Friday Greetings

It's Friday - congratulations on making it to the end of the week!  Here in Seattle the wind is blowing and the rain is coming down like cats and dogs.  It's the perfect day to curl up on the couch and watch a good movie.  

I hope you have a wonderfully un-busy weekend with time to catch up on your reading list or binge-watch that show you’ve been dying to see.  I wish you a lingering breakfast in comfy clothing with good company and time to ruminate on the things that make you happy. 

And may you get the necessary rest so that you feel restored and replenished for the inevitable frenzy that Monday brings.  But don’t think about Monday too much as you are meandering through your Saturday and Sunday.  Life is too short to not take in and enjoy all the beauty of the present moment. 

Take a deep breath and remember that now is a great time to be alive.  Set aside the bad and look at the good with fresh eyes. 

Have a great weekend!

Michelle 

Entryway Organization

Unlike other blogs that you are probably accustomed to seeing, this post is not about how to create the perfect entryway with the seven essential items that you need.  This is more of a cry for help.  Our entryway is something I have battled with since the day we moved into our house, nearly 11 years ago.  We started with an inexpensive book shelf that was purchased from Target by my husband, back when he was just my boyfriend and he was renting a room before we could afford to move into our first apartment together.  We have since "upgraded" to this lovely 3x3 Closetmaid cubicle shelf which I have experienced limited success with.

Junk tends to pile up near the door because, like with many people, it is where things get dropped as soon as we enter the house.  Paper tends to be the main source of our problems.  It seems no matter how much thought I put into it, I cannot come up with a system to manage the pile up.  I try rather judiciously to limit the number of new items that enter our house, especially if I know it won't have an immediate home, but advertisements and paperwork from Chris' school always ends up accumulating in this area.

I would love to know how you organize your entryway and what really works for you in keeping everything organized.  I've been to friends' homes and their main living areas always seem immaculately clean.  Where is their mail?  Do they throw all of it away or hide it in cabinets?  People often say that life is messy, and that's okay.  But I would like it if my house was not always a reflection of that.

I am planning to replace the cube shelf at some point, but I want to make sure that I'm getting the right piece of furniture for this space.  Attractive looking is one of the criteria but above all else, it needs to be functional.  And function is one of the things that I am focusing on when it comes to organizing our home in general because the more efficient we can make things, the smoother the household will run.  The goal is less time spent searching for things and improving the morning routine by eliminating a lot of back and forth trips as we're trying to get out the door.  The idea is to design everything around the people that live in the house.

I would love to hear your thoughts on my entryway struggles and any other organization nuggets of wisdom that you have.

XOXO,

Michelle

New Years Resolutions

So, it's January 25th and the new year is well under way.  Have you made any other resolutions?  I am still working on mine.  Yes, still.  Before the end of the year, I decided that I would not be beholden to making a final decision on my planned life improvements on the first of January.  Because really, the end of the year when you are running around trying to get things done for the holidays and eating without abandon is not necessarily the best time to come up with your master plan on how to be awesome in the coming year.  Okay, maybe "master plan" is a bit of an overstatement but the idea is to develop these goals with intention.  Can you do that amidst late night wrapping sessions and stuffing your face with holiday cookies?  Maybe.

Though I'm not rushing myself to really get my resolutions figured out, I am aware of my tendency to put things off with the excuse of needing to put more thought into them.  So, there is a risk that in December of 2016, I still will not have anything concrete, which is one of the reasons I'm writing about resolutions.  The main hangup is that I don't want to make vague goals that can only be subjectively evaluated at the end of the year.  A resolution such as being a better parent is great, but how do you decide if you were better compared to last year?

This year, my plan is to come up with resolutions that are specific and quantifiable.  Whatever goals I come up with need to be measurable so I can determine if progress is being made.  One of my goals is to really work on turning my house into a home that I love.  We've lived here for over ten years and I haven't done much decorating or purchased things for the house that inspired a real sense of joy.  My buying habits are largely driven by the sale price, with the likelihood of me buying something exponentially increasing if the item is on clearance.  I've learned this from my mother.  Never buy anything at full price.

Consequently, I am trying to break this habit, which I know will be difficult because it was ingrained as a child and has been my MO for all of adulthood.  In working to create the cozy and joyful home that I desire, I am getting rid of the items that were purchased mostly because I could get a good deal on it and putting some real thought into what I want to bring into the house.  I may still wait for sales but the purchase will not be driven solely by the fact that the item is on sale.  But the goal for my house is not just about buying new things either - I kind of like the whole idea of minimalism but I don't know if it's something I could ever get to.

