It was a good day.

Tags

family, goals, new year, parenting

I must say, 2018 is off to a good start!  2017 wasn’t bad to us, but it had a very rough start with all of us being sick, then me having pneumonia, then Jeff having hernia surgery…I feel like we didn’t really “start” our year until late April!  This year, thanks to Josh being on antibiotics since last week, we’re all healthy and ready to start 2018 with a fresh start!

A high school friend and fellow blogger said it best on her blog yesterday: “I feel like life hit the reset button.”  Yep.  I know the shimmer and hope of the new year will fade away quickly once the daily routine sets back in, but for now: hello sunshine!  Hello plans to be a more patient and understanding mother!  Hello home projects!  Hello plans to be more adventurous!  Hello goal setting (more date nights, more family quality time, more, more more..)!  And maybe most importantly…hello new planner! :-P

And I must say…2018 started off great.  I accepted a last minute job for a New Year’s Eve wedding (I actually had a ceremony on Saturday, a ceremony on Sunday morning, and coordinated this wedding on Sunday night-yeah!), so I didn’t get to ring in the New Year with Jeff, and wasn’t in bed until 2:00 a.m.  Which….for me…is REALLY late.  However, my internal clock is awful to me, so I was still awake by 6:30 a.m….but refused to let myself get out of bed.  Jake came to our bed and after I wished him a happy new year he said “Happy New Year to you too!” which just sounded so adorable.  Jeff has always been great about taking care of the boys in the morning after I work a late wedding, so he took Josh to the kitchen once Josh started yelling at us: “Eat!  Eat!  EAT!!!”

Jake had fallen back asleep, and when he woke up he said “Wake up mommy, it’s a beautiful day!” *swoon*  I heard Jeff making coffee, which: OMG.  I’m the daily coffee maker in the house, and it’s always SO GREAT when someone else makes it.  I was a little surprised he didn’t bring me a cup of coffee once it was done (I know I’m spoiled, he’s amazing), but figured Josh was keeping him busy.  A few minutes later I hear Josh coming down the hallway, and then Jeff walked in with a breakfast tray.  Yes ladies and gentlemen (gentleman?), there were happy tears.  I love breakfast.  I love when I don’t have to make breakfast (which isn’t often since I’m always up before everyone else).  This was huge.  Of course, I had to share with a certain someone who wouldn’t keep his grubby hands off my food…

He’s cute enough that I shared.

We then started cleaning up all our Christmas decor, and taking the ornaments off our tree was the perfect family “teamwork” scenario that is now starting to happen a little more frequently as Joshy gets older.  Jeff was in charge of getting the ornaments off the tree, then he’d had them to Josh (unless they were super fragile…c’mon, we’re not idiots), who would hand them to Jake, who would hand them to me for packing and storage.  We were done in record time and my heart was so happy.  Josh wasn’t happy about me putting this guy in a box though:

As a side note: I’ve had that reindeer since I was nine years old, when my mom sent it to me when I was spending a Christmas in Guatemala with my grandmother.

We then grabbed lunch, then Home Depot for some home project supplies and way too many plants.

Jake has been SO EXCITED to have his cousin in town <3.

We went back home and got to work.  Jake was helping me with some plants, and I don’t know if it was the lighting, or the solace of this moment alone with him, but he just looked so perfect and beautiful and I wanted to capture that moment forever.  He had mentioned earlier to me that one day he was going to get bigger and have to leave me and go on his own (we’ve had these conversations before), and we both said how we would miss each other, so maybe having that at the forefront of my mind made me extra emotional: my little guy is growing up so fast!  So I had to capture the moment.

Jake also helped daddy take down the Christmas lights, which has become a tradition of theirs:

 

 

The older boys went and got ice cream while Joshy and I took a nap.  Then Jake come home super upset because daddy didn’t pick the flowers Jake wanted for grandma, so we talked it out and he decided to buy her the flowers he wanted with this own money.  We opened up his piggy bank (which is actually a Chase Paw Patrol bank…) and went back to Ralphs so he could pick his flowers.  I then took him to Starbucks and we had some nice quality time together, which I’ve been wanting for so long.

We rounded up the evening having dinner with grandma Linda, grandpa, and Brayden, to celebrate grandma’s birthday.  It was the perfect ending to the perfect first day.

We’re ready for you, 2018!

