30 before 30.,.......

So my B-I-G 30 is coming up next March. Yes, I know how can I be turning 30 in less than 10 months........... There are days when I feel like I am still 17 years old, then I quickly realize that is way in my past. So I am sitting down now and trying to make my "30 before 30 bucket list" of things I would like to accomplish before my 30th birthday. Some of these items will happen, some of them may happen, while others are probably a little wishful thinking (thanks to the 2 drinks I have already had tonight :) ) so here goes, these are in no specific order.

1.find a church that we can attend as a family

2.learn to live for the moment

3.make sure to take time with my kids each day and not worry about anything else

4.start reading again....and actually finish a book

5.take a family vacation with just the 4 of us

6.take time each day with my fur babies (they have really been put on the back burner since we had kids)

7.take time each day to read a devotional

8.find a book of devotionals that will keep my interest for the year

9.go on a all girls trip with my BFF's

10.get back into going to the gym

11.try to be happy with my body and embrace it after having 2 kids

12.keep my house in presentable order

13.be there for those who are there for me in life

14.really take time with God each day

15.make a budget and stick with it for a month (heck for a week)

16. go on a trip with just my hubby (even if its just a night or two)

17.start having date night with my hubby at least once a month

18. try to have a date night/play date with the each of the boys one on one each month

19.stay on top of our family blog and try to hit all the important things that happen in the next year

20.get Austin to start sleeping in his bed again and not on the sofa in the playroom

21.start taking a little time for just me each month (a happy woman makes a happy Mommy, right?")

22. get on the interstate and drive without worries

23.continue to work on overcoming my anxiety

24. get my house organized in a way that makes since and works for our family

25.make time for us (my hubby and I) each day to just be a couple not mommy and daddy

26. go a full day without the Internet and cell phone

27.work on the boys baby books

28.take the boys on a airplane (or at least Austin)

29. celebrate each holiday to the fullest-or at least try to make each one a big deal for the kids.

30. get to know other families in our neighborhood-so that we can be like the "cute family" and have cook outs.

There you have it. These are the things I hope or wish to work on in the next year. There are probably another 100 items that I would like to see happen in the next year or 10 months but these are some of the ones I really want to work on. Stay tuned to see how it goes and which ones I am able to do and which ones don't happen.

How cute is this little craft for the kids to help celebrate St. Patty's Day! I found it here

Amazing idea for a rug

Wow, I am coming across some pretty amazing and crafty ideas this morning. I found the following idea for rugs along with step by step directions here. She took these rubber floor tiles below and made a rug.

Can you say ta-da in the words of my three year old. This rug started out as some of the tiles like the ones above.

Same thing with this rug.

I am thinking this might be the best idea I have seen in a while. With two boys who are wild and crazy along with two dogs that like to pee all over my house-I think these just might be the answer to my prayers. After we moved into our home we purchased quite a few large area rugs for our down stairs which we eventually had to throw away because our dogs peed on them so many times. Now my poor floors are so bear. I think I just might have to try my hand at making some of these bad boys. I will just start out with something small at first but who knows if you visit my house in the future you just might see some new rubber rugs floating around.

Flowers from a paper napkin?

I just stumbled across this tutorial this morning on how to make a flower from a paper napkin. Its basically the same idea as making a pompom from tissue paper but smaller. I think I just might have to make some of these soon!

Organizing

So I used to have it together and have things very organized and clean. As we all know that can be quite hard with 2 kids, 2 dogs and a husband around. Well needless to say my house has fallen behind in the organizing department and I am tired of it. I have recently stumbled across the blog I Heart Organizing and I am in love. She makes all of her stuff look so pretty. Just look at these photos from her site:

Go ahead and click on the photos and blow them up. ....

She even makes a to-do list look good

And these labels....Oh, these labels. I want to make them and put them on everything in my house.

