Goals, people!

Goals, deadlines, pressure. Whatever you want to call it I need it. Last year I purchased a beautiful piece of furniture, pictured below, with every intention of stripping, staining/painting, adding new handles and giving it a new home in my living room. It is to be the home for our television, DVDs, movies, etc.

That was in July....6 months ago July. Now it's January...and can you guess where this lovely find is located? Oh, what's that you say? Finished and in my living room, beautified for all to admire? Ummm, no. So far, I have stripped and sanded the top of the buffet...and it sits in our garage...and that's it. I know, lame.

So, in order to motivate me to make things happen my darling husband, SWL, offered up some encouraging promises. First, he says that if I can get the buffet finished and ready to move to it's new home in our living room we can get a new T.V.! I was like "Whoa! heck yes!!". And then he said, BUT (oh no, not the BUT) it has to be done by the end of January. Eh, reasonable.

Now, let's see...it's January 14 and have I touched the buffet? Ummmm, negative. So, the way I see it I need to step it up, turn up the pressure, set some goals, and start checking them off. Here we go, Project #1 2011 - Buffet revamp.
a- Strip buffet of any old stain/paint
b- Sand all elements of buffet to smooth surface as best I can
c- Remove old hardware
d- Decide on and purchase new hardware (aka handles)
e- Stain/paint buffet new color
f- Add new hardware
g- Put all the pieces together again, move upstairs to the living room

Seven steps. Seventeen days. That's a little more than 2 days per step. I can do this....I can.

This is the first project of 2011. There are several others that desperately need attention, but for now this is what will get my attention. What about you? Have you come up with projects, set goals? How do you make yourself stay motivated? Or should I say, who motivates you?

Tips are welcome, ideas are great, please keep 'em coming!

Until next time...

Did you know...

...mangoes = poison ivy/oak/sumac??


it's true folks...I normally never eat mango, never. And when I say never I mean I would turn my nose up from anything that even resembled a mango. But for the last two weeks that was my fruit of choice. It was all I wanted. Well, during that time I noticed some "bumps" around my lips, on my lips, an itchy throat....yuck! Thank you concealer. Turns out I am allergic to the delicious fruit. And even better when I looked up symptoms to verify what I suspected, I found this - "Mango sap contains a substance known as urushiol, which can cause a severe rash. This same substance is found in poison ivy and poison oak, members of the same plant family as the mango plant. Ninety percent of all Americans suffer from varying degrees of sensitivity to urushiol." (eHow.com) This is a lovely little fact considering that earlier this year (well last year, summer 2010) I discovered I happen to be in extremely allergic to poison Ivy/Oak/Sumac. So...FYI.

I will miss eating you Mr. Mango...

Until next time.

All wrapped up

Another Holiday season, New Year celebration....another year, all wrapped up. I really can't believe it is 2011, already. I feel like I just graduated from high school, just finished college, just got married... Time passes so quickly. I'm sure there were millions of resolutions made this New Year, usually all along the lines of eat better, work out, drop a bad habit, read more, etc. I won't lie, I'm right there with everyone else when it comes to cliche resolutions. In fact, mine were 3 of the 4 that I mentioned. But recent events, have forced me to push my focus in a different direction this year. While I still want to eat better, work out more, and all of that, I want to do it with different purpose.

Time does pass quickly and before you know it all the things we allow ourselves to get so wrapped up in aren't such a big deal anymore. The world has presented so many things to distract us from the simple beauty's, truth's, and joy's in life. It's easy to forget, or better yet...overlook, that which is supposed to mean the most to us. I am guilty. I need to refocus.

God, family, true friends, simplicity...this is where I resolve to keep my focus in 2011. I'm not saying it won't be easy to get distracted, it's always easy to stray. But I am entering the year knowing this is my goal and knowing that on the other end is real happiness.

I hope your New Year celebration was blessed and the blessing continues through the entire year. Resolutions are just decisions until they are put into motion. So it's time to get moving. Thanks for stopping in, until next time.

All that Hustlin' and Bustlin'

Well hello there...I know I know, its literally been forever. "W"...for whatevs. Things have been busy - around the house, at work, family, friends, Holiday hustling, etc. I haven't had time to make a post...I have thought about it and missed it...so I'm back (at least for now). I'll spare you all the details of trying to catch you up on what has been going on...here is a list of a few of the things that have happened in between the last time I posted and now.

Halloween
Sporting events (Skins, JMU Dukes, Wizards, Caps, etc.)
Training for work
Burkett Girls weekend
The first Annual Woodstock Turkey Trot (put on by our very own at RG (work) HQ!)
RG HQ Christmas Party
RG Company Holiday Party
Thanksgiving
Birthday Party celebrations
Holiday/Christmas parties ('tis the season)
And who knows what I am missing!!

