New Look!

Hey there! As you can see I'm changing some things up around here. Just trying to keep you on your toes.

Let me know what you think!

Filtered Resolutions

Every year, you hear the obligatory new year resolutions from people that want to start the year off right. More often than not, I refuse to make a resolution because the few years I have, it lasted about a month. What I usually say is that I'm going to try to be better. A better person, worker, friend, wife, blogger, etc. Just better in general. There is always room to be better and simple decisions can get you there.

Bryan and I have been talking about our life and lifestyle a lot lately. I've deemed 2011 as "My Year." This is my year to get healthy. To lose weight. To stop mindlessly stuffing my face. But I want to go further. I want to make an entire lifestyle change that will live on PAST 2011. I want my husband to think I am cute. And honestly, more importantly, I want to think I am cute.

Lately, I've moaned and complained about taking pictures with my family. I don't want any snapshots of myself. I have little confidence and recently, I've been going so far as to think "Why even do my hair/make-up? What is the point?" Ew. That disgusts me more than this weight gain. Every time I think that I go straight into the bathroom and I do my hair and make-up and I revel in it. I remind myself that I am not defined by my weight or my clothes. My choices define me. The decisions that I make help to define me. I can say, until I am blue in the face, that I want to lose weight. But until I make the decision to go for it, it's all lip-service.

I've mentioned before that I read Young House Love. The other day I was going through some old posts trying to find something and in one post, Sherry writes that in order to keep herself from being paralyzed with indecision in decorating, she just does something. She puts a frame on the wall or just moves an item around. And then she realizes one of two things. Either she likes it, and keeps it. Or she doesn't, and she gets a better idea. Remember how I wrote about my decorating funk? I'm still in it, for the most part. But I am hanging frames anyways. I am decorating my house anyways. And it's working. I'll realize I don't like something and I'll grab it and put it somewhere else. It's slow going, but it's GOING. Which is the point.

This year is brand-spanking new. I can mold my days how I see fit. I can take control of my life instead of just coasting on by. When the hubs and I started talking about this, I thought a lot about it in private. When I would start thing about all the tens of thousands of things I want to change this year (and for the rest of my life) I got really overwhelmed. I kind of suck so, I have a lot to change. Instead of going overboard, I'm going to break it down to simplify it.

Each morning I wake up, and I have a good forty-five minutes of silence. Bryan and I don't talk in the morning. It almost always ends badly. We say good morning, we get ready in silence and we say I love you, bye. That's it. It's rare if we exchange more than a few sentences in the morning. I'm going to start utilizing this time to think about the following:

• What do I need to accomplish today?
• Use the KISS! method. Keep it simple, stupid! Only list 5-7 things, depending on how tedious they are. 
• Put these items in priority order.
• Example, if one task is "cook dinner", do the dishes first so the kitchen is clean and ready for you.
• Do them.
• Find the time to do it. When you get home from work, take a 15 minute breather. Say hi to your pets, change into comfy clothes, drink some water and catch up on your texts. Then? Get busy. Set a time limit or create a pile. (Can't believe I just said that. My sister Alison used to create piles for me on Saturday mornings and I hated them. But if it works for you, do it.)

Every week, I'm going to do a quick side-bar listing what I need to get done by the week. Little projects around the house, chores and other items that are not a 'daily basis' item. 

Every month, when Bryan and I sit down to do our budget, we are going to set a monthly honey-do list. I'll have one and he'll will have one. 

This year, I have already decided to have a few general changes to implement into my life.(You'll see that post tomorrow.)

Here is the key ingredient to my plan. Grace. If I have a terrible day and I listed to scrub the shower and toilet? I'm not going to. I am going to give myself the grace and room to take each day as it comes. When tomorrow arrives, I'll start my list off with whatever few things I didn't do the day before. I am not going to beat myself up about missing a chore. I am going give myself the same courtesy I would want Bryan to give to me. When I have I bad day the last thing I want Bryan to do is knock me down a few more inches. I'm going to encourage myself to read a book or go for a walk to recollect myself. No berating myself!

Small ripples in a big pond? Maybe. But even small ripples can rock a boat. 

Happy 2011!

Expanding On A Thought

I've been thinking about yesterday's post quite a bit. If you have not read it you can scroll down because I'm too lazy to give you the link. But I love ya! :)

I believe that I am still in cranky-pants mode and I'd like to just blurb a few things.

• Skinny people? Hate you. Hate you and your gym-going self. What DISCIPLINE you have. Bite me.
• Naturally Skinny People? Do. Not. Even. EAT THAT OREO IN FRONT OF ME. Hate you and your figure too. And your genetics. Because the rest of us eat an Oreo and guess where it goes? IT GOES TO OUR ASSES. Yes. I just cursed. I should be allowed a quota per year. Quota is to be determined.
• People with blogs about houses that look like magazines. Hi. Tell me. How do you do it? You give us step-by-steps of how to hang a photo frame and how to effectively use "pops" of color. Here is what I want to know. How do you work a full-time job, take care of your husband who has a crazy-free spirit /animals that like to drool and leave hair every where, clean your house, cook dinner every night, write at least one blog post per day, shop for your cheap decor items, and still manage to have time to obsessively watch 30 Rock episodes streaming from Netflix? And solve world hunger? HOW? Enlighten me. Because I try to think about how my parents did it and now I realize why my room was always full of laundry and Saturday mornings/early afternoons were devoted to cleaning like banshees. Oh yes, and lets not forget how you handle your budget by clipping coupons and save money for your amazing kitchen. Because I? I want an amazing kitchen. Stat. 
• Those of you who get up early and go work out and read your bible and all that? Wish I was you. Would probably help my yet-to-be-determined cursing quota. 
• Target. I love you. And I hate you. And I hate that I love you. Why? Why is it that I visit you and I leave $100 poorer every time? And most of the time I don't have many cheap movies from your blissful cheap movie aisle. Most of the time its things like tampons and pads, and shampoo and conditioner and maybe even some face-wash. Why you gotta be so hard on my pocketbook? It hurts, Target. It hurts. 

