One Good Thing - Picking Up Old Hobbies

With all of this inspiration that's been going on in my life, I've been doing a little soul searching and reflecting.

I realized that I don't do enough for myself.

Yesterday's post showed that I curled my hair and put on make up!  Hey, it's a start!  It made me feel pretty.  I should do that more often...should I find the time.

Running, working out and blogging has certainly helped me get some "me time" in there. Those are sure things that I do for myself, but thinking back, I used to love to do crafts, read and sing, and I don't really do any of those things anymore.  I mean, I still sing in the shower every now and then, but I sang every day on my way to and from work for the 30 minute drive each way.  When I lived with my mom in high school, almost every night I went down to the basement and turned on the amplifiers and microphones and play some Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Billy Joel, Bonnie Raitt, Shania Twain, LeAnn Rimes...and just sing.  I miss it.  I have a cassette tape that I recorded at an amusement park of me singing "The Rose" by Bette Midler.  It's not my best, because I was nervous and I have terrible stage fright (except at Karaoke Night with a few adult beverages in me...).  However I would like to share it with you all, if I can find a cassette player and a way to rerecord it digitally, so I can save it.  If I get brave enough, I may even get a YouTube video up of me singing...but I'll be honest...don't hold your breath ;)

Anyway starting small...I have been researching some ideas on my handy dandy friend named, Pinterest.  Just little things to do at Annaliese's first birthday party which is coming up so fast, house projects I'd like to do, recipes I'd like to try, etc.  It takes money to do a craft project and right now we don't really have any extra funds because they are all going towards the party, so just getting ideas for the upcoming holidays is exciting enough for me :)  They're on my "I'm actually going to do this" list and not on my "Pin this and probably never do it" list.  :)

Also curiosity has gotten the best of me and I picked up a book to read.  Everyone and their mother...and even their grandmother has been talking about Fifty Shades Of Grey, so...what the heck?  I picked it up to try to get back into reading like I used to love doing...and apparently it worked!  I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I hadn't ever read a book over 500 pages before...at least not that I can remember.  So that's a good thing!  Actually I'm a little shocked at how many women love this series, especially after reading the first few chapters in book 1.  I'm not really into the whole S&M thing (probably TMI, but I'm proud of that fact), but the story itself is interesting.  A small town pretty girl falls in love with a wealthy handsome business man...yeah it's like any other beginning to a Lifetime movie, but it's got a little twist.  Needless to say I read the first book pretty quickly and am on the second book.  Yeah it's an erotic love story, but at least it's getting me to read again :)  Ya know...something other than Clifford The Big Red Dog and Goodnight Moon.  After the "Grey" series, I plan to begin the Hunger Games trilogy.  My best friend, Takia, insists that I read it!

So this week's One Good Thing link up with Sarah at Little White Whale is the desire and motivation to pick up some good old hobbies that I used to enjoy doing.  I need to make more time for me, as a person, as an individual.  Not just the mother and wife me.  I enjoy both of those roles very much, but it really is not enough.  I enjoy being lil' ol' me too :)  The person I was before adding the wife and mommy role.  I'm still me, just rediscovering me :)



Happy Thursday!

One Good Thing - 3 Day Weekend Ahead!

Well One good thing about the upcoming Labor Day holiday for our family is a 3 day weekend in store!

My dad and step mom are coming in from New Jersey and will be spending the weekend with us!  We're also going to Justin's aunt and uncle's house for a cookout while his cousins are here from Washington D.C. and Ohio.  We are very much looking forward to a weekend of family time!

This means yummy food, lots of hugs and LOTS of laughs!  Don't worry, I'll be sure to write about it and share with you all next week!

***On another note, I took yesterday off with the work out routine.  I was SO SORE from the last 3 days, but in a good way.  A friend of mine from elementary school (yes, WAY long ago), Kayla who writes at Tiny Inklings, recommended to me a home work out called Body Rock TV.  I did this for 25 minutes on Tuesday and boy did I feel the burn!  It's a blog website with a bunch of physical trainers from different countries that post videos on YouTube of their high intense workout routines.  I am really starting to like working out because it makes me feel mentally great!  Physically...not so much yet but I know that part is right around the corner! :)  Today Justin and I start the gym!  I'm lucky he's so supportive of me and is joining me on my journey to get fit and be healthy!  I've been eating Greek vanilla yogurt in the morning with granola, a salad for lunch and a balanced dinner.  Almonds or a fruit or some veggies for a snack.  I've also been remembering to drink more water as much as possible.

ALSO on another note...food tastes SO much better now that I've quit smoking!  Justin and I both downloaded an app onto our phones that shows us how many cigarettes we have NOT smoked, how much money we have saved from not smoking and what processes our body is doing to self heal right now.  It's amazing!  I know in my heart we should've done this a long time ago.  I should've never started back up again after Annaliese was born, but I am happy that today I can say I'm smoke free!

