This Life, Redefined...: special events

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Eight Years Ago...

Eight years ago, Steve and I had been together for three years, having met our senior year of college. We were living in Cincinnati, working in completely different jobs, with no real responsibility outside of our two cats, who were perfectly fine with being left alone for a day or two if we decided to make an impromptu weekend trip to somewhere fun.

I was working for a bank, and attended happy hours two or three nights a week. Steve was working in sales, and had season tickets to almost every sports team in and around Cincinnati (including a full slate of home baseball games, an entire NFL season, and a college basketball schedule). What we were going to do on any given weekend night was a pretty big topic of conversation most Friday afternoons.

We never slept, and it really wasn't that big of a deal.

Now, all of this time later, we live in Atlanta, with those same two cats, but we've added two dogs and a kid to the mix, with another one of those babies everybody is so crazy about on the way. We get home from work as soon as we can. We can find the time to make maybe three or four live sporting events a year, if that, but it has to be planned well in advance. I can't tell you the last time I tried to make plans for a weekend night, since we're too busy at the zoo or the pumpkin patch or the apple orchard or Costco during the day to have any energy for anything other than quality couch time at night.

We still never sleep, but HOO BUDDY has it caught up with us, big time.

And still, I don't mind. I love our life together, and other than the fact that we still haven't won the lottery and moved ourselves to our own private island somewhere, I really wouldn't change a thing.

(But seriously, world. Where, in the name of all that is good, is my island?!?!?! I would like it now, please...)

Monday, May 16, 2011

Wedding Weekend!

So, let's see...this weekend, one of Steve's old college roommates got married, which was awesome. His core group of friends from Notre Dame are all really good guys, and their significant others are some of the nicest people I've ever met. We had a great time at both the rehearsal dinner on Friday night, as well as the wedding/reception on Saturday.

Also, this weekend (which you know if you happen follow me on Twitter, and if that's the case, sorry for the repeat...), Steve outed me as a style blogger to that same lovely group of friends, which, well...

Let's just say that's not something I was planning on announcing to the group at large, because, I'm not exactly sure that 'I take pictures of myself and my outfit on a daily basis, and post them on the internet for people to comment on' translates all that well into real life.

And then, he proceeded to pull up this Style Lush post, to show everyone my lovely little dress form, and as this happened to be the wedding I was writing about, that all went over very well. And then one of the groomsmen asked me if I'd be doing a 'who wore it better' style post between myself and the dress form, so...

Sorry about the crappy iPhone pictures, but we didn't have room for the real camera on this trip.
Dress: H&M
Shoes I didn't wear: Steve Madden (from DSW)
Shoes I did wear: Kenneth Cole (from TJ Maxx)

2014 List

1) Send more mail...thank you notes, birthday cards, and 'just because' messages.

2) Be nicer, in general, to my husband and family. They deserve a much less crabby me than the one they were stuck with for most of 2013.

3) Make more of an effort to communicate with the long-distance people in my life. I got away from facetiming with my sister on a regular basis, and I miss it. Plus, now that she's making me an aunt, I think it's even more important that we get back into the habit of seeing each other every week. I do not need her new baby asking 'are you SURE you have more than one sister?', just because Aunt Mary lives in Indiana and Aunt Tara lives all of the way in Georgia.

4) Call or email or even text my friends from college more than I do now, which is hardly at all. Just because we can pick up after not talking to each other for months like no time has passed at all does not mean I should keep letting all of those months pass without the talking. I'm afraid the picking back up can't keep happening in a friendship like that.

5) Do one fitness/health related challenge each month. - You know all of those '0 to 1,000 sit-ups in just 30 days!!' kind of schedules that pop up on Pinterest all of the time? I'm going to start doing those. One each month. Fifteen minute plank? I'M COMING FOR YOU. I'm also throwing my meat-free/sugar-free/alcohol-free months in this category, as well.

6) Run another organized 5K. - It was so much more fun than I expected. Minus the running up a hill part, anyway.

7) Renew my vows with Steve, in Vegas, by Elvis, for our 10th anniversary in October.

8) Create an art wall somewhere in my house.

9) Organize a workspace for me

10) Attend The Blathering in Seattle. - Charleston was such a great time, I'd love to make it back for the Seattle trip.

11) Read at least two books a month.

12) Take Brigid camping.

13) Find a yoga studio and start taking classes regularly.

14) Write something, anything, not blog related.

15) No spending money on new clothes this year. Using gift cards and rewards points are fine, but I need to get out of the habit of spending money on new stuff, just to make myself feel better. I swear, shopping is my addiction, but the high I get from buying a new sweater probably isn't enough to justify the amount of money I spend on clothes I don't need.

16) No buying anything at all unless I absolutely need it. I have a bad habit of stocking up on things at sales (candles, lotions, make-up, beauty products), even if I have a cabinet full of the same stuff already at home. I will use the cabinet full of crap before I add more crap.

17) Be more consistent in updating my family blog, because my parents give me a hard time when I let it lag, and my personal blog, because I'm not as happy with myself when I let it lag.

18) Find a general practitioner and get a physical.

19) Post at least one picture a day on Instagram, to get myself into the habit of taking more pictures of my sweet girls, since I find entire events have passed where I've forgotten to photograph said events. Like Christmas. Sadly.

20) Get a haircut. - You can laugh at this one, if you must, but I did not get one single haircut in 2013. In fact, I haven't had a haircut since before Caitlin was born in November of 2012. I do not even know how this happens, but I know it must end. Soon. I think a Locks of Love kind of donation might be in order. My hair, it is long.

21) Make an effort to get to know the neighbors. - I tend to not get dressed/leave the house on the weekends, and this extends to not fraternizing with anyone who lives near me, because I'm afraid people will judge me for my make-up free, sweatpants clad weekend laze. I should probably get over that.

22) Write more thank you notes. - I am terrible at writing thank you notes. I should not be so terrible.

23) Buy new rugs for my new house. - The sunroom and foyer, in particular, need something fun.

24) Be more fearless in forming and maintaining relationships. - There are many times where I think of something I want to send to someone, whether it's an email, text, card, or what have you, and I don't, because I'm afraid I've maybe overestimated whether we have the type of friendship where I can do something like that. I don't want to worry about stuff like that anymore.

25) Put together an Advent/Christmas activity calendar for Brigid and Caitlin. - I did that for Brigid when I was home on maternity leave after Caitlin's birth, and it was so much fun. I didn't get the chance to do it this year, and I feel like I missed out on some part of the excitement of the season. I'm bringing it back.

26) Institute a once-a-month date night with Steve. Or date lunch, I guess, if necessary.

27) Institute a once-a-month girls' night, whether it be with my old college roommate, my SiLs, or the neighbors. I should get out of the house at least once a month with people who do not live in my house.