So I'm going to make this goal somewhat measurable by providing action items for myself.  My plan is to pick an area each month - it could be as small as a shelf or as big as an entire room and really focus on curating that space.  By that I mean getting rid of anything extraneous and acquiring new items for it only if I feel like it would be an enhancement.  Right now I'm working on our office and it's all about decluttering.

Would love to hear about your goals for the new year and the steps you are taking to get there.

Michelle

Welcome Steph!

Yay, Steph’s in the building!  So glad you could join.  It was so great seeing you in November when you made your trip to Seattle.  I always wish we could have more time together though.  It sounds like you guys had a pretty busy holiday but a fun one.  Ours was pretty laid back with family over on Christmas day and a nice dinner with my family on New Years.  I loved just getting to spend so much time with my boys.  Going back to work was tough!

I agree on the getting back to better eating.  I hear you on the whole feeling puffy, but I can’t say I regret all the food I ate.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t come without consequences.  But my diet is mostly cleaned up again and I’m back to my lifting schedule.  I’ve learned that I need to have a set schedule for working out because if I have to put any thought into it, I won’t do it.  So, Monday, Wednesday and Friday are workout days, at a minimum.  Sometimes I’ll throw in a little cardio on Tuesday if I’m feeling motivated. 

The diet, I find, is often the toughest part of getting back on track.  I am quite lucky though because my husband is interested in nutrition and he makes sure that we’re eating healthy meals.  He also does all the shopping and cooking.  I know, I’m really lucky.  The main thing I have to worry about is my snacking habit.  Since I don’t do any cooking, I don’t really have any recipes to share but I can tell you some of Matt’s favorite cookbooks and chefs.  The Complete America’s Test Kitchen Cookbook is one we both use because all of their recipes are tested, so there’s a fairly high level of confidence that it will turn out good.  We eat Mexican a fair amount and Rick Bayless is one of his favorites.  Matt does a lot of grilling as well and Steve Raichlen has some good books for that.  We’re still trying to do the whole Paleo thing so I think that helps with healthy options.  I’ll try to get you some of the better cookbooks for those types of recipes. 

That’s great that Chace is getting speech therapy through the school system.  You may or may not remember that Chris went through speech therapy and we went through an independent therapist.  He also used the binky a bit longer than he probably should have, so don’t feel guilty.  It’s tough to know when it’s time to ween them off, especially since it is a form of comfort.  I think subconsciously we want our kids to stay babies so we’re not always in a hurry to get them to grow up.  I struggle with that all the time.

I love your resolution to be gentler on yourself and being mindful of self-care.  That’s something I need to work on more.  Perhaps you can share some tips on how you are working towards that goal.  I think we all function better and are kinder to each other when we take care of ourselves first.  It seems like a simple idea but putting it into practice is another story.  I definitely hope we talk again about how the resolutions are going because self-improvement is always on my mind.  I’m so glad we’re doing this too!

Love and miss you too!
Michelle

Steph's First Post

Testing, testing.  Stephanie has finally entered the building.
I am new at blogging, so forgive my writing.  I'm very excited that my friend Michelle set this up to keep in touch.

This past holiday season was very nice!  We started off with a trip to Seattle around Thanksgiving. Chace had his cast removed on 12/19, so we were able to enjoy Christmas and New Years cast free!Christmas was spent at our home with Caleb's family - Mom (Pat), Dad (Greg) and Sister Stacy.  The kids got some fun toys like a ride on Thomas and Starlily the magical unicorn.  Caleb got the kids a puppet theater, which has also gotten a lot of use.  My friend Michelle got me Seahawks tumblers (which I love and I even catch Caleb drinking out of them) and the Humans of New York book.  My mother in law also enjoyed looking at some of the stories on Christmas day. New Years was also spent at our house with a dance party, movies, and early countdown for the kids.

We are now back in the swing of things after the holidays.  It feels good to have some structure, but I would like to get back to eating better.  Feeling a little puffy.  Lyla is back at preschool on M,W,F afternoons and Chace on T,TH mornings. Both love the school and we're very happy there.

Chace qualified for speech therapy through the school system.  He had been doing early intervention through the state, but when the child turns 3, they are handed over to the schools.  The speech therapist said to take the binky away which I should have done a while ago.  There was always some excuse I would make up like....traveling, he just broke his arm, he's sick, let's wait for a long weekend, etc, etc, etc.  Well, I finally pulled the plug last night.  He was way better about it than I thought he would be.  Maybe I was just wanting him to be a baby forever, but it is hindering him (ouch...guilty mom moment). He did cry and ask for it, so I sat there with him for a bit and told him they were all gone and that he's a big boy now.  He fell asleep and woke up around 11 crying for ginky, but stopped as soon as I started rubbing his back.

