The end of another year!

As I look back and reflect about 2014, it is hard to believe that another year has passed. I was rereading my first post almost a year ago and looking at my "resolutions". I had hoped that I would stick with them, but I can't say that I have.

My first goal was to blog. I would say up until October, I was somewhat good about blogging each month. I am not sure what happened over the last few months. I guess I have been so tired when I come home that it just hasn't happened. My 2nd be healthy by working out more and making better choices of what I am eating. I can say that I started the year off with working out, but then some health issues arose and I dropped off the bandwagon. I can say I have tried to eat healthier since I am pregnant, but I also know that there are some things I choose to eat that probably aren't the healthiest. My 3rd goal was to put more effort into my classroom. I can say that last school year, I felt I did this. This school year....not so much. Not to use this as an excuse, but being pregnant has given me something else to focus on. As I finish my last few months of school and get ready for maternity leave, I hope to put more effort into the rest of this year. Having not felt good, then having pregnancy brain has left a few things to the wayside. My final goal was to find a hobby. Well I am no where closer to this goal than I was a year ago. I guess my "hobby" is Charlotte and getting ready for baby.

This past year has had some ups and downs. There were many more ups than downs...family weddings; health issues, trips to Wisconsin, Chicago, and Florida; house projects galore - finishing the basement, building a fence, redoing the bathroom, setting up the baby's room; getting Charlotte (sometimes this isn't an up, but rather a down); concerts - Paul McCartney and Garth Brooks; celebrating our one year anniversary (yes, we made it a year!) and the best thing that happened in 2014 was getting pregnant!

I am very excited for 2015! Obviously the most exciting thing will be the arrival of our baby girl. Sine announcing my pregnancy, everyone always asks "how are you feeling?" Lately, I have been wondering, are they really curious or am I just supposed to always say that I have been feeling great? I really have been feeling good and haven't had any complaints.  If that wasn't the case, would people really want to know that? It seems as though my pregnancy has been a perfect one. Sometimes this makes me nervous that my child will be a terror when she comes out. Hopefully not! The past 3 weeks, I have had a bad cold on and off, which then led to me pulling a muscle in my side. That's the only complaint as it is painful to cough. But that will heal. I can feel her kicking more each day and it is such a weird feeling, but also so exciting. I can only hope that the last 16 weeks go as smoothly as the first 24! We are busy planning for her arrival by getting her room ready, looking into daycare, creating a list of names (no, we are not sharing the names), and enjoying our time together before our family changes. We keep saying that we hope she gets here soon because we just CAN NOT wait!!

Thinking about my goals for 2015, I need to be realistic. In a short time, I will have someone else who will require all of my time so I won't be able to spend as much time for myself. One goal I would like to continue is to blog. I have felt as though most of my blog posts turned into what is happening in the house. I think that may still continue but I also need to come up with other topics to blog about. I do really enjoy blogging and have even tried to get my students into blogging. It is a great way to express our thoughts with the world. My other goal for the year will be to continue to be healthy - eating healthy and staying active.

I hope everyone has a great last day/night of 2014! See ya next year! :)

Molly

October Blogging Challenge

One of my coworkers came across this awesome blogging challenge for the month of October and I thought it would be an excellent idea! 

Since I'm starting a day late, I will do the 1st and the 2nd.

October 1st - Goals for October

My first goal is to spend less money. Jeff and I are trying to focus on saving more money by spending less. Another goal is to put down my devices more often and enjoy the beautiful fall weather, Jeff and Charlotte.

October 2nd - Throwback Thursday

The day I first became an aunt! I can't believe Ava will be in Kindergarten next year!

An unexpected project

Over the last year of living in our house, every time we need to go to the bathroom, we would squeeze between the vanity and the door. There was definitely not much room as the vanity was much too big for the bathroom space.

Somehow the toilet paper holder had also come off the wall and there was a hole that needed to be patched. For months, we had been thinking we were going to fix the hole and paint the bathroom. That was all. As we got into the project, we were talking with our neighbor who said they had a great vanity from Ikea that worked with the space (their bathroom and house are almost exactly laid out like ours). We saw theirs and thought it fit really well. So we decided to go on a hunt on Craigslist to see if we could find anything.