So today for Sarah's link up, at the Little White Whale One Good Thing Thursday, I bring to you a few good things because I can't just pin point one today.  Every day is a good day because I woke up.  Head over to Sarah's blog and link up One Good Thing in your life today.

Count your blessings and give a friend a call today.

Have a great Labor Day weekend!

One Good Thing - Anniversary

You may have realized by now that Justin and I, we don't just have an "Anniversary day", we celebrate the whole week!  "Anniversa-week!"  So this week's One Good Thing Thursday link up is in honor of my two year wedding anniversary - I know...you're surprised.  :)

This past Tuesday was Justin and I's first wedding anniversary when it wasn't just the two of us.

Last year was our official 1st anniversary.  It was the only anniversary we spent just us two before having a family.  We didn't exchange gifts, only cards, because we were going away for the weekend and that was our gift to each other.  We spent the Saturday down at the Inner Harbor, walked around a lot and went to the Baltimore Aquarium.  It was a beautiful day despite the summer heat.

The view from our room

  We had plans to go out to a nice fancy dinner but because I was 7 months pregnant and we had just walked around all day in the blazing sun, my feet were beyond killing me and I could barely finish the walk back to our hotel room.  We decided to improvise and order room service, which was exceptionally delicious and stayed in for the evening and watched Bridesmaids.  That movie isn't for everyone, but Justin and I thought it was hilarious to the point where we thought we were disturbing other guests in other rooms!  We never got any complaints, so that was nice.  :)

I had an east coast favorite Maryland crab cakes and Justin had yummy steak.  And yes both desserts of ice cream and cheesecake were mine...and I ate them both.  Don't judge, I was pregnant ;) hehe

The next morning (On the actual date of our anniversary) we had an appointment outside of Baltimore to have a non-medial ultrasound done.  We did this so we could get a video of our baby moving in the womb and boy was it amazing.  We have the video on a DVD and it's about 30 mins long so I'll just share with you a couple pictures.

Her beautiful face with daddy's nose.  

An arm over a foot.

It was a great way to spend the 1 year celebration of our wedding day.  We got to see our unborn daughter and say a quick "hello"!  ...And emotional mommy got to shed a few happy tears on the way home too!  :)

Fast forward a year and Justin and I happily got to share our two year anniversary with our daughter present again!  This time in our arms!  I have to admit, the day felt just like any other ordinary day.  Justin came home from work, I made dinner ok, that's not so ordinary, and Annaliese fought sleep until midnight.  Luckily she did sleep through the night for 8 1/ hours that night, so I count my blessings, but it was rough getting her there!
Justin and I exchanged gifts this year.  I got him a nice card, a pair of white sneakers that he wanted, an iTunes gift card to purchase the new Jim Gaffigan album coming out next week, book 3 of The Game Of Thrones series and a special edition of Rolling Stones Magazine.  He came home with a dozen beautiful red roses for me, a really sweet card, book 2 of Fifty Shades of Grey, the movie The Vow, and the promise of a personalized with photos iPhone case (which still needs ordered) from Erin Condren!  I am so excited to get this case, but I might wait until we get our family pictures taken on Sept 24 to order it.  We don't have many pictures together as a family and I would want my case to have my little family. :)

My mom was nice enough to watch Annaliese last night so Justin and I could go out to eat and have some alone time together for our Anniversary.  It was very nice.  Candlelight.  Frank Sinatra.  Yummy food!  I had crab cakes again...I'm starting to see a trend here...and Justin got a famous Greek dish called Pastitsio.

It was a great "Anniversa-week" we shared together.  It was different this year, but we wouldn't trade it for the world.  We hope that possibly on our next Anniversary we will be in our OWN home and perhaps baking a little sibling for Annaliese ;)

Hope you all have a great evening!  Happy Friday tomorrow!

One Good Thing - Brother In Law

Today I'm linking up with Sarah again, but this time for her new linky!  Everyone should be able to come up with One Good Thing that is going on in their life.  One good thing that has happened in the past  One good thing that you're excited about for the future.  Click here to see the instructions and share your One Good Thing every Thursday.

Today is my brother in law's birthday.  I won't mention how old because he wouldn't like that, but he's still young.  ;)  My mother in law, Justin, Annaliese and I all went out to dinner tonight to celebrate his birthday and it was nice.   My sister in law, Jenn unfortunately wasn't able to make it, because she is out playing Army in Pittsburg.  My brother in law, Ashley rarely asks to hold Annaliese, I believe because he's still afraid he's going to break her but he did tonight and this made me happy :)

Annaliese sticking out her tongue

Uncle Ashley sticking out his tongue

The tender moment they shared together

Happy Birthday, Ashley!  We love you!