Bringin It Back

I haven't blogged in so long. Since November. Work and life have just been so busy!
But I miss you, my blogging friends! I haven't even had a chance to even read any blogs the last few months. I miss that. 


Here's the last 6 months of my life.

In November, I worked my butt off for 2 craft shows I did for my Lemon Drop business. Did pretty well and sold some orders for Christmas at the same time. Then I worked the next month filling orders, baking yummy Christmas goodies, buying & wrapping presents, and just the general holiday craziness of it all.

Oh and 3 days before Christmas, I got the fun surprise of having my appendix out. Yay me. Thank goodness medicine has come a long way and God was taking care of me. I know many of you have probably had surgery before but the first time you go under the knife is kind of scary...especially when you don't have a choice.

Then in January, on top of my full-time job, I started working part-time for Weight Watchers. I haven't talked about Weight Watchers much, but they mean a lot to me in my life. I lost over 70 lbs to become a Lifetime member of WW. Now I want to give back some of my time to work for them and help other members who are trying to reach the same goal.

February, March & April were full of lots of birthday celebrations with my own, my husband's, his grandmother, his father, and my father.

So that's the basic recap of the last 6 months or so of my life.

And what of all those things I listed that I wanted to do the year I was 30? Looks like I did 12 of the 30. Not great but at least I accomplished some of them...I guess.

This is what I DID accomplish:

• Ran my first 5K.
• Went to Europe with the hubby.
• Paid off my student loans, this was SO freeing!
• On average, I've said the $200/month I wanted to save.  Saved less some months and more during other months. 
• Sewed some pillows.
• Enjoyed the sunset from our patio...behind which there are now lots of houses built.  :(
• Stayed at my WW Lifetime goal weight.
• Surprised my husband.  I didn't really plan anything major for this, I just tried to be more thoughtful and also buy him treats he would like from the store.  :)
• I read 5 (not 10) books from the Top 100 novels list.
• Mentor at a school.
• Go 30 days without using my credit card.
• Sew a small quilt.

 Considering that I hadn't blogged at all the last 3 months prior to turning 31, I was surprisingly only 6 posts short of reaching 52 posts/year which would equal 1 post/week, per one of the items on my list.

And I shall leave you with a fun outfit I put together on Polyvore. 
I love any variation of coral or orange this season!

  

 Stay tuned for pictures of my recent trip to the Kentucky Derby!!

  


I promise I'll try to blog more often!

Fall Favorites

Hey kids, I'm back! Did you miss me? Let me recap the last month and a half of my life for you. (For those not interested, skip ahead to some outfit pics which were really taken a few months ago).

At the end of September and into October, my hubby and I went to Europe!! We had SO much fun there! Started off at Oktoberfest in Munich, visited some German castles in lower Bavaria, visited the Koln Dom, got caught up in the charming city of Bruges, saw amazing art in Amsterdam, and had some of the most wonderful meals of my life!!

Best. Trip. EVER.

Plus vacations are always way more fun when 1) kids are in school and 2) you spend it with your best friend.

I need to post pics of our trip and I promise that is coming, but I still need some time to catch up on life.

Post Europe, I came back to craziness at work. Super busy and people freaking out while I was gone. Thanks for that, coworkers.

2 weeks later, we headed to New Orleans for the Voodoo music festival that we attend yearly.

The weekend after Voodoo, I was in my first craft show of the year (and actually made a profit, Woo hoo!)

Then work from home all the following weekend.

Then 2nd craft show and more profits, YAY!

Back to present day (which is only 2 days after 2nd craft show) and it's Thanksgiving week already! I'll be glad for the long weekend but I have lots of orders to fill from the craft show.

Next week, I have my family's (mom & 2 brothers, not twins) birthday to celebrate, as well as my mother-in-law's birthday party to host.

Maybe THEN I'll have some time to just relax. Ha. We'll see.

But really, I'm not complaining. I like staying busy. It's easier to prioritize what you need to do when you have a million things to accomplish. Don't you think?

In some crafty news, I have a few new projects I've been trying lately that I will share with you soon.

Thanks for remembering that I exist and stopping by.

Here are some outfit photos I found in the depths of my computer files.