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New Year Goals

Tags

goals, meal planning, new year, organizing, resolutions

I’m not calling them resolutions, I feel like that’s setting myself up for failure.  I just want to incorporate a few changes to help me not stress or worry so much about the little things.  I’m a list maker…but sometimes thinking of those lists is stressful when I’m constantly trying to check things off.  So, I’m trying to be more aware of the things that are good around me, that I don’t need to stress about, and learn how to plan my lists a little better so they’re more manageable.

I’ve changed my morning routine this past week, and I’m liking it.  I don’t have any projects or work to do before work right now (crafting for a birthday or babyshower, or working on a wedding timeline), so instead I’m waking up and doing 5 minutes of yoga or other exercise, and then a 5 minute written reflection.  My reflection is taken from Slow Family Living by Bernadette Noll, and a series of questions suggested in there, although I think I might change the questions in time.  Right now they consist of:

• Seven things you are thankful for (seven seems excessive, but maybe that’s the point…there are a lot of things in our daily life to be thankful for that maybe we don’t realize on a daily basis)
• How are you feeling (everyday seems to start with fine or tired, so I’m not sure this question will make it through the year)
• What are your intentions for the day (I do like this one, it makes me refocus and try to stay positive through the day)
• What did you learn yesterday
• What are your goals/desires/wishes for immediate or distant future
• To-do’s (these almost replicate my other to-do lists, but sometimes it helps me bring to mind the immediate to-do’s)

Another great tip that I’ve picked up from this book is to have a “buffer time” in between things, and to not try to squeeze in one more thing before rushing off to the next.  The author mentioned trying to send “one more email,” and how that then makes her rush to accomplish the next thing.  This is something I do every morning…I push my getting ready for work time until the very last minute, trying to squeeze in one more task to mark off my list.  I’m trying not to do that so much, and to leave more time to get ready and head out the door.  And to put on mascara.  THAT is a New Year’s Resolution: try to at least wear mascara a few days a week.  At a minimum (I mean, I’m almost 34…I have to start caring at some point..right?).

I also purchased a planner again this year.  I’ve been using Google Calendar for the last few years, and I can’t remember the last time I had an actual, physical planner, but I think it’s time to go back.  It means duplicating some calendaring (to keep both my google calendar and my physical planner up to date), but I like the ability to see things on the planner, plus it allows me to break down daily and monthly goals, which I’m really liking.  I don’t have to have one long list that I’m constantly trying to tackle, instead I can break it down by week or month.  It also has places to write down monthly goals, which I’m loving: I can focus on something to work on each month and have it written down to keep me accountable.

Yesterday (Sunday), I implemented several of these goals and the results were pretty awesome.  I got up early (Josh wakes up to nurse around 530/6 and then it’s hard for me to get back to sleep anyway, even on weekends), did my 5 minute “workout,” did my reflections, and then went to the grocery store to buy groceries for the week.  I had time to meal plan on Friday, which was GREAT…usually I put off buying groceries until Sunday evening and we try to meal plan at some point over the weekend, but it’s so hard to squeeze in those five minutes with two kids and a house of things to do.  Let me tell you, shopping at 7am solo vs. 5pm with kids is a GAME CHANGER.  I put on my headphones and listened to an audio book for the Literate Lushes book of the month, and checked everything off my list.  I was back home, with groceries unloaded and put away, before anyone even woke up!  And then….I didn’t have it in the back of my mind all day…I could just smile knowing that it was done and all our groceries were already in our fridge just waiting to be made, haha.  I was so much happier once everyone woke up, knowing that I had already been productive and had some “me” time.  Will definitely try to keep that going through the year.

What are your plans/resolutions for 2017?

 

Cha-Cha-Cha-Chaaaaanges

Well, lots of stuff going on lately.  Most importantly, Jeff and I are both adding new titles to our resumes: parents!  Yup, we finally decided to take the plunge, so here we are, two and a half months preggers :)

We’re excited to be over with the first trimester, but things seem to be going well so far.   Our little one is due August 18, 2013, and it just seems so far away!

This is how we made the announcement to our parents on Christmas!

With that in mind, we’ve been thinking long and hard about what we need to do to finally get some financial stability in our lives.  As much as we’ve enjoyed getting Nuestras Manos going, now with a baby in mind it just doesn’t seem like the best idea ever, haha.  When we were thinking of purchasing the business, it was easy for us to think we could bring a baby to work (since we owned the place and all), and it would be perfect.  Thinking about it realistically, there’s no way I could take our baby to the shop for 6-8 hours a day!  There’s no crib, changing area, food, etc.

