Happy New Year!

We are finally back in town from the holiday whirlwind/madness. It's so nice to be back home. We have spent a lot of time traveling (in the car) and have had some pretty fun conversations about the year ahead. We spent new years eve with our closest friends and had fun seeing them. Then we headed up to Two Harbors for a nice visit with Jay's mom. We don't get to see her often so it's always fun when we do. We are excited for the new year and have some fun resolutions we hope to keep.

All our Christmas decorations are put away, laundry is done, and the house is clean. Hallelujah. We watched a great Vikings victory, and an even better Cowboys victory, helping us secure a first round bye for the playoffs. Sweet. Today's been a good day.

We've been throwing around the idea of vacationing in the states next summer. There are a lot of beautiful places here that we still haven't seen and we like the idea of being able to drive and see more destinations than if we flew internationally. We always love a good road trip. We'd love to visit places like Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, and the Grand Canyon. We also like the idea that this kind of trip would be less costly, allowing us to try and pay down our student loan debt until it is manageable. So a long road trip may be in store for us! We'll see how this year plays out and then decide. I'm still partial to an international trip. I came across these images from Glacier National Park the other day and it sparked our conversation. So beautiful.

I spent most of today relishing simple moments in our life. Making waffles with my hubby for breakfast. Seeing his excitement from cooking together. Spending the whole day watching football together, because we both enjoy it. Looking over and catching him stealing glimpses of me during the day. Breaking out in smiles at the same time. Stealing glimpses of him. Seeing him truly happy and knowing that I am somehow responsible for a part of it.

Thoughts on Thursdays

Let life's experiences draw you closer together.

When shaping a vessel, potters exert equal pressure with their hands on both the outside and the inside of the clay to prevent it from collapsing. After the clay dries, it is glazed and placed in a fiery kiln. The intense heat perfects the clay by removing blemishes, strengthening it, and enhancing the paint colors. The once wet piece of clay is finally transformed into a beautiful and useful piece of pottery.

Marriage can be viewed as a similar work in progress. Like the clay, you and your spouse will constantly face various pressures from life-job changes, financial stress, parenting responsibilities, and the list goes on. To prevent your marriage from collapsing, you must respond to any external pressure with the internal pressure of a powerful relationship with the living God. Just as clay is fired in a kiln, so will your marriage go through periods of intense heat. Remember that God is using these times to remove imperfections in your relationship and make it stronger and more beautiful. Face the difficult times together, and let Him mold and perfect your marriage, lifting you to higher levels of intimacy with each other. From the book Married for Life.

O Lord you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. Isaiah 64:8

Miscellaneous

We thought it would be fun to share a few of our favorite gifts. This is my favorite. Golden branch necklace from etsy picked out by Jay. perfect.
Mmm Coco Mademoiselle. I have had people literally stop and ask me what I am wearing when I wear this! Hubby likes it too ;)

Yes!!!! I got a Shootsac!

I had a cribbage board for Jay in the shape of a gator. He loves it!

And last but not least, his favorite gift. A bean bag game that Papa made (and I designed!) It's so amazing!! Thanks to Papa for all his hard work. Handmade gifts are the best.

On Monday Jay forgot something at work so he took me to see his office and show me around his school a little bit. I was so excited to see where he works every day and what his office looks like. We only had his blackberry so that's why the images are a little blurry/dim...but you get the picture!

The cribbage scoreboard. He & his co-teacher play cribbage often during their breaks. I thought you might enjoy seeing where he spends his day. Today will be full of catch up posting since I have time to blog!

Baby steps.

Today is my Friday so I'm up a little late =) Tomorrow I'm going to focus part of my day on sorting/photographing items to sell. Once we make some progress we'll post a link to our "for sale" blog that we'll be linking to craigslist in case anyone wants to take a peek at our items. Our progress so far: we've finally switched entirely to paperless everything. It took us awhile because it's a hassle to get on each website and switch everything separately- but we got the job done. It's SO nice not receiving statements and papers in the mail that we don't know what to do with. Makes less recycling, less filing, less JUNK. Love it. We also found all of these old check book boxes (full of old checkbooks) below, a combination of numerous separate accounts pre-marriage. We had not gotten around to sorting them all out. All of these below are old and got shredded. 8 boxes of junk out the door! Seems small but sometimes it takes baby steps!

