30/52 + a wedding.

We've had the little guy for one week -- the kitten, Atlas, that is. We kept him in his safe room for a couple of days and after the sniffing of each others' blankets went well, we introduced them face-to-face. Artemis took to him immediately and they've been besties ever since. Apollo took a few more days to warm up to him and has finally stopped hissing at his every move. She's now at a tolerating stage and she even played a game with him yesterday. Yesterday was the first day we left the house and left the three of them in the house alone all together. I was very worried that when we got home he'd be all beaten up, but it turned out fine. Today, he's sneezing quite a lot and I guess has a cold. The shelter says that will happen as they adjust and since his wellness visit is scheduled for this week, we'll have the vet look at him on Wednesday for a whole bunch of things. Bottom line, he's eating, drinking, sleeping in our bed, and loving his new home. What a success!

Saturday, I was a bridesmaid in my friend Cassie's wedding. The day itself was super busy, as weddings typically are. I loved getting my hair and makeup done, it's the best! The ceremony was beautiful and the reception was a lot of fun. I was able to see lots of friends who I no longer see often but we all went to school together and it's so exciting to catch up. Lately these catchup sessions have been at all of our weddings, or showers, or bachelorette parties. It's hard to hang out with work and families and babies and home owning, etc. So, it's important to document the times we are able to see each other. I'm a personal fan of the group shot and this time we were able to include all the boys, too! 

29/52 + a new addition.

This kitten joined us this afternoon from the animal shelter. Yesterday, we visited since we had to pass it in order to pick up a dress I had hemmed. The shelter was right there so we figured why not stop in? Well… in true cat lover's fashion once seeing all the adorable felines we couldn't just leave. So we talked to the volunteers there, all of whom remembered us from last year and remembered Artemis by name (though they knew her as Rainbow). They told us how nice we are and how amazing we are as pet parents. We looked at a few cats. But the little guy above just took our hearts. From the minute Sean picked him up he began to purr. We went home to think things over -- but found ourselves at the shelter this morning before it opened. We just had to add him to our home. He's all of two pounds and 10 weeks old. He had many siblings all of whom have been adopted in the last two weeks since they've been available to go to homes but this little guy was left behind due to his all black coat. Even his whiskers are black. Apparently there's a bunch of superstitious people around here. He's gentle and spunky and fearless. His transition into "his" bedroom was seamless and he bounced right out of the carrier and has been napping in "his" twin sized bed, playing with his new toys, and eating and drinking all afternoon. We are following the same transitional period that we did when introducing Apollo to Artemis so the girls haven't truly seen him. We don't think Apollo knows he's in the house since she spends most of her time in the sun room downstairs but Artemis knows something is going on and may have seen a glimpse but she doesn't seem phased. The real test will be if they hear him moving around in the middle of the night.  

We call him Atlas.

And yes, three is a good number and we are done adopting.

28/52 + leather gifts for 3 years of marriage

Tonight Sean and I went to dinner at his parent's house. They live within walking distance of our town's beach so after dinner we took a walk down to the water. There was a jazz concert happening and it all felt very Stars Hollow-ish from Gilmore Girls -- which I loved. 

This week, on Wednesday, Sean and I will celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary. I'm sure, Wednesday's post will be dedicated to all the greatness that I feel surrounding the 16th but for now I want to talk about something else. The gifts. Every year certain gifts are recommended to correspond with the number of years you've been married. Three years = leather. We both believe that experiences are as special, and usually more special, than gifts. So rather than give gifts we'll be going out to dinner… at a steakhouse. Filet Mignon is a version of leather if you really get to the bottom of things, right? However… if we were to go the gift-giving route I've assembled two lists of appropriate and fun and totally out of our budget leather gifts. 

jacket // boots // laptop case // watch

I chose the jacket because I've always wanted a real leather jacket. I mean the faux ones from Forever 21 just aren't the same. The Frye boots are something I've wanted since Christmas time and will totally be on my wish list for my next birthday. The laptop case is actually totally practical since I need one. Apparently there was a reason that the one I bought last August was only $2 on Amazon. And I love the watch. Just love, love, love. 

