Thoughts on Thursdays

Making love last.

This is a reflection from a series at our Church. If you are craving a feeling or emotion with your significant other, put it into action. Actions produce feelings. Loving deeds produce loving feelings. It's easy to act our way into a feeling, but not so easy trying to create a feeling to produce an action. For example if we want to be more appreciated, we need to appreciate first. Giving appreciation to my husband not only satisfies him, but it makes me feel good too. It would be difficult for me to stir up a false sense of feeling appreciated in order to initiate that action.

I know what you're thinking. Sometimes I don't feel like being the first to appreciate, or fulfill whatever need it is at the moment. Sometimes I want to be appreciated first. Sometimes I don't want to appreciate period! But let me ask you this. Do you think Jesus felt like coming to earth? Do you think he felt like leaving the comforts of heaven-the perfect comforts of heaven to hang on a cross?

He did it out of pure, amazing, agape love for us. Sometimes we have to do things we don't want for the ones that mean the most to us.

S0 in everything, do unto other's as you would have them do unto you. Matthew 7:12

25 days of Joy day 3: today I found joy in the perfect example of love I was reminded of.

Bargain Shoppers...

get to Target! They have some really great clearance items right now. I scoured a few tank tops {some cute-sy & some regular tanks} for $2. I'm trying to find a few staple clothing items now for our trip before all the new summer items come out and are ridiculously over priced. I gave myself an allowance {1 session's worth} and was able to stay well under it and get all the things I wanted {cute breezy tank tops, swimsuit, flats, comfortable walking shoes, sunglasses...it will be HOT in France in July} thank you Target & Marshalls! I also got a few pairs of shoes for $6. I love Target for this reason. *hint* Their shoes rotate VERY often, so if you see a pair you like, wait. They will go on sale, and then clearance very soon. I think the rotation is 2.5 weeks {at least at our Target} and I can't honestly remember the last time I bought ANY pair of shoes for over $9. This includes Tennis shoes, boots, heels, flats, anything. We've been sticking to a really tight budget and not buying any extras so it was fun to splurge a little. I'm curious if there are any crazy couponers out there. This lady is a good example. She swears she's never paid for items like toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, or other household items in over 3 years due to stacking coupons, and she pays minimal amounts for groceries. Her blog is crazy. That would be awesome, but it seems like a lot of work to me {you have to seek out many coupons, but she swears it pays off} **update, she posts weekly deals with printable coupons on her site so check it out if you are looking for a deal/coupon! So I'm curious if I know anyone who does this. I have questions for you =) I'm not talking about the person who clips coupons every week and uses them religiously, I'm talking about the person that will use 4-5 coupons per 1 item. E-mail me if you do!

25 days of Joy {yesterday} I found Joy in the sunrise that cast an orange glow in our bedroom. I love waking up to a shining sun! Thank you Jesus!

Ramblings.

I went to dinner last night with Mama & Al at the Nova in Hudson. It was a cute, quaint little eccletic place with really good food. In the summers they have an outdoor patio with live music. We got a table that was literally connected to a fireplace and it was so cozy and warm. It would be a perfect spot for a date too. I recommend it. Onto the funny stuff.

Whenever we go out it's a given that something is going to happen. Strange experiences seem to magnetize towards us. So-naturally when we were seated and discovered the Ukrainian women on a date behind us was a mail order bride, we were not surprised. Let's just say it entertianed us the entire evening. She probably had five english words in her vocabulary, and the man she was with had to explain things to her like 9 times in hopes that each next try would be an ephipany and she would suddenly understand his english. Eventually he moved onto charades and hand movements to explain everything. He would get frusterated and she would just giggle. It was quite the show. They would go from periods of intense stare downs (their faces inches apart) for minutes of silence to charades and more hand movements. I think the waitress came back 4 times before they ordered because she kept asking for things they had in the Ukraine that are not in America. Eventually they finished eating, she put on her enourmous hooded fur coat, and they left. Just thought you would enjoy that story.

Tonight is date night! We are headed to IKEA and REI for a bookshelf and some backpacking/travel items for our trip to France. I can't wait. I've been wanting a new bookshelf for over a year now. We have a teeny tiny one in our bedroom that is jam-packed+double layered. I'm a book-a-holic. I have a hard time refraining from taking them home with me. To be fair--I buy them for like 2 cents {literally} on amazon or like a buck from thrift stores, so I don't spend a lot of money on them, but I have many. So hubby is buying me a home for all of them tonight, and this will help immensly with our organization {we plan on getting a large one so we can also fit pictures and other items on it} We'll post images if/hopefully when we find the one & get it put together! We've been busy bees this week+I am looking forward to some alone time with Jay tonight.

xoxo.

