Archive of ‘Life’ category

Welcome 2014!

| Life

Be Happy!

Be Happy!

I am beyond excited for all the possibilities and potential that await in this fabulous year of 2014!  I love the opportunity to play back the main events of the past year and create all sorts of idealistic plans for the future.  There is just so much potential in a new year!

I can pretty much sum up my 2013 with one word… Intense.  The past 8 months, in particular, have been extremely intense.  We sold our house, bought a new house, moved in with my parents for a month, I received a promotion, we discovered we were pregnant, we moved into our new house, we struggled through death and birth of our baby, Allen started a new job, and my dad had quadruple bypass surgery.  Intense.

While I do hope that 2014 is somewhat less intense, I understand that I do not always have control over outside events.  I do, however, have control over my reactions to those outside events and hope that I, personally, may be slightly less intense in the year ahead.  I think in many ways (definitely not all), happiness is a decision and an attitude and one that I plan to dominate in 2014!

The following are my top 10 2014 resolutions to dominate my own happiness!

1. Play. I will take time to play and spend quality time with friends, with family, with Rufus, and most importantly with little Sammie.

2. Cook. We now have an awesome kitchen. I anticipated buying a house that would need major renovations, with a dream that I might have a fantastic kitchen in 10 years.   Turns out we have that amazing kitchen now!  It is time to make the most of this amazing kitchen to cook, entertain, and document my favorite recipes to share.

3. Celebrate Every Day. Life is too short not to celebrate the little moments of everyday life.  My family always capitalizes on celebrations… we even include Pi Day, Fat Tuesday, and St. Patrick’s Day in our annual holiday rotation.  I am ready to step it up and celebrate some of our personal favorites as well: from Princess Play Dates to Dragons Love Taco Dinners… 2014 is going to be the year of celebration!

4. Create. It is time to unpack and dust off my craft supplies.  I am ready to unleash some creativity and continue making this house our home.

5. Listen to more music. At work, in the car, and especially at home… crank up the tunes for inspiration, motivation, concentration, energy, and relaxation. Bring on the playlists!

6. Don’t take work too personally. I care about my job.  I think this is what makes me good at my job.  Occasionally (read: all the time) I may (read: do) I take certain aspects of my job too personally.  While I can control my actions, interactions and reactions, I cannot control those of others.  I plan to focus on continuing to do my best, with a positive attitude, and then let the rest go.

7. Respond ASAP. At work, I pride myself on responding to people as quickly as possible, but in my personal life, I am terrible!  I read/listen to text messages, voicemails, emails, and Facebook messages, but I then seem to mentally respond and forget the actual physical response.  Enough is enough… time to start actually responding!

8. Sell something on Etsy. I would love to open an Etsy store that sells personalized paper party decorations, and my goal is to give it a shot this year!  I hope to open a stocked Etsy store and sell at least one item by 2015.

9. Blog. My blog may turn into a hot mess of confessions of a *wannabe* everything…  I have too many competing interests to keep a narrow focus and maintain regular updates.  While I hope others will read my blog and gather ideas and inspiration (as I do, from the blogs I read), my intention is really to keep myself motivated and maintain a personal documentation of what I cook, decorate, create, and celebrate… which isn’t always perfect!

10. Be organized & don’t squander free time. I’m not sure how I can accomplish my top 10 list, if I don’t stay on top of being organized!  I also cannot squander free time!  With a toddler in tow, every minute counts!!

Let’s do this!

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Moving Out & Letting Go

| Life

Moving Out & Letting Go

Moving Out & Letting Go

I cannot believe that 4 months ago we roamed through our first home for the last time to say goodbye. It seems like a lifetime ago and it turns out, I may be irrationally emotionally attached to our fabulous first home. These past 4 months have been filled with a number of life’s extreme ups and downs, which I am sure are fueling my current state of nostalgia!

Despite our attempts at organization, selling our house quickly devolved into a hectic whirlwind of home improvements, decluttering, and cleaning. Oh, the cleaning. We were fortunate that our house was under contract within about a week, but then the packing and paperwork started. Boxes, boxes, paper, tape, boxes, and more boxes. We frantically packed away all of our belongings, struggling not to drift down memory lane with every anniversary note, wedding gift, or baby toy we rediscovered.

We were so focused on the practical preparation, selling, and packing of our house, I am afraid we missed our opportunity to properly reminisce. Other than my childhood home, this was by far the longest I have lived in one place and it holds so many memories of major life milestones. Allen proposed on the kitchen floor of that house, we taught Rufus to “sit, stay, shake and speak,” we addressed our wedding invitations, we decorated our first Christmas tree as “Cavedines,” we purchased our first cars and subsequently watched them destroyed by hail, we transitioned in and out of jobs, we wrote papers, crammed for tests and graduated with our Masters degrees, we lovingly listened to the soothing sound of our new sump pump during spring storms, we endured a 9 month pregnancy and welcomed beautiful Samantha to our family, we celebrated 30th birthdays and a 1st birthday, watched Samantha take her first steps and learn to say ‘dog,’ and we travelled the world from the London and Rome to Taipei, Tokyo and more, with 7860 as our home. We experienced our family grow with the birth of nephews and a niece, we celebrated countless weddings, births, and birthdays with old friends, and developed incredible new friendships that continue to enrich our lives.

We are absolutely in love with our new house… I mean, it has more than one toilet! We have zero buyers remorse and frequently find ourselves sitting around saying, “can you believe this is our house?!? We actually live here!” This house holds more potential than we ever imagine, but it is, however, difficult to let go of what our first home represents.

We put our heart and soul (and sweat and paychecks) into making that house our home. We proudly invited family and friends into our home and into our lives. While our new house is amazing, it does not yet have the history to call our own. We still have the painting, hanging, crafting, hosting, celebrating, mourning, and inevitable cluttering to break this house in and make it our home.

As I find myself hanging out down memory lane, it is time to take a step back and remind myself that I am not attached our first home, but I am attached to the adventures we had and the life that we created in our home. It will take time to make memories in our new place, and I look forward to making the most of this amazing new house (with more than one toilet!) this fall and holiday season!

As we settle into our new home, that life that we create at 7860 moves with us eager to tackle the next amazing unknown adventure that awaits as we move on…

Confession of a *wannabe* blogger… Apparently my Loretto and Jesuit roots are telling me it is time for some serious self reflection, introspection, motivation and action!

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