February Goals - How'd I Do?

So February was not as "blue" as January, as in... there's more red this time. Even though I didn't get around to everything I wanted to do this month, I did get to mark 7 things COMPLETE! which is more than if I didn't have goals in the first place, right? :)

Fun:

Read 2 books {COMPLETE! - The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis, and Sweetwater Gap by Denise Hunter}
Practice something new with my camera {FAIL, but I have an action plan for March. Stay tuned!}
Entertain! {well... Hunter and Elizabeth came over, we saw Jess in Verve, we went to Mary Beth's wedding, had lunch with Emily and Kristin M., I went up to Knoxville to spend the day with Samantha, had dinner with Kristin R., and visited new baby Noah - sooooo, I didn't entertain, but I did catch up with friends, so I'm going to self diagnose this as COMPLETE!}

DIY/Crafting:
Complete Lawhorn side of family tree project {COMPLETE!}
Start the thinking/planning process for a small garden {FAIL - moving this to March}

Home:
Finishing touches on the guest room {technical FAIL since the horse curtains are still up, but soooo much closer than before! Very excited about this room!}
Go through 4 more boxes in the basement and either keep, sell, give, or toss {COMPLETE!}

Cooking:
Meal plan for 2 weeks {COMPLETE! one, two, three, four weeks!}
Try one new recipe {FAIL - I meant to make orange chicken last week but it didn't end up happening...}

Wellness:
Continue nighttime routine {COMPLETE!}
Some kind of physical activity, 3 times a week/20 minutes {big time major FAIL}
Drink only water for 1 week {COMPLETE!}

Evolution of the Living Room

Today I would like to take you on a journey.

A journey through time (well, the last year at least) and space (this space, as in the living room).

{"I'm a master of time and space." Heroes anyone?}

Behold the room of the living:

Jason closed on January 15th, 2009. This time warp picture was taken on 1/17/09... BOO OLD, UGLY, SMELLY CARPET!

{check out some of the other carpet choices here}

...And this one was taken on 1/18. ME LIKEY HARDWOOD FLOORS!!

1/26/2009

Then we painted (Behr's Pumpkin Butter)... Hi Emily!!

2/7/2009

Then we put the extent of Jason's furniture in there. Yes, those are camp chairs. ::shudder:: It's all we had, my friends. And Jason's dad's retro couch from college.

10/23/2009 - same couch, new windows

Muuuuuch better! A little more furniture. All hand-me-downs. Seriously - everything but the TV was given to us. (And let's just be honest - most of the TV was paid for by wedding gift money! Whoo hoo!!)

11/28/2009 - same couch, new position

Furniture placement has changed, mostly because we knew we wanted to put our Christmas tree in front of the window. But we liked the new position!

2/27/2010 - oh yeah, same couch :)

Mostly the same, but we are the proud owners of a beautiful new bookshelf. We are hoping to get another one (when they get more in) for the other side to give it more of a built-in look.

We WILL be getting a new couch in the near future... I promise you'll be the first to know.

So what do you think? Much better than the original?

We're happy with the progression, for sure. :)

Baby Noah

Remember when I went to this baby shower?

Well, last night Jason and I finally bugged the newly-parents (kind of like newlyweds) and got to meet baby Noah.

He is precious! Congrats again to Ryan and Evelyn!! :)

Dinner with Kristin

The internet at the house has been cutting out on and off for almost 2 days now(!!), so I haven't been able to blog like I want to. :( Very sad, I know.

Last night I had dinner with Kristin Robertson and it was fan-stinkin-tastic. We had such a blast catching up!

Kristin became my youth director when I was a sophomore(?) in high school. At the time, she was 21 years old. TWENTY-ONE people!! Full time youth director at 21, I just don't know how she did what she did and put up with us all. I remember at 21 in my junior/senior year of college, mom reminded me that Kristin started working at the church at my age and I couldn't imagine having that responsibility then...

Anyway, we talked and talked {until we knew our hubbys would be ready for us to come home}, and it was very refreshing to strike up an old friendship. We did take a few pictures, but #1 they weren't good, and #2 my internet wasn't working at home last night for me to upload them. :)

Yay for friends!

Handmade Art for the Guest Room

Remember when I talked about wanting to finish up our guest room? Well, one thing I've been trying to come up with is some art for the wall above the bed. And Sunday I finally decided to stop thinking and start doing.