Dang, an Oreo sounds pretty darn good right now. 

Argh!

Cranky-Pants and Laundry

You know, there are things that just really grind my gears. Fry my bacon. Flip my hamburgers. Toss my salad.

BA-HA-HA.

I am sorry. I couldn't resist. And also? Terribly hungry.

Back to my point, I am sick. And I am not 100%. I am of the belief that when I am sick, everyone should stop living. Work? What work! Everyone should be off because I am sick. Messes? No one should be making messes! I'm sick! Cleaning is not an option. Clean underwear? What the deuce? Underwear should not be getting dirty while I am sick, because God forbid I do laundry while sick.

Apparently everyone is NOT of the belief that the world revolves around me. So be it. I'll take my cranky-pants attitude to work, to the grocery store and to Wal-Mart. Not Target though, because Target is a cranky-pants free zone for me. Love me some Target. With their cheap movie deals. Love! But I will mutter at the washing machine while I do loads of laundry. It is my right.

I also hate that when you are sick you make dumb mistakes. Like, you wash a load of laundry specifically for one outfit because you have a, you know, funeral to go to and the outfit needs to be washed. And then when you think to yourself the day before said funeral that you should put the outfit together to make sure everything is all gravy but decide not to because you FOR SURE washed the outfit because you'd never make that kind of mistake.

And then you wake up and go to get dressed and you realize that half the outfit was NOT in the laundry pile, was NOT washed, is NOT hanging up in your closet, and you are screwed.

That, I hate.

Blurg.

Happy New Year!

I hope your 2011 is filled with love, laughter, hope and all kinds of crazy! Thanks for stopping by my blog. :)

-Meg

I'm Dead

I'm still so sick. I have a horrible, nasty cough. It's so bad that I hurt my neck really bad from coughing so hard.

No work, no life for me. Bleh.

I am not looking forward to NYE. Eek.

A Holiday Whirlwind

So, lets recap Christmas.

Honestly, this Christmas was pretty easy.. Here are our yearly celebrations.

-The First Friday: Work Christmas Party

-The Second Friday: Denise's Work Christmas Party

-The Saturday before Christmas: Vickers Family

-Sometime before Christmas: Anna and Denise Christmas 

-Sometime before Christmas: Colleen and Denise Christmas

-December 23: Borges Family Christmas (my moms family...)

-December 24 Lunch: Dias and Farpella (not that any of us girls are Farpella's anymore, but whatever! :) ) Family Christmas

-December 24 Dinner: Farpella Family Christmas

-December 24 Dessert: Sister Christmas

-December 25: Gaston Family Christmas

-December 25: Our Family Christmas

-December 26: Ricky Vickers Christmas

We survived ALL OF THAT. Denise and I always go to each others Christmas parties because one she is my husband when Bryan is gigging and C she knows everyone and entertains me like no one else. 

This Christmas was a good one, for the most part. I couldn't care less about gifts. I am just SO happy that I got to spend time with my family. The biggest bummer was that I got ridiculously sick this holiday season and doing all of this took a lot out of me. 

Christmas Eve was so fun because I spent the entire day with my sisters, their husbands and Alison's kids. And the entire day was dedicated to my side of the family and it went off without a hitch! I was so bummed that Bryan had to work and miss my Mom's Christmas lunch, but he ended up timing his work lunch hour with us so we was there for lunch, and by the time he was off work we had cleaned everything up, so he was there for presents too! I was so, so thankful. 

On Christmas Day, we get a call very early in the morning from Bryan's mom and we head over there in our pajamas and smudged make-up.... That last make may just be me though. :) Anyways, we open gifts and eat breakfast and hang out. It is one of my favorite times. The Gaston family usually ends up getting our holiday-time leftovers throughout the year, so Bryan and I put no restriction on how much we are there on Christmas Day. We usually end up staying for the better part of the day, and this Christmas was no exception. I was still pretty sick, so we left so I could rest and take a shower, but we went back over there and played games and lounged pretty much the entire rest of the day. It was great. It is such a relaxing Christmas tradition. 

Speaking of gifts, my house made out like a bandit! When asked, I said I wanted items for the house. Serving platters, bathroom stuff, stand mixer, cloth napkins, etc. My family knows me so well. Everything they picked out was perfect! I felt so loved and blessed. The biggest surprise that my Mother-in-law (who is amazing and I love her) remembered from some random conversation years ago, how I wanted the Anne of Green Gables movies and she got them for me. Such a simple gift, a DVD is, but it almost brought tears to my eyes because of how thoughtful it was! Those movies are a childhood favorite and bring so many memories of my sisters to mind. I was touched.

I hope that the gifts Bryan and I picked out for everyone made them feel as loved as we did!

**PS. I wrote this in 2011 and backdated it, which is why I sound so happy. I was seriously sick and my draft recap was really cranky sounding. Note to self: Do not blog when dying.