The other issue we’ve had with the shop is trying to increase our profit.  We haven’t operated at a loss yet, but definitely not making enough money to support either one of us (much less three of us), and it takes upa lot of time.  I know we could make more money if we were able to invest more in what we sold, but that’s hard to do when you don’t have the money to invest in the first place, haha.

So, it seems that we’re back at square one.  The other day I also started thinking about why I’m trying so hard to do an “alternative career,” and not get stuck in a 9-5 cubicle job.  Sure, having the liberty of doing your own thing is nice, but as much as people may be jealous about my independence, I’m really jealous of people’s financial stability and their ability to buy a home and make payments on their loans (or take a vacation and actually have paid time off).  So I asked myself: is it really so bad to work a regular job if I can get all the perks I want?  Health insurance, a 401(k) (that’s how you know you’re a real adult, right?), paid time off, paid holidays, etc.  I’m starting to think that the answer is no.

Which reminds me of a blog I wrote almost three years ago:

My question when I see folks who are older than me is: what was it like when they each realized they weren’t going to get exactly where they wanted to go? I’m assuming we each have a time in our lives where we start realizing that the realities of life get in the way of the ideals you wanted to pursue, and you start to adjust to those new realities.

I think I’ve reached that point.  So, I’m trying to wrap up the contract work that I have, and start focusing again on finding a full time job–but one with no shady bosses, and one that has potential for the long haul.  I’m not sure how it’ll go down when I say “oh and by the way, I’m three months pregnant.” but I guess we’ll worry about that when we get there!

 

General Updates

It’s been a while since I had a general update, and there are various fronts that need updating.

TECHNOLOGY USAGE

I did delete Words with Friends and Draw Something, and I honestly couldn’t be happier about that. I’m not having to check my phone every two seconds to see if it’s my turn or not, and I really like that feeling.

However, my general reliance (addiction?) on my phone hasn’t decreased substantially by any means. I still find myself checking Facebook every few minutes, and when I’m in line or bored somewhere I always turn to twitter or some news app or another.

A drastic thought occurred to me this week: to delete the Facebook app on my phone. I honestly don’t think I’ll do it, but it would be a good way to drastically cut down the usage of my phone. Part of my reluctance is because I do use Facebook for a lot of different things, whether it’s messaging people about wedding stuff, jumping on people’s requests for a wedding photographer or getting a message quickly to someone who’s phone number I don’t have. I also feel like I should be able to do this without resorting to that: I have to have SOME kind of self restraint….right?!

FOOD

This past Sunday Jeff and I went to the grocery store and actually planned out our meals for the week. I know, I know, most grown ups do this on a regular basis. Well, not Jeff and I, unfortunately. That means that we end up eating out a lot, because it’s faster than figuring out dinner, going to the store, and THEN cooking it. But since Sunday we’ve been making dinner at home, and having sandwiches or leftovers for lunch. I even packed lunch twice so far this week! (don’t mock, ok? Just be proud of my progress).

I also bought a bunch of fruit, and I’ve been trying to snack on blue berries, cantaloupe and watermelon instead of milk and cookies. Although I also snacked on milk and cookies yesterday. C’mon, one out of three days is a HUGE accomplishment for me! I don’t think anyone but Jeff really understands the lengths of my milk and cookie obsession….

Here’s what we’ve had so far:

Sunday night: pollo guisado (basically chicken cooked with tomatoes, potatoes and onions), with rice, tortillas, and a salad.

Monday night: guatemalan beef paties, russet potatoes, green beans.

Tuesday night: pork chops with homemade mashed potatoes, and corn.

Wednesday night: guatemalan style chicken stew…not weather appropriate, but the only reason for making it was to have left over chicken to make chicken enchiladas tonight :)

I’m still trying to figure out non meat/chicken dishes, that are not pasta, that are still filling enough for dinner.  Suggestions are welcomed.

 CAREER

Well, this has been crazy lately! Mostly crazy in a good way, with a little crazy in a stressful way sprinkled in.

There has been a lot going on in the last few weeks: I’m working with the mediation clinic from 8:30am to 12pm Tuesday through Friday (Monday’s it’s only from 10:15-11:45am), I’m working on four contract immigration cases for U-visas, and managing my own case load of family law cases. On top of that, I had a couple wedding ceremonies in the last month, and Jeff had a wedding photography gig two weeks ago that I assisted him with.