Boy, was it our lucky day! Not only did we find a similar one, but we also found it for $100 cheaper! Some person had been buying it to remodel, they bought 2 and then only needed 1. It was perfect! Jeff slaved away at painting since the bathroom was too small for both of us to paint at the same time. We also got a new cabinet to go above the toilet so there is more storage. I absolutely love how the bathroom turned out. With a few new fixtures, a new vanity, and some new paint, our bathroom is as new as it was when we moved in.

On to the next project of moving the bar in the basement and getting a couch to sit on!

Molly

School Supplies = greatest time of the year!

As my summer has been dwindling down, I have spent some time with Charlotte and her cone (she had to have emergency surgery because she ate a bone), traveling to Chicago with my family, and getting ready for the school year. I honestly can't believe that I have to go back to work on Monday. It seems like just yesterday that I was saying bye to my kiddos and starting summer.Though I enjoy summer, I am ready to get back to school and I love this time of year!


Last week, the students found out who their teacher was. Kids don't get the excitement of running up to school to see the list posted on the door. Remember those days? I would count down until it was the specific day in August that class lists would be posted. You would get to see who your teacher was, who was in your class, and run into friends at school. Now parents get an email or have to check a website to see who their child's teacher is. It is still exciting but I don't know if kids get the same feeling that I got.

I love walking into Target and seeing all of the school supplies. I didn't love that the supplies were out in July, but it always means school is near. Getting new pencils, picking out folders and notebooks...I still love to do it!

On Thursday, we have our back to school event where kids can come in, see me, find their desk, and get ready for the first day of school. That is the final event that means school is really starting. Because of CP, I already know all of my kiddos in my class and I absolutely love it! I know the families, what kiddos I am going to have to separate, and what friendships I need to support.

Here's to another great start of the school year!

We survived a year!

Wow! What a crazy year it has been! As Jeff and I come up to our 1 year anniversary, I have started to reflect upon the past year. I couldn't have asked for a better husband to be in my life. It's hard to think that 4 years ago, I was hoping that I would find the love of my life. Fast forward to now and I have definitely found him!

Looking back at our first year of marriage, it has been filled with many ups, downs, and hard work. We have put a lot of sweat into our house and backyard (as you all have seen). We also have had some health issues, but to top off our year, we added Charlotte to our family! As much as I say I don't like her, which is quite often, I know she will pay off and be an important part of our family. I am so thankful to have Jeff in my life and couldn't ask for anyone better to spend the rest of my life with. He is one of those guys that is always there, always making me laugh, and put a smile on my face. He challenges me to be a better person, while supporting the choices I make. I look forward to the next 50+ years with this man! We survived our first year, I think we can handle the next 50.

Happy Anniversary to my favorite person in the world!

The work continues.

As summer began, we hit the ground running working on more projects. Though Charlotte has taken up a good amount of our time, we still have been able to complete some projects. I continue to hack away at the list that probably keeps growing.

Some things I can cross off the list...
- Replace the fence by finishing a wood fence around the yard.  - We finally did this and it looks amazing! We are still working on some gates and underneath the fence so Charlotte can't get under to see her friend Mac. She absolutely loves being able to run around the yard and we don't have to worry took much about her getting into the street.

(I know I posted before pictures earlier, but it is always nice to see the before and after together!)

 Before

 After

 

- Put the railings on the deck

- Paint the living room  - Over Father's Day weekend, Jeff went on a fishing trip with my dad, his dad, and Eric, my brother-in-law. While they were away, I tackled painting the living room. It took 2 days and I only did 1 coat, but we are happy with how it turned out. Finally we are taking away the boring cream color that has filled our house.

 Before 

 After

 After

- Finish wedding picture wall in the living room. - After painting the living room, we could finally rehang the picture wall. I still have to find the right picture for the middle, but I was hoping to do our wedding vows or lyrics to our wedding song. Every place I look on etsy is too expensive to have done. Any ideas?

 I wish I were able to cross of more on the list, but we are hoping to tackle more this weekend. It makes it hard when we have a puppy, Twins games, and other things that are taking up our time. 

It is hard to believe that it is already July 10th, that summer school starts on July 21st, and I go back to school August 18th. I thought I had SO much free time this summer, but I guess I really don't. 