I had two small canvases from a loooooong time ago that are painted brown (matching the dresser in the guest room) and I knew I could do something with them. So I bought some inexpensive craft paint from Walmart...

...set up a little area, and got to it!

I knew I wanted abstract swirling lines, so I just grabbed the brush and started with no real direction.

I bought both white-white and cream paints because I thought I would try to do some detail work (but I didn't)... the picture above is with white then below I just painted right over the white with the cream You probably can't even tell the difference, but I like the look of the cream a little better.

Then with a couple 3M picture strips I hung them up!

Don't you LOVE them?? I really really do. (And I think it looks like a dog head, which is funny, but totally unintentional.)

This room is definitely getting closer to beautiful! :)

{Thanks in great part to Miss Alexandra!}

MPM: February Week 4

Last weeks meal plan was... not... followed. {Whoops!} I was sick on and off for the majority of the week, so it should have read: Monday - chicken noodle soup, Tuesday - chicken noodle soup...

We did have grilled chicken (marinated in Newman's Own balsamic vinaigrette and cooked on the George Foreman - sooooooo easy) on Monday which was very good, but a few meals from last week will be rolling over since we have everything we need to make them. We also have a few nights out with friends/family this week!

Sunday: hamburger steaks with gravy, onions, and mushrooms (sooooooooo good. seriously, please try this!)
Monday: dinner at the Millers house
Tuesday: out to eat with Kristin R. (since we didn't get to last week)
Wednesday: crockpot orange chicken (my new recipe for the month)
Thursday: chicken and black bean quesadillas (what do you typically marinate chicken in before you cook and shred it up for quesadillas? do tell!)
Friday/Saturday: chili at some point?

(Check out OrgJunkie.com for more menu plans!)

Sunlight

Trying to Make a New Habit: Recycling

Jason and I have been trying to be more conscious of not tossing plastic, cardboard, paper, and cans into the trash. But we didn't have anywhere to put recyclables, we ended up with a mound of said items in a pile next to our trash can... for 2 weeks.

When we took our stuff to the recycle center near our house yesterday, Jason made the point that there is something gratifying about recycling, and that we should try harder to make it a habit. So today we purchased 2 inexpensive rubbermaid containers so that we can make this new habit a no-brainer.

I labeled them "Plastics & Aluminum Cans" and "Mixed Paper & Cardboard" - ingenious, if I do say so myself. And while they're not sleekly hidden in a cabinet or closet (yet), they are easily accessable, right where that lovely pile used to be. Plus they're easier to transport to the recycle center. Boo-yah.

Do you recycle? Do you have any other tips for making this a habit?

Saturday in the Sunshine

Yesterday started as most of our Saturdays do; sleeping in, making breakfast (waffles!!) then deciding what to do for the day. We got stuff together to take to the recycle center then had no real plans for the rest of the day, other than knowing we had to get out in the sunshine! (I say this because if I had known that we were going to do some many fun things and go so many fun places, I would have brought my camera and not relied on my phone...)

First, to Dunkin Donuts to get a chocolate covered creme filled for me, and...

...chocolate chocolate for J.

Then downtown:

These cards at Blue Skies were cracking me up! I immediately handed this one to Jason with a smirk on my face...

And then there was this one:

Then on to my main destination in our downtown extravaganza: Julie Darling Donuts! I got the icing covered blueberry cake donut and Jason got a peach filled donut! Mmmmm... (yes, you noticed correctly that we had donuts twice yesterday)

Then we walked towards the Northshore area, went into the Knitting Mill Antiques, Rock Creek, Greenlife, New Moon... you know, made the rounds.

Then it was back to the car to move it to the other side of the bridge and ride the electric shuttle around a bit!

We stopped at Sweet Peppers Deli for a late lunch, since neither of us had eaten there before. It was yummy, similar to McAlister's I guess.

Then we decided to go to the Aquarium! We haven't been in a few years, so we figured it was about time. :)

Jason petting the sturgeon fish...

Me petting the sturgeon fish.

The penguins! Sadly, they weren't as active as the river otters (which were way too playful for my phone to capture). Then there was the butterfly garden - beautiful! No picture though, I kinda forgot.

Big scary jellyfish... soooooo cool. There were really huge ones and the tiniest baby ones.

After leaving the aquarium we went to the IMAX where we saw Under the Sea in 3D which was pretty cool, but don't tell Jason that I fell asleep...

Whew! I'm still exhausted!!! It was such a fun, long day and I sure do love my hubby! :)