15 for 2015 Check-In

It's September! I know I'm impatient, but I'm ready for everything fall. Plaid shirts, boots, cooler weather, fall leaves, candles, and of course ALL the pumpkin flavored things. I want all. of. it.

Here's how I'm doing on my 15 Things for 2015 so far:

1. Try 6 new recipes that aren't desserts (and post the review/recipe on here).Almost there! I tried out another Skinnytaste  recipe and tested using zucchini as noodles with this zucchini lasagna. It was more labor intensive than the other recipes I've tried, but it made a family-sized portion and was pretty darn good. You can see the other recipes I've made here, here, here, and here. 
2. Read 5 new books. Read 10 new books. Added What Alice Forgot to the list. It was a really interesting read, with the premise being that this woman falls down at the gym and can't remember the last 10 years of her life. I loved the ending, and it makes you think about how much time can change things. 
1. Bossypants by Tina Fey
2. Is Everyone Hanging Out With Me? by Mindy Kaling
3. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (seriously, SO good!)
4. First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen
5. The Vacationers by Emma Staub
6. What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
3. Try something that takes me out of my comfort zone. Turning this one into a list so I can keep track of everything that took me out of my comfort bubble this year. 
1. Pushing myself skiing (hello black diamond runs!)
2. Flying 8 (yes, freaking 8) times over the 6 day trip for work to Puerto Rico, Barbados and Trinidad. 
3. I'm still thinking there's an even bigger one though that I'd like to get to this year, which is TBD
4. Take pictures for at least 4 family functions. One more to go! 
1. Family Ski Vacation - Colorado
2. Little Brother's Graduation
3. Ashton's first birthday party
5. Hang pictures of family/friends on the walls (this sounds simple, but our home has had nearly bare walls...for almost 2 years). Completed! 
   
6. Send a birthday card in the mail to 3 6 friends/family members. No progress over the last two months, but still halfway there! I had sent 2 cards for Valentine's day to friends, and in June sent my BFF in Minnesota a b-day present and card.
7. Do an act of kindness. So far I paid for a person's coffee behind me, but it felt a little too easy.Still keeping this as incomplete. 
8. Visit 3 places I've never been before. Complete, with adding another one to the list! This ties in with #15, but we're visiting our friends that moved to Atlanta this month. I've only ever driven through the city, so I'm counting it.
1. Trinidad
2. Barbados
3. Puerto Rico
4. North Carolina
5. Atlanta
9. Follow a clean eating or whole 30 plan for a week (hopefully longer, but baby steps, right?) I've come close, but haven't done a true consecutive week of clean eating yet.
10. Work back up to running a 5k again, straight through. Completed this on the treadmill in July, but have yet to do it outside. Maybe with some cooler weather coming I'll be more motivated to run outside.
11. Blog at least 24 times. Almost there! I've definitely had a lull in the past 2 months, but I'm still on track to get to this number. 
12. Clean out/organize all of the closets in our house. Blech, my least favorite activity. I cleaned out part of our bedroom closet last weekend and got rid of some clothes we don't wear anymore, but it still needs a deep scrubbing. 
13. Surprise my husband in some way. The concert tickets I surprised him with are for tonight! He's pretty excited to go :-)
14. Do a house project.  We got the house painted/added shutters, but it feels a bit like a cop-out since we hired someone to do it. N and I went out and bought trim paint and plan on replacing all the trim/molding/doors upstairs with white to make it brighter. It's an undertaking, but hopefully we can knock it out in a couple weekends. I'll have to remember to take some before/after pictures!
    

    

    Before

    
    

    

    After

15. Go visit a friend that lives in another state. Going to Atlanta this month to see our friends. N and I are both so excited!

-A

Friday Five

Happy Fri-YAY! I'm so ready for this weekend. My brother turns the big 3-0 this weekend so my sister-in-law is throwing him a party tomorrow night. Adult beverages + family + BBQ = a good time. 

But before I get ahead of myself, here are my top 5 from the week!

1. Target curtains. This store has come up in 90% of my Friday Five's, but I can't get enough. I've been wanting to spice up our family room for awhile now by adding in curtains with more visual interest (we just had plain beige ones before). I score a big 0 in the decision making department, so I ended up buying 4 different patterns and hanging them all up at home before deciding on just one. Below is the winner, but the other contenders were this one, this one, and this one. 

Source

2. New lipstick. I'm in love with the Clinique Chubby Sticks, but since the one that I have decided to grow legs and walk away, I decided to splurge on a new lipstick. I picked up  Revlon ColorStay Ultimate Suede Lipstick in High Heels. It's the perfect bublegum pink, and although it's not as moisturizing as my beloved Chubby's, I'm digging the color enough to run with it.