Live the Fancy Life.

I was so smitten when Jessica of Live the Fancy Life asked me to be her next 'fancy feature' on her amazing blog. Check it out here. It went live today.

She writes a blog about living the fancy life no matter where you live, how much money you have, or who your friends are. It's very cute, fancy & fitting!

25 days of Joy.

I love when I can check things off my to-do list...especially when they are 'housekeeping' items that I don't necessarily want to do. I am happy to report that as of yesterday, my passport is on the way to getting it's little last name changed!! I had been putting this off FORever...well, obviously since the wedding. Since we had no immediate plans to travel abroad I decided to wait. It's probably the one item on our list that I was not looking forward to. Anyways-I dug out all the necessary documents to prove that I really AM married and my name IS really legally changed, drug myself to take new passport pictures {why do they always turn out awful?} and then happily jammed it in the outgoing mail. Phew! So glad that's done.

We had another craigslister over last night and she cleaned up a lot of our items from our downsize sale...it was pretty much awesome. We are so pleased with how it's been going & so happy to say goodbye to our clutter. We may have another coming tonight to take a look too.

I bet you are wondering about the title of my post, eh? I find myself a little depressed that winter is still here, and I have no immediate warm weather vacations planned {Jay is going to Florida with his baseball team!}...so I am going to delve back into the simple things in my life that I love, and swim around for awhile until springtime. Starting today I'm going to share a simple thing each day that brings me joy. I'll do this for 25 days and that will take me to about April, when I hope spring will start to bloom. If anyone wants to join me on my 25 days of Joy I would love you to link your site in the comment sections of my post!

25 days of Joy: today I found joy in my fresh spring rolls from the little thai store by my work. They are so fresh and delicious and I love knowing that I am treating myself to something healthy+good at the same time.

Weekend updates.

Yet another weekend that went by too quickly. I was lucky enough to get some sister time on Saturday and had Al all to myself for the afternoon! We had lunch together and then headed to the spa for some girl time. We got manicures and facials and loved every minute of it together. I cherish these times together because I know that soon enough, she'll be in Florida and we'll only see each other a few times a year. Oh my, I'm already tearing up typing this. I don't know what I'll do when August arrives....what a precious little person she is to my heart.

Jay & I have been trying out a new church and are happy that we finally have found a place where we feel at home. Today the service was incredible and so uplifting-it really spoke to my heart and answered some questions that I had pondered for awhile. I really felt like God was speaking directly to me. I love that feeling. Afterwards we had a cozy date and shared lunch at this adorable little deli near our home. We delved into some serious life discussions and shared some soul searching. It was a really great afternoon. He headed off to a booster club baseball meeting after dinner and I spent the evening with Mama and Al.

I'm off to bed.

I can't help but feel like the luckiest girl in the world tonight.

xxoo sweet dreams.

Friday night.

Tonight I'm headed to Twilight flow yoga & then the rest of the night is open. I love Friday nights like this. I used to jam pack my schedule, making sure that each weekend I had plans and things to do. The older I get, the more I enjoy my free time. My night will probably be filled with green tea, creative flow, writing, catching up on my favorite blogs, glee, and my comfy bed =) I can't wait. Jay's got some plans with friends so I may or may not see him until later tonight, and either is perfectly fine with me since I selfishly didn't share him at all last weekend!
Oh and I'll probably be doing some daydreaming. Yes, this afternoon I finally booked our europe trip for this summer. I am so so excited. We've decided on the South of France for our 14 day eurotrip. I am so so excited that I can hardly sit still. I've never been to this part of France before, and I've heard it holds some of the most beautiful scenary and culture in all of Europe. We'll be starting in familiar territory {Paris} since Jay hasn't been there before. Then we are heading to the beaches of Normandy, full of rich history from World War II. The rest of the vacation will be spent in the South of France in the French Alps. Here are a few images from the places we'll be visiting.

I am excited for a little 'me' time tonight. Have a blessed weekend!

Thoughts on Thursdays

Be content.