 passport case // recliner // football // duffle bag

For Sean… leather gift ideas are pretty hard to come by since I know he really hates leather. But if I was going to get him stuff made of leather I would probably go the practical route hence the passport holder and the duffle bag. His new job requires him to travel a bit and since he has neither of those items… they could be useful. The recliner is a total "that would be nice" splurge since he has been asking to get a "man chair" for some time now. And the football has been added to the list because last week when we were going to the drive-in he said to me "I wish I owned a football". It's the thought that counts, right?

27/52 + house updates.

I would love to say that Sean and I have been busy making house changes but really it's all him. I take credit for the "vision" but he makes it happen. The past month we've made some small improvements and have started decorating. Yes, for seven months we lived without frames or pictures or decorations. I would like to blame this on Sean but really it's because I couldn't commit to anything. After seeing how much work goes into repairing walls that have holes and whatnot I just couldn't imagine willingly and knowingly putting holes into our freshly painted living room walls. But, it finally had to be done. The house started feeling really cold and not lived in. I didn't like it. So, off to pinterest I went. 

I really love gallery walls -- LOVE them. Sometimes I look at them and think they are crowded or cluttered but for the most part I admire them. A while back I told Sean that I wanted to hang one in the living room and he wasn't all about the idea. He thought it was too cluttered looking. I assured him that it was necessary and that he would love it. For weeks, we lived with the "draft version" flat out on the ground near the said wall. That was annoying. I couldn't really get the placement right. Once I thought I got it and the cats ran full force into the frames and knocked my measurements off. I kept switching things and changing things and taking away things and adding new things. It was a mess. Finally, this past weekend Sean walked in with the level and a hammer and told me I had to commit. And that was that. 

We've been changing up the first floor bathroom since December. It's been a long time in the making and I'm loving how it's coming along. The amount of time and work it has taken makes me feel like we should have started with the second floor bathroom, since that is the one that we use daily. Live and learn, I guess. If you don't remember the horrendous wallpaper in the bathroom you can check back here. After we did the floors, the wainscoting, the walls, and the toilet, we struggled to find a sink. I wanted a pedestal sink. It was my first choice. Once it was put into the bathroom though, because of the sight lines from the hallway into the bathroom -- the pedestal sink looked stupid.  You could see all the pipes. I know some people like this but I hated it. So, back in the box it went and it was sadly returned to Lowes. We dealt with a sinkless bathroom for quite some time until we finally made it to Ikea. We ended up with this sink and, after a return and a second trip to Ikea, this faucet. The shelf still has not made it's way under the sink and can be seen to the left… 

While we're on the topic of bathrooms, we decided to switch out the faucet in the upstairs bathroom. I really dislike the second floor bathroom. I won't even post pictures of it until we make changes or I may get discouraged. But the new faucet made a major improvement. The orange countertop is a little sore on the eyes, though. 

For seven months we watched TV while it lived on one of our end tables. We got anxious every time the cats jumped up on the end table and it shook and threatened to fail on our 50 inch TV, and on us. During one of our "so what do you think we should buy now?" conversations, Sean said he didn't care about anything other than a TV stand. So, I searched and searched. I really wanted a brightly colored one -- like teal or red or yellow or something. I was vetoed pretty quickly and I decided to hold my ground on the gallery wall rather than the TV stand. So we compromised for this stand. Target is the best.

Lastly, I fell down the stairs again bringing the total number of falls to three. Sean couldn't take it anymore and ripped up the carpet. It was too cushy and puffy and actually really ugly. It was going to go anyway, but the falling bumped up his urgency. I'm hoping I don't fall again or the hardwood floor is really going to hurt. Eventually they'll get painted, re-stained and probably get a new runner.

25/52 + 7 life updates

1. Blogging - It's been two weeks since I've blogged. I don't update when nothing significant happens. I don't update when life gets busy and there's no time. Thankfully, this time -- it was because I'm busy.

