Trying to un-neglect my blogs

Rocking out to Sherwood, Mae, and Taking Back Sunday

Falling in love with a regular yoga practice

Super busy with work

Attempting to turn our house into a home, without spending a billion dollars

Behind on Project Life

Obsessed with Spice Chai Lattes

Overwhelmingly excited for my Harry Potter bridal shower

Wanting to wear my wedding gown everywhere I go

Loving all things turquiose

Annoyed with my long hair

Lusting after a queen size bed

Obsessed with Spice Chai Lattes

Trying not to stress over final wedding details

Impatiently waiting for my washer and dryer delivery

Pumped for so many big things this year.

Where are you, currently?

Okay, so I know I said in my last post that I was going to forego traditional resolutions this year, and instead focus on my Happiness Project. I lied.

I’m still putting most of my focus on my HP from month to month, but after thinking more about it, I’ve decided to create just a few, but major, resolutions to work on throughout the whole year.

In no particular order:

• Be the best fiance I can be to Justin, and mold that into being the best wife possible
• Be content and stress less. Or as Justin puts it, smile more!
• Make our house feel like a home
• Document this year, so I will always remember the time leading up to the wedding, and the beginning of our marriage. (I’m using Project Life, and I’m really hoping I can stick with it!)

Everything else will be held within my Happiness Project posts, but I wanted to put these out there, as the “big ticket” items I’m reaching for in 2012!

What are you looking forward to this year?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Obviously January is the month when most people set their resolutions for the year. I’ve decided to instead, just continue with my Happiness Project, and then in September, when it’s over, decide how to proceed from there. I guess my overall resolution is to complete this project, and carry it on into the future!

I’m super excited about my January Happiness Project. It’s time to create (and rekindle) some friendships, and I have lots of stuff planned!

Here are my goals:

• Reach out. I don’t initiate plans with friends often, and unfortunately, I allow twitter, facebook, and texting to consistute communicating far too often. It’s time to have some real conversations!
• Listen/Stop Talking. I’m a talker, everyone knows that. I need to shut my mouth and listen to what is going on in everyone else’s life!
• Bring people together. We have quite a few different sets of friends, that we normally wouldn’t hang out with together. I’m excited to introduce some of them to each other!
• Make new friends. I need to find ways to meet new people in Pittsburgh! I still don’t know many people here, and it’s sad.
• Show up. A lot of times, when I get invited to do things, I choose to stay home with myself. It’s time to say yes and show up at events where my friends will be!

Here are just a few things I hope to have going on this month:

• Housewarming party! What better way to bring people together?
• Book Club. I’ve been trying to start a book club with some of the” significant others” of Justin’s friends. Everytime we’re together we talk about all loving the same books, so it’s time to make it official. We’re going to start with Divergent, since we all loved the Hunger Games!
• TPA Dinner. My sorority sisters get together once a month for dinner and I’ve never been able to go. This time, I’ll be there!
• Girls Night with Maggie and Jess. It’s a monthly event that hasn’t happened in a couple months. I miss them!

Did you set any new year’s resolutions for 2012? What goals are you setting for yourself this month?

I didn’t focus nearly as much on my Happiness Project goals as I should have this month. I could have done better. I know that, and I plan to fix it for January.

That said, here are the health and wellness goals I set for myself:

• Get back into Yoga. I’d like to go at least 3 times this month.
• Half-Marathon Training. Follow the schedule!
• Bed Readiness – Get off the computer earlier, slow down, get relaxed and into bed by 10:30.
• Expand eating horizons – Try one new food every week for the month (Can you believe I NEVER tried a tomato until last summer?)
• Floss everyday. I seriously need to start doing this.
• Wash face every night. Again, why don’t I just do this?
• Drink lemon water everyday. A while back, I read an article in Whole Living, that this is really good for your digestive system. Since I have dealt have stomach problems my whole life, I thought it might be a good thing to try.
• Ab Ripper X twice per week. Get a jump start on my bikini figure for the honeymoon next summer!