How many times a day do we wish for something we don't have, something more? I am guilty of this, probably on an hourly basis. And yet, my life is filled with blessings and I am more fulfilled than I ever dreamed I could be. I have food on my table and clothes on my back. I have a job and a car that runs. I own a home. I have an amazing family and supportive friends. I have good health. I have a marriage that thrives and a man that only has eyes for me and my happiness. I have a God that loves me. I do not go without-so why would I ever want more? I need to keep my self grounded in my marriage and continually thankful for what I do have, and not what I don't. I want to be able to satisfy my husband by showing him that together, we have everything we need. I am holding myself to my conviction and striving to be content!

Godliness with contentment is great gain. 1 Timothy 6:6

Pratt-Taber Inn.

What a wonderful weekend we had! We highly highly recommend visiting Redwing if you have the chance. We ended up staying at the Pratt-Taber Inn and are so glad we did. If you have never stayed at a bed and breakfast-give it a shot! It's kind of become our thing, and each new b&b is completely different from the rest. This one was definitely our favorite by far. This particular inn was built in a restored 1876 {gorgeous} home. Everything in the inn was bought from estate sales, which is totally up my alley. I loved the shabby, vintage & homey feel to the place. It only has four rooms, which means you get extra pampered by the inn-keeper. When we checked in we were the only guests there. She gave us a bottle of champagne, and each night a basket full of goodies {homemade brownies, chocolate dipped strawberries, cookies, etc.} She really went out of her way to make our stay cozy & romantic. Our room was comfy and cozy with it's own fireplace and claw foot bath tub. It was so nice and luxurious that we had a hard time leaving!

Friday night we went our for mexican food & margaritas, and then headed back to the inn for a couple games of scrabble and some good old-fashioned 'go fish'. It was a blast! We ventured out later to the St. James Hotel, just a few blocks away.

Saturday my sweet hubby surprised me with a massage. I was so excited since I have been pretty stressed at work. We had to get up early but it was totally worth it, and afterwards he let me take a long hot bath back at our inn. It was really great to have some time to unwind. Breakfast was amazing-hearty cinnamon french toast with thick maple bacon, gouda-stuffed sausage, strawberries and hand squeezed juice. We don't usually eat unhealthy {but delicious} breakfasts, so it was a real treat for us! We discovered that Debbie, the innkeeper, is an amazing cook. Saturday afternoon we spent visiting the tiny & adorable shops of Redwing. We went thrifting and popped into some stores on mainstreet. Saturday night we had dinner at Norton's Downtown & The Lucky Cat Lounge on mainstreet. It was seriously the best meal either of us had ever had. We shared a winter salad with mixed greens, caramelized onions, and Japanese pears served with a goat cheese dressing. For dinner we both had Grilled Pork Tenderloin with caramelized Braeburn apples, a tart cider reduction and goat cheese with Yukon Gold potatoes. It was delectable! If you ever visit Redwing, make sure you eat at Norton's. They have live music on weekends too.

Sunday we slept in and took our time getting up. We headed home in the early afternoon and enjoyed the rest of our vacation at home. It was the perfect, perfect weekend. We are already planning our next getaway to the Pratt-Taber Inn. Here are a few photos from the weekend.

The front of the inn.

The spring room. So bright & cheery!

The amazing & adorable kitchen.

Downtown Redwing.

The Autumn room.

We were both sad when our vacation came to a close. It was one of the best weekends we've spent away together and a really special Valentines. I am one blessed girl =)

Home.

We are back from our valentines weekend and had a fabulous time. For now we are off to a chipotle lunch date and a movie, enjoying our last day of vacation together. Time to get out of bed! But it's so relaxing here...updates on our weekend later!

Gator Nation...

Just added the sweetest addition to their freshman class this fall.

Yep, my talented, amazing, gorgeous, brilliant brainiac baby sister got accepted into the University of Florida. She is officially a Gator! Only about 5% of out of state applicants make up the student body which is about 50,000. My heart is bursting with pride. Way to go Aly-boo.

I have a feeling many, many trips to Florida are in store for us

in the next four years =) Yes, I'm excited...let a sister brag.

I can do everything through Him who gives me strength. Phil 4:13

Chaos.

Right now there is a company from Japan that flew in to interview my Dad, and three reporters and their camera crew in the office. This is my life for the past month-lots of media coverage, publicity, and stressful deadlines, meetings, and appearances to keep up. It's very exciting for our business, but very taxing and stressful on me as an individual. That combined with preparing taxes is enough to drive me insane. Just thought I would shed some light on why I've been a little crazy lately. And now you know why I am looking forward to this weekend so much...a little break from reality.

