April 9, 2015 by Stephanie

35 Before 35 March Update

Let’s see how I did this past month. Next month I will be 30 when I update!

1. Crochet something else besides blankets or scarves at least once a year (~~2013~~, ~~2014~~, ~~2015~~, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)

2. Do a photography challenge

This is the one thing I am most proud of completing each month. Some weeks it is a struggle to remember to get out the camera and find something new to capture or way to capture it. But when I do, I am always grateful for the moments I get with George. I am also glad that I am not just doing “studio shots.” While these are nice to have, some of my favorites have been the every day things. These moments go by so fast, and I love looking at this timeline of his growth.
Here are some of my favorites from the past month. The first one is my new all time favorite picture of him.

3. ~~Visit 5 cities I have never been to before~~ (6/5)

Greensboro, NC for my friends wedding. (I could count the cities we stopped in, but considering I pretty much only saw the hotels I think I will leave them off.)

4. Tour at least one a winery, brewery, or distillery

If I had not been driving myself to North Carolina, I would have totally stopped at one of the dozen that we passed. However, I don’t think I would have won Mommy of the Year for taking George by myself to a distillery in the middle of Kentucky.

5. Send at least 5 snail mail a month

6. Become a “professional” photographer

Some things are in the works!

7. Run at least 10 races (any distance) (1/10)

I have signed up for some. Speaking of if you would like to help sponsor my walk in March of Dimes this month, please go here. I would greatly appreciate the support especially after my experience with George in the NICU.

8. Go camping with Tom

9. Pay for the car behind me in a drive through

10. See Tyrone Wells live as many times as possible

Why does he have to be playing so far away for this tour!?!?

11. ~~Tour Fort Defiance here in Clarksville~~

12. Water ski with my dad

13. Do a 5K with my mom

14. Take a swing dance class with Tom

15. Read at least one fun book a month and one professional development book every three months

16. Take a pottery or stained glass class

17. Do one new recipe each month

18. See both a Clemson and UCM football game live

19. Find a place to volunteer on a regular basis

20. Go hiking

21. Ride in a hot air balloon

22. ~~Go to at least 20 “new to me” restaurants.~~ (23/20)

We went to Bandanas with my in-laws. It is a chain BBQ place, and it wasn’t all that bad.
We went to Babbo’s Spaghetteria last night for a friend’s birthday. The food was great (probably some of the best lasagna I have ever had), but the wait for the food was awful.

23. Stay at a bed and breakfast

24. Spend a day without electronics (phone, t.v. and computer)

25. Have a Kentucky Derby themed 30th birthday party.

Since we have not been here long, I haven’t really created a solid group of friends yet. My birthday also falls on Mother’s Day weekend as well as the last week of most academic years (to which many of my friends are working in college settings). That being said, it would be asking a lot to have people come in for a party then. And my one stipulation is that we actually celebrate my 30th on the actual day since it is a Saturday. It just doesn’t seem worth the effort for a small group of people that may be able to attend. I have put some ideas in Tom’s head for alternatives so we will see what he surprises me with. No pressure! But I am completely ok with not having a big Kentucky Derby to do for my birthday. So I am going to just change this to enjoy welcoming 30!

26. ~~Explore Nashville while we live here~~

27. Watch at least 10 movies that I have not seen before that won Best Picture at the Oscars and at least 20 documentaries (not necessarily Oscar winning) Movies (2/10); Documentaries (7/20)

28. Sew an item of clothing from scratch

29. Do a personal devotional/bible study on my own

30. Be a mascot for an event

31. Go on our honeymoon (preferably somewhere tropical)

32. Host an annual NCAA Basketball Tournament Championship game party

I am ashamed to admit that I didn’t even remember the game was on this past Monday. I was crying buckets of tears for “the most memorable year” night on Dancing With the Stars. Also after Iowa State lost in the first round, I sort of stopped caring for the rest of the bracket.

33. Go on a mission trip

34. Be on a recreation volleyball team

I have found a group to play some pick up games with, and I am just waiting for a night to start. Wahoo!

35. ~~Become a mom~~

I can’t believe little man is rounding around 8 months soon!

April 8, 2015 by Stephanie

Fit for Me 14/52

What I did last week:

Thursday-45 minute walk with the dogs.

Tuesday-30 minutes on the treadmill.

Impressed by:

There really wasn’t anything that stood out as impressive. But I held things together, so I guess there is that.

Struggled with:

I seem to have one good week followed by one bad week. Last week was obviously a bad week…Although Saturday and Sunday I fell into bed feeling like I worked out from the holidays. Does that count? As my husband says, workouts always get put to the back burner when push comes to shove. That was definitely the case with traveling to KC and to my in-laws all weekend.

Did I meet my goal from last week?

So my goal was to walk at least 10,000 steps each day. This only happened one day. Most days I was at least 2,000 steps away. The one day that I got over it was because I had to park in a different parking lot far away from my office because the one right outside my building was full. Plus it was the day that I ran, so that definitely helped. I really need to pick up my activity levels at work. No wonder my back hurts all the time.

What is my goal for next week?

Ok seriously, I am going to work on this 10,000 step thing. So I am going to commit to parking farther away every day. I also have an alarm set on my phone to remind me to get up every so often. In my head I think I could wake up early to walk the dogs every morning, but I know that isn’t realistic. Maybe the only time for me to work out some days is to get up earlier, but to be honest sleep is not something I want to sacrifice at this point. That would be a detriment to my health in other ways. Anyway, I am going to try again to walk a little more each day.