Here’s how I did:

• I didn’t go to yoga a single time.
• We are right on schedule with half-marathon training! Sometimes we switch the days up, but the weeks end up how they should so it’s fine. Tonight we run 2.25 miles!
• I actually did okay with bed readiness, but maybe on accident? The move exhausted me so much that I’ve been in bed before 10 most nights!
• I didn’t try a new food every week, but I did try some new food, including mussles and brussel sprouts. (The sprouts weren’t horrible, but I will not be eating another mussel anytime soon!)
• I flossed about four times this month. Oops.
• I showered at night more, with the running schedule, but I didn’t wash my face on the nights in between, which I really really need to start doing!
• I didn’t drink more lemon water than I normally would have. I order it at restuarants, but didn’t drink it at home.
• We only did Ab Ripper X one time. Have you ever done it? Holy crap.

So, as you can see, I was quite the failure this month. I’m not upset about it though. We’ve had a hugely busy month and if I got mad everytime I didn’t complete a goal, I’d give up on making any goals. I’m happy with the things I did do, and I’m really glad we’re on track with the running schedule. It’s super important to me to accomplish that big life list goal. I do plan to roll the other things into January, and hopefully I’ll start really doing some of this stuff!

Did you set any goals for yourself this month? Did you accomplish them?

(via)

I hope you have a wonderful holiday weekend surrounded by those you love.

xoxo

As always, thank you Nora for hosting!

What I’m w(h)ining about

* Moving is exhausting. I’ve been in bed by 9PM the last three nights in a row, and I still can’t seem to get caught up on sleep.

* Moving is also expensive. Who wants to take us on a Lowe’s shopping spree? Anyone?

What I’m loving

* Living in our new house! It’s amazing!

* Christmas is three days away. I cannot explain how much I love everything about this holiday.

* Bailey snuggles. We got him groomed recently, and it’s too short for the cold weather. We put him in a little sweater so he’d stop shaking, and he won’t leave my lap.

* Working from home. Since most people in my office took off this week and next, I’ve been able to work from home more. It’s lovely.

What are you loving this week? And what has you reaching for a glass?

I’ve been off this week, and mostly due to what is commonly known as first world problems. If you don’t know what I mean by that, keep reading, I think you’ll catch on.

• I really wanted to participate in Oh How Pinteresting Wednesday, but my office blocked Pinterest.
• I really wanted to participate in Wine and Love yesterday, but my office had a holiday luncheon/surprise baby shower, and I didn’t get a chance to blog at work.
• Our landlord only gave us 12 hours (overnight, so really like 2 hours) last weekend to get our apartment clean, so she could show a potential new tenant.
• The new tenants loved it and want to move in by December 27th, meaning we have to be out sooner than we requested, but our landlord isn’t giving us any kind of discount on our break-lease fee even though we’re moving out early to help her out!
• Our landlord also gave us that same amount of time last night to get our apartment clean again so she can come inspect it, since she won’t be able to see it when we move out right before Christmas. Please note, this probably determines how much of our security deposit we’ll get back. I’d have liked a little more time for that!
• We haven’t even started packing, and we’re hoping to close on the house Wednesday.
• I’m two days behind on half-marathon training, because I’ve been too emotionally drained to do it. Now I have to catch up tonight and tomorrow, so I can be back on track by Monday.
• We have to do every single piece of laundry we own before we move out, because the washer and dryer we bought is back-ordered until January or February.

I suppose that’s enough complaining about things that aren’t really that big of a problem. I just needed to vent for a minute. Sorry you had to listen, if you chose to stick around and read all that!

What kind of first world problems are you dealing with today? We can wallow together.

Originally when I layed out my Happiness Project, I was going to make December a month all about Friends, but I’ve decided to switch it up a bit. I have some things coming up in January that will be perfect on the friend front, so I’m going to push it back a month. Coincidentally, my January goals were about health and wellness, which just happens to mold right in with the marathon training schedule that Justin and I started this week, so it’s a perfect swap.

Here are my healthy goals for December:

• Get back into Yoga. I’d like to go at least 3 times this month.
• Half-Marathon Training. Follow the schedule!
• Bed Readiness – Get off the computer earlier, slow down, get relaxed and into bed by 10:30.
• Expand eating horizons - Try one new food every week for the month (Can you believe I NEVER tried a tomato until last summer?)
• Floss everyday. I seriously need to start doing this.
• Wash face every night. Again, why don’t I just do this?
• Drink lemon water everyday. A while back, I read an article in Whole Living, that this is really good for your digestive system. Since I have dealt have stomach problems my whole life, I thought it might be a good thing to try.
• Ab Ripper X twice per week. Get a jump start on my bikini figure for the honeymoon next summer!