3. Beauty Brands Liter Sale. I usually settle for Dove conditioner/shampoo, but I'm currently stocking up on salon-quality liters thanks to Beauty Brands. I've picked up a couple liters so far of Redken Blonde Idol Shampoo. I'm obsessed, and planning on stocking up on at least 4 more liters before the sale ends. It's sulfate-free, smells great and has the feel of a really high quality shampoo. 

4. All the chips and guac. N and I had a dinner date this week at our local Micro Brewery, and they had homemade guac as the special appetizer. It was seriously the best guac that I've ever had, and even though the appetizer was meant for at least 4 people, we definitely polished the whole thing off. I've been craving it ever since. 

Source

5. N being home this week. He was gone all last week thanks to a work training in Boston, so having him back has been amazing. We even went running together for the first time in ages on Wednesday, and are both thinking about getting back into running some 5ks/10ks coming up. Hanging out together completely unplugged from all technology is the best!

-A

15 Things for 2015: July Check-In

Hello and happy July 1st! I'm pumped for this holiday weekend. 3 day of relaxing with friends and family sounds marvelous.

Here's my progress report on my 15 Things for 2015 so far:

1. Try 6 new recipes that aren't desserts (and post the review/recipe on here).Finally got this to 4! I put my new Skinnytaste cookbook to good use and made her Bangin' Good Shrimp. It was delish, quick to make, and the sauce (which was to die for) was only 3 ingredients! I definitely need to try out another one of her recipes for this month.You can see the other recipes I've made here, here and here. 
2. Read 5 new books. Read 10 new books. I finished my 5th book last month, so I want to up this to 10 for the year. I think this is definitely do-able since N got me a Kindle Voyage for my birthday. I was so anti e-reader, but I can officially say I've seen the light! It's the perfect size, lightweight and it looks exactly like a book page. I'm kind of obsessed. 
1. Bossypants by Tina Fey
2. Is Everyone Hanging Out With Me? by Mindy Kaling
3. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (seriously, SO good!)
4. First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen
5. The Vacationers by Emma Staub
3. Try something that takes me out of my comfort zone. I could probably name off two big ones for me: pushing myself skiing (hello black diamond runs!) and flying 8 (yes, freaking 8) times over the 6 day trip for work to Puerto Rico, Barbados and Trinidad. I'm still thinking there's an even bigger one though that I'd like to get to this year...
4. Take pictures for at least 4 family functions. Two down, two more to go. I plan on taking LOTS of pictures for my nephew's first birthday this Sunday! Helloooo baby picture overload. 
1. Family Ski Vacation - Colorado
2. Little Brother's Graduation
5. Hang pictures of family/friends on the walls (this sounds simple, but our home has had nearly bare walls...for almost 2 years). Completed! 
   
6. Send a birthday card in the mail to 3 6 friends/family members. Halfway there! I had sent 2 cards previously, and in June sent my BFF in Minnesota a b-day present and card. The time spent at the Postal Office waiting in line was totally worth the sweet text she sent me after she got them!
7. Do an act of kindness. I paid for a person's coffee behind me a couple weeks ago, but it felt a little too easy. I'm keeping this one as incomplete for now.
8. Visit 3 places I've never been before. Complete! Our trip to NC was 7 days of pure bliss. I'm kicking myself for not writing a recap, but we had the most amazing, relaxing time with our friends. My next trip will probably be to Boston to visit N while he's training for his job up there, but I've been before so sadly this can't go on the list. 
1. Trinidad
2. Barbados
3. Puerto Rico
4. North Carolina
9. Follow a clean eating or whole 30 plan for a week (hopefully longer, but baby steps, right?)LOLOL. Yea, this hasn't happened. It needs to, but all the prep work for a Whole 30 diet (even if it's just 7 days) is a little intimidating. 
10. Work back up to running a 5k again, straight through. I think I've done 3.1 straight on a treadmill, but I can't remember. I'm regularly running at least 2 miles straight through, albeit slow, but I need to start pushing myself more to do the full 3.1.
11. Blog at least 24 times. Pretty sure this is complete? I'm too lazy to check, so I'll verify next month ;)
12. Clean out/organize all of the closets in our house. We haven't done any more in the last month or two, so I think we still have 2-3 more closets to go.
13. Surprise my husband in some way. I surprised N for our anniversary. For our 5 year we got each other bikes, but a week or so before our anniversary I found out one of his favorite bands is coming to our town. I bought the tickets and stuck them in the card, and he was definitely pleasantly surprised! 
14. Do a house project.  Done! We bit the bullet and got our house painted, plus added some new shutters to the 2nd story. I wish we could afford siding, but I was hoping that at least painting the house would make it more modern looking. I can't say I was 100% in love with it at first, but the new color has definitely grown on me!