2. Rent the Runway . com - I can't even express to you how much I loved this website. A lot of people I work with use it, and I was always curious. Fast forward to last week, when I read the full invitation about an upcoming wedding (on Friday the 13th… under the full moon… IN a cemetery) and read that a certain dress code was asked. I couldn't find anything in stores and when I put in "victorian dress" on renttherunway.com the dress below is what popped up. I rented it, it arrived in time, it fit, I wore it and it was amazing. Look into the site, okay? It's reasonably priced and pretty sweet.

3. Family - Sean's brother from Seattle stayed with us for five days. It was a lot of fun and we spent the time with family, going out to eat A LOT, driving the Cape, going to the Redsox game and the two of them brewed beer and pretty much hung out for days on end. Sean took time off from work, too. So we got a few days of just hanging out and it was so fun. Sean is currently working at his old job and his new job, full time. Until the end of the month. So the three days off were exciting and necessary, but now things are busy.

4. Part-time job - Realizing that most teachers get part-time jobs in the summer time, I thought this summer I'd jump on the bandwagon. I got a part-time babysitting job, two-three days a week in the evening from 5-8PM. It's going really well. The family is really great and the evenings go by really quickly. It's nice to have some type of routine in the summer. You know, to get me away from ABC Family and Lifetime.

5. Friends - Summer is an amazing thing because I lose my sense of time and I'm more up for doing things rather than just going to sleep… for example, this past week Sean and I found ourselves out with friends until 2AM… on a Wednesday night. What?? We also hosted people last night for our town fireworks and got to bed around 2AM. It's crazy around these parts…

6. Landscaping - I can't even tell you how much Sean has been doing this past weekend to get the yard ready so that we could actually host people for the fireworks -- which by the way, we were able to see from our yard. How exciting! The yard looks so great. We've been paying a 15 year old kid from two doors down to cut our grass since we don't have a lawn mower. But there was still lots of work to be done from when we had the trees cut down and used the wood chipper and that whole experience. Since then, it's been raining every weekend and we sort of let everything slide. It was looking rough… but now! It' looks great, and I helped by "edging" where the mulch would go. Yes, I helped. 

7. Mudderella - It all started about 3 weeks ago when my friend casually mentioned to me, "hey, there's this thing… called Mudderella, we should do it". I was all "what's that?" and she was all "it's really cool, it's a race for women, it's empowering" and I was all "ok, cool! let's do it." So, I Googled it and it looked empowering and I was all about it! So much so that, I went out and bought sneakers… so you know it was serious! Well, I started the training guide for Mudderella… and it is HARD! I can't even move. Hopefully these next 12 weeks treat me well. I'll keep you updated!

23/52

We got a bathroom sink! We're having a house guest at the end of the week. Sean's brother is visiting from Seattle and staying with us for a few days. So, we thought it was probably time to complete the bathroom. I wanted to get the guest room ready… as in, paint the walls and decorate. Unfortunately, the wallpaper in there is a month long ordeal and not a 4-day-no-big-deal type of project. The bathroom will have to be impressive enough. I mean… that's six months in the making. It was the first room we started, and it's still in limbo. In fact, even though Sean's putting the sink together as I type -- I heard some confusion and swearing from that area of the house. I've come to understand that the faucet is too high, or something and it won't turn up/on because of the "chair rail". I'm not sure why it's called a "chair rail" in the bathroom. Maybe it's not. Regardless, it looks like we'll be returning it. Isn't that how home improvement goes? One project requires 5-7 trips to the store. We bought the sink from ikea. We tried a bunch of local stores.. with "real" furniture but settled on ikea. I'll take some pictures once things are set-up properly. 

Over the weekend, I sat by and watched my parents have a yard sale. There's nothing like witnessing, firsthand, someone trying to barter their way down from $1. Like, really? What's the point? I didn't leave empty handed. I left with a packed car.. filled with so much stuff that I just couldn't let them sell. I told Sean that I could possibly turn into a hoarder now that we have an entire house to fill. I mean, it's so easy to just say "oh, well it can go in the basement for now".