When my hubby takes the outfit pics, I get about 3 total and he says,

"Done. See? It doesn't take 30 minutes to take pictures of your outfit."

Boys are funny.

light grey pinstripe jacket (GAP), free from garage sale

white/black polka dot top (Macy's)

red/black floral skirt (Ann Taylor)

electric blue heels (Kohl's), thrifted

Yep, Lucy snuck into that last photo.

She's always curious when I'm taking pics.

I'm so excited for Thanksgiving this week! Family fun, fabulous food, and (hopefully) fantastic football!

Then I'll stay up to start shopping at midnight on Black Friday. People think I'm crazy, but it's a tradition in our family. Even if I don't buy that much, I still like getting up early to do it.

Do you have any crazy/fun Thanksgiving traditions in your family? What are they?

Hope y'all have an amazing week!

30 at 30

I've been going back and forth on being excited and then saddened by my entrance into my 30s last week.

Almost everyone over 30 has told me it was their favorite decade!
And then most people under 30 just thinks that it's stinkin' OLD.

That's definitely how it makes me feel...like I'm not just a young woman. I'm a woman in my 30s. Woah.

Well I've decided that I'm not gonna let it get me down. Ya hear that, you 30 year-old body, you won't bring me down! So I've come up with a To Do List of sorts for some things I want to do in the next year.

Without further ado, here are 30 things I want to do at the age of 30.

1. Go to Europe with my hubby. We've already started making plans!

2. Run a 5K...maybe even a 10K but no promises on that one.

3. Make 30 sales on Etsy. Which really equates to putting more time into my business.

4. Pay off student loans.

5. Host a tea party. I really want to make some scones! Did that link make you drool a little?

6. Sew myself a skirt or dress...something I've said I would do for almost 2 years now.

7. Make my own cheese. Yep.

8. Read the Bible daily for 1 month.

9. Take a cooking class.

10. Save $200 a month for an emergency fund...and not spend the emergency fund on shoes, ha!

11. Go skydiving. I promised my husband I'd go again someday so why not now?

12. Make pillows. Something super easy to sew and I haven't done them yet. (Thank you, cousin, for asking me to make some.)

13. Enjoy the sunset on my back patio. I have no reason for not having done this.

14. Teach a sewing class. This doesn't have to be anything fancy, maybe just a class for friends.

15. Stay at my goal weight. I just want to be able to weigh in as a Lifetime Member of Weight Watchers for a year without paying a dime.

16. Surprise my husband once a month. This could mean anything really. Just doing something nice for him that's out of the ordinary.

17. Read 10 books from the top 100 novels list.

18. Volunteer at a food kitchen or shelter.

19. Make rolled out sugar cookies with Royal icing.

20. Sew a purse with zippers. I've made one bag with a zipper and nothing else...why do they scare me so?

21. Rock red lipstick for a night out. I was going to say all day but that might freak out people at work.

22. Go 30 days without using my credit card. I'm not in debt or anything, but I definitely rely on it too much a few days before the paycheck comes in.

23. Make creme brulee. I have no idea how to put the accents on the words from within Blogger.

24. Host a craft day at my house. Fun girly time for fun crafts.

25. Pamper myself once a month. Maybe get a pedicure or facial or just relax in a nice bubble bath while listening (falling asleep) to Norah Jones on my ipod. I'll be right back...

[2 pruny hours later]

26. Buy a DSLR camera. I want to be able to take better pictures for my business and for the blog. Plus I've wanted one for years. They're just cool.

27. Mentor at a school. I've been doing mentoring for a couple months and I just want to continue to do it. It's cool to connect with kids.

28. Make a (small) quilt. Another sewing project I've been putting off but want to make time to finish...ok, start.

29. Blog once a week. Just putting this out there makes me nervous. I feel the pressure already!

30. Take my dogs to the dog park at least 6 times. It isn't near us but it isn't that far either. And I think Lucy is old enough to (hopefully but probably not) behave herself. Even if she's bad, I know she'll have a blast.

Well some of these were serious, some silly, some possibly overly ambitious. I realized I couldn't make a list of 30 really intense things so I tried to break it up into lots of different types.

What do you think? I think my readers will have fun watching me attempt some of these things on the list.

Which is your favorite of the 30?