    

    Before

    
    

    

    After

15. Go visit a friend that lives in another state. Still need to do this one! I'll be going to NYC, Atlanta or Minneapolis before the end of this year, NO exceptions!

-A

Five and Ten

It's hard to believe, but five years ago today I married this guy, and ten (TEN!) years ago we started dating.

First vacation together - 8 months dating

I mean, 10 years is no short amount of time. A decade. 3,650 days, 87,60 hours, 5,256,000 minutes. We've been together through high school graduations, college graduations, new jobs, new friends and really, new phases of life.  

Vacation 2015

I remember always hearing as our wedding was getting closer and closer that your wedding day is one of the best days of your life. I hoped it wouldn't be, not because I didn't want to have a beautiful and perfect day, but because I hoped there would be days in our marriage even bigger and better than that one day.

I can safely say I've had not just best days, but best years with N. Seeing him graduate college, and flourish in his career. Buying our first home and fixing it up to make it our own. Enjoying our days whether their spent on the beach on vacation, or on the mountains skiing, or simply at home, snuggled next to our dogs. 

Family pictures - 2013

The past 10 years have been, simply put, the best. Cheers, love, and happy anniversary.

-A

Lately

Well, as of late it seems that my posting speed has clearly slowed down. A lot of it is just needing a good prompt to get me going, and today I found one courtesy of one of my favorite blogs to read, PB Fingers. So here's some catch-up on what's been happening in my life lately. Feel free to play along and use the prompts yourself!

Lately I've been....

Making: Cake pops, cup cakes, chocolate chip cookies. I've been a baking monster for my family lately. I'm a sucker for the guys in my life, so when my little brother needed cookies as a finals snack one day and my older brother needed some for my nephew's school picnic the next day, I didn't hesitate to whip out my mixer and get to work. Add on top of that some fun and festive cake pops/cupcakes for little brother's college graduation party on Saturday and that's a full week of baking! 

Glitter cake pops for days

Wanting: New curtains for our family room. We have a grey/dark yellow area rug and  while I'm wanting to brighten up the space with some colorful curtains, I'm at a loss as to what would match it. Any ideas?

Looking: Forward to tomorrow, and really the whole month of June! Tomorrow N and I are leaving after work and driving up to Estes Park for a weekend getaway, and then in June we have my birthday, our 5 year wedding anniversary and our vacation to NC with all of our friends! It's going to be a fantastic month.

Feeling: Proud/happy/relieved. N's company announced in January they would be transitioning some positions (including his) to another company, but wasn't given a timeline or a sense of job security during that transition. With everything up in the air, he started feeling out other opportunities in the area, and started interviewing for an amazing position with another company. He was put through the ringer with 6 (yes, SIX!) total interviews spread over several weeks. It was definitely a roller coaster, but I'm happy to say it paid off as he got an offer and accepted the position!

Pinning: House color ideas. I love our home and how beautiful it is on the inside thanks to the renovations, but the outside still lacks some curb appeal. It's needing new paint regardless, so I'm hoping we can help give it a face lift by changing up the color, painting over the brick and adding some shutters. I love the idea of doing a grey all over with white trim/black shutters.

Source

Source

Knowing: I have 2 short months left until my little brother moves, and it's going to be hard. My older brother and I fought like cats and dogs growing up, but my little brother was always Switzerland, playing neutral and getting along with everyone. Since getting into our 20s, my brothers and I have formed a little trifecta, and I'm for sure going to miss it when he's gone.

-A

15 Things for 2015: May Check-In

Hola and happy Cinco de Mayo! Tonight my plans involve mowing the yard, and then going to a small fiesta with some friends and N. This month is already jam-packed with college graduations (my little brother!), a trip to Colorado over Memorial day weekend, and my dad's birthday. I'm looking forward to all of it!

Here's my progress report on my 15 Things for 2015 so far:

1. Try 6 new recipes that aren't desserts (and post the review/recipe on here).Still stuck at 3. I've been unmotivated to cook lately so I purchased the Skinnytaste Cookbook. This is a reminder that I need to actually try some of those recipes! You can see the recipes I've made so far here and here, and  here. 
2. Read 5 new books. I read First Frost on the flights during my work trip and it was a nice, light easy read. I definitely recommend it to someone that's looking for a fun book. Only one more to go and I've met my goal!
1. Bossypants by Tina Fey
2. Is Everyone Hanging Out With Me? by Mindy Kaling
3. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (seriously, SO good!)
4. First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen
3. Try something that takes me out of my comfort zone. I could probably name off two big ones for me: pushing myself skiing (hello black diamond runs!) and flying 8 (yes, freaking 8) times over the 6 day trip for work to Puerto Rico, Barbados and Trinidad. I'm still thinking there's an even bigger one though that I'd like to get to this year...
4. Take pictures for at least 4 family functions. I've officially got one down. I plan on taking about a million pictures when my little brother graduates in a couple weeks, so that'll get me halfway there!
1. Family Ski Vacation - Colorado
5. Hang pictures of family/friends on the walls (this sounds simple, but our home has had nearly bare walls...for almost 2 years). Completed! 
   
