BITS OF LUCK.

I constantly find myself saying the phrase, "how lucky am I?"  Everyday there are a million little moments that I feel so blessed I get to experience.  They may not be glamorous, they may not be pretty, they may not be significant... but they are all mine, and for that I am thankful.  I know there will be a point in my life that I will look back and wish I could relive these days, and hopefully these little bits will help me do so.  Enjoy!

1. Kurt's favorite gift this Christmas was these nesting/stacking blocks.  He can't even contain his excitement when we take them out. Oh, and knocking them down... does it get any better?

 2. Christmas is officially over our house.  We finally got all the decorations away and I gotta say... it feels good.  However, I did feel the need to keep this little guy around for a few more weeks.  He is wintery and cheery and makes me oh, so happy!

3. The other night Kris and I sat down and really docs into setting some goals for ourselves.  It felt good and helped ease some of the anxieties we are having over the future of our businesses since the hurricane.  Kris had learned this goal setting routine a few years ago, and I think it really helped me prioritize a lot.  First we briefly described the life we want to strive for and then we wrote down three five year goals and three one year goals each for four categories: Personal, Health, Career, and Financial.  They each had to be measurable and attainable.  It was really nice to sit down with one another over a glass of wine and talk about our future.  Try it... I highly recommend it.

4.  Packing.  I really dislike packing.  However it always seems to make me hang up the big pile of clothes on my floor and tackle the heaping mound of laundry.   But it's always followed by an adventure... and for that reason, I really like packing.

TODDLER TALK. // With Kurt.

With each day that goes by, this little guy becomes more and more fun. We have started calling him the mayor whenever we go somewhere... when he walks in a room he wants to walk around and wave to everyone saying hi.  (I really hope I don't have a future politician on my hands).  This kid is the friendliest, funniest little entertainer. And brains! Let's talk about his brains for bit... He is pretty verbal now (well at least we think so) and has quite a bit of a vocabulary under his belt.  It amazes me every time he says a new word (It also amazes me when he licks the floor and chews shoes so keep in mind it's all relative).  Not when I am sitting there repeating "love you" to him 10,000 times but the first time I point to an owl... "owuhl"!  And just like that to me he's a genius.  Here are some of the most popular words as of late:

mama. 

dada. 

nooooona. (nonna) 

pop pop.

nana. (for both kris' mom and banana)

poppy. 

kiki. 

kikkee. (mickey)
yake. (jake and the neverland pirates)

beep. beep.

ahpuhl. (apple)

babbu. (bottle)

wawa. (water)

guk. (pacifier... what we call "nuk")

peeas. (please)

gank gu. (thank you.)

mwah. (kiss)

nigh nigh. (nite nite... followed by him walking over to the stairs pointing to his room)

coookee. (cookie... he some how picked this one up over the holidays)

aahht. (hot... for food, stove, candles, Christmas lights... everything is "aahht")

yesssh. (yes)

eyeaah. (yeah)

NO. (no... always with the finger pointed)

dish. dat (this and that)

hiii. (hi)

bye. bye. (with wave)

and animals... lot's of animals... with sounds.

kaht. (cat) maow. (meow)

koww. (cow) moooooo.

dahg. (dog) wufh. wufh.

fsssh. (fish)

ig. (pig) onkk. onkk.

heep. (sheep) baaaahhhhh.

unkee. (monkey) ah ah ah.

ion. (lion) arrrrrrrr.

(there's more... i know there's more... but for now this is all I can think of.)

YOU ARE. YOU EAT.

I have always loved the documentation of everyday life.  All the little moments that are pieced together to make us who we are.  I have been wanting to create some sort of series of these moments for some time now and figured what better way to do it than right now at the start of a new year.  So join me as I attempt to document the adventures, trials and tribulations of feeding my little family.  You know the saying, "you are what you eat"... well I really don't want to be an artificial, processed, genetically modified mutant.  Therefore, I have become somewhat obsessed with what we put into our bodies and try to make healthy and delicious food.  That and I want my children to grow up with memories of me at the stove with my feet criss crossed over one another, just as I do of my mother.  I want them to argue with their husbands/wives over who's mom makes a better meatball. Overall I want to create a home based on the healthy choices and togetherness of a good meal.  However, because I am still getting myself acquainted with my chefs hat, it takes a good amount of planning to make this happen.  I hope to update my menu plans and shopping lists here on a weekly basis along with the in's and out's of our journey.  

