welcome to the new blog =)

It's the perfect night.

I'm laying in bed after a great work out and a hot shower. Hubby's off with his best friends and I'm enjoying the quiet time and doing some blogging. Last night I made a quick trip to Bunny & Papa's to see Tangled Roots in concert & to help them prepare for Christmas. As always, Papa took me and Al out shopping and ridiculously spoiled us!! He's also helping me with a special project for Jay so we worked on that too. It was 2 full days of love and laughter. We even pulled out some old records and played them on the record player! It was so fun.

Now I'm home and starting to go through a few items for the downsize. I am getting so excited to do this. Our storage "areas" are a huge mess. Here are a few pictures to illustrate. This is the 4 shelves we want to get down to 2. Big project.

More stuff. ugh.

And a few closets like this:

This is our initial list. We thought it would be fun to share. We'll explain more about the wander list after we've made that. Hopefully we'll make some good progress on this list this year!

Ok I have to get some rest...big sessions tomorrow! Tomorrow night we are introducing one of Jay's friends to Jenni, so I'm kind of nervous about that. I hope it goes well!!!!

Drum roll please...

We've decided to name our little blog home 99th Street.

Short, sweet, and very meaningful to us.

We live on 99th Street-our first home together.

We liked the idea of the name of our blog "home" relating to our real home, as it also houses our thoughts, ideas, experiences, etc. We think it fits us well =)

We hope you like it and that you continue to visit often! Stay tuned for a new look coming soon in the next few days. We have some other news to share.

After much consideration, we've decided to considerably downsize the material items in our home. Our dream is to sell everything, including our house and take off for a year of travel around the world. Think backpacking in Europe, a safari in Africa, and sailing in New Zealand. Don't panic yet. This is something that will take more then a few weeks of planning and we'll need time to save up enough money. This is something we would love to do in the future when the time {and housing market!} is right. For now we plan on selling, donating, and throwing away a good amount of our "stuff" and traveling next summer. We are blessed with so much-and we LOVE our things. But they are exactly that-just things, and someone could use them or need them more than we could. We want to live a simple{r} life. We'll keep the necessities and items that are really meaningful, {Our tvs, larger furniture, some appliances, personal items, ect.} but the rest is going. This is going to be SO hard for me. I'm a very sentimental person and it's really hard for me to part with things I've been given. I'll never give up shopping, make no mistake, but I'm going to stick with the idea that if one thing comes in our home, 2 go out. I'm committed to my husband and our plan and I am going to follow through. We will post here and there and share our struggles, and progress along the way. We plan on using the money from items we sell to travel for a few consecutive months next summer {we'll also be setting up a special savings plan}. This summer we'll be in Spain, and the destination for next summer is still to be determined. The idea of this downsize is to not dwell on worldy material posesssions and to live in the moment. Traveling is our passion, so why not get up and go? We have nothing holding us back.

I read a blog where the couple could fit everything they own in a small storage space (10x10 room) They travel all over and don't have to worry about owning a home. What they would pay monthly for a mortgage they use towards travel expenses. Wow. This is amazing and so liberating to me. Now obviously we aren't going that extreme but it's a really neat story. I couldn't live like that forever, but it would be fun to be that carefree for awhile! Our downsize will be much more low key than that. We have so many things and have seen so many in need this Holiday season. There is so much more I want to share with you guys, but this post is exhausting me. Thinking about how much stuff we want to get rid of is overwhelming! Our goal is to cut our storage amount in half {we have 4 shelves of storage, so down to 2}. If you know someone in need of anything, please please send them my contact information. We would love to donate items to people that could use them {and we have a LOT of stuff, so any requests will likely be filled} I have a feeling Craigslist will be our new best friend ;)

Here's to a simpler, less cluttered 2010!

Sweet treats galore!

Mama and I were busy bees last night! We started off planning on frosting some sugar cookies we had made, and it turned into a night of goodie baking. We made so many yummy treats. It's been so fun having them stay with us =)
Sprinkle cheers! A few more Q&A's:

If you could spend a day with any celebrity who would it be/why?
Tim Tebow. I'm a huge huge football fan {and gator fan!!} and Tim Tebow is the top althete in my mind. Not necessarily for skill {although he is amazing at college football} but because he is a genuine, wholesome person. I love his attitude, the way he treats his teammates, coach & fans, the way he plays the game, and his outlook on life. I would love a chance to sit down with him and find out more about his life. He seems like such a confident, happy and positive person always striving to serve the Lord.

