathon so much, and because maybe some of you can empathize with this goal situation, I am going to create a link up. If you want to join me for this month on working on a few simple goals every week, I would love to help motivate you! And that is the beauty of it, one week at a time. It is very doable.

With that being said, here are few things I am going to work on this week. Pretty easy I would say, which means I am setting myself up for feeling successful and good about myself. Very important :) 

1.       Prepare for and file our taxes.

2.       Do 250 crunches every day this week (Now is the time to start working on that beach body).

3.       Edit one photo in photo shop (this may seem like a tiny goal but man is that program a challenge for me. I feel like pulling my hair out after sitting at the computer for an hour).

If you want to join in, then link below. Either way, have a wonderful Monday!

A Resounding "Me"

When I read our prompt for today I thought.... who came with this?! Yes... it was me. I wrote all these prompts weeks ago and I thought this one would be super fun. But today I thought it was rather hard. I wanted so badly to get super creative and come up with something awesome. Oh well. All I have is one images that encompasses who I am in a nutshell.

I am follower of Christ and child of God, I am married to a wonderful man, I love to read, travel, eat (especially yummies like chocolate), I love to take pictures, I love Disneyland (and Cory and I got engaged there!), I love my family, I love Christmas, I love to work out, and I love to write.

Because my rings were not very visible in the first picture, I had to take one more to demonstrate the most important thing in my life (aside from my walk with the Lord), which is my marriage. I should have put my rings on the Bible to point to the foundation of my marriage.... But alas Jane Austen was handy (she is not the foundation which my marriage is built on, but I certainly learn a lot of wonderful things from her!).

"You" in a photo. What does it look like? I can't wait to see! Link below.

Ten Things You Can do in Under Four minutes

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. This picture has absolutely nothing to do with this post topic... I just think it is pretty :) 

As my schedule has been very busy these last few weeks, I have been thinking a lot about time management.

Ever have one of those days where it seems impossible to squeeze everything in? The other day I was getting ready for work. I looked around at my house, glanced at the clock, and thought “well there is no time to do anything before I have to leave…. Guess I will just sit down and watch the clock tick or something….” Well maybe not exactly like that, but something similar.

I decided to try an experiment. Setting the timer, I tackled one little task at a time, trying to determine how long it really takes to do those little things that pile up until they become overwhelming. I was shocked at some of the results. 

Here are just a few things that really only take a few minutes and make a world of difference:

-          Make bed (which includes NINE pillows on my amazingly comfy bed) – 1 minutes 37 seconds

-          Clean bathroom (wiped down counters, mirrors, and cleaned toilet) – 3 minutes 38 seconds

-          Throw a load of laundry in (includes taking the hamper downstairs) – 58 seconds

-          Fold and put away or hang 10 pieces of laundry (in two different rooms) – 2 minutes 47 seconds

-          Fifty squats – 1 minute 34 seconds

-          Read Proverbs of the day – 2 minutes 9 seconds

-          Unload Dishwasher – 2 minutes 12 seconds

-          Load 11 dishes – 39 seconds

-          Take out all the trash in the house (two stories, four five trash cans) 2 minutes 4 seconds

-          Pay four bills (online, of course) 3 minutes 7 seconds

I am sure there are TONS of other things that fall in this category of quick chores, but these are the only ones I timed thus far. 

I always feel like the time goes by way to fast, and it is hard to fit everything in… but I have realized that the busier I am, the better I am with time management. Doing simple experiments like this really demonstrates how much you can do in a small amount of time.

You should try it on some of those tedious little things you always dread doing… you would be surprised how fast you can get things done.