Did I mention that we have a little bit of a love affair with pizza bites?  Yeah... This isn't going to be easy...

TAKING FLIGHT.

This weekend will be filled with quite a bit of soul searching... and to tell you the truth I'm a little scared about it. I'm not quite ready to dive into the decisions I have to make, and I seem to be forced in a direction that is a bit scary to me.  Over the past few years I have experienced a number of ups and downs and oh so many changes. My career, however, has always remained pretty constant and that has provided me a sense of comfort.  Come April I knew exactly where I would be and exactly what to expect (financially and emotionally).  Even through all the struggles that come with owning your own business, I always felt that at the end of each season everything would work out. And it always did.

I like to consider myself a risk taker.  I mean... I did start a business as a college junior (a pretty successful one too).  However, over the years I have settled nicely into my comfort zone and now that I have a husband, house and baby, those risks seem pretty, well, risky.  Kris and I dream up different business ventures in our head for fun and love to drive around and just talk about all the different ideas we have.  But it's just that, talk.  Now I am faced with a situation where I have to decide on the fate of my business.  I feel like I have inched my way to the very edge of the diving board and now is the time to choose.  Will I dive in or slowly crawl back down to more "comfortable" ground?  And what if that ground has been shaken up a bit and seems a little more wobbly than it did before?  I'm still not sure just what direction to take, right now i'm sort of hovering in between, but I am so thankful that I at least I have a decision to make.

(bravery print: available for free download here.)

2012 IN REVIEW.

When I started this post I had planned on choosing 12 of my favorite photos from 2012... and that was pretty much impossible for me.  Instead this post took me a few teary eyed days of browsing through the obscene amount of photos and videos that I took this year.  I really can't even put into words how blessed we were in 2012, this little man brought so much love and joy into our lives on a daily basis.  It is unreal to see how much he has grown.  At the start of 2012 he was 3 months old and just beginning to show us his personality and has grown to be so full of life, laughter, and love.  Thank you, Kurt, for giving us the best year... you make our world go round.

JUICED.

One of the things I am hoping to do this year is focus a little more on myself and my nutrition.  Having a baby the focus has shifted to him, sometimes I turn around it's 5 o'clock and the only thing I have had all day is coffee.  I know, it's so bad!  When I was pregnant I became obsessed with what I was putting into my body and in turn feeding my baby and I got on a huge juicing kick.  It helped me jumpstart my morning and get lots of energy (which was necessary since I didn't drink coffee) plus I felt like it was such an easy way to get in so many fruits and vegetables.  This is my go to recipe:

1 Bunch of Kale
5 Carrots
2 Gala Apples
Peeled Ginger Root (Helps ease morning sickness)

I always use organic produce and will add whatever else I have on hand, like strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, celery.  It will look pretty gross and will be a funny brown color, but it tastes delicious! Enjoy!

FRESH START.

There is something that I just love about a fresh start, add paper products on top of it and you see why a new calendar or planner is pretty exciting stuff around these parts.  Organizing your thoughts and lists in a pretty new place is way more motivation for me to cross things off.  This year I decided to create a printable for yearly and monthly goals to add to my planner, I just used some cute tape and put it right inside my new planner.  However you can also tape them on a wall, in your journal, next to your bed... wherever you fancy.

DOWNLOAD 2013
DOWNLOAD JANUARY
DOWNLOAD FEBRUARY
DOWNLOAD MARCH
DOWNLOAD APRIL
DOWNLOAD MAY
DOWNLOAD JUNE

My goals for the year are a little broader where the monthly goals I set for myself are more specific ways to work toward the yearly goals.  I also like to add birthdays and important dates for the month that way I can pick up cards and gifts throughout the month and not wait till the last minute.  (See... working toward a yearly goal)

Remember to go easy on your self and keep your goals attainable.  Enjoy!