On the way home from ikea we went to Shake Shack. It was pretty delicious. I enjoyed the atmosphere more than the food though I'm not crazy about burgers so I'm not a good judge. We sat outside -- finally hot and sunny weather! Plus there was live music, so that's always great. 

My classroom year is over so I have 4 more days of work (filled with meetings and cleaning my classroom) before summer. On Wednesday, I start my new part-time job of babysitting for the summer. It's 6 hours a week and I'm excited to add a little bit of routine into a very open schedule. Sean and I are trying to figure out some weekend trips for us and with friends but nothing is set in stone yet. I can't wait to figure out some plans. I love plans.

22/52

Tomorrow is the start of my last week of school. I have three days of meetings the following week, but the kids are finished this Friday. Time moves slowly until you think about in the past -- then I'm always so surprised with how much time has gone by. In a lot of ways summer break is bittersweet. It's nice because vacation is always nice. But it's strange to know I won't have the same group of kids in the fall. Obviously, since they grow up. I'm fortunate because I have children in my classroom for three years in a row. So, only nine kids will move onto first grade. The rest will move up a level to kindergarten or to their second year in my classroom. And then the nine kindergartners that moved on will be replaced by a bunch of teeny tiny three year olds. It's always weird. Every year, I think "oh man, I can't imagine this class without THIS exact group of kids". And then every fall, new children come and it's so seamless and I feel sad that it was so easy to move on. But it has to be. Or else they'd never grow up -- see? Bittersweet.

I've spent more time in this role as a teacher than I've done anything else in my life, ever. The fact that I'm finishing up my fifth year -- and that my contract is in and I'm all set to start my sixth year in the fall blows me away. Looking back, it's been a pretty amazing year. It was my first year co-teaching. It was my first year of being a supervising teacher. It was my first year of being a level coordinator. It was a year that consisted of 3 field trips, 25 birthday celebrations, 70 parent/teacher conferences, 130 "good morning" songs, and hundreds of lessons. 

While I'm finishing up five years as a teacher, Sean is finishing up seven years at his job before he starts a new job June 16th. It's a welcomed change. He's taking a leap, and switching companies -- about to start working for a start-up. He's looking forward to the change of pace and about working from home twice a week. I'm very proud and slightly jealous of this whole working from home thing. And then I remembered that in 8 days, I'll be home for three months straight. And I simply cannot wait. 

21/52

Our weekly picture is a day late. Better than not posting it at all, I suppose. We celebrated Memorial Day by walking our town's parade route. The route is close to our house, in fact, they actually close off our road to traffic during the parade. We watched the marchers and the scouts and the school band and the bloomers. I had not heard of the Bloomers -- but it is a group of women who in the 60s started this group when they showed up to play a game of softball against a men's team called the Bushmen (apparently they all had beards). Well, the women who won the game, thanks to the umpire's help, all wore red bloomers during the game… and then they were known as the Bloomers. Now they're known for philanthropic work; helping the community, volunteering, donating money and their time, etc. Oh, and they still wear red bloomers. It's so New England; in the best and most positive way, ever.

So, we had a three-day weekend, because of Memorial Day but Sean has been sick since last Thursday. For us, it was pretty low-key. I did manage to prime our front hallway but once I was realized how horrible I was at "cutting-in" -- I stopped. Now, we have half a primed space. While I painted, the cats watched intently and got a little too close to the paint trays. Sean stayed on the couch and watched Netflix. It was basically another weekend of Netflix. The weather is bad. Even if we weren't fighting stomach viruses… it hasn't been the type of weather that makes you want to be outside or do anything at all.

