Spring cleaning.

Last night I had dinner with two of my girlfriends and it was a blast catching up with them. After I got home a craigslister stopped by and bought some more of our crap. It was super. Slowly but surely everything is trickling out the door and out of our life...awesome. I can't wait until things shift and we can start up with some more house 'projects' that we have in store. And by we I mean me. I think I say "I have an idea" about 9 times per day and I think those 4 words absolutely terrify my husband ;) When the lightbulb goes off in my head + I explain my brilliant plan, I always get a tentative side eye + smirk. He is so good about it and always acts very interested + tells me that yes, it's the best idea ever, and yes, he can definetly do whatever it is that needs to be done to accomplish it. He's my hero. He surely makes our team well-rounded.

So 'we've' got some fun + special projects in the works that hopefully we'll be able to tackle once we feel good with where the clutter is at. There is nothing worse than having 4 on-going house projects, or materials laying around the house for projects that we're going to eventually get to. I'm a big believer of one project at a time otherwise I get way too overwhelmed. I also hate buying materials for a project and then letting them just sit in the house. We are definetly doing really well + I know that hubby is happy with what we are doing because he tells me often. The next step is going through the boxes in our garage. We've been waiting for warm spring weather to do this and I think it's time! I can't wait to roll out the grill and spend an afternoon outside organizing with mr. man...some good old fashioned spring cleaning.

I'm so so excited for his return tomorrow. I can't wait to talk about our week apart. We both have Friday off + we are hitting the road to Bunny + Papa's again to celebrate Easter. We are going to spend the afternoon together and then meet up with the family for dinner. Saturday night we are traveling home so that we can attend the Easter service at our Church, and then spend Easter Sunday afternoon with his Dad. We don't usually split the Easter holiday, but this year we were feeling ambitious ;) We can't wait to see both our families and share this special time together!

Where my heart is at.

This weekend was perfect, plain + simple. With nothing on the agenda, it felt amazing to fill it with what I wanted to do. I went for a long run on Saturday morning, followed by baking a delicious cake. If I may, I will say that I am an excellent cake baker! I don't admit things like this often, but I'm not going to be humble about this one. I baked the chocolate turtle cake from cafe latte. If you've ever eaten it, you know that it is to die for. Mine was no exception. Almost the entire cake was gone by Sunday evening! It was excellent. I am drooling just thinking about it.

We played games, caught up on the latest family gossip, + talked late into the nights. We ate chocolate cake. Papa made us fires when the nights got chilly and we refused to retreat to our warm beds yet. We went to see Avatar and went out for pizza. We ate more chocolate cake. We took the dogs for a walk in the beautiful sunshine and made a trip to hobby lobby for crafting essentials. I listened to countless stories about my grandparents growing up and our family history {one of my favorite past-times}. Mostly we laughed until we cried because they were all so hilarious + endearing. My grandparents have lived an amazing life.

I'm having a rough day at work because I'm missing my hubby. I feel lonely even though I'm not alone and I have a million things to do here! Sigh. Oh well, life goes on, right? My dad is taking me + Al out for sushi tonight so that will be fun and I'll have some company.

Even though I am missing hubby I feel so content. I know that may not make sense, but to me it does. I don't know when it happened, but I am really happy with where our life is right now. I feel like we are not {currently} struggling financially {or in other ways}, we don't have any major items we need to address, and we are just plain living. Our life is full of excitement. My heart is full of peace.

25 days of Joy: days 16, 17 + 18: I found Joy spending every moment of the weekend with my family! I think reflecting on the simple joys in my life has made a big impact on how I feel right now with our life =)

Thoughts on Thursdays

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a planner. I plan everything out perfectly + like to be prepared for everything. When things get out of control and I feel unprepared I get really anxious, it's just a part of me! My husband has taught me to listen to myself. I mean really listen. Do I really want to plan everything in our life? Don't I want to have some element of surprise and spontinaety? Don't I just want to go with the flow sometimes? Will the world come to a screeching halt if I don't figure out what we are going to do about x in x amount of time? These are questions he challenges me with, and although sometimes he doesn't physically speak them I know what he is getting at. He is absolutley right+I am so glad he challenges me in situations like this. {Yes-sometimes I need to be put in my place!} Of course I don't want to plan everything+I love being spontaneous, and as much as I hate to admit it, the world will not come to a screeching halt if I don't have our life plan laid out. I think it's a form of comfort for me, knowing that we have a game plan--but I do also know it's not absolutely necessary. It feels great to let go and see what happens once in awhile. I guess I just wanted to put into writing that when I stop and listen to him, he's right. And that's about the only time I'll ever admit that, so mark this day in history ;)

day 14: I found Joy when my husband laughed with me.
day 15: I found Joy in knowing I get to see mama+al for dinner.

Half.way there.

I'm gearing up for a special roadtrip. This weekend is a girls weekend. I can't wait. The schedule is as follows: work, twilight yoga, girl time. Mama, Al + I will be making the drive down to Bunny & Papa's this weekend. I am so giddy + can't wait to get out of here. Hubby will be gone so there will be no guilt in leaving the house absolutely a mess + focusing on me for the weekend {and week for that matter, since he'll be gone all next week}. Sometimes it's just nice to let things go for a day or 2. I can't wait for a weekend full of family time + nothing to do besides whatever the heck I want. That idea is starting to become foreign to me and I need to change it very soon. So far baking + reading are at the top of my list.

tonight's agenda:

gym time

doctor appt.

date night with jay

this day is full of sweetness.

xxoo

25 days of Joy.

day 9: I found Joy singing loudly in the car on the way home from work ;)
day 10: I found Joy in legs that are able to run.
day 11: I found Joy in watching New Moon!
day 12: I found Joy in a phone call from my Mama.
Today I find Joy in being alone at the office...the boss man is out =)

Sunshine.

What a beautiful sunny weekend! It was so nice to spend some time outdoors even if it was a little chilly. Friday morning I woke up with a pretty bad cold, and I started to get nervous about the race. I fought through a migrane, an extremely sore throat and congestion and made it to the finish line-all in 29 degree weather. I was pretty proud of myself! It was a tough race but very rewarding, and we both had a lot of fun {as expected, Jay kicked my butt!} The rest of the weekend was very busy which didn't mix very well with my energy level and over all well-being. I was pretty drained. Sunday afternoon we had a late lunch date and then layed in bed all afternoon and watched New Moon. I took a nap and felt much better afterwards. Here is a picture of our group! The image is small because it's from the race website. If I get my hands on any others I'll post them later, we didn't bring our camera. It was a fun group :)

This weekend. . .

yoga

working the fish fry

7k race

Tour of Target Field

3 photography sessions

WCHA championship hockey game.

It's official. I'm wonder woman this weekend.

With a little bit o'crazy mixed in ;)

xxoo