Fitness Thoughts:

I got some new running pants, and I LOVE them. I have hesitated getting “other than black” pants for a long time because many I have tried on make me feel gross or they become see through once you put them on. I am a firm believer in wearing underwear but also that other people don’t need to see that. Also I am one of those people that is pretty anal about my tops matching my bottoms, even when working out. So having colored pants is sometimes difficult for me. I don’t want a pair that I can only wear with one shirt because running pants are always pricey. Then I saw these, and I have many t-shirts that would fit. They needed to be mine. Now I want all the patterns! Having new workout gear always motivates me to work out more.

Do you feel more motivated after getting some new wear? Do you know of a place that has cheap running leggings?

April 7, 2015 by Stephanie

Easter Bloopers

We had a great weekend with family celebrating Jesus.

But with the greatness, there were some tears and nap avoidance.

All this gave us some pretty awesome bloopers.

Get ready for the blooper photo dump: Easter edition!

It’s hard to get a 7 month old to look at you. He has better things to do with his time. This was also his first time in grass/moss. (I actually really love this picture even though he won’t look at the camera.)

For real. Clearly, he is too busy for me.

I love how every boy around this age is wearing this outfit because this is pretty much the only outfit that can be found for baby boys. Boy clothing selection stinks as far as variety. I swear there is only one rack in most stores for little boys where as there are WHOLE sections for little girls. Boys want to be stylish too!

Ava, my five year old niece, just wanted to make funny faces and awkward poses all day.

She gives herself direction. She does not like our (the adults) creative process.

This is probably one of my favorite shots of her from the day. She was upset with me because I would not eat the flowers with her.

We spent a good 20-30 minutes taking pictures of her tricks.

Tricks and funny faces, obviously Aunt Stephanie.

So in my mom wisdom, I attempted to get George to take a nap before we did cousin pictures. Well George said that was a horrible idea and refused a nap ALL day. He runs this ship. So of course he was a crankerpot once we tried to do pictures with his cousin.

Presley (the dog) just wants to be a part of the pictures too!

Ava thought that flapping his arms would help.

It did not.

Not only did we have George as a mess because of Nap Resistance, but Ava also couldn’t remember to look at the camera and smile.

It was too much to try to smile and hold G-man.

Here she is trying to help him stand by pulling his arm, lovingly of course.

We tried distracting George with an egg, but you can’t fool him. He just made it fly.

This is by far my favorite outtake. George was clearly a mess from being tired and hating his bare feet on the grass. And Ava was trying desperately not to be touched by George’s slobber. AHHH the slobber!

Lesson learned from the day: do pictures as soon as we can with these two. They were done with our agenda after 5 minutes.

Ava is a great cousin to George, and I love capturing their relationship and how much they are growing.

I don’t have many pictures of George and I, so of course trying for more pictures once we got home was a good idea right? George thinks I am crazy.

We do have a couple good pictures from the day. A teacher once told me that if you can capture one solid shot out of a roll (back when rolls of film were a thing), then you did a good job. I think I managed a few good ones that I will share soon, but I will cherish some of these gems as well. Success is in the eye of the beholder.

How was your Easter? Do you have picture fails? How would you get kids to cooperate for pictures?

April 6, 2015 by Stephanie

Forever Royal

Today is the opening day for the Royals.

image via

Who is excited?

ME!

I think all of Kansas City has been counting down to this day since Game 7 ended in October.

Last season was such a whirlwind season for us Royals fans. I wrote about it here, here, here, and here. Obviously I love my Royals and my hometown. (I may have teared up a bit rereading those posts.)

Last year was the first year I have not been to a game at Kauffman, so I am excited that we are now only a quick 2 hours away. I already have several trips planned to see my boys in blue! I CANNOT wait for the game at the K!

So here is to another fun filled season with America’s team!

I also am looking forward to taking our good luck charm to his first game. I am still convinced that this little slugger’s birth was what pushed us into the World Series…jk (only kind of). We have lots of baseball goodness planned for George in the upcoming months!

All is right now that baseball is back!

Let’s Go Royals!

Are you as happy as I am to have baseball back? Does your team play today? Are you Forever Royal? (If not, you should be!)

April 1, 2015 by Stephanie

Fit for Me 13/52

What I did last week:

Thursday-30 minutes on a bike.

Saturday-1 hour of BodyPump.

Sunday-30 minutes walk/run with the dogs. They haven’t done a run in a long time, so it was nice to see what they can do. Hopefully we will be able to do more of these with the weather turning around and Tom getting out of the academy soon.

Monday-20 minute ab workout. Watching all the abs on Dancing With the Stars really pushed me to get my act together.

Tuesday-30 minutes walk/run with the dogs. Grace started protesting, so it was like running with resistance bands on my arms.

Impressed by:

Getting five workouts in.

Struggled with:

There is just a lot of stuff going on right now.

Did I meet my goal from last week?

I did get back on a schedule! 5 out of 7 days is pretty good! It will be messed up again this weekend with family festivities, but I want to continue doing what I can and finding time for it.

What is my goal for next week?

I got a pedometer this weekend. I can’t justify spending 100 bucks on the Fitbit to do essentially that. This one I can hook into my computer too, and track just as easily so it was much better financially. But anyway…I didn’t realize how much I don’t move at work, so my goal is to get at least 10,000 steps in every day. I have been 3-2 thousand steps below that so far since I started wearing it on Sunday.

Fitness Thoughts:

I feel much more inclined to work out when the weather is nice. The workout can still be inside, but there is just something about warmer weather that kicks me into gear. I love it! It is so nice to go for walks again and not have to be bundled up with so many layers.

313537f24fb6d69c3f884b8c9dfe497c image via