I tried my hand at "taking care" of Sean. He's so good to me and for some reason, I'm totally not good at taking care of him. I don't know why. I think it's because he's usually so healthy and strong and doesn't need my help that I rarely need to tap into that skill. When it so rarely comes up -- I'm at a loss and it usually turns in to him trying to make me feel better about not being able to take care of him. I know, right? Well, my mom told me that I needed to buy him stuff -- apparently, when you reveal that the house has no food or beverages or medicine, moms start to step in. So, she told me that I needed to get him soup, and ginger ale and medicine and jello. And so, I did that. I got home and made the jello, to the best of my ability… I swear. But for some reason, it didn't work out!

Why it froze, is beyond me. I followed the directions. Unfortunately, for Sean, this "cooking" blunder goes into the same list as when I forgot I was making bacon and when my pastaroni caught on fire. Hm.

20/52

Our picture this week isn't of us; it's a picture that shows what's been happening in our backyard for two days. Sean and his friends have been working around the clock to get the yard looking halfway decent. So, he didn't make it to dinner. But the yard is looking good! It seems like a lot of work but I know they're having fun with the wood chipper and the four-wheeler and the bon fire and the beer. I don't necessarily think those all go together, but… the work is getting done, so I can't complain. 

Last week was a bit intense for our families and I'm hoping for a less eventful upcoming week. This past Thursday, my grandmother fell at home while everyone was at work, so she was alone and wasn't helped for 6 hours. She spent 3 days in the hospital and we are all very happy to have her home. She  was very glad to come home today, as well.

While Sean was doing things in the yard (I only helped periodically, for 10 minute increments) I remained inside and watched Netflix. I don't even want to admit how many movies I watched this weekend. But I also did some shopping; in stores and online. These are some of my summer purchases from Old Navy. They have a pretty good deal if you have their credit card (30% off) and then you get cash back for your next purchase. They know how to keep you coming back...

denim tie shirt // white scoopneck tee // pink tie shirt // gray sleeveless shirt

cropped boyfriend skinny jean // cropped jeans // sweetheart shorts

pencil skirt // fit and flare skirt // utility skirt

If only the weather in Massachusetts would cooperate...

19/52

We've made an executive decision of convincing ourselves that the previous owners never raked the leaves in the yard -- ever. We have a lot of trees standing plus the 5 or 6 that were cut down last weekend but are now just laying horizontally in the yard (we plan to do something with them, I swear). The yard is just nonsense. I'm not one to enjoy the outdoors. On Thursday afternoon, I got an impulse to rake leaves in the front yard. I got ready. I got the rake. I went outside. After a few minutes, I was done. The impulse passed. On Saturday afternoon, Sean asked if I wanted to go outside and finish what I started two days before. Again, I got ready. I got the rake. I joined Sean outside and then it turned into me just standing and watching and swatting bugs away from me. After 30 minutes, I was done. So I have to say that I was thoroughly impressed when Sean got out of bed this morning and went straight outside to continue Saturday's project. He was all about it. And unlike me and my 30 minute commitment -- his lastest for 6 hours. Unfortunately, there are so many leaves -- there's still so much work to do. 

Today marks five months in this house. The whole owning a house thing hasn't gotten old. Though it was a little close when the quarterly water bill arrived. Right after taxes were due. But then the heating bill came and it was only a fraction of what it's been (thanks, spring!) and that made up for some of the feelings of defeat that were surfacing. Last week we attended our first town hall meeting. It was the annual meeting and there were 41 articles on the agenda. I begged Sean to take me (I don't do anything by myself…) and he reluctantly agreed. So after my brush with raking on Thursday we left our house and drove down the road, to our former high school and sat at the meeting. First things first -- have you ever gone back to your high school? It's the weirdest thing… I hadn't set foot in that building since graduation day, oh, nine years ago? Once I got over the initial shock of being there I noticed that there were tables set up, sort of how things are set up when you go to vote. We had to go to the right table and tell them our name and address. That's when we were informed that since we're not registered in the our town yet (apparently, that doesn't carry over from previous towns...) that we would have to be silent observers, sit off to the side and not participate in the voting process. And then the moderator of the meeting, asked through the microphone, the entire audience if the two of us (he called us out by name and street address) could listen in on the meeting… and then they all took a vote. Fortunately, they all said yes, or that would have been embarrassing. And then for the next few hours we watched and listened as the people in the town fought and argued and not so politely interacted with one another. It was true politics at the core. And I loved every minute of it -- especially, the extremely involved  and "concerned" elderly citizens.

