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?