My updated project list:

1. Sod the rest of the front yard
2. Sod the backyard
3. Rock around the backyard tree
4. Rock along the back fence
5. Stain the deck
6. Build a fire pit
7. Pump up the cement on the driveway or get a new driveway
8. Pump up the cement in the garage
9. Plant some bushes in the front
10. Plant flowers
11. Clean the outside windows
12. Lower the bar in the basement
13. Paint the bathroom and fix the toilet paper holder
14. Clean out the 2 junk rooms - one upstairs and one downstairs
15. Decorate the house

I promise that my next blog with not be about the house. It gets old reading it, I know. But I do appreciate everyone that does read my blog. Though I haven't blogged religiously, I feel as though I have done a good job of blogging occasionally. Keep on reading and enjoying summer!!

The Life and Times of Charlotte Pool!

What a cutie she is! I love how cute puppies are. The last couple of months, Jeff has been working hard on talking me into getting a dog. I grew up with black labs and was always ok with them, but I never thought I would have a dog. Jeff also grew up with dogs and had a yellow lab. Over the last few months, Jeff showed me pictures of dogs and told me how much he wanted one. We looked online, thought about whether we wanted a rescue dog or a puppy from a breeder. We even took a few trips to the Humae Society. There were a few cute dogs there but we weren't ready for those dogs - 1. Jeff was going on a fishing trip and I didn't want to take care of a dog by myself and 2. I didn't want to get an older dog who didn't know us and we wouldn't know how it would handle a baby in the future - and I mean way in the future. We love our neighbor's dog Morgan who is a bulldog/boxer mix and is the sweetest dog. I also have always loved the looks of bulldogs. After finding out that they are over $1000, we started to look at labs. Knowing that we both grew up with labs, they are loving dogs that are great with kids, we started to look even more. I still wasn't 100% sure I was ready for a dog (I still don't know if I am). But we found a breeder online within our price range that had a female left and I knew how much Jeff wanted a puppy. I told him my feelings about some things so he was aware and we decided that she would be coming home with us!

How can you not love that adorable face! When she sits like that and sleeps all day, I love her. Our first night last night.....yeah not so much. I don't know how I feel about the whole waking up every 1.5hours because she doesn't like her crate. It is going to be a learning experience for both her and us, but I keep trying to tell myself that it will get better. She will start to get the whole going outside to go to the bathroom thing and she will start to get that she needs to spend time in her crate. It will pay off in the long run, right? I guess it is getting us prepared for someday having a kid and having to stay up with a baby. But as I keep saying, that's different. You can take them places and they wear a diaper. Can I put a diaper on Charlotte? Probably not. So far today we have only had one accident in the house (knock on wood). I do love her and know that she will be a great addition to our lives. Here's hoping the next week goes quick and she picks it up! I will definitely have more updates on the life and times of Charlotte Pool!

Finally a finished finished basement!

When Jeff and I moved into our house last April, the basement was finished. We didn't need to do anything with it! We were so excited that we would have a finished basement and that we wouldn't have any work to do.

As the snow began to melt, we quickly learned that our finished basement was soon going to be unfinished. Water was leaking in through the wall and pooling in the middle of the room. We ripped back the carpet and tore down the wall. To fix the water problem, my dad moved dirt in the backyard and we got new gutters, hoping this would fix the problem. Jeff and I could not wait to find out this spring if the gutters fixed the problem so we decided to finish the basement.

Again, with LOTS of help from friends and our awesome neighbor, Ryan, we have finished the basement. We put up more drywall, painted it a new color (one that would look good with the bar Jeff put in the basement), put the carpet back, and cleaned up the dust.

We still have some work to do with decorating and finishing the bar, but at least all of the dust is cleaned and we can at least be in the basement. Yes, Michael Jordan will be living in our basement bar, much to my chagrin. Thanks to a rainy Sunday, we are able to check more items off our list! Maybe by the time we are ready to sell the house in a few years, we will be finished with all of our projects!

We get by with a little help from our friends

Over the last month, we have made some progress on our project list. We still have quite a list but we are making progress. Thank goodness we have my dad to help us out as well as Jeff's friends who are willing to get their hands dirty!