I guess it's about time to talk about goals, being May 11th and all… so here's how April looked:

Home:

- clean-up the yard - I wouldn't call this a success or a failure since we've started… just not finished quite yet

- plan out & plant a garden - we've planted, just not outside because of the weather

- buy a bathroom sink

- buy an area rug for the living room

- hang canvas above fireplace

Personal:

- organize computer files/pictures

- go to the Boston marathon 

- organize all my clothes

- blog 15 times

- get a pedicure

Not the best, I'll admit. April was a bit overwhelming for me and I didn't do much… let's hope for a better May.

Home:

- clean-up the yard

- mow the lawn

- hang something above the fireplace

- finish painting the living room windows

- plant our vegetables outside

- re-organize the kitchen cabinets

- hang a gallery wall in the living room

- buy fans or air conditioners

Personal:

- choose books for this book challenge

- make two things I've pinned

- get a manicure

- blog 10 times

Here we go!

18/52

I missed out on posting our picture last week, what would have been 17/52 because last Sunday morning at 5AM, Artemis scratched my eyelid while I was asleep. The scratch, although it sounds like no big deal, set me back. All Sunday, I stayed in bed, feeling sorry for myself, keeping my eye closed because I couldn't open it, holding ice on it, loading up on Neosporin (only to find out later that it's not meant for near your eyes). Sean was so helpful. But I couldn't get it together in time to go to dinner and there was no way I was posing for a picture. The following day I went to the doctors and, obviously, the scratch got infected and they put me on antibiotics. Why do the weirdest ailments happen to me? I forgave my little Artie, and it definitely helped that she remained close to me all day -- I just know that she knew she hurt me.

In addition to getting antibiotics on Monday, we also celebrated Apollo's adoption day. Since I referenced Artemis' adoption day, back when it happen, I thought it only fair to keep in mind that we've now had Apollo for two years. They had an interesting day today watching three men cut down all the hazardous trees in our yard. They didn't love the loud noises that happened when the large limbs, and sometimes entire trees, fell to the ground. Some of those bangs were so scary. All in all, we got 3 trees cut down all the way, 1 most of the way but the tree climbers couldn't take down the limb that is hanging over the house because apparently it would fall ON the house (so we have to hire someone else), and 2 trees trimmed back away from the house. All the trees that we removed were considered "hazards" and were either in danger of falling ON the house or they were ruining our already ruined roof. So they had to go. Well, if we're being honest, the one on the front right side of the yard we took down just because it was a crab apple tree and we didn't appreciate the likelihood of those crab apples constantly falling on our cars sitting in the driveway.

The tree that couldn't get cut down all the way, is the one by the deck. We plan to have it taken down the rest of the way sometime this week. For now, our yard is covered in tree limbs and branches and Sean is pretty excited about figuring out what to do with it all next weekend. I'm just glad that we're a little bit safer around these parts. It's been very windy and the scariest thing was laying in bed knowing those trees were dangling right above us. I can't wait for the yard to be cleaned up a bit so that we can actually start hanging out outside.

16/52

Sean and I hosted brunch this morning. Having never hosted Easter before I was excited to add this holiday onto our resume. So far, we've done Mother's Day and Thanksgiving. For the first time, I made pancakes from scratch, homemade blueberry muffins, eggs, bacon, twice baked potatoes and Sean made pizza. We also had various salads (pasta, potato, tortellini). After brunch, we visited with my family and had Easter dinner.

This past week, we celebrated Artemis' one year adoption anniversary. Obviously, she didn't know about it because she's a cat, but we enjoyed knowing that we've had her for a year.  It's been so nice to have some warm weather and sunshine, too. I mean, just three days ago it was snowing. But now, it truly feels like spring. We're talking in the 60s. This past week has also been a little sad because of the upcoming marathon. Tomorrow's state holiday means it's time for the Boston marathon. Sean and I are planning on going to the start line since it's just about 15 minutes from our house. All the roads close and they're expecting over 500,000 people to show up along the marathon route. It should be a pretty intense day all around.

