winter bucket list

The last time we left off, I was just about to move into my new place... which brings me to realize that it's been about a year since I last posted anything. To update you, I've since moved in, got engaged (July), and then married (Nov.-wow!). It's so sweet to sit here and type about such changes in my life.

Currently, I'm snuggled up on the couch next to my new hubby & our cuddly puppy is napping on the other side of me. Life is pretty excellent at the moment seeing as how we are currently on our 3rd day of being iced in. While I might potentially be catching that cabin fever, I've also enjoyed the magic that is being stuck in the house with an endless amount of Christmas movies to watch & freshly popped popcorn at our fingertips.

During our honeymoon, Michael and I talked about how much we both love the idea of creating our own traditions in hopes of sharing them with our children one day. We are really great at coming up with ideas, but sometimes the busyness of life gets in the way of us getting around to actually doing what we have dreamed up.

Originally, I considered an Advent Calendar, but quickly realized that planning a daily activity for us to accomplish was a little bit unrealistic with our busy schedules. I didn’t want to go into this setting ourselves up for failure. I decided on creating a bucket list to keep us on track not only for the days leading up to Christmas, but also for the rest of the winter season.

If you’re like me, I’m pretty much over with winter time as soon as January 1st arrives so I’m hoping that this list will help us look forward to the days ahead instead of wishing the winter days away. Since I’m a very visual person, I decided that I wanted to make something for us to be able to see every day. I had leftover note cards from our wedding & decided to use each card for an item on the list.

Lately I've been obsessed with creating banners (don’t ask!), so I decided to run with his obsession and created a “Winter Bucket List” banner. To do this I simply created a Word document & enlarged the font to 350 or so. Once I printed it out, I cut the letters out and then traced them on to scrapbook paper. Once I had all of my letters cut out, I taped them to some pretty baker’s twine that I found at Target.

I originally planned on using some more baker’s twine & clothespins to hang up my cards, but completely forgot to purchase said clothespins prior to the snowpacolypse. Instead, I used double sided tape to hang up each of my cards. Since Christmas is the time of year to get overly festive, I decided to hang up my cards in the shape of a Christmas tree…awww!

Not only does this list help to add to Christmas decorations we have around our home, but I can’t help but get excited over the memories we will be creating this winter each time I look at our list. Of course, the plan is to properly document each item on our list via pictures. As Instagram does a really great job at making my picture taking skills look like I’m a professional, I’ll definitely be documenting here so feel free to follow along!

I’ve also promised myself that once our list is complete, I’ll be making a photo album with all of our pictures & bucket list cards. I can’t wait to see what memories we make and what traditions we create from this fun list!

Christina

sway me now...

i have been meaning to post, but have yet to muster up the energy to type out all of the ideas in my head or to give an adequate update of what has been going on since this post. i promise, it's coming soon! BUT, i just stumbled upon the most beautiful & romantic pictures of cooking & food (yes, i said ROMANTIC) ... and thought i would share them with you. i thought i would share them because they inspire me. they inspire me to fall in love with cooking; to spend quality time in the kitchen; a sudden realization of the song and dance that is cooking....a swaying of sorts. over time i have developed an itch for becoming a food photographer and am convinced that this has pushed me over the edge...seriously guys, i'm pretty sure that  i need to go ahead and invest in some photography classes because as much as i love my instagram pictures (also as seen above), nothing can compare to what you are about to witness... nothing. at. all. *sigh*... and even if you don't enjoy these like i do, take the time to read her posts. she is a wonderful writer of stories. 

happyolks

and of course, i have included a song for you to listen to as you scroll up and down the pages of this blog. and if rosemary clooney isn't your thing, try out some pavarotti. besides, you should ONLY listen to this music while cooking anyway.... if not, you are completely missing out. 

4 goals (before 2013)

With this cooler weather gracing us with it's presence over this past weekend the reality that fall is just around the corner creates a tiny giddiness inside of me! such a season stirs my soul with excitement for things like pumpkin spice latte's, sounds of football games on Saturday afternoons, the brilliance of changing colors, and of course warm sweaters and cozy things. Over the years, I have grown to appreciate the art of goal setting in order to make the best use of my time. However,  I have the tendency to be that girl who will save/pin every list she sees of "things to do". By the end of the day I have about 126.7 items on my list and realize that I am so exhausted from my overwhelming list that I have trouble finding a starting point, much less accomplishing anything. 

A few years ago I stumbled upon Elsie's blog (which happens to be where I found my inspiration for goal setting & a million other things). Last night I read her post on 4 Simple Goals and knew that I had to participate in the fun.  The challenge is to create 4 goals that will enrich your life & sort of create a new purpose for yourself in the upcoming season. I love this idea to stay inspired and to make the rest of 2012 full of memories! 

Here's my list of 4 Simple Goals:

{source}

1. start my day before 5:30 am. in the midst of trying to create a more balanced day, i realized that i hardly ever schedule in time for myself. working far from home with a pretty heavy workload, heading to the gym, coming home, taking care of Oakley, and preparing for the next day pretty much leaves me with the 15 minutes I use to take shower before i crash. something i've learned about myself this year is how vital "me" time is for my ability to operate smoothly. i unofficially gave it a try this morning & i feel rested, positive and ready to take on the challenges that the day brings.

2. take a nature walk (+ bring my camera). like i mentioned before, the thing i look forward to the most this season are the changing colors of the trees. since i spend most of my time surrounded by skyscrapers and traffic filled highways, i don't necessarily get to see the autumn landscape out any windows. one of my favorite ways to spend a weekend is to be outside and really grasp the fall season with all of my senses. when i was younger i used to take short hike's all the time & i remembered that this was exactly the reason i fell in love with fall in the first place. so i'm really looking forward to this goal, of course, capture it all and perhaps cause you to fall in love with fall too! 

3.host a pie party. i love desserts. let me clarify... i love homemade desserts. desserts that when made make the entire house smell of apples, pumpkin, and warm chocolate! for a while now i've been talking about having a few of my closest friends over for said party where we will do nothing but consume delicious, warm, homemade slices of each other's favorite pies. so it's time to start doing instead of talking. i can't wait! 

4. makeover living space. although i'm still living at home, i have some empty space to play with. upstairs we have a 'game room' that is typically just a place where junk tends to pile up and guests spend the night. i am always itching to decorate/redecorate, and then some, yet always wishing i had a place of my own to do so. it hit me the other day that i have had such a space to play with for quite some time so now i'm full of ideas of what i want to do with this space and i'm really hoping to find my own style during this project, as well.

For my rewards, I plan on simply treating myself to either a small weekend trip to a new city or a mini shopping spree...haven't decided just yet. I'm really looking forward to accomplishing these 4 goals and all the memories that they will create. If you are reading this, i encourage you to try this out, even if you don't have a blog. Its such a great feeling accomplishing things you have set yourself to do!