So I am trying to be inspired and start organizing again. I know, I know I have said that so many times before. But you~yes you reading this post still are going to hold me to it this time. Lets set a goal for ourselves and use each other as motivation in the coming month to tackle some organizing one area at a time. What do you think? What area should we start with? I will post before-after-and during photos if you will too. Comment with the area you would like to start with and we will get to work together.

A Good Friend is hard to find.....

I came across the below blog posting and could not help but know exactly how the lady writing it feels. I moved to Tenn. when I got married and had a really hard time in the beginning. After realizing that if I didn't get over the fact that we moved and realize that this was now my home I would never be able to make new friends. Since then I have made a few lasting friendships but I can count them on one hand. Don't get me wrong I am so grateful for the women that I am able to call good friends in my life-lord knows I would not be able to make it without them. But I do still miss those girlfriends I left behind in GA. I often hear about there girls nights and get together's and its hard. I think to myself-that should be me planing and taking part in all this fun. But I need to remember that I DO HAVE FRIENDS here that would do anything for me and be grateful for what I have and not dwell on those that I have left behind by moving away.

I think in high school its much easier to make friends and keep friendships going strong. But as adults its much harder to connect with other women. We are afraid to put our selves out there most of the time-or at least I am. But being a mother esp. one that stays home you need to have a good network of women around you who you can call and cry or yell with, those who can see you at your best and at your worst. Now that I am a mother I have had the opportunity to meet new people through mom activities and moms groups. But I can honestly say I have felt at times like I am walking through target shopping for a friend. Oh, look at her-she looks like someone I could be friends with. Maybe I should try to strike up a conversation with her. But then she might think I am crazy (which I am to some extent).

So to all of my GA girls know that I still miss and think about you all the time and long for all the fun times we have had together in the past and wish that I was there to create even more memories with you all. But to my Tenn. girls know that I am so grateful for you guys and for being there for me no matter what and that I am looking forward to all the memories we will be making together.

Here is the article I was referring to:

source

I had the opportunity to meet up with an old friend from high school yesterday, sans le children. She was in town visiting her parents, taking a quick break from a hectic residency in Miami (she totally lives a Grey's Anatomy life!) I haven't seen her in several years, but when we gave each other a hug, it was like 10 years melted immediately away into a puddle on the floor of Panera Bread.

Three and a half talkative hours later (!), I left our lunch feeling as if we hadn't skipped a beat in our friendship, despite the time spent apart. My heart was happy to have had a chance to reconnect with someone who spent many high school and college hours with me shopping, hitting the movie theater, partying, gossiping, and shopping some more.

At the same time, I couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness, knowing that a good friend is hard to find. I don't normally pour my heart on the blog this way, and maybe it's a total turnoff to you.

But maybe there are other readers out there who feel the same way?

I think women are inherently programmed to seek out connections with others. I always feel a smile on my face when I meet someone who I can relate to, share with, talk about my feelings with. I love my husband, but he just doesn't get into Project Runway the way a girl friend does. He doesn't understand what it's like to be a mom, to want that pair of shoes so badly that your feet practically itch, or how I panic if I've left the house without earrings on.

I have dozens of friends. Wonderful, sweet, sassy, stylish, smart, encouraging friends. But I sometimes find myself wishing for deeper connections. Something beyond the everyday "Hi, howya doin?" type of connection.

It made me think of the lucky ladies travelling to Blissdom this week for the big bloggers' conference. Am I the only one who sometimes feels she's standing in the middle of a big, crowded conference room, surrounded by perfectly friendly, lovely people...but wishing for maybe just one person to really connect with? Someone to tell how you really feel, someone you can call to come over for a visit when you haven't vacuumed in a week, someone who will tell you that you need to stop wearing those pants because they make your butt look big.

I don't have anything wise or witty to impart today. I don't want to sound whiney or ungrateful for the wonderful women in my life.

I'm just honestly curious as to how many other ladies out there feel the same way that I do.

Flannery O'Connor wrote a short story in the 1950s called "A Good Man is Hard to Find." I think she might have had it wrong!

Cte Tote

I just found this cute tote! And there is even a how to tutorial: Here