Tonight we spent some time going over our financial situation and figuring out how much we owe total for our student loans. My Dad just made the final payment on mine and that was really exciting for us. Now all we have left is Jay's. It's so amazing to know that his student loans and our home is the only debt we have. Like my Mom says, that's the "good" kind of debt. We still have a ways to go with his loans, but I'm encouraged by our saving habits and dedication to pay it off. We are sending in a check to pay off a little chunk of it and although it's a little like throwing money away, it still feels great. We are on our way to be free of debt! We are so strict with our budget and it totally pays off. If only we were taught the value and weight of debt before we went to college! We also went over our budget so we knew how much we needed to save and what we want to save for. It was overwhelming and exciting and scary and fun at the same time.

Holiday blessings.

The end of this year was a little rough on our family so this Christmas was really a blessing for us. It was more about being together and less about the gifts. It was about appreciating the good people in our lives and embracing one another. It was filled with laughter and memories we'll never forget. We had a really blessed Christmas.

Health, home, friends and family.

Without those ingredients in our lives,

the rest of the effort is meaningless.

This is a great time to refocus

on that is truly important.

We have big plans for the new year. We look forward to what it will bring us! This is the first new year that I've really been whole heartedly excited for. We have relatively a lot less stress in our lives, we are really in our groove, we are happy. We have a lot to be excited about. As we get older it's funny how your eyes are opened and you learn to appreciate the little things you never noticed as a child. Life is good.

Winter wonderland.

Just got home from Beauty & The Beast at the Ordway.

Had a wonderful dinner at Pazzaluna.

Saw a man propose to his girlfriend in Rice Park. So cute.

At home watching the snow swirl outside.

Peaceful & beautiful.

Preparing for an amazing Christmas Eve.

Have a blessed Christmas.

Anticipation

Megan said... seriously so inspiring, love this idea! what made you want to do this? (downsize)

We had been debating whether or not to prepare to sell our townhome. We were feeling cramped and like we needed more space, but really we just need to get rid of stuff and make more space! our townhome is amazing. We just needed to realize that. It was brand new when we moved into it. It's bigger than a lot of peoples homes that we know. It has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. Sure, there is not a lot of storage, but it makes it cozy. So we decided to stay for a few years until we can make a good profit on it, and we will make an excellent one when the market turns around. We also LOVE that we don't have to mow, fertilize, landscape, pay for garbage, or shovel snow (especially now that it's winter!!) It's so nice. We decided that just because the market is really good for buyers, doesn't mean we need to buy. We don't want to purchase a home because the price is right. The time has to be right too. And the space. It's not a decision to rush, or jump into. The next place we move into we plan on staying for a loooong time. We hate moving ;) Right now we would only be able to afford an older home and we don't want to invest our time and money into upgrading, maintenance, or rennovating just now. We are hoping to purchase something that is not brand new, but built within a reasonable time frame. Thankfully, we haven't had any problems with anything in our home because it's new. So to make a short story long, that's where the downsize idea came to us!

Side note: Thank you for everyone sending us love and support about this idea! we've already received a few e-mails from people saying they are really interested in looking at our items/putting dibs on them before we put them up for sale!! amazing! Thank you!

Today is my Friday. I am bursting at the seams with excitement to get out of here and start our Holiday tonight!! Tomorrow we are going to see Beauty and the Beast and I can't wait. What a great way to kick-off Christmas. We are getting a little nervous about the snowstorm coming our way since we will be traveling on Christmas Eve, but nothing can damper our excitement. This is the best week of the year! I can't wait to get down to Bunny's and nest in her home for the week with my favorite people. I don't think I can wait..................