Chace is now in a big boy bed too!  Caleb found a Thomas the Train bed on Craigslist, so we got that for him as an early birthday present.  He had stopped sleeping in his crib and was sleeping in the Queen bed in his room that we reserved for guests.  Made sense to get him his own bed.

Lyla is doing great at preschool and I love that she marches to the beat of her own drum.  She's definitely a free spirit.  She's keeping busy with private swim lessons on Wednesday night and ballet on Thursday mornings.  We started the private swim lessons about a month ago and have seen a difference already!  The lessons are about $10 more than we were paying at the Y, so not too horrible.  Still expensive though.  At least it's 30 minutes of 1 on 1 time and not 7 minutes and the remaining 23 socializing.  It's harder with bigger class sizes - she definitely gets distracted.

This weekend we have a birthday party at a gymnastics place close by.  Chace will be coming with too since Caleb will be headed to the Patriots game.  Still can't get into rooting for the.  Always a Seahawks fan.  I am looking forward to the game this Sunday.  Can't wait!

Caleb and I just went to see The Revenant with Leo DiCaprio.  Pretty good, but violet movie.  Caleb really liked it.

Would like to start exercising and eating better.  Getting motivated is hard.  What are some of your favorite recipes?  I did the 21 day fix (for 21 days) and then stopped because I was tired of eating salads every day.  I did feel good while doing it though, so going to give it a shot again.  I continue to see a nutritionist and naturopath, so definitely keeping self-care in my mind.  Trying to be gentler on myself.  That is my resolution.  I would like to be on time for things once in a while, but I guess one thing at a time.

Well, back to Joe Kenda.  I'm really happy we're doing this!

Love and miss you.

~Steph

Portland

It's the most wonderful time...to get away!  Actually, I've really been looking forward to spending some quality time at home now that I have two weeks off from work, but we had planned a quick trip down to Portland a few weeks back.  Partly because we love our little getaways to a not-so-far off place and partly to help Matt get in the holiday spirit.  Both of us have gotten quite burned out from work so a short break from everyday life is just what we needed.

Whenever we travel down to Portland, we always stay in the same hotel and we often eat at the same restaurants.  Since we go so infrequently, we generally don't get tired of visiting the same places.  We typically only go for one night, but we ended up staying two nights so we didn't feel like we had to pack everything into one day.  The boys were content with spending an afternoon in the room - Chris with his toys and Matt with a good Kindle novel.  Our hotel is within walking distance of an outdoor mall so I was able to get in a little retail therapy while the boys enjoyed some down time.  I love meandering through shops that I don't typically visit near home, like The Container Store, Paper Source and Charming Charlie.  I can window shop for hours.

Even if we don't end up traveling very far, I love staying in hotels.  Perhaps it's the way the room is so clean and the surroundings often feel so new to you.  It always makes me think about cleaning my house and trying to imbue the fanciness of a hotel somehow in my home.  On the second night of our trip, the boys had gone to sleep but I wasn't feeling tired yet, so I looked out the window from our second story room and watched cars leaving nearby restaurants.  It was strange to me that while we were snuggling into our beds, people were just finishing a late meal with friends and family.  Or perhaps they were employees that were getting off their shifts.  It's interesting to think about other people's lives and I can kind of see the appeal of living in the city, where there's always something happening.

After our two nights away, I think we were all glad to get home.  Mostly so we could sleep in our own beds and be surrounded by the conveniences that make our house so comforting.  Time away always helps to make you more appreciative of your house because there things are just the way you like it.  Sure, for us it might not be as clean and organized as we think it should be, but it is our sanctuary from the outside world.  I can't think of anything better than settling in for the holidays at home.  

Hooray!  I'm so excited that we're doing this together!  I feel like it's the start of an adventure - Steph and Michelle's adventures in blogland!  I think this will be a great opportunity to not only learn more about each other but to learn from each other.  It will be like our Starbucks conversations, but with 2,700 miles between us.  Hopefully this little space will help to bridge the gap and be a constant reminder that we always have a shoulder to lean on and a kind heart that is there for us when the world has been a little less than gentle.  And in the joyful moments of life, someone who is right there celebrating with you.