thoughts on 2010, 2011

2010 - what a year you were, but i am feeling REFRESHED with this new one we are ushering in.  for the first time in, oh i dont know, THREE MONTHS i feel like my head is above water and i can finally breathe the sweet air.
for the first time in my entire life i am relieved that all the holidays are over.
WHAT?!?
i know...crazy.
but this lover of halloween was THRILLED when that insane week was over.
and while i am usually moping around the house mid january still refusing to take christmas down and pack it away, i am happy to say my house is undecorated and clean and has been so since two days after christmas.
and i feel ALIVE

2010 was a fabulous year...and the past three months in particular have been unreal.
the birth of our precious babe now gives us one more thing to pack into an already eventful season of holidays, football, hunting, anniversaries, birthdays, etc.

speaking of birthdays, i think this one had quite the fun one:

{with a breakfast of "marshmallow cereal" and quaker oat squares, per request}

his birthday party was another at-home one, but this time we rented a bouncy house {huge hit} and gifted the main entertainment....a super duper swing set {which has helped bennett get over his insane fear this past year of swinging...now he loves it}.

on his actual birthday i decided to make it a day where bennett ruled the roost: we met my sis at an indoor bouncy house place

{despite the message this picture sends, i think she enjoyed herself.  i just thought this pic was funny}

we ate lunch at zaxbys where he had CHOCOLATE MILK to drink and a handful of m&ms from the 25 cent machine on the way out.  he then WATCHED A MOVIE in the car on the way home...where he did NOT take a nap but watched the little mermaid and played on his playground instead.
dinner was meatball sandwiches and birthday cake.


a great success id say.



and then we had what was, in my book, a perfect new years eve and new years day:
low key day around the house, family dinner of homemade chicken pot pie {recipe post coming soon},

a tall glass {or two} of a nice "special occasion" wine,

birthday cake dessert, in bed by 10:30, ringing in new yorks new years then calling it a night.
{wow how life has changed!} 

i even remembered to turn my phone to "phone only" so as not to be disturbed by the bbms and texts i knew i was to receive by the other three women in my family :)

and today, stephen took bennett to see the movie "tangled" {which bennett refers to now as "the princess and her man"?} and i watched the last few mini series episodes of "the pillars of the earth" streamed to my computer off netflix. {so good by the way - read the book, too}


its been a great start to this fresh start year...

i have two main "resolutions" {if you will} for 2011, the first being
ORGANIZE MY LIFE
simple as that.
i mean clean out closets {ALL of them}, organize all my sewing/fabric STUFF, do that whole "throw it out if you havent used/worn it in two years" thing;
basically PURGE.
a lot is accumulated in a house after living here for almost 5 years and/or having two kids.
i think one of the most enticing things about having our house on the market was the fact that i would get to throw away a bunch of stuff when we moved.  i used to be quite nostalgic and save everything {product of my raisin'} but being married to stephen has made me a big fan of living a de-cluttered life.
since we arent moving, im hoping our little renovations will help with this.
i plan on having a garage sale right before we start all the renovating and then donate what we dont sell. the thought makes me so excited i can hardly stand it. 
so, #1 on the 2011 agenda:
O R G A N I Z E

the next one is
GET HEALTHY

{and i shall be using this as my shining example of perfect health}

i never really "got back on the wagon" of health between bennett and emory.  i used to be so GOOD about what i ate/how much i worked out. notsomuchanymore. i am weak.

so    weak

i look forward to more regular gym visits, more yoga {oh i miss yoga...}, more running, more vegetables, more sleep.
hopefully resolution #1 will help with the more sleep thing, as an organized life will possibly result in a clearer, less-racing mind at night.
{fingers crossed}

i also hope to blog more regularly, mainly because i love it, but also bc when i slack it all gets so overwhelming and i stress about all there is to "catch up on the blog".

so here we are.
2011
a fresh start to a year of new possibilities.

cant wait to see what you have in store!

{definitely more of this...definitely}