Let's just say it has been a busy two months...and I am loving it. But now that Christmas is right around the corner (literally) and the tree is up, baking is constantly taking place, and the fire has been lit multiple times I am ready to start the slow down and snuggle into some quality family time at home! (During that quality time I plan to do a lot more organizing...I forgot to mention that I was all over that. I am determined to have at least all closets -aka- hiding places cleaned up for the New Year!) Here are just a few snapshots of what has been going on in my world. I hope you and yours are having a wonderful Holiday Season and it only continues to get better! :0)

Katie R and I at the Caps game! My first real hockey game!
Homemade Apple Pie for Thanksgiving!

Kylene and I at the JMU football game! Yea for big sunglasses and warmer weather!

The craft we all did for girls weekend. Homemade stuffed owls! They are now residing with my niece and nephew (T&E) :0) Great gift idea!!View from the corn maze we did as a Girls Weekend activity. We were all surprised we made it out...and as quick as we did.Girls weekend crew - from left to right - Abby, Linda, Lauren, Amy, Little Miss Ella, Yours Truly, & Kay! Here we are again at the Cafe' for lunch!SWL and I at the Redskins vs. Cowboys football game!! Go Skins!
Kylene and I (Riley too) at Halloween. All Alice in Wonderland'ed up!SWL and Mr. Tristan...bonding time over a haircut. Much of the conversation was coming from T and it went something like this..."Are we finished now?...Now?...Are we finished now?"
Lance and Laci! I cant believe little man is 5!! <3 style="text-align: left;">I can't even believe that all that (and some) has happened in just two months! I guess its true what they say...time flies when you're having fun! Hope to post again before the New Year...at least once...until then! :0)

After doing some reading, thinking, taking a 45 minute power walk to think it over some more and then feeling like I might have actually stumbled on the first piece to reaching my goal of being organized - I decided to write it down. Here it goes...

It starts with how you think, can you believe it? At least with me it does. My thoughts, how I view my organization (or lack there of) and my perception of others "organization". I throw quotations around the word organization here because of the following reason and this is exactly my first point. I find that often I compare my life to others and more times than not I allow myself to continually come out on the end of drawing the short stick. For example, it doesn't matter that the entire weekend I might've cleaned and straightened the house, planned the meals for the coming week, and washed the dog, come Monday if I see anyone that looks like they might be slightly more put together than I feel, I start comparing and losing. For all I know, the person(s) I am comparing myself to could have done nothing all weekend and be totally NOT put together and only look like the have it all figured out.

So this is my plan. My first step to "Organizing Me" is going to be changing the way I think and feel about the lists that I check off (completely or partially), the time that I spend relaxing, and how I stack myself up to those around me. Really, it isn't a competition...and it shouldn't feel like one! I do it to myself and its time to stop.

It's not necessarily about "coming out on top" when I compare, it's more about realizing that there are differences in everyone's life and accepting/appreciating what makes my own unique! I'm committed...I'm in need...and I'm ready! So for the rest of this week (and hopefully the rest of my life) I am going to make a conscious effort to change the way I think and look at my life compared to others.

Until next time...

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you are moving through the days, sun up - sun down, get up - go to sleep, everything is happening just as it should so you aren't really paying attention to what day it is? This week, that is me. Chugging along, making lists - checking them off, heading to work - filling in my timesheet and heading home.... I was just fine. Then the week decided to jump up and slap me right in the face as if I weren't paying enough attention to it. All day I've been thinking it was Friday...FRIDAY! Until, just now, while chatting with some friends I realized I still have half a day until I get to be excited about Friday! Hmmmph...total devastation.

I think this feeling really encompasses my entire Fall season thus far. I can't believe we are half way through the month of October, I can't believe Halloween is knocking at my door and I haven't even finished putting out all of out Fall/Halloween decorations (not to mention I haven't pulled together my costume yet?), I can't believe the family is already trying to make plans for Thanksgiving...and then Christmas?! I can't believe I have already started shopping for Christmas. Who does that? Now?

I feel like I have to plan ahead, but I want to slow down. When I take the time to sit and enjoy doing nothing, I feel guilty and 10 things come to mind that I could/should be doing. I have a planner in my purse, a ginormous planner stuck to the fridge, my blackberry calendar is full, there are post-its in every place imaginable as reminders for things I have to or might want to do...WHAT THE HECK? I've got all the supplies to be organized and yet I feel as if I am being swallowed by the "tools" that I have in place.

This is what I feel like now...

This is where I want to be...
Ahhh....doesn't that just make you feel good...

I need tips, real hard life tips for getting, being, and staying organized. We'll see where this goes...but over the next couple weeks (or months, it might take me the rest of the year to really get in a groove) I'm going to read up, listen up, and search out ways to live an organized life. I'll share what I find helpful and will be more than happy to take hints that might lead me in the direction I am so desperately seeking...so please, comment away!

Ha! I figured it out!

So, for some time now I have been wanting to add a "signature" to my blog...well folks...I figured it out! Here is the debut!

PS- I really do plan to share my latest crafting adventures...