May was filled with lots of projects.
- Take out the wire fence
Jeff and I took out the back fence, it took us a few hours and even longer when he had to pull the poles out. This past weekend, he had a friend and coworker come over and it took them all of 15 minutes. We are so thankful for friends who can do things quickly!

- Remove the lilac bushes
We put the bushes on Craigslist hoping someone would come and do the work. We had someone scheduled but then it was cold and then it rained, and then we said just forget it! My dad came over and pulled out the bushes with the help of Jeff.

- Finish putting rock around the deck
Our rock was delivered Friday afternoon and we finished putting it all around the house. It looks SO much better!! We had 8 tons (I think!) of rock delivered. We were told it would come in the morning so we had one of Jeff's coworkers come over. We waited and waited and waited. Finally about 4, the rock came. With the help of John, a friend in town, and Jared, we were able to move a good part of the rock. Jeff and I then spent our beautiful Saturday afternoon moving rock. If I never have to move rock again in my life, I will be extremely happy!

- Finish painting the basement
Since we had friends coming into town from SD, we had to get this completed. We didn't finish cleaning the basement but at least we are done painting it!

We still have quite a bit of work to do, but it is such a relief to be able to check things off the list.

 

In May 2013 when we found out what was underneath the snow. 

 

May 2014 after we tore down the fence and before the rock came!

May 2014 with the new rock!

 Before (May 2013) and after (May 2014)

We are working hard to create an awesome yard so maybe by year 3 or 4 we can actually have a housewarming party! I love seeing how much the yard has changed. 

I never thought we would buy a house that needed so much outside work. When we were looking for a house last year, we had thought about one that needed inside work (thank goodness we didn't buy one that we had thought about).

It's time to head outside and continue working on that yard in a 70 degree day!

Yellow Tree Theater - trying something new!

On Friday, Jeff and I went to a play with my parents at the Yellow Tree Theater. It is a small theater that he had taken me to on Valentine's Day. We enjoyed the theater and the play so much that we decided to invite my parents to the play that is currently on stage.

The theater is this cute little place, but you wouldn't know that by driving up to it. It is in a strip mall in Osseo, sandwiched between a furniture store and some antique type store. When we went in February, we showed up a little early and there were NO cars in the parking lot. We were a little nervous that we were in the wrong place, but then other cars started showing up. The first time we went, we weren't sure what we were getting ourselves into. As we waited in the car, we continued to see other people over the age of 60 show up as well as a man in Adidas track pants. What were we thinking?! But as we entered into the theater and enjoyed the play, we quickly fell in love with this unique venue. In February, we saw a play about two people at their high school reunion who had been high school sweethearts.

Jeff had remembered that there was a new play going on during this time about the State Fair (which I absolutely LOVE!). We roped in my parents to join us for dinner and a show. Again, I was thoroughly impressed with the theater and the show! It was about a radio contest of 5 people living in an ice shack during the MN state fair for 12 days to win $50,000. There were lots of laughs and we all really enjoyed it. It was a stretch for my dad since he doesn't usually go to things like this. Though he may have fallen asleep for a bit, he claims that he caught all of the good parts of the play.

I would definitely recommend checking out the Yellow Tree Theater if you enjoy plays and are looking for something new. I would like to try new things that I usually wouldn't do. Jeff is really good about coming up with new things to do and places to go. It's funny because when we first started dating, I told him that I would be his tour guide of the Twin Cities since he wasn't from here. It turned out that in the last 3 years, he has been a better tour guide for me, though I have lived here my whole life.

Any ideas of new things to try in the Twin Cities? We are always open to ideas!
 

Spring Projects

The snow has FINALLY melted in our yard. What does this mean? It means our list of spring projects has started. Looking at where the new grass and old grass is growing in has shown just how much we need to do. Who knew a year ago when we bought the house that we would have SO many projects to do in the 2nd year? There are so many that we have a list already for year 3 projects... We keep telling ourselves that the more work we put in, the more money we will get out of the house when we eventually do sell. We love our house but it isn't our forever house.