I just had a drive by pick up and sent away more of our stuff to a starry eyed craigslister. She was unusually excited about a planter and vintage spice tin we had for sale. Hilarious. She couldn't stop talking about how excited she was to plant in them. She may or may not have a been a little cuckoo. Little moments like these are the only thing that keeps me sane during the day. Another $50 to put into our 'downsize sale' envelope, nice!

Last night I had dinner with a good friend and have not laughed that hard in quite awhile. Although the rest of the day was extremely hectic, I was so thankful for a few hours of laughter + girlfriend time. What a blessing she is in my life. Oh and I got my hair did. Yes, I am a happy happy girl. Although I was half an hour late to my appointment due to traffic (go figure-the worst traffic I've had all year on the day I actually have an appointment) she still fit me in. I haven't had my hair done since August....it had been far too long.

Enough talk. I'm off to finish up my work and then hopefully I can scoot out early today. I hope you all have a blessed Valentines weekend!

Happy hearts day.

Thoughts on Thursdays

Learn as you go.

We're still new to marriage and I am amazed at the things that we don't know how to do together. Do you ever feel like there's just so much stuff to know? I do. Instead of trying to figure everything out, we just go with the flow, learning together as we go. I finally learned that it's ok not to have everything together. It's good to constantly be learning something new. I feel so content knowing that I have his hand to hold and I feel safe that if I stumble as we go, he won't laugh. He'll just pick me back up and carry me until I can stand again. Cherishing our blessings extra today.

breath deep.

Just a few short days away from a getaway with hubby, & I couldn't be more excited. This has been a tough month work-wise and I'm so so so looking forward to a three day weekend. We plan on packing up a few board games, a deck of cards, a bottle of wine {maybe some champagne!} and heading out to a romantic little B&B to hibernate for a few days. We have plans to possibly see a show, and some fancy dinner reservations. Jay is planning our day on Saturday so I have no idea what is in store for me. I do know that on Friday we are heading to a fun pub at the St. James Hotel, a historically famous boutique hotel for some live music and hopefully, dancing ;)

::Other updates:: the downsizing process has been amazing! We had some craigslisters over last week and we sold a lot of our items. We were thrilled when some of our bigger items went that we thought no one would be interested in, but wanted to try selling anyways {two old comforter sets, a set of three antique vanities-that we got for free, by the way, etc.} We also sold many small items that were just sitting around. After each person left, we literally would look at each other and be like, "Can you believe someone just bought that from us????" Sometimes we feel like people are paying US to take away our excess 'crap'. What a great feeling! It's amazing what people will see as treasure when you see it as trash. It has been really funny. We are quite enjoying the process and are excited to see where it takes us. More on that later.
Jay started off his training with a strong four mile run with very good timing, which makes me feel even more nervous. I'm more of an elliptical trainer right now, so I'll go for about 5 or 6 miles on a pretty high level, and then jump on the treadmill and run for a mile. I don't know why but I'm too scared to just go right to the running. I think tonight I'm going to try running first and see how far it takes me. I always feel like I need to warm up before jumping into something like a 4 mile run. Basically I'm a baby. We'll see how this goes. This is how I feel right now.

I think this weekend will be just what I need to re-focus and get back on track mentally & emotionally. Here's to a great weekend! xoxo

Surprise!

