Jan 29, 2012

Productive Weekend

It feels like we've had an extremely productive weekend without busting out butts.

We:
- undecorated the Christmas tree and took it to the curb
- packed up all the remaining Christmas decorations and put away in the attic
- Vacuumed the whole house
- 3 loads laundry
- went through 2 boxes of cookbooks
- re-organized cookbook book case
- cleaned out the fridge
- planted a pumpkin
- swept the front porch
- took out the leaf of the dining room table and set with new placemats and tablecloth
- reorganized the kitchen cabinets (getting rid of some things, adding new to us things)
- made a stew
- spent time with both of our families
- helped my grandmother
- cleaned out, cleaned, and organized the bar
- finished our first keg in the kegerator
- made 3 trips to the attic
among other things that I'm sure I'm forgetting.

Jan 19, 2012

Photo Books

Since we got married I've been hooked on photo books. For someone who is too lazy or prefer a cleaner palate for scrapbooking, photo books are the way to go.

We have one that was professionally done by our wedding photographer. I made one to include pictures from all our showers and wedding events as well as guest photos from our wedding.

I've made photo books of our first year of marriage, our trip to Boston, as well as books for 2009, 2010 and now 2011.

Here is a preview for my 2011 photo book: http://www.blurb.com/books/2908705

I also made one for Project 365 2011. If I was clever and cared more I would do a preview for that as well. Oh well...

I hope we will have these books for us for years and years to easily look back at our fun times.

Jan 13, 2012

January 12th

Yesterday, January 12th, my brother sent me this picture dated January 12th 1985.


Jan 5, 2012

Favorite 2011 Memories

Before moving forward I want to look back and remember a few of my favorite memories from 2011.

1. Seeing Arcade Fire live. It was awesome.

2. New Orleans... okay, so this is actually 3 trips and a thousand memories. But we really fell in love with New Orleans and hope to make it a bigger part of our lives in the future.

3. Related to #2 getting upgraded to a suite on our last trip to New Orleans. It was so sweet of the customer service lady to upgrade us for free on my birthday. We seriously felt like Pretty Woman going from this random guys house in a bad neighborhood to the nicest room in one of the nicest hotels.

4. Delta Roadtrip. A surprise one night getaway trip to Greenville, MS proved how restful one night in the country can be. I loved our little cabin and hope we can get away from it all some more.

5. Beach trip. This was the longest trip Bryan and I have taken together and it was awesome to just spend a whole week relaxing together with no agenda.

Jan 4, 2012

New Years Resolutions

1. Read more.

2. Find a way to save more money. I've already done this. I decided that we should get a kegerator. We can save around $80 a month buying a keg instead of bottled beer.

3. Start saving for a kitchen reno. When we bought our house three years ago I said I wanted to update the kitchen in the first five. Its almost time. It won't be a complete overhaul, just tearing out the backsplash, changing countertops and possibly changing the flooring in the kitchen and laundry room. Fortunately for us the appliances are all new-ish and in great shape.

4. Exercise. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I know, right? Actually we just got Just Dance for our Wii and it is quite the little work out.

5. Find a way to catalog or document what I cook. So many times I forget to print out or save a recipe I make and then months later I'm wondering what the delicious dish was and where I found it. I also forget to write down modifications I make which makes it harder to duplicate.

6. Stop eating at the same two or three restaurants all the time.

7. Write more letters.