15/52

We missed Sunday night dinner so we didn't have anyone to take our picture tonight. Though it's fitting that today's picture was taken in our house since Friday marked four months of living here and we haven't really taken any pictures of us in the house yet. Thanks, self-timer!

This last month was successful. We painted. We planted. We purchased. We returned. We repurchased. We had a gas leak. We had to evacuate the house for a few hours. We had the gas leak remedied. We saw our backyard for the first time without snow. We put solar lights down our pathway. We organized. We reorganized. We hung curtains. We sat on our deck. We moved furniture. We chatted with neighbors. We went for walks around the neighborhood. 

It's feeling more and more like a home.

14/52

Allergy season is apparently among us and I feel like I've been sneezing three times for every single breath I breathe. It's painful. It was especially annoying while we were at Home Depot picking out flowers and vegetables to grow in our yard. I probably should have prepared for such an outing with some Claritin tablets but I guess now I know. Sean started growing hops last weekend for the beer brewery that has been founded in our house. This week, we plan to add vegetables to our growing indoor garden. Despite the sun in the photo above, it was only about 40 degrees outside. Not ideal for growing things so while the last frost in our area is around May 10th, we plan to grow indoors until Memorial Day. We don't want our time and energy and money wasted by some unnecessary cold weather. So for now, it's all maturing in our music room. 

I have plans to become self-sustaining though I don't really know what it entails. I've starting doing some research and my immediate thought went to raising chickens. It's kind of popular to do around here and I think baby chicks are really cute. The more I thought about it I realized that I obviously wouldn't want chickens to eat because that's awful and I can't imagine having to kill them! And then I thought about how I don't eat eggs -- and wondered about how that would help us truly be self-sustaining. I think it would just be a lot of work and stress since we have coyotes and other wild animals in the yard at night time. 

Sean's relieved that I nixed the chicken idea and went straight to a vegetable garden. I don't expect the garden to save us a ton of money, though it's neat to think that it may help, but I really like the idea of growing our own food. That's self-sustaining, right? I haven't taken pictures yet, but we're growing potatoes, bell peppers, habanero peppers, pepperoncinis, onion, lettuce, cucumber, green beans, broccoli, corn, tomatoes and grapes. This could either be really successful and exciting or a major disappointment. 

13/52

To say that I've enjoyed my vacation would be an understatement. It was the first vacation, maybe ever, that I didn't spend days watching tv on the couch. No, in fact, for many days the tv wasn't even plugged in. Instead, I spent time with friends and family, went to yoga and Pilates, primed and painted, crafted and shopped, went on beer tastings, played pool, went to dinners and lunches, took scenic drives, rode the T, took pictures in Chinatown, rearranged living room furniture, celebrated three birthdays, packed for my scrapbook weekend, saw our backyard without snow for the first time, added some lights onto our front pathway, went to the movies -- the list goes on. It was perfect. 

Tomorrow I'll be waking up early in the morning, before the sun is up (that's the worst part), to go to work. In the grand scheme of things -- it's only about 9 more weeks until the school year is done. I can't even believe that. It makes me so excited to think about summer -- warm weather, time off, home improvement projects, trips with Sean, bridal showers and bachelorette parties and weddings and concerts -- the list goes on! I can't wait...

12/52

This post is dedicated to wishing Sean a happy birthday. We celebrated the day by watching Baby Mama in bed, opening presents (lots of brewing equipment & new shoes), having Indian food for lunch (at the mall so I could get Sarku), shopping, going to the movies (Divergent), and going to dinner with family. I think our day says a lot about Sean and how he treats me. Like even though it's his birthday we watched a movie in bed which he hates doing & I chose the movie. And even though it's his birthday, we ate at a mall food court so that I could get food that I like, too. And even though it's his birthday we went shopping for a new sink because he knows that I'm really upset about the unusable pedestal sink we previously purchased. And even though it's his birthday we went to see Divergent -- at a matinee, inside a theater filled with teenagers for a movie that is "the next" big phenomenon (i.e. the type of movie that he automatically dislikes).