Here is the list of the projects that will just NEVER end:

1. Sod the rest of the front yard
2. Sod the backyard
3. Take out the wire fence
4. Replace the fence by finishing a wood fence around the yard. (Last summer I helped our neighbors build one side of the yard, but we want to finish it around our whole yard.)
5. Finish putting rock around the deck
6. Rock around the backyard tree
7, Remove the lilac bushes in the back (we are hoping someone from Craigslist is coming today or tomorrow to remove them since they want them)
8. Put the railings on the deck
9. Stain the deck
10. Build a fire pit (this one will be fun!)
11. Pump up the cement on the driveway or get a new driveway
12. Pump up the cement in the garage
13. Plant some bushes in the front (this might be a year 3 project)
14. Plant flowers (I would like my yard to have some color and beauty to it!)
15. Clean the outside windows


That is just outside the house!! There are more projects INSIDE!

1. Finish painting the basement
2. Re-carpet the basement
3. Clean up all of the dust in the basement
4. Lower the bar in the basement
5. Paint the living room
6. Paint the bathroom and fix the toilet paper holder (We quickly learned when my niece Ava came over that we would need to fix this. It wasn't secure in the wall and as I watched her put her hand on the holder to keep her balance, I learned future holdings by our future kids would tear it out of the wall more and eventually we will have a big hole. Needless to say, it needs to be fixed.)
7. Finish wedding picture wall in the living room (We currently have crooked, empty frames hanging on the wall.)
8. Clean out the junk room - everyone has one of these, right??

I am not sharing this with you so you think I'm complaining or want sympathy for the amount of work there is. This is part of being a homeowner and most homeowners know just how much work there is when you buy an old home or a home that hasn't been taken care of. While it is a lot of work, I have tried to take pictures along the way so we can see where we started and where we will eventually finish. The list is more for me to sit down and think about all of the things we need to do. I am excited at the prospect of it all being complete. Though it is going to take some blood, sweat, tears, and maybe some disagreements when my dad comes over and thinks he knows just what we need to do when we don't agree with him, we will get it all done. Maybe not by the next winter, but in time. If you have an desire to donate some time, let me know. I am sure Jeff and I could use some free laborers and we would probably pay you with beer and pizza! :)

I'm off to go start one of the first projects - remove the wire fence and the lilac bushes!

Molly

Fell off the bandwagon...

So it's obvious that I haven't lived up to one of my New Years goals. I fell into the trap that so many people do! I set big goals, get them going for about a month, then life catches up and I just didn't stick with it. So it's time for me to get back on the bandwagon. Here is where I am at with the goals I set for myself:

1. Blog - I haven't blogged in awhile, but that's why I am writing this, right?

2. Be healthy - Still a work in progress. It's hard to make the right choices when your coworkers keep a container of peanut butter m&ms in the room to eat during lunch (which I encourage since they are one of my fav. candies)

 3. Put in more effort at work - I definitely feel as though I have stuck with this goal. It might not be a huge project, but I am putting in more effort.

4. Find a hobby - Also still a work in progress. Suggestions??

I don't feel as though I set my sights too high in sticking with these goals but I am back to try. I can blog once a week, right? Right?

On another note, Jeff and I are coming up to one year in our house. There is still a lot of work to do but it is crazy to think last year at this time we were keeping our fingers crossed to get the house and everything to be fine. As the snow is melting, we are creating our list of spring/summer projects that just won't end.

Last summer, our deck started to rot and I actually fell through one of the boards. We have this huge deck which was one of the reasons we bought the house so when we realized that we needed to rip it up, we were so bummed.

 

 Jeff's family came to town one weekend to help us rip it up.

While I was at my bachelorette party, Jeff called on some coworkers and our awesome neighbor Ryan to come over and help rebuild the deck. They put so much work into the deck that now we have a new, beautiful deck that we can actually enjoy this spring and summer. I was lucky and didn't have to help build it, not that I would have been much help. I can't wait for the first nice day that we can pull out our patio furniture, turn the grill on, and have a relaxing beer. We are almost to that time.... just keep thinking happy thoughts until we get to warmer weather!

Until next time (which will be sooner, rather than in 2 months),
Molly

Being a homeowner is a lot of work!