If an athlete doesn't count then I would choose Rachel McAdams. Love her.

Where do you see your career & your marriage in 5 years?
I'm going to be honest and say I'm not a career person. I really could care less where my career takes me or goes. If I did, I definetly would not be working at my Dad's law firm ;) Not that it's not hard and challenging from day to day, but it's not the career I would be in if I wanted to advance. I'd be an advertiser or a writer or a psychologist. I've always been a family person. We hope to someday have children and I would love to stay home with them. I would love for my photography to be my main source of work because it's my passion. So for now the plan is to work to save, spend more time with my Dad, and have a very flexible schedule. It's worked great so far. I hope in 5 years that my marriage has grown and continues to enrich our lives. I hope that we have 1 or two healthy babies in 5 years, and I hope that we are exceptional parents. Thanks for adding a question, Robyn!

Blog design

p.s. check out my friend Robyn's blog, I designed it for her =)

More answers.

wow Christmas is next. week. !! the days are passing two at a time for me or something =)

After much debate we've picked a name for our blog home. We'll be sharing that soon along with a few other fun things in the next few days! our little life has been so busy already this week. I keep forgetting the Q&A's each day...sorry! here are a few ones for today.

Is there anything in your life you wish you had done differently?
Yes! I can most defintely answer this before even thinking it over. There are things I wish I would have done differently 10 minutes ago! but--there is nothing major that I would change. I am very very happy with what I have accomplished in my life so far and while there are some things that I might have changed, there are far too many things that I would never change that out-weigh them. I feel like I was very young & naive when making major life choices (college, marriage, purchasing a house, etc.)....I ranged from 18-22 years old, and did not have a clue what I was doing. What 18 year old knows where they want to go to school and who they want to be? What 21 year old knows herself enough to committ her life completely to someone else? What 22 year old knows enough about home ownership to purchase and own one? And yet I took those leaps of faith and have landed in a place that amazingly feels like home. I think it was pure grace that got me here, and I'm confident I am right where I am supposed to be.

What is your favorite hobby-you seem to have a lot so what would you choose if you could only choose one? & {these two questions were from different people but I am answering them in one because they relate} What subject do you prefer shooting in photography? or none at all?
Easy peasy. Photography! this is one hobby I couldn't live without. I feel like a whole nother person when I am behind my camera, and the things that happen during those shutter sessions are magical. I definetly have a love affair with my camera. My camera is starting to be an extenstion of my right arm, it goes everywhere we do! My absolute favorite are engagement sessions. You get to be alone with the couple with no time constraints or pressure and peel back the layers of what makes them a couple. The couples are usually newly engaged and still making puppy eyes at each other. The chemistry is phenominal. I love this. Good question!

Last week our wish was granted: a snow day for both of us! although we didn't do much, it was super fun. We could tell as the snow kept falling harder & faster the night before that we were in for a snow day....so we stayed up later than expected talking. We slept in and then went out for a lunch date in the blizzard. We also made a stop at Menards to get plastic to cover our drafty windows. What a difference it has made! It's so nice to have an entire day to get things done around the house that you aren't planning on. We listened to Christmas tunes and made cookies, and later that night we met Mama & Al for dinner. Fun, fun day.

This weekend we did a whole lot of nothing. Saturday Jenni invited me over for some yummy cheese and chocolate fondue. I surprised her and hired a friend to come over and give us massages (thanks Robyn!!) It was super relaxing and fun and just what the doctor ordered. It was a long weekend so it was nice to get in some girl time and a few glasses of wine ;) We had fun!

It was a long and somewhat emotional weekend. It ended up being one of the best in a long time, thanks to some positivity {right babe!?}. Tonight my mom and sister will be staying with us because they are getting hardwood floors put in the house and can't be around the fumes. We are super excited to have them as guests!! we are meeting them for some mexican food and then having a slumber party at our place!!! oh my poor husband, he will be bombarded with girls for a few days...what a lucky guy =)