Sean (aka Nerbit or husband of mine),
I'm so thankful you were born twenty-eight years ago. You make me smile and laugh and think and question and realize and wonder. You make me crazy and sane. You're the only person I can imagine spending this life with and you're the one who makes it great. I'm not totally sure how I got so lucky. I'm grateful to wake up every day with you by my side and I tell you every night that my most favorite thing in the whole world is crawling into bed with you at night. I hope you had a wonderful birthday weekend and that it included all your favorite things & people. You deserve it. :)

11/52.

The other night we slept with our bedroom window open. I woke up early in the morning because I heard scratching on the screen. I knew it was one of the cats and in my half asleep/half awake state I tried to jump out of bed to save the cat from falling out the second story window. Apparently, I was closer to the edge of the bed than I thought and as I turned over I rolled right off the bed. My feet and legs got twisted in the blankets. I hit the floor so hard that both cats ran out of the room in fear. I screamed and started laughing and crying at the same time. It's been a long time since I've fallen out of bed. Sean asked me why I fell as if it was something planned. After a few seconds, I stood up, closed the window and crawled back in bed. The rest of the morning, I slept in the middle of the bed. It's clearly where I belong.

10/52

Don't let the short sleeves fool you: it's cold outside. It's just that because of daylights savings we were able to go outside for a short time during Sunday night dinner (really only to take this picture because it was 30 degrees). Yesterday it was in the 50s! I may or may not have laid out on this very deck for about 20 minutes. I had five layers of clothing on but this whole winter thing is brutal. I'm sure in the summertime I'll be complaining about the heat (we just priced out ACs today -- those things are not cheap!) but right now all I want is some warm sunshine. This past week, Sean shaved off his beard. It's a big deal around here as it only happens about twice a year. This week I went to Joann Fabrics to buy scrapbooking stuff for next month's scrapbook weekend. I conveniently missed yoga and instead got Chinese takeout food. We used our new "recycled" grill even though temps were in the teens. I ordered Sean's birthday presents :) and may have gotten some new workout gear for myself… for those fitness classes I've paid for but have yet to attend. We also got our roof looked at and got an enormous estimate to fix what's wrong with it.

This upcoming week includes the last five days before I have two wonderful weeks of vacation and Tuesday marks our three month anniversary of being homeowners. :)

9/52

We're off to watch the Oscars. We only saw two movies that are nominated for Best Picture, The Wolf of Wall Street and American Hustle. Normally, we try to watch a good amount of the movies but this year the awards snuck up on us. I'm pulling for The Wolf of Wall Street, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill and Jennifer Lawrence in their nominated categories. We'll see what happens! 

8/52

I'm excited for February to be over. It's been a rough one and a very expensive month. I'm looking forward to March for a couple of reasons. The first is that I have two weeks off. The second is that it's Sean's birthday, Apollo's birthday and the first day of spring. The third is that time moves forward so there's more sunlight when I get out of work at the end of the day. I can't wait.

We haven't done much to the house in February. There are things I want to do, but I get discouraged. Since we don't have much money right now the stuff I can afford to do is put away, find space and organize/re-organize stuff I already have. Sean doesn't want anything to do with finding places for wallets and bracelets and scrapbooking stuff and it's no fun to do alone. There are just piles and piles of stuff around the house. We haven't hung anything on the walls because the plan is to strip wallpaper and paint all the walls. Now that I know what it takes to fill holes and sand walls and prep walls for painting I'm not about to hang things just to take them down to paint in a few weeks. So the walls are bare.

I'm off to nurse my cold, not organize or hang pictures and watch MTV's specials of Teen Mom. I'm not sure why I find these girls fascinating?