In April of 2013, Jeff and I purchased our first house. We had been living in an apartment and decided it was time to but a house before we got married. We found a house that had been newly "remodeled" and knew it was the house for us. Little did we know that the "newly remodeled" look was hiding the poor job the remodelers did. Don't get me wrong, we still love our house but we have put some work into it and it still needs a lot of work. The company we bought it from had bought the house in foreclosure and flipped it in 3-4 months.

We bought the house in April so there was still snow on the ground. This is what the house looked like the day we bought it:

 

As the snow began to melt, we realized that it had been hiding a lot of things. This is what we found UNDER the snow:

 It seemed as though no one had raked the lawn in ages and there was glass all over the yard and under the front picture window. Apparently when flipping a house, it is ok to break out the picture window to take it out and then leave the glass all over the ground? I didn't know that! Maybe I should try it some time.

We also had the nasty pine tree right in front of the door which was ready to fall/lean on the house. After many hours shoveling rock in the front yard and getting the pine tree removed, we were finally able to put new grass in parts of the lawn! Before we hit fall and winter this year, I was able to snap a quick pic.

We still have many projects to continue working on. We are currently focusing on things inside the house, for example refinishing the basement that had been finished. How does that happen you might ask? Well, let me tell you. The basement was finished when we bought the house. After a few rainstorms, we found water in the basement. One day, Jeff and some of his friends decided to take down to wall to see if they could find where the water was coming in. We hopefully found the spot and with the help of new gutters, should be good to go this spring when the snow melts. Jeff has been working hard with our neighbor (who is AWESOME at house projects, thankfully) on putting up some drywall and sanding the basement. We started repainting the basement and should be finished with it soon!

I could tell you about so many more house projects that we have worked on over the last 10 months that we have owned the house. There will also obviously be plenty more projects to share! My goal is not for this blog to only be about house projects but since that is what we spend a lot of our time on, I figured I should blog about it and share some things.

Thanks for staying tuned to Poolspective!
Molly

Real Life Hunger Games?

Last week, Jeff and I started watching a new show called "Opposite Worlds". Now the show is on Syfy, so right there it might tell you that it is going to be a bit out there. Wow! That is all I can say. The show is a social experiment and a social media experiment where 6 people live in the "future" with technology, showers, and good food; and 6 people who live in the past, like cavemen. Each week they have competitions to decide who gets to choose the world they live in. During this first competition, they had to use taser sticks to force someone off a podium. This is where the real life Hunger Games comes in...one guy fell off the podium and broke his leg! Then on Wednesday nights (did I mention this is a 2 night show?), it is live where they compete to kick someone is off.  All while the show is on, people tweet who they like and don't like and you can watch it online. It is AMAZING to see the tweets that people tweet throughout the show. Unfortunately, we are addicted to it and can't wait to find out the craziness that the producers put these people through. Is this seriously how we are spending our time??

While we had the cold weather, I kind of fell off the bandwagon of getting to the gym and going to Zumba. Well, I learned my lesson. I went to class last Thursday and didn't know any of the new steps/songs. I went back to looking like the idiot who didn't have rhythm and didn't know what she was doing. I am jumping back on the bandwagon so I can be one of those people who knows exactly what they are doing. :)

As Jeff informed me last night, I also fell off the bandwagon of blogging. Remember I wasn't going to be one of those people who started all of these goals and then stops? There has maybe been one week that I haven't blogged, which is pretty good. We are almost into February and I have maintained most of my goals. I have yet to find a hobby for myself. Any ideas??

Until next time!
Molly

Another day off?

Today we have another "cold weather" day. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy days off as much as anyone else, but we are now getting to the point where a day off means we have to add a day in June. Really? Let's add another day of nothingness in June when all the kids want to do is be outside and not in school. We already had 2 days off this week. Couldn't the cold weather have waited for a different week when we were in school the whole week? 

This past weekend, we traveled to Blunt to see Jeff's family. It is always a long drive but once we get there, it is fun to hang out with his family. If only we could snap our fingers and be there rather than the 6 1/2 hour drive! We had a white elephant gift exchange where everyone brought a gift. One of his cousins brought a live goose as his gift....hilarity ensued and a story to remember!

Busy weekend ahead! One of my coworkers and I donated an item to our schools fundraising event. We said we would take two kids to Cookies and Canvas. Similar to Wine and Canvas but it's for kids. On Saturday, we are taking two girls to go paint a puppy. I'm not the best painter so it should be interesting. I'll keep you posted on how my puppy turns out.