We started the day off with some cross-country skiing at a park near our house. It was a gorgeous sunny day and the temperature was just perfect for spending some time outside. Actually, we got quite heated because cross-country skiing is hard work. What a great work out! We were both very tired and sore afterwards. We were able to ski through the woods & trails and it was so peaceful and nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. I'm much more accustomed to downhill skiing so this was really a different experience. It made me miss all the years we spent in Colorado skiing as a family! It was so nice to spend some time outdoors too. The best part was, we borrowed the skiis from my Dad so it was entirely free!Next we headed to the movie theatre to see Dear John. It was a nice change of pace because skiing wore us out. After the movie we headed to one of our favorite date spots, cupcake. They are a cute little shop in St. Paul that makes (dozens) of different kinds of cupcakes fresh each day. I picked up some last week for my sister's birthday. They are soooo delicious, and it's fun to pop in because you never know which cupcakes will be available that day. They also have a cafe menu that has a lot of organic choices on it. They make soups and breads from scratch & serve breakfast all day. I recommend the Apple brie sandwhich, it's to die for! It's an adorable little place and if you are looking to try something new, check it out!
After cupcake we were planning on making it to uptown to celebrate a friends birthday, but we made a pitstop first in Minneapolis to see Keith & Bobby's new apartment. It was so fun to see these guys and hang out with them for a few hours. They ended up joining us in uptown too, which was really fun. It was also fun to see my friend Megan and Keri and celebrate with them. We are so blessed with wonderful friends.
Date day was a big success! On Saturday we also signed up to run a 7k race in March with Keith and are pretty excited {jay} and nervous {me} about it! We are starting to train this week. We've been working out almost everyday for the past 4 weeks, but have not run any long distances. I am really excited about the challenge though and it will be good motivation for continuing to keep me working out. If anyone wants to join us, let me know! It's only about 4 miles long and it would be fun to have friends to run with!

It's a good day.

Ready? Are you ready to hear it? ......I got a raise! As I headed out the door for work this morning, I knew I had a lot to get done today. It was one of those days that although you know it's Friday, you're not sure if you can handle what the day will bring. At 10 am we met with our financial advisor for work who is also taking over our personal finances as well. I was eager to talk with him. He went over my retirement plan through work in detail so I would understand everything and we also set up some personal accounts for hubby and I. To my surprise, my Dad {who was in the meeting to go over his own finances} gave me a raise to put towards our retirement {or do whatever we wish}. Thanks Dad!

I had been feeling particularly guilty about not tackling investment issues for the past few months. There is so much pressure these days to save, save, save while we are young- that sometimes it's very overwhelming. Save what? how much? where is it safe? So we kind of put it on the back-burner for awhile. I was also really hesitant about finding the right person to counsel us. After meeting with my Dad's investor, I knew we had found our guy. He is an older gentleman who has over 20 years of experience in investing and he really knows the ropes. He is very sharp and he looks at our investments on a daily basis and calls us if we need to make a change. Talk about peace of mind. We knew of a few people in the investment business but they were all in their 30's and we just weren't comfortable with their level of expertise. We want our money in the hands of the experienced. So we are switching over our current IRA/SEP accounts to his hands and we are going to tackle retirement & investing together. I am giddy.
Twilight yoga tonight, of course. I can't wait to put on my yoga pants and stretch out my tense joints. I have been looking forward to it all week. Tomorrow is my surprise date planned for hubby, and I know he'll love it. I am looking forward to some quality time spent with my number 1. I'll try and take some pictures to share of our lovely day.

thank you Jesus for our happy little life blessings. we are non- deserving, but thankful just the same.

Thoughts on Thursdays

Encourage.

Last night I missed my thoughts on thursdays post because I really wanted to work on a project I have going on. I had a deadline to meet a specific goal, and hubby encouraged me to go for it. He gave me a few hours of alone time & peace and quiet to work while he stayed downstairs. Instead of complaining about it-he enouraged me because he knew it was really important in my eyes. That really meant a lot to me... and oh yeah, that deadline?.....I totally made it. =)

"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing."1 Thessalonians 5:11

Drifting & thrifting {snow day}

All I see is snow swirling outside my window and I want a snow day. So guess what? I'm giving myself one. Yep, I'm taking off early today and enjoying the afternoon to myself. I can't wait. before I go any further I need to share some good news. Jay passed his last praxis test!! This is amazing news, because they are very difficult tests that require hours of studying, and lots of money to take them (I think each test is around $200 and he had to take several-but he also has several degrees) So I am planning something special for him tonight to celebrate. Way to go babo!I am also planning something fun for this weekend since hubby was gone last weekend. He is so easy to surprise and always so appreciative, which makes it fun. I love surprises. It will be fun to spend some quality silly time together. I've missed that.

I did, however make a lot of progress this weekend. I'm really excited with the creative ideas I came up with. I was able to work on several projects that I had been putting off and it felt good to get them done. We also posted our downsize sale blog on craigslist. To our surprise, we had many many responses and a number of people are coming on Thursday to purchase our items. We are thrilled. If any of you want to take a look at it, you'll find it here. We just can't wait to get our excess stuff out. Thank you, craigslist!

This afternoon I'm going thrifting. I think it's a perfect way to spend a snowy afternoon, don't you?