We haven’t been serious about exercise since June, and I’m so excited to get back into it. (I also never expected myself to say something like that!) I’ve kept up on eating well for the most part, but before this week, I’ve gone to the gym two times since June. We’ve gone twice this week, and I can already feel a difference in my energy level. I know I sleep better when I’m consistently working my body, and I hope that by the time June 30th comes, I’ll be in the best shape of my life, for the best day of my life!

What goals are you setting for yourself this month? Anyone else training for a half??

Before I recap my happiness project for this month, it’s also time to recap NaBloPoMo. It’s coming to an end, and surprisingly I’m sort of devastated about it! I’ve had so much fun posting everyday, and it certainly rekindled my love for this space! I don’t think I’ll continue to post every single day, but I’ll definitely be here way more often than I used to be :)

Did you try NaBloPoMo? Did you succeed? Are you sick of blogging now, or are you loving it even more, like I am?

Now onto my Happiness Project. This month was all about focusing on us. Justin and I really want to have a a strong foundation beneath this marriage, and we spent a lot of time this month working on that. We didn’t complete everything on the list, but what we did do had a positive effect, and I know we will continue to build as the wedding approaches. Most importantly, we solidified the fact that we are in this together, no matter what.

Here are the goals I set for us:

• Read a book on building a strong foundation before marriage. I need suggestions! I’m considering this or this.
• No snapping. We still don’t fight, but there has been a lot of this going on lately.
• More talking. About the real stuff.
• Re-instate Date Night. What used to be a weekly occurance, stopped when other things became more important. We need to make this a priority again.
• Set up our wedding registry. We think this will be something really fun to do together this month!
• Design our Save the Dates! Again, something fun to work on together.
• Begin our pre-marital counseling. We got a good deal on a 90-day online class to take, and we think it’ll help us get on the same page with stuff like money and babies :)

Here is what we did:

• No snapping. I didn’t do fantastic with this, but I didn’t make an honest effort to keep myself in check. We had a much better month than the past few, and I know it’ll get better from here.
• More talking. About the real stuff. We had some good, albeit tough conversations this month. I felt more comfortable telling Justin how I really feel, and he opened up some too. Again, something we need to keep working on, but it’s getting better.
• Re-instate Date Night. We tried to spend one night each week just with each other. Once we went out to dinner and a couple nights we cuddled up with a movie. It’s hard to do on a budget, but we’re making it work.
• Set up our wedding registry. We still need to go back, but we got a good start on it.
• Design our Save the Dates. I designed them in my head, and I know exactly what I want. I just need to make it work in photoshop, or find someone else who can. They’re going out in January, so I have to get this done in December!
• Begin Pre-Marital Counseling. We’ve done two sessions and both helped us open up a little. I’m looking forward to the rest of them!

Overall, this month really helped us. We’re learning how to love each other the way we each need it, and we’re trying hard to communicate better. We both realize there are things we do that we shouldn’t, as well as things we need to do more of. It put us closer to the same page, and with a little more effort, I think we’ll be in the perfect spot.

Did you learn anything about love this month? Or, if you set different goals, did you reach them?

and his answer was “pizza”. Then he spent the next five minutes expanding on all the things I could write about pizza. It was cute.

Needless to say, I’m not going to blog about pizza, because I like mine plain, and that’s pretty boring. But the excitement in his voice as he gave me that response did give me the idea to write about all the things I love about him instead. Please excuse the schmoop.

• I love that when I don’t feel good he’s the best nurse ever. He always makes sure I take medicine if needed, rubs my tummy when it hurts, and puts cold washcloths on my forehead when I have a headache.
• I love that even when I’ve had the worst day ever, he can find a way to make me laugh through my tears.
• I love that every single night after work, he picks me up, puts me on the kitchen counter, and kisses me.
• I love how dedicated he is to staying healthy, and motivates me to do the same. He has completely revamped my eating habits.
• I love the traditions we’re creating together. Like driving through the Hartwood Acres Festival of Lights every Christmas, and eating at Chili’s every May 8th to re-live our first date.
• I love that my parents told us they can tell he’ll always have my back.

I could go on and on, but I’ll end with this. More than anything else, I love that he could have had any girl in the world, but for whatever reason, he chose me.

<3