Well I'm off to decide what to do on my day off! Stay warm!

Adventures at the gym

Do I really have to go to school tomorrow? Teachers wait since the beginning of the school year for the 2 week winter break. It is a break that both kids and teachers need. But after being home for 2 weeks, I was ready to get back into the swing of things. I was a little thrown off to have 2 days of "cold weather" days where we didn't have school. I wish we could have had them in a few weeks rather than on the tail end of a break. I enjoyed my break but I really do like having a routine and being at school.

Last Saturday, Jeff and I went to the Minnesota History Center for the Prohibitions exhibit. It was actually really cool to think how much of alcoholics our country was during that time. It was also awesome because we were there for Speakeasy Saturday so for $5, we could have a tasting with the local brewery that was there. Since Jeff is an avid beer drinker, I thought it would be an added bonus. Unfortunately we weren't as wowed with the brewery that was there, it was still something new to do.

In the beginning of December, I rejoined Lifetime. I figured I would still be one of those people that would join around New Years but I could do it a few weeks earlier. To beat the rush, maybe? One of the main reasons I rejoined was for group classes. I had looked at the schedule online and found some times for Zumba and Cardio Kickboxing. Now, I had never been to a Zumba class but I had heard about it. What an experience! 25 overweight women trying to shake their hips like a backup dancer while the skinny leader can do it without breaking a sweat. I have learned a few moves that I shared with Jeff but as I try to shake my hips or throw my hands over my head, I can't help but laugh. I laugh not only when I am showing him but also during the class. Tonight I went to Cardio Kickboxing and that was a little different. There was more punching and kicking. I feel as though if somebody were to come after me, I can totally kick their butt. Well, maybe not tonight since my muscles are already feeling it, but definitely in the future.

The Lifetime in New Hope is also quite an experience. You have the normal people that work out (me included, right?), but then there are the vultures that wait for their class - total conditioning or strictly strength. Now, I am sure the class is awesome but I am so intimidated by the people that wait for it that I don't know if I could ever go. People come 30 minutes beforehand just to set up their stuff and claim their spot. Is it that great of a class? They barely let us get out the door before they ran in to get set up. Some day I will venture to the class and try it but I fear that I might not get a spot in the room. Stay tuned for more adventures at the gym!

See ya next week!

I don't like the word resolution.

"Today is the first page of a 365 page book." A quote I love hearing on the first day of 2014. I know there are so many people that start New Years Resolutions on this day. I just heard on the Today show that by January 17th, most people will have stopped their resolutions. I don't want to be one of those people so I am going to call them goals instead of resolutions. Each year I set a "resolution" and never seem to follow through with it. Will this year be different? I don't know, but it is worth a try. I started a blog last year about our wedding, but seeing as it was a New Years resolution, it never was completed. One of my goals this year is to continue this blog throughout 2014 by blogging once a week. Let's be realistic about this. I know I can't blog every day, but I think I can manage once a week.

As Jeff and I rang in the New Year last night, we were talking about our goals. Obviously the goal that everyone has is to get healthy - workout, lose weight, etc. That is one of our goals but I want to label it as be healthy. I think when we focus on "lose weight", there can be a negative connotation to that. It is a huge part of the goal but my biggest focus will be to get to the gym at least 3 times a week and make better choices about what we eat. It's all about choices!

While having two weeks off for winter break, I have had some time to reflect on the first part of the school year. I feel as though I have rushed through everyday in the classroom and want to make a goal of putting in more effort in my job. I do put in effort but I want to put in more effort - creating new projects, really get to know my students as individuals, and enjoy my job (I do enjoy it most of the time).

After our wedding, I found that I don't have any hobbies that I can call my own. My goal for this year is to find something that I can call a hobby. Something that is just mine, not something I share with Jeff.

It sounds like I have a lot of ambition to reach all of these goals this year. Taking it little by little, I think I can accomplish my 4 goals:
    1. Blog
    2. Be healthy
    3. Put in more effort at work
    4. Find a hobby

It's going to be a challenge but I have no excuses as to why it can't be done.