I’ve been trying to sell some stuff on Craigslist, as well as follow up with potential clients for both my law firm and Jeff’s photography stuff (we possibly have two more weddings to book for this year!).  We’ve been working quite a bit on promoting Jeff’s photography stuff, because it’s something that we both think could turn into a full time job for him.  It would allow him to spend his day doing something he likes, plus more financially beneficial than where he is now.  Not to mention, he’d get to work from home with meeeeeeee which would be awesome.

Just like any time we buy a lottery ticket, we’ve started planning all the things we’d like to achieve and accomplish together, and let me tell you: we’ve got some big plans!  Who knows where they’ll end up, but we’ll never get anywhere unless we start dreaming, right?

All in all, I’m pretty excited about where we both are right now.  I feel like it’s taken a long time for us to get to a point where we actually see a little light at the end of the tunnel.  The tunnel still looks fucking long, but at least we see the light at the end!

Checking Stuff Off My List!

A little while ago I started a “30 Before 30” list, and realized I don’t have too much time left to complete it!  But, I made some good progress this weekend, and upon closer inspection of this list, realized I’ve come further than I realized when I sat down to write this.

WINE TASTING.

The ladies and I decided we needed to get away for a weekend and spend some quality time with each other, and with wine.  So we headed out to wine country in Temecula, which is closely situated to Sarah’s house…hint hint, convenient crashing place :)

Arriving at Wilson Creek!

Relaxing at the gazebo <3

Arriving at Leonesse Winery, sooo pretty!

Making use of the ceremony set up. Sarah went from “lover” to “wife”!

Lunch time at Leonesse. Everything was DELICIOUS, especially our bacon mac n cheese (and french fries that were to die for).

I was obsessed with the flowers at both wineries…so beautiful!

Some beautiful ladies:

We had such a great time, and got to enjoy some delicious wines!

Blog

Number four on my list was to move my blog to WordPress.  Ta-da! Although I haven’t looked into the money making aspect of blogging, I think I’ve let that allusion sail off into the distance.  I don’t see myself becoming a full time blogger, and don’t think I can make much money off of it unless I do.  So for now, I’m considering number four accomplished.

Blue Shirt

I’m not quite there yet, but I did earn my Red Shirt in January, which means I’m making progress!

Arizona

Jeff and I are heading there this weekend to visit the Arizona Armstrong’s and for Courtney’s wedding.  So, I can’t check it off yet, but can as of Sunday :)

Saying “no”

This is a work in progress, but I think I’ve gotten much better at it.  For example, today I said no to a contract assignment that could have provided some extra bucks, but would have proved extremely stressful given all the assignments and responsibilities I already have lined up for this month.

Still have a bit of work to do, but by the end of the Summer I expect to have our traveling checked off, and hopefully camping also.

2012: I’m mentally exhausted from planning you out already.

One great thing about this blog is that I can look back at what I’ve written in the past: reading about resolutions I’ve made before, my little faith in them, and how I haven’t followed through with them.

Regardless (irregardless, for some), it’s still nice to set some goals for myself…I mean, even if I accomplish part of them, there’s some success in that.

On our way home yesterday from celebrating the incoming New Year with my family, Jeff asked me what my resolutions where–and I’m just realizing now I never asked him what his were, #wifefail–and I had a difficult time putting what I feel my resolutions are, into words. I kind of want to work on everything this year, the whole mind, body, spirit thing.

I want to go back to my April-2011 resolution and focus on eating better, and being more active. We were good for a little bit, but we’ve really let it slide. It’s so easy to let other things take priority in your life. I did get an online deal for yoga, so that should help me for the first month or so on the “active” part. As for eating, Jeff and I cook a lot less now that we live with his parents, so there’s only so much control we have over that–but there’s always room for improvement.

I also need to figure out where Jeff and I are going, career-wise and financially. Some pieces of the puzzle are starting to fall into place (like finally getting health insurance later this month!), and I really feel that this is the year we’ll get things together. It’s funny reading my post from January 2010, where I had the same concerns–and a little disheartening that I’m still trying to figure out the same things…2 years later. But I really do feel that I can accomplish a lot with my career this year.

