New Inspiration

It's nice to make connections that in hindsight seem so obvious. I just found Amy Merrick's blog An Apple a Day. I've loved her posts on Design*Sponge for a long time but never knew she had her own blog. Of course she does. She's wonderful. Seriously...I sat at work and devoured her blog even though it was waaayyyy too obvious that I wasn't doing any work.

I especially liked her 2010 wrap up post. It was such a sweet way to remember a year's worth of events. I want to be like her. Check it out here.

Don't call it a Thrisis.

Ok. You can if you want to. That's probably what it is anyway.

I've been reading Making It Lovely for a long time and was inspired by Nicole's "30 Before Thirty" list.* Since I'll be turning thirty in relatively short order (October 20, 2012!) I thought it would be cool to put my own list together to make the next couple of years a little more exciting and driven. It was only when I sat down to write this post that I did a little google research and realized that this whole concept is already a pretty big movement.

Maybe I'm cheating a little by giving myself almost two years to tackle the list but, if I know myself, I'll cross a few things off right away and then go into hibernation until about six months before the big 3-0. We'll see. Here we go. I can't believe I'm putting this out there.

1. Get married.

2. Get some professional advice on the green card process and how to file taxes in the meantime.

3. Bake an edible loaf of bread.

4. Visit Conor's hometown in N. Ireland.

5. Finish the photo albums of my nephews I've been promising to everyone for years.

6. Host a dinner party for at least 6 people before the wedding.

7. Vacation in Italy.

8. Complete securities registration exams for work.

9. DIY a headboard.

10. Buy a house.

11. Get a short haircut.

12. Visit the new wing of the MFA and take Conor to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

13. Sew curtains for the living room.

14. Attend 2 concerts a year.

15. Plant an herb container garden that survives longer than 3 months.

16. Make a full Roth IRA contribution for 2012.

17. Watch less TV, listen to more music.

18. Reduce paper towel consumption.

19. Start a recipe box. Maybe this one?

20. Make pasta from scratch.

21. Babysit the nephews in Boston for a day.

22. Create some real life photo albums for myself.

23. Go to a new restaurant every time we dine out (not that often these days) and keep track.

24. Spend a weekend in Providence with Conor and show him the old stomping grounds.

25. Visit the Mapparium.

26. Take more walks, especially when I don't feel like it.

27. Volunteer twice a year.

28. Stretch and do situps 3x a week.

29.Get more sleep but wake up earlier.
This goal was a total cop out and it is being replaced with:

29. Try a new recipe every two weeks.

30. Go see a movie outdoors in Boston.

Obviously, the list is in no particular order. It was pretty funny reading back through it and realizing how funny certain goals looked next to each other. I mean, of course DIYing a headboard and buying a house carry the same amount of significance for me in the next two years. Haha. At the very least this will be a good source of blog posts.

*By the way, her stationery is also super cute. I've ordered a few different patterns and have always been really satisfied.

The Poser: Holiday Edition

Harrison doesn't like getting his picture right now. Case in point:

Luckily, Gus is right there to pick up the slack. He LOVES the camera.

This is his "What up party people? Wanna wait for Santa with me?" face.

"I had NO idea that oysters were this fun!"

"Oh hey Aunt Kate! Course you can have a photo with me. Get on in here!"

"I am going to sit in this ALL. THE. TIME."

Happy New Year?

So it's a new year. It's that time of year where you're supposed to finally put down the cookies and the party mix, stop eating mashed potatoes at every meal, and take stock. Look back, look forward, and make plans before the sugar high and the tryptophan wear off.

Emerging from the cozy fog of the holidays with newfound motivation, I flip the tv back on and am told that it's time for new beginnings.

New gym memberships (to sculpt the new me!)

New cars (before the holiday deals are all gone!)

New wardrobes (because the new me deserves it!)

That's about the time when I get sick of the whole "new year" thing. It makes me feel like a sheep. I've resisted being part of the herd since a very influential person in 8th grade told us that we were all sheep. It's a long story.

This year though, I really feel like I'm on the cusp of something pretty great. Yes, the wedding is a huge part of that feeling. No, I'm not going to apologize for that since getting married is awesome and I'm psyched about it.

However, it's made me reevaluate a lot of things, recognize my short term goals, my long time goals, and realize that Conor and I are forming shared goals for our future. Big time stuff!!

I don't think I'm fully ready to jump on the resolution train so I'm going to stick in my safe zone: The To Do List. This post is already long enough so I'll be posting to do list of significant proportions soon. There's nothing better than the public shame of failure to keep you motivated!