6. Send a birthday card in the mail to 3 6 friends/family members. 2 sent and 4 to go. Still waiting on some friend's birthdays/events to happen. 
7. Do an act of kindness. Stuck on this one....anyone have any ideas?
8. Visit 3 places I've never been before. Completed! I'm counting my work trip, which is kind of cheating, but kind of not (right?). North Carolina is next month, so I still have that one to add to my list!
1. Trinidad
2. Barbados
3. Puerto Rico
9. Follow a clean eating or whole 30 plan for a week (hopefully longer, but baby steps, right?)Ugh, a big fat nope on this one. I just can't motivate myself enough to give up carbs for 7 days (I know, horrible). Maybe this month? 
10. Work back up to running a 5k again, straight through. I ran about 2.5 miles straight through last week on the treadmill at the gym. I haven't been consistently training, but I think the other workouts I'm doing throughout the week are definitely helping me get back into shape. N and I signed up for a 5k June 5th so I've got a month to get myself to 3.1!
11. Blog at least 24 times. Definitely on track to get this one done! I don't remember the exact count I'm at now, but I've been posting at least 3-4 times a month. 
12. Clean out/organize all of the closets in our house. We FINALLY cleaned the office and office closet this month! Oh happy day! It's the one room in the house that is strictly N's since he works from home/on the road and I couldn't stand the way it was always so unorganized. We still had moving boxes with stuff in it - 2 years after we bought our house. I think my frustration finally hit the tipping point and he got the hint that we needed to tackle it. Now I think we have 2-3 more closets to go!
13. Surprise my husband in some way. Still stuck on this.....ideas?
14. Do a house project. Haven't done anything yet! We've been stashing all our extra funds towards student loans and mine are officially paid off! Now we just have to tackle N's :-/
15. Go visit a friend that lives in another state. Oh gosh, still need to do this one. NYC is at the top of my list, but one of my really good friends is moving to Atlanta this summer so there's another option. What to do...

-A

Friday Five

TGIF! N's been in Chicago for a training all week so it's just been me and the pigs pugs chillin' at the house. I also cracked my phone on Tuesday and spent a pretty penny getting it fixed, and this afternoon I get to make an impromptu visit at the vet because I'm 99% certain Daisy has an ear infection. Booooo unexpected expenses.

Anyways, here's the 5 things that helped me perk up my week, despite some mishaps!

1. The randomness of Emilio Estevez. Wednesday night my older brother was at happy hour with a friend and spotted Emilio Estevez. He snapped a pic of him and sent myself and my little brother the pic. This is how the text convo went from there:

Older Brother: Emilio Estevez is at Merchant's. I just bought him a beer.
Little Brother: He should've bought you a beer!
Me: Emilioooooooooooooo  
Little Brother: Why is he in Lawrence?
Older Brother: He's doing a coast to coast road trip.
Me: quack, quack, Quack, Quack, QUACK, QUACK

*I realize I'm the 5 year old that everyone ignores in this conversation, but I can't pass up a good Night at the Roxbury/Mighty Ducks reference.

2. Skinnytaste Blueberry Banana Bread. So, so tasty, and healthy to boot.

3. Old photo albums. One of my most treasured birthday presents I've ever gotten is a photo album from one of my BFFs about 15 years ago. This weekend my parents were going through some of our old bedrooms and pulled out the photo album for me to take home. I thumbed through it and all these years later it's still just as hilarious as the day I got it.

My dad pulled off the lumberjack look before it was cool.

BFF's dad

A whole page dedicated to the hotties of the late 90's/early 00's

Little brother! So hard to believe he'll be 24 this year.

4. New bedding. About a year ago when we were re-decorating our master bedroom I bought a big, fluffy white comforter for our bed. While it looked beautiful, it made it so N and I so hot at night we could hardly stand it. Luckily I just snagged this white Jersey quilt from Target and it's 1000x times lighter than the comforter, but just as pretty. Now I'm thinking we should probably get a nice throw blanket and maybe some decorative pillows to finish the look :).

5. Our new Notes Board for our fridge. N can be a little forgetful at times, so this is a good (and pretty) way of reminding him of what we need to accomplish for the week.

-A