One phrase that Jeff and I started saying like a mantra in early 2011 was that we had to “put ourselves in uncomfortable situations to experience new things.” I feel I’ve done this a lot with my career, although altered a little bit: “putting myself in uncomfortable situations to get experience.” Haha, it’s been working though. I have said “yes” to things I would have been too afraid to say yes to before, and I think the outcome has been surprisingly reassuring. I’ve made appearances for immigration court in Los Angeles, I’ve taken on my own clients in an area of law that, at the time, I was largely unfamiliar with, I’ve learned how to retain clients, I started officiating weddings and make some money off of something I never thought of doing. Jeff has also done the same: he put his art in several venues this past year, and he started making money off of his photography skills, something that I know he was really uncomfortable with, but that he’s truly great at. I know it took a lot of courage for him to do that, and I appreciate the hell out of him for putting himself out there.

All of these little steps have made us a little more comfortable, and just slightly more secure in our ability to pursue self-employment. Which leads us to…..

EUROPE!!

We’ve been wanting to go for a while. Jeff’s brother and his brother’s family recently moved back to Germany, so it’s a great time to go, visit, and travel. Jeff and I also want to start thinking about expanding our own little family, but we think it’s important to experience something like traveling through Europe before we do that. Neither one of us has ever been there, and it’s been a while since we traveled together. Have I mentioned that we travel great together? I’m starting to get extremely excited about this, mainly because I think that for the first time since we’ve been together, it’s actually financially feasible for us to do it. It’ll take some intense savings for the next five months, but I think we can manage.

So, 2012, by the time you are gone, I’m hoping to:

• Formalize and develop my firm
• Develop Haiti Scholarships (this includes major fundraising efforts, and increasing our relationship with our students)
• Work with Jeff to develop and market his art and photography
• Keep working on promoting The Merry Ministers
• Check everything off my “Epic To Do List”
• Go to Europe
• Get preggers!!

So yeah…2012 should be easy peasy!

30 Before 30

I recently saw a pretty cool blog idea where the writer wrote a list of things she wanted to accomplish, and then came back a year later and checked off which ones she had done, adding a link to her blog post of said activity. I thought I would do the same…and then I started thinking…it’s already November…by next November, I’ll be on the eve of my 30th birthday (by “eve,” I mean about four months away…if you know my husband, ask him a funny story about this). I also saw a friend who did a “30 before 30” list: things she wanted to accomplish before turning 30 (am I insulting your intelligence? pretty self explanatory?) So, why not combine my list of things I want to accomplish with this little, minor, not-a-big deal birth year and make it into a 30 before 30? I found no good reason not to, so here we go. Let’s see if I can find 30 things I want to do…

I want to:

1. First and foremost, I want to be settled into a job. No more uncertainty of what I’m doing…whether it’s working somewhere, or working on my own, I want it to be legit, I want to be able to get pregnant if we decide we’re ready, I want to have health insurance, I want to feel financially….hmmm….not-on-the-verge-of-being-broke? I know this is a lot for #1, but I think they all are part of one big package.
2. Travel. There are too many places I want to go to: Germany (Mike, Uli & Hank!), Spain (Isa!), Hawaii (again, self-explanatory, but I want to be consistent with the parenthesis), Guatemala (grandma), Haiti (self explanatory). I’m not expecting all of these to happen before I turn 30. I’d be happy with one or two.
3. Become serious about some sort of work out: whether it be walking/hiking, or picking up rock climbing again, which I miss doing.
4. Develop my blog. This includes moving to WordPress, as well as figuring out how to make Adsense make me more money. I think since I started blogging two years ago (almost exactly!), I’ve made about $12 bucks. I’m not saying I’m not happy with my earnings…but I’m also not saying I wouldn’t mind more. I just need to figure out how to do that without changing what I write about or plastering my blog with ads.
5. Develop Jeff’s art: portfolio, more art shows, website, you name it.
6. Earn my blue shirt from Corazon
7. Make it to Arizona to visit Courtney (this I technically want to cross off my list early in the year)
8. Develop Haiti Scholarships into a successful nonprofit
9. Jump out of a plane
10. Go camping
11. Go wine tasting
12. Eat healthier, regularly
13. Travel to Portland or Seattle
14. Learn to say no, when necessary
15. Have a romantic getaway weekend with Jeff (we’ve been talking about going to Solvang for a while now)

Hmm. I’m about 15 accomplishments short of 30.

I guess I could fill it in with 15 things I want to have before I turn 30…but that’